She “Bible family IiBayajine
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• • • The past several years have proven to men and women the great value of an investment in a B IO L A A N N U IT Y • • •
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“To The JEW FIRST” This is the bedrock upon which we predicate the Jewish Mission ap peal to every Bible-believing soul. “ To the Jew first” is as basic in Missions-as faith in Christ is basic in Salvation. Every January brings to us an increasing number of gifts “to the Jew first.” And many let ters tell us, “ Thank you so much for calling my attention to my duty and privilege. I want to start the New Year right.?: L, Think it over. For some day you too will join this blessed host and you too will say, “I want to preach God’s Gospel in God’s way—to the Jew first.” And while you think it over, just bear in mind that there are today nearly 2,000,000 Jewish souls in New York City who have never even been given the gospel “to the Jew last!” Our work merits your every con fidence. Our field is not only the 2,000,000 Jews of New York, but the 4,000,000 Jews- of America. And through co-operating mission aries we are represented, and our Yiddish publications are being dis tributed, in all the important Jew ish centers o f the world. In Amer ica, branches are being established in the larger cities as the Lord gives us the means and the workers. Your help’and prayers are always needed. “ The Chosen People” loved by many Bible students for its help ful information on Prophecy and the Jews, is sent to all contributors. May we hear from you?
She Sible jiâmiï# tiîlaga^ine Motto: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood .”— R ev . 1 :5.
Volume XXIV
January, 1933
Number 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS Crumbs from the King’s Table— Stewart P. MacLennan.....:..........2 A New Year Message—Alexander Maclaren..................................... 3 God and Gog and 1937 ( ?|^—Louis S. Bauman................................... 5 Nazareth and the Sea o f Galilee—J. A . Huffman............................... 8 Can We Expect a Great Revival Before the Return o f Christ? —*-H. A. Ironside.........................................r.................................... 9 Heart to Heart with Our Young Readers— Florence Nye Whitwell-12 The Lord’s Hand is Not Shortened— Helen Miller Lehman......:...:. 14 Bible Institute Family C ircle-Cutler B. Whitwell......................... ...15 Our Literature Table___________ !.......................................................... .16 Junior King’s Business—Martha S, Hooker.................. .......................17 Living Lessons from the Book o f Life and Everyday Life —Roy Talmage Brumbaugh.. .................................................... 19 The Vision that Vitalizes—-Charles E. Hurlburt.................. .............. 20 Homiletical Helps for Preachers and Teachers............ .......................22 In the Jewish World—J. A . Vaus ......................................................23 International Sunday School Lesson Commentary....................... .......24 Notes on Christian Endeavor— Mary G. Goodner...............................32 Daily Devotional Readings............................................................. ......... 36
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POLICY AS DEFINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To make the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith.
536-558 S. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Lo* Angeles, Calif.
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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1933
rum L/romTHE K ING ’S TABLE . . . B y th e E ditor
government on the earth. Iron represents imperialism, authority, fascism, capitalism. Clay, or brittle pottery, rep resents democracy, socialistic principles, communism. The trend, toward these forms o f government is clearly seen in Europe and is now being reflected in America. A Chicago editor declares that in four years our coun try will be ruled by a dictator—the iron of Daniel’s image. The editor o f the Hollywood Citizen-News says, speak ing of the election: There is a lesson for the country in that protest vote. Every one hopes, of course, that conditions will gradually improve, and that by the end of the next four years, there will be healthy economic conditions around us. But if there isn’t, then let the country face the possibility that the protest vote will next turn to the Socialist party. It is shortsighted for reactionaries to declare that j since they have control they will do as they will for their own selfish interests. It is well for them to know just how their selfish interests can be best served. This election proves that the people do have a weapon in their hands in the ballot. Seldom do the people know how to use it for their own best advantage. But there is always the possibility Of it being turned to the disadvantage of those who seem to be oppressors. If the conservative forces o f this country, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, desire to avoid the su premacy of the Socialist party, they must prove to the people that an opportunity for them to work can be pro vided under a conservative, capitalistic form of govern ment.'1; The average man will no longer accept as fact the statement that depressions are acts of God. The average man knows that depressions are due to man-made eco nomic systems—systems built upon human selfishness and greed. The average man knows that God has been boun teous in the blessings He has bestowed upon us and that only human selfishness decrees that millions shall suffer privations while God’s abundance is evident on every hand. The average man cannot understand the intricacies of our present economic system. In fact, most exceptional men do not understand them. But the average man does understand that once this country sets out to serve the cause of humanity, it can remedy conditions under which wide-spread privation , exists amidst wide-spread abundance. How clearly, then, we see on the one hand the possible rise of a dictator; on the other socialism, possibly only a step to communism! Surely the Lord must be at hand! Harold F. Graham with the Lord ■ hen , on the morning of November 19, 1932, after an illness of only a few days, Harold F. Graham entered into the presence of his Lord, his congregation and denom ination, his classes at the Bible Institute, and the church
