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man to accept Christ as Saviour was an employee of the aircraft plant. In’March of 1941, with a charter mem bership of forty, the church began its work officially without a cent of debt. The elders w e r e duly chosen. The name of the new organization was for mally recorded: Immanuel Bible Church. The newly elected church clerk, an ex- service man from the British navy, rose to make a motion—that the congrega tion agree to sit always in the front seats, and. that ushers be appointed to assist them®in so doing! The motion was unanimously carried. When a young church faces its future in a plant which the Lord has made free of financial encumbrance, and when it demonstrates its interest by voting to sit in the front seats, can there be any question about the people’s desire to follow closely the One who, when He putteth forth His own sheep, goeth be fore them? Attacks from Satan there will be, but can there be any doubt that the Lord who hath begun a good work will perform it? train and to teach the mothers of tomorrqiw; if the business of fathers is not to train and to teach the fathers of tomorrow — then what meaning is there left for the home or for parenthood?” The Constitution of I r e l a n d af firms what can be regarded as the ún- wrltten lavy of American society: “The State recognizes the Family as the natural primary and funda mental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing in alienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all posi tive law . . . “In particular, the State recog nizes that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be realized. “The State shall, therefore, en deavor to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home. “The State recognizes that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, accord ing to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.” In a notable decision, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the same great truths. Modem educators may for get or ignore them, but they must be re-established if America is to endure.
“What’s going up?” “ A church, sir.”
were lessons to be learned in this walk of faith that were not easy to master, but the ever-faithful Saviour guided patiently. While her husband was occupied with the activities of construction, Mrs. Wall gathered about forty children into three child evangelism classes. There were genuine conversions among them, and contacts were being made in- the chil dren’s homes. Completed— For God’s Glory At last the building was ready for use. The first Sunday-school and church sessions were announced to be held—, just two months after the ground had been broken. The Lord had brought into the community a musical director, David P. Quiring, who, with his wife, had been trained at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Together, on the morning of April 19, 1940, the two couples made their wa,y to the church. Fifty children were there tcf be taught! In the follow ing five weeks, the attendance rose to 135 in the Sunday-school alone. The first youth for life. What life? Merely the life here on earth—or the life that lasts throughout eternity ? Education must teach the young the “good life,” so we are told. But where do-you find your definition of the “good life” ? In the . Bible? Or in the writing of Sigmund Freud who stressed the “pleasure prin ciple” of unrestrained sex-indulgence as the “goal of the good life” ? THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL: • The Communist system makes (the State supreme over the individual, and the school supreme over the home. This process is being widely advanced in the United States. More and more of the functions and duties of parents are being exercised by the schools. In many states, courses in so-called “sex instruc tion” have been established in the schools. This innovation prompted one Christian leader to declare: “If mothers are not to be en- ^ trusted with the .God-given duty and privilege of ushering their own daughters into ari understanding of the most intimate relationships of life, what is left for parenthood to do? We might as well close up our homes and go on a vacation—to the insane asylum! For that is where a people will end which embarks upon a program of wiping out its homes. ‘The home is the product of Christiah teaching regarding the relationship of the sexes. If the business of the home is not to perpetuate the home; if the business of mothers is not to
The n e w c o m e r looked delighted. “Could you put sixteen or seventeen young men to work for a few days ?” he asked. “It won’t cost you anything. I can’t find enough practice work for my students.” It developed that the stranger was an instructor in a local trade school. His pupils were allowed to work only on public buildings. Here, he said, would be the solution to his problem of finding practice work for them. It was the solution to another-prob lem also. There had been prayer offered for the provision of money for work men’s wages; in answer, the Lord had sent wageless workers, 'ivith two trained men and with a crowd of youngsters working under expert instruction, it was no time until the building began to take shape. When it was ready for wir ing, the electrical department of the same school gave ready cooperation. The Community’s Response The community began to take notice. Here was a parson who could doff his white collar and put his ministerial hands to the shovel and paint brush. This was something about which to gossip over the back fence; Members of a Jewish family across the street were particularly loquacious on the subject. They never had seen a preacher work like that. Their rabbis would be too proud to do it, they said. In other ways, the neighborhood be- • came aware of the new project. On a certain Thursday, Mr. Wall arranged for the purchase of electrical equipment. He had, in cash, only half the amount needed. But he felt led of the Lord to deposit this sum and to request that the order be delivered C. O. D. on Sat urday. He wondered what shape the fjord’s “ravens” would take this time, but he knew His Master’s supply would come. On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Wall en tertained an unexpected caller. This per son w&s not a Christian and was not interested in attending church services, but it pleased him to see a church going up. He had taken upon himself the task of calling in the neighborhood and of collecting amounts toward the expenses of the church building, explaining at each home that he was doing this en tirely on his own responsibility. Now he had brought the result of his work to the pastor. The silm he proffered was exactly the amount needed to pay the balance due on the electrical supplies! It was an unusual provision, and one that the pastor himself never would have planned or recommended—but it was no mere coincidence. A half hour later, a truck drove up with the order, ancl the bill was met on time. Again and again the Lord provided for daily needs in wondrous ways. But there were times of testing, too. There
Significance of the News [Continüed from Page 252]
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