The Bible Family Magazine
NOVEMBER • 1937
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THANKFULNESS FOR PEACE OF HEART Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within, — Bickersteth.
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Single subscriptions through club or ganizers, or clubs of less them ten, at E X A C T L Y H A L F PR ICE : only 75 cents each. Begin T O D A Y to form a club in YO U R COM M UN ITY . To February 1, 1938 CLUB O R G AN IZER S : Send us $7 for each C lub-of-Ten annual subscrip tions to TH E K ING ’S BUSINESS (regular price $ 1 .5 0 * ) . W e will allow you 8 0 cents on each subscription. $7 for US—$8 forYOU the International Lesson for each week, the mag azine provides Golden Text illustrations, chil dren’s lessons, illustrated object lessons, and light on lesson questions for classes and teachers. Sunday-school superintendents order and recom mend the use of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s among their teachers and officers. They know it is safe, serviceable, and inexpensive. Moreover, it will come in time to be useful, for all Sunday-school lesson materials, as well as Christian Endeavor Notes and Devotional Readings, are provided one month in advance of the magazine date. Why not form a club in your church, Sunday- school, or adult Bible class, and thus promote the diligent and pleasurable study of the Greatest Book?
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N EARLY seven million copies of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s , it is estimated, have been printed and circulated during its twenty-eight years of service. Throughout the years, more than "22,000,000 readers have delighted in these pages (the figures based upon a conservative estimate of an official analyst). Printed on a fine quality of paper, beautifully illustrated, with 40 to 48 pages (plus covers), it represents the last word in evangelical journalism. Why Everybody Wants The King’ s Business It appeals to the whole family. As its slogan implies, it is indeed the Bible Family Magazine. For inspiration, relaxation, information, and all- year-round enjoyment, young and old turn to T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s —and are satisfied! It is a boon to Sunday-school teachers. Each month, at least one-fifth of the contents of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s is specially adaptable to the needs of Sunday-school pupils and teachers. Besides a practical and spiritual exposition of
Paul W. Rood Editor-in-Chief President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association
Children enjoy it. Two pages, “The Junior King’s Business,” are exclusively for children. Stories, Bible drills, memory work, and the Know Your Bible Club are popular regular fea tures of this department.
CAPTAIN REGINALD WALLIS, retired British army officer . . . Welcomed every where for his vital, radiant message . . . Writes in THE KING’S BUSINESS on “ The Appeal of the Cross.” . . . DAN GILBERT, brilliant young author . . . Flings out the question, “ How can the youth of the na tion be saved from destruction at the hands of educational pied pipers?” and answers in THE KING’S BUSINESS. . . . H. A . IRONSIDE, beloved teaching-pastor of the Moody Memorial Church, Chicago . . . Contributes to “ Prophetic Symposium.” . . . ROBERT G. LEE, eloquent Southern pas tor. . . . Under his pen, “ Glory Today for Conquest Tomorrow” glows with meaning.
Robert G. Lee
Dan Gilbert
H. A. Ironside
Reginald Wallis
Share with Your Friends “The King’s Business” for 1938 Seven Departments (or more) in each issue. . . Stimulating Articles . . . Stories for the Fam ily Circle . . . Suggestions for the Effective Teacher, Preacher, Soul-Winner . . . . .
messages in the hands and hearts of those whom they desire to reach with a spiritual message. Nearly 30,000 Chris tians from time to time have availed themselves of the attractive c l u b offers of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s . Under t h i s convenient plan, you can: enroll a group of friends' for half the usual sub scription price (or less, in groups o f ten ); or, should you so desire, you may by merely showing the magazine in your immediate circle, and by collecting t h e regular a n n u a l - subscription price o f $1.50, earn a substantial sum for the C h r i s t m a s holidays. Study the simple sub scription offer on the opposite page. Send for samples and other sup plies. Or, better still, mail us a list of the friends to whom you would like to have us send sample copies. Cooperation o f Every Reader Desired I f you know and love T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s , will you not recommend it to others? Make T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s your business for the next few months.
T h r o u g h o u t T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s , the s ta g g e r in g need f o r Ch ild E vang e lism in America is emphasized. Probably no o t h e r monthly m agazine in America devotes as much attention to the setting f o r t h of God-honored m e t h o d s for winning boys and girls to the Saviour, as does THE K I N G ’ S BUSINESS. Would you win children for C h r i s t ? THE KING’S BUSINESS will help you! Pastors, missionaries, a n d personal workers say they c a n n o t do without it. T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s is an interna tional publication, mailed monthly to all the great m i s s i o n fields o f the world. Its messages are translated into m a n y l a n g u a g e s and are passed on eagerly from group to waiting group. It is like a letter from home to weary mission aries. Moreover, for any Christian, T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s is an effective aid in spiritual warfare. Every issue is a gospel issue. On almost every page, there is a word to the unsaved, the care less, and the indifferent —all attractively a n d prayerfully presented.