In the temporary absence of Dr. White, the editorials this month are written by Dr. Stewart P. MacLennan, Pastor o f the First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood, Calif.,, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Bible Institute, The World Now Beyond Man’s Control & t last man is beginning to realize that the manage ment o f this world is beyond his puny control. The strong Son o f God, who is both God and Man, is alone equal for this task, and surely He must soon come, for the hearts of men are failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth. In the New York Herald-Tribune , under date of Oc tober 21, there was an article headed, “ W ORLD HELP LESS IN DEPRESSION , MONTAGUE NORMAN TELLS LONDON .” Mr. Norman has been governor of the Bank of England since 1921. Viscount Snowden says of him : “ He is the greatest statesman in England since the World War.” Speaking at a banquet to the Lord Mayor of London, Mr. Norman said in part: The world is, in the grip of an economic disorder which has rendered it virtually helpless, and there is n o . solution in sight. The difficulties are so vast and 'so unlim ited, that I approach the subject not only in ignorance but in humility. It is too much for meAT wonder if there is ... any one in the world who can really direct the affairs of > the world, or of his country, with any assurance of the result his action will have? Who, a year ago, could have, foreseen the position into which we have drifted little by : little ? First we have been down, then we have been up, then down, then up. The confused affairs of the world have brought about a series of events and a general tendency which appear to me at this time as being outside the con trol of any man and any government and any Cpuntry. I Mr. Norman, before he concluded his speech, gave but one ray of hope in saying: I believe that if every country and every government could get together, it would be different. But we do hot seem to be able to get together. Yes, Mr. Norman, the nations of Europe are going to get together and in their desperation are going to submit to an international dictator, the last world ruler, who will become the political despot and will be assisted by a social- religious ruler or dictator who will seek to deliver to the po litical potentate the religious worship of the world. (Read Revelation 13.) In the two beasts, one from the sea and one from the earth, is clearly revealed the political situation that is soon to come. The iron and the clay o f Daniel’s image are. seen now in one beast who represents political autocracy,, and the other social-religious communism. X HE RESULTS of the past election in our beloved coun try tend to confirm the conviction that we are living in the end days of human government in the earth. Two distinct trends in government are clearly foretold in Daniel 2 :42,43 : “ The toes of the feet are part of iron and part o f clay; so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.” Here is a condition that obtains at the end time in human The Recent Election in the Spotlight of Prophecy
at large were stunned by the removal o f a young man of most unusual promise. His was a finesse of mind, a consecration and devotion o f soul, a keenness of spiritual perception that was entirely out o f the ordinary. The first time I met him I loved him. My spirit kindled to him when I looked into his earnest eyes. I cov eted him for ministry in my church. Later, the Lord gave him to us, and he became minister o f youth in the
[Continued on page 4]
H arold F. G rah am
January, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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For the New Year
A singer sang a song of tears, And the great world heard and wept; For he sang of the sorrows o f fleeting years, And the hopes which the dead past kept; And souls in anguish their burdens bore, And the world was sadder than ever before. A singer sang a song o f cheer, And the great world listened and smiledj For he sang of the love of a Saviour dear, And the trust of a little child; And) souls that before had forgotten to pray Looked up and went singing along the way. — S elected .
m j ew O jea r s MESSAGE By t h e l a t e ALEXANDER MACLAREN
two schools, one of which explained everything by invoking great convulsions, the other by appealing to the uniform action o f laws. There are convulsions in life. Tomorrow is the child of today, and yesterday was the father of this day. What we are springs from what we have been, and settles what we shall be. The road leads somewhither, and we follow it step by step. We make our characters by continuity of our small actions. Let no man think of his life as if it were a heap of unconnected points. It is a chain of links that are forged together inseparably. Let no man say, “ I do this thing, and there shall be no evil results im pressed upon my life in consequence of it.” It cannot be. We shall tomorrow be more of everything that we are today, unless, by some strong effort of repent ance and change, we break the fatal continuity and make a new beginning by God’s grace. But let us lay to heart this, as a very solemn truth which lifts up into mystical and un speakable importance the things that men idly call trifles, that life is one continuous whole, a march toward a defi nite end. Mark the emphasis of my text, “ Go thy way till the end” ! You, my contemporaries, you older men! do not fancy in the deepest aspect any life has ever a period in it in which a man may “ take it easy.” You may do that in regard to outward things, and it is the hope and the reward of faithfulness in youth and middle age that, when the gray hairs come to be upon us, we may slack off a little in regard to outward activity. But in regard to all the deepest things of life, no man may ever lessen hisThligence until he has attained the goal. And not only “ till the end,” but “ go thou thy way to the end.” That is to say, let the thought that the road has a ter mination be ever present with us all. There is a great deal of the so-called devout contemplation of death, which is anything but wholesome. People wejre never meant to be always looking forward to that close. Men may think of “ the end” in a hundred different connections. One man may say, “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Another man may say, “ I have only a little while to master this science, to make a name for myself, to win wealth. Let me bend all my efforts in a fierce determina tion—-made the fiercer because of the thought of the brevity of life—to win the end.”
