NOVEMBER
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1941 TEN CENTS
THANKSGIVING NUMBER
“ The e a r th is the Lord's, and the ful ness thereof." "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness!" (Psa. 24:1; 107:8).
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The King's Business The True-to-the-Bible Family Magasine The Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Ine. LOUIS T. TALBOT • M ILDRED M. COOK Editor-In-Chief Man aging; Editor Motto: “ Unto him thçtt loved us, and washed us v . from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5).
MG o Out
To M ee t
The MessiahV9 It is the sensation of the hour. There are stirrings within the heart of Israel. There is a going in the tops of the mulberry trees which presages the cataclysmic appearance of the Christ in the clouds for the Church, on the eve of the most dra matic revival Israel has ever known. The famous, revered and historic rabbi of a dynasty that g o e s back into the centuries, has come to America out of the depths of White Russia, and has startled Jewry with a clarion shout “ Go out to Meet the Messiah!” He’ continues:— “When punishments come into the world, look for the feet of the Messiah. These may be the birth throes of the Messiah before the salvation of Jewry comes. The Jewish people are suffering the afflictions (travail) of the Mes siah. The perfect Salvation is just behind our backs, and among our Jews in this country there is a confusion of thought, just as our sages have foretold: The Messiah the Son of David, will come amidst c o n f u s i o n of thought, entirely unexpected.” Full accounts of these dramatic developments within Jewry are con tained in “The Chosen People,” in our Mid-summer letter, and in “The Shepherd of Israel," which we have circulated broadcast these past few months, in our determined effort to seize this opportunity for the advan tage of the Gospel. This is the tragic hour of Israel’s destiny. This is the hopr to seize the opportunity for such an aggressive Gospel campaign to the Jews as has not been known since the days of Pentecost. We invite you to fellow ship with us. Never before has this Mission stood abreast of a world with such opportunities as lie before us. Upon your help and your prayers we must lean, that our hands may be upheld and our work go forward un hindered. THE CHOSJDN PEOPLE, beloved by Bible students for its helpful information on prophecy and the Jews, is sent to ail contributors. May we hear from you? American Board of Missions to the Jews, Inc 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, N. f. Here is .........(Jse It to make known the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ to Israel. Name __ ____ _____________ „_____ _______ Address ____- .............................................................TT ....... -r— t - City------------------------- -------- State.____ >
Volume XXXII
November, 1941
Number 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ransom D. Marvip, Staff Artist
Around the King’s Table —-Editorial .........................:................................ 410 Significance of the News —Dan Gilbert ...................................................... 412 Are the Angels “ Sons of God ” ?—Alva J. McClain ................................ 412 Thanksgiving— No Threnody —Ralph G. Turnbull ........................... 413 W ill the Refugee Find Christ in America ?—Bartlett L. Hess ............ 414 Thanksgiving —Robert G. Lee ..................................................................... 416 Thanksgiving on the Appian Way—A Story —Anne Hazelton ............ 418 Junior King’s Business —Martha S. Hooker ............................................. 419 Bible Institute Family Circle........................................................................ 422 International Lesson Commentary .............................................................. 423 Notes on Christian Endeavor —Mildred M . Cook .................................... 437 Daily Devotional Readings ......................... ................................................. 441 Our Literature Table .................................................................................... 447 SUBSCRIPTION PRICEi "T he K ing’s Business" is published ihonthly. $1.00— one year; $1 SO— two years; 50 cents—six months; 10 cents— single copy. Clubs of three or more at special rates; write for details. Canadian and foreign subscriptions 25 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address to become effective. Please send both old and new addresses. REM ITTANCE——Payable in advance, should be made by bank draft, express or post office money order payable to “The K ing’s Business.” Date of expiration wil) show plainly each month on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. ADVERTISING— For information with reference to advertising in “The K ing’s Business." address the Advertising Manager. 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif., or our eastern representative, Religious Press Association. 1601 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. MANUSCRIPTS— "The K ing’s Business” cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent to it for consideration. Entered as second-class matter November 7, 1938, at the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided foi in the Act of February 28, 1925, em bodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L. and R., authorized October 1, 1918. and November 13, 19381 _ ’ - THE KING’S BUSINESS 558 South Hope Street • Los Angeles, California INFORMATION FOR SUBSCRIBERS
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S A Personal Word from the Editor
November, 1941
; This is the time of the year in which we learn just how widespread will be the ministry of THE KING’S BUSINESS in the next twelve months. Why do we say this? More subscriptions expire at the end of the year than at any other timé. If our friends renew promptly, and if they also, send in subscriptions for their friends, it means that for a whole year the blessing of the magazine’s regu lar publication is assured. Your editors are making every effort that
prayer and hard.work can accomplish to make the issues of the following months unusually rich in- spiritual values. For example, the articles listed below have been prepared for use in the December number— and these of course are in addition to the. regular departments including editorials, news comments, lesson helps, etc., that each issue con tains. As you read this list, you will see that the needs,of the whole family have been in mind, and indeed this will be our object for every issue of 1 9 4 2 .