Symposium on Prophecy By LOU IS S. BA U M A N and Others "In a day like this, it is a privilege and a kindness above any of which we feel worthy, to have the editorial management of a maga zine so far-reaching in its message and its in fluence as THE K IN G 'S BUSINESS, ask us to continue for the sixth year to write of the wonderful prophecies of the wonderful Word as they are now being fulfilled to the ¡oy of all who have eyes to see."— Louis S. Bauman. Writers who are at once students of
Scripture and of current events, and who are well qualified to discuss from the Bible viewpoint such subjects as the Present European Crisis, the Revival of the Roman Empire, the Sino-Japanese Conflict, and the Outlook in Palestine, will join the growing number of distinguished' contributors to THE KING'S BUSINESS in 1938. How the faithful prophets of God, whose eyes peered with unerring vision far into the future, would rejoice just to be alive in this, our day I How Ezekiel— knowing the final outcome— would rejoice as he would see old Gog, with his fists raised against God, marshaling his forces for the last fatal march in his last fight in the Valley of Hamon-gog (3 9 :1 1 )1 How Daniel’ s heart would thrill with excitement as he would see “ the king of the south” mustering his forces, preparing for the inevitable “ push” at the willful king— the Antichrist himself, while “ the king of the north” is doing exactly the same thing (11 :3 6 -4 5 )1 How well he would understand the present situation in Ethiopa and Egypt, know ing full well that when the “ war of the great day of God” (Rev. 16:14, R .V .), which is Armageddon, is over, Anti christ and all his forces will “ come to his end, and none shall help him” (Dan. 11:45) 1 Send this prophetic series to your friends. A subscription entered NOW, at the'special subscription rate of 75 cento through club organizers (or a club of ten for $7 .00) will bring to you ALL the articles in the Prophetic Symposium.
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Club Offers Popular T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s has never been sold for profit. It is priced solely to serve —with a view particularly to reaching those who otherwise would be without an evangelical publication. More than 12,000 copies are given away
each month, not only by the publishers, and by the Bible Institute of Los An geles (for which it is the official or gan), but also by a veritable a/rmy of earnest Christians who use this maga zine as a convenient and inexpensive way for placing twelve monthly gospel EVELYN M. McCLUSKY, youth’s friend and confidante. . . . Into short stories she pours the winsomeness of heavenly grace. . . . VANCE HAVNER, among the most popular of modern writers on devotional themes. . . . With a pastor’s heart, he dis cusses in THE ICING’S BUSINESS “ The Peril of ‘Adjusting’ the Scriptures.” . . . HERBERT LOCKYER, one of England’s most prominent Bible expositors, appealing ly magnifies Christ. . . . It is “ The Christ of Christmas” to whom he points reverently in the December KING’S BUSINESS. . . . W . GRAHAM SCROGGIE, Scotland’s peer less preacher, clears away misconceptions in his masterful “What Is Christianity?”
Evelyn M. McClusky
Vance Havner
Herbert Lockyer
W . Graham Scroggie
November, 1937
418
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
CHILD EVANGELISM C O R R E S P O N D E N C E C O U R S E The Answer ef theCorrespondenceSchool to a Nation-Wide Need
“ The call o f God to His people in America is to evangelize the twenty- seven million children of the nation. This is our supreme task, and it calls for trained, consecrated workers who have caught the vision o f Child Evangelism. ‘For the love of Christ constraineth us; . . . that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.* ’ * — PAUL W . ROOD.
OUTLINE OF COURSE LESSON ONE “How to Win a Child to Christ” Martha S. Hooker LESSON TWO “ The Psychology of the Child” Claire Weiermuller LESSON THREE "Child Evangelism in the Bible School” Harry H. MacArthur LESSON FOUR “ The Gospel of Love for Children” Irene B. Ranney LESSON FIVE “ Child Evangelism in the Home” Martha S. Hooker LESSON SIX “Reaching the Child Through Music” Herbert G. Tovey LESSON SEVEN “ Object Lesson Building for Child Evangelism”
“ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
“ W e are blessed to be a blessing, Given light that we may see How our vision is His challenge, ‘Bring the children unto Me.’ ” Jt TESTIMONIALS Seattle, Wash.: “ If pastors, superintendents, and Sunday-school teachers followed the instructions given in these lessons, their work certainly would result in the salvation of the majority of the children attending Bible Schools, and many who do not now attend.” Portland, Maine: “ I have enjoyed the lessons very much, and I think the course is fine. I shall have many opportunities of recommending it as 1 contact the people in each city who are taking over the Child Evangelism Fellow ship Program.” CO RRE SPONDEN CE S C H O O L The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc. 558 S. Hope St., Los Angeles, Calif. Gentlemen: Please enroll me in your Child Evangelism course, for which I am enclosing herewith $5.00 covering complete cost of enrollment.
CHILDREN’ S INALIENABLE RIGHTS To Hear the Gospel Story To Accept Jesus as Saviour To Enthrone Him as Lord To Worship Him as God To Know Him as Friend "Christ has no hands but our hands To do His work today; He has no feet but our feet To lead men in His way. He has no tongue but our tongue To tell men that He died;
Elmer L. Wilder LESSON EIGHT “ Children's All-Bible Summer School” Wm. Harllee Bordeaux LESSON NINE “ Bible Doctrine and Scripture Catechism” Kenneth M. Monroe 9 Lessons; 9 Examinations
Material written by outstanding children’ s workers. Over 200 pages of material, both theoretical and practical.
He has no help but our help To bring them to His side."
Do you know that five out of seven children pass through the average Bible School without making a decision for Christ? What are you doing for those committed to your care? Are you making the best o f your every opportunity to contact children? What about those in your own home? Is your heart burdened for their eternal welfare? This course will tell you why, where, and how to evangelize children. Let us help you. Enroll today!
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November, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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They that did the King’s business Helped The Jews! “ And all the princes of the prov inces, and the satraps, and the gov ernors, and they that did the king's business, helped the Jews!" — Esther 9:3 (R .V .) If ever in their history the Jews needed your help, they need it now. A Hitler in Germany, a Stalin in Russia, persecution in Poland, bloodshed in Roumania— the age- old cry of the Jew pierces the heart of every true child of God—-—Wohin sol Ich gehen? Where shall I go? Can you afford, as a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to shut up your bowels of mercy to that haunting wail? The old time heathen of Hainan's day, in the hour of Israel's distress, helped the Jews! Can you do less than those Godless heathen did? And do you know a truly better way to help the Jews now than to point them to the only cure for their troubles, the Lord Jesus Christ? Think it over; then write us. Some day you'll be glad you did. The promise of God is still valid, “ I will bless them that bless thee.’ * Gen. 12:3. Our world-wide testimony to Israel is worthy of your faithful prayers and sympathy. Your help is always needed and appreciated. “ THE CH O SEN PEOPLE,“ be loved by Bible students for its helpful information on prophecy and the Jews, is sent to all con tributors. May we hear from you? AMERICAN BOARD OF MISSIONS TO THE JEWS, INC. 31 T hroop Avenue B rooklyn, N. Y . I d o w ant to help the Jews. Here is $ ............... .... Use it as G od directs, to make know n the saving pow er o f the L ord Jesus Christ to Israel.
SheSible Tamii# ratatine M otto: “ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sms in his own blood .”— R e v . 1 :5.
Volume XXVIII
November, 1937
Number 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS Around the King’s Table— Paul W . R o o d ...................................... 420 “ Go Forward” Campaign Receives Encouragement . . . . 421 “ Praise Ye the Lord” ............................................................................422 I. W hy Give Thanks?— J. C. M a s s e e ...............................422 II. Thankfulness in Darkening Days —Louis S. Bauman . 422 III. Giving and Thanksgiving— L. David Cowie . . . 423 The Christian View of Constitutional Government —Dan Gilbert 424 Girls’ Query Corner —Myrtle E. S c o t t ...................................... . 426 Jinsaburo Lifts His Crosfr— Opal Leonore Gibbs . . . . 427 Junior King’s Business —Martha S. H o o k e r ...............................429 W orld ’s Christian Fundamentals Association . . . . . 431 International Lesson Commentary . . 432 Notes on Christian Endeavor— Mary G. Goodner . . . 446 Daily Devotional R e a d i n g s ....................................................................452
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ADVERTISING: For information with reference to advertising in THE KING'S BUSINESS, address the ADVERTISING MANAGER, 558 SOUTH HOPE STREET. LOS ANGELES, CALIF., or our eastern representative. Religious Press Association, 1108-10 Colonial Bldg., 13th and Market Streets, Philadel phia, Pa., or 333 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 111. Entered as Second Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage pro vided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized October 1, 1918. MANUSCRIPTS: THE KING'S BUSINESS cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent to it for consideration.
POLICY (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To act as the official organ of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith. THE 558 South Hope Street KING’S BUSINESS Los Angeles, California
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November, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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Around the King's Table
By PAUL W . ROOD
^Thanksgiving for the Bible G OD’S greatest gifts to mankind are the incarnate Word and the written Word. The incarnate Word is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The written Word is the Bible, God’s infallible revelation: “ Thy word is truth” (Johh 17:17). The Bible has been spurned, rejected, and hated throughout the centuries. Satan hates the Bible because it reveals his destiny, and men hate the Bible because it reveals their sins. But we owe to the Bible everything that is worth while in life. What is best in our laws can be traced back to the books of Moses. What is of value in our ethics can be found in its perfection in the teachings of Christ. Our best literature has been pro duced by those who were'most familiar with the Word of God. Shakespeare, Milton, and Tennyson found their inspiration in the Bible. Great artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, Dore, Tissot, and Sargent painted Biblical scenes. The greatest music has been produced by those who found in the Bible their fountain of inspiration. That matchless oratorio by Handel, The Messiah, is based entirely upon the Word of God. Christianity as revealed in the New Testa ment has been the stimulus for building philanthropic institutions to care for the aged, the orphans, and the needy. The noble characters of history have been those who knew the Bible and the Christ of the Bible. How grateful we ought to be for this Book I It tells us from whence we came, why we are here, and whither we are bound. It gives us an adequate philos ophy of life and answers our questions and solves our problems. Above all, it intro duces us to die One who is altogether lovely and who can forgive every sin and heal every heartache. The nation that rejects the Bible will surely deteriorate. The individual that be lieves and obeys the Bible is blessed, and the individual that rejects and disobeys God’s Word is cursed. Did you ever hear that any one on a deathbed has said, “The curse of my life is that I have lived ac cording to the Bible” ? Did you ever hear that an inmate of a penitentiary has said, “ I got here because I believed the Word of God” ? No, God’s Word obeyed brings light, and God’s Word refused brings dark ness and judgment. Terrible guilt lies at the door of those who seek to destroy the confidence of others u^the Word of God. Robert Ingersoll and Henry Ward Beecher met one day on a train. Beecher started to tell Ingersoll a
guages, and its circulation is larger than ever before. Critics of the Bible are in fact benefi ciaries of the teaching and the preaching of the Word of God, even though they do not realize or acknowledge the blessings that are theirs because of God’s wonderful Book. A concrete example of this fact is the French trader who came to the New Hebrides and found a chief reading his Bible on a cannibal island. “Ah,” said the trader, scornfully, “ so the missionaries have got hold of you I The Bible never did any one any good.” “ Oh, yes, it has,” said the chief. “ If it were not for this Bible, you would by now be in my oven.” It is this transforming power that makes the Bible unique and precious. Accepted as the truth of God, the written Word brings men and women into fellowship with the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. An old couple were reading the Bible together. One night the husband said, “ W ife, if this Book is true, vie are lost.” Through their reading of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit had brought them to realize their lost and undone condition. They read on, and some time later, the husband said, "W ife, if this Book is true, w e can be saved.” They both turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as their personal Saviour, and they became new creations in Christ Jesus. When they rose from their knees, the husband said, “ W ife, this Book is true, and vie are saved/” Thank God that this Book is true I Thank God for the plan of salvation clearly re vealed in the Word of God. May every reader know this wonderful Book and the wonderful Christ it reveals! Why We Should Study the Bible No one can afford to be ignorant as to the contents of the Word of God. Every one should study the Bible. No one is truly educated who does not know the Bible, and no one is uneducated who does know the Bible. In spite of the fact that the Bible con tains the world’s best literature, the most authentic history, and the only authorita tive information regarding eternal issues, the great majority of mankind is woefully ignorant of this precious Book. In Christian lands there is no excuse for this ignorance. The first reason that we should study the Bible is that it is God’s Word. This Book is not a human book. It is divine. This Book is different from all other books in the world. Other books may sparkle, but this one burns. This Book was in spired, not as the writings of Tennyson and
story: “ I was walking along one day and saw a crippled boy on crutches. A huge bully came up and kicked the crutches, with the result that the cripple fell sprawl ing to the ground and was crushed by an onrushing conveyance.” “He ought to be damned,” interrupted Ingersoll. “ Thou art the man,” answered Beecher. “ Crippled humanity on the way to eternity is leaning on the crutch of divine revela tion—a dependable support—and you with your infidelity are seeking to knock those crutches from beneath mankind.” Ingersoll has many followers in our day. The tragedy is that they are to be found in places of authority in tax-supported schools and in churches that have been built by the sacrifices of godly men and women. The Bible, however, survives the attacks of its enemies. Voltaire remarked that it took twelve men to establish Christianity, and he added: “ I will show the world that it takes but one to destroy it. One hundred years from now there will not be a Bible left in the world.” Voltaire has been dead for 150 years, and the Bible has been translated into more than 900 lan BIO LA ’S N O O N D A Y BROADCAST Tune In on Blola's Noonday Broadcast conducted by President Paul W . Rood speaking on "The Revival W e Need" over KFA C (1300 kilocycles) dally (except Saturday and Sunday) from 12:IS to 12:45 in the noon hour.
November, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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"CO FORWARD" CAMPAIGN RECEIVES ENCOURAGEMENT Read publicly by Paul W . Rood, President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, assurances of prayerful interest from many evangelical'leaders of America brought encouragement to a large congregation gathered in the Church of the Open Door on the afternoon of Sunday, October 10. This meeting, together with the services of October 1, the day of fasting and prayer, marked the public opening of the Institute’s “Go Forward” Campaign to raise one and one-half million dollars for the payment of its debt and its running expenses to June 1, 1940. Special joy was evidenced over a letter from Mrs. Lyman Stewart, whose prayer ful interest in the school continues on its behalf the ministry of her late husband, the founder (with T . C. Horton) of the Institute. Of Kola’s debt, $400,000 is the sum owed to Mrs. Stewart. Besides making a pledge of $11,000 at the opening of the campaign, Mrs. Stewart has promised that as soon as the other portion of the campaign goal is attained, she will erase this huge debt of $400,000. Telegrams received at the Institute from various Christian leaders, together with a longer message from W . B. Riley, follow: H. A. IRONSIDE, Pastor, Moody Memorial Church, Chicago, III: % W e at the Moody Church join with you in earnest prayer for the success of your “ Go Forward” movement. God is able. Cordial greetings. WALTER L. WILSON, M.D., Physician and Bible conference speaker, Kansas City, Mo. ■ # May Daniel 11:32 [“ But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” ] be true in your great program. J* OLIVER RUSWELL, JR., President, Wheaton College, Wheaton, III. # Good wishes and earnest prayers for God’s blessing upon you. H. HOUGHTON, President, The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, III. # Be*t wishes for glorious victory in Institute’s financial campaign. Count on wife and me for one hundred dollars payable before January 1 . 