“ But go thou thy way till the end be: f o r thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end o f the days” (Dan. 12 :13). h e r e a r e three points in this message— the journey, the pilgrim’s resting place, and the final home. “ Go thou thy way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” T he J ourney That is a threadbare metaphor for life. Yet thread bare as it is, its significance is inexhaustible. But before I deal with it, note that very significant “ but” with which my text begins. The prophet has been asking for a little more light to shine on the dark unknown that' stretches before him. And his request is negatived— 1 “ but go thou thy way.” In the connection, that means, “ Do not waste your time in dreaming about or peering into what you can never see, but fill the present with strenuous service.” “ Go thou thy way.” Never mind the far-off issues ; the step before you is clear, and that is all that concerns you. Plod along the path, and leave tomorrow to take care of itself. There is a piece of plain, practical wisdom, none the less necessary for us to lay to heart because it is so obvious and com monplace. The figure implies perpetual change. The landscape glides past us, and we travel on through it. How impossible it would be for us older people to go back to the feelings, to the beliefs, to the tone, and to the temper with which we used to look at things thirty or forty years ago ! It is fool ish for us ever to forget that we live in a state of things in which constant alteration is the law, as surely as, when the train whizzes through the Country, the same landscape never meets the eye twice, as thé: traveler looks through the windows. Let us, then, accept the fact that nothing abides with us, and so not be bewildered nor swept away from our moorings, nor led to vain regrets and paralyzing retrospects when the changes come, sometimes slowly and imperceptibly, sometimes with stunning suddenness, like a bolt out of the blue. If life is truly represented under the figure of a journey, nothing is more certain than that we sleep in a fresh hospice every night, and leave behind us every day scenes that we shall never traverse again. What madness, then, to be putting out eager and desperate hands to clutch what must be left, and so to contradict the very law under which we live ! Life is continuous. Gèologists used to be divided into
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January, 1933
The mere contemplation of the shortness of our days may be an ally of immorality, o f selfishness, of meanness, o f earthly ambitions, as well as lay a cooling hand on fevered brows, and bring down the pulsations of hearts that throb for earth. But while it is not wholesome to be always thinking of death, it is more unwholesome still never to let the con templation of that end come into our calculations o f the future, and to shape our lives in an obstinate blindness to what is the one certain fact which rises up through the whirling mists of the unknown future, like some black cliff from the clouds that wreathe around it. Is it not strange that the surest thing is the thing that we forget most o f all ? It sometimes seems to me as if the sky rained down opiates upon people, as if all mankind were in a conspiracy of lun acy, because they, with one accord, ignore the most prom inent and forget the only certain fact about their future; and in all their calculations do not “ so number their days” as to “ apply” their “ hearts unto wisdom.” T he R esting P lace “ Go thou thy way, for thou shalt rest.” ’ Now, I sup pose, to most careful readers that clearly is intended as a gracious, and what they call a euphemistic, way of speaking about death. “ Thou shalt rest.” Well, that is a thought that takes away a great deal of the grimness and the terror with which men generally invest the close. It is a thought, of course, the force of which is very different in different stages and conditions o f life;. To you, young people, eager, perhaps ambitious, full o f the consciousness o f inward power, happy, and in all human probability, with the greater portion o f your lives before you in which to do what you desire, the thought of “ rest” comes with a very faint appeal. And yet I do not suppose that there is anybody who has not some burden that is hard to carry, or who has not learned what weariness means.Vt* But to us older people, who have tasted disappoint ments, who have known the pressure of grinding toil for a great many years, whose hearts have been gnawed by har- assments and anxieties off different kinds, whose lives are apparently drawing, nearer to their end than the present moment is to their beginning, the thought,. “ Thou shalt rest,” comes with a very different appeal from that which it makes to these others. That rest is the cessation of toil, but the continuance of activity— the cessation of toil, and anxiety, and harassment, and care. And so the darkness, is made beautiful when we think that God draws the curtain, as a careful mother does in her child’s chamber, that the light may not disturb the slumberer. But, dear friends, that final cessation of earthly work has a double character. “ Thou shalt rest” was said to this man of God. What of people whom death takes away from the only sort o f work that they are fit to do? It will be no rest to long for the occupation which you never can have any more. And if you have been living for this wretched present, to be condemned to have nothing to do any more in it and with it will be torture, and not repose. There is only one way by which we can make that inevitable end a blessing and turn death into the opening of the gate of our restingplace; and that is by setting our heart’s desires and our spirit’s trust on Jesus Christ, who is the “ Lord both of the dead and o f the living.” I f we do that, even the last enemy will come to us as Christ’s representative, with Christ’s own word upon his lips, “ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I [because He has given me the power] will give you rest.” T he H ome “ Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” “ Stand’’- —that is Daniel’s way of preaching, what he has