In the December Issue
Unto US. A personal presentation of Christ mas truth. , . . Archer E. Anderson The Story of the Lost Star. A Christmas story by a favorite writer. • . . . Grace Livingston Hill A Two-In-One Christmas. A two-part Christ mas story for children. . . . Frances Noble Phalr
When the Chorus Sang: “ Hallelujah!” A feature article emphasizing the two-hun dredth anniversary of the first rendition of* Handel’s Messiah . . . J. B. Trowbridge and Anne Hazelton Christmas Carol. Words and music of a six- part Christmas song, illustrated; usable. . . . Albert Simpson Reitz, Charles H. Marsh
Are We Still In the Age of Grace? A Scrip tural answer by the Editor. Which “ Gospel” Shall We Trust? A pene trating article by a nationally known author . . . W. L. Pettingill The Blessedness of Christmas. A message delivered in "Spurgeon’s Tabernacle" in the heart of London - . . D. F. Cawley
Other authors whose work will be published in this magazine within the next few months include Louis S. Bauman, E. Schuyler English, Frank E. Gaebelein, Vance Havner, Bishop Frank Houghton, H. A . Ironside, Ruth Paxson, and many others. Unless you are yourself a publisher, probably you have no adequate idea of what a little coopera tion RIGHT NOW can mean in easing the burden of publication in the face of mounting costs of paper and labor. In fact, we MUST have an in
creased circulation in order to be able to continue on the present basis. I urge you most earnestly to give this matter your prayerful attention. Further information appears on pages 428 and 429 of this issue.
Around the King's Table LOUIS T. TALBOT, Editor-In-Chief
Africa, China, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, and more than a dozen states of the Union. Fifteen students are the sons or daughters of parents who were themselves trained at Biola, Twelve different denominations as well as in terdenominational churches are repre sented in the student body. In a number of cases, several students have come from the same church. For example, there are eight representatives of the congregation of which the Biola Alumni President is the pastor. Great responsibility is placed upon the Institute for the training of these dedicated lives. No one of them is asked
they do so as the result of deliberate thought and personal submission to the leading of the Lord, it is gratifying to note that an increasing number of young people are turning away from the mere fascination of earning money, and are seeking wisdom in the art of winning souls. At least this observation has been made this fall at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Welcomed to this in stitution in September was the largest number of students to' be enrolled In eighteen years! Of the 454.who came, 188 were newcomers and 266 were re turning students. They came from
Gratitude for Record Enrollment at Biola There was a time, not so long ago, when many young people chose to con tinue their education because that was the only course of action open to them; jobs were far. from being plentiful. But that day has passed in most sections Df this country. More positions, some of them highly lucrative, are offered today than have been available in many a year. Christian youth often find this condition confusing or challenging. While no criticism should be directed to tho-e who accept employment when
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to pay any tuition — only nominal amounts for board, room, and registra tion. The actual cost of student train ing is borne by the Lord’s stewards who for more than a quarter of a century have recognized the importance of sending forth witnesses dedicated “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). The increased enrollment brings in creased needs and multiplied oppor tunities. May God; grant that the full ness of His purpose be fulfilled in every particular. For what else should Christians be more grateful than for the clear shin ing of the Word of God upon the problems of everyday existence ? In a brief new volume*, G. Campbell Morgan recently has focused the beams of Scripture upon the old question, “What is the cause behind all the strife and bloodshed in the world today ?" To this discussion he has added some very perti nent considerations f o r Christians. Written amid the confusion of bombed London, where his own church has been severely damaged by enemy shells, the four simple chapters of this study go to the root of the matter. Dr. Morgan declares (bold-face type ours): “We are face to face with the forces of evil as we never were in our lives before. We saw something of it twenty-five years ago, but we have never seen anything quite like this. We ask, Whence comes this madness, this iniquity of tne human race?- We find it in this fact, that man has accepted the views of Satan, has yielded to them, and has brought about all the sorrow and trouble that result from such acceptation. Let us realize that. . . . “ All the story of the centuries is just the story of the fact that man has accepted false views of God, has listened to the voice of the devil, as it questioned the good ness of God, denied His severity, and slandered His motive. . . . “Today we are facing the results Thanks for New Light on Old Problems