1 Thessalonians 5:24 [“ Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” ] ARNOLD GRUNIGEN, JR., Chairman, San Francisco Bay Region Christian Busi ness Men’s Committee, San Francisco, Calif. ® The San Francisco Bay Region Christian Business Men’s Committee represent ing eighteen churches and Christian groups around the Bay join in prayer and best wishes for your “Go Forward” Campaign. May your chains drop; may you be given wings to fly. BOR JONES, President, Bob Jones College, Cleveland, Tenn. ® Biola has my prayers and good wishes and those of Bob Jones College for campaign. M. A. MATTHEWS, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Wash. # I note with pleasure your great “Go Forward” mass meeting scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I pray God’s richest blessings upon you. We are asking our heavenly Father to grant you success. You have our interest, love, and prayers. J. S. McPHEETERS, Pastor, Glide Memorial M. E. Church, San Francisco, Calif. ® Heartiest greetings and best wishes for the great “ Go Forward” Campaign of Biola. We are praying for great success. HENRY E. BURKE, Pastor, Melrose Baptist Church, Oakland, Calif. # Kindly accept the well wishes of your many friends in the Bay region and be assured of our prayers and support in Biola’s “Go Forward” Campaign. I con gratulate you on your splendid plan, and I see great days ahead for the Institute. Ephesians 3:20 [“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” ] HOWARD FROST, Chairman, Biola’s “ Go Forward” Campaign. (Owing to the necessity for making a journey to the East, Mr. Frost of Browning were inspired, but in a unique, supernatural sense: “ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21). The human authors of the Bible were holy men of God. They did not give us their own opinion but spake “ as they were moved”—borne along—by the Holy Spirit. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is prof itable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc tion, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). Here we have a definite state ment. The Bible 'does not contain the rea sonings of men, but is a God-inspired— God-inbreathed—Book. The Bible not only contains the Word of God but is the Word of God. As His Word, it requires to be studied. There are any number of proofs of the inspiration of the Bible. We call attention to two of these proofs. - First of all, there is the evidence of the unity of the Bible. The Bible is not only a book; it is also a library composed of sixty-six volumes writ ten by forty human authors over sixteen centuries of time. Can you conceive that forty authors could sit down and produce a library that would bear the marks of unity and harmony throughout? How do you account for the fact that forty men scattered through a period of sixteen hun dred years were able to produce a library that is characterized by unity? We can account for this phenomenon in only one way. One mind must have controlled these forty human minds. The Holy Spirit spoke through these men, and they wrote exactly what God wanted them to write, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Fulfilled prophecy is another reason for believing in the authenticity of the Word of God. In the Scriptures we find detailed prophecies concerning the birth, life, min istry, death, and resurrection of Christ, predictions that were made hundreds of years before Christ came and that were fulfilled literally through His first advent. Read Psalm 22 and Isaiah S3 and note the numerous prophecies that were fulfilled on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus reminded His followers: “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44). This is a day in which the open-minded student of the Bible may witness in the modern world many other remarkable fulfillments of prophecies con cerning Israel, the Holy Land, and the Gentile nations. Fulfilled prophecy is an argument that cannot be gainsaid. Yes, the Bible is God’s infallible, inerrant, and verbally inspired revelation. Some per sons would say that only the thoughts in the Bible are inspired, but to these we would reply that thoughts are expressed through words. How could a revelation be dependable if the words were not af fected by divine inspiration ? Paul very [ Continued on page 461] Further announcement concerning Biola’s “ Go Forward” Campaign appears on pages 440 and 441. November, 1937 T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S 422 Photo by Harold M. Lambert, Philadelphia "Praise Ye the Lord" Each using a different angle of approach, three pastors urge upon Christians an exercise of the grace of gratitude Why Give Thanks? By J. C. MASSEE* Winona Lake, Indiana G IVING of thanks to God is con nected vitally with all spiritual ex perience. It recognizes God as the source of all good, and thus it confesses God to be the source of benefits received. He it is who sends the rain upon the fields, makes fertile the soil, maintains the sea sons, gives seedtime and harvest. He gives and sustains sanity of mind, the impulse to labor, the wisdom to plan, the ability to achieve. It is He who plants in our souls those essential virtues upon which homes are built, society established, and life is made stable. All these and more are directly dependent upon the good God and the goodness of God. T o the Christian, the origin of our na tional Thanksgiving Day is of profound interest and significance. “The Log of the Mayflower” discloses that in the beginning of that awful fall, when fifty-one per cent of the members of the first Plymouth Colony had died, when every leader of the colony had suffered loss of wife or other member of his family, when crops had failed and the little band were confronted by a new winter of terrors, it had been agreed “to hold a day of complaint to God.” Some unknown hero of faith proposed instead a day of thanksgiving: “We are alive. We are free from persecution. Con science is free. We have learned to endure and to hope. The forests are full of game. Let us thank God and take courage to carry on.” And we today may indeed thank God for that first day of thanksgiving in Amer ica. As the nation maintains a guard of * Evangelist, teacher, conference speaker. honor at the grave of the Unknown Sol dier “while the Republic shall last,” so we should build a memorial with a per petual endowment to this unknown soldier of faith who endured hardships and yet maintained his faith and courage with a paean of praise and a song of thanks giving. Reasons for Thanksgiving in 1937 Today, we are being driven anew to realize the essentialities of the Spirit of God. It is in Christ that all things remain unchanged—consist. Out of the character that has its source in Christ there arise courage, confidence, faith, love, loyalty, unselfishness, altruism. In America the things that count are the contributions that can be attributed to Christ. It is in Him and in the message of His gos pel that we find whatever measure of honesty there is in public and private life, obedience to and reverence for law, and the unsoiled ermine of judicial in tegrity. Let us thank God that the nation still has a legacy of truth preached by the church. In the very time when the nation has turned away from Christ and His church, the nation lives on the reserve bal ance of character the church has laid up for it. Without those integrities which in here in Christ, the nation cannot exist. Any adequate view of the world must