ON THESIDEOF THEANGELS
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‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . . teaching them to ob serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you” . . . M a t t . 2 8 : - 1 9 - 2 0 i
“And there was war in heaven: Mi chael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon was wroth with the woman ( which brought forth the man child) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed” (Reve lation 12:7, 17.) In the last analysis, anti-Semitism is Satan inspired. It not only despises the human ancestry of our Lord, but it cor rupts the character of the Christian. It is more dangerous to the Christian than to the Jew. Only the entrance of the Word of God into the heart, and the exercise of the love of God in Christ Jesus, can overcome this insidious sin. In this battle the Christian is arrayed on the side of the Lord and His angels. THE FRIENDS OF ISRAEL MIS SIONARY AND RELIEF SOCIETY, INC. is engaged in a world-wide min istry of love and mercy wherever the cry of the afflicted children of Israel rises up to God. In Poland, Germany, Austria, Hun gary, France, Belgium, Holland, in Pal estine, and in Shanghai, as well as in our own country, the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the hopeless com forted, and the despairing lifted up and directed to the Lord Jesus, the great Burden Bearer. Our missionaries and representatives in many parts of the' world serve con tinuously. Here is Christianity inaction. Join the ranks of The Friends of Israel, and let your love and prayer help to combat the Satanic spirit of Jew-hatred by showing forth His love. The Friends of Israel Missionary and Relief Society, Inc. 728-K Witherspoon Building Philadelphia 7, Pa. Joseph M. Steele President Dr. Joseph T. Britan Rev. Victor Buksbazen Treasurer General Secretary Treasurer for Canada: Rev. Bruce Millar, B.A., B.D. Principal, Alma College St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada Our quarterly magazine , ISRAEL MY GLORY , a specially fine missionary magazine , sent to all contributors and also on request.
is command, given by Jesus to the 11 faithful apostles, represents the turning point in the history of the world. Without money, college degrees, influence or political position, the apostles began their work which, in 1900 years, has brought salvation and joy to millions. During the past 133 years, the American Bible Society, supported by voluntary gifts, (some in the form of Annuity Gift Agreements) has distributed nearly 400 ,000 ,000 copies o f the Scriptures. A beautiful new booklet, “ Your Gift that Lives” will give you the complete story. It contains 31 questions and
answers about American Bible So ciety Annuities, pictures and stories about the work now being done by the Society in all parts of the world. May we send you a copy? It is free. Use the coupon below. I-----------------------------
A merican B ible S ociety 450 Park Avenue, New York 22, N.Y. Gentlemen : Please send me, without obliga tion, postage prepaid, the illustrated booklet, “ Your G ift that Lives.” KB-9 Name_______________________________________ Address____________ _________________________ C ity----------------- !___________ S ta te-----------------
AMER ICAN BIBLE SOCIETY 450 PARK AVENUE NEW YORK 22, N.Y.
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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Official Publication of The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated
Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
Betty Bruechert Managing Editor
William W . Orr, D.D,
Editor in Chief
Associate Editor
Copyright, 1918 , The King’s Business No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission. All Rights Reserved. Vol. 40 January, 1949 No. I New Year — Missionary Number CONTENTS Editorially Speaking ................................................................................. 4 The Bible in the News, WiUiam W. O r t .............................................. 5 Are the Japanese Seeking God? Timothy P ietsch ................................ 6 Out o f the Past and Present, Robert P. Shuler .................................... 7 The Untrodden Way, George H. Morrison ............................................ 8 Faith, John Oxenham .............................................. .......... .. ................. .. • 8 Reaching Refugees for Christ, Leslie Flynn ........................... ............ 9 God, the New Year, and You, Callie M. Coutts .................................. 11 The Gates o f Hell and the Church, Reid McCullough ....................... 12 Junior King’s Business, Martha S. Hooker ............................................ 13 Tracks fo r the New Year, Mrs. WiUiam Schobert .............................. 13 The Sin o f Evil Speaking, Harry Hager ................................................. 14 A Missionary Cry, A. B. Simpson ............................................................. 15 Dr. Talbot’s Question Box........................................................................ 16 Biola Family Circle................................................................. .. •••'........... 18 Book Reviews ....................................... 1®' Young People’s Topics, Waiter L. Wilson .............................................. 21 Sunday School Lessons, Homer A. Kent, Allison Arrowood ............. 24 Object Lessons, Elmer L.Wilder ............................................................... 28 Reader Reaction ........................... 60 Cover: Japanese Sunday School children; the little girl is a Christian. / 5 JLO SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION— “The King's Business” is published monthly ; $2.00, one year; $1.00, six months ; 20 cents, single copy. Clubs of three or more at special rates. Write for details. Canadian and foreign subscriptions 25 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address to become effective. Please send both old and new addresses. REMITTANCES—Payable in advance, should be made by bank draft, express, or post office money order payable to “The King’s Business.” Date of expiration will show plainly on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. ADVERTISING—For information, address the Advertising Manager, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 18, California. MANUSCRIPTS— “The King’s Business” cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts mailed to us for consideration. Entered as second-class matter November 7, 1938, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, Cali fornia, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in the Act of February 28, 1925, embodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L. and R., authorized October 1, 1918, and November 13, 1938. ADDRESS: The King’s Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 13, California Page Three
