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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
November, 1940
POISON PEDDLERS: • More destructive than the damage done by bombing planes, more corrupt ing than an epidemic of smallpox, is the evil being done to youth by indecent books and magazines. Our health de partments are vigilant to dean up the sources of contagious diseases of the body. But the poisoners of the mind and the heart seem to carry on their traffic with slight interference. 4 Literally thousands of news stands throughout our country are aiding in the distribution of magazines that con tribute directly to juvenile delinquency. A drive against such literature was launched recently in New York by Mayor La Guardia, whose stand on this subject is certainly sound and courage ous, even though he may be wrong on many other issues. The Mayor made a careful study of the situation in collaboration with Jus tice Stephen S. Jackson of the Chil dren’s Court. In ordering the ban on forty-two objectionable periodicals, the Mayor said: “Not until after minute and de tailed study showing the effects of this reading upon youth did I take action. I wish some of you would spend some time in our children’s courts and see the sorrow inflicted upon parents—hard-working, de cent folk—by their children getting into the most unfortunate kind of trouble. If you know anything about children, if you have families, I can’t understand how you can conceive of anything so repulsive as the circulation of these publications. . . . The constitutional provisions for a free press are not applicable to plain filth . . . ” , Six of the forty-two objectionable magazines had a circulation of 4,000,- 000! American youth is being corrupt ed on a wholesale scale. Fortunately^ the remedy is not difficult to apply. Christian parents, in their own commu nity, can usually secure action on the part of the authorities, if they will take the trouble to protest. , Many news dealers will clean up their own shelves if they are made to understand that such a course is necessary to maintain the patronage of the decent elements of the community. In most communi ties, where Christian parents have be come concerned about the situation, a remedy has been secured. TROTSKY’S END: • His lips denied, but the life ana death of Leon Trotsky proved the truth of God’s Word. As he sowed, so he reaped. With the measure he meted out to others, it was measured to him again. Trotsky met the identical fate Which he had dealt out to many others. [ Continued on Page 445]
timonies in periods of devotion, and pray and counsel with them over the problems of their lives, we feel a deep ened sense of our privilege and solemn responsibility, not only to the young people themselves, but to those also who Wait to hear the "good news” from their lips. Last June, a class of ninety was grad uated from this Institute. Of this num ber, about fifty per cent signified their purpose to engage in either home Or foreign missionary work. The first of this company to start for the foreign field was a young man who sailed for China on October 5 under the China Inland Mission. * At a farewell service in Los Angeles, Ford L. Canfield, Dis trict Secretary- of the Mission, intro duced this graduate and another young man thus: “ As far as we know, there are only two young men—-in contrast to thirty young women—who sail for China under our Mission this year, un less there be some, of whom we have not heard, from England or Australian” This sad proportion, though much more THE BATTLE OF YOUTH: • The most important battle in the world today does not center around the saving of democracy from dictatorship. \ An even more vital struggle must be carried on to save youth from the forces of corrupting paganism. Press reports tell of the *action of British refugee children as they found themselves on ships being sunk by Nazi submarines. Many of the children oc cupied themselves by singing the "Beer , Barrel Polka,” a disgusting drinking song of German origin. Apparently, the spirit of ruthless paganism has al ready taken possession even in lands which, so far, have resisted the imposi tion of the physical forms of totalitar ianism. If American children were in a simi lar situation, we might expect the over whelming majority to react in the same way. They would sing and dance to „ the tunes of a ribald paganism. Even in the face of death, they would not call upon the name of their-Creator, for 85 per cent of our young people have never heard the real story of the Lord Jesus and His love. They are growing up in total ignorance of the true mean ing of the Word of God. The spirit of totalitarianism produces dictatorship in the domain of govern ment. But it aims to destroy more than governments; it strives, above all
extreme this ye*r than for many years as far as the China Inland Mission is1 concerned, is not unusual in other mis sions as well. It is not known how long mission aries may continue in Africa, China, India, and other fields.. The contem plated world changes of totalitarian leaders threaten the very life of foreign missionary enterprise. With seventy-five per cent of the world’s population affected by war at the present time, it is incumbent upon Christians of America to redouble their efforts to send missionaries to needy fields and to keep them there in so far as may be possible. More and more, as those in darkness look to us, does our responsibility increase. Biola students are trained and willing to go; there is a crying need for the gospel, before it is too late. Let us pray earnestly that the channels of missionary endeavor, opened- by un stinted sacrifice of life blood, may be kept open till the Lord Jesus comes. —Kenneth M. Monroe, Dean.
Significance of the News By D A N GILBERT Washington, D. C., and San Diego, California
else, t o ' corrupt the minds and hearts of youth. The intellectual and spiritual leprosy of paganism cannot be stopped by military defenses. This cultural dis ease knows no boundary lines and sub mits to no liihitations. It already is raging ift our midst, imperiling our whole future as a nation.
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