ÏUU1H AND ih h UhKlbllAW H U M
1944
Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES. Incorporated
Annuities For 118 years this Society has followed its two-fold object to diffuse a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ by publishing and distributing literature among all nations. Your purchase of Annuity Bonds enables you to cooperate and also pays you up to 7 % annually.' Issued in strict accordance with N. Y. State Banking Laws, these bonds are a safe and profitable investment for stewards of the Lord's money, planning to set aside a portion for His use, but needing the income for themselves or dependents. Write for Booklet K. Give date of birth.
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Do Jews Control America? Swiftly the tide of Jew hate rises in America. The wildest and most fantastic falsehoods are be ing propagated even to the ob scurest corners of America. What shall the righteous do? Shall we sit idly by and allow a helpless people to be defamed, to be brutally persecuted? Or, shall we take up the gauntlet and do battle for those “of whom as c o n c e r n i n g the flesh Christ came” ? To meet this crisis hour, we have been led of God to prepare a series of tracts, each one show ing in. a kindly way the falsehood of the attacks. Here are the titles: 1. Do Jews control America? 2. Justice to the Jew. 3. To the Conscience of America. 4. Have You Ever Seen a Jew Do a Hard Day’s Work? 5. Why Blame Israel? 6 . Anti-Semitism—Is It of God or of Satan? 7. Just How Bad Are the Jews? 8 . How Near is Armageddon? The combination is yours for 10 c, which is less than even the cost of printing. Examine these leaflets prayerfully, then Send us your orders by the hundreds and by the thousands; scatter them over this country like the. leaves of autumn. Make yourself one of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, for this is the su preme call of the hour to the true child of God. God has given us the answer to this Satanic Jew hating pro paganda in America, and we now place it at your disposal. Dear Friends: I enclose 10c for your "Anti dote to Jew Hate” package. I also enclose ................... as my fellowship with you in your world-wide ministry of the gospel to Israel. Name ---------------------- --------------- Street ——------------------------------- City.——----........ State—™...____.... AMERICAN BOARD OF M ISSIO N S TO THE JEWS, Inc. 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn 6, N. Y. * 39 King William Street Hamilton, Ontario Canada
The Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Inc. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins tn his own blood” (Rev, 1:5), THE KING'S BUSINESS VoLxr Cover Photograph by Harold M . Lambert. Family Prayer— That Works \— William F. McDermott ............................ ...162 Current Business — Editorial _____ __ __________ ________ .......... ........ 163 Behind the News —Dan Gilbert __...__________ ______________ ______________..163 Led by a Little Child— A Student Story __ ......____........................___ ..........164 When God Saved the Brewer’s Boy, Part V —Louis T . Talbot as told to Mildred M . Cook ___......_____ ____ ____________ __________ 166 Dr. Talbot’s Question Box________ ____________.______ _____ ____ ______ ,____168 More About the Bible and Science— 0 . E. Sanden ___ ________ __________ 170 Junior King’s Business —Martha S. Hooker ......________________ ______ ____ 171 Christian Endeavor —Marguerite Johnson, Kathryn Smithers Lee, Rosetta Thiesen, Dorothy Bryan Nutt ___ ...........................................173 B iola. Family.___________ __________________________________________________ 176 International Lesson Commentary._______ ____ _____ __________________ _____ 178 Daily Devotional Readings...__ ....______ ....._______ _____ ._________ ___ ____190 Literature Table___ ____________ .-____ ______________________________________192 . SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION— “ T he K ing's B usiness“ is published m onthly: $1.50, -one y r .; $2.00, tw o yrs.; 75 cents, six m onths; 20 cents, single copy. Clubs o f three or m ore at special rates. W rite for details. Canadian and for eign subscriptions 25 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address 'to becom e effective. Please send both old and new addresses. REMITTANCE —Payable in advance, should be m ade by bank draft, express, or post office m oney order payable to “ The K in g’s B usiness.” D ate o f expiration will show plainly on outside wrapper or cover o f m agazine. ADVERTISING — F or inform ation, address the A dvertising Manager, 558 South H ope S treet,, L os Angeles 13, C alif., or' our eastern representative, Religious P ress A ssociation, 51 N o. 52nd St., Philadelphia 39, Pa. MANUSCRIPTS — “ The K ing's B usiness” cannot accept responsibility for loss or dam age to m anuscripts sent in for consideration. Entered as second-class m atter N ovem ber 7, 1938, at the P ost O ffice at Los A ngeles, C alifornia, under the A ct o f March 3, 1879. A cceptance for m ailing at special rate o f postage provided for in the A ct o f February 28, 1925, em bodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L*. and R., authorized O ctober 1, 1918, and N ovem ber 13. 1938. ADDRESS: The K in g’s Business, 558 So. H ope. St., Los Angeles 13, Calif. Lbuis T. TALBOT. Editor-In-Chief MILDRED M. COOK, Managing Editor RAN SOM D. MARVIN, Staff Artist.