Because the Old Year, at its close Leaves me imperfect in Thy sight; And I have need of cleansing blood, I’m on my knees, my God, tonight! Because the New Year, near at hand, Is full of promise and of light; And I am weak without Thyself, I’m on my knees in prayer tonight. Because, with all the past forgiven, I would rise up to walk aright, And live victoriously for Thee, " I’m on my knees in prayer tonight. Because there’s work for me to do In fields to harvest lying white, And time for reaping is not long, I’m on my knees in prayer tonight. Because another year may bring Thy Son, returning in His might, And I would meet Him unashamed— I’m on my knees, dear Lord, tonight! —Betty Bruechert. I am often told today that what the church of God needs in order to succeed is to catch the spirit of the age. I reply that the church succeeds only in propor tion as she corrects the spirit of the age. I am told that if I am to succeed as a Christian worker, I must adopt the meth ods of the world. Then, by God’s help, I will be defeated. We are not in the world to borrow the world’s maxims and spirit. The world would crucify Jesus as readily now as nineteen centuries ago. The Cross is no more popular in the world today than when men nailed Him to it on the green hill outside the city gate. — G. Campbell Morgan. “ The same loving hand that makes Heaven more homelike is the while loosening the ties that bind us to this world, thus helping our earth-cleaving spirits to sit looser, awaiting our own summons, whether to be ‘present with the Lord’, or at ‘the glorious appear ing.’ ” , J. Hudson Taylor. J A N U A R Y , I 9 4 9
Driving west in downtown Los Angeles on Fifth (a one-way street), after one passes the Public Library, he is rather shocked by a sign of huge proportions on the blind wall of an exposed build ing. Formerly the sign had portrayed a brand of ginger ale, but now it is a whiskey bottle of heroic proportions. Alongside this sign moves the daily din of heavy, noisy traffic. The columnist points out that if you are coming east on Sixth (another one way street), your upturned eyes are met with another sign atop a building which reads, “ JESUS SAVES.” Of course it is the Bible Institute of Los Angeles building, a spiritual oasis in the desert of the downtown section of a great city. Thus it has always been during this age! The whiskey sign and the Jesus Saves sign, good and evil side by side, wheat and tares growing in the same field. Thus God never leaves Himself without witness, and no one will ever be able to say, “ You did not warn me.” Americans and God Recently a most significant survey dealing with the religious beliefs and habits of the American people was spon sored by the Ladies Home Journal. The result is most startling. The poll showed that 95%- of our citizens believe in God, with 76% describing themselves as church members; 90% stated that they pray, with 56% adding that they pray frequently. Nearly Y\ of our citizens think of God as their judge and a like percentage profess belief in some kind of after-life. In the realm of living, the United States citizen thinks pretty well of himself! 91% asserted that they were honestly trying to live a good life, with some half-admitting that to do so was difficult. The Journal found itself somewhat in a dilemma in endeavoring to reconcile the high percentage that seem to ap prove of their individual lives and the very observable deficiency of their actual lives. The gap between what Americans think they do and what they actually do is a sizable one. This furnishes us an opportunity to call attention to the fact that it is never enough to bel’eve in God, in an after-life, or in the Golden Rule. Christ declared emphatically that even the de mons so believed in God, and trembled. The ■point of approach to a holy God today is by one means only. There is but one door to heaven. The l ord Jesus Christ Himself solemnly stated that He rlone was the way. Peter reiterated in h:s sermon that there was no other way whereby men must be saved. The issue today is not belief in God, but belief in Christ. It is not a question of admitting the overwhelming evidence as to the existence of a Creator, but rather that all men are lost without a Saviour, and that they can be saved only on the basis of individual, personal, faith in the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world! T H E K I N S ' S B U S I N E S S
Another Year, Perhaps? During the past twelve months a most strategic prophetic milestone has been reached. Those who are at all familiar with the clear emphasis of Bible proph ecy are aware' that the ever-recurring joyful theme in the Old Testament con cerns itself with and depends upon the return of God’s ancient people to their own promised land. This return is clear ly shown to be a regathering from all the lands under heaven to which God has scattered the Jews. The prophets, speaking under the Spirit of God, are careful to distinguish this going back from any other in this history. For as long as this writer can re member, we have looked forward with great anticipation to that day when the Jews as a nation would be back in their own land. We have been vitally inter ested in this matter because this is the opening event of a series of occurrences which will succeed each other until that day when the heavens part and the Son of God comes forth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:11-16). It may be that the sands in the hour glass of 1949 will be allowed*to run their full course. It may be that twelve more months will unfold themselves be fore our watchful eyes. It may even be that God’s people will be permitted to look into the year 1950. But, praise God, it is possible that ere this coming year concludes, the most stupendous event of all the ages—the resurrection of saints who -have died, and the translation of the saints who are alive—will take place! Even so, come, Lord Jesus! If you have work to do for Christ, you had better accomplish it now! If you have souls upon your heart to deal with in regard to their salvation, do not delay a moment longer! If there is any thing that needs to be made right in your life, now is the time to take care of it. For as far as we can see, there is absolutely nothing to hinder our precious Lord from returning this year. So let us lift up our eyes, for our redemption draweth nigh! Painless Giving Many circulars reach the editor’s desk. Recently one arrived from a large Page Four
