King's Business - 1923-03

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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

lest afte r you have refitted th e works of God th ere be more chaos th a n now. God is not th e au tho r of confusion. Again you state a tru th when you ask : “May we no t judge one another by our fru its, as Jesus told His disciples to judge m en?” Certainly we may. Ap­ plying th is test, I kindly bu t sincerely charge you w ith allowing your liberty too much liberty. You have, by aban­ doning th e fundam entals of the Bible, driven a wedge into our church both at home and abroad. If you keep on blindly pounding it in, who can foretell th e resu lt of the ren t th a t divides a house against itself? You say you don’t much care what my creed may be. I regard it to be im portant, fo r it determ ines the fruits. The men on the firing-line know (even if the men in the offices do not) th a t in­ creasing thousands of dollars are being diverted by donors away from our de­ nom inational societies into o th er reli­ gious channels, because th ere is a grow­ ing d istru st on th e p art of the laity of those officials who arrog ate the rig h t to “modify or abandon” th e fundamentals of' historic faith a t the dictation of modern ideas. Well do you say: “ If we have the Spirit of Christ, then we both belong to him and nothing should be perm itted to separate us.” I ask you: Why, then, will you separate? Souls are perishing while you are dividing' the church, thus robbing uncounted millions of th e ir only hope of hearing the Gospel. For th e sake of dying men, I implore you to re tu rn to the Christ of th e m iddle cross. Cordially yours, A FUNDAMENTALIST. Like a Long Letter from Home — is a copy of the “K. B.” to a Missionary. A gift to our Missionary Fund never fails to send out a blessing to the world.

An Open L etter to a Modernist

My d ear B rother: Through th e courtesy of “The Ameri­ can Missionary” for November,, your “ Open L etter to a Fund am en talist” is received. I tru st the courtesy of the same magazine to convey to you my reply. You call me a “Fundam en talist.” I esteem this an honor. Your le tte r pro­ claims you to be a Modernist. This I am not. You are rig h t in saying th a t I “consider certain theological views,,, which were thoroughly acceptable to a form er generation, bu t which man,y pro­ fessed Christians have now either modi­ fied o r abandoned, essential to real Christianity.” I would ask you: W hat and Whom have you modified or abandoned?’ Cer­ tainly your father, fo r he, by your v ir­ tu al admission, was a Fundam entalist. 'He was in good company w ith Moody, Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, McLaren, Wesley, every New Testament w riter, and w ith Jesus. But you would modify or abandon all of these. You deny th e wisdom of the “ faith of our fath ers,” although it is certain th a t w hat has been accomplished thus far has been w rought along these lines. The very name “F undam en talist” proclaims faith in th e Son of God, whose teachings I deny any man th e rig h t to modify. You and I are aware th a t you as a Modernist are forced eith er to modify or abandon th e Lord Jesus Christ. Be­ ing religious, you cannot wholly aban­ don Him, so you presume to change Him. Instead of receiving Him as He in the Bible is declared to be, you would make Him over to fit you r notions. The God-breathed Holy Scriptures must, fo r­ sooth, give* way before ephemeral mod­ ern ideas ! I feel, sure th a t the “ endeavor” you would make to “ fit together” God’s li­ b rary of N ature and His w ritten Word is superfluous. Better'*spend your days in obeying the Lord’s last command,

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