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F IVE BOYS, from fifteen to twen ty-one years of age, stood before the bar of the Criminal Court in though they might have come out of any high school. “Have you anything to say as to why this court should not pronounce sentence upon you?” the black-robed jurist asked gravely. There was utter silence. They only hung their heads. "I therefore sentence you------” and the judge proceeded to give long pris on terms, a total of 247 years in all! ' I talked to those boys afterwards. Their attitude varied from defiance to shame and remorse. They were not subnormal mentally; they had come from homes that definitely were not of the slum type—many other persons from such types of homes have made good. They seemed healthy enough, and they wore good clothes. What, then, was the matter? These fellows-simply were young pagans, in whose homes there had been no train ing for. ideals or character. They had been brought up in an environment where pleasure—get it however you can—was the sole objective. To them, a "thrill” meant more than anything else in the world.
feels he wants to do, he has the right to do. We don’t believe in God or any of that superstition, and we don’t have to answer to any one about our con-, duct. This morals stuff is all non sense.” The judge, a God-fearing Jew, sol emnly shook his head. “That’s what is wrecking America,” he commented to me later, after he had granted the decree. Now let us turn to the other side of the picture. Yes, It Works For illustration of this phase of the matter, any one of a number of situ ations might be cited, but we will choose only one. In Chicago, there is a great church, with some 5,500 members and with 1,700 households in which the Word of God is honored by daily reading. From those firesides rise daily the most earnest pleas to the heavenly Father to bless the home and to guide each one of the family. That church, incidentally, has grown in twenty-one years to be one of the largest in America—a hint to pastors who wonder how to have flourishing congregations.
What had they done to get this thrill? They had started stealing both to get money and to test, their wits. Success gave them something to brag about. From petty thievery they had graduated into what they called their “Gun Club”—robbing victims at the point of a revolver. That wasn’t enough: Only one thing remained, the lust to kill. They robbed an inof fensive grocer, and then as he stood with hands up, they shot him to death in cold blood. Police caught them. That ended _ their crime, but began their living ’death. That is one prod uct of a godless home. Let me give you another, also out of real life. Into the divorce court of the same city came a warring couple, from a family of millionaires. These smart appearing young people, in their early thirties, were the parents of four chil dren. “My husband is unfaithful to me, brags about it, and even urges me to go out and commit adultery,” the tear ful mother testified. “How about it?” the judge asked sternly, turning to the husband. “ Yes, I have affairs with other women, and I think it is all right,” he said, with no tinge of shame. “This is a new day, and whatever a person
Chicago not long ago. They looked as
The pastor of this thriving North Austin Lutheran Church is Fred W. [ Continued on Page 168] • Evangelism in the FAMILY will mean revival in the NATION • jp
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Current Business
LOUIS T. TALBOT, Editor-in-Chief
possibly sustain one under these conditions of our present danger. With flak bursting on all sides, and enemy fighters diving in with all guns blazing, a man must have cleared his ,mind of doubt to be able to face it with calm courage. Many a man on the fighting front is * concerned, too, that his child, young though he or she may be, shall be taught to “face it [life] with calm courage.” He knows prayer will help. In this connection, the following anonymous letter is significant. It is addressed to a wife at home: Darling: You are having to do so many things alone these days: things we planned to do together. By now, you must be teaching Junior to pray, and I’m glad you are. How I wish I could hear his first lisped words! I don’t know how you can make a mere baby understand it, but I hope you will try to teach him that the biggest thing to pray for is that God’s will may be done. It is infinitely bigger, and better, than our little prayers for pleas ure and safety and a quick vic tory. The will of God is good, al ways, though it may be painful to us for a time. Darling, try to teach him that . . .
“Teach M y Child to Pray“ (See cover picture.)
Yes, the KING’S BUSINESS has fewer pages this month than usual. This reduction in size is in line with the War Production Board’s require ment covering magazine use of paper. Naturally, the ruling works hardship upon every one, to some extent; but it presents also a good opportunity for Christians to demonstrate coopera tion and patience, and we are deter mined not to fail in this. Our readers are entitled to the following explana tion. • Much advertising has been rejected, in order to give as nearly as possible the lisual amount of space for articles and departments. For example, ' this issue contains only about half as much advertising as last month. This plan has been followed with the readers’ interests in view, in spite of the fact that the magazine sustains a loss by thus limiting its advertising revenue. We are happy to point out that in this present issue, no one of the regular departments has been omitted entirely; and in the depart ments of lesson helps (Sunday School and Christian Endeavor) there has been no reduction whatever in the amount of material usually g i v e n . It has not been easy to accomplish this; we believe our readers will be grateful. • Many new readers have been found. In fact, it is the sizable i n c r e a s e in our circulation this y e a r , , over that of 1942 (the year on which WPB figures are based), that has made necessary the reduction in the size of this periodical * in order to keep within the designated tonnage. So, while you are enjoying your small - sized magazine, you may be thankful that several thousand other people are doing the same thing—readers who did not.have the KING’S BUSI NESS in 1942. • We give you our word that we will do everything possible to produce, un der these new difficulties, a Bible Family Magazine that will continue to contain the Lord's message for these war days. Will you PRAY for us?
