King's Business - 1937-07

King's Business - 1937-07

JULY - 1937

the gospel” will be (left to right) John A. Hubbard, S. H. Sutherland, and Dan Gilbert. Other speakers on the program of this Third Annual Summer Bible Conference are mentioned on the contents page of this issue.

When families and groups of friends gather at Pacific Palisades, Calif., August 28 to Sep­ tember 6, for vacation days that are spiritually and physically refreshing, among the leaders who will greet them and share “fellowship in

+ * To your child IS THE BIBLE THE BEST BOOK

It is indeed

that to each child attending ■

THE CH I LDR EN ' S

s

ALL - B I BLE S UM M E R S C HO O L Place: The Bible Institute of Los Angeles

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Date: June 28 to July 30, 1937 Hours: 9:00 until 12:00 noon Monday through Friday of each week

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Christians living outside Los Angeles should write at once for valuable in- formation concerning this school. It is a vacation Bible school of a type no church or community can afford to neglect. Parents able to enroll their children in this Los Angeles school should write or telephone immediately: T H E B IBLE IN S T ITU T E O F LOS ANGELES, Incorporated Attention: The Children’s All-Bible S.ummer School

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5 5 8 SO U TH H O P E ST R E E T LOS ANGELES, CALIFORN IA Telephone: Madison 164-1

r

July, 1937

T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

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PAUL W. ROOD, Editor M ildred M . C ook , Managing Editor H. S. R isley , Circulation Manager

Official Organ of The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated

A-Millennial? Pre-Millennial? Post-Millennial? If you are a pre-millenarian, I have a message of supreme valuó for these dark days. I advertised this same message some time ago. The responses from those who had sent for it were filled with grati­ tude to God for a new revelation that had come to them; almost every one said in effect: "This should be read by every Christian in America." So I am making the same announce­ ment once again; I want to reach every true Christian who is longing for the com­ ing of the King, and I am doing my part to accomplish it. Whether I reach you depends on yourself. Just enclose 10c (stamps will do) in a letter and say, "I am a pre-millenarian; send me your message." If you are not a pre-millenarian, please do not answer this advertisement. And may I remind you also of the con­ tinuous needs of our missionary undertak­ ings? In the spirit of Isaiah 40:1-2, we stand astride the world and seek to bridge the gulf between a misrepresented Chris­ tianity and a misled Judaism. In this min­ istry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18) your faithful, prayerful undergirding is needed far more than you will ever know this side of eternity. Our work merits your every confidence. If is a program of world-wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Your fellowship In prayer and in gift is always welcome and appreciated. Our monthly publication, THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, is of course sent to all contributors.

©ft e ! 8 ibleTamil# 3 la$a 3 tne Motto: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." —R ev . 1:5.

July, 1937

Volume XXVIII

Number 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS Cover— Photograph by H. Armstrong Roberts and Skinner Photo Arts .

Among the expected speakers at the Summer Bible Conference of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and the Church of the Open Door are John A. Hubbard, instructor in Bible at the Institute; Dan Gilbert, forceful writer and speaker on issues which confront college students (see page 279) ; Louis T. Talbot, Pastor, Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles; Charles G. Trumbull, Editor, Sunday School Times; and Oswald J. Smith, Pastor, The Peoples Church, Toronto. Many of the details of the conference will be cared for by the Secretary of the Institute’s Extension Department, S. H. Sutherland. Please see announce­ ment on page 259. Around the King’s Table— Paul W . R o o d ............................. Fuel of the Flame of God— Vance H a v n e r ............................. Rediscovering the Bible— Frank E. Gaebelein . . . The Old Serpent Crawls On!— Louis S. Bauman Mammy Helps to Stop a Train— Evelyn McFarlane McClusky The Junior King’s Business— Martha S. Hooker . . . . Bible Institute Family Circle . . .................................... World’s Christian Fundamentals Association............................. Evangelistic Notices . . .................................... ....... . International Lesson Comm en ta ry .................................... Notes on Christian Endeavor —Mary G. Goodner Girls’ Query Corner— Myrtle E. S c o t t .................................... ' Daily Devotional Readings . . . . . . . S 242 243 244 246 250 252 254 255 255 256 269 273 280

I N F O R M A T I O N

F O R

S U B S C R I B E R S

TERMS: Single Copies.—____ ______________ 15c Annual Subscription___________________ $1.50 Two-year subscription or two annual subscriptions 2.50 Five annual subscriptions_______ 5.00 Eleven annual subscriptions.___ ___ 10.00 Subscriptions in countries outside of U. S. require 25c extra. REMITTANCE: Should be made by Bank Draft, Ex­ press or P. O. Money Order, payable to “The King's Business." Receipts will not be sent for regular subscriptions, but date of expiration will show plainly each month, on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please send both did and new address at least one month previous to date of desired change.__________________

ADVERTISING: For information with reference to advertising in THE KING'S BUSINESS, address the ADVERTISING MANAGER, 558 SOUTH HOPE STREET. LOS ANGELES, CALIF., or our eastern representative, Religious Press Association, 325 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, Pa., or 333 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 111. Entered as Second Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage pro­ vided far in Section 1103, Act of October 3. 1917, authorized October 1, 1918. MANUSCRIPTS: THE KING'S BUSINESS cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent to it for consideration.

J. Hoffman Cohn» American Board of Missions

to the Jews, Inc., 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

Dear Brother: I am a pre-millenarian; herein I enclose 10c; send me your message. I also joyfully enclose $..................... as my fellowship with you in your world-wide Gospel ministry to Israel.

POLICY (a) To stand for the infallible Ward of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work (d) To act as the official organ of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work, and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith.

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THE KING’S BUSINESS

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July, 1937

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Around the King's Table

By PAUL W. ROOD

a righteous man availeth much” (Jas. 5:16). If our prayers are not answered, there is something wrong either with the praying or with the one who prays. Are we righteous? Have we been made right­ eous through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we walking in righteousness? Is pray­ er a reality? Do we pray fervently? Are we in earnest? The Christian who really prays will grow in grace and in spiritual insight and usefulness. His ministry will be fruitful. We can never exhaust the. resources of God. God is looking for praying men and women. “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” (Ezek. 22:30). Will you be that man? Will you make up the hedge, and stand in the gap for the land, and thereby save it from destruction? Will you put God to a test and allow Him to reveal what He can do for one who really prays? Hudson Taylor prayed, and the China In­ land Mission was born. David Brainerd prayed, and the Indians were evangelized. Abel Clary prayed, and souls came to Christ. “Praying Hyde” prayed, and re­ vivals came to India. Let us give our­ selves to the ministry of intercession and allow the Holy Spirit to anoint us to pray the prayer of faith that brings the blessing down. Give God a chance in the realm of finance. Are we bringing all the tithes to the storehouse, and putting God to the test? If we are, the windows are opened and blessing is being poured down upon us. Colgate honored the Lord with his sub­ stance, and God blessed him in return. A. A. Hyde accepted his stewardship, and the blessing of God was upon his business. We have nothing except that which we have received. Every blessing, temporal and spiritual, is a gift of God: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). We are stewards of that which God has com­ mitted into our hands, and in a coming day we are to render an account of our stewardship. At the judgment seat of Christ, there will be an abundant reward for the Christian who has recognized his stewardship and h a s.given systematically, consistently, and prayerfully to Christian enterprises which have had as their main objective the evangelization of the world and the winning of souls for Christ. Such a one will find that godliness is profitable in the truest sense both for this life and [Continued on page 248]

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). If we desire to have victory over the world, the flesh, and' the devil, we must be men and women of faith. “Have faith in God,” said our Lord.' Hudson Taylor applied the command thus: “Reckon on God’s faith­ fulness.” Let us believe God. Give God a chance in the realm of prayer. It has been said truly that the resources in prayer have never been tried to their full capacity by any church. Why is it that the average church is so impotent? The answer is at hand: “Ye have not, be­ cause ye ask not” (Jas. 4:2). Do we really pray? Are we receiving answers to our prayers? “The effectual fervent prayer of