' of his calumny, the results of his slander upon God, which humanity listened to, took to, accepted, and rebelled against the’ government. And the issue has been the denial of God, or else denial of the rev elation of God that has been granted -to man In Christ.” Of course, it is easy to blame the devil for everything. But there are deeper implications. The history of any nation is but*the history of the indi viduals who compose that nation. If, as Dr. Morgan indicates, there has been an almost wholesale acceptance of the views and methods of Satan, individual men and women have made that ac ceptance. The matter ft narrowed down to personal considerations: How much authority do I actually give tq the evil one ? How much domination has he over my physical being, my spiri tual life, my vocational ambitions? If Christians would solemnly face this question, and would in a new sense “submit . . . to God,” in order that they might “resist the devil” (Jas. 4:7), they would have cause for profound thanks to God for the enlightenment of His Word. Streamlining Thanksgiving Some of the religious liberals in America apparently have endeavored conscientiously to abandon the obser vance of religious customs in which they no longer believe. Perhaps they are realizing that thinking people will not follow them unless they bring their practices and public pronouncements into consistency with their real beliefs. Witness Professor James Henry Leuba’s statement in his book, Belief in God and Immortality (p. 324) on the subject of Thanksgiving Day: “ Of the sense of a real, immediate dependence upon a personal divin ity, there remain in Christian states but a few pitiable remnants. In the United States the most con spicuous one is the yearly procla mation of a Day. of Thanksgiving by which the members of the nation are called upon to return thanks to God for the good that has fallen to their lot and that of the country during the ye^\” You are probably : wondering just what is wrong with this time-honored custom whiclr year after year has brought millions to the house of God
to lift their voices in praise to God. Well, here it is, according to the author of this book: “From an expression of genuine belief,” continues the professor, “this custom has become an objec tionable tradition which, the sooner it is abandoned, the better for those who keep it up and for those to whom it is addressed. It were better, instead, that we should be taught to realize our dependence upon each other and the gratitude we owe to the millions who strive, often in material and moral disr tress, in order to build our material and. spiritual prosperity.” We have no quarrel with the profes sor as to the propriety of expressing gratitude toward our human benefac tors. There is far too much post-mortem kindness. Flowers on the coffin shed no fragrarice backward over the weary way* by which; a man has traveled. What is worse than being an ingrate? Praise is a debt we owe to others every day in the year. But why eenter all our praises on man and. leave God out:—even to the extent of one special day in the year? “It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise” (Psa. 100:3, 4). What a daring man is the modernist who says there is no Creator and no heavenly Father and who hopes to per suade the racé that he has such im mense intelligence as to be able to assure us that man is the only god there is. Thank man and quit thanking God, he suggests. What colossal ego tism! There are still thoughtful persons who see the Lord’s handiwork everywhere and instinctively lift their hearts in adoration to Him. They can sing: “When I survey the bright celestial sphere, So rich with jewels hung that night Doth like an Ethiop bride appear, My soul her wings doth spread and heavenward flies The Almighty’s mysteries to read In the great volume of the skies.” Feast on Thanksgiving Day if you will, put pause for an hour to utter the praises of the God of nature and of grace who in all His works appears. —Keith L. Brooks.
‘ Tht Voice of Hit Devil, Fleming R . Revel] Co., fi. V,
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foundations for such a system. The people would have to be unified in their loyalty to Christ. They would have to be » united in their acceptance of the Bible as a supreme authority. America never would have become a United States— (and we are, in reality, a United States—one nation; not these united states)—if.we had not first been ■united by. a Common faith in Bible Christianity. UNITY UNDER GOD: • Lincoln said that our government must be under God, or it would perish. We must have unity under God, or we will never truly attain it. We must stand unitedly upon the basis of God’s Word, or we cannot stand at all. We must have divine leadership in our hearts and lives, or we can never have a united leadership in our nation. A spiritual awakening can impart unity ,tq our nation. A return to the Bible can give us our foundation for unity. An acceptance of the authority of the Scriptures can give us a sanc tion for unity. The guidance of God in the hearts of our people can give us a leadership for unity; Unity enforced by regimentation and censorship could not be lasting. It could not be effective. America can find true security only within the Everlasting Arms. America can find true unity only behind the banner of the cross.
Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT P Wàshington,,D. C., and San Diego, California
law. Liberty must be under God and His law. Liberty must be in obedience to God. - UNITY AND EUROPE: • The question is often asked; “Why can’t there be a United States of Europe ? If forty-eight states in Amer ica can live in peace in one union of ’states, why can’t the nations of Europe be similarly assembled in a United States of Europe?” The trouble with all of these plans for a union of nations is that they assume that a structure of this kind can be created artificially. They do not recognize that unity must come out of the hearts of the people, not out of schemes conceived in conferences of diplomats. Unity must exist in the hearts of the people before it can be incorporated into their institutions. There could be—'-there might be—a United States of Europe. But first there would have to be laid the spiritual
THE CAUSE AND CUKEpsi OF NATIONAL, DISUNITY
• Each side says it is. the fault of the other .side, but both isolationists and interventionists ? agree that' our greatest peril is our own disunity. We cali ourselves.-the United States, but we are a Tong way from being’ a^united people. Democracy must rest upon religious foundations, i As George . Washington said, our government rests upon mo rality and morality reSts upon' religion. We cannot have unity in the govern mental sphere unless we first have it in the spiritual sphere. Where can we find unity ? Not in censorship, not in formulas and -theo ries, can it be achieved.' We must find it in Christ and in allegiance to His cause. America was once a united people. We .found unity .-in a common loyalty to the Word o f God. v.In the beginning, America was â Bible-be- lieying péòple. There were, to be ’sure, individual and denominational excep tions and differences; But, as a people,’ we accepted the Bible as our highest authority. Our institutions, our' schools, our traditions, and our "way of life— all were created and integrated, accord ing to the Bible pattern. In recent decades, paganism,, mate rialism, and modernism have bred con fusion in every phase of American life and thought. And that confusion *has bred, disunity—a disunity that strikes at the very foundations of our national existence. LIBERTY: THE PARENT OF UNITY: • Certain excited reformers are tell ing us that in order to restore unity we must g e t , rid o f . liberty. In this time of crisis, they attempt to justify the suppression of individual -liberty and the curtailment of freedom of speech as guaranteed in the Constitu tion. But .the. suppression of liberty does not lead to enduring unity. Unity spread by suppression is short-lived; Daniel Webster pointed out that America rests upon the twin ideals of liberty an d . uintyi ,In a celebrated speech, he said, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” Lincoln championed the cause of liberty and union. For the sake of liberty, he sought to., preserve the .Union; for the sake of the Union, he strove to preserve liberty. But liberty cannot be interpreted to mean license. Liberty myst be under
« NENT my. discussion of. the Fatherhood of God in connec t i o n with the International Les NESS of September,, page 344, a reader has written mè in a friendly spirit questioning my assertion that angels are “sons of God.” His argument is based on the statement in Hebrews 1:5, “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my. Son . . . ?” Since thip same' question ipay have arisen in the minds of other readers, I am submitting the following i points in reply: i. If the entire passage in Hebrews 1:5, 6 is taken into consideration, it will be clear that there is no contra diction. The writer did not say merely, “Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art’my Son” ; but rather, “Thou a r t’ my-Son, this day have I begotten thee.” To no angel, no matter' how great, did God ever say. that. He had called angels “sons of God” in Job 1 :6 gnd 38:7, bift, no., one of them was ever called .a “begotten son.” There is only one such son of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the “only begotten Son,” and there la none else like Him. He is absolutely the only One of His kind. 2. The proof that the expression* “sons of God,” in the 'Book of Job refers to angelic beings, and not to men, may be found in the context of 38:7 which reads, "When the morning stars igjrig together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” But just “when” was it that these sons of God shouted for joy? The answer is in the preceding verses, especially 4. God asks of Job the question; “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . or who laid the comer stone thereof; when . . . all the sons of God shouted for jo y ?” Certainly the picture is Very clear. God is creating the earth; the sons of God are shouting for -joy; and all this takes place long before the creation of man. This is the Very point of the divine irony: Where were you, Job, when all this took place ? 3. Divine sonship for members of our sinful race individually was not experienced in the Old Testament days. If is a truth revealed and realized in the New Testament. In fact, it Could hot be realized until after the incarna tion of our Lord in the flesh. “When [Continued on Page 447] , Are The Angels "Sons of God”? By ALVA J. McCLAIN son Commentary in THE KING’S BUSI
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Thanksgiving- No Threnody
Photo by Marlon Kroklor
By RALPH G. TURNBULL* Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