printing house, advertising a book en titled, “ How Tax Laws Make Giving to Charity Easy.” Set forth in this valua ble volume was a wealth of information showing how the tax laws of the United States were designed to offer induce ments for supporting worthy charitable enterprises. These statistics impressed us : In 1932, which will be remembered as just about the bottom of the depres sion, the .national income totaled 44 bil lion dollars, of which sum 5.3% was contributed to church work. Compared to that, in 1948, with a national income of the astronomical figure of 211 bil lion dollars, only 1.5% is being shared with the church. So it would seem that God and His cause fare better in days of poverty rather than in times of pros perity. However, let it not be forgotten that God too, notes these figures. It is a dan gerous thing for our national life that we should receive almost incalculable blessings at the hand of God and yet fail to express in a tangible manner our gratitude. Let our people ponder this serious matter. 14th Torrey Conference Again this year, January 16-23, an other Bible Conference will be held in the great auditorium of the Church of the Open Door to honor jointly the men of God who were led to found the Church and the Bible Institute, Mr. Ly man Stewart, Mr. T. C. Horton, and Dr. R. A. Torrey. Speakers for this year will include: Dr. L. Sale-Harrison, Dr. John G. Mitchell, Dr. Leo H. Lehmann, Dr. Charles J. Rolls. Dr. Fulton C. Lytle, Dr. Torrey M. Johnson, Rev. Bob Pierce, Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, Dr. .T. Vernon McGee and Dr. Louis T. Tal bot. Director of the Conference is Dr. William W. Orr. Services will be held in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Ana, San Gabriel and Pomona.
Depends On Which Way You’ re Going
It was a columnist in the Los Angeles Times who entitled his article, “ Moral Tone Changes with Flow of Traffic.”
About Liars Dr. Leonarde Keeler, inventor of the famous Keeler Polygraph or lie detector, after testing more than 25,000 subjects, has concluded that 97 out of 100 people tell lies occasionally and many of them regularly. Other investigators, Doctors Mark A. May and Hugh Hartshorne of Yale University, after four years’ study of the lying habits of 11,000 subjects, discovered that the most honest are the slow-witted, and that men and women tell about an equal number of lies. With these statistics the Scriptures are in full accord, declaring that the heart of man is “ deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” ' The surprising part'of Dr. Keeler’s report is not the high percentage of liars, but that there should be any who were deemed truthful. Extremely solemn are the words recorded in the last book of the Bible: “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second Recently the vast machinery of the Roman Catholic Church was readied to proclaim a new dogma. Bolstered by pa pal infallibility, the new doctrine re quires all true Catholics to believe that upon the death of the Virgin Mary, her body was taken up directly into heaven, not seeing corruption. Although abso lutely no record of this appears in ca nonical Scripture, belief in the “ assump tion” can be traced back to very early Christianity. While Catholics unofficially have been taught thus about Mary for centuries, still this doctrine has lacked the author ity of an official dogma which it is ap parently about to receive. Concerning Mariolatry or undue exal tation of Mary even over Christ, the Bible is impressive by its omissions. Mary appears only briefly in the sacred accounts and never once in the role to which she has been wrongly elevated by the Roman Church. This seemingly innocent belief in Mary’s infallibility has become one of the most monstrous of idolatries in the world today. The Women Speak Time magazine, quickly alert to sig nificant religious movements, after quoting First Corinthians 14:34, 35, makes this statement: “ That part of Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was a dead letter last week in Mil waukee where the United Council of Church Women was holding its fourth biennial assembly. The Sunday before the assembly began, in 45 of Milwaukee’s Protestant churches, women delegates preached the sermons.” No 1948 Winner «5* Meeting recently, Norway’s Nobel Committee announced that it had found no individual in 1948 worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Names which had been under consideration and were re jected, included Bernadotte, Mme. Kol- lontay, Churchill, Gandhi and Stalin. J A N U A R Y , I 9 4 9 death” (Rev. 21:8). Suggested Dogma
raphy by sending a four-word message over the wires, “ What hath God wrought!” Recently the Radio Corporation of America launched a new, amazing word transmitter called Ultrafax by sending the complete text of the 1,047 page novel, “ Gone With the Wind” in 2 minutes. Ultrafax is a hybrid of televi sion and photography. The material to be sent must first be photographed on a strip of movie film, then scanned by a flying spot of light. At the receiving sta tion, the reverse takes place and when this is perfected, it is estimated that Ultrafax can transmit 1,000,000 words a minute. Old-timers will remember that when the Revised Version of the Bible was printed, about the turn of the cen tury, it was telegraphed over the wires to this country, the process taking near ly a day. Darwin Upset «J* A new attack at Darwinian evolution, headed by Dr. Richard Goldschmidt of the University of California, appeared certain. Dr. Goldschmidt, who is an authority on genetics and heredity, told the National Academy of Sciences that a particle called heterochromatin might be the responsible agent for the cata clysmic changes in species as well as minor mutations. In other words, evolution has not come about by the processes outlined by Darwin, but rather by the unexplained actions of this previously little under stood agent. Dr. Goldschmidt has been conducting experiments with the Dro sophila, a rapidly multiplying fruit fly, He found that by using extra hetero chromatin there were so-called “mon sters” produced among the fruit flies. Don’t fear, this new theory in no wise explains the thousand and one other marvelous mysteries connected with God’s handiwork throughout the world. No theory of man can explain this amaz ing universe in which we live which we believe came from the hand of an Al mighty, All-wise, and All-loving God. Page Five