been preaching in several other parts of his book, the doc trine of the resurrection. “ Thou shalt stand in thy lot.” That is a reference to the ancient partition o f the land of Canaan among the tribes, where each man got his own portion, and sat under his own vine and fig tree. However sweet and blessed that reposeful state may be, humanity has not attained its perfection until once again the perfected spirit is mated with, and enclosed within, its congenial ser vant, a perfect body. “ Corporeity is the end o f man.” Body, soul, and spirit partake of the redemption of God. God is the true inheritance. Each man has his own por tion of Jhe common possession. Or, to put it into plainer words, in that perfect land each individual has precisely so much o f God as he is. capable o f possessing. “ Thou shalt stand in thy lot.” And what determines the lot is how we wend our way till we reach that other end, the end of life. “ Thé end o f the days” is a period far beyond the end of the life of Daniel. And as the course that terminated in repose has been, so the possession o f “ the portion o f the inherit ance o f the saints in light” shall be, for which that course has made men meet. And his allotted portion, as it stretches around him, will be but the issue and the outcome o f his life here on earth. We shall all go where we have fitted ourselves, by God’s grace to go ; get what we have fitted our selves to possess ; and be what we have made ourselves. HAROLD GRAHAM WITH THE LORD [Continued from page 2] First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, leaving, about a year later, to become pastor o f the First Baptist Church of Monrovia, Califiy on January 1, 1932. There, to an ever growing congregation numbering about 750 at the time of his death, he ministered faithfully and wisely. At the same time, he served the Bible Institute as the efficient and effec tive instructor in a new department known as “ Youth Evangelism.” His classrooms were crowded with expec tant listeners, for his was the gift of teaching. He knew the students’ viewpoint, for he himself had been an eager and conscientious learner. He attended the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and Baylor University, WacOj Tex., serving also in the latter school as head o f the “ Y ” work on the campus. A t the University of Califor nia at Los Angeles, from which he was graduated in 1931, his earnestness^ enthusiasm, and gift of oratory made him invaluable as field secretary o f the University Bible Clubs. His pastor, Rev. A. N. Hall, of Muskogee, Okla., says o f him : “ His consecration was without reservation. When he accepted Christ for himself, he gave himself to Christ. He had courage born o f conviction. Measured by the num ber of his days, his life was brief-—his sun went down at noon. Measured by the height o f his aspirations, the depth o f his understanding, the breadth o f his influence, this man lived a large life* in a few years.” Mr. Graham’s remarkable progress in the Christian ministry in an important church in a city of culture and power is a magnificent testimony to Bible Institute train ing. He did not have the privilege o f attending a seminary, and his whole theological training was received from his faithful pastor and Bible Institutes. He “ being dead yet speaketh”— in the ten or more young people o f his church who definitely Consecrated their lives to the Lord at the time o f his death, and in the many others who, remembering the imperative of his appeals and the beauty o f the life o f Christ as he lived it, are taking a new and aggressive stand for the Lord Jesus Christ,
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1933
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P r m r t s w
B y LOUIS S. BAUMAN* Long Beach, "Calif.
■ f è v S S ' f ì .w -
[This article, the first of three relating to Russia in the light of Scrip ture, has seemed too important to be confined to Dr. Bauman’s regular depart ment, Present-Day Fulfillment of Prophecy. The accompanying arresting cartoon appeared first on the front page of The Los Angeles Times and is re produced here by permission. It adds its own striking comment to the writer’s discussion of the subject.— E ditor .] " H T. 1L h is , s u r e l y , is the primeval chaos that preceded the creation o f the world !” So writes Will Durant under the caption, “ The Tragedy of Russia,” in The Saturday Evening Post (December 10, 1932), which came into the writer’s hands only about an hour before he sat down to write this article. Mr. Durant is expressing his thoughts upon entering his hotel in Moscow at the end of his long journey from Seattle. And this, after a matter-of-fact declaration that before beginning his pilgrimage to Mos cow : “1 was sympathetic with communism because I had seen in my own country the breakdown o f the most suc cessful individualist economy in history.” However, it was not “ the primeval chaos that preceded the creation o f the world,” but the. ultimate chaos o f our kosmos-age that actually greeted the eyes of Mr. Durant as he arrived in Russia, hoping to discover a “material Utopia.” Exactly that— the ultimate chaos of our present age— a chaos that shall demand the return of our Lord from heaven soon to stem the tide, or man ere long will be found sprawling on the grave of civilization, clenching naught but a blood-smeared knife in his hand, and hissing through his teeth naught but demoniac curses against God and man. Russia points to the very possible danger of mankind sink ing into no less a hell than that! Will Durant is not the only one who went to worship in “ Moscow, shrine o f the intellectuals o f the world” (as he himself calls it), and became disillusionized in the expe rience. We have just read the October issue o f The Medical Critic and Guide (New Y ork ), whose editor, William J. Robinson, Ph.G., M.D., is a man anything but friendly to the Christian faith, and (we surmise) to the Christian standards o f strict morality as well. Before leaving for Russia, he sent out a postcard to many o f his readers, on which, among other declarations as to his faith in Soviet Russia, he said: It is the only country which,-in spite o f the numerous wrongs it has committed, now alone holds aloft a beacon of light and hope to blind, struggling and blundering hu manity. And, last but not least, Stalin seems, after all, to be the right man in the right place. It was only last June that Dr. Robinson went to kneel at the “ shrine o f the intellectuals o f the world.” Speaking Russian fluently, and being a doctor, he managed to get into intimate contact with the “ shrine.” He’s bach n ow ! He writes (a bit shamefacedly) : Painful as it is for me to state my conclusion about Rus sia as I saw it, I must do so without any quibbling: . . . It is temporary purgatory for the foreign visitor . . . It is permanent, hopeless hell for the native . . . For ninety per cent of the population, Russia is now one vast prison, one hopeless hell. When we left Kiev for the train which was to bring us that evening to the Polish frontier, a number o f people near the hotel stood watching us. Did you ever *Pastor, First Brethren Church.
