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NOVEMBER
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Tptbe God of Love, B y W IL L IA M M . R U N Y A N . ¿■God so loved . . .. that he gave his . . . Sort
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“I Daniel Understood By Books” / A new tract for Jews. Origi nally written in Yiddish by Ex- Rabbi Leopold Cohn, it has now been translated into English by Charles L. Feinberg, and revised by Joseph Hoffman Cohn. A clear, original and unique expo sition of Daniel’s seventy weeks, valuable not only for unconverted Jews, but richly illuminating to every child of God. It is the message of the hour to Israel, for it warns of impending catastrophe. A m illio n copies should be distributed like the leaves of autumn. Will you do your part? Get a copy, read it yourself, then get them by the hundred, and see that every Jew in your town has one. The Lord will bless it, and will use it to open many a veiled Jewish eye. 24 pages, with art cover. 10c a copy; $5.00 a hundred. Israel approaches Armageddon. Instead of hate and suspicion, let’s flood the nation with love, and with God’s message of salvation. It is Israel’s eleventh hour! What say you? And may we remind you also of the continuous needs of our mis sionary undertakings. Our work merits your every confidence. It is a program of world wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Your fel lowship in prayer and gift is always welcomed and appreciated. Israel never needed your love as she needs it today. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE is of course sent to all contributors. Am er ican Board o i M issions to the Jews Inc. 31 Throop Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
©he3161eXamiïvtS f ia tin e M otto : “ Unto him that loved us , and washed us from our sins in his own blood .” —R ev . 1:5.
Volume X X V
November, 1934
Number 10
TABLE OF CONTENTS
/ Around the King’s Table— Louis T. Talbot ............................ .......378 Twenty Years o f Pain— and Thankfulness..................................,.......380 “ Giving Thanks Always”— Olive Woodward Ogg........................... 382 Philippians— A Christian in His Right Mind— Roy L. Laurin......384 The Lack and the Knack o f Thanksgiving—James K. Moorhead..387 / False Christs and False Prophets—A Sign !— Louis S. Bauman....388 Girls’ Query Corner-pMy.rtle E.Scott...................................................391 Bible Institute Family Circle..................................................................392 Junior King’s Business—Martha S. Hooker...........................:...........393 ' Helps for Preachers and Teachers— Paul Prichard........................ 395 Our Literature Table........................ ....................................................... 396 Notes on Christian Endeavor— Mary G. Goodner.............................. 397 International Lesson Commentary......................................................... 401 Daily Devotional Readings...............'.....................................................411
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P O L IC Y A S D E F IN E D B Y T H E B O A R D OF D IR E C T O R S OF T H E B IB L E IN S T IT U T E OF LO S A N G E L E S (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To make the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith. 558 So. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, California
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November, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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c _Around the King’s Tables B y L ouis T . T albot
and prove that the gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. It becomes more and more necessary for men and women o f God to ask the question: Is this cause, to which I am giving my money, loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the whole W ord o f God? The Bible Institute o f Los Angeles welcomes careful investigation. There are en rolled at the Institute at the present time more than 400 young men and women. Their Textbook is the Bible; their Teacher is the Spirit o f God, speaking through the Word and through the Lord’s servants. It is true that modernism is sweeping through many o f our institutions of learning today, robbing the rising generation o f the faith that saves. But some schools still remain true to the glori ous g.ospel of the grace o f God. These institutions merit the full support o f the Lord’s people. W ill you not pray that the ministry o f every such school may increase in scope until the Lord shall come, and that the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles in particular may be enabled to fulfill its divinely assigned mission in this age o f apostasy ?— L. T. T. National Day of Prayer T he Christians o f the United States are urged to ob serve Sunday, November 25, 1934, as a Day of Prayer for Repentance and Revival. The need for this united and earnest supplication is presented by means o f correspon dence and striking posters sent out from the Chicago offices o f Ernest M. Wadsworth, Director o f the Great Commis sion Prayer League. This explanatory word accompanies the literature: “ No individual or institution is assuming any leadership in this Call. A group o f men, ‘whose hearts God had touched,’ are simply voicing the conviction o f tens of thousands o f Christians throughout the land.” The names o f one hundred leading ministers and lay workers are appended— representing the country geographically and denominationally. First, it is pointed out that America •' facing a serious crisis, both in the nation and in the churd:. Spiritual revival is our crying need. Sacred institu tions are threatened. The principles of sound government are flouted. Powerful foes o f righteousness are multiply ing. Youth is in grave danger. Unc.hastity, intemperance, atheism, and infidelity are sweeping with ruinous force through our land. Communism is stirring up mass hatred and revolution. Help must come from God. Nothing else but His interposition will bring relief. For this the church must turn to God in prayer, for He alone has the remedy for mortal ills. God stir America 1 As ground for encouragement, the attention o f believers is turned to the Word o f God and to the record of history. “ I f my people, which are
