King's Business - 1920-03

246

THE K I N G ' S B US I NE S S

W h e e l o l o g y It used to be “ theology” , but now it is■ “ wheelology” . Onee it was “ turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God'and to wait for His Son from Heaven.” Now it is turning wheels,—church wheels, En­ deavor wheels, Sunday School wheels, club wheels,—all kinds of wheels, but mighty little grist. Some of the people are so exhausted turning wheels that they have no time for the Word of God and prayer. How we pity poor Paul and the early church! They knew nothing in those days of modem methods, nor modern theology. They knew the cruci­ fied, risen, glorified, coming Christ by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They believed the Word of God. They believed in prayer. They loved the lost, and in simple faith wenti forth telling the matchless story of God’s redeeming love. Men, women and children, convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, were broken down, and, confessing Jesus Christ to be both Saviour and Lord, were born from above, and added to the church—the Body of Christ. Those were the good old days when God laid the foundation strong and deep. We are in the “ New Era” now, they tell us (more’s the pity), a brand new era, only the “ brand” seems to lack the smile of God’s approval; an era of wheels, of “ wheed'le-do ” and “ wheedle-dum.” But the Lord has not changed, and. when a little band of Bible Insti­ tute students went forth on Christmas Day afternoon to have a good time in soul-winning, and returned at night to tell what great things the Lord had done, reporting, among other things, that some thirty persons had con­ fessed Christ,—the Gospel seemed to work just as it did in the year of our Lord 33. It would not be a bad idea to let the wheels rest awhile and adopt the early church plan of just going out and doing what the Lord said to do “ Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” T. C. H. ^ T A K E HEED Wkat Y e Hear. (Mark 14:24.) Fenton’s translation puts it: “ Be careful what you listen to.” The Cambridge Bible says: “ Stand upon your guard lest yd be imposed upon.” Jesus said again in Mark 13:5, “ Take heed lest any man deceive you.” Is there any force in these words for the present day? When our Lord warned, “ Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees” He knew how insidiously unbelief would grow upon the unwary listener and how, like deadly fumes, it would result eventually in overcoming both in­ tellect and will. He knew that those whose souls were at first vexed at hearing false doctrine, if they kept listening, would at length grow so accustomed to the plausible sophistries that they would be swept ofB their feet. He had but one suggestion to offer—Don’t go where that which is against the Word of God is being taught. The Apostle Paul sounded the same warning in writing to the Bomans (Bom. 16:17)—“ Mark them which cause offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and AVOID THEM.” There is certainly in our day as great a peril to the Christian pilgrim in the spiritual Sodoins that waylay him at every turn, as in the “ Vanity

Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker