“Are you girls bad enough to be lost?” I said. The older one answered immediately that she was, and had been sitting up the previous night until two in the morning, reading her Bible and seeking the Lord. It was only a short way to Calvary for this girl. She soon met the Saviour and found peace in her soul. The younger sister was not so easily led. She said, “You must think I am a very bad girl,” upon which I handed her my Bible, open at Romans three, and requested her to read the chap ter, verses nine to nineteen, and see what God said about her. She denied that this passage referred to her at all, and would not accept it. I handed her my scissors, and requested that she cut it out of the Book in order that I might not have an untrue state ment in my Bible. This she refused to do, saying that her mother had taught her that all the Bible was true. We turned to Matthew thirteen, and read the story of the wheat and the tares. As we read the explana tion, verses thirty-seven to forty-three, the tears fell from her eyes as she acknowledged that she was like tares. She was quite like a Christian, but knew in her heart that she did not have the life of Christ. Having thus admitted that she was a hypocrite, and lost, she too, like her sister, trusted in Christ Jesus. The gracious Spirit of God, having obtained the mastery and control of these lips, and eyes and brain, began at once to use them. These two prec ious souls were the first-fruits of this “life more abundant.” After the two sisters had gone I called my com panion on the telephone to tell her of the great honor given me, and the blessed assurance granted that the Holy Spirit had accepted my body for His own purposes. Since that eventful time He has proved in a multitude of way His authority, and His power, His wis dom and His knowledge in bringing about many such miracles showing Himself to be indeed the leader of the life, the Lord of the harvest. I entreat each of you to go direct ly to the Holy Spirit Himself, give Him your body, and then look to Him constantly to do what He wants with that body for the glory and the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Ayer will be special speakers for Biola's annual Family Bible Conference at Mount Hermon, Calif.
"WHAT
WOULD HAPPEN IN AMERICA?"
by Dr. William Ward Ayer
I n ten se passion and concentration to a task is the power that creates greatness. Paul almost single-handed evan gelized Europe and Asia Minor! Paul was a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15). He was God-pos sessed. Hear him in Romans 9:1-3, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” What holy passion! What compassion! What zeal! What would happen in America if we had a dozen men so God- possessed? God forgive us for our cold churches, our “hollow” men who stand in pulpits, echoing emptily the latest philo sophical fashions—while hungry multitudes perish for the Bread that cometh down from above! 0 for zealous prophets in the pulpits, not mere wranglers and disputers about the follies of the hour but strong men of high stature who will preach the glorious gospel with no uncertain sound! Prophets, I say, not ecclesiastical errand boys! Prophets, not timeservers! Prophets, not powerless pur veyors of soft things in this hard and materialistic age. A sad condition in our Protestant religious life is mani fested by the hectic religious programs, jazzy meetings with hopped-up choruses and frothy gospel messages that shout out the supposed joys of Christianity without reference to its responsibilities. They are creating the cheapest variety of sup posedly Orthodox religion the world has ever witnessed. There is a false zeal as well as a true one. In this hectic day we see churches all aflutter with the desire to do some thing. We have an ecclesiastical treadmill, upon which all are urged to tramp to make the wheels of the church machine grind and whirl and whirr with gratifying activity. The weakness of modem Christianity is its lack of high and challenging objective. One group of Christians perform the good works for personal merit. Others for denominational gain—but Paul performed all his ardent labors for Christ.
JANUARY, 1961
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