World Conditions a Call to Intercession F ollowing four months’ sojourn abroad, I returned from Australia on October 6 to the Church o f the Open Door and to the Bible Institute of Los Angeles with certain deep convictions: First, that in view o f the de plorable conditions prevailing in all parts o f the world today, the period o f grace must be drawing to a close more rapidly than we realize; and second, that in the face o f ter rible world perplexity, God is calling His own people to an enlarged ministry of intercession. In Australia, the land of my birth, I was grieved to find that modernism has made tremendous inroads, as it has in America and in other, localities. Men and women brazenly deny the deity o f . Christ, His virgin birth, the authority o f the Scriptures, and other great truths, for the proclamation o f which martyrs have shed their blood. What a troubled world we are living in ! There is the awful and the rapid increase o f crime, the lamentable lack o f filial piety, the absence of the spirit o f conviction in meetings that have for their purpose the winning o f the lost. These conditions indicate that we are in the end-time o f the age. And they emphasize the fact that the only remedy is to be found in the ministry o f intercession. Let me say again: The state o f the world and the church today is a call to prayer, brethren. If we, the people of God, could be stirred to give ourselves not merely to praying a little more, but rather to living in the very atmos phere of prayer, God would be glorified, and we would see that which we have so yearned to see— the arm o f the Lord being manifested in power.— L. T . T. Bible Institutes— a Bulwark A fter a careful study o f the religious situation in the Countries I have visited, I am o f the fixed opinion that the Bible Institutes o f the world are, under God, the bul wark o f the church today. Everywhere I went, I found young men asking where they might go in order to receive a knowledge o f the Word of God which would equip them for the gospel min istry at home or abroad. Some o f these young men had studied in seminaries and had found that the influence of the type o f instruction given there had paralyzed rather than developed their spiritual life, denying to them the only authority that a Christian may claim— “ thus saith the Lord.” The greatest modern tragedy is that many branches o f the Protestant church have discarded faith in the Word o f God. Meanwhile, their pernicious doctrines are being widely disseminated by the help o f unwary individuals who think they are giving to the cause o f Christ. What right
has any Christian steward to give a penny for the advance o f false teaching ? Institutions like the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles cling to the old Book and the old faith. They provide courses o f study in historic Christian ity, and they both proclaim
called by my name, shall hum ble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways ; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7 :14 ).
November, 1934
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It is desired that throughout the nation Christians spend as much time as possible on Sunday, November 25, in inter cession for definite objects, some o f which are outlined in the Call: First of all, let us confess our individual and na tional sins, and cry mightily to God for forgiveness and spiritual healing. Then let us pray for the church, that the Spirit o f grace and supplication be poured out upon her, and that her spiritual life shall be revived. Let us pray for the homes o f America, and for the establishing of family altars. Then we should pray for the safety o f our nation, for the President, his Cabinet and advisers; for Congress, for Governors, and for all state and city offi cials. We should pray that God will not only bless America and Christians throughout this land, but that He will bless His people throughout the world, and that multitudes may be swept into the kingdom of God. Prayer is not only a privilege; it is also an imperative obligation. Again and again it has pleased the Lord to answer the united pleading o f His people. T o cite just one example: Last June, when the year’s drought exceeded anything experienced in more than forty years in America, the Blue Network was used to call the people to prayer for repentance and deliverance. The prayer that went out over the radio to hundreds o f homes was uttered by Rev. Harold M. Lundquist, Dean of the Moody Bible Institute. It was a remarkable petition, giving honor to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, acknowledging individual and national sin, and beseeching divine favor on the ground o f God’s grace. Many o f the Lord’s people doubtless joined in this earnest supplication. And the Sunday School Times declares that “ newspapers immediately reported rains throughout the area where the broadcast had been made.” As His people again unite in definite prayer, may it please God to grant once more the showers o f blessing without which spiritual drought is inevitable in the nation. An Oriental Views America T here have come as visitors to America during recent months, a distinguished Chinese leader and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Wang, o f Hongkong. Educated .in three Chinese Naval colleges, at the time o f his conversion in 1918 Mr. Wang held a high position in the Chinese Navy. Later, he felt led o f the Lord to resign his position and devote his time to' evangelism. In the years which have followed this decision, he has had exceptional opportuni ties for witnessing among his people, in almost every pro vince o f China as well as in other regions. Speaking o f his recent tour o f America, Mr. Wang makes various observa tions, humorously expressed: W e landed at Los Angeles the end o f June and have traveled over eleven thousand miles in