There is many a young fellow in the service of his country today who is taking a different attitude toward religion than he used to take. Once he prided himself on being at least slightly irreligious. But the ‘‘blood, sweat, and tears” of wartime have made him think about God and pray er. Now he scoffs less, and he listens more. There are also Christian fathers who have gone to war—thousands of them. Before they left home, God was real to them, in the Person of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer was a vital force in their lives. To these born-again men, many of them young fathers, prayer is still vital, and Christ is still near—only a thousand times more so than before the acid test of wartime experiences had been applied. They now have a new standard of values.« This thought is expressed by,Lieut. William J. Russell, a navigator in the Air Corps, in a letter printed in the United Presbyterian. He said in part: I have found myself looking back upon the simple Christian faith which we were taught as children. . . . It has taken a .hew meaning for me, a richer, fuller, more inspiring meaning. I am convinced that nothing else could
Behind the News By DAN GILBERT
Faith. They write of a “ trend,” not of a revival of fundamental Christianity. There are just two kinds of religion known to men. One is man-made; the other is God-given. Christianity is su pernatural, God-given: the one true faith. All other religions are man made. God created man in His own image. But, after turning his back upon God’s revelation, man has ever since been making gods and formulating reli gions according to his own depraved liking. While the modem attitude is to [ Continued on Page 189J
"WARTIME" RELIGION: C o l u m nists and editorial writers in the secu lar press have had much to say re garding the “ emergence in America of a new wartime religion.” A writer on business and financial subjects for a New York journal devoted a column to discussing “the new re ligious trend.” He concluded: “After undergoing a decline for two decades, religion is once again enjoying a ‘boom’ in America.” It is significant that the commenta tors speak of a new wartime reli gion, rather than a return to the Old
lu
THE K I N G ’ S BUS INE S S
Led . . .
“Oh, Mo t h e r , you promised you'd quit!"
Photograph bg Harold U. Lambert
E HRISTINE sat still, f eel i ng S teve’ s ang r y words beat against her aching head even down the hallway. ? “What’s the matter with us, any way?" she moaned, pushing her empty coffee cup aside and reaching for a cigarette. “We quarrel for no reason at all.” She ought to be more patient with him, she knew, but it worried her so when he drank like this. The doc tor had said he must stop drinking or be a wreck within a year. She wasn’t blaming Steve. “Something is driving us both on,” she thought wearily, “and there is no escape. Even moving out to California hasn’t helped any.” She had known that Steve was drink ing when they had begun their dance For the purpose of this account , the actual names have been withheld.— The Editor .
last night at the club, and the knot of worry had tightened. The memory of the evening 1 lay like a stone in her mind, now, though she knew it had been no different from any other eve ning at the club. Steve had' not been unpleasant. He had danced just as brilliantly as ever, and the applause from the onlookers had been as spon taneous, but there had been no ex hilaration in it for her. . It was hard to remember the time that she had once thrilled to applause when she and Steve had first begun dancing as a team. Then she had thought the atmosphere of a night club exciting—the room wrapped in smoky blue dusk, murmurous with laughter and the quick, moving music. She didn’t see the tables littered with half-empty glasses, tom matchbooks, and overflowing ash trays — not at first. She didn’fcnotice that behind the flushed gaiety of the men and women
there lay fear and dissatisfaction— and the desperate urge to seek happi ness in pleasure. She wasn’t conscious of the smoke that hurt her eyes and made her head ache—not until she began to hate the dusky, artificial room and wish she need never go back. And yet, for some reason, it seemed > terribly important to dance the hours away, and the mad whirl went on. A startled exclamation at the door brought Christine’s attention back to the untidy apartment and the need to get Maida’s breakfast. “Oh, Mother, you promised you’d quit,” Maida said reproachfully, her eyes, wide with hurt, on the cigarette in her mother’s hand. Christine hastily ground the ciga rette in the ash tray, quick resentment flaring as she did—resentment that her six-year-old daughter should point the way of conduct for her.
after his' footsteps had died away
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Him. I wish you knew how wonderful it is to be at rest — to have it all settled. Won’t you let Him come into four heart, too, Christine?” “I—I don’t know. Not now, Steve,” she added more firmly. “There are too many questions I want the an swers for, first.” She was deeply moved, but was not willing to admit it yet. Certainly some thing or some One had answered all Steve’s need. Nor would she soon for get Maida’s sudden flaming joy when she was told that her Daddy now loved the Lord Jesus; her quick turning to Christine with, “Won’t you let Him in, too, Mummy? And then we would be all together in Jesus.” In the following three weeks Chris tine came near to jealousy, seeing the oneness between Steve and Maida,- their joy in reading the B i b l e , in memorizing Scripture, and in prayer. She knew they were praying for herK and it made her the more miserable. At last her defenses crumbled, her last question was answered by the wit ness of the two lives closest to hers, and she accepted the. price paid for her and knew the Lord Jesus Christ as her own Saviour. . They were like babes in the woods, those first weeks. Maida knew only what she had learned at the Mission Sunday-school — the way of salvation through memory verses and uespel songs. The little family did not know where to go for fellowship. Thej went to one or two churches near them, but were not satisfied, though they could not have told where the lack was. Humbly they asked the Lord to show them where they should go. One day a young woman came into the neighborhood to hold children’s Bible classes. Maida met her and eagerly invited her home to meet her mother. As Christine talked with the young teacher, she knew this conver sation was a part of the Lord’s answer to their prayer. Following her directions, they found themselves in the services at the Church of the Open Door, conveniently located near their apartment In Los Angeles. They could tell it was a church that believed the Bible. There a desire to study God’s Word was bom within them, and the young father and mother enrolled in the Bible In stitute of Los Angeles for one term, as auditors. When school opened in September, 1943, Christine and Steve went to en roll as auditors’ again. The study of the previous year had intensified their desire to study more, and they had asked the Lord to show them His will. As they waited in the office, Steve [Continued on Page 168]
. . . By a Little Child
