God as long as God Himself lives. The believer’s responsibility rests on this position. His life is no longer his own; his aims and his ambitions are submerged in the river of God’s will. His future is forever joined with the future of other saved people and with their Sav iour. Consequently, every act that the Christian does is to be directed by the motive of advancing the cause of Christ. There is no other reason for the continu ance of life except to honor by life and lip the One whom he serves. This, then, is the meaning of asking in the name of Christ. It is to ask for the sake of Christ; it is to ask for the fur therance of His great cause. It is the complete absence of self, and the com plete dominance of the Lord’s cause. It is to ask only that Jesus Christ might receive the honor and the glory. Do your prayers which close with “ for Jesus’ sake” come up to this standard? Do your petitions, when voiced, measure up to this test? Penicillin and Hyssop According to the National Geographic, all the penicillin used during the first years after its discovery by Sir Alex ander Fleming “ descended” from a spore which blew in through a window at St. Mary’s Hospital near Paddington Sta tion in 1928. Fortunately for mankind, the plate was not cleaned or the mold thrown away, and so out of this chance happen ing came the vastly important discovery of penicillin. Some time after its dis-. covery, the mold was identified as peni cillin notatum, a species found in decay ing hyssop, which is a low European mint, or an aromatic herb formerly used medicinally, and well known to Bible readers. It must be very stimulating to Flem ing and to all his co-workers to recall the words of the Psalmist, David, “ Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean” (Psalm 57:7). Noah’s Ark Again Once again the famous boat which God commanded Noah to build before the .flood has come into the news. Egerton Sykes of Great Britain, and Dean Aaron J. Smith o f North Carolina, planned a trip to Armenia to endeavor to run down the nersistent rumors that the ark, or a portion of it, still remained encased in snow and ice, high up on the slopes of Mt. Ararat. But the projected expedition took a peculiar turn, with the Russian editors o f Moscow Pravda claiming that the “ ark trio” was a cover-up for spy activi ties in the Near East. To this Sykes re plied, “ Anyone who thinks I’m going to climb that mountain and sit on top amid the ice and snow spying on Russia through a telescope, must be insane. Be sides,” he added wistfully, “ if the secret service were behind me, I wouldn’t have so much trouble raising money.” T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
basis of fair and honest government, and the foundation for a true and liv ing faith in God whose promises never fail.” The General went on to say that 30,- 000,000 copies of the Scriptures were needed to bring Christ to Japan and that an opportunity o f this magnitude, pre senting an opening to turn an entire na tion to God, comes only once in the his tory o f the world. Now is the time for Japan because the people have lost all faith in what they had believed, and faith in a new religion must be implant ed in their hearts. The General then asked, “ You are going to back me up in this, aren’t you? You are not going to fail me in this job, are you?” It is a question whether the Christian people of America fully realize the tre mendous opportunity that Japan pre sents at the present moment. China, with its far more threatening background, of fers a striking contrast. There, current happenings may result in a tightening of restrictions upon missionary endeavor and in the distribution of Christian lit erature, but today Japan is open. May God stir the hearts of the Christian peo ple o f the world to respond to this chal lenge. Tt was the last night of our Lord’s life before the crucifixion and He was giving vital instructions to His disciples. Among other things, He told them that while hitherto they had not asked in His name, now all their petitions were to be after this manner (John 16:23. 24). What does it mean to ask in the name of Christ? Does it mean merelv to close each prayer with the formula. “ This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen” ? No. for that would become a mere meaningless +al;s- mao such as the nagans use. The truth of the matter is that a«0 Good-bye and God Bless You Graduation time is always a sad-glad time. This year the Bible Institute of Los Angeles bids Godspeed to the class of 1949, numbering 208 young people, in cluding 27 graduates of the School of Missionary Medicine. This is the largest group ever to be graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and a group whose high scholastic averages and spiritual attainments seem to indi cate that they will have a large and im portant place in God’s economy. But of this we are absolutely sure, that never in the history of the world have there been such tremendous oppor tunities for genuine, unselfish, stick-to- it-ive service. Many sections of our land are without resident pastors. New fields of gospel preaching are constantly open ing, and the mission field, to a greater or lesser degree, is wide open. But we have confidence in you. We be lieve that you have the spiritual forti tude and the Biblical training that will make you fleming evangels in God’s needy world o f today. Our nrayer is that the Lord o f the harvest will give you the privilege of not only sowing and tending, but of reaping many precious sheaves to lay at the feet of our adorable Lord. 30 ,000 ,000 Scriptures Needed A letter is on our desk from Glenn Wagner, Foreign Secretary of the Pocket Testament League. It tells of a visit by Mr. Wagner and Timothy Pietsch, Ja pan’s Field Secretary, with General Douglas MaoArthur in Tokyo. These servants of Christ, engaged in the large scale distribution of the Holy Scriptures in Japan, went to General MacAr+^'ir for his endorsement of this r>roinct. The re sult was that not only did the General give a fine letter of endorsement, but added a splendid statement concerning his belief in the Scriptures and in the Christ which they present. Here is the General’s statement: “ It gives me great pleasure to com mend the reading o f the Bible, God’s immortal gift to the human race, for in its pages there is revealed that righteousness which exalteth a nation. In the sacred Scriptures you will find the Saviour of the world who is the chief cornerstone of all liberty, the Page Four
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