Apparently “winning the peace” is a lost cause so far as man is concerned. Helps Prevent Cancer <£ Sound advice relating to the prevail ing semi-nudity which parades under the name of health came from Dr. J. A. Regato of Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital at Columbia, Missouri. After observation in 2,000 cases the doctor pointed out that only one in every four patients was a woman. And in the region of the body where protection was af forded by hair and cap, little cancer appeared. Individuals suffering most frequently from cancer of the skin are those who are chronically exposed to sunshine. Doctors have long claimed that the beneficence of the sun’s rays, without danger of malignancy, could be obtained best through the filter of light clothing. Israeli Preamble J* The following is the Preamble to the Constitution of the new State of Israel: “ The Jewish people, “ Humbly giving thanks to the God of our fathers for having delivered us from the burden of exile and brought* us back to our ancient land, “ Recalling the tenacious endurance and the heroic sacrifice of countless genera tions for the survival of our people and the preservation of its spiritual herit age, “ Gratefully remembering the faithful remnant which maintained the continu ity of Jewish settlement in Palestine throughout the centuries, and the in spired efforts of the national revival, “ Resolved to build our commonwealth in accordance with the ideals,of peace and justice of the Prophets of Israel, to open our land to every Jew who seeks entry, to maintain the rights of the strangers within our gates, and to promote the peace of the Holy Land and the security and prosperity of all who dwell therein.” The'n and Now J* More than 100 years ago, in 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse launched teleg
Are the Japanese Seeking G O D ?
ssfcM—' S INCE returning to the United States in October, 1948, for special deputa tion work on behalf of the Lord’s work' in Japan, I have been asked by many: “Are the Japanese seeking God?” No! The Japanese are not seeking God. How can they? Most of them have never even heard of the only true and living God so how can they seek Him? Three times in the Bible it is stated, “No man seeketh after God.” The Lord Jesus said, “No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him.”
By Timothy Pietsch
as is his love for Christ. There are no direct hindrances to the preaching of the gospel from the Japanese government at this time. Never before has there been such freedom. Usually this freedom is not used for turning to God but to one’s own wicked ways and devices. The great est wave of robberies and murder that Japan has ever known is now taking place. This last Spring a new young mission ary brought with him a panel truck to Japan. On the side he had printed the words of John 17:3— “And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” He says that when he leaves his truck parked anywhere, upon his return he often finds people with paper and pencil writing down the words from the truck, “ THE ONLY TRUE GOD.” Though the Japanese have had millions of gods, they have never heard of Him before and their hearts are hun gry, for GOD IS SEEKING THEM. The urgent need that brought me home at this time, leaving my family in Japan, for three or four months special deputation work, is housing for mission aries and the starting of an evangelical Bible School in Japan. One of the re quirements for entry into Japan is to guarantee to General MacArthur’s head quarters that adequate housing is avail able. Japan, greatly neglected before the war by evangelical Christian missions, now has many anxious to go there. At present, wp have seventeen on the field
of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission
to come? Rather than that, our Board of Directors asked me to return home and present these urgent needs to God’s people in the homeland. We feel it would be near spiritual suicide for the Chris tians in the United States to refuse the gospel to the people of Japan through neglect or for any other reason, as we did prior to the war when we sent scrap iron instead of Bibles and missionaries. At this time, mayors of cities in Japan come to us as a Mission and ask us to send missionaries to their town. This does not necessarily mean they want the gospel, but they think it will raise the culture of their own town to have an American missionary there. How differ ent is this attitude from that of pre-war days when some missionaries were asked to leave! We have to tell them we have no place to live, to which they say they will give us a building permit. It is extremely difficult for a Japanese na tional to get a building permit but they will give them to the American mis sionaries now. With a Japanese build ing permit, it is now possible to build a modest but suitable home for a mis sionary family or two or three single ladies, for approximately twenty-five hundred dollars. This can also be used for meetings. It is also possible now to buy land in Japan. Prior to the war Americans were not allowed to own land in Japan but now it is cheaper in U. S. currency than ever before. It is pos sible now to house all our missionaries for approximately fifteen hundred dol lars apiece, and this would include the price of the land. What kind of a house could you build for a family here in the U. S. now for this amount? If we- had tried to build six months ago, it would have cost at least ten thousand dollars at the old exchange of 50 to 1, but now with the exchange rate more favorable at 270 yen to 1 dollar, we have the greatest opportunity we have ever known for getting the gospel to the people with whom we so recently have been at war, and to whom our coun try sent battleships in 1853 in order to get them to trade with us and learn our ways. Shall we pass by on the other side, as did the priest and Levite, or shall we, like the good Samaritan, inconvenience our selves to help these who have fallen amongst thieves? Shall we not now give more than simply out of our abundance, but out of real sacrifice, for GOD IS SEEKING THE JAPANESE! T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Pastor Sugigara preaching at street meeting in Japan. The Japanese will stand, as long as one wants to preach. No, the Japanese are not seeking God, BUT GOD IS SEEKING THE JAPA NESE. In His control over the affairs of men, God has brought it about that this land once so difficult is now open as never before to gospel preaching. God is seeking those who will yield themselves to Him and their “members as instruments of righteousness” as those that are alive from the dead to bring the good news to these people. At this time God is especially seeking the Japanese, for He has laid it upon the hearts of many young people to go to Japan and take the message of the Lord Jesus to them. How we thank God for the many GI’s who have seen Japan and the great need and have come home to prepare, many of whom are now ready to go back as missionaries. Some of us who were in pre-war Japan are convinced that God had His hand in- this last tragic conflict for a purpose: that the Japanese might he willing to listen to the gospel. In His great love God has operated on the ter rible cancer of militarism and emperor- worship which brought such sorrow and bondage to the people.'Now one is just as free to preach the gospel in Japan as in the United States except that as yet we do not have the free use of the radio in Japan, for all stations are still government controlled and no private stations have been permitted. The op portunity for preaching in Japan is in proportion to the missionary’s relation ship and nearness to God and is as great Page Six
Mrs. Timothy Pietsch playing organ at street meeting.
