ufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost. The glow-worm has taken the place of the bush that burned and scintillating personalities now answer to the fire that fell at Pentecost.” It is no wonder that while we in the West play at church, Commun ism, Islam, and the various sects and isms are literally sweeping millions of souls into their godless and false teachings. We have forgotten Chris tianity is a crusade, and that the cross underlies it from the beginning to the end. In the translator’s preface of the Book of Acts, J. B. Phillips wrote this about the book of Acts: “No one can read this book without being con vinced that there is Someone here at work besides mere human beings. Per haps because of their very simplicity, perhaps because of their readiness to believe, to obey, to give, to suffer, and if need be to die, the Spirit of God found what surely He must al ways be seeking . . . a fellowship of men and women so united in love and faith that He can work in them and through them with the minimum of let or hindrance. Consequently it is a matter of sober historical fact that never before has any small body of ordinary people so moved the world that their enemies could say, with tears of rage in their eyes, that these men ‘have turned the world upside down’ That group of dedicated disciples, a paltry handful, turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ and changed the course of human history. We have forgotten New Testament Christianity! Is it not true that “ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” ? Wherein lies the trou ble? Certainly not with Christ. It is because discipleship is hard and we don’t like it. We don’t want to take up the cross and follow Him; we would rather be “ tag-a-longers! ” The June 1st issue of Time maga zine contained an article about as tronaut Scott Carpenter, who is quoted as saying: “I volunteered for this pro gram for a lot of reasons. One of them quite frankly, is a chance for im mortality. Most men never have an opportunity for this . . . this is some thing I would willingly give my life for and I think a person is very for tunate to have something he can care that much about.” Within twenty-four hours after President Kennedy announced the for mation of his peace corps program, he had 5,000 applicants. Here are some of the letters written by those who applied for this program.
“ I am willing to spend the rest of my life in work like this because it can mean so much to my country.” “I wish to educate underprivileged children, not out of pity, but out of a love for all children of all races and out of a hope of eventual equality for all men through education.” “ I herewith offer you and my coun try and my world such service as I may afford you. It is no longer enough in this life to pray for peace, to dis cuss it, to suggest it. The time ap proaches now when those of us who so earnestly desire it, must bend our backs to the job at hand.” Again, may I ask, where are the Christ-dedicated young people today to take the message of peace to the lost and dying of the world? We are allowing the secular-minded young people, with their nebulous dreams of forging a better world through ed ucation, or by bettering living stand ards, or some other means, outstrip us in dedication, outrun us in disci pline, and forge ahead of us in self- denial. Scott Carpenter is willing to give his life in this work of space. Where are the young people who will willingly lay down their lives on the altar of sacrifice and become a “ living sacrifice” for the sake of Jesus Christ and the spread of His Gospel? Where are they? I can’t find them. Can You? God’s call as found in Ezekiel still rings out: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap be fore me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.” God is still seeking men and women who will be His avowed disciples, who will take up the challenge of a lost and dying world, who will hold in contempt the things of this world and give themselves unreservedly to Christ. God still asks: “Whom shall I send and who will go for us” (Isaiah 6:8). In a recent letter, the General Di rector of the Sudan Interior Mission, Dr; Albert Helser, wrote: “Why are there too few missionaries? The an swer is obvious . . . Christians don’t care enough. It may be damaging to our reputation to admit the failure, but it will be good for our souls. We do not care enough about obeying Christ’s command to make disciples of all people. A God-given motive for missions is directly dependent upon our relationship to our Lord. If we are to be motivated by our Master to spread His message, we must take a long look at our level of loyalty to Him . . . we shall not be truly concerned about missions until we have been truly mastered by our Mas ter.”
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DECEMBER, 1962
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