Courtesy Los Angeles Times. visit a prisoner in a prison ? Did you notice the expression on his face when the time of the interview came to an end, and you were going back to freedom and the open road, while he had to go back to his cell? Well, that exactly was the expression on the faces of those men and women, only many times intensified. Poor men, poor women! Poor “ free” Russians! Worship at this “ shrine o f the intellectuals o f the world” does not seem to impress all “ the intellectuals” alike, however. That very irresponsible intellectual genius, George Bernard Shaw, found Russia with its inhuman monarch and brutal bureaucracy quite “ interesting,” where upon Dr. Robinson comments: “ It is, if hell is an interest ing place.” We have seen an interesting reproduction from the communist organ in Berlin, Illustrierte Arbeiter Zeitung, under date o f July 20, 1929—a page o f photographs o f the intellectual worthies composing the Anti-imperialist League, auxiliary organization o f Bolshevism for Asia and Africa, with branches also in the United States and Latin America, and l o ! the second picture in the top row is none other than the intellectual father o f that non-understand- able something known as “ relativity”— that something seemingly created only to convince the world that its author was “ intellectual” beyond all “ common clay.” It seems to have succeeded admirably. This professor, Albert Einstein, was a member o f the World Congress called by Moscow
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January, 1933
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off the arms and hands of living men and women. Then, later, came the almost equally merciless and hard-hearted Georgian, Josef Vissarionovich Dzchugashwili, who, in his youth, had his name changed. to “ Stalin”— “ the man of steel’’— now the Russian dictator. The anti-God program that began in 1918 resulted in a martyrdom seldom, if ever, surpassed even in the darkest ages o f the world’s history. By placing terrible penalties upon any one, even parents, who would teach a child so much as a verse o f Scripture, or who would attempt to fire a spark o f belief in God, and by compelling atheistic instructions for all the children in Russia, it has succeeded in eradicating practically the last vestige of faith in the eternal verities from the hearts o f all Russian youth. As a result, today there are 25,000,000 youth in this nightmare of the world, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five years, who have attempted to tear the robes of righteous ness from Jesus Christ and have spat upon His wounds, even as they have canonized and haloed the head of Judas Iscariot, embracing a new devil-inspired religion known as “ Iscariotism.” These youth are absolutely loyal— fanatically, enthusiastically loyal— to Soviet Russia, even though it enslaves them body, soul, and spirit, and enwraps them with ignorance, suffering, and blood. Official Russia seems chiefly concerned with the making of an assault upon the three most precious shrines that all nations, past and present, have known—mother, home, and heaven. She has made all three objects to be despised, if not to be cursed, by her 25,000,000 youth. Mother— only until she is delivered o f her child, when she goes back to the factory. The State becomes the “ mother” upon whose atheistic breasts the child is to be nurtured. Home— of course, there can be none without the mother. Heaven— the very thought is to be anathematized. The repercussions o f this communistic assault upon these three holiest sanc tuaries of the human race are being felt violently through out the whole world today. The Russian State has set itself against every moral and spiritual ideal which God’s Word proclaims. It de termines, no matter what the cost, to teach at all times, just the opposite o f every divine command or holy or dinance. I f it is in God’s Word, enough!— official Russia is against it! The whole aim was stated by Lenin’s w idow : “ W e must make our school boys and girls, not merely non religious, but actively and passionately antireligious.” Just what that means can be understood by continual incidents such as the sentencing o f two Russian priests (under the law prohibiting the teaching of religion to any under eigh teen) who are even now serving terrible sentences in Si beria for advising groups of young people to preserve their chastity! Who, among even nonreligious but decent people, can keep from crying aloud in the words of Daniel: “ O my Lord, what shall be the issue o f these things?” (Dan. 12:8, R. V . ) . Fortunately, those who know the “ sure word o f prophecy” are not left in the dark as to “ the issue o f these things,” even as we shall see. T he L atest D ecree in the “ W ar on G od !” God must pack His trunks and get out o f Russia, bag and baggage, within the next five years. Such is the signed decree of the world’s arch-criminal—Josef Stalin, dictator over one-sixth the land surface o f the earth. This expul sion is the ultimate objective o f a new “ five-year plan.” Thus runs the decree: On May 1, 1937, there must not remain on the terri tory of the U. S. S. R. a single house of prayer to God, and the very conception “God” will be banished from the boundaries of the Soviet Union, as a survival of the Middle Ages which has served as an instrument for the oppression of the working masses. The Russian correspondent o f the London Morning Post informs us that, in the carrying out o f this decree,
