Intolerance In Colombia By J. Russell Davis
3— A Christian is One who has been born into God’s Family. Marvelous as this seems, it is never theless true. Christians are actually members of the family of the God of the universe! Christians are possessors of God’s nature and life! Christians are heirs of the riches of God’s glory! (John 3:7; 1 Pet. 1:23; John 1:12; Rom. 8:16, 17). It seems almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? Still the Bible is very clear here, that when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart, you enter God’s family. His becomes the obligation to provide and protect, yours the responsibility to live like a child of God. 4— A Christian is One who has Eter nal Life, Now! How wonderful! In this respect the Christian differs from all others, for he possesses, here and now, the priceless heritage of endless life which is shared only by God and himself. Not at death, not at the Judgment, not at the end.of time, but at the mo ment you receive Christ, you receive eternal life (John 10:28; John 5:24; 1 John 5:13). 5— A Christian is One in whom dwells the Risen, Living Christ. The exultant note of the first Easter was, “He lives.” The joy of the Christian life is explained when we understand that the gloriously risen Christ dwells in the hearts of Christians (John 15:4; Col. 1:27; John 14:20; Gal. 2:20). All that the Christian needs—strength, wisdom, guidance, necessities—are fully supplied by the indwelling Christ who declared “ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Dear Reader, may we pause to ask, “Are you a Christian?” Have you come to Christ? Are your sins forgiven? Have you been born into the family of God? Do you now possess eternal life? Does the risen Christ dwell in your heart? Handbook I T is always a pleasure to commend books that we feel will be a real aid and blessing to the hearts and lives of Christian people. Rev. Chester J. Pad gett, a member of the faculty of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, is also pastor of the Calvary Church of Pla centia, California. He is a fine Bible teacher and an outstanding preacher of the Word of God. Out of his experiences in dealing with young people, he has written a very splendid handbook which we feel would be a real addition to any pastor’s library and a splendid tool for leaders of young people. The book contains 200 pages; the type is excellent and there is an easily- understood outline. We would like to commend this volume most highly to Christian workers. The book may he ob tained from the Biola Book Room, 560 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 17, California.
knowledge of him, is his servant; the man who makes Christ a teacher of his intelligence and the guide of his soul; the man who obeys Christ so far as he has been able to understand him. “ What, you say, the man who im perfectly understands Christ, who does not know anything about his divinity, who denies the great doctrines of the church in regard to him, is he a Chris tian? Certainly he is, my friends.” Then the editor went on to add words of his own, saying: “ But I hear some saying, ‘Can one be a Christian without believing in the di vinity of Christ and the Scriptures as the revealed Word of God, and in the immortality of the soul?’ Assuredly he can; Jesus made no such condition of discipleship. He was looking for men who would follow Him as their Teacher and Leader and Saviour, in full obe dience as their Master.” If there ever was a dangerous doc trine, it is this which suavely and subtly does away with the great principles of salvation which God Himself has pro vided through His Son. Let it be under stood once and for all that all men are not on the same road. On the contrary, every last person born into the world is horn with his face away from God, un der condemnation. It is not enough wish fully to seek to follow Christ. It is not enough to be assured in your heart that He was a great man or a greater martyr. The Bible is specific, definite and unequivocal on this point. But the tragedy of all tragedies is simply that far too many thousands of people are trusting their good opinion of Christ and their tolerance of others as a basis for their entrance to Heaven. Let it be said with all the emphasis that we can com mand that salvation is not obtained on that basis. Who then is a Christian? Here is the best definition I know: A Christian is one who is vitally joined to Jesus Christ. Surely that is what the term “ Christian” means, a CHRISTian. So, of necessity, there must be the honest acknowledgment, and personal acceptance of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Without Christ there can be no Christians. The Apostle Paul, in speaking of his Christian life, put it thus: “ For me to live is for Christ to live in me” [literal translation]. 1— A Christian is One who has Come to Christ. It’s just that simple, merely “ come to Christ” with all your needs. It is His task to make you a Christian. It is yours to come (John 3:16; Matthew 11:28; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 6:37). 2— A Christian is One whose Sins are Forgiven. Sin is the great harrier between man and God. Therefore sin must be dealt with first before one can have fellow ship with a holy God. Christ is the great Sinbearer. He died for the sins of the world. He died for your sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Gal. 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 3:18; John 1:29). A U G U S T , 1 9 5 1
“ Everyone who is opposed to the Cath olic Church is an enemy of the govern ment, and all enemies of the government are Communists, and all Communists can be shot!” In this way a veteran mis sionary summed up the situation to ex plain the reasoning back of the present- day persecution of all evangelicals in Colombia. This is the view of the Con servative Party, which is completely dominated by the Catholic Church, ever since that dreadful day of April 9, 1948, when the famous and beloved leader of the Liberal Party, Dr. Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was murdered. As a result of this brutal and ruthless method of re moving a political opponent before an election, the people rose up in their wrath and wrecked many of the Catholic Church buildings of Bogota, and laid waste much of their beautiful capital city. This attempt of the common people to throw off the fearful slavery in which they were held by the Catholic Church ended in a bloody massacre, with the Catholic Church using the guns. The up rising was quelled; the Catholic Church was more firmly in power than ever before; the world was told that a Com munist uprising had been put down, and a reign of terror began for all who were not members of the Catholic Church. During recent years this persecution has grown more severe. Bombings of evangelical churches, burning of the homes of Christians, arrests and beat ings of believers, closing of gospel serv ices, and even the bloody killing of na tive Colombian pastors, as well as of one missionary, have become more and more common. All over Colombia reports came to us of this terrible persecution, and also of increasing restrictions against every activity of life for Evan gelicals. Evangelical schools are not al lowed, but no child can go even to a government school without clearance from the priest that they attended mass and confession. Non-Catholics can only be married by judges, and since all of these officials are Catholics, they refuse to perform the ceremonies. No one can hold any kind of public office in the government, either local or national, un less they are active members of the Catholic Church. In many localities non- Catholics cannot he buried. We could go on and on with a long list of discrim inations of this nature. All of this re veals that it is the official policy of the Colombian government and the Catholic Church to wipe out all opposition by any means. This policy is carried out by the priests, who are the highest authority, with police and other officials taking orders from them, especially in country places. Despite this ruthless persecution, there are many fine Evangelical churches and a wonderful group of real Bible-believing Christians who are wit nessing bravely for their Lord. Page Five
Made with FlippingBook HTML5