Give God a Chance H ours spent in contact with a Chris­ tian brother and with the enter­ prise in which he was engaged have suggested the theme of this editorial. It is indeed a sad fact that the average Christian is not giving God a chance but is seeking to live and work in his own strength. Consequently, his life as well as his ministry is weak when it could be strong. Why should the Christian not give God a chance to reveal His power by surrendering the human instrument into His hands? This is essentially the chal­ lenge of Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Give God a chance in the realm of faith. God is looking for faith. God blesses and uses men of faith. Faith is of su­ preme importance. The description of the warrior’s armor in Ephesians 6 reaches its climax in the words found in verse 16: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” All of the different parts of the armor are important, but the shield of faith is of. utmost sig­ nificance. In Hebrews 11:6 we read: “But viithout faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Thus we see that we must have faith if we are to please God. Unbelief on the part of His children dis­ pleases God and results in spiritual weak­ ness and an ineffectual prayer life: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ,For let not that man think that he shall re­ ceive any thing of the Lord” (Jas. 1:6, 7). The burden of Christ’s ministry of inter­ cession is that we shall not break down in the realm of faith. In Luke 22:31, 32 we read: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Christ not only prayed for Peter, but He prays also for those of us who are His today—that our faith shall not fail. If we break down in the realm of faith, we will break down in every other sphere. If we are victorious in the matter of faith, we will be victorious in every respect.

"T h e Royal Law "

The Coronation Bible Millions of listeners around the world heard the Archbishop of Canterbury present this Bible to His Majesty, King George VI, in the Coronation Service in West­ minster Abbey on May 12, 1937. The formal presentation was made in the majestic and reverent lan­ guage of the Coronation Service: “Our gracious King; we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the living oracles of God.” In the exaltation of the Word of God in the supreme state cere­ mony of the British Empire there is set a standard not only for the rulers and subjects of that realm, but also for citizens and subjects in all other lands where men and women have access to the re­ vealed Word of God. Hand-tooled and bound in crim­ son levant, the volume given to His Majesty was published by the Oxford University Press. It is known as the Oxford Lectern Bible and was designed by Bruce Rogers.

J dly, 1937

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Fuel of the Flame of By VANCE HAVNER

God

T HIS cynical, bitter, and disillusioned old world needs to see more often the miracle of a man or woman desperate­ ly in love with Jesus Christ. This sophis­ ticated generation runs all too rarely into the phenomenon of a human torch passionately happy to be the fuel of the Flame of God. Such human firebrands as these sweep through the dead, dull world around them making ordinary Christianity look drearily tame and commonplace. To meet such a soul is like finding a visitor from another planet— as indeed it is meeting an ambassador from another realm, one whose citizenship is in heaven. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth looking for one person who will really consent to burn up for God. We sing about it, jpreach about it, pray about i t ; but few are the reckless souls who actual­ ly will become fools for Christ’s sake, who will love not their lives to the death, and count them not dear, who gladly will fling themselves with holy abandon at the feet of their Lord. We sing: To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, Its shame and reproach gladly bear. But we leave the reproach in the hymn book; to be counted the scum of the earth and the offscouring of all things is too much for us who love all too well to keep up with the Joneses. Ours is a respectable, comfortable faith: we will consent to attend a mission­ ary meeting and listen to some scarred vet­ eran tell of enduring hardness in a distant land. We may even shed a sympathizing tear and contribute gladly to let another per­ form the task. But for you or me to be con­ sumed with the zeal of God’s house until relatives shall grow solicitous about our mental state as did the friends of our Lord, or to stir up the gift of God within us until smoldering coals shall blaze into Heavenly Flame, and Festus complain that we are mad—ah, we much prefer our own comfort. “He is beside himself” (Mk. 3:21). They said it of our Lord. “Thou art beside thy­ self” (Acts 26:24). They said it of Paul. “Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God” (2 Cor. 5:13). They will say it of us if we walk in their steps. (And why shouldn’t we be “beside ourselves” ? We are nothing in ourselves!) There are not two gospels, one for mis­ sionaries and martyrs, the other for those who name the name of Christ but let Him bear the cross alone while they themselves {The author is Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Charleston, S. C.]

