October, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
342
M ( $ & /O tO £ <_Are FOR E IGN M ISS IONS F undam en ta l? B y W. CAMERON TOWNSEND* Sulphur Springs, Arkansas W e fundamentalists often deny by our acts the very truths which modernists deny with their lips. We profess to believe that Christ
Then the Apostle Paul came on the scene, and his first words as an infant in Christ were: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The reply was a specialized version of the Great Commission, and from then on the prime motive of the apostle’s life was to preach the gospel in the “regions beyond,” where Christ had not yet been named. Toward the end of his career, he could truthfully say: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” He so influenced the church of his day in this respect that it con tinued to be a missionary church until long after his death. Today we honor his memory and defend the doctrines which he preached, but we give a secondary place in our lives to
is God and cloaked with all authority, but when He says, “Go,” we stay at home. We say that He died “for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” But while we sing with snug contentedness, “There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,” we actually dam up that healing tide by neglect ing to tell the multitudes of “him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” We stoutly affirm that the Bible is God’s in spired Word, but while we unearth cities to prove its accuracy, spend lifetimes and fortunes
M r . T ownsend and a C entral A merican C hristian
,1 , , • 1 • that which was first in his. i * i r
N eglecting the A tonement of C hrist I once heard a modernist make the statement that a cer tain great evangelist then living kept more people from God than he led to Him, simply because of his preaching the vi carious atonement. While shuddering at the statement, I am forced to admit that such blasphemy is not doing nearly as much damage as is being done the cause of Christ by those who believe and preach the power of the blood shed on Calvary to wash away sin, but who neglect to apply it to the wounds of the world. All the modernists in existence cannot prevent the remission of a sinner’s guilt when that blood is applied, but the fundamentalist's who fail to tell the lost of its power, can prevent its efficacy. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” If countless multitudes in distant lands are to be “made nigh by the blood of Christ,” we who enjoy redemption “through his blood” must endeavor to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” We must “endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.” D enying the P rophecies of C hrist We quote with great frequency and unfeigned joy the prophecy contained in Acts 1:11: “This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” We are sure that that promise is going to be ful filled, but we often fail to notice that the eighth verse in the same passage is likewise in the nature of a prophecy, and likewise must be fulfilled. It reads: “Ye shall be wit nesses unto me . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth.” “Ye shall be witnesses.” That means you and me. If I become enthusiastic over one part of this passage—and I should—I must likewise take the other part seriously.
in correcting and multiplying the English versions, and publish unnumbered volumes discussing and defending it, we dare to set up our own program as against its program, and by misdirecting our efforts accomplish more than its most bitter enemies to endanger the fulfillment of one of its most important prophecies. In fact, we give the impres sion to an impartial observer that we ourselves are endeav oring to demonstrate that at least one of its predictions can not be carried out. To.consummate our stupidity, we wear ourselves out throwing firecrackers over the wall into the camp of the modernists, when underneath their whole fortification our Captain has laid a mine which will blow it all up as soon as we clear our own slate so that He can set off the fuse. D isregarding the A uthority of C hrist The army officer whose faith our Lord so signally com mended explained what it means to acknowledge some one else’s authority when he said: “I also am a man under au thority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” The greatest proof any one can give of his belief in the deity and author ity of Christ is to render Him obedience. The wind and the sea obeyed Him. The evil spirits moved out at His com mand. Sickness and even death fled at the sound of His voice. His authority is never questioned except by those who refuse to recognize His lordship and, strange to say, by a church so zealous in minor matters that it forgets or neglects its Great Commission. The church was designed to be a “going” concern. “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go.” We are told where to go. “Go ye into all the world.” This going is linked right up with our Lord’s authority. “All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.” The first con verts forgot this command at the very start. Things were so lovely in Jerusalem and the need there was so great that, like the Babelites of old, they forgot that the globe was to be covered, and settled down to rear high the turrets of the glorious church. The Lord intervened, however, and by persecutions forced the saints to go farther on with the message. *Affiliated with the Pioneer Mission Agency.
The Scriptures are full of prophecies regarding the evangelization of the world. A number of them from the Old Testament are quoted in the fifteenth chapter of Romans. The prophecy made to Abraham is quoted in Galatians 3 :8 : “In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Time and again during His earthly min istry, our Saviour referred to the world wide preaching of the gospel: “This gos pel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all na-
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