compare humanity’s problems with Job and his problem of pain, Elijah and his prob lem of perplexity, and Isaiah with his problem of chaos. And it must take into account God, speaking to Job from the whirlwind, to Elijah in the still small voice, and to Isaiah in his vision of God. Humanity’s cause is the cause of God, and He alone holds the answer to man kind’s need. As we think of all the mercies of God that enrich our lives at this Thanksgiving season, we find that our supreme reason for thankfulness centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. His wondrous work at Calvary on our behalf, and His gracious empowering of us for our daily walk “ in him” lead us to ask: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” As we realize our human insufficiency, we can only reply: “ I will take the cup of salva tion, and call upon the name of the Lord.” Yes, “We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.” II. Thankfulness In Darkening Days By LOUIS S. BAUM AN * Long Beach, California I S THE old world headed for chaos?” asks the writer of a remarkable arti cle in the Los Angeles Times of Sep tember 26, 1937. He develops his theme thus: “ The condition in which the world finds itself at this moment causes even the layman to pause and consider whether or not we are headed toward *Pastor, First Brethren Church. November, 1937 T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S 423 cried: “Alas! for that day is great [in its sorrow], so that none is like it” 1 But, the agony of that day will be the agony of "a woman in travail“ (Jer. 30:6,7), and her travail is not to be in vain. For out of the agony immediately will come forth resplendent the King who “ shall speak peace unto the nations” (Zech. 9:10, R.V.), and “they shall not sorrow any more at all” (Jer. 31:12). O trembling saint, turn your “mourning into joy,” re joice from thy sorrow, and be thou thank ful 1 [ Continued on page 428] III. Giving and Thanksgiving “ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings ” (Mai. 3:8). I S IT honest to come before God with the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiv ing, and yet at that very moment to be robbing Him of that which He declares is His own? Is it right to thank the Lord for His wonderful mercies, and at the same time to be denying His right to that portion of our income that He has claimed? "O f Thine Own Have W e Given Thee" What is the object of tithing? The ob ject of tithing is that men may worship God with their substance. It is not that men may enrich God. God owns all there is in the world of natural and coined wealth. Our money has been given to us by God as a trust. It is not ours! “ The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psa. 24:1). All things are God’s, and of that which He has entrusted to us, we are instructed to give back to God what is His—the tithe—the tenth. This provi sion has been made, not to enrich God, but to enrich our own characters. Listen to the majestic prayer of 1 Chronicles 29:12-14: “Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” It is not in giving to God something that belongs to us, but in giving back to God what already belongs to Him that we realize the real significance of Scriptural giving. This realization makes giving an act of our will rather than the payment of a debt. It is a part of the worship service — acknowledging in this beautiful manner the beneficence of God. Indeed, giving thus is as much an act of worship as the bowing of one’s head in prayer, or the reading of the Word of God. [ Continued on page .426] *Pastor, Vermont A v e n u e P r es b y te ria n Church. By L. DAVID CO W IE * Los Angeles, California the final battle which is to wipe out existing states . . . . The World War, far from ending wars, only served as the overture for a struggle that will dwarf all past struggles . . . . 1The millions upon millions of women, chil dren, and old men, noncombatants, who are doomed to die if the fighting starts . . . lives snuffed out in need less, senseless mass murder . . . a thousand bombs descend over great cities, killing and maiming, emptying great buildings, sending whole popula tions to grub in the fields for food. . . . Men are piled in the fields, women and children in the wreckage of homes, unburied, . . . because there is none to bury them . . . impending slaugh ter hanging over Europe like the doom of time, one wonders . . . whether at last the world is girding for the final conflict . . . . It does not seem possible that any nation can survive the sort of conflict for which Europe is strain ing, trembling.” Though Men Are "Beasts," Ye Can Be Thankful Verily, Daniel was right—the Gentile powers are, as they ever have been, " beasts ” (Dan. 7:3)1 Education, science, invention, progress, culture—all have failed to change the heart of man. Scratch the skin of the “civilized” man, and you find naught but a bloody “ beast.” The coming super-man will be only a super-beast (Rev. 13:2). A world that only a few months ago scoffed at “the dire prophecies” of the Bible, is a world that is now wondering. The Word of God has foretold a day when “the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Isa. 26:21)—a time when, “ except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matt. 24:22). “ Impossi ble,” they said twenty-five years ago. “ Quite possible, if not probable,” one-time scoffers now candidly admit. “Men . . . piled high in the fields, women and children in the wreckage of homes, unburied, . . . because there is none to bury them” ! Thus reads the present- day description of areas in warring na tions. But, while there “shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the be ginning of the world unto this time, no, nor ever shall be”—days so frightful that the living will be unable to bury the dead—yet it is “immediately after the trib ulation of those days [that] . . . they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:29,30). Since the ghastly pic-’ ture must become real, then real also must the radiant picture be! If “ thy [Zion’s] men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war, and her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground,” yet, it is writ ten: "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely” (Isa. 3:25,26; 4:2). “In that day, they shall not hurt nor destroy . . . and his [Messiah’s] rest shall be glori ous” (Isa. 11:9,10). Verily did the prophet Jeremiah behold a day of trouble, when “ all faces are turned into paleness,” insomuch that he New members of Congress tak ing the oath to support and de fend the Constitution of the United States, January 3, 1936. As a newspaper writer, student, and author of boohs dealing with philo sophical, political, economic , and soci ological questions, Dr, Gilbert has be come known%as a champion of the “ Christian viewpoint # In the field of journalism, where Christian men and Christian principles are all too% rare, Dan Gilbert has fearlessly applied the fruits of a mind steeped in Scriptural truth. His book, The Biblical Basis of the Constitution, has been widely re viewed by'wthe great city newspapers as a unique contribution, resulting from deep research into the spiritual and moral forces which underlie American Constitutional ideals. At the age of twenty-four, Mr, Gilbert re ceived the^ honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition of his contri butions in the field of literature and scholarship. He is one of the youngest men in history to receive this honor. Pictures. Inc. The Christian V iew of Constitutional G o v ernment By DAN GILBERT San Diego, California W HEN Abraham Lincoln, in his im mortal address at Gettysburg, re ferred to our Constitutional system as a “government under God,” he was stat ing a truth which was uppermost in the minds of the founders of our nation. The Founding Fathers believed that all govern ment — all political authority — should be “ under God,” should be under His supreme authority. They revolted against English rule because they felt that neither the king nor the British Parliament recognized the supreme rule of God. The famous Revolu tionary leader, James Otis, maintained that God Himself had ordained limits beyond which Caesar, the power of government, should not go: “These are bounds, which by God and nature are fixed; hitherto have they a right to come, and no further.” The Declaration of Independence, which is the spirit of Americanism as the Consti tution is the body of Americanism, recog nizes the fact that man has a Creator. It further recognizes that men “ are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The purpose of government is to “secure” and safeguard these rights. Furthermore, when “ any form of govern ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abol ish it.” In other words, no government has a right to exist among men unless it recog nizes and safeguards God-given rights. If the government refuses to function “ under God,” if it refuses to recog nize divine authority and divinely given rights of the citizen, it forfeits Divine Moral Law in Relation to the Constitution Most governments preach, but do not practice, the Ten Commandments. They enforce against their citizens laws against theft and murder. But they do not them selves obey these moral principles. For the citizen to cheat the government is always a crime. But, in Fascist and Communist nations, it is considered “ legal” for the government to seize and steal the property of the citizen. Under our Constitution, how ever, it is “illegal” for the government to confiscate or steal the property of the citizen. It is also illegal for the government to de stroy the life or liberty of the citizen, save in those cases where the citizen violates moral law. In America, it is legal and Con stitutional for the State, through the several states of the republic, to deprive murderers of their lives. It is also legal and Consti tutional for the State to deprive men of liberty if they commit crimes of violence or theft against their fellow men. This is all in accordance with Biblical principles. But, under our Constitution, it is illegal for the government to jail or kill a man for the expression of his God-given right to free speech. It is illegal to punish a man for his religion— for his expression of his God- given right to worship his Creator accord ing to his own conscience. In Contrast: Government by Human Decree Both Fascist and Communist governments refuse to recognize either God-given rights or God-given moral principles. They take unto themselves the power to deprive men of life and liberty for the sole reason that these men attempt to exercise, in an honest and conscien- its right to exist—this is Americanism. A government which upholds God-given rights must, of necessity, adhere to divine moral laws upon which those rights are based. Man has a God-given right to life. He has a God-given right honestly to ac quire property for the nurture and benefit of himself and family. T o safeguard man’s right to life and to the means of livelihood honestly earned, God gave to man the moral law embodied in the Ten Commandments. Divine authority established the moral law to protect rights divinely given to man. Our Constitution recognizes these God- given rights, and to safeguard them it enforces the Ten Commandments—the di vine moral law — upon the government itself. The Constitution denies to both the state and the federal governments the power to deprive any American individual of “life, liberty, or property”—save according to “ due process of law” or as punishment for crime. The individual who obeys the moral law, and does not steal or commit murder —that individual cannot, under the Consti tution, be deprived unjustly of life or prop erty by the government. Thus, we have an application of the Golden Rule in the re lationship of the citizen to the government. If the citizen is honest and upright himself, the government must be honest and fair in its dealings with him. Unlike the system prevailing in other nations, the government of the United States may not require that the citizens refrain from stealing and kill ing, and then itself turn around and con fiscate the lives and property of the citizens. Liberty is right because Christ said so, and Christ is God .— Abraham Lincoln. 425 T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S November, 1937 deliberately denies to majority-rule govern ment any right and any power to restrict individual liberty. The citizen is the sov ereign, not the subject, of the government. Alexander Hamilton said, “ An elective despotism is not the government that we fought for.” Ours is a government by bal lots, and not by bullets. But the ballot box may not be used to accomplish immoral ends. In other words, the ballot box may not be used to authorize the use of bullets. A majority may not vote death to a mi nority; the majority may not vote to place a minority before a firing squad. The ma jority may not “ elect” an administration which uses force and violence to persecute a minority or even an individual. All elected public officials are “ under the Con stitution,” and the Constitution puts them under divine moral law. They may not deprive minorities of life and liberty, even if it should be the will of the majority that they do this. Our form of government guarantees liberty to the citizen. No ma jority can convert it into a despotism. The Constitution outlaws an “ elective despot ism,” just