King's Business - 1930-11

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T h e

K i n g ’ s " B u s i n e s s

November 1930

handful of men. How could he capture it? He got some of the old Creole women to make eighty flags. He sta­ tioned his men, a thousand feet apart, each bearing aloft a flag on a tall flagstaff. They were seen from the fortress in Vincennes and the people said, “ A mighty army is advanc­ ing upon the city! The only thing for us to do is to sur­ render.” They fled, and Captain Clark marched into the city with eighty men! The men in theological seminaries and pulpits of our day, who tell us they are so great in number and so mighty in their knowledge, but who deny the Word of God, may run up their flags, but they will not deceive me. My fortress still stands, and their small efforts can never conquer the force of true Christianity. My Captain will win, and I will not be deceived by eighty flags although they are deceiving a great many Christians today. I stand with Christ and I am on the side of everlasting vic­ tory. Christians, brace up. Bright days are just ahead. Jesus is coming back soon. “Watch.” That is His last Word. “ In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.” You had better be ready. It will be terrible for you if He comes baclj and you are not His child. Give Christ your heart. Live for Him. Then, when He comes, you will see Him face to face; you will be transformed into His likeness; and you will share His everlasting glory. About this time there came to the founder a vision of the Moody Bible Institute, as it was later called. Imme­ diately he began to pray and plan for the establishment of a school for the training of Christian workers. For years the church and the Institute worked side by side, occupy­ ing the same buildings. Now, although they are separate corporations and are situated a mile apart, the same happy fellowship exists as that which marked the early days. From the beginning, the Moody Church has been a growing church. When the auditorium became too small for the use of the congregation, a valuable property was secured at the corner of North Avenue and Clark Street. Here a simple frame tabernacle accommodating about 3,000 was erected and was used for several years. _ Dr. P. W . Philpott became the pastor in 1922. Under his leadership, there was riot only a continued increase in membership, but a definite forward step in the erection of a new build­ ing. The debt of gratitude which the church owes to Pas­ tor Philpott, as well as to the founder, D. L. Moody, is recognized in the words of the dedicatory tablet. The Moody Memorial Church, erected at a cost of approxi­ mately a million dollars, has one of the most unique audi­ toriums of its type in the country. Constructed on the cantilever principle, it is free from columns and thus well adapted to the needs of an evangelistic ministry. The main audience room has a seating capacity of over 4,000. The membership of the church steadily increases. It is now about 3,700. The Sunday-school has an enrollment ‘ of approximately 1,800.'"-'Ninety-six members of the church are in active service as foreign missionaries, of whom sixty-seven are supported by the church. It is confidently believed that the preaching of the Gospel in simplicity and the power of the Holy Spirit, the steady growth in membership, and the unabated inter- ( Continued on page 513)

and amaze us. It is wonderful what education and knowl­ edge have revealed to us. By them the whole world has been changed. The last days will be days of apostasy. There never was more apostasy in the church of Christ than there has been in the last few years. All the religions of the world and all the combinations of the centuries put together can­ not exceed the rationalism and the modernism and the apostasy of the world’s life today. It is prophecied that the world will be full of scoffers. And it is. Who are scoffing at this great truth of the sec­ ond coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Ministers, theolog­ ical teachers, and leaders of religion. They laugh and say, “Where is the promise of His coming?”, T he B right S ide You say that I am looking on the dark side. No, I am on the bright side. I' am on Christ’s side. He has the vic­ tory. He is coming back to swing the sceptre over all na­ tions and all men and to rule from the rivers to the ends of the earth. What is the practical end of it all? The bright day is ahead. Christian, look up. Carry a smile. You remember reading Winston Churchill’s book called “ The Crossing.” In it he teils the story of Captain Clark who came up against the city of Vincennes with only a T 7"ERY few churches can claim a consistent faithfulness • V .do-their original vision and an unbroken record of earnest, aggressive, soul-winning work covering a period of-more than fifty years. The Moody Church of Chicago may properly make such a claim, for history will support it. The church had its origin in the heart of a young man, D. L. Moody, whose passion for souls led him to pick up the urchins on the streets of Chicago who were neglected by others. Soon his Sunday-school was one of the largest in the city. From this humble beginning there came, in

'y yA r tlU y ‘7 ^ ‘m M

A Church True to its Original Vision

MOODY MEMORIAL CHURCH

due time, a little chtirch, organized in 1864 with twelve charter members. This new organization, like the Sunday- school, grew rapidly under Mr. Moody’s wise and aggres­ sive leadership. It is said that the church “ experienced a continuous revival from the day it was opened until it was swept away in the fire of 1871.”

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