under the auspices o f the Workers’ International Relief. No sooner did Einstein land upon our shores (December 15,1930)than he called upon all America to “ refuse military duty in the time o f war” — a thing that the Soviet murder ers in Russia devoutly hope we will do. But has this com munist, Einstein, ever gone to Moscow and preached this same propaganda? If not, why not? We, too, believe that “ war is hell,” the cruel, unholy method o f an unre generate world; but it would be more apropos for this loudly vaunted “ intellectual” who talks much o f the “ cursed bombast o f patriotism” to go to Moscow and carry on his propaganda against war where such propaganda is needed. Again, at that “ shrine,” the masses who worship might take more kindly to his reference to Christian people who believe in God and the after life, as “ feeble souls” who “ harbor such thoughts.” Thus Einstein marches with the procession of the anti-God crusaders. As one who has in finitely more confidence in the reality of God than in the reality o f “ relativity,” we devoutly pray that this “ côn- fusionist” (as one distinguished authority in science, Pro fessor Thomas Jefferson See, calls him) may hereafter go to his “ shrine” in Moscow instead of asking passports into America. No nation can raise its fists against the God of heaven, or even ignore the Light o f the World when His beams fall upon it, and prosper. Modern statesmen might profit by inquiring of the kings within the shades—-prefer ably Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar ! An old beautitude still stands: “ Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah” (Psa. 33:12). A N ew T h ing in H uman H istory The world today gazes with amazement upon a new thing in human story— old in prophecy but new in realiza tion. This new thing is the spectacle of a mighty nation raising its fists against all that is called “ God,” actually making official declaration o f war to the death with Him ! The Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzars, Alexanders, and Caesars all, worshiped at the shrine of some deity. But o f deities, true or false, the official Russian will have none. The only god he worships is a man—a dead man at that ! More and more do the “ devout” communists crowd to gaze with rev erential awe and worship before the mummified corpse of Lenin, as it lies, encased in glass, in the Kremlin. Verily, if man is not a religious saint, he becomes a religious brute. Man will worship ! T he D eclaration of W ar It was in January, 1918, that official Russia took its first step toward a declaration o f war on God. At that time, the Soviet o f Commissars issued a decree, Article 12 of which saidIff‘No church or religious association shall enjoy the rights of judicial persons.” The decree throughout opposed every fundamental right of religious associations, and that decree has stood in practice, in spite o f some loudly pro fessed “ religious liberty” declarations made solely to alle viate the injured feelings o f influential religious groups outside the lair o f the bear. With the issuance of this decree, thousands of believers in God began to suffer all the agonies that maddened, de monized, blood-crazed tyrants could inflict. These godless sons o f hell were happy only when frenziedly torturing their victims with physical and mental tortures too awful for description. One is almost crazed to madness through righteous indignation even by reading thé true accounts. Nero, at his worst, was a miserably poor inventor of im plements for the production o f ghastly spasms o f agony, when compared with the inhuman Felix Dzerzhinsky (now dead, thank G od !), life and soul o f the dreaded Secret Police of all Russia, known as the Cheka. It was he who brought about the execution (and torture in execution) of nearly three million of his own people.. It was he who or dered the making of “ human gloves” by peeling the skin
January, 1933
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it is proposed to annihilate all religious schools by depriv ing all the “ servitors o f religious cults” o f their allowances o f food and the necessities o f life. They will neither be able to buy nor sell without the mark o f “ the beast”— in this case Josef Stalin. In all the capitals of the Soviet Union, the houses o f prayer o f all religious communities must close on May 1, 1934. Then, in the second year, a “ shock campaign” is to be launched against the officially registered “ communes o f the faithful,” that is, the former monasteries. The family altar also, as a “ religious center,” must go. A “ reasonable belief,” which is the Soviet way of speaking of its own atheistic creed, must be instilled into the minds of the masses with a fervor not yet known. In prep aration for the carrying out of this program, the University o f Leningrad has enrolled hundreds o f students for a two- years’ course, granting the degree Doctor o f Atheism. Then the balance o f this “ five-year program” will be consumed in consolidating the results achieved by the “ activization of the anti-God units” and the conversion o f all former churches into clubs, picture-houses, and similar places o f “ reason able recreation.” O f course, while all this is going on, the Soviet mind assumes that God will not seriously concern Himself with the affairs of the Soviet Union! Yea, verily!! B ut , G od A lso “ H appens ” to H ave a P rogram And the program of the eternal God does not happen to be a “ five-year” affair. It will pursue its way very much undisturbed after Russia’s hordes sleep in their graves in “ the valley o f Hamon-gog” (Ezek. 39:11). The pro gram of God is the program o f the unending ages. No five-year program, though all the forces of earth and hell Dear Miss Scott\ I am glad to know there is going to be a Corner where we can bring our problems. I want to bring one now. I am a surrendered Christian but am not experiencing the joy I should have. I have suffered much lately from unkindness o f people, loss of position, etc., until I am so discouraged and depressed that I can’t seem to rise above it all. I have not lost my faith in God but seem to get no answers to prayer. Can you help me ? — A F riend . Dear Friend: In these testing times it is hard to “ rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him,” isn’t it ! Remember, nothing can touch you, if you are a child of God, that is not in God’s will for you. Joseph said to his brothers, “ Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Gen. 50:20). Your Heavenly Father will turn all the trials into blessings for you, if you look to Him in faith and wait for Him to work. Discouragement is from Satan. God rebukes, but never discourages. Keep your eyes upon God, not upon cir cumstances, or people, or even your own experience. Try repeating the Twenty-third Psalm every morning the first thing on awaking, and meditate on what it means to have the Lord as your Shepherd. Then offer the sacrifice o f praise (Heb. 13:15). Praise, like prayer, changes things. When Satan would make you think your prayers are not
