B y L ouis T. T albot
Separation, Influence M ID the problems o f today, what a message the study o f the life of Daniel brings to the Lord’s chil dren ! The conditions that prevailed in Daniel’s time are very similar to those that are prevailing about us in this Laodicean period. The ruins o f Jerusalem and the broken state of Israel would remind us o f the broken condition and the divisions
Purpose,
The Christian in a State College a n a young person attend a state university with- V > out receiving injury to his spiritual life?” is the problem discussed by a Biola graduate who is now enrolled in a distant state university. And this question is acutely confronting thousands o f Christian graduates from the high schools o f America. Answering his own question, this student continues: After careful observation in the university here, I be lieve the question must,- in all fairness; be answered in both the affirmative and the negative: In the affirmative —only when God’s divine will points the individual to a state school. This person will not be harmed; to the contrary, he will be strengthened. On the other hand, in the negative— when God’s plan leads the student to a Christian college or Bible Institute. If such a student is called for the latter type o f training and he refuses to obey, this one will be greatly harmed in a state school. How I am thanking God that He led me to such a school as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles before I began the work in the university— but that was just a part of God’s blue print for my life.
o f the professing church in this day. Looking at the people o f God in the days o f Daniel, one could have seen nothing about them that distinguished them from the surrounding heathen nations. Separation— the characteristic mark o f the chosen nation—was no longer manifest. Their enemies were their conquerors. The reality o f fellowship with God was not there. What a parallel to present-day conditions! How little is the reality o f God known today by the millions who profess His name! But, that we might know how to live in just such times as these, God has given us the record o f the faithful testimony of Daniel. This servant of God lived during the reign o f Nebu chadnezzar, Darius, and Cyrus; and during all o f the many years that God permitted him to see, Daniel was a flaming torch o f righteousness and a light in the hand o f God to reveal spiritual truths, to lead even men like Nebuchadnez zar to recognize Jehovah as the true God, and to give mar velous visions o f the coming o f the King. Daniel was a man o f purpose. He “ purposed in his heart” that he would be separated from the evils o f Babylon, that he might live his life for God. How beautifully this fact is portrayed in the first chapter o f the book o f Daniel! It is well to remem ber that Daniel was about seventeen years o f age when he thus set his face against all the evils o f Babylon and the evils o f his nation. The king’s meat that Daniel was ordered to eat had been strangled, as was the custom in Babylon, and thus it was re pugnant to a Jew who was desirous of keeping the law of Jehovah. The wine also was an abhorrence because Daniel in all probability had taken the Nazarite vow. ' When he must make a choice between the command of the king and the word o f God, Daniel’s decision was one of unqualified loyalty to God. This was the man who later had unequalled influence with Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. This was the man who was able to stand before these rulers and outline the passing world empires and foretell the es tablishment o f Messiah’s kingdom. He was separated unto service for God, and, consequently, he could bring God’s message to the men o f his day. I f we are to exercise an influence for God in these ter rific times in which we live— these days o f crime and the influx o f religious cults such as the world has never seen before—we must be separated from the sin o f our day and devoted to the Lord who has sovereign rights over us. Sep aration, then usefulness, has always been the order in the spiritual realm. I f we are to be instruments in the hands of God, we must be clean. Before we can ever have enlighten ment in spiritual matters, we must be separated men.TSow passing this world i s ! Very soon the age will be at a close. In this day when millions o f professing Christians are fail ing the Lord, let us purpose to separate ourselves unto Him and give Him the first place in our lives?! - i - 5 -v ,//o / />■iD
It might be better to restate the question by saying, not, “ Can a young person attend a state school without receiving injury to his spiritual life?” but, “ Should a young person attend a state school ?” In other words, Is it the will of God? This year, we have seen tjpon our campus much which might be cause for great concern to the student trying to live in constant fellow ship with our blessed Lord. Distorted presenta tions o f the Scriptures have been made r edly in the classroom. One is keenly aware also o f the progress of communistic or ganizations and o f their effects upon the students. Especially within the last two or three years have these influences been Mi- f
felt. As several leaders o f these communistic groups have acted as editors or assistant editors on our Daily and other campus publica tions, their influence has been es pecially noticeable by their use of these papers for advertising and propaganda purposes. Their cam pus rallies are continually attract ing wider attention. But in the midst o f these condi tions on our campus, an interde nominational organization o f the Christian students is attempting an effectual witness, by word o f mouth and by life, insisting that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom o f God.” This organization began here
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in 1928, when a few students banded themselves together for prayer. For three years it continued to be a small group, meeting once a week for fellowship in prayer. In 1931, the Lord impressed the group with the need o f its being used in a more aggressive way. Following His lead ing, its members sponsored special meetings each week, to which they invited fellow students to hear the way of sal vation made clear. The work has expanded until now . meetings are held each day during the noon hour. Through the meetings, we have been enabled to pre sent the gospel to between five and eight hundred Students this year, and also to afford a deeper spiritual growth to the fifty Christian students who have been instrumental in the carrying on o f this program. Although many outward attacks have been directed upon the group for the purpose o f destroying its testimony, yet the testimony of the saving and keeping power of our Master in this “mission field” will not cease. Our vision is not limited to a few hundred who have
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