in Japan and four others affiliated with our Mission. Forty more are waiting to go out and by the end of next year, we are hoping to have a hundred new mis sionaries in Japan in the Scandinavian Alliance Mission. At the present time the Mission has only one house in Japan in which one missionary family is living. The rest are making shift the best they can. What shall we do with the forty more now anxiously waiting to come when we can hardly take care of those now on the field? Shall we tell them not
M y Personal Impression of Dr. Louis T Talbot
BY ROBERT P. SHULER, D. D. Pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church, Los Angeles, California
Delighted with the following tribute to our president and editor in chief, which appeared in the publication of a neighboring church, we secured the author’s per mission to reproduce it in connection with Dr. Talbot’s retirement as pastor of the Church of the Open Door, after seventeen years of faithful and sacrificial serv ice. — W illiam W. O rr , Associate Editor.
M ORE than a half century ago, a little wisp of a woman gave birth to a baby boy in Sydney, Australia. She humbly thanked God for the tiny pink package that lay by her side and started out to make a Christian man out of this baby, although the odds were against her. His father was in the brewing business and made his living handling liquor, supplying the Sydney hotels and other places where the stuff was dispensed. As the boy grew up, he assisted his father and became a distributor of alcoholic beverages. But the little woman, at times almost a shadow, kept crowd ing God’s throne of grace with her prayers and as constantly warning her growing son of the dangers and pitfalls that his father’s business afforded. There was no open rift in the family but the strength of her dedicated soul was set against the liquor business, out of which the living of this Australian family came. She literally prayed Jim, an older brother, out of the saloons and theaters and into Moody Bible Institute in America. And now she had more time to pray for “Louie.” It was a rather tedious undertaking however. This boy of her prayers came to manhood unsaved and still delivering liquor to the hotels. But God was on His throne and something outside this world began to stir in the heart of Louis Talbot. He became restless, dissatisfied, disillusioned as to the business he was in. He dreamed of America and a new life. His brother Jim was to be a preacher. “Louie” began to wonder why there could not be two preachers in the family. In such a state of mind and with possibly no actual transformation of his heart as yet, he followed Jim across the seas and appeared at Moody. He had cut loose from the liquor evil and he was ready for a fresh adventure. It came. Louis Talbot went to Moody with the thought that preach ing meant success, crowds of admiring listeners, place and position. He had heard Torrey and J. Wilbur Chapman in Sydney. He had noted the great throngs that crowded to hear these splendid American evangelists. He had heard Harkness on the piano and Charles M. Alexander leading singing in the popular evangelistic campaigns that moved Australia in those days. All this had attracted him greatly. He undoubt edly went to America because of his desire for a career rather than because of any great transformation that had taken place in his life. Indeed, he was far along in his studies at Moody and act ing as pastor of a small church, when, under the' preaching of a Baptist preacher, John Harper of London, who was sup plying the Moody Church for the summer, Louis Talbot was actually and genuinely converted. He went forward un ashamed, fell at the altar, cried for mercy, obtained it, and arose to go out into one of the most spectacularly successful ministries of any man I have ever known. He lived to be pastor of the very church in Los Angeles.which the mighty J A N U A R Y , I 9 4 9
Dr. Talbot in a typical teaching pose, with his open Bible before him.