never woke early. Usually she had to shake him out of drugged sleep. A nameless terror pulled her to her feet and sent her to the doorway of the living room. There she stopped ab ruptly and gazed In mixed astonish ment and relief at Steve sitting quiet ly, with Maida’s Bible open on his knees. Even in that first glance, she saw that the tense look about his face had gone, and there was contentment there. He saw her before •she could turn away, if she had wanted to, and said: “ Come on in, Honey. I’ve some thing to tell you.” As she dropped into a chair beside him, she automatically reached for the cigarettes and offered one to Steve. But he shook his head. “No, dear,” he said. “Last night something happened to me. While you were asleep, I had some dealings with God, and the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart. My life is His, now, and I don’t want to defile it further with those things. I just don’t want them any more.” She listened in amazement as he went on:- “I think you know what I was up against. . . how desperate I was, thinking of the hopelessness of the future, with my health practically gone. . . how I was unable to help my self. Well, last night I decided I had stood all I could. While you and Maida slept, I got up with the purpose of ending it all—committing suicide.” At her quick, indrawn breath, he smiled tenderly. “ It’s all right, now, dear. I’ll never be tempted in that way again. It was cowardly, I know, but that is what I intended to do. “And then I remembered the ques tions Maida had asked me and some of the verses she had quoted. I heard her frequent words, ‘If yoU really and truly loved the Lord Jesus.’ I didn’t know how to call on Him, but I did know that If Christ lived and was con cerned with weak mortals, I certainly was the one who needed Him. And that is just what I told Him. Then I asked Him to come into my life and take the rest of it all for Himself. And He did. I can’t tell how I know, but I’ve been reading it here in Maida’s Bible, just like she told it to us, how Christ died for my sins, and then rose again that I might live with
“I did quit, Maida, for a while,” she said shortly. “But it isn’t easy.” “If you really and truly loved the Lord Jesus, you wouldn’t want to smoke and d r i n k , ” Maida replied earnestly. “Please don’t preach to me this morning,” Christine answered impa tiently. “Mother’s head aches.” “ I’m sorry, Mother dear..But I want you and Daddy tp love Jesus. I want it so much that it hurts me here.” She placed both small hands over her heart. “We’d all be so happy if we loved Him together.” Christine did not answer, but she felt ashamed of her impatience. Never theless, she began a thorough cleaning of the apartment while Maida ate her breakfast, so that there would be no more searching questions about salva tion. She couldn’t say she was saved, and she didn’t want to say she wasn’t. She had not known what she was let ting herself in for when she had sent Maida to Sunday-school “for the good influence it would be.” Even the activity of sweeping and dusting did not dispel the disquietude within her. She remembered another promise she and Steve had made a few months ago—and had not kept Maida had been in the hospital, desperately ill, the doctors giving little hope that she would- live. After hours of pacing the floor in their fear and grief, she and Steve had knelt together and promised God they would do anything if He Would spare their child to them. It had been a bargain made in frantic fear. Maida had lived—but she and Steve had continued in the same round, seeking happiness in pleasure, forgetting' their promise to God. Now she was more frightened than ever she remembered being—a differ ent fear than she had felt the night Maida had nearly died. This was a dread of what Steve might do. She never had been afraid of Steve. Since she had run away from home when she was sixteen to marry him, she had never regretted her "choice. But she was afraid for him—of what he might do to himself. There was some thing terrifying in his desperate tense ness lately. * * * It was still dark when she awoke a few mornings later, to sit quickly erect, all her fear crystallizing in the knowl edge that Steve was not there. He
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A true story of a home that was changed
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In fact, he threw back his head and simply roared. “Let’s see your other clothes,” he demanded jovially. They were all the same: suitable for Australia’s warm est season. In assembling that ward robe, I had asked advice of nobody, and had thought the choices extremely good. The trouble was, I had a cocksur-a- ness about a number of things. This attitude of mine was a bit startling to the gentleman in charge of the Insti tute’s information desk on the night of my arrival there. Coming in after ten o’clock, I found the building closed for the night. Violently I banged at the door. “Who is it?” a dignified voice in quired. “It’s me!” I shouted. “Who?” “Me—Louie Talbot from Os-try-lia!" He let me in, despite my poor gram mar. My application had preceded me, and I was welcomed. That first night in Chicago, I slept in a little room on the second floor of the “153 Building”—the same floor on which D. L. Moody had once lived and worked. The room appealed to me; it was furnished simply, with a view to utility. The next morning, boasting an air of affluence, I withdrew the thirty gold sovereigns from the money belt my mother had given me, and deposit ed them with the Institute’s cashier, satisfied that I would have no finan cial worries for many months to come. Later, I moved to the fourth floor to join a group of boys from Australia
CHAPTER V. M Y FIRST impression of Ameri cans in the United States was that they had one peculiar sometimes there was nothing very fun ny, so far as I could see. For example, when our ship docked In New York after what had seemed an interminable voyage from Austra lia, people would give me a swift ap praising glance and then smile cov ertly, if they did not actually chuckle. It is true that there had been some mild amusement shown by fellow pas sengers on the ship—by those who had found difficulty in understanding my broad Australian brogue. But days at sea had made us friends, with muted awareness to one another’s eccentrici ties. All of us were excited as the efld of our journey drew near. From the moment New York ap peared—a thin, uneven line against the horizon—until I had set foot upon its soil, I ran from one end of the ship to another and from deck to deck, de termined to miss none of the breath taking sights. Mine was the wild joy of anticipation; certainly there was nothing amusing about that. On the ship, I had decided to cele brate my arrival in America by dress ing in my best clothes. It was March, but a touch of belated winter had come to the city. Sidewalks were slick with ice—cold against the thin soles of my good white oxfords. Little flurries of snow were swirling about and making me shiver. I wondered: Would they damage my suit? I had on my best
mannerism: They laughed, even when
When God Saved The Brewe/s Boy By LOUIS T. TALBOT, as told to MILDRED M. COOK
Copyright 1944, Mildred M. Cook.
who were rooming there. They were men who were subsequently used of God in a remarkable way. Charles F. Hummel gave nearly thirty years to valiant witnessing in the Sudan; Jack Fullerton followed the Lord to China; and James Mountain returned to a spiritually enriched pastorate in his home country. Another close friend of those early days was Joseph Flacks, a Jew who had become so truly “a new creature in Christ Jesus” that he was to us a brother beloved. We were a jolly crowd, white flannel trousers. They were tailored pencil-slim, in what was then the highest fashion in Australia (but well-dressed men in America were wearing voluminous peg-top trousers at the time!), I was so glad to be where I was that nothing else mattered. With a straw hat to shield me from the elements; I set out to arrange for transportation to the Middle-West—and to Jim. My brother had completed his work at the Moody Bible Institute and was study ing at Xenia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, but he had promised to come to Chicago when I arrived there When Jim saw me, even he laughed. IN EARLIER CHAPTERS: When fun- loving Louis Talbot, at twenty-one, left his home in Sydney, Australia, he was unaware of the full influence of several factors upon his life. These included evangelistic services that had drawn thousands to the Sydney Town Hall; the consistent testimony of converted gangsters; the discern ment of a faithful pastor; the guid ance of a praying mother and a mor ally upright (though not confessedly Christian) father. Irked by questions about his future, and impelled by af fection for , his older brother Jim—a student at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago — in 1911 he sailed for America. There a new life begalL 167 May, 1944 stored safely under my bed. We had had only two or three flavorful snacks from this supply when our matron, “Mother” Russell, passed through the dormitory on a tour of Inspection, in company with several visitors. When they entered our odorous room, no one else was there. I have no idea what explanation she may have made to the guests; I do know the fervency of our appeals to her later. The herring dis appeared. It was to my understanding room mates that I intimated some anxieties I felt. Would I ever be at home in this school? The size of the institution awed me. Though it had only a few buildings as compared with the twenty* four of today, I felt unoriented. What concerned me most was the classroom assignment^. In Australia, I had not applied myself too diligently to study. Would I be able, now, to master the Institute courses? With all my heart, I longed to grasp what the Institute was offering me. Having chosen the Bible Course, of which William Evans was the depart ment head, I had the privilege of sit ting under his masterful teaching, and that of such others as James M. Gray, Howard W. Pope, and D. B. Towner. Gripped by the Word that was so faithfully set forth, I spent every available moment studying outlines, Scripture passages, and related re quirements. But I was not doing too well. One day, with a strangely mingled sense of self-assurance and uncer tainty, I cornered my Australian col league, Charles Hummel, and put some questions to him cautiously. "Charlie," I said, “how did you get on here? Do you think I’ll be able to make it?” “Of course,” he beamed, pulling from his desk an examination paper that had been returned to him with a good grade on it. “This gives you some idea of what is expected.” I glanced at one question: “Who was Antiochus Epiphanes?” I never had heard of him. The other queries on the page left me equally blank. Being unaware. of these troubled thoughts of mine, my good friend went on confidently: “Not one of the boys here from Down Under has failed yet, and you won’t, either.” I felt better. Hummel’s reassuring words were well timed. They cushioned the blow that came next. I had drawn from my post box an official-looking notice, summoning me to the business office—and went with- out trepidation. “Mr. Talbot” — the cashier spoke with kindly solemnity—“what provi sion have you made for the payment of this term’s board and room? Your account is overdrawn, you know.” I was sure there was some error. Words of explanation tumbled from My Christian Soldier Son By Charlotte E. Arnold The weeks have passed since His overseas address, his will. His clothes came home today. I hold them to my bosom still. There was no chance to say. "Good-by," or clasp his hands. And yet, thank God, he knows That there Is One who under, stands And is with him where he goes. A letter came from him today, The first from overseas. It came across my anxious Like a fresh and cooling Between the censored lines A mother's glad delight Because he told me he had And talked with God that breeze. felt way I have heard From him across the sea. The months have passed and Has ever come to me. O God, forbid that I forget Wherever he may be He has Thy presence with him yet. For he belongs to Thee. not a word A telegram has come today— Somehow I knew it would. For He had whispered yester- As only Jesus could. He told me that my soldier Had clasped His mighty hand And they, in quiet peace and boy day -- » knelt night. joy. Had entered Glory Land. I walked for several blocks, not car ing. My first concern was for Jim, for I knew the high regard in which he was held by every one at the Institute, and I thought: “I have disgraced him —and he doesn’t deserve that. Every one will say that his good-for-nothing brother Louis can never preach, for no one will understand him; and he can’t pay his bills.” My anxiety, too, was for my unsaved father, in Australia, and for what my failure would mean in this relation ship. Coming to America, I had de termined to make good here, and to show Father that I could. I pictured the grief that my laxity would cause Mother. She believed in me; she had prayed for me; she had sacrificed to send me here. All this time, God in His mercy was endeavoring to make plain to me the immeasurable difference between self- confidence and confidence in Christ. I had been cocksure enough: about my clothes, about my funds, about my ability to succeed. Patient, loving Lord that He is, He spoke correction to my despondent heart. The message came on the wings of an old song’s melody, for Salvation Army lassies, shivering in the rain, were singing on a street comer: “Thou art enough for me, Thou art enough for me; Thou living, loving, mighty God, Thou art enough for me.” Back to my room I went, quieted in spirit. I had heard God’s voice. (To be continued) me so rapidly that they were unintel ligible. Though the Moody Bible Insti tute then, as now, required no tuition, and furnished board