endorse it, can even shake the Rock whereupon the king dom o f God securely rests. All it can do is to set the stage for the final scenes o f unregenerate man’s dominion over the earth. And when Gog lifts his fists against God, it only indicates that the time for the final scenes has about come. Gog (Russia’s “ chief prince” ), with uplifted fists, cries, “ I am against Thee, O God” ! God calmly replies: “Behold, I am against thee, 0 Gog, prince o f Rosh, Meschech, and Tubal” (Ezek. 3 8 :2, R. V .). It does appear that the battle array described so vividly by Ezekiel, the prophet, has been set. Are we correct in this ? Will 1937, or before, see this modern, but imbecile, “ Nebu chadnezzar” who now rules over Russia, out in the fields eating grass with the oxen, until he, too, shall know that “ the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom o f men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will” (Dan. 5: 20, 21, R. V .) ? Is the Lord God o f Israel about to hurl His “ hooks into” the “ jaws” (Ezek. 38:4) of the Great Russian Bear ? Will the “ revolution ” confirm the revela tion? All this we must defer for our allotted space next month. In the meantime, let the saints of God rest undisturbed, even though the nations rock and tremble. The passing of their dominion will bring in your own. True, the “ great beasts” (Dan. 7 :17) are snarling, growling, and their jaws foam with blood. But, though their great jaws are agape, our Commander will not hesitate to ride into their den when His appointed hour arrives. That hour comes on apace!1 His program is announced! Verily, the present “ revolu tion” o f unbelief only establishes the present revelation of faith. heard, remind him that “ the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him” (Psa. 145 :18). Do not allow doubt to abide in your heart. Be sure your life is yielded in a deeper expe rience in Christ because o f the very things by which Satan would try to break your fellowship with God. Dear Miss Scott: Would you kindly answer my question in the corner which you are conducting in T he K ing ’ s B usiness ? I have given up worldly amusements, but my friends continue to invite me and are hurt because I refuse to go places with them. Sometimes it is hard to find excuses for not going, and I hesitate to tell the real reason for fear they will think I have a “ holier than thou” attitude. What should I do ? _____________ — F . Dear F : Why not try telling the truth? You need not do it offen sively or with an attitude o f seeming to judge your friends, but just give a simple testimony o f what you believe God wants of you, and how you are trying to please Him because you love Him. When they understand the real reason and see you are humble and sweet but firm in your stand, if they are friends worth keeping, they will not continue to trouble you. Do you wonder that they have been hurt by your re peated excuses which perhaps led them to think you just did not care to be with them? Do not lose this opportunity o f testifying for your Lord.
Q i r l s QUERY CORNER Conducted by M yrtle E. S cott Questions for answer in this corner should be sent to Miss Scott, 8961 Dicks Street, West Hollywood California. No name will be published.
January, 1933
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NAZARETH andilie cJea qf^jalilee
B y J. A. HUFFMAN* Marion, Ind.
i h t ' y ï T
H . azareth is the city in which Jesus spent the greater part o f His life, the period sometimes called “ His hidden years,” from the time He was two or three until He was about thirty. It was of His residence here that it was said
T raditional S pots of N azareth Local tradition has marked sacred spots. The Church of the Annunciation is said to be built over the place where Mary lived, and where the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced to her that she should become the mother of our Lord. There is a chapel dedicated to the angel and one to Mary. In the latter, called the Chapel o f the Annuncia tion, there is an altar with the inscription in Latin, “ Here the word was made flesh.” There is also a chapel called “ The Workshop o f St. Joseph.” This is the supposed location o f the carpenter shop in which both Joseph and Jesus labored. There is an altar here with the inscription, “ Here He became subject to them.” Personally, I felt that a present-day carpenter shop in Nazareth would more nearly reflect Joseph and Jesus at their trade as carpenters,'than a dark grotto be neath a building. Therefore, I sought out a typical Naza reth carpenter shop, o f which there are plenty, and ob served the primitive methods of centuries ago still em ployed. Until the last few decades, there has been little change in the lands o f the Near East, and even now the changes are adopted very slowly. The Greek church is built upon the spot reputed to be the location o f the synagogue where Jesus preached in Nazareth. At the beginning of His sermon, they all “ won dered at the gracious words which proceeded from his lips.” But before He had finished they were all “ filled with wrath” (Lk. 4 :28 ). Then they rose up and thrust [Continued on page 13]
SEA OF GALILEE AND SITE OF ANCIENT BETHSAIDA
*Dean o f Divinity School, Marion College, Marion, Ind., and Dean o f Divinity School o f Winona Lake (summer sessions), Winona Lake, Ind. Nazareth is nestled picturesquely among the high hills o f Galilee. There is only one thing which could add to its beauty, and that would be to have the Sea o f Galilee, which is sixteen miles away, at its foot. But Galilee is the re deeming feature o f Tiberias and cannot be spared to Nazareth. o f Him, that He was subject to Joseph and Mary, and that “ he increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with Gofl and man” (Lk. 2:51, 52). When one walks the streets of Nazareth, he may be assured that he is treading upon places hallowed by the feet of Our Lord. It was from Nazareth that Jesus went to he baptized by John the Baptist at the river Jordan, in the wilderness o f Judaea. Nazareth has never been of political or commercial im portance, and to have been a Nazarene was no badge of honor. It was not a backwoods village, however, as it was located on the Jerusalem-Damascus road, and just off the Plain o f Esdralon. It was situated near the crossroads of interesting movements in Palestine. It is one o f the cities o f New Testament times which has continued to hold its own through the centuries, and is at present about as prosperous as it ever was. It has a population of about eight thousand, more than half o f whom are Christians. By “ Christians,” in Palestine, we mean those who are not Mos lems or Jews. The Greek Orthodox number the most, the Roman Catholic and Moslems about the same, and the Pro testants are the smallest group. There are no Jews in Nazareth.
