May, 1940
T H B K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
M i
Around the King s Table E D I T O R I A L
disobey their children is fast becoming one for serious consideration. In hun dreds of homes, the children are in command. The functions of parenthood are almost totally broken down. Some time'ago, a “Parents’ Advisory Bureau” was established in England to assist in the control of children. This organization attempts to meet a situa tion that is said to have become serious as the outgrowth of the World War. In our own country it is no secret that child delinquents are greatly on the increase, and police records show the average age of hold-up men as between eighteen and twenty-five. Various conferences of school author ities have appealed to parents to realize the inability of teachers to control chil dren who are not controlled at home. Teachers a r e “spotting” tomorrow’s criminals in the schoolrooms •and are shifting responsibility to the parents where it belongs. But this action does not go far enough. Child evangelism is imperative. It is the only hope. And with it must come a return of parents to the teachings of the Bible and the establishment of the family altar in every Christian home. The modem theory that if a child is unmanageable, the adult needs merely to switch his attention,” is badly frayed out.—Keith L. Brooks.
A False Challenge It is reported that some time ago an eastern pastor faced t his congregation with this proposition: “I challenge you to live a Christian life for six months and thereby discover its merits. If you earnestly accept this challenge, you will never live any other life.” This appeal might seem stirring and even attractive, but it is based on an utterly false foundation. The Word of God sets forth three fundamental prin ciples of the doctrine of salvation which have a bearing upon this pastor’s un fortunate presentation: First, the Bible teaches that one can not live a Christian life without being a Christian. There must be the re pentance w h i c h accompanies saving faith and which can only come from God (Acts 11:18). This repentance is intellectual, involving a knowledge of sin (Matt. 21:29); it is emotional, con taining a sorrow for sin (2 Cor. 7:9 ); it is also volitional, implying a forsak ing of sin (Lk. 15:18, 20). Second, Scripture teaches that one cannot be a Christian without becoming a Christian. Man is bom in sin and is guilty before God (Rom. 3:23). He is totally unable to deliver himself from the death which is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). In such a state he can not live a Christian life, because he is not a Christian. Third, revelation informs us that one cannot become a Christian without be ing bom spiritually as well as physical ly. The Lord Jesus Christ said to a ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus by name, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be bom again” (John 3:7). A Christian is one who has .exercised saving faith In the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, one who has been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit through the agency of the Word of God, one who has expe rienced a spiritual rebirth into the kingdom of God, one who has become a member of the invisible church which is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:32). According to the teaching of the Word of God, only such a one can live a Christian life. Others may imitate or counterfeit, but they have not the life that is of God and that is eternal. A man can no more live the spiritual life without the indwelling Spirit of God than can a dead man, void of life, live physically.-—Kenneth M. Monroe.
“ Protoplasmic Stimulation” In that catalogue of human char acteristics which will be tremendously emphasized in the “perilous times” with which the Apostle Paul says our age shall come to it s . consummation (2 Tim. 3:1-5), we notice especially “dis obedient to parents,” a word stressing an "unfilial attitude to parents.” This is just what is to be expected in a period when apostasy from the Faith.is everywhere being manifested, when the restraints of the authoritative Word of God are removed, and when evangelism is practically paralyzed. It is at least gratifying to see that some of our prominent educators are beginning to sense the seriousness of the situatibn and are recognizing the fact that an education that gives no place to religious training is miserably impotent. A few months ago, Professor Edwin Twltmyer of the University of Pennsyl vania came out with an approval of the educational v a l u e o f a n occasional spanking, or as he quaintly phrased it, "well-executed, unpleasant, protoplasmic stimulation." This is getting back to old-fashioned Biblical methods which long have been taboo with our modern psychologists. And now our eminent California sci entist, Robert A. Millikan, member of abundant learned societies, holder of multitudinous foreign decorations, and author of numerousNmonographs on ed ucation, psychology, and criminology, has come to the point where he does not view spanking as a matter of fam ily management alone, but as one for our whole society’s management. Says Dr. Millikan: “The present is the o n l y un spanked generation in history, hence a generation headed for plenty of trouble, when we had been count ing on it to get the world out of its existing mess.” So it would seem that our misguided and chicken-hearted parents of today have not only spoiled their children but have spoiled the future as well. This is exactly in accord with the prophecy before us, and those who know the Word of God know that the present breakdown of parental authority, to gether with the running wild of chil dren, is definitely related to the cur rent disregard of Biblical teaching and the failure to evangelize youth. It has been said that the problem of what is to be done with parents who
By VELMA GRAY SUNDERMAN You are so young, And I, who love you so, Am held responsible That you may know God’s love. You are so small, And I, myself so weak, Must lead you to my Christ Before you seek The way. Your little life Is In my keeping here. God grant me wisdom, grace, And godly fear, I pray.
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