T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
May, 1940
168
ried, and from which to be buried. These individuals have no living faith. Many European Catholics have never seen a Bible, and have no knowledge of the plan of salvation revealed therein. We are not making these statements in order to condemn Roman Catholicism as such, but simply to show that it is by no means exempt from that which curses all professing Christianity on the Continent. We did not visit England on this trip (in fact, we had little desire to visit it, after having been virtual prisoners an chored off its coast for a fortnight), but the ever-increasing drift of the An glican Church toward Rome, and the outspoken modernism of certain dissent ing leaders and even of Presbyterians from Scotland, left one in little doubt as to conditions there. The Christian’s Responsibility We have come away from Europe with certain well-defined convictions: The first is that true believers should be ready constantly for their Lord’s return. Imminent it has been from the beginning, but the signs of the times seem to indicate, now as never before, that the time is “at hand.” Our second conviction is that the work which the Lord desires us believers to do today is to preach Christ and Him crucified in all parts of the world that are still open to the message, for “the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:14), and already the “night” has set tled on lands where once the gospel was known and believed. Moreover, we are convinced that battling for democracy will not save the situation; our duty, as Christians, is clear:- We áre to snatch from the wreck o f this age those for whom Christ died. ducting Daily Vacation Bible Schools, leading in young people’s work, offer ing their services in personal work and other practical ways. Our desire is to put a well-qualified student in each of the thirteen Federal camps which are at present function ing in California. Each of these camps contains between one and two thousand people. Many of them have no religious services whatever. Only $150 is needed to place a man in one of these camps for three months, and at the end of the summer he will be able to enroll at Biola for further study. Will you pray and will you give that migrants who are in sin and without hope might know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord of their lives? Address all communications to: THE MIGRANT MISSION FUND, Bible Instftute of Los Angeles, Inc., 558 South Hone St. Los Angeles, Calif.
done more deadly work tnan is gener ally realized, undermining the faith of many. As a result, multitudes who call themselves Christians welcome Hitler as the fulfillment of their hopes. The Lord Jesus said that though the Jews rejected Him, some day they would ac cept an impostor who would come in his own name. Certainly many Christ-re- jectors in Germany and Russia are do ing just that. Having refused to believe in the Christ of the Bible, they are accepting, and virtually worshiping, one who cannot be an atoning Saviour. There are devout, Bible-believing Christians in Germany and Russia, but they are far from being a majority, even among professing Christians. The fact that many pf them are suffering in concentration camps, and that some have been put to death, especially in Russia, is well known. But the exis tence of Bible-believing individuals and companies by no means disproves our statement that unbelief has permeated every denomination on the Continent. This unbelief is not centered in any one group, but is inclusive in its scope. The woman in the parable of tne cnree measures of meal (Matt. 13:33), leav ened all three measures, and we believe that this Scripture refers to the per meation of false teaching in all three great divisions of the professing church —the Protestant, the Greek Orthodox, and the Roman Catholic. Through pri vate interviews and public lectures given at Brussels and elsewhere, we were impressed with the sad truth that the unbelief of priests and higher clergy was all too clearly revealed. Among the people, the same condition exists. Mul titudes of nominal Catholics in Europe look upon the church merely as a place in which to be baptized and to be mar- The desperate spiritual need of the migrants is one of the most important problems confronting Christians of the United States at the present moment. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have come into Califor nia within the past few years from various sections of the United States. They constitute the neglected, under privileged, and unfortunate people who have come face to face with starva tion, sickness, and all of the evils that accompany these trying conditions. The Federal government is making an effort to provide for the physical needs of a large proportion of this group, but it remains for the church of Jesus Christ to care for the spiritual needs. Biola is endeavoring to meet the chal lenge of this great company of people by supplying students who will go into the camps to act as pastors during the summer, calling upon the people, con-
Himself said, in speaking of the last times: “And because iniquity s h a l l abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12)—and who can de ny the fulfillment of these words to day? The love of many in Europe—their love for the truth of God—is waxing cold. Protestantism on the Continent is honeycombed with modernism. There are not many Protestants in Belgium, where we visited, and comparatively few of those who call themselves "Re formed,” even pretend to believe the Word of God. A typical case in point was presented to us in a historic church in Ghent. The congregation had been organized in 1544. A tablet behind the pülpit bore the names of seventy-six pastors. Many of these men had suf fered imprisonment and torture for their faith in the days of the Inquisition. There were gaps in the list, indicating periods of persecution • 'when the con gregation had met in secret and had kept no written records, for fear of persecutors. In spite of all its glorious history, that church is today poisoned with un belief. Though great Bibles, printed in the eighteenth century, lie before each worshiper on desks that are constructed like old-fashioned school desks, the min ister no longer preaches the Word, I am told, but discourses on “The Power of Personality” and on the “Surviving Values of the New Testament,” and offers doubts for doctrines, and truisms for “ the truth.” It is small wonder that one of the greatest hindrances to evangelical work in Europe today is the attitude shown by the older Protestant churches in many sections of the Continent. Those of us who believe the Book and who seek to preach it here in America know something of the opposition of which American modernists are capable, and that opposition to the preaching of the true gospel is all the more sinister in lands where Bible-believing Protestants are even fewer, in proportion, than they are in the United States. Personally, I do not believe that Hit lerism or Stalinism could have gained any headway in their respective lands if the majority of those who professed to believe the Bible had actually believed it. Perhaps that is too strong a state ment, but we think not, judging from what we heard and saw, for we talked with refugees from Germany, and with those who understood conditions in Rus sia, and had lived either within her borders or close by. From what these observers told us, we learned that the Russian church, before the revolution, was permeated with unbelief; the clergy performed elaborate ritual, but vital faith in Jesus Christ for the most part was lacking. In Germany, from what we could learn, the theories of Well- hausen and Ritschl and Schleiermacher and those who have followed them have
The Migrant Problem
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