setting apart this time of holy re membrance. It may yet be that in a world of economic disorder and misrule the observance of this day may stab afresh the conscience of all thinking people. No holiday is comparable to this day; none is like it anywhere in the world. It celebrates no battle, no birthday of a great man, no political revolution, no church ritual. It is simply the act of thankful remembrance that God has not failed in providing another harvest for man’s need. It consecrates the common soil of man’s labor, and speaks of the linking of ordinary life to the heart of God. Many holidays are pagan, but this is a holiday of peace, of the home, and of living not by bread alone! This acknowledgment of God sets be fore us the truth that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.” And one sign_ that we have learned this lesson is that we are not like the nine lepers in the Gospel story who took every blessing for granted, but that we are like that one leper who' returned to give God thanks! Ingrati tude is a sin that needs to be recog nized as sin, as much as some grosser and more evident transgressions, that we might repent of it at once and learn how divine is thanks to God.. A Reception of Blessing Whenever the Psalmist refers to the bounties of God, there is always the absence of the singular and the presence of the plural. He speaks of “all his benefits toward me,” in Psalm 116. As it is impossible to count the stars or number the grains of sand of the sea-
y-T^HANKSGIVING Is not a note— it is a chord; not a mere sound— 1 it is harmony. The Psalmist of old has expressed for the Christian heart the core of profitable reflection at such a time as this: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his bene fits toward me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. . . . I will offer to thee the sac rifice of thanksgiving-, and will call upon the name of the Lord’’ (Psa. 116: 12-14, IT). Here is no discord in lamentation but the melody of dedication. The question asked implies this neg lected factor of the moral and spiritual life. Individual opportunity in life cre ates and issues in personal accountabil ity. There are times for an inventory and stock-taking in the things of the soul. And the end of the summer with its garnered harvests is not an inap propriate time for this pertinent, re flection. • A Recognition of Cod Here is the supreme object in any thanksgiving, the giving to God of His rightful place and authority in life. No life is wealthy if God is crowded to the circumference, but we are never im poverished when life is God-centered and God-controlled. Thanksgiving must relate life to the Lord of Glory. It is significant and challenging that one nation, the United States of Amer ica, has set apart a day each year for thanksgiving.. The Pilgrim Fathers gave an object lesson to the world in * Patter, Elim Chapel,
* How many Christians go through life waiiing over trou bles, their very lives a low, monotonous dirge— a threnody — that brings God no glory! Are you one of them? For shame! It is time to lift up your heart and voice in glad thanksgiving. shore, so it is futile to expect to count the blessings of God: they are beyond human computation. But we may at tempt a brief classification or point to a few which are ours today. Think of our NATIONAL BLESS INGS. Every true citizen of any land these days must ponder well the meaning of the “benefits” at this hour. For some lands removed from us, what are the blessings? Alas! liberty has gone and slavery is the lot of some; the blight of moral and intellectual darkness is the lament of others who have lost their birthright of spiritual light; and be cause sin is wreaking its insanity in men’s hearts, no righteousness is al lowed to exalt national life and honor. But even yet there are some favored places where men and women, boys and girls, have freedom o f speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of wor ship. In the countries of the English- speaking peoples, the light has not gone out, and the right is still ours to pro claim those eternal truths which alone [ Continued on Page 436]
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Will the Refugee Find Christ. . . B u r in g t h e O p e n in g turmoil iii Europe in 1939, I was priv ileged to visit the relief agency conducted by the Swedish Mission and - By BARTLETT L. HESS* Chicago, Illinois “evangelisch” (Evangelical Lutheran, though occasionally Reformed). Of those still in Greater Germany, it has been estimated that 40 to 50 per cent are considered Christian by faith.
in America are the Hebrew Christian Alliance, the Friends of Israel Refugee Committee, the Friends’ Service Com mittee, the American Committee for Christian Refugees. Most of these, newcomers have en joyed unusual educational opportunities and held positions of responsibility and influence in their homelands. Of the several hundred refugees who are now in our Christian refugee group in Chi cago, the majority occupied important positions in mgdicine, in teaching, in business, in music, in painting, in social work. The majority of those who have come in recent months are nominally Chris tian, and at least thirty per cent or more of all who have come could be so classified. Most of those from Austria would be considered Roman Catholic and most o f those from the rest of Germany • Some of the passengers of the Span ish freighter “Navemar,” which reached New York on September 1. The ship, meant to accommodate 15 passengers, carried 777 European refugees. Photo by Press Association, Inc.
