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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1939
Around the King's Table E D I T O R I A L
The Flight of Time "My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle" (Job 7:6). Time is geared to the orderly and inex orable movement of the entire universe and likewise to the eternal purposes of God. We lament its passing. -Youth flies and old age creeps on with a stealthy rapidity. And then—eternity! With the close of 1938, we pass into a new phase of time. This year, 1939, is one year further from the birth of our Lord and one year nearer the return of our Lord. We thus face a double responsibility. First, we are responsible to God con cerning our reception of the redemption of Christ. This responsibility is first personal, in so far as our own salvation is concerned. It is then practical, in so far as the Great Commission is concerned. We have busi ness to do for the King. A witness must be given to the world. We must become evan gelists and missionaries and preach from the “pulpits” of our own circumstances the message of redemption through the blood of Christ. And since time is in flight, let us redeem it, “because the days are evil." Second, we are responsible to God con cerning our relation to the return of Christ. Every year that passes is a year nearer the great Advent day. How soon that day will arrive, no man knows. How important it is that we should be ready! Being ready involves more than being saved: it is salva tion plus. It implies a life of service lived by the saved sinner in the great vineyard of the world. This year, 1939, is handed to us as capital in the form of time and opportun ity. Let us wisely use it so that its values will extend to eternity. Rags or Robes In that remarkable chapter, the eleventh in the Book of Hebrews, is the story of the achievement of primitive, first-century Christianity. Of those pioneering Chris tians it is said, “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” They preached the gospel—-while they themselves were dress ed in rags. But witness the success of that preaching! How different it was from the preaching and from the results of this twentieth cen tury! The message today is preached in robes. In cathedral-like churches, expensive gowns now clothe the modem preacher. We have a right to ask whether the robes enhance the gospel. We grant there may be added dignity. But dignity is not nearly so necessary as is the “dynamite” of divine power that filled the first-century preacher. In the light of the record of our twen tieth-century accomplishments, it is to be feared that the robes that symbolize a cold ecclesiasticism are a liability rather than an
tichristian and at last antihumanitarian. This axis is, of course, political, and in its final analysis, destructive. There is an other axis of great importance to the wel fare of the world. It is spiritual, and in its practical effect, constructive. It is the alli ance of forces between the church and the home—the home-church axis. This union of influence can present a strong front not only against totalitarianism, but also against the innumerable forces that threaten our liberties and securities. The alliance of this home-church axis must be in every sense pre-eminently spirit ual. When the father and the preacher, when the mother and the church school teacher, join hands in a spiritual crusade to capture the youth for Christ, we will have laid the foundations of a great spiritual resurgence. ■ ffi-V:’"■ T he “Killer D rug” Marijuana is a menace in America. This subtly poisonous weed, offered in cigarettes to unsuspecting young people, is responsible for a wave of immorality and crime of which the Christian public is little aware. G-Men grapple with this monster; they call it “The Assassin of Youth.” Robert J. Devine, of Lansing, Mich., knows not only the revolting history of this drug through exhaustive research in the subject, but he also knows more: the only remedy that is efficacious — deliverance through “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” "Victims of this scourge insist and implore that nation-wide warnings be issued to save other boys and girls from the horri ble experiences which have been their un happy lot," Mr. Devine states. “I have talked with the victims; I have seen the ravages of the 'killer drug’ in their bodies and minds.” In a startling article to appear soon in T he K ing ' s B usiness , Mr. Devine will dis cuss the subject and the Christian’s respon sibility to the boys and girls of our day. Will you begin to pray now that this forth coming message will be the means in God's hands of awakening Christians and warning youth? ----------- Joy—for 1939 With truth as fresh as though it had been uttered for the first time in our day, Luther’s words echo through the years. “The devil,” he says, "that lost spirit, cannot endure sa cred songs of joy. Our passions and impa tience, our complaining and our crying, our ‘Alas!’ and our ‘Woe is me!’ please him well: but our songs and psalms vex and grieve him.” Let us “sing praises to God, sing praises” (Psa. 47:6) however dark the coming days may be. When “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” (1 Thess. 4:16) let Him find us singing halle lujahs for His grace.
asset to the church. It is not that they are wrong in themselves, but that we have become more concerned with the dignity they bespeak than with the divine power that must accompany the message. We must remember that to preach the gospel in rags, for the sake of wearing shabby cloth ing, is not the secret of success. Neither is it true that the use of robes is a mark of spiritual degeneracy. It is not the dress of the preacher but the heart of the preacher that matters, and the purity of his message drawn from the Word of God. The gospel needs no embellishment. It can best be “adorned” by means of the life and service of believers, who are exhorted "that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” If achievement constitutes a recommenda tion for appropriate dress of the gospel wit ness, then the argument is more in favor of rags than of robes. Never have there been such results as those which followed those early preachers who "wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.” Primitive Christianity has set the style and the pace for us. As some one has said, "It overcame paganism because it out- thought it, out-lived it, and out-died it.” And it did it dressed in rags. The Rome-Berlin Axis We have heard much of the Rome-Berlin axis, an expression signifying the political and military alliance between Germany and Italy. Our expanding horizon of Totali- taria now includes Japan, so that we really have a Berlin-Rome-Tokyo "axis.” Prophetically, this alignment is doomed to failure. Both Germany and Japan are outside of the area of the predicted restored Roman Empire. What it is that will arise to disrupt this axis is, at the present time, more or less a matter of speculation. Total itarianism will continue as a quality of end- time government. It is the “iron” of Nebu chadnezzar's dream image. It is at present expressing itself in a violent form of anti- Semitism. It next will become definitely an During the period that is being planned for the visit of Louis T. Talbot in Dallas and Fort Worth, Tex., February 5 to 22, his messages will be heard daily over KRLD (1040 kilocycles) from 2:00 to 2:45 P.M. This arrangement is possible through the generous kindness of W. E. Hawkins, Jr., director of the Radio Revival Hour, who has ¡ust con cluded eleven years of continuous radio gospel broadcasting. The Scofield Me morial Church, Dallas, of which Harlin J. Roper is pastor, will provide for the afternoon broadcasts. President Talbot Heard Over the Air
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