THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
16
A Testimony to tke Real Foundation of Faitk By Rev. William H. Pike Superintendent Evening School, Bible Institute of Bos Angeles
ask me, what is the foundation of my faith? iw glad r am to tell you of that day years ago my study when I looked out upon life and said myself, “Old fellow, you are going either to be
has the nerve to tell us that his class have a foundation for their faith. Does he not know that many of the scientific conclusions of today are set aside by the men < tomorrow— that most of the scientific books of ten years ago are now discarded because many of their theories are today proven untrue? Does he not know that the scientist has only a certain amount of data from which to make his deductions-—that sometimes he is near the truth and some times far away from it? If I am to base fay faith upon these conclusions, if I must change my foundation every few years and never be certain of anything more than that, — upon which scientific conclusion shall I stand, when scarcely no two of them today agree? And then, please, Mr. Scientist, tell me to a certainty where I came from; where the world came from; what was the -process of its making; where am I going; what form shall I take after I leave this world? Please tell me about God; about my personality, why evil is in the world, and how may I be saved from it? Please give me some words of certainty in answer to these questions. Science never has, never can and therefore never will answer these questions. But God has given a revelation which goes beyond reason. I have the answer to all these questions which my reason can never fathom in revelation. God who made the universe and human beings has not left us to drift. Where reason could not go He gave us the revelation of His Holy Word. In this, His statements are explicit, sure and satisfying. This is the sure foundation about which Paul wrote to Timothy, second Epistle, sec ond chapter, beginning with the fifteenth verse, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodliness and their word will eat at doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past al ready; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” The foundation for every man’s faith will never be re moved. God laid the foundation when He spake. And the word of the eternal will never be changed. Men may change in the process of their thinking but God and truth will never change. Men may set aside this revelation from God and in its place lay the sands of doubtful theories. But so much the worse for the man who turns from what God says to what man says. A man knows truth only as he takes the right attitude toward God. He does not learn it merely by experience or from reading. Can a man by searching find out God? No, but God has revealed Himself in His Word, as Jesus said, “If any man will to do His will, he shall know the doctrine (teaching), whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” John 7:17. Jesus did not speak of Himself, He spoke as God moved Him. The prophets and apostles did not speak of themselves, they spoke as they were moved, or borne along, by the Holy Spirit. Blessed is the man who rests his entire confidence upon what God has written for our learning.
lieve this Book called the Bible as the Revelation God has has given to men, or you are going to set yourself adrift on the sea of thought and uncertainty. You are either going to throw away the only Book in the world that has the-stamp of “Thus saith the Lord’ upon it, and drift with the wrecks of time upon the shores of doubt; or else you are going to take this Book as the Word of the Living God and shape your future by it.” Something said to me, “Will you risk your bread and butter and your family and your reputation upon where that Book leads you?” And I shuddered for the moment at the thought. Then with a resolute heart I said, “Where shall I turn for any foun dation for my faith, if I turn away from the principles of this Book? To whom shall I go to answer the questions ever arising in my mind, questions like these, Where did I come from? What was the origin of the universe? How shall I live? What of the future? etc.” I came back to the Book and said, “If this is a revelation of the Ever- Present, Living God to me, I will find these questions an swered within the covers of this Book,”— and I have. On that eventful day, for it was the day of all days to me, the day when I crossed the Rubicon of destiny as to the character and thinking of my whole life, I said to my self, “You are either going to take the conclusions of God on the questions of life or you are going to throw open your whole being to the philosophies and traditions of men, and you may open your life to the teaching of demons and evil spirits ¡numerable.” I laid a foundation that day that has stood the tests of all the storms of atheism and unbelief. It has answered all the arguments of the critics. It has held me when the teachings of modern philosophers threat ened to engulf me. It has been a dwelling place in times when the experiences of mystics and mediums endangered me. It is still the foundation of my fullest confidence and has answered every heresy. It has put to shame the bab blings of false teachers and preachers, and silenced every doubt that has ever assailed my soul. I chanced upon an article recently read before the Query Club of New Rochelle, by Dr. J. Leon Williams, New York, is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Science. The exact words of his opening sentence of his paper which he calls, “The Religious Beliefs of a Scientific Man,” are: ‘‘The religious beliefs of a scientific man rest upon a different foundation and have been reached by somewhat different mental processes from those of the theologian. The scientific man takes nothing for granted.” Upon this, so called, certainty of scientific statement, he proceeds to destroy the Old Testament by calling it the teaching of the ancient Hebrews forced upon present day thinking men. He mutiliates the New Testament by mis quoting it and making it mean what it does not say. He dishonors Christ by denying His deity and virgin birth and atoning work. And then says that each man creates his own God which he serves at his will. This scientist is a good example of a man adrift on the world of thought without a compass or chart, and yet he
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