and room to stu dents at the lowest possible rates, the approximate one hundred fifty dollars that I had brought from Australia would not last forever, though I had vaguely supposed it would. There was no mistake: My funds were exhausted, and I would have to seek employment at once. But where? People complained that they could not understand my speech, so who would hire me? There have been other moments of despair in my life, but this was one o f the blackest. It was dark when I left the Institute building, and a cold rain was falling. In the rain, an eld song rang out. THE K I N G ' S BUS INE S S 168 , ■ - Dr. Talbot's Question Box t —— —^ — — — ——— ed with new pleasure, “we once put everything we had: time, money, and health, into Serving the devil. Can we give less to the Lord who has given us so much?” Christine often remembered Steve’s words in the following weeks and months of unaccustomed study and new work. , She had never cared particularly for children. She realized with real won der that she had never loved her own child before she was saved, as she did now. A new love for children was flooding her heart, and she had a burden for the children of her own neighborhood — none of whom came from a Christian home. The result of this burden was a Child Evangelism class which she began, using her own apartment as a 'meeting place, and an assignment on Sunday mornings at Juvenile Hall where she and Steve worked with young delinquent boys— s o m e t h i n g she never would have dreamed of doing of herself; Every night they would pray to gether, and Maida would thank God that her mother and father had be lieved, and that they now were “all .together in Jesus.” A little child had led two parents into the joy of Christ’s salvation. The whole secret Is, the people are strong because they are steadily nur tured in the Word of the Lord. Anyone who daily—and earnestly—peruses the Bible, seeking the spiritual vitamins therein, need never fear anemia of the spirit. And he who keeps in constant fellowship with the Lord in prayer finds the reserve strength that will carry him through any difficulty. The trouble with America today is not that people are unbelievers. We do not have the outspoken atheism that was rampant half a century ago. But we do have a host of people who are spiritually starving to death; they want bread, and they are trying to solace themselves with a stone. All they need is for someone to lead them to realize what they are missing. How can this be done? We cannot force people to be Chris- >tians; we remember that our Saviour never tried to compel or high-pressure anyone. But we can by the very joy and kindness that we show to others— rich gifts that Christ has given us— bring them to understand that they are missing something very beautiful and enduring. Tnen. as we introduce men and women to tne Christian life, we can guide them into the practice of the Questions for answer in this depart ment should be sent to the Editorial Department, THE KING'S BUSINESS, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 13. Calif. QUE.: Why did Joseph ask that his body he taken back to the Holy Land (Gen. 50:24-26) ? There were two reasons lor Josephs desiring'that when the Israelites left' Egypt they should take his body with them. Despite the fact that he ha.d seem ingly been blest in this land of his sojourn, for he had been elevated to a place of great faVor, responsibility, and authority, he was ever conscious of the truth that Egypt was not the place of God’s choice for His people. The land of Canaan was the chosen and promised abiding place for Israel (Gen. 13:14,15; 15:13-16; 17:8); and it was to that land that Joseph firmly believed God would at a future time restore His people. As a confession and confirmation of that belief, and in order that the Israelites might be con stantly reminded of it, Joseph charged them to keep his body unburied until it could be laid away in its rightful and appropriate place. Had Joseph chosen to be buried in Egypt, he doubtless would have been given a funeral with great pomp, ele gance, and ceremony; but he preferred a future simple burial in the place of God’s choice—Canaan (Josh. 24:32). From. Hebrews 11:22, we learn that Joseph made this request “by faith.” He not only had faith in the Lord’s restoration of Israel to the promised land, but his faith included the doc trine of the resurrection. He wanted to be buried with his ancestors, in the family burying place, that his body might be raised with those of his loved ones. Head Genesis 49:29-32. QUE.: Are all Israelites Jews? The expression “Jew” comes from the religious term "Judaism.” In the days of Moses, the Lord desig nated Jerusalem as the only place where sacrifices were to be offered to Him (cf. Deut. 12:5-7),; therefore, that city became and remained the center of worship as well as in the days of the separation of the house of Israel,! becoming the capital of the southern kingdom which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. No doubt, the majority of those who worshiped were of the latter tribes; nevertheless, many of the members of the northern kingdom, Israel, with the city ot Sa maria as her capital, came to sacrifice also. Thus Judaism was born, and all who took part in the ceremonies were called Jews. Though the Jews of today have lost their tribal identity, to believe that representatives of all the twelve tribes of Israel are Included in their number is reasonable. LED BY A LITTLE CH ILD [Continued from Page 165] said, “I feel we should register in the regular classes.” “Why, so do I!” Christine exclaimed. “But I thought I must be wrong, for I didn’t see how we could do it.” “There will be a way,” Steve as sured her confidently. That afternoon, when the new class room schedules had been arranged for them, Christine and Steve sat in their tyome, discussing plans for the future. “It will be stiff going,” Steve warned her. “I’ll have to fit study in with work, and you’ll have the home and Maida to think of in addition to school assignments. But,” and his face light- Otterbein, a man who stands unflinch ingly for salvation from sin through the Lord Jesus Christ "I know many pastors,” he told me, "who are run to death with the prob lems of their people-v-children getting into trouble, immorality showing its ugly head, and family discord threat ening divorce. Yet I find practically none of that among my members. Scarcely once'a year am I called in where boys or girls have gotten into trouble, or where husbands and wives are making a shambles out of their home. God reigns in these homes, and consequently all is well with them. I give practically all the credit for the success of our church to the universal