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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June, 1939
Around the King's Table E D I T O R I A L
Missions or Munitions Munitions have become the golden calf of the totalitarian section of our interna tional life. Munitions are the voracious idol of national ambition into which millions and billions are being fed. The forgotten word in the vocabulary of the world is "missions.” The missionary en terprise is paid the respect of a patronizing reverence. But aside from this, it is given scant attention by the world. Yet the hope of the world is unquestionably in missions. The race for world supremacy is undoubt edly between munitions and missions. Painful though the reminder may seem, the attention of the church needs to be di rected to its delinquency concerning the missionary program laid down for it by Jesus Christ. The mad race of the arma ment makers puts shame upon the Christian church for its lethargy and indifference in prosecuting the cause of winning men to Christ by an adequate preaching of the gospel in all the world. If the church worked at missions as zealously as the na tions work at munitions, we could evangel ize the world in our present generation. Certainly the cause of missions is more urgent to the peace of the world than are munitions. In fact, if the cause of missions were pressed to the degree of zeal that it merits, munitions would no longer be found necessary for either war or peace. If Christ reigned in the hearts of the nations, peace would be upon their battlefields. Of course, the question will be asked sooner or later, whether missions are not more urgently needed in Europe them in Africa. Europe is a nationalistic madhouse. It is an armed camp. Nations are waiting for the proper "excuse" to spring at neigh bor throats. But an analysis of the situation reveals an interesting fact. The present ag gressor nations are those where Christianity is either completely repudiated or where it is only a cloak of national respectability. Germany’s militarism was born out of the neopaganism and the new Germanic religion which relates her to the gods of force and hate. She needs another Luther. The church faces one of the greatest chal lenges of her career. Her mission is mis sions. The open door of unprecedented opportunity bids her to leave her content ments and her ease and to strike out upon the highway of world-wide evangelism. Missionary giving must no longer be the "beggar’s portion” of church finance. We cannot save the world on church "left overs.” Missions must become the church’s “forethought” and no longer remain her "afterthought.” Missions must be the new incentive not only to save the world but also to save the church. —R oy L. L aurin . Munitions are the fruit of hate. Missions are the fruit of love.
specifically instructed in the matter of his association with neighbor nations. He was instructed on the basis of a very rigid prin ciple. It was on this wise; "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee . . . And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daugh ter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn aw ay thy son from follow ing me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and bum their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a spe cial people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of thé earth” (Deut. 7:1-6). In Jesus Christ’s dealing with the prob lem of toleration, we read of this incident: “And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us; and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me” (Mk. 9:38, 39). But this attitude on the part of Jesus does not give credential for sympathy with all kinds or just any kind of religious enter prise. It probably arose out of a party spirit on the part of the disciples. It was a matter of jealousy.. Jesus undoubtedly knew the in dividual involved and could indorse his activity. W e have enough evidence to know that Jesus would never tolerate com promising the truth. He maintained a rigid defense of the Scriptures. He never left men with the latitude of private opinion. He said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). The Lord Jesus Christ was decidedly intol erant with sin, hypocrisy, compromise, apostasy, and tampering with the Scrip tures. Paul expressed himself on another phase of this question in writing to the Gala tians: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8). Here the questions of departure and error and apostasy were involved. Though Paul could tolerate a selfish preaching of Christ,
B IO LA RAD IO VE SP ER S KMTR— 570 Kilocycles 4:00 to 4:30 P.M. Dally, Monday through Friday A delightful half-hour of music, reading, singing, and Scripture meditation presented by the stu dents and faculty of the Bible In stitute of Los Angeles. • M O R N IN G BROADCASTS Hear Louis T. Talbot, Roy L. Laurin, and others in Bible-centered, inspiring messages. V KMPC— 710 Kilocycles 11:00 to 11:30 A.M. Daily, Tuesday through Saturday P R A Y FOR T H E S E B R O A D C A S T S What Is Tolerance? In this day of religious and political ideologies, the old question of tolerance comes to the, fore. W e are seeing senti ment regimented and tolerance organized by national propaganda. Protestant, Cath olic, and Jew are urged to join hands in a country-wide crusade for tolerance. The question of toleration is being intensified further on a broad and national scale with the appearance of political bands and va rious politically minded movements besides the old and new religious orders. There is a place where tolerance becomes compromise, and we must never allow broad feelings to rob us of deep convictions. There is an obligation to keep "the faith” and to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” But there is a way to contend without being contentious, just as it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable. W e should be as undeviating from the body and content and the letter of truth as the Lord Jesus Christ was, but at the same time just as careful as He was in exemplifying the first fundamental of the Christian life, which is love. For our purpose, any adequate answer to the question, “What is tolerance?” must take into account the Christian’s double citizenship. He is a citizen of both earth and heaven. He has but one standard of faith as well as practice—the Word of God. The Christian’s Bible should be his guide when he is confronted with the reli gious departures of today. He should be aware that in the writings of men, beautiful phraseology may cover a multitude of er rors. He must not be moved by diction; he must be guided by principle. T o see what divine principle applies in the case of tolerance, we turn first to the Old Testament. There we find the Israelite
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