the Protestant churches of France in Paris. Of the 350 families registered there, 89 individuals held doctors’ de grees: i. e.p Laws, Medicine, or Philos ophy. Among those whom I met at-that time was a former Rome correspondent for one of the largest Gentian news papers; an actor who had been popular and famous; a former private physician to one of the kings of a Balkan country; a former proprietor of one of Vienna’s largest restaurants; a former judge in one of Germany!s largest cities; an emi nent violinist and composer from Buda pest; a former high tax official a n d economist in the Czech Government. In the course of the last eight years, 125,000 refugees, the overwhelming ma jority one-fourth or more Jewish in an cestry, have come to the shores of Amer ica from Central Europe. Having been stripped of position and place, of em ployment and of home, they have come largely through the kindness of relatives or friends here, or through various ref ugee organizations, cultural, Jewish, and Christian. Among these organizations * Pastor , Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Lilje American church members, some of these refugees who are professing Christians have come to a definite ac ceptance of the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and are devotedly Christian, while others are not. All, however, are hungry for vital, evangelical Christi anity and will give audience to the gos pel. One woman from Vienna remarked, “I was bom a Jew, baptized a Catholic, and now go to a Protestant church. What am I ? ” “I hope you are Christ’s,” I said. The Refugee’ s Desire for Christ and the Church There is intense soul hunger among these refugees for the One who can sat isfy the heart. They have seen culture fail. They have seen the things upon which they leaned knocked from under them. They.have faced what one of them has called “the brutal nothing.” A refugee- feels as though he is sus pended in mid-air before he has found his refuge, having nothing, yet 'ever hop ing for something; and when hope dies
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in America? and Christ is not there to keep the soul steady, the gas jet or the nearest river has been the way out. We cannot appreciate their sense of total homelessness. There is no place where they “belong” while they wait for some opening door, and the very lack of material things but accentuates spir* itual hunger. Many tell of having turned to Christ during that time o f waiting. As these people who once had an abun dance of things search their way to the Lord, they sometimes tell Christian workers, “We do not want to suffocate in hatred." One man said: “Without being guilty, we lost our country for which we gave our blood in the Great War. Now we are looking for a new country, which will stick to us, and we have dis covered it in Christ and the church.” Because r a c i a l anti-Semites of all . countries have been putting forth the claim that Jesus was not a Jew in the flesh but pure Aryan, the Jew is saying, “He is Jewish. He belongs to us after all.” At the same time Martin Niepioel- ler and other pastors of the Confessional Church in Germany have been going to prison and concentration camp because of insistence upon the whole revelation of God in the Old as well as the New Testaments. They have maintained the Jewishness of Christianity and' have further insisted that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Gal. 3:28). Jew and Gentile have been inade one body in Christ, insist the German be- - lievers. The enmity is abolished in His flesh “ to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” Both are reconciled “unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity there by . . . For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (SEph. 2:15-18). This community o f suffering between Christian and Jew has opened the heart of the latter to the gospel and has given him confidence in the reality of the faith we profess. ' Why the Refugee May Not Find Christ in America The refugee may not find Christ in America because his contacts may be with people who are generous and kind ly, but who cannot share Christ because they do not know Him. They, cannot give what they do not have. •The refugee may not find Christ in America because he m(iy be swept away by the tide of secularism which has en gulfed our nation. His lack of things for a time may enhance their value in
his eyes, if most of his associates are thing - minded, dollar - minded, pleasure- minded, self-minded, f “A man’s life con- sistetb not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk. 12:15) is a truth that will be understood by the refugee when it is presented olearly by the Christian. The refugee is better prepared for that message than is the average thing-minded American. The refugee may not find Christ in America b e c a u s e he may not. find friends. The Friendship and Service Committee' for Christian refugees, com posed of individuals from various de nominations, meets in different Chicago churches one Sunday afternoon each month. After a time of fellowship, there -is an informal service in which the refu gees and the hosts participate in music and speaking. At a recent meeting each newcomer to America told where he came from, what he had done there, what he was doing here or would like to do, and described some of his ex periences. The majority of them were Christians and told how the only way they had been sustained was through constant prayer. To get acquainted with these newer Americans, some churches have a Chris tian friendliness committee which pro motes friendship groups in the local churches, a certain number of local women ahd an equal „number of new comers. They meet together each month as a group. Each older American be comes responsible for a newer American to assist in any way possible. At the close of a Sunday afternoon meeting of our Friendship Committee, a young woman invited a refugee family she had just met to ride in her car. She found they had no church home and in vited them to come to her ehurch. The son, a high-school boy, is now active in Sunday-school, church, and young peo ple’s meetings, and is using his gift as a pianist for ther Lord, playing at the regular evening* serviceiffy • Hanne is a young German refugee alone in America. She had a job and a place to live, but she was lonely, hungry
Liberty and Opportunity
Rabbi Stéphen W ise o f New York City has said that the tragedy of the Jew is that “ For eighteen hundred years, certainly for m o s t of that time, jews have not been given an opportunity to know what Christianity :is, least of all to know who Jesus was and what thé Christ means. The very ignorance of the Jew regarding Jesus condemns not the Jew but Christen dom.” Today thé Jew is turning Christward. Will he see the Lord' Jeçus Christ in us in America? for American friends. A Christian wom an called upon her, invited .Hanne to her home on her afternoons off, and in troduced her to a girls’ missionary so ciety in her church. Hanne began at tending regular services including prayer meeting. One Sunday evening she joined the church, having confessed her faith in Christ, and was invited ‘to tell the story of her experiences in coming to America, and of how she came to know Christ as her Saviour. It was the friend liness of the people in that little church, she declared, that brought her to a knowledge of Christ. “ I never saw •a community of people who acted so like Christ,” she said. Anti-Semitism Even Among Christians The refugee, may not find Christ, in America because- of our rising anti- Semitism which is not confined to those [ Continued on Paae 435]
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By ROBERT G. LEE* Memphis, Tennessee "In every thing give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18).