Torrey had founded, and to minister to hundreds of thousands of people over the radio networks of America. I first knew Louis Talbot thirty-two years ago in Paris, Texas. He was pastor of a small Congregational church in that prosperous Texas city. I was at First Methodist Church and had in my congregation a young lady by the name of Audrey Hogue. She was a music teacher and a lovely Chris tian. The Congregational people employed her as organist. Louis Talbot joined her music class. That was the beginning of what happened rather swiftly. I assisted in the wedding ceremonies, and from that day to this have had a very intimate interest in Dr. Louis Talbot. From Paris, this young Australian went from pastorate to pastorate in the United States and Canada until, almost two decades ago, he received a call to the great Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles. I happened to be at Trinity Meth odist Church, only a few blocks away. We have been enthusi astic friends through the years of our pastorates in this great city. Dr. Talbot is also the President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, an institution closely related to the Church of the Open Door. Recently he resigned his pastorate because of the tremendous responsibilities that the growing Bible School entails. I count it one of the greatest honors of my life 'that I was invited by his Board, undoubtedly at his sug gestion, to preach the sermon in December, on the Sunday when he terminated his official relationship with this great church. (Continued on Page 10) Page Seven
L^ntrodden
Rev. George H. Morrison, D.D.
“ Ye have not passed this way heretofore” —-Joshua 3:4. T HERE are some things we never get accustomed to, no matter how often they may be repeated. They thrill us every time that they arrive. No minister, however long his ministry, ever gets accustomed to a deathbed. Nobody, however hard his life may be, ever gets accustomed to the spring. And always, right to the end of life, when the New Year comes stepping up to greet us, it evokes certain responses within the heart. It is true we do not measure life by years. We live in deeds, not breaths. Our reckonings are independent of the calendar. They are regulated hy personal experiences. Yet there is something in a common pressure that adds to individual intensity, and that is always so at the New Year. We are like Israel on the banks of the Jordan. We have reached an end that is just a beginning. As back of us all there is a common journey, so before us is an untrodden way. What, then, does this old story give us, to hearten and to guide us, as our feet cross the threshold of the year? The first thing it impresses on us is that for the untrodden way we must sanctify ourselves. “ Sanctify yourselves,” said Joshua to the people, “for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” You will note that when Israel reached the Jordan they were not immediately ordered to its crossing. For three days they lay upon its banks. They were remembering all the way the Lord had led them. And then, enriched by memory, and mindful of love that never failed them, they were commanded to sanctify themselves. What that meant for them is a matter for' scholars to determine. One turns to Exodus and Leviticus to discover what that meant for them. What that means for us, as we look forward to another year, is to be gathered from the words of Jesus, “ For their sakes I sanctify myself.” Facing the untrodden way, we are to dedicate ourselves again to God. We are to give ourselves to the duties of our calling with a fresh and unreserved surrender. And that, no matter what our calling be, whether preaching the everlasting gospel, or glorifying His name upon a sickbed. The wonders of tomorrow depend on the sanctification of today. A new surrender, here and now, is the. prelude to a wonderful ex perience, all of which ought to be borne in mind by those who are growing weary of their work, and dreading the prospect of another year.
The enthusiasm of youth may have departed, the strength we once enjoyed may have been weakened, thé freshness may have been rubbed off things a little through the ceaseless handling of the years; but if, here and now, facing the un known, in our Lord’s fashion we sanctify ourselves, tomorrow shall be more wonderful than yesterday. Another thing the story teaches is that for the untrodden way we need new commands. This chapter, as one of the Puritans has said, is notably a chapter of commands. There were long periods in the desert journey when no new com mands were given to Israel. They struck their tents, they marched, they pitched again, under the kindly leadership of Heaven. But now, facing the unknown way, there is more than a general and kindly leadership, there are new commands for every emergency. Arise—go forward—sanctify yourselves; take up—pass over—come not near. Orders follow in a swift succession for every step on that untrodden road, from which I gather that, facing a New Year, we can never rest on the commands of yesterday. We want to be in living touch with God. That is why prayer is absolutely necessary if the New Year is to be one of victory. Prayer keeps us in living touch with Him who sees the end from the beginning. And if I speak to any whose prayer- life has grown poor under the pressure of multifarious duties, may I beg of them to alter all that now. No labor can take the place of prayer. No learning can take the place of prayer. We are the followers of One who prayed, and praying won His triumph. In living, daily, personal touch with God there is strength, as there is joy and peace for the darkest mile of the untrodden way. I close by noting that for the untrodden way Israel sent on ahead the Ark of God. It was the sign and symbol that the Lord was with them, and they sent it on ahead into the swellings of the Jordan. In spite of the express command of Jesus, how we send our imaginings ahead! How we toss our selves into a fever over the fears of the untrodden way! But a living faith sends on the Ark of God, entrusts every tomorrow to His keeping, and when the floods come, they do not over whelm us. Fear is a poor hand at finding fords. Fear is a sorry bridge- builder. Fear drowns the music of today. It hears nothing but the rushing of the river. But Israel sent on the Ark of God, and that made all the difference for them, as it makes all the difference for us. With a fresh surrender of ourselves, with a spirit receptive and responsive, with a pro found conviction that God is on ahead, ordering everything in perfect love, let us go forward, with banners flying, to the high adventure of another year, for we “ have not passed this way heretofore.” —Reprinted from Highways of the Heart by permission of Harper & Brothers, Publishers. Lord, give me faith!— to live from day to day, With tranquil heart to do my simple part, And, with my hand in Thine, just go Thy way. Lord, give me faith!— to trust, if not to know; With quiet mind in all things Thee to find, And, child-like, go where Thou wouldst have me go. Lord, give me faith!— to leave it all to Thee, The future is Thy gift, I would not lift The veil Thy love has hung 'twixt it and me. — John Oxenham T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Photo courtesy Canadian National Railtvays, Los Angeles, Calif.
