SCIENCE & THE BIBLE by Bolton Davidheiser, Ph.D., Chairman of the Science Division, Biola College Get T h e modern oil industry is approxi mately 100 years old. It is gener in which they are used are also strik ingly different. Babel was a place of rebellion against God and it brought trouble. The ark was for salvation and is a type of Christ.
TH I NGS TO COME By J. Dwight Pentecost, Th.D.
This study in Biblical Eschatology is a long awaited book of tre mendous importance. Perhaps it is the greatest book in its field written in our time. In this excep tional volume the author seeks to an alyze, harmonize and systemize the Scrip tures of prophecy in to an organized and unified doctrine as few, if any, writers
ally held to have begun when Edwin L. Drake struck oil on the afternoon of Saturday, August 27th, 1859, at Titusville, Pennsylvania. Some have erroneously believed that oil was dis covered at this time, but the origin of its usé is lost in antiquity. Early settlers and missionaries in America found the Indians using petroleum oil for medicinal purposes, both internal and external. Following the Indians’ practice, the white men found it helpful, and they bottled the oil for sale in areas where it did not occur naturally. Later it was used as a lubricant and also for illumination. Wells which were drilled for brine sometimes disappointed their owners by also producing oil. One enterpris ing producer of brine sold the oil on the side as Kier’s Rock Oil. An adver- tisment of this oil in a drugstore is thought to have given the inspiration which brought about a change in Drake’s methods, so that he abandoned digging and started to drill. His well was the first in America drilled for the purpose of getting oil, and it showed that it could be obtained in quantity. Oil mentioned in the Bible is mostly the oil pressed from olives, but bitu men is also mentioned. The first two references to it in Scripture are inter esting and instructive. The Lord told Noah to waterproof the ark with pitch and the builders of the tower of Babel used it for mortar. According to Strong’s Concordance the word used for pitch in connection with the ark is from a root meaning to cover, espe cially to cover with bitumen. It also means to cover sin, to make an atone ment, forgive, be merciful, pardon, reconcile. At Babel we are told the people made brick and used slime for mortar. The word translated slime means bitumen or pitch. But it is a different word from that used in ref erence to the ark. It is from a root which means to boil up and it also means trouble. These are strikingly different roots for words referring to the same thing, but the circumstances
We can assign an approximate date to the beginning of the oil industry, such as the day Drake struck oil, the time the Seneca Oil Company was or ganized, or some other date connected with it. We celebrate Christmas as the time of the birth of Christ, but the date is arbitrary and has not every where been selected as December 25th. As there is no record of the actual be ginning of the use of petroleum there is no record of the beginning of Christ, not because the record is lost in an tiquity but because He was from the very beginning and all things were made by Him. Oil was obtained in California in quantity some time before Drake’s well was drilled. A shipment of kegs of oil was sent by way of Panama, destined for New York, with the in tention that a market be found there. But on the way those who were en trusted with its transportation across the Isthmus of Panama became weary of their work and dumped the oil in the jungle. This brings to mind that some who have been entrusted with the task of taking Christ to distant places have given up because of hard ships and discouragement. Without oil the scientific progress we know would not have been possible but it also has been misused and with out it we would not have had the great devastation of two world wars and the threat of world-wide anihila- tion. Even the gospel of Christ can be perverted, as Paul told the Galatians. Cults with a perverted gospel are de ceiving many and doing greater dam age than that which comes through physical destruction. In Scripture oil represents the Holy Spirit. Of Him our Lord said, “ How- beit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth . . .” With the help of the Holy Spirit we can discern that which is truth and be kept from serious error.
have ever before attempted. In the introduction by the President of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Walvoord says, "The work as a whole merits classifi cation as a standard and comprehensive text in Biblical Eschatology/7 Dr. Ralph L. Keiper says/7 . . . a veritable encyclo pedia on Bible prophecy . . . Pentecost has given us not only a handbook of prophecy but the cream of the best books on the subject.7 633 large pages .............. $7.95 Order from your bookseller or Dunham Publishing Company Findlay, Ohio WATCH FOR THE GOLDEN JUBILEE EDITION OF THE KING'S BUSINESS NEXT MONTH!
THE CHURCHES AND THE KINGDOM
by J. Harold Stephens A practical and enlightening study of the New Testament concept of the kingdom of God. The author’s large concern is to help his readers see what the kingdom should mean to their church life, witnessing, and morality. Paper, $1.95 Don’t forget . . . SURPASSING GRACE, another devotional book by the same author. $1.75
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