■ E NEVER APPROACH Goa without cause fo r . gratitude. Thankfulness, a duty and de the declarative mood of gratitude—a bright fire in the world’s frigid zone, the memory and homage of the heart, a master force in soiil-building, the great est tonic faith has. “Be ye thankful.” I.. Giving Thanks Is a Good Thing. “It is a good thing to give thanks un to the Lord” (Psa. 92:1). Giving thanks enriches the grateful heart. Gratitude is evidence of a noble nature. Ingratitude is “a marble-hearted fiend.” Shakespeare says: “I hate ingratitude more in man Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness. Or any trait of vice, whose strong .corruption Inhabits our frail blood.” He further declares: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it'is To have a thankless child.” Another writer has said: “ He that’s ungrateful has no guilt but one; And other crimes may pass for vir tues in him.” The thief may have in him streaks of honesty, the liar impulses to tell the truth, the libertine some desires to be pure. But none of these mitigating qual ities is in the ingrate. Trust the ungrate ful soul With money, and he will steal it; with honor, and he will betray it; with virtue, and he will violate it; with a blood-bequeathed legacy, and he will hand it down reduced in quantity and in quality. ■ An old legend tells how gratitude, though it be the ornament of rhetoric, is the libel of practical life. Two angels —Angel Requests and Angel Thanks— come from heaven every morning and go on their errands all day long. Soon Angel Requests has his basket full. But, the day ended, Angel Thanks has but few expressions of gratitude in his basket. •Patter, Bellevue Bapttet Church
Postal officials tell us that before Christmas they receive tons of letters written to Santa Claus, but after Christ mas few letters, of thanks are sent to him. From childhood onward, human beings seem characterized by thankless ness. The giving of thanks is good. God has two dwellings—-one in heaven, the other in a thankful heart—and unless the vaster music of gratitude rolls through one’s years, one’s life is a mournful monotony of jangling inharmony. II. To Whom Give Thanks? “Thanks be unt5 God” (2 Cor. 9:15). Thank God, the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, ypt. who dwells with him who is of an humble and con trite heart. Thank God, who holds the world in the hand of His omnipotence and beneath the eye of His omniscience, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike, to whom all our thoughts and works are known, by whom the hairs of our heads are numbered and our footsteps directed, and df whom each of us should cry, “To Him I owe my life and breath, And all the joys I have.” To God, the Designer behind all de signs, the Lawmaker behind all law, the Creator behind all creation, the supreme Fact of history, science, philosophy, and personal life — to Him' we owe our thanks. To Him who redeems our lives from destruction, crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies, and satis fies the mouth with good things—to Him we owe our thanks. “ O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace!” III. For What Give Thanks? “In every thing give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18). “Giving thanks always for all things . . . in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20), “Every thing” and “all things” pre sent a long list. We can consider only a few major matters. 1. For blood-bequeathed legacies. America respects the conscience and
religions convictions of every individual and ever) riiurch, recognizes no distinc tion between religious majorities and re ligious minorities, grants unto all equal ity before the law and equality of op portunity. These privileges were bought at the cost of sacrifices the present generation did not make. We drink from wells we did not dig, reap from fields we did not sow, eat from orchards we did not plant,'find refuge in structures we did not build. In the ringing of every church bell are the groans of many who died in the struggle for re ligious liberty. Because of the toil and sufferings of others, the wilderness be came, for us, a garden, and the solitude became a city. s 2, For trials and tribulations. Let our losses and afflictions be what they may, still it is true that God has not dealt with us after our desert, nor rewarded us according to our iniquity. Yea, the trials themselves are the ef fects of love, and are designed to work together, for our highest welfare. How thankful we should be, then, for anxiety and galling loads, for the sweet and the bitter, for the calm and the storm, for balm and for battle bruises, for con genial and for torturing circumstances, for sickness and for health! Are there financial losses? Perhaps you have been drawn closer to God by them, and they have caused you to see that a man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses. Have loved ones died? Maybe that hard experience has caused you to set your affections on things above. Can you of fer thanks even through a mist of tears caused by grief and suffering? Then, ’tis good ’tis so. Ruskin said: “Among my chief calamities I had nothing to endure.” Our trials, losses, disappoint ments, sufferings, and sorrows are often among our deepest causes for giving thanks. God, providing for our material life, provides for this life and for the life to come. In all our trials we walk by faith—not by sight. We are getting ready for eternity, and we may trust Him, whatever befalls, for “His sea is great though our boats be small.”