go free. In the beginning of the church it was not only the apostles who were beside themselves. That entire first fellowship of saints lived so truly like a colony of heaven, not conformed to the world but transformed, that the world hounded them and branded them as the wildest of fanatics. No wonder they shook the world! Such people have al­ ways been well-nigh irresistible. What can stand before a blood-washed, fire-baptized throng, rejoicing to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ namel O verwhelmed by L ove for C hrist It is possible to know such a consuming love for Jesus Christ that one is lifted to a holy abandon and a heavenly recklessness and is hilariously immune to this world’s fears and fevers. There are few men and women who have not been at some time in their lives so desperately in love with some one that they were beside themselves and often almost irrational in their exhilaration. If the love of man for woman can so intoxicate us, is it not to our everlasting shame that our hearts can be so unresponsive toward Christ Jesus, Lover of our souls? Must He. not stand among us today, grieved at the hardness of our hearts, and say as He did long ago: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” ? If we loved Him desperately, if we loved Him so passionately that all other loves were as hatred, if we loved Him as He deserves to be loved, would not our hearts rise above the circumstances and conditions of this dull world? Have you not seen young lovers so absorbed in each other that they were oblivious to all else? If we loved Him truly, would we not be 'unmindful of most things that concern and worry us now? And yet, have you not noticed also how love makes the lover kindly disposed toward every one except that one who would steal the affec­ tions? If we loved our Lord with the whole heart, we would love all men and hate only him who would break our communion, Satan, the arch-enemy of our souls. We have toned down the first-century Christian fervor because it makes our in­ sipid church life look pitiful in comparison. Scholars have endeavored to establish that the characteristics of those early saints were not meant to be sustained down through the centuries—that the first flaming fervor was a sort of double portion to get the church off to a good start! But who can believe that God meant for His people to begin at a high pitch and then {Continued on page 249]

By FRANK E. GAEBELEIN* Stony Brook, Long Island, N. Y. Illustration by Ransom D. Marvin

G eorge D ouglas tells a story of a young man who was packing his trunk for his first long journey away from home. As a friend stood by, the young man packed one article after the other—his suits, shoes, clothes, books, and finally his tennis racket and balls. There remained just a little space about six inches by four inches. All the rest of the trunk was full. “What are you going to pack there?” asked the friend. “I have reserved this corner,” replied the young man, “to pack a guidebook, a lamp, a looking-glass, a volume of poems, a microscope, a telescope, several fine biogra­ phies, a package of love letters, a book of songs, some histories, a hammer, and a sword. You see, it’s all in the packing. I ’m going to put in that little space the Bible my mother gave me.” Now there is a great truth in this sim­ ple story. The Bible is all of the things the young man enumerated and much more. As the Psalmist said nearly 3,000 years ago, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” So the Bible re­ mains for us Christians today. It is the indispensable guide to life. It is our brief and fullest record of the Lord whom we love and serve. It tells us all the facts we know regarding Him. And therefore for any person, whether he be educated or un­ educated, to try to live without it is utter folly. Yet that is just what many are these days endeavoring to do. Unlike the young man packing his trunk, they take everything for their journey of life except the Bible, the one essential guidebook, the only spirit­ ual lamp and light. We Protestants have a single great spirit-

ual authority—the Bible, God’s written Word. Roman Catholicism claims the double authority of the Church and the Scriptures. But when the Reformation came, Protestantism threw off the yoke of tradi­ tion and the Roman Church. It is thus clear that if Protestantism loses the Bible, it has nothing final, no great spiritual author­ ity left. And the tragedy of the Protes­ tant church today is that this very thing is happening. Protestant America has lost and is losing its Bible. Thousands and thousands of church members are all too ignorant of the full contents of the marvel­ ous Book. To be sure, they may occasion­ ally hear it read in church on Sundays, but as a guide and power in their daily living it retains little place. It is a strange paradox that the most widely circulated book in the world is so little read. On the one hand there are the statistics of the great Bible societies. For instance, the American Bible Society, from 1816 to 1936, printed and circulated 30,- 673,159 copies of complete Bibles and 276,- 371,654 New Testaments and portions of the Bible. No one at all familiar with the facts could deny for a moment that the Bible is far and away the best seller of all books. Yet it remains true that the great majority of literate persons, not only in this country but in the world as well, have lost the Bible as a vital factor in their lives. How can the Protestant church and its individual membership find this Book in a more vital manner? How can Christians, to be more specific, rediscover the Bible? This article will offer three suggestions. They are not original; they have been tried and found effective by Christians through many years. But of them it is certainly true that, if sincerely followed, they are bound to make a difference in one’s per­ sonal, individual grasp of the divine Book.

