90
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
February 1928
“ The great catastrophe described in the Bible did actually take place, and the cities are clearly shown to have stood in front of Jebel Usdum, where they lie under the waters today. The High Place of the plain, clearly a place of great importance from the fortifications, is now well known. And, last o f all, the evidence makes it quite pos sible that Lot should be the progenitor o f Moabite civili zation,. which certainly had attained considerable impor tance by the time Moses passed the old Kir of Moab.” Thus the story o f “ Ancient Sodom in the Light of Modern Science” adds another instance to a long and ever growing list o f evidences of the trustworthiness of ancient documents. s|e jjc s|c A ncient H azor A t a meeting of the Palestine Oriental Society Prof. Garstrong announced the results o f recent exploration. The ruins have been discovered of a vast fortified enclosure at the intersection of the roads to Damascus and Sidon, which have been identified as the ancient Hazor, the capital o f Jabin, the Canaanitish King mentioned in the fifth chapter of Judges. It was his general Sisera who was defeated by Barak and Deborah and who was after wards slain in his sleep by Jael, the wife o f Heber the Kenite. The enclosure is surrounded by ramparts of great height and thickness and within it was found profuse wealth of pottery belonging to the Bronze Age. It is a singular fact that broken pottery is one o f the most valuable aids in determining the age of such ruins. The housewives threw away their broken earthenware and there is hardly anything in the world more indestructible than potsherds. They last while powerful empires and great cities pass away, * * * * R oman C ensus V erified William T. Elliijpoints out that what is doubtless the most important and amazing single confirmation of the Bible story of the birth of Jesus may be found today writ ten upon an ancient marble ruin in the present capital of Turkey, the storied city o f Angora, in Asia Minor. It is in the very words o f the Roman Emperor Augustus, who ruled the world at the time o f the first Christmas. It has been standing more than 1900 years, awaiting the day when its significance should be interpreted to a skeptical world. This entire inscription is the longest and most impor tant original document of the classical era that has thus far come to the eyes o f the modern times. Many reported archeological “ finds” are of only surmised significance. Not so this one. In all the world there is no single bit of historical evidence that is more authentic. The long debated passage in St. Luke’s narrative of the Advent, concerning the Roman census which called Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, is entirely substantiated by the very words of the Emperor Augustus himself. Nowhere else, on monument or papyrus, or in other transmitted historical record, is there any allusion to this census o f the Roman Emperor. The ages have waited for Augustus to speak in testimony to the Babe born in Beth lehem. In his seventy-sixth year the great Augustus drew up a summary of his own achievements, as sort of political biography, and ordered that this be inscribed on two bronze tablets, to be placed outside of his mausoleum in the Campus Martius in Rome. In the meantime they were deposited by the Emperor with the Vestal Virgins at Rome
for safekeeping. At his death the document was read aloud in the Senate. The subservient and admiring Sen ate did more; it not only set up the prescribed bronze tables, but it also cut the document into the stone walls of temples already erected to the deified Emperor. As mentioned, the only one that has survived is this temple in Angora. No encyclopedia or Bible dictionary, or other work of reference does more than make mention o f the “ Monu- mentum Ancyranum.” The stupendous significance o f the census paragraph seems to have been wholly over looked.
Trifling with the Holy Ghost E feel that Rev. Bob Shuler of Los Angeles sounds a much-needed warning in the fol lowing paragraphs taken from an article in his magazine: It has been my contention for- some years now that those who lightly and flippantly
discuss Holy Ghost manifestations are treading on extremely dangerous ground. Certainly, those who make extreme claims of Holy Ghost Baptism should match their humility with the genuineness o f their professions, for to my mind they tread the narrowest path in all the realm of Christian experience. - Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is deadly. I shudder when I behold certain movements that “ play” upon His office work and ministry while they prey upon the simple minded. Horror seizes me as I behold certain teachers building up a system o f profits and resort ing to sham “ Holy Ghost manifestations” for purposes of selfish commercialization. For myself, I would rather be an unforgiven murderer and present my red hands for mercy at the bar o f God than to face the eternal Judge with such blasphemy to my credit. I cannot conceive o f a deadlier sin than constitutes the brazen and blatant boasting on the part o f those who cover their evil lives with the mantle o f professed saintli ness, claiming Holy Ghost baptisms that only fall when holiness encompasses the heart o f man. Any poor, trem bling Publican who hangs his chin upon his chest in peni tential exercise is blessed and rich beside those 'boastful deceivers who feign to worship God that they may lift high the altars to mammon m their purses. No really Holy-Ghost-filled man will commercialize that fact. No man made holy by His indwelling will use that experience for advertising purposes or to lure the simple minded into the nets of his designing. When the Third Person in the Adorable Trinity enters in, self and lust and pride and avarice will depart. The Holy Ghost cannot dwell with such filthiness. They who contend otherwise are liars. They are the deceivers of men. They are the blind who lead the blind. They are the wolves that clothe themselves in the wool of the sheepfold. They are they who sin, as I believe, against the Holy Ghost of God, a sin that shall never be forgiven them. Let us seek for the presence of God. Let us hunger for His indwelling. Let us reach up by faith and claim the baptism of His cleansing and of His power. But let us beware, lest we grieve the Holy Spirit of God and drive Him from us by conduct and character unbecoming those who make such a profession. Yea, let us beware lest more devils than lived within our hearts before they were swept and cleansed, return to make merry at the thought that God has failed.
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