habit of our people of observing the family altar. Where prayer is con stant, sin has no chance.” Not only does this congregation take its, Christian faith in earnest, but'it also packs the church throughout the year—not at just one service, but at three! Every Sunday morning, at 8:30,: 9:45, and 11 o’clock, you will find long lines of people waiting to get into the sanctuarv of worship. No one is ever asked to ]cnn the cnurcn, cut more than 600 new members have been added in a single year. Family Prayer— That Works! . V - | f i ":.; [Continued from Page 162] 169 May, 1944 He does come in—“Behold, all things are become new” ! ' Whole Families for Christ I believe intensely in family evan- gelism. The farnily Is the oldest insti tution in the world, antedating gov ernment and the church. God has ordained that man and woman should marry and set up a household, and that within that household children should be brought up in Christian nurture. A Christian home Is every child’ s divine birthright. Even psychologists, who a few years ago ■said children should be reared impersonally and efficiently, now say that mo t h e r s should give their children an abun dance of affection- Cuddling Is as necessary to a baby as food. Grow ing children, too, need love. And love that endures, lqve that is Unselfish and beautiful, is that bom of the realiza tion that God Himself is the source of love, and that its supreme manifesta tion was the death of Christ on the cross. I look for the time when evangel ism will stress the coming of whole families to'the altar to make their con fession of Christ. The family is the true unit of society, not the individual. If the household becomes one of faith, how strong will the household be! I believe that if pastors would hold “ Christian Hofne Revivals’^ in which the conversion of whole families was stressed, the harvest would be astound ing. Any church on earth— no matter how cold and dead it is, what prob lems it faces, or what its difficulties are—can grow strong and fruitful If it will follow this pattern: Pastor and 4 few faithful Christian members band together without fanfare for daily prayer. If these individuals do not have the family altar, let each begin one. . Spiritual fervor will become con tagious. Opportunities will open up. The pastor can quietly visit his people, tell them the joys o f the Christian home, and invite them to have daily Bible study and prayer. There cam be a beautiful service of dedication of a home, with the minister committing the household to God in prayer and conducting the first family altar. From one home to another he may go, mak ing each a house of prayer. Eventual ly a strong, spiritual congregation will develop, and they - will form a church instead of a. social club, and the pastor will have the joy of being a shepherd instead of just a secretary. The future of any nation lies in the integrity of its homes. Here is the one sure way that the inner menace of America may be removed and its fu ture insured — through yieldedness, loyalty, and devoted service to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of men. windows 'o f heaven are opened^ and blessings are showered down. You know the joy and thrill when yoUr son, brother, or sweetheart, long absent at the war front; comes in through the front door for a visit at home. I know it, too. When one of my boys comes back, the house is filled with joy and light. You know the de light of returning to the sanctuary of the fireside after, a long, hard day’s work, or a vacation away. You know the deep pleasure that is yours when some loved one whom you have not .seen for a long, long time, enters the portals of your home. That’s the eagerness, the expectancy, the gladness, the longing, and the hope we must feel when we invite our Lord and Master to be one with us in the family circle. He must be wel comed, or He will not come. But when family altar. This Is something that must be done with tactfulness and ' patience. How to Begin Most people should first seèk out the old, familiar passages—-Psalm 23, Psalm 91, 1 Corinthians 13, the Ser mon on the Mount, the parables, and the accounts of the nativity, cruci fixion, resurrection, and ascension— and study these portions anew for a blessing. », You see, most of the pleasure-mad, careless adults o f today had at least a taste of Sunday-school when they were children. A renewal of the read ing of these best-known chapters will tie in with the childhood-memories, bring back happy thoughts of other days, and give the person a feeling o f c o n f i d e n c e , a sense of being on familiar ground. This sense of assurance and prog ress will make it easier to establish the habit of daily devotions, after which a family or an individual can take up unexplored portions of the Bible and begin to find brand new treasures as well as the old.; Then is time enough to pursue the life of Christ, the missionary journeys of Paul, or to go thoroughly into one of, the. G o s p e 1s, or to take up the prophecies. The habit of prayer will come, easily if there is no worry regarding it. Re member, many people feel music arid cannot express it; likewise, others want to pray but cannot vocalize their thoughts. The main thing is the desire to have fellowship with God through Christ. Children easily learn prayers which they may repeat; all can repeat the Lord’s Prayer. In the course of time, spontaneous prayer can be culti-, vated, and the altar thus made'com plete. The one compelling thing, though, is that great earnestness, attend the establishment of the family altar in the home. We must remember Jesus’, own words: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteous ness: for they shall be filled”—which means that if we don't hunger and thirst, we never shall be filled. Anyone . who casually establishes Bible reading and prayer-t}ttering in his home, just as a form, and in the hope that it will work a miracle, is doomed to disappointment. There is no riaagic in mumbling words out of the Bible—I don’t care whether it is done in the pulpit or in the home; and there is no , efficacy in Just words addressed to an unknown Deity. People who establish family worship must literally hunger and thirst for fellowship with God. They must yearn to have Him as the Head of the house, the Unseen Guest at every meal, the Silent Listener to every conversation— at the wall motto has it—before the People listen to this man McDermott speak. That is, some 425,000 of them, do, for he addresses that many sub scribers in his work as Religious Edi tor of the Chicago Daily News. Other thousands know him through articles on religion,- personalities, and com munity betterment, published in Col lier's, Liberty, Coronet, Good