Photo by Adalbert Bartlett BOYS OF MODERN NAZARETH SAWING OLIVE WOOD IN A CARPENTER SHOP, PROBABLY SIMILAR TO THE ONE IN WHICH JESUS LABORED AS A BOY.
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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^Yflay teeexfjeci a GREAT REVIVAL
( f fy e fo re ihe (d om in g o f ( f h m s i ? B y H. A. IRONSIDE* Chicago,"Illinois
“ O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: 0 Lord, revive thy work in the midst o f the years, in the midst o f the years make known; in wrath remember mercy”
“ Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me,” and again he cries out, “ Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may re joice in thee?” And
M ay we expect a great revival before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? In attempting to answer the ques tion in a scriptural way, there are some things that need to be defined. First, what do we mean by revival? I do not know any term that is more misused than this term. A series o f meetings may be announced and called “ revival meetings,” and if it were not so sad, it would be almost ludicrous to see the way the advertisements sometimes read. I have picked up a newspaper and read that on a given Sunday night a “ revival” would begin in a certain church. How does anybody know that ? Then I have read, a few weeks later, “ The revival which has been in progress at such a church during the past few weeks will close on such and such a night.” If there had been a revival, what a pa thetic thing to have it broken off so suddenly! A revival is not simply a series o f well-attended meetings where there is good preaching, good singing, and possibly a number of people coming to Christ. A revival is something far more than that. Some years ago, I found myself in a strange town on Sunday morning. I went to the largest Protestant church I could find, and I shall never forget an announcement the pastor made. Outside was a striking placard announcing revival meetings under the leadership of a well-known evan gelist, but the evangelist was not there, and the pastor wag evidently rather humiliated over it. Coming to the front, he said something like this, “ My dear friends, I was very confident that our revival was to begin today. You remember I announced that it would begin last Sunday, but on the Saturday night pre vious I received a telegram from the evangelist saying he was in a great meeting in Indiana and could not leave for another week. I wired him giving permission to remain, but said we would expect him for this Sunday. Last night, to my great disgust, I received another telegram saying the meetings were going on with such interest he could not come for another week. My patience is about at an end. I am going to send him a night letter this evening telling him he must be here next Sunday without fail, or there will be no revival in this church this year!” It was very evident that revival, to that minister, meant just a special series of meetings under the leadership of an evangelist. I have no hope whatsoever that there will be anything like a great world-wide demonstration under the leadership of some one or two particular preachers in our day or generation. R evivals in S cripture What do we mean, what does Scripture mean when it speaks of revival? In the Psalms, we hear David saying,
here Habakkuk prays, “ O Lord, revive thy work in the midst o f the years.” What is meant by revival in these pas sages of. Scripture? The word itself is most suggestive. It means to stir afresh that which is already alive. There is a life in every born-again person, that needs from time to time to be freshly stirred and roused up, and when tbis takes place, it results in increased devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, in greater carefulness as to one’s own individ ual walk before God, and in deeper exercise in getting the gospel to those who are out o f Christ. W e are not to think o f meetings for only the uncon verted, as necessarily revival meetings. It is God’s people who need to be revived. There never was a time, and there never will be a time until our Lord Jesus Christ comes back again, when the people o f God will hot do well to cry, “ O Lord, revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee.” It is folly for any one to say, “ We are so near the end o f the dispensation; the coming of the Lord has now drawn so near that it is useless to think o f revival and of awaken ing to any great extent.” Why, the very fact that the com ing of the Lord has drawn so near, the very fact that we are so near the close o f this dispensation o f the grace o f God, is the very reason why people of God all over this globe ought to be on their faces crying out, “ Wilt thou not revive us again ?” We are expecting to meet our Lord very soon ; we are expecting to hear His voice, to rise to meet Him in the air, but many o f us are far from being in that condition of soul in which we would like to be found when Jesus comes, and therefore we should be praying, “ Wilt thou not revive us again?” It is God’s will that His people should be duly exercised. I take it as one o f the signs o f the times, one of the evidences that the Lord is preparing His people for His near return, that all over this and other civilized lands, and in every land where missionaries are carrying the gospel to a heathen people, there seems to be a growing sense of the need o f a special arousing, an awakening, and a revival. It is unthinkable that when tens of thousands o f God’s beloved people are crying from the depths o f earnest hearts, “ Revive thy work in the midst of the years,” that God does not intend to bring revival and blessing. But people ask, “ Where do you find in Scripture any definite prophetic word saying that the Christian dispensa tion will close with a great revival ?” I do not know with
*Pastor, Moody Memorial Church.
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