395
T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
September 1932
CD ay DD ulJlllnieni of PR.QPHECY S . . . By Louis S. B auman ------------------------- — ------------------------------------
(D Jveseni -
and even the “ spiritual forces” are too weak to effectively protest, so corrupting an institution as the American movie. There is scarcely a home in America where the daily news paper does not flaunt before the eyes of little children the suggestive advertisements of these dens of iniquity. The lucre-famished newspapers are publishing by th,e yard “ ads” so filthily suggestive of all that morally degenerates and putrifies, that decency demands that even a courageous pen shall refrain from quoting the proof. Go get your newspaper and read. It is enough. The language advertising these sinks to the pit may be a bit more polite, but its meaning is not one whit more clean than the meaning of many of the foulest of the foul inscriptions inscribed upon certain public walls, the pro duct of minds so utterly berotted that even in the lowest hell, we doubt not, they must be covered with chloride of lime. If, in the days of Noah, “ God saw that the wicked ness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagina tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” so that “ it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Gen. 6:5, 6 ), how must that infinitely holy God, “ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever,” be grieved as He looks down from His throne above upon the children of men today? And if in the days o f Noah, God arose in His righteous indig nation and washed away the filth of the world with a mighty flood of His waters, what is our reasonable expec tation in this hour? If, in the days of Lot, the loss of all moral sensibilities among the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah caused an indignant Jehovah to arise in His anger and purge the atmosphere with the fire of His wrath, are we to expect no judgments now, when the sin of the world is so much greater because of the light that upon it shines? Consider Matthew 11:23 and 24. Another product of Hollywood, now being devoured by the play-going millions of America, is named “ New Morals For Old,” as if the eternal righteousness of God were subject to change by the clock. “ New Morals For Old” ! Does that mean that some one has decided that white is to be black henceforth, and that black is to be white ? And this is the harbinger of our (the children of this age) doom : not that we have sunk into depthts of de pravity—the gospel of the grace of God might rescue us from that!-—but that we have become morally and spirit ually color-blind, that we have become insensible to the difference between light and darkness. “ If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness,” said the Master. “ If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). " I f the light that is in thee be darkness!” Ah, that alone is fatal! That alone carries man or nation beyond the point of recovery! That alone is a second death! Fascinated by a bathing beauty, King David became guilty of about the most terrible sins of which flesh and blood can be guilty—adultery, the theft of another man’s darling and loving wife, and murder. Yet, even the skeptical mind of Thomas Carlyle candidly admits that “ his [David’s] was not the greatest o f sins. The greatest of sins, I should say,” continues the great literary critic,
“Merrily W e Go To Hell” J P lung in great flaming letters across a theater front, those words met the eyes of the writer and his wife as they rounded the corner of a Los Angeles street the other night. Above the portals of hundreds (and probably thousands) o f playhouses, those words flash and invite as we write to night. Strikingly prophetic are they of the end of this and every other age. “ Merrily” did Mother Eve munch the fruit that was sweet to her taste, pleasant to her eyes, and delighted her in that it made her wise to “ good and evil” ; and “merrily” she went to “ hell,” there to remain a captive until He, who has the keys (Rev. 1:18), should come and “ lead captivity captive” (Eph. 4 :8 ). “ Merrily” did the antede- luvians frolic with “ the sons o f God” and beget their “men of renown.” “ Merrily” they gave themselves over to the pleasurable delights of “ The Great White Way” whose side doors opened into every form of “ corruption” (Gen. 6 :5 ,11 ) ; and “merrily” they went to “ hell,” there to await the message of the Preacher (1 Pet. 3:19, 20). “ Merrily” did the throngs walk the streets of Sodom and Gomorrah by day and by night, seeking all the sweets of strange flesh —and “ merrily” they also went to “ hell.” So it has been, age-end after age-end. And our age-end is no exception! K nowingly T hey Go To H ell One of the significant things about the modern play house is the fact that it is hanging out signs that speak the truth as to its character. That is good. But how are we to account for it ? Is the same omnipotent Power at work that once laid hold upon the tongue of Balaam (Num. 23:16, 20) and compelled him to utter the truth, whether he would or not—is that same Power now compelling the spirit of Hollywood to speak truly concerning its own nature, so that the men, women, and even children who walk through the gates into these modern temples of Sodom shall not have, as did the Sodomites before them, ignorance for an excuse ? Doubly damned must be the souls who deliberately walk through “ the gates of hell” under brilliantly lighted signs that flash, “ Merrily We Go To Hell” ; and “ Hell’s House” ; and “ Man On Hell’s Edges” ; and “ Sinners In The Sun”— signs underneath which millions are passing tonight. V erily T hey Go To H ell The loss of all moral consciousness is ever indicative of the approach of an age-ending judgment. That such a condition now exists throughout the whole world is in evi dence not only in poor, blood-spattered old Russia, where the appalling moral degeneration grows continually deeper as the officials themselves corrupt the plastic minds of lit tle children by sex questionnaires and impure literature illustrated by pictures vile; but it is also in evidence in America, where Hollywood, supported by lucre-seeking newspapers and magazines, works to the same end. Only, America is far more responsible to God than ever Russia can be, for Russia sins in her night —America in her light. On the road to deepest abysmal degradation is the nation where, in spite of the greatest amount of light that ever flooded itself down from the throne of God upon any people, official heads, judges and juries, refuse to condemn,
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