three months, be sides taking about one hundred meetings in different places. One of my impressions o f America is that there are too many automobiles here. It is a nation on wheels. I have seen several automobile accidents. While riding in the car, I said, “ Praise the Lord, my cup runneth over— but please, Lord, not my car 1” I never realized before that there is a desert in America. It was very hot when we drove through the desert parts o f southeastern California and northern Ari zona and New Mexico. The heat we encountered in Amer ica is like baking—it dries you up; while the heat in China is like boiling—you at least are left juicy. “ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not” (Lam. 3 :22). With keen spiritual insight, Mr. Wang views America’s real need as well as that o f the whole world, when he says: How sad it is to see this country, which puts the in scription “ In God W e Trust” on its dollar, departing from the God o f its fathers! It is the faith of the Pilgrim Fathers that made America great. There is no such thing [Continued on page 387]
THE AUSTRALIAN BLACKS An Illustrated Article by Louis T . T albot
A n A boriginal C hief T HE President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles has just returned from Australia, where he spent three adventurous weeks in the interior, penetrating the region known as the Land of the Never Never. He has brought back a remarkable account of the weird customs and strange ceremonial rites of the wild trikes, and also of the great change which the acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ has wrought. This story, illustrated with actual photographs, will appear in an early issue of the KING’S BUSINESS. The picture of the aboriginal chief used this month is the property of Picturesque Australia. Wherever Mr. Talbot traveled, he received a warm welcome, which was extended also to the other members of his party— Mrs. Talbot, their daughters Audrey and Betty, and thirteen- year-old Hugh B. Evans III. A t Honolulu, Mr. Talbot was asked to speak to about fifty guests at a dinner arranged for their pastor by Mr. and Mrs. Guernsey Brown, members of the Church of the Open Door. These missionaries, after receiving training at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, went to Hawaii to labor among Japanese, Chinese, and Hawaiians. At Sydney, Australia, the city of Mr. Talbot’s birth, he spoke repeatedly in the Town Hall, on one occasion addressing 3,500 young people at the closing session of a Christian Endeavor Con vention. Meetings for one or two weeks each were held in the following centers in Sydney: Central Methodist Mission, Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle, Burwood Baptist Church, Manley Con gregational Church, and Redfern Congregational Church— the campaigns taking the form of evangelistic services or prophetic con ferences. Every Wednesday that he was in Sydney, Mr. Talbot addressed the intercessory meeting at noon in the Town Hall, where about 700 gather regularly for prayer. A number of souls were saved during these weeks abroad, but it was felt that the greatest work was done in establishing in the faith the many Christians who had been swayed by the modernistic trend in the world today, and whose love for the Lord and His W ord had grown cold. Numerous other invitations for ministry were received, including a call to preach for two weeks in the Baptist Tabernacle of Auck land, where Dr. Joseph Kemp had ministered for many years. Returning to his pulpit in the Church of the Open Door on October 7, Mr. Talbot was greeted at both the morning and eve ning services by congregations of approximately 3,500 people. The burden of his messages was a call to prayer— prayer that souls may be saved, that believers may be established in the faith, and that young people especially may be sent forth with the message of redeeming grace.
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November, 1934
r \ | Twenty Years of PAIN ...and THANKFULNESS yTy/l/ZA'iS C t + t , V ¿5- B y O ne W ho H as L earned S ongs in the N ight
with jewels which “ cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.” And what friends He has given me! Are there more loyal friends than those who stand by the sick through the years? My family and friends have prayed for me, encouraged me, quietly sacrificed for me, washed my dishes, rubbed my aching head, offered me everything from new books to their very lifeblood for blood transfu sions. I should like to speak o f a very devoted and tender husband, but that is a matter too personal. T he G ifts of L aughter and V ision I know that laughter is not listed as one o f the gifts o f the Spirit, but I do thank God for it. He has un doubtedly given it to man, and, personally, I fail to see how* an invalid could bear life without it, or how our families could endure us unless we had some sense o f humor. How many tense situations can be relieved by a laugh! I have thanked God many times for a love o f beauty. How He must love beauty, since He took pains to make so much o f i t ! I often think how much pleasure He must derive from all that He has created. Surely He wants us to appreciate it, not to go about with blind eyes, oblivious to so lovely a gift. I am reminded o f the verse in Kings, “ And the Lord opened the eyes o f the young man; and he saw.” There is so much that we could see in the physical as well as in the spiritual world if we would let God touch our eyes. Perhaps He has given to sick people, as a com pensation, a freshness o f impression, a heightened appre ciation o f the things which are commonly taken for granted because we are accustomed to them— the mar velous tracery on the wings o f a butterfly, the intricacy o f a spider’s web, a child’s laughter, the morning star alone in the sky. I shall never forget one evening years ago. I had been in bed most o f the time for five years, and that par ticular summer, I had not been out at all. My eyes as well as my soul needed far horizons'to keep from growing nearsighted. So that evening I managed to get to the hammock on the front porch. The stars - were bright