House keeping. He has had thirty contribu tions in Reader'« Digest, largest cir culation magazine in the world. Not afraid to speak of his faith in Christ, "I'm a foundationalist," he in sists; " 'other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ"' (1 Cor. 3:11-). General Secre tary of the Family Altar League, he Is also a member of the board of sev. eral other Christian organizations. In a recent letter to the Managing Editor of this magazine, he went on chattily like this: "I think we ought to preach the gospel wherever we get the chance. We ought to busy our selves with seed-sowing and leave the gathering-in to the Lord of the har vest. Too many churches today are busier with statistics than they are with souls." This is the man who writes about "Family Prayer—That Works I" Don't you want to go back and read again what he says? ITO THE K I N G ’ S BUS INES S More About the Bible and Science By O . E. SANDEN S CIENCE has unwittingly con tributed Its sharp toward mak ing the Bible appreciated by tories of life have put the tenets of the Bible to the acid test. It has proved it self able to stand the stress. The post war ideal of the four freedoms finds its source in Isaiah and Micah and Jesus. The Great Awakening that is before us in all realms finds its in spiration in the Bible, as well as in the proper applications of the scien tific principles, which are—the Laws of God. To a considerable extent, the wish, expressed in 1865 by six hundred members of the British Association for the Advancement'of Science, has come true: “We, the undersigned students of the natural sciences, desire to ex press our sincere regret that research into scientific truth is prevented by some in our times into •occasion for casting doubt upon the truth and au thenticity of the Holy Scriptures. We contend that it is impossible for the Word of God as written in the book of nature, and God’s Word Written in the Holy Scriptures to contradict one another, however much they may ap pear to differ, and confidently believe that a time will come when the two records will be seen to agree in every particular.” Young people today are science- minded. The following questions of college-age youth, and the respective replies, may give some insight into the task of evangelism among them: Note: In February o f last year, we published an article by Mr. Sanden, entitled, ‘"The Bi ble and Science.*' This m essay consisted principally of personal experienc e which the author had encountered in the f'nld of pres ent-day student evangelism . He Itsted a number of questions, representative of ue types of queries with which he is often on- fronted on the lecture platform, or in per sonal interviews, or through the mails. This published article resulted in a widespread demand for reprints, in the United States, England, and China. We requested Mr. San- den to furnish another article along similar lines, and it is offered herewith. As Will be recalled, he is a member of the Texas Academy of Science, and the American Asso ciation for the Advancement of Sciehce, and a graduate of the Bible Institute of Los An geles, He has a message for youth .— Editors. Q. What is meant by the “scientific method” as over against the religious approach? A. The scientific method is fivefold. First of all, there is the proble/n. This calls for the application of mind. Sec ondly, there is the collecting of all available data bearing on the prob lem. Third, there is the classification of the data, or a reconstruction of the original facts as nearly as possible. Fourth, the hypothesis is brought into use—based on what is known, project ing into the unknown. Fifth, there are the repeated tests. If all the tests or experiments produce the same results, the hypothesis is established. The re ligious method is not necessarily based 9 n the mental process. It relies on the revelation of truth granted on condition of a spiritual awareness. Q. Do you regard the scientific method as valid in all things? A. The scientific method is valid as far as it is possible to practice ( 1 ) ac curacy of observation; ( 2 ) thorough ness of investigation: and (3) holdir^ one’s judgment in abeyance until all the factors are accounted for. But there are some realms of life where this does not apply, i. e., poetry. The poet “feels” rather than analyzes. In religion, "spiritual things are spiritu ally discerned.” God is not found by the mental process. There are some things which cannot be known apart from revelation. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:9, 10). This' does not discredit the scientific p r o c e s s : Investigations which are truly scientific confirm rev elation. Q. What is the advantage of scien tific studies? A. Much every way. Apart from the exact knowledge gained, there art by products. Science helps to free the imagination, gives confidence in one’s own judgment, shows the importance of everything. It empowers personal ity, shows endless possibilities, and provokes wonder and admiration for the deep insights of religious men. Q. Is it possible to divorce science from all study of religion? This seems to be the tendency of students of science. A. While the religious element may be minimized, it cannot be success fully ignored. It was his mother’s audible praying that gave young Mar coni the concept of wireless. Fontaine Maury scientifically charted the seas àfter reading in Psalm 8 , “The paths of the seas.” Galileo discovered isochronism during a church service in the cathedral. Copernicus was a priest. Kepler exclaimed, “I think Thy thoughts after Thee, O God!” and de scribed astronomy as “crystallized mathematics” (cf. Isa. 40:26). Sir Isaac Newton was a faithful student of- Daniel. Daniel was a convert of Jeremiah, who gave to the world the concept of the covenant of Day and Night (cf. Jer. 33:20). Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, was a minister. Dalton, the, atomist, was a Christian. Lord Kelvin was a believer. When the famous physicist Rutherford died not long ago, they sang his favorite song at Jhe funeral service, "The King of love my Shepherd is, His goodness faileth never.” Q. What is the severest test of the accuracy of thè Bible? A. Geographical measurements. Re search work in Illinois has disclosed the skill and accuracy of Lincoln the surveyor. Similar tests have been ap plied to the men of the Bible. No geographical error has yet been found. Some time ago, a short-wave report from Palestine indicated that R. A. F. bomber pilots enjoyed a visibility of 100 miles along the Jordan, and 50 miles from Mount NAu, io me west. [ Continued on Page 177] men of Intellect. Men in the labora
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