Page Eight
REACH ING REFUGEES FOR CHR IST
W ITHOUT the necessity for any missionary sailing across the ocean or learning a foreign language, the All Nations Evangelistic Fellowship reaches children from nearly every European nation, plus underprivileged youngsters and orphans in the New York City area. A picture appearing in a New York paper April, 1942, showing dozens of fleeing European children leaning hope fully over the rails of a Portuguese steamer as it docked in New York, touched the heart of Dr. Harold Strathearn, head of Interstate Evangelistic Association, and inspired him to do something about their plight. A plea was issued for funds to finance weeks at Canandaigua for such children, most of whom were between nine and fifteen years of age and rep resented almost every European nation. Calling on the American Committee of Christian Refugees, workers compiled names of refugees. Visits were made to prospects who usually lived with relatives or in foster homes. Adults as well as children were welcomed to America, tact fully quoted a few verses of Scripture, told of the camp for children, and supplied with Christian literature. Sixty Nazi- hounded boys and girls were rounded up. The all-day train ride was made in a private New York Central coach, while the eight-mile transportation from station to camp was pro vided by the Canandaigua Rotary Club. Then followed four weeks of recreation and Christian instruction. All of these foreign-born children left with deep enthusiasm for the land of the free, but, more important, thirty-one of the sixty made open confessions of faith in Christ. Queries of Jewish children regarding the Trinity and the Virgin Birth amazed the teachers, but revealed the depth of their interest. As a result, the next summer special courses were introduced dealing with Old Testament passages and types of Christ especially adapted to Jewish children. Present at the first camp in 1942, Suzanne, then eleven years old, a Jewish refugee from Budapest, Hungary, played nightly from memory selections from Bach, Mendelssohn, and Chopin, and also performed at a neighboring Rotary Club. Returning home, this youthful prodigy expressed a desire to accept Christ as her Messiah. Because Suzanne wanted to settle the question before she and her mother moved away to be with her father who had a medical practice in Mary land, a missionary of the Refugee Fellowship dealt with both of them. The little daughter had often quoted the Scriptures which she had learned to her mother. Amazed at their grasp of the Christian faith, this missonary baptized both of them
The Thrilling Story of the All Nations Evangelistic Fellowship
By Rev. Leslie Flynn
in March 1943 in New York’s First Baptist Church. Recently, now seventeen-year-old Suzanne, who wishes to use her rare musical gift in the Lord’s service, became the only pupil of a famous Hungarian composer now residing in the United States and has given a classical concert at a New York hotel. Her father, very sympathetic to the gospel, accompanies her and her mother to the Protestant church. Exiled from Czechoslovakia at the age of two-and-a-half years, little Peter, along with his parents, found refuge from the Nazi hordes in Santo Doiningo in 1940. Coming to New York in May 1946, his parents could not find an apartment permitting children. Since he was unable to understand a word of English, the Christian Refugee Fellowship sent him to camp for over two months where he became conversant not only with English but with the English Bible as well. He now attends Sunday School and his grateful parents, finally able to locate work and an apartment, attend church faith fully. Kindness to children has often paved an easy avenue to parental hearts. Other teen-age histories dealt with read like this: Dorothy, born in Vienna, fled with her family to this country seven years ago. All of her family have been converted. Hannelore was reared in Berlin where her father was a judge. Because Jewish blood flowed in the family veins, they were forced to flee. The entire family has been converted. Financial assistance is sometimes given refugee parents. One fellow who had become a Christian through the Fellow ship was granted a loan. Hired as a special interpreter by the U. S. Army, he has since arrived in Germany and has written a book, Return to God. A man and wife, both physi cians now practicing in New York City, express deep gratitude for aid given them. The Fellowship has assumed sponsorship for some persons seeking naturalization. One boy of high quality who had be come a Christian after three summers at camp, and his mother, who both wished to become citizens, were utterly dependent on a sponsor’s affidavit. The Fellowship officials took the same responsibility they would have for their own relatives entering the country. Though the case was blocked and transferred many times, the lad persisted. Some months ago he dropped into the office with “ It’s all over. We’re citi zens. It was worth-while. We wouldn’t want to go back to Germany for anything.” Refugees moving to other parts of the country have been recommended to jobs and put into contact with Christian people. The Fellowship has dealt with more Jewish than non-Jewish families. One girl whose father is an' orthodox Jew faces constant opposition because she spends so much time in Christian company. Nevertheless, she and many others in similar positions, stand firm for their beliefs in the face of hostility at home. Neither a complaining group nor a scheming crowd who aim to take over jobs by cheap leabor, most refugees have been found above average intelligence, coming from the de sirable class of higher society in the old countries, which includes doctors, artists, and men of means whose property was confiscated by the Nazis. Having lost everything but their accent, soured by bitter experiences, they are easy prey for subversive movements, unless reached for Christ soon after their arrival in the United States. Page Nine
A part of the group of European refugee children who every year spend several weeks at the All Nations Evangdistic Fellowship Bible Camp on Canandaigua Lake, New York. They are thus taken^ away from the evil, communistic influences that are present in the big city of New York, and given patriotic and Bible training under competent and sympathetic teachers at the camp. J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 9