[Believing that the accompanying anonymous message will have added value for our readers if they know some thing about the deep waters through which the Lord has been leading the writer, we are taking, the liberty o f sharing a part o f a personal letter which was not intended for publication .— E ditor .] “ I was quite overwhelmed [the writer states] by your suggestion that I write something for your Thanksgiving number. The happy tears came into my eyes at the thought that if I could write something worth printing, perhaps, after all, these years that seemed so barren may bear a little fruit for my Lord. The main thing, o f course, that my illness has brought me is a knowledge o f God. “ You see, I broke down very early in young woman hood and have had twenty years o f illness, the first seven in bed most o f the time; then up off and ■on, one sick spell after another— seven operations besides fifteen minor ‘carvings.’ Almost every disease has had a try at me. For the last six years, I have been quite on the shelf again, able to attend church only once during that time. “ You would have laughed had you been here yester day. I have a violent cold, and I also have some trouble with my spine, so that every time I sneezed, it felt as though some one were breaking my back. Here I was, sneezing and moaning my way through an article on the joys o f being sick ! But oh, I have so many more things to be thankful for than I could list in my little article! I can’t tell you what sheer joy it gives me to feel that God will still let me live and serve Him.” A t this Thanksgiving season, I am looking back over YX tw en ty years o f illness and thanking God for them. Does that sound strange ? Ah, but they have brought me gifts, those weary years. I do not enjoy sickness nor suffering, nor the nervous energy' and exhaustion that are harder to bear than physical pain. And an invalid must bury so many ■dear dreams, which have death struggles, and refuse to die decently and quietly. But God has a way o f taking away our toys, and after we have cried for a while like disappointed children, He fills our hands
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November, 1934
T he C hallenge of L eisure H ours W e sick people have so much leisure, unwelcome some times, but blessed beyond measure when rightly used. I often wonder whether you dear ones who are so active in His service are not sometimes too busy with doing. God’s voice is a still small voice, and we must listen in order to hear it. Or at times we only feel Him, resting quietly beneath His hand. O f course one o f the hardest things about being sick is a feeling o f uselessness. W e want to work for God. Can it be that we have an idea that God is needy, that our services are necessary to Him? Oh, it is indeed good to work for God, but it is better just to do His will, and it may be that it is not His will that all should work. Some day He will tell us about that. But there is one great ministry in which even we sick ones may share, and I thank God for that, the ministry o f prayer. It is a marvelous, a breath-taking thought, that I, lying here on my bed in my small room, may help set
above me, depth beyond depth o f velvet space. The branches o f an old elm tree were black against the sky, and the shadows o f leaves in the moonlight fell over me. The shadow o f a leaf is a marvelous thing, with all that it implies o f stationary laws, o f creation, of growth, o f God! I looked at them as though I had never seen them before. I saw so many wonders that night, wonders that God had made’ o f earth and sky and winds and trees. And always people passing, foosteps approaching and dying away, never realizing (how could they?) how won derful was freedom and strength. How my heart went out to these passers-by, each one more precious to God than all the wonders o f the night sky. And how surprised they would have been to know that some one, back in the shadows o f the porch, had prayed for them! Machine loads o f gaily laughing young people, small boys breath less from an evening game o f tag, bits o f conversation. A child begging, “ Daddy, carry me,” and a voice saying tenderly, “ Lovey, do the new shoes hurt your feet?” It made me think o f a tender Shepherd carrying the lambs
in operation the vast machinery o f God, may change the destiny o f a life, a world, may even hasten the day o f His appearing! Why don’t we pray more? Do you remember the old fairy stories about the magic carpet which would whisk one away to the edge o f the world, or about the wishing ring, which one had only to turn three times and a wish would come true? How we used to long for them, and how very sure we were that if we had them we would use them! And yet we Christians have something that far transcends, in wonder and power, any of- these things, and how often we fail to use i t ! Can it be that in our heart o f hearts we doubt its efficacy? What other explanation can there be? Oh, when we get to heaven and learn what we might have ac complished with prayer! R est in the W ill of G od I recall that after I had been sick fo r several years, I thought, in my foolishness, that I had learned the lessons which God wanted to teach me, and that He would let me go out into the world and work for Him. A s though one could ever learn all that God has to teach! No, I am still sick, though not bedfast. I do not understand why I must still be an invalid. I no longer expect to understand. I f I did, there would be no need o f faith. Enough that He knows why, and some day He will tell me all about it—why it was best for me and best for His cause. And meanwhile His strength is made perfect in my weakness, and He can supply all my needs “ ac cording to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” It is one thing to think so— it is another thing to have found out by actual experience that it is so, to know beyond a shadow o f [Continued-on page 386]--