as it outlaws all other kinds of despotism. We are a nation of free men. In ordering our national life, the will of the majority of free men is supreme, with the limitation that the majority may not rule in such a way as to destroy freedom. The foundation of any free society is that “one man’s freedom ends where an other’s begins.” The right of an individual to exercise his right arm, for instance, ends where the nose of another man begins! There can be no real freedom unless each man, in exercising his liberty, respects the right of his fellow man to the same liberty. Now, this principle applies to groups of men, just as it applies to individuals. The majority rules; it has freedom—yes, but it must not use its freedom to destroy the lib erty of minority groups. In a democracy, the majority has the greatest power—but it must not use that power in such a way as to infringe upon the rights and liberties of groups which, numerically, have less power. In one of its famous decisions, our Su preme Court said that a “ despotism of the majority” was even worse than a “ despotism of one man.” The reason for this, it pointed out, is that a despotic rule of a mob or ma jority is harder to get rid of I Dictatorship by one man can be overthrown by assassi nating the tyrant or otherwise destroying the power of the one individual. But a despot ism of the majority can only be overthrown —if at all—by a mass massacre. It is cus tomary to hear people say that the “minority doesn’t count” ; they urge that if the rights of the minority stand in the way of the wel fare of the majority, then let them be wiped out. This idea is founded, however, on bad morality and worse logic. In the long run, the majority cannot benefit itself by exer cising despotism over the minority. History proves that, when the minority is denied democratic rights, it resorts to revolution. When the majority^oppresses the minority, it is simply starting the fires of bloody [Continued on page 457] Perils of Majority Rule Benjamin Franklin Proposes Prayer in the Constitutional tious manner, the brain and religious sense given them by the Creator. Fascist and Communist governments refuse to function “ under God.” They refuse to recognize the authority of God. They refuse to respect the rights given man by his Creator. Com munism denies utterly the citizen’s right to worship God. Fascism denies the citizen’s right to worship God according to his con science; it lays down pagan rules for re ligious worship, denying to the citizen the right to worship according to the Bible and and his own conscience. Instead of recognizing that Deity makes moral law and ordains human rights, in stead of recognizing that the function of government is to secure and safeguard the moral order established by the Creator, Communism and Fascism claim for them selves the prerogative of making moral law. These forms of dictatorship go so far as to take unto themselves the right to take away life itself. If a group of citizens, in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany, incur the dis pleasure of the dictator, they are simply put out of the way. Fascism and Communism do not respect the right and duty of an independent judiciary to determine the right or wrong of an act of government. Whole bodies of men are jailed or murdered at the whim of the dictator—according to his “ decree.” They are not accorded a fair trial. Their guilt or innocence does not matter. They may be guiltless in the eyes of Divine Justice. But both Fascist and Com munist “justice” operate according to their own ungodly “moral” or immoral rules. “ Government by decree” is sheer lawless ness; it is organized violence. It respects neither the demands of justice nor of mo rality. It is based, not on divine moral law, but rather upon the will and whim, the ego, of the dictator. Now, a dictatorship, based on force and the denial of moral law, is a dictatorship whether it expresses the will of one man, one group or clique of men, or even the majority of men. Immorality—confiscation and murder—practiced by a majority can be no different from theft and violence practiced by a minority or a single man. The Ten Commandments apply to a mob, just as they apply to an individual. They are binding on a government of the ma jority, just as they are binding on a govern ment of a minority. Our Constitution estab lished a government “of,” “by,” and “for the people.” It recognizes the right of the majority to rule. But it requires that the majority must rule according to moral law ; the majority must not deprive the minority or the individual of life, liberty, or prop erty. The Constitution affirms the Scrip tural fact that God made individuals. Deity gave to each man an individual soul; He also gave to each soul certain individual rights. As set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the purpose of government is to secure to each individual his heritage of life and liberty derived from God. As set forth in the Constitution, the purpose of our “government by majority-rule” is to protect individual rights. The Constitution What Rights Has a Minority? Convention June 28, 1787 • Mr. President: • The small progress we have made after four or five weeks’ close attendance and continual reasonings with each other — our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last pro ducing as many noes as ayes— is me- thinks a melancholy proof of the imper fection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the differ ent forms of those republics which, hav ing been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed modern states all round Europe, but find none of their con stitutions suitable to our circumstances. • In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to dis tinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly apply ing to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine pro tection. . . . to that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consult ing in peace on the means of establish ing our future national felicity. • And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth— THAT GOD GOV ERNS IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no bet ter than the builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local in terests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a re proach and byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may here after from this unfortunate instance, de spair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, and conquest. • I therefore beg leave to move— that henceforth prayers imploring the assist ance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to offi ciate in that service.
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