light greatly prominent in the Bible, is
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3. For power to be victorious o v e r evils. Many are the evils in this day of in vertebrate theology, jellyfish morality, India-rubber convictions, sommersault- and-seesaw religion. But we read: “Now thanks be unto God, which always caus- eth us to triumph in Christ, a,nd maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14). For the power to be victorious over 'all evils, all ills, and all temptations in this pres ent evil age, we give thanks—rejoicing that we Can be “always bearing about In the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10). 4. For the Bible. 1 For this Book out of which has blos somed every social and national bless ing we enjoy today, we give thanks. It is the plot of heaven-blessed and vita lized soil from which has sprung our every social and national blessing. In praise of this Word of God, the best we can say, with tongue or pen, is but man’s mean paint on God’s fair lilies; it is but man’s paste jewels in God’s . casket of pure gems. Our best efforts . to praise it are but disfigurements. It is the living Word of the living God— the Book supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, im- measureable in influence, i n f i n i t e in 'scope, divine in authorship," human in penmanship, regenerative in power, in fallible in authority, universal in inter est; personal in application, inspired in - totality. And today, wherever it is read and treasured, it breaks the fetters of the slave,, subdues life’s fierce fevers, robs death of Its sting and parting of its pain. Thanks be unto God that this miracle Book of diversity in unity—har monious in its infinite complexity—today ' walks more bypaths, travels more high ways, knocks at more doors, and speaks to more people in their mother tongue than does any other book. 5. For spiritual blessings—in Christ -Jesus. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeak able gift” (2 Cor. 9:15). Thanks be to God “who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings . . . in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). These are the blessings of peace, forgiveness, redemption; the blessings -of being chosen in Him, predestined unto, eternal life, and sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. Thanks be to God for Christ, who died as the Just One for the unjust, that He might bring us to God—who, on the „cross, became for us all that God must judge, that we, through faith In Him, might become all that God cannot judge. For Christ, more precious to the soul than health and life to tie sick and dying, we give thanks. For the grace He daily bestows for living and for daily service, for the fact that He has once for all finished the plan of redemption for us, and that nothing more need
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Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp'unto our. God: "Who covereth toe heaven with douds, who prepareto rain tor tli« earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains." ■lf*a. 147:£ * }.
Photo by Gilbert E. Kirkpatrick
and tongue, and people, and nation,” and “made us unto our God kings and priests” (Rev. 5:12, 9, 10). By faith we stand, as it were, on Nebo looking away toward the “better country, that is, a heavenly.” A silver stream, which we call Death, rolls in between. Than e’er I’ve been before.” - ' . j We presently s h a l l be greeting old friends in that happy land—all of us who have received Christ and have par taken of His atonement. Oh, happy day of hand-clasping and reunion, when we shall gather, like veterans around their camp fires, to recount the experiences that we are now passing through! Oh, happy, happy day! And of all the fa miliar faces that we shall see, none will compare with one face, “so marred yet divinely beautiful,” the face of the Lord who has healed us of all the ills that human flesh is heir to; whom we shall greet as the oldest, dearest, and most faithful of friends, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ “One sweetly solemn thought Comes to me o’er and o’er; Nearer my home today am I
be added—for these we give thanks. 6. For victory over death and the hope of something better farther on. “Christ . . . hath abolished death” (2 Tim. 1:10). At thè cross, death was abolished. At the second advent of our Lord, death will be swallowed up. At the end, death will be destroyed—by Christ Jesus. And beyond death is the heayenly home. We are pilgrims and sojourners here, pre paring for a life that shall continue through the endless eons of eternity. We shall be there presently; and blessed be God, we shall be praising Him for ever more for His loving-kindness! “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into t}ie heart of man, the things which God ' hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). The happy land is not, as the hymn declares, “far, far away.” Its lights glimmer through the mists that obstruct our vision here and now. Its Songs of thanksgiving come to us in faint ech oes: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,” and who has redeemed us to God by His blood “out of every kindred.
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