o f His flock. The memory o f my magic night has never left me, and often when things grow flat and stale, I go back to the time when for a little space I really saw, when all o f earth and all o f heaven, all the things terrestrial and the things celestial, were in the living air about me. T he L essons T hat the S leepless L earn It seems odd that I can thank Him for sleeplessness. I have suf fered so from it, and yet, looking back, I can see that some o f the greatest blessings have come during the long nights. At about two in the morning, when all the world is quiet, God comes very close. Some times when I have been wakeful for hours with fever or pain, or have tossed about, restlessly trying to solve the problems, financial and do mestic, that come when some one in the home is ill, at last the thought has come, “ How foolish o f me! I don’t have to attend to this; He will do it for me.” And I have whis pered over and over to myself some o f His precious promises, and they were indeed a lamp unto my feet in the night. Often I would go out to sit in our back yard. It has a tiny lawn, green hedges, two trees, and, oh, such a deep sky overhead! What a host o f stars, so calm, so serene, so steadfast! I would sit quietly for a long time, and after a while, the peace o f God would sink into my soul, and I would see that after all it mattered little that my broken body suffered, since the body’s loss may be the spirit’s gain. Nothing that happens to us is important ex cept in so far as it affects our spirit ual development, our knowledge of God, and the growth o f our faith.
V I S I O N By M ARTHA SNELL N ICH O LSO N Once an angel, to my pleading Giving ear, Let me have a glimpse of glory, Even here— Left the gate of heaven open Just a bit, At evening, when the lamps of heaven All were lit. Poised on tiptoe, I was peering, Very bold I Saw the winding streets of heaven Gleaming gold, Glimpsed the shining rows of angels, Far and far— Robed in silver, crowned with splendor, Like a star; Heard the heavenly music choiring, Peal on peal, Till the wondering soul within me Bade me kneel. Fair was all that land of beauty And delight, And my heart was lifted, singing, At the sight. Then I saw the Lord of heaven On His throne, Saw Him waiting for the coming Of His own. . . . • Since, my raptured eyes see nothing Save His face, And my humbled heart is flooded With His grace! Then they shut the door of heaven Close and tight, Shut me out from all the glory And the light; But I keep the vision hidden In my heart, And I'm living now as one who Walks apart, Till the time when I go knocking At the door. When it opens, I will leave it Nevermorel
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"Giving Thanks
B y OLIVE WOODWARD OGG
Monroe, Iowa
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T hanksgiving D ay is going to be different this year. My childhood and youth were spent in a New England town, although the town was located in this same Midwestern State of my present sojourn. It was a bit o f New England transplanted into Western soil. Until I grew up and went away from home, I never heard a pail called a bucket, or a spider profanely designated a skillet. Thanksgiving Day to us meant not primarily the close of the football season. The union service on Thanksgiving morning was as much a feature o f the day as were the turkey and the cranberry sauce. Often there was snow, perhaps the first big fall o f the season, around Thanks giving Day. I can feel now the healthy tingle o f cold and anticipation and appetite as we wallowed through drifting snow on our way home from church to the gathering o f the clan—with nearly always the addition of some guest who, far from home and kindred, was given a welcome at our board on this homing day. In the community where I now live, the union Thanks giving service has been relegated to the Wednesday evening
preceding the holiday and is perfunctorily attended by a meager handful o f the faithful. More than once, my own festive circle has been invaded by the football spirit, so that either dinner has been unduly hurried, or the circle has been broken. But that is not the reason why this year’s “ Thankful Day” is to be different; for, hard as the fact is to realize, this spot has been my home for many more years than were spent in the old homestead. “ The thoughts o f youth are long, long thoughts,” so that twenty years then seem to have been much longer in passing than thirty since. This is the first fall within my memory when there has been no “ Harvest Home.” I hope you can recall a harvest home service in the old village church. It was such a glad, bountiful time. I suppose the decorations o f autumn leaves, corn fodder, yellow pumpkins, and rosy-cheeked apples made it more or less a season of despair for the janitor, but we youngsters enjoyed it, and for us- down through all the years since, the Sixty-fifth Psalm has always been associated with rustling corn fodder and yellow pumpkins and sheaves o f golden grain brought into the meetinghouse, like the firstfruits waved before the Lord. This year, should our Lord tarry, will stand out unique in history and may be told to the generations following. In this particular corner o f a drought-scourged world, normally a veritable garden o f the Lord, there are no pumpkins at a ll; only a few dwarfed apples hang lonesome on the trees, the autumn leaves have no gorgeous colorings, and the stunted, wind-whipped, sun-scorched, worm- infested fodder is far from being a thing o f beauty coveted for purposes o f decoration. Beautiful, luxuriant blue- grass pastures such as it takes years to develop have been turned into a desolate, barren, dusty waste. A common sight to be seen upon the highways is a number o f truck- loads o f bony cattle being shipped to the north where rain was more abundant. Canneries once crowded to capacity storing up summer vegetables have been converted to gov ernment purposes salvaging the usable remnant o f herds sacrificed because o f the drought. One reads the first chapter o f the book o f Joel with amazement, so perfectly does it describe conditions here and now. The picture is complete, from the insect pests o f the first paragraph to the dying trees o f the closing one. The drought has cleaned us out o f everything but the promises o f God. W e live in the richest farming section o f this richest farming state in the Union, and everything is dead. Even the trees are dying. You would think, to drive through, that this was “ poor lander” territory such as you read o f in Ozark'stories. W e are just over the drought line; ten miles to the north, the greenness begins and increases as you go north. But God’s promises are not dried out nor sun-scorched. Thanksgiving Day this year will be different, but there will be a Thanksgiving Day. G iving T hanks for C hrist J esus Should an eager, waiting, wistful Bride be caught up to meet her Bridegroom in the air, it will o f course be
