SIS
THE K I NG ’ S BUSTNESS
for thee,” than it is to have the thorn removed—if the thorn is needed for the outworking of the purpose of GocL in your life. It is said that God has but three answers to the prayer of petition': “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait a while.” May I presume to interpret the “No” to mean, “I have something better for you, if you will wait” ? It has been better for me: I am rich er in spiritual experience. It has been better for others. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “Not my will, but thine be done.” '
portunity, while an optimist: sees the opportunity in the difficulty.” I am sure that my time of being laid aside was not a mere detour, blit the real highway of my life. At any rate there are more flowers along the roadsides of detours than along the main high-, ways. And travel is so fast—too fast— on the main roads. Let us go on. The goal is just ahead, and let jus gather the flowers of p a t i e n c e , growth, friendship, faith and love as we go, not forgetting that, “Lo, I am with you alway.” It is better to experience with the Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient
WHEN GOD SAYS “NO” [ Continued from Page 205]
In 1929 my parish was local, wher ever I chanced to be. Today it is the ■world. . . . More than 200,000 copies of my stories are now in circulation throughout the world—stories which would never have been written had the answer to my prayer been “Yes.” For it has been during my battle*with tuberculosis that I have discovered and developed the talent for writing. Many of my published novels have been broadcast serially over one of America’s large radio stations, reach ing potentially millions. Thousands of letters have come telling of blessings 6 received, of Christians being strength ened, of young people surrendering their lives to Christ. . My own life is rich and full. While it is true, my . health is now greatly improved, it has been at the cost of ten years of semi-invalidism, suffer- ■ ing, a total of three and one-half years in bed and a number of operations— one of them a triple major operation involving the removal of a number of ribs and the permanent collapse of one lung. The fruit of that cost is a mind en riched by voluminous reading, prayer and fellowship and deeper apprecia tion of God’s presence in 'times of test-. ing, a deeper love for my family and a world-wide- parish; yes, and the continuous satisfaction of knowing that many are coming to Jesus Christ, through whom alone they can be saved. I know this: That the highway of triumph is often the low way of tribu lation. Handicaps come in handy when they pass the censorship of Ro mans 8:28. If blind Milton could write Paradise Lost, if John Bunyan in Bedford jail could write Pilgrim's Progress, if Luther imprisoned in Wartburg castle could translate the entire New Testa-, ment into the German language, if Robert Louis Stevenson, tubercular, suffering with sciatica, one arm in a sling, sentenced to absolute silence and darkness, could produce The Child's Garden of Verses, if Paul, con fined to a Roman prison and chained to a guard twenty-four hours a day, could still proclaim the •gospel—if these men under such mighty handi caps could and did dare to make progress and h i s t o r y , why should not we? For the soul there need be no' prison walls, no binding chains, no smiting blindness. There are men who have learned not to bemoan their troubles or to wast§ them, but to make slaves of them—men who have learned to use every stumbling stone as material for building a great life. i Some one has said, “A pessimist.is one who sees the difficulty in the op
Dr. Talbot's Question Box Questions (or answer in this department should be sent to the E d i t o r i a l 'Department, THE KING’S BUSINESS, 558 So. Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
know they are deceived by Satan. And we dare not keep silence so long as such doctrine is being sounded forth in the name of our blessed Lord/ QUE.t Please explain the words from the Apostles’ Creed which say that our Lord “ descended into hell.” Also, do the terms “ para dise” and “ heaven” refer to the same place ? The word “hell” here was used in the same sense as that of the King James Version of the English Bible in such passages as Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:27. T h e literal translation of the word is not “hell,” but “Sheol” or “Hades,” meaning the place of the dead prior to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. From the time of Adam until the ascension of Christ, Sheol was divided into two realms or-compartments: (1) Paradise, and (2) an awful prison, a place of torment. Between the two there was “ a great gulf fixed” (Lk. 16:26)! The exact location of Sheol we do not know, but the Lord Jesus said that, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish, so should "the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of th,e earth” - (Matt. 12:40). Paul -in Ephesians 4:9 wrote: “He also de scended first into the lower parts of the earth.” Jesus tvent to paradise, we know, according to Luke 23:43. It was the place where the departed spirits of the righteous dead (Old Testament saints) awaited Christ’s bodily resurrection and ascension be fore being taken up into the very presence of God. Paradise was cer- \Cont\nued on Page 237]
QUE.t Do you not think; it is unchristian to find fault with the so-called modernists? Many of them are doing much good in the world, and are living exemplary lives. There is a difference between fault finding and earnestly contending “for the faith which was once for all de livered unto the saints” (Jude 3, R. V.). /Certainly we must be kind, holding the truth in love. But we must not fail to warn men to flee from the wrath to come. Perhaps the following outline facts will suffice to show why we feel impelled to point out ,the un belief in the so-called modernistic camp; yet let it be remembered that these false teachings are not modern.. They were being taught when our Lord was on earth. 1. This school of theology teaches that the Rihle contains, the Word of God, but is not the infallible, verbally inspired, eternal Word of God. 2. It robs our Lord Jesus of His eter nal deity, seeking to destroy faith in His virgin birth, His miracles,*His bodily resurrection, and His coming again. 3. It denies the efficacy of Calvary’s cross, substituting man’s own,efforts —self-righteousness—as a means of salvation. These are a few of the most danger ous of the teachings being proclaimed from many pulpits of evangelical churches in Protestantism today. The men who teach such doctrines would be more honest with God and with their congregations if they would come out in the open and take their stand against Christ and His Word. Perhaps. they are self-deceived; we
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