January 1932
T . h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
13
infallible Word of God—the only sure remedy for her many ills. T ime to E vangelize It is a time o f spiritual crisis in the history of Israel. The Jews have arrived at a religious crossroads. Behind them lie the deserted synagogues and the abandoned faith, before them the unknown and untrodden religious paths of the world. A misstep at this point would mean tragedy of the gravest sort. A series of spiritual perils threatens them, one of which is to become a prey to some one of the many false religious cults of the day; another is to make Zionism, Nationalism,_ Socialism, or Commun ism a sort of religious substitute for Juda ism ; a third is to permit themselves to drift with the tide of in difference arid event ually to find themselves s h i p- wrecked upon the rocks o f hope less atheism. Now, when the Jew is more open to conviction on the subject of Christ and Christianity than at any other time since the dispersion, is the psychological time for a great forward Jewish missionary movement. For the church of God to ignore this challenge to her fidelity to her Lord’s T he present Prime Minister of Canada has never done a greater thing than when, at Massey Hall recently, he admitted the impotence of the world’s political leadership and declared that “ nothing but the grace of God will save this world.” There are times when the greatest thing that can be said is the simplest. And there are times when leaders grow in public esteem by frankly admitting their own inade quacy. The developments in this country in the past year afford their comment on the futility of competitive policies based on alternative programs appealing to public covet ousness. Mr. Bennett does not lose, but rather gains, pres tige by the frankness of his own admissions. Yet all the history o f past intercessions for divine inter vention, and all the lessons o f Holy Writ itself, bear wit ness to this inescapable truth: The Father of all men never yet intervened to save humanity from the results of its own sins for the mere purpose of enabling mankind to get a fresh start at sinning. Repentance is the key to the gospel of personal salvation. Repentance is the necessary prelim inary to answered appeals on behalf of distressed nations. Was there ever, in all history, a human generation which needed so much to repent as that now living? In the
great commission would be equivalent to assuming, in some measure, responsibility for Israel’s sin of unbelief. The presence of nearly four and one-half millions of Jewish people within the hospitable borders of the United States (the largest Jewish population in any country of the world) constitutes a chal lenge of no mean m agn itude. Our ob
l i g a t i o n is clear, our failure ap parent, and our present op portunity unexampled. But the time is short, and the need is urgent, for Judaism has no saving message for her people. Responsibility for Israel’s evangelization has been left largely with the Jewish missions which, though poorly equipped and financed, have been courageously struggling with a task of superhuman proportions. The burden of an obligation that should have been borne by the entire church has too long been left with the comparatively few who have realized the true measure of the debt to God’s people, Israel. Responsibility for the salvation of “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel” rests with each Christian individual. May God enable us to provè faithful to the trust reposed in us. past few years, almost 25,000,000 men have been slaugh tered in battle. Over almost every grave now stands the symbol of the cross. What a travesty! At least half of these lost lives were sacrificed, not to the Prince of Peace, but to the beastliness, avarice, and selfish ambi tion of certain nations and their rulers. And today, when, with a hand never so bountiful in all history, God has given men food to eat and resources to use—today poverty stalks in the midst of plenty; men starve, while food rots; children are homeless, while houses are vacant; women are half clad, while clothing warehouses are stocked to the roof. Surely . . . all so-called Christian civilizations need to call upon the Almighty to save us from our own selfish ness. “ The depression,” said Archbishop McNeil, “ is not an accident. It is the natural result of a long course of indi vidual and corporate sin—sinful selfishness.” “ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” It is vain to appeal for divine help unless we first recognize that our personal selfishness, our national self ishness, and our international selfishness are to blame for present conditions .—Toronto. Globe.
REPENTANCE IS THE KEY
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online