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joyfu l beyond one’s fondest dreams. But should she be destined to wait a few more years in this Valley o f Humili ation, although many o f us, like Christian, shall find our selves “ hard put to it,” yet still will there be the song of rejoicing on our lips and in our hearts, perhaps as never before. W e shall be giving thanks because our blessed Lord has proved Himself the same yesterday and today and forever. Why do we ever forget how beautiful and sufficient He is ? W e can say o f this trying experience, even as Julian of Norwich wrote five hundred years ago o f her first “ Reve lation o f Divine Love” : “ This Shewing was . . . horri fying and dreadful, sweet and lovely. And o f all the sight it was most comfort to me that our God and Lord that is so reverend and dreadful, is so homely and courteous; and
this most filled me with comfort and assured ness o f soul.” Verily, He is the same today that He was five hun dred or five thousand years ago. Sometimes in our prosperous self- sufficiency, sometimes in the rush o f doing th in g s th e w o r ld ’s way, s om e tim e s for the heaviness o f sor r ow , o u r ey e s are holden that we know Him not; then He gra ciously comes in to sup with us, and as He breaks the bread, our
T R U S T "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines* the labor of the olive [4 shall fail. and the fields shal yield no meat; Ifie flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet 1 will re- ¡oice in the Lord, 1 will joy in the So d of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18]
smoldering hearts leap into a glad flame to greet our risen L o rd ; and the things o f earth, its wealth and poverty and hurry and bustle, become like dreams o f the night. He is- our all in all. W e shall be giving thanks because we have learned afresh that none o f the obstacles He permits to be placed in our path are insurmountable. Often and often the only possible road ahead has looked as if it were leading into a blind alley; then, just before the moment o f despair, a narrow opening has appeared. So exuberant has been our joy at help so obviously providential, that we have said in our hearts that poverty which leans on Him is sweeter far than self-sufficient wealth. G iving T hanks for T esting On the opening page o f a beautiful little volume pub lished by the China Inland Mission and but recently off the press, memorializing Emil Fischbacher, who was called Home within sixteen brief months after beginning his work in China, is to be found this significant quotation: “ As long as Christianity lasts, the heroic ideal must be the standard o f all human life. Christianity can accept no other; whatever it may tolerate, its standard is irremovable. . . There is plenty o f temptation to give up the heroic standard. It often fails. It is easily counterfeited. Its failure is scandalous. And not only our self-indulgence, but our suspicion and hatred of insincere pretense, our moderation and common sense, bid us content ourselves with something short o f it, and take our aim by what we call our nature. But the New Testament will not meet us here. The heroic standard is the only one it will coun tenance for its own, as proportionate to the greatness of its disclosures.” “ Our moderation and common sense,” how they bid us be content with the low, well-watered plain! What have we to do with the steeps? Would it not be a pose for us
to attempt the difficult climb? The Careys and the John G. Patons, the Bunyans and the Wesleys— they were men of heroic stature. W e are just everyday folk. So we build our neat nests and live our comfortable little lives until one day the tempest wrecks it all. I think it was F. B. Meyer who said, “ God’s plan for us is so much larger than our own that the two naturally come into col lision. . . . God’s plans value bur ease and comfort but little, and our growth in goodness and usefulness a great deal.” Perhaps we have especial cause for thanksgiving for the very period o f depression and drought through which we have been passing. Very possibly it is the good hand of our God upon us that “ wrecks the neat nests we have made for ourselves, drives us out to new flights, constrains us# to finer efforts.” Let us not fail to remember that always with the call comes the enabling. His grace is suf ficient for anything His will permits. [Continued on page 386]
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PHILIPPIANS,,, A Christian in His RightM ind c H ß ( * s i ) n o U F G - f / u j c i l -K . B y ROY V . LAURIN San Gahnel, California
“Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being o f one accord, o f one mind” (Phil. 2 :2 ). T he historical and literary significance o f this letter rests in the fact that it was written to European Christians. It was at Philippi that Europe was first visited with the gospel by Paul. His contact there was with a
Seven times in this letter,
reference is made to the
thinking o f Christians: 1. “ Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel o f Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear o f your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith o f the gospel” ( 1 :27). 2. “ Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being o f one accord, o f one mind” (2 :2 ) . 3. “ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” ( 2 :5 ). 4. “ For I have no man likemind- y ed, who will naturally care for H H \ your state” ( 2 :20).
young business woman who, in women, was in the custom or
the company resorting to the
o f other riverside
for prayer. Paul’s expedition o f grace to this place was ventured because o f a notable vision he once entertained, a vision o f
a Macedonian whose challenge v {‘Come over . . . and help us. Paul held these European Christians in deep affection. His regard for them was engen dered by great k in d n e sse s shown him by the Philippian church. Twice while he was
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5. “ Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (3 :1 5 ). 6. “ I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that tH£y be o f the same mind in the Lord” (4 :2 ) . This instance was evi dently a specific case o f the anti- mindedness that Paul was rebuk- f ing, and if was all the more damag- ing because it prevailed among these women who were evidently women o f distinction among the local Christians. 7. “ Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
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at Thessalonica, and on ce while he was at Corinth, they sent him contributions for his support; and just prior to the writing o f this epistle, they had sent Epaphroditus, a leading presbyter in the church, all the way from Philippi, across three seas— the Aegean, the Adriatic, and the Mediterranean— that he might minister to Paul, who was a prisoner at Rome. While in Rome, Epaphroditus was taken violently ill, even nigh unto death, but God spared his life, and at the time o f
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Paul’s writing, this faithful helper was ready to depart on his long journey home. He became Paul’s messenger, for he returned to Philippi with this letter. It is full of praise and affection which were not expressed as mere literary flattery. It was honest commendation, for the Philippian Christians were in a very high state o f Chris tian experience and grace. The church was apparently free from doctrinal errors and schismatic factions. How ever, it had one blemish, the blemish o f anti-mindedness. There were those among th e , Philippians who were at variance, and this factious spirit was rebuked by the apostle, lest it spread through the entire church and cause divisions as it had among the Corinthians, where a deplor able spirit o f party prevailed. This spirit o f party is as prevalent in the church o f our day as it was at Philippi and Corinth. It works havoc wherever it prevails, and it becomes the solemn obligation o f every believer to beware o f anti-mindedness and to assiduously espouse the ensign o f Christian unity, wherein all will say, “ I also am o f Christ.” “ R ooted and G rounded in L ove ” It is particularly noticeable that Philippians deals with the thinking o f Christians, not so much on the basis o f logic as on the basis o f love. [This is the third of the series o f articles on “ The Gist of Four Great Letters,” prepared for the K in g ’ s B usiness by the pastor o f the San Gabriel Union Church. — E ditor .]
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are o f good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (4 :8 ). In these verses is .to be found the gist o f Philippians, and they show us a Christian in his right mind.. When is a Christian in his right mind ? A Christian is right-minded when he is like-minded. And he is like-minded when he is Christ-minded. M ental A ttitudes The subject o f right-mindedness passes beyond Philip pians to the broader sweep o f the entire Scriptures, where there may be found at least seven mental attitudes. Open-mindedness : “ How long halt ye between two opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow him : but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Ki. 18:21). Ordinarily the fact o f a choice being made between two opinions would give evidence o f genuine open-mind edness. But this case is an illustration o f that which is popularly called an “ open mind,” but which is in reality no mind at all. Here the word “ halt” does not mean the careful consideration of two opinions- It means “ to leap” or “ to pass over.” And here were a people who were leaping back and forth between two opinions, first on one side and then on the other. When we speak o f an “ open mind,” we mean a mind
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open to conviction. But it is not a mind always open, or it would become a mind minus its convictions. This latter kind o f mind would be as useful to us as a rancher’s chicken house would be without a door, for he would soon be minus his chickens. And in the same sense we would be minus convictions and would be as “ children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind o f doctrine.” There must come a time in our experience when we can say, “ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Single-mindedness: “ Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as men- pleasers; but in singleness o f heart, fearing; God” (Col. 3 :22 ). This passage refers, by the use o f the word “ heart” instead o f “ mind,” not so much to our thinking processes as to our mental attitudes. This singleness means “ sim plicity o f purpose” or “ freedom from duplicity.” It does, not refer to a one-track mind by which one becomes a mental freak, laying himself open to grave consequences. It is a mind which is free from mental hypocrisy. There are mental hypocrites just as there are moral and religious hypocrites. A mental hypocrite is a man whose thinking is arranged under two sets o f thoughts or convictions. One set is just a pretense by which he thinks he fools God. He is saying “ yes” to God with the one set, and living his life by the other. God requires a mind free from duplicity. ■Double-mindedness: “ A double-minded man is un stable in all his ways” (Jas. 1 :8). A double-minded man is a spiritual monstrosity, for the Greek for “ double-minded” means “ two-souled.” His real soul has a shadow soul. He is a waverer. He is un stable. He is a spiritual weakling. He is like a weather vane— blown by prevailing winds. He is like driftwood upon the sea, floated here and there by prevailing currents. One day he subscribes to the Scriptures; the next day he agrees with some contrary philosophy. One day he be lieves G od ; the next day he doubts God. One day he is
affairs will reveal how widely this mental attitude prevails — with its stubborn tenacity, its unyielding selfishness, and its perversity. It surely does not belong to a Christian, whose mind should have a gentle susceptibility to the slightest influences o f the Holy Spirit. Anti-mindedness: “ I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be o f the same mind in the Lord” (Phil. 4 :2 ). This plea is a warning against anti-mindedness. Anti- mindedness is a spiritual disease that carries over into too many Christian experiences. The anti-minded Christian is never in harmony or unity with his fellow Christian. He is never the advocate o f constructive policies, but is always on the “ anti” side among the “ anti” party. He is a wrecker and not a builder. His attitude is not merely a difference o f opinion, but the result o f a surly and carnal disposition that neither reasons nor loves in the true spirit o f Christ. Much o f the division that prevails among Christians re minds one o f the people o f a certain island who made “ a precarious living by washing each other’s clothes.” Like-mindedness: “ Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like- minded, having the same love, being o f one accord, o f one mind” (Phil. 2 :2 ). This is a Christian in his right mind. He is a Christian who is “ likeminded.” Paul wrote similarly to the Corinthians who were in volved in schisms and factions: “ I beseech you, brethren, by the name o f our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among y o u ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1 :10). The common cause for the differences and divisions which prevailed in Corinth, and undoubtedly in Philippi, was carnality. “ For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Cor. 3 :3 ). It is when we “ walk as men” and not as new men in Christ that differences divide believers. This carnality breeds a party spirit, and the Christian cause becomes, under those circumstances, a warfare o f conflicting opin
full, o f faith and is strong; the next day he is full o f fear and is weak. One day he has a testimony; the next day his lips are sealed. Listen to the verdict: “ Let not that man think that he shall re ceive any thing o f the Lord” (Jas. 1 :7 ). Mule-mindedness: “ Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no under standing : whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee” (Psa. 32 :9 ). An observation o f human Master minds in all ages have led the world in both reflective and expressive thought. The contribu tions of philosophers, poets, states men, artists, and scientists have en riched all generations. Yet to have "the mind of Christ"— which is the privilege of the humblest believer in the Son of So d— is a distinction more to be desired than to be numbered with the world's intel ligentsia. "The world passeth away, •. but he that doeth the will of Sod abideth for ever" (I John 2:17).
ions among those who should be soldiers o f a common cause against sin. This thing will not be, when we throw off the yoke o f carnality and walk, as we should, “ in the Spirit.” And to this end, there is set before us the ideal o f “ one mind” (Rom . 15:6 ). This “ one mind” is not your mind or my mind. In fact, it is not a human mind at all. It is what the next state o f mind reveals— Christ’s mind. Christ-mindedness: “ Let this mind be in you, which Socrates (left) and Justinian (right), representing, respectively, Philosophy and Statecraft, are two of the carved buttress figures which decorate the facade of the Los An geles Public Library. Bertram Gros- venor Goodhue, the architect, se lected Lee Lawrie, now considered the outstanding architectural sculp tor of the United States, to deco rate the exterior of his buildings. The pictures are used on these pages through the courtesy of the Library.
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