December, 1945
467
THE
IN THE N E W S
B I B L
An Interpretation o f World Affairs in the Light o f the Scriptures.
5 ^ The Lutheran Hour, a stirring broadcast of the Gospel, is now heard over seven hundred stations in the United States and abroad. In a fine report of this work in the American Lutheran, many conversions and re newed interest in spiritual things are related. New plans by the Lutheran Hour call for the erection of a power ful radio station at Wartburg Castle in Germany, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into the language of the people of Germany. Work has been resumed on the huge 200-inch telescopic mirror, soon to be installed at Mt. Palomar near San Diego, California. Interrupted dur ing the war years, the astronomers and technicians now expect this mag nificent instrument to be completed in about two years. The “ eye” of the photographic plate will be increased in power four times over its present capacity for penetrating the inex haustible recesses of space. We cannot refrain from com menting on the analogy between the chicken living without a head, and “headless” churches and Christians. A farmer, with the intention of killing a fowl for a meal, severed the head of the white rooster, but missed the jugular vein and a small bit of tissue in the act. The chicken is still alive, living solely by its motor impulses. That Christ is the Head of the Church is well known, but the difficulty is that such knowledge is not practiced. The result is similar: some action, but absolutely no progress. The long-awaited decision in the case o f‘the Philadelphia Gospel broad casters against Radio Station WPEN has been handed down. It seems when a number of Gospel broadcasters were summarily cut off, they appealed to the courts to compel the radio station to accept their programs on the same basis as that of other advertisers. But the decision of the court was an over whelming victory for the radio sta tion. It was, in effect, that an individ ual radio station may or may not accept religious accounts. It is expect
ed that these Gospel broadcasters will appeal to the Supreme Court. Death claimed George Coles Steb- bins at his Catskill, New York, home, as he neared his one hundredth birth day. He was one of the original group of men surrounding the dynamic per sonality of D. L. Moody. It is esti mated that Gospel hymns written by Mr. Stebbins run into the thousands. Many present day favorites are from his pen, including: Take Time to Be Holy; There Is a Green Hill Far Away; True Hearted, Whole Hearted. ^ " A news item which reports that five churches burn each day prompts us to remark that this a very low figure indeed. God’s plan'and purpose is that fires should ceaselessly burn in the churches—not literal fires, but rich spiritual fires. We do not refer to the foolish fires'of fanaticism, but to that genuine flame from the altar before the throne of God. An atheist, viewing a burning church building, was taunted by his friends because he never before was seen at that church. Of course, he replied that this was the first time he had ever seen that church on fire! ^ ‘ A strange crop in the land which God promised should flow with milk and honey, is Palestinian tobacco. Last year the figure stood at 1500 tons, of which 1400 tons were made into ciga rettes. Here is one product which will have to be changed when Christ re turns and sets up His Millennial throne in Jerusalem. A sidelight on some of the much photographed and highly envied bath ing beauties, who have the doubtful honor of becoming “Miss Americas” is a revealing article from the Ameri can Weekly. We understand that, out of fifteen girls chosen to be “Miss America,” seven have been in the di vorce court, and the marriages of sev eral others have nearly gone “ on the rocks.” One came close to losing her life at the hands of an outraged wife; another married a millionaire theater operator whom she later shot and
killed. Quite a number have had tragic endings, and almost all have seen nothing but sin, sorrow and ulti mate shame. One of these beauties, later a suicide, declared, “I might have been happy if I had been ugly.” The printing plates of the Bible owned by the German Bible Society during the war were stored away in deep cellars. Since hostilities have ceased; they have been found in a l most perfect condition, and American occupation authorities are encourag ing efforts to renew publication of the Word of God. The proposed plant for this purpose is a former Nazi printing establishment. ^ An important article in the newsy Christian Victory magazine from the pen of Rev. R. S. Beal, Jr., calls at tention to the fact that Sunday school literature should be carefully exam ined. It seems to surprise some churches that there is a wide diver gence in doctrinal teaching in the quarterlies and c o m m e n t a r i e s designed to help the Sunday school teacher and pupil. Apparently, many have not awakened to the fact that one of the hottest battles between the liberal and conservative forces is be ing waged at this very point. Every Sunday school should have a commit tee of spiritual men and women whose duty it is to investigate mi nutely the treatment of the great fun damentals of the faith by the auth ors of their Sunday school literature. In this manner, too, eternal vigilance is the price of security. A flying school for missionaries is already an established fact in Tour- napull, Ga., under the direction of energetic Bob LeTourneau. A number of returned missionaries and mission ary candidates are taking a complete course in aeronautics. A few weeks ago, the first four were graduated as full-fledged “ sky pilots,” who plan to spread their wings over Africa, China, and Mexico. Mr. LeTourneau, along with other forward-looking mission ary statesmen, views this quartet a-s only forerunners of a mighty army of flying missionaries.
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