"The Bible without the Spirit is a sundial by moonlight." — Coleridge.

R eading in L ogical S ections First of all, the Bible may be redis­ covered as a vital force in one’s life by the obvious method of reading it correctly. One of the most convincing proofs of the uniquely divine character of the Book is the fact that for centuries it has survived the most brutal mistreatment any book has had. It is safe to say that no other book has been so consistently read and studied w ith .such utter disregard of its literary form and basic content as has the Bible. Could the work of the modern novelist like H. G. Wells or Willa Cather, or the poetic dram­ atist like Shakespeare, or the lyric poet like Keats, survive being chopped up into small, arbitrary divisions and being read piecemeal as one takes medicine in small, homeopathic doses? Yet that is exactly what a very great many Christians are doing with their Bible. They think that a chapter from the Old Tes­ tament one day, and a few verses from the New Testament the next day, a short Psalm another day, and a bit of a Pauline Epis­ tle the following day, is real Bible reading. What is the result? One has but to examine the Bible of the average church member to see what the result is. Such an examination will reveal that the Book, if it bears marks of any considerable reading, indicates that the reading has been cen­ tered in the Psalms, certain favorite por­ tions of the Gospels, and possibly the Epistles. Where this method has been fol­ lowed, great tracts of the inspired Word of God have remained unexplored and thus unknown.

* Headmaster, The Stony Brook School.

July, 1937

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The secret of effective reading and study of the Bible lies in the simple principle of reading it in logical units. The challenge cannot be too often made to Christians really to read the Word of God by books or, in the case of the longer books, in logical units of a number of chapters at a time. If one’s Bible reading has begun to lose interest, the remedy is to make a covenant with God daily to read over at a single sit­ ting one of the shorter books, such as I John or 2 Peter, each day for a week. Such consecutive reading in logical units will, if prayerfully followed, open up the real meaning of the Word in a marvelous way. After all, no sensible person would begin to read a great novel near the end, then, after sampling a few pages, skip to the beginning, only to go to the middle and then to the end again. Why then should such an illogical method be followed in reading the greatest of all books? T esting the C laims F airly The second suggestion for rediscovering the Bible in a living way is to approach it fairly and to make a scientific test of its claims. Now it is perfectly true that many modern men tell us that it is impossible any longer to believe the Bible. “In this twentieth century,” they say, “the Bible is hopelessly unscientific and impossibly be­ hind the times. It may be fine literature, but for historical accuracy and philosophi­ cal truth it must be relegated to the junk pile of outworn ideas and ancient categories of thought.” But an intelligent Christian does not need to be greatly troubled by such statements. He knows that it is quite pos­ sible to be up-to-date and still to believe the Bible. Of course, it is not a textbook of science; it was not, as the aphorism attributed to Galileo states, given to tell us how the heavens go, but to tell us how to go to heaven. On the other hand, how­ ever, when it speaks on any matter, even a matter of scientific fact and historical truth, though its form of expression may be poetic, it nevertheless speaks with com­ plete correctness. No open-eyed observer of modern archeology and Biblical scholarship can fail to admit that the last ten years have witnessed scores of discoveries that have simply overthrown the very founda­ tion of destructive higher criticism of God’s Word. It is of highest importance to approach the Bible with an open mind and the scien­ tific attitude. One of the best illustrations of this truth comes from the life of George J. Romanes, the famous British zoologist and contemporary of Charles Darwin. Ro­ manes was led through his scientific studies to a loss of faith in Christianity. But he regained his faith through being confronted with that great statement of the Lord Jesus recorded in John 7:17: “If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself” (R. V.). Now Romanes was a true scientist, and he therefore ap­ preciated the scientific method of experi­ ment. He realized that our Lord’s state­ ment was a challenge to apply that method in the spiritual realm. He took John 7:17

at its face value, subordinated his own will to God’s will, and rediscovered his faith and his God. But there are