SOME ON E H AD PRAYED The day was long, the burden I had borne Seemed heavier than I could longer bear. And then it lifted— but I did not know Some one had knelt in prayer. Had taken me to God that very hour, And asked the easing of the load, and He, In infinite compassion, had stooped down And taken it from me. W e cannot tell how often as we pray For some bewildered one, hurt and distressed, The answer comes— but many times those hearts Find sudden peace and rest. , Some one had prayed, and Faith, a reaching hand, Took hold of God, and brought Him down that day So many, many hearts have need of prayer— Oh, let us pray. — Anon The story of Dr. Louis Talbot’s activities in Los Angeles makes fiction tame. He found a church of 1,200 discouraged members. He leaves it with 3,500 and the future bright. He came to a debt of over a million dollars. He leaves the church free from debt and thousands of dollars raised on new promo tional enterprises. He has extended the missionary program to where literally hundreds of American missionaries and native workers belt the globe, supported by this great church. It is absolutely true that the sun never sets on the missionary activities of the Church of the Open Door. He came to 300 students in the Bible Institute. Now there are more than a thousand. His ministry over the air has been phenomenal. His daily verse by verse exposition of Scripture is heard by hundreds of thousands over two of the largest radio networks in the West. In addition, he has had a remarkable writing ministry, producing ten full-length books on Scriptural sub jects, as well as dozens of pamphlets and articles; his book, God’s Plan of the Ages, has become a textbook in many schools. Few men in this generation have achieved success as has Dr. Talbot. Some characteristics cling to him. He is persistent. He has tremendous faith. He is absolutely loyal to the Book from which he draws his message: He is a tireless worker. He has a more than natural ability to understand and inter pret the Scriptures. He knows how to give all he has and hold back nothing. He knows and loves Jesus Christ. He has taken literally the Bible exhortation, “ Search the Scriptures.” The mother who prayed her boy from the liquor business into the front ranks of God’s marching hosts did not live to see him reach his zenith. But she did live to see him a success in the work of her Christ. Then she contentedly died. But before she died, she saw her husband and every child in her large family, save one, accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Five years after her. triumphant death, that one un saved boy was gloriously converted. The brewer and his family were safe inside the fold. So Louis Talbot thought of his frail mother and then turned to the Scripture that read, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved! and thy house.” —Reprinted from The Methodist Challenge by permission of the author. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S M Y PERSONAL IMPRESSION OF DR. TALBOT (Continued from Page 7)
A typical AU Nations Evangelistic Fellowship Released Time Bible Class v * t children of the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. New York City. Twenty-six of these classes are being conducted during the present school term. A total of approximately fifteen hundred young people are being reached with the Gospel every week through this medium. To acquaint refugees with the gospel, as well as to conserve the work accomplished among the youth in the summer camps, refugees are advised to attend the Newcomer’s Fellowship of New York’s Second Presbyterian Church, where sociability and Bible study headline the program. The leader of this work is Dr. F. J. Forell, himself a refugee from Germany where he held the highest ecclesiastical post in Silesia, and where he was officially known as “ Social Pastor of Silesia and Secretary of the Board of Home Missions.” A personal friend of Martin Niemoller, descended from many generations of Lutheran ministers, Mr. Forell and his wife escaped from Germany and found themselves in separate camps. Permitted to come to America if. invited by some church, he became Assistant Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of New York in 1941 where he now works among refugees and serves as Director of Evangelism for the Presbyterian Church of New York. He has baptized well over 100 refugees in New York. Though the Fellowship will expand its fifteen-year-old work of reaching orphans and underprivileged of Brooklyn’s slums, it intends to continue to evangelize refugees, especially since Congress recently voted to admit thousands of displaced persons. Says the Fellowship: “ These children have been torn from their loved ones and homes, to come to what is known through out the world as a Christian country. Here is a marvelous missionary opportunity and the challenge to live up to our Christianity.” With much of Europe virtually inaccessible to the gospel, these refugees parked on our very doorsteps constitute a mis sion field of key importance. For not only can they be won to Christ, but they can be trained for service, and then prayed out to their homelands as missionaries to their own people. For fifteen years weekly classes have been held for various groups in Brooklyn’s slums. Present average attendance total over 1,000. These meet in twenty released-time Bible classes, and twenty-five after-school classes. One Sunday School draws over 100 colored children who attend no other church, a Sunday evening service for mothers of the children, and six adult classes. Some meetings are restricted to Jewish people only. One is designed for men. The latest class is com posed of seventeen gypsies. The number of workers handling these activities, many of them volunteers, totals seventy. But probably the most intriguing of the Fellowship’s min istries is its six-year-old refugee work centering around the hundreds of war-victimized boys and girls, uprooted from their homelands and left on America’s doorstep, chiefly those seek ing refuge in the New York City area, port of entry for 40,000 displaced persons annually. The interest and prayers of God’s people are earnestly solicited for the All Nations Evangelistic Fellowship. Page Ten
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