89
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
March, 1941
are endeavoring to break down the morals of both youth and age, those who would destroy the sanctity of mar riage, those who would cashier the Deca logue, ostracize God, deify man, and bow the knee only to Mammon, Pan, and Priapus. Turn away from “the true God” who is “the living God” to idols ..of wood dec orated with silver and gold, who “speak not” neither do evil or good (Jer. 10), and there is a collapse o f conscience and confidence. Godlessness breaks into lawlessness. In Henry T. F. Rhoades’ book en titled The Criminals We Deserve, appear these words: “Show me your crimes, and I will show you the nature of your society.” Although a criminologist of Lyons University, France, this writer gives a thesis that is as applicable to our nation as to any other: “Societies get the criminals they deserve.” Crime is one of the more lucrative professions of America. Human passions are capitalized. Greed, lust, and anger are the leading three causes, and they are long and sad commentaries on the failure of character building of our youth. Indeed, “all the nations that forget God” lose the power of preserving their own integrity. Ostracism o f the Bible The institution of ostracism w a s traditionally ascribed to the great law giver of Athens, Cleisthenes by name, who flourished 4n 500 B. C. The citizens of the city-state were grouped in tribes, and each citizen placed in an urn a piece of potsherd (ostrakon) inscribed with the name of the person he desired to be “ostracized.” Hellenic history re cords that whosoever had most ostraka against him was condemned to leave Attica within ten days and not set foot in it again for ten years. However, he was allowed to retain both his citizen ship and his property. The s t o r y of the
Would we consider a young man quite normal, if, In light of Observation and parental testimony with regard to his origin and care and guidance as being motivated by love, he were to search among the animals committed- to his care for the source of his existence and prosperous condition? The parallelism is not far from the truth in relation to man’s seeking the key to .the mysteries of life. He busies himself amid guesses rather than accepting the clear testi monies of Scripture. As to our attitude, the words of Dean Burgon, commenting on anti-Scriptural speculation, a r e apropos: -“He shall guess; and I will sit at his feet and listen—while he re ports to me his guesses (for the really great man is eager to assure me that they are no more). But, if any question be moved as to how that actual system of things to which man belongs, began—I bid him come down, and take the learn er’s place. God is now speaking.’’ One modern intellectual, somewhat reasonable in carrying out his evolu tionary hypothesis, suggests it is too bad Jesus was not bom in our day that He might have a university education. Such blasphemy! Although Genesis 2:7 states that “ the Lord God formed man of the dust 'o f the ground,” still we must account for the immaterial part of man. Revelation solves our problem in the remaining words of the same verse, “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” We are. herein taught that God imparts to mah a part o f His own life, enabling man to live the relatively independent life of a creature. Thus, man is joined with his living Creator by having life him self, Man’s forgetfulness of his origin and his turning to worship other creations are the fruit of human reason steeped in sin, rather than of revelation. Man’s gradual descent is graphically depicted by Paul in Romans 1:21-23. Men need tq be reminded often of “the fallibility of .human reason versus the infallibility of divine revelation.” The ground of evolution is exceedingly hard—and dan gerous. 'Godlessness and Lawlessness . Springing frOm the ground of evolu tion are two powerful supports for the defeat that threatens America. These are godlessness and lawlessness. Evolution, “a word of terrific mule power covering a multitude of miscal culations,” having instructed man to look down ra.ther than up, encourages our youth to bid farewell to the moral Governor of the universe, as well as the personal Creator described in Scrip ture. Having poured the acids of mo dernity on both God and the devil from the test tubes of their personal experi
ences, the educated youth of America are glad to usher both to the edge o f the universe and consign them to the ozone with, “Thanks, Mr. God, and thanks, Mr. Devil, for your provisional services; we do not need either of you any longer.” . In a godless age there is less of God; and when God moves out, the devil moves in. In Romans 1, subsequent to verses 21 to 23, which we cited a few paragraphs back, three times we dis cover that “God gave them up” (vs. 24, 26, 28). In each instance as the result of and penalty for less of God, the people gave themselves over to godless ness., In the first instance it was with respect to their own bodies; in the second, with respect to the mind; and in the third, their spiritual natures. The laws of God are immutable. “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). The fact that lawlessness follows hard upon godlessness should be no sur prise to the individual who thinks the problem through. When God is deleted from the equation, there is not suffi cient left to make the struggle of life worthy, and man naturally seeks the way of least resistance, which at the same time will minister to more im mediate physical and mental happiness. Certainly there is “less of God” and less of His will being carried out when only eight per cent of the people of our nation attend services on Sunday morn ings, and only two per cent Sunday eve nings. A certain preacher has blamed decrease in. church attendance at his church on the “Six R’s” : riding, radio, relatives, rest, roomers, and rum. Some years before Lincoln became President, he delivered an address in Springfield, Illinois, in which he dis cussed America’s future. In it he said that, although the nations of the world would combine their armies and to gether strain to fill one mammoth war chest, “they could not, without our consent, put one foot on the Allegheny' Mountains or take one drop from the
O h i o River.” He then pro ceeded to. say, “If America ever' will be destroyed, it w i l l b e b y seeds of - de- s t r u c t . i on within.” Sub- s e q u e n t events fulfilled his words.
crossarm of our scaf fold is the story of the ostracism of the Word of God by parents, pro fessors, and preachers —from the home, the schoolroom; and the pulpit. Y e s , we
h a v e bought Bibles, but we have not read them. We have
Again in the one hundred and fifty years of our national history, we face leeches within which, if continually allowed to feed upon the blood of our ideals and institutions, will drain the vitality of America. I refer to those who engage in commercialized crime, those who are unscrupulous purveyors of corrupting amusements, those who
built Churches, but less than thirty per cent of our populatlbn ever darken their doors. In a very real sense the American people have voted for the modernism and social gospel that are leeching the life blood from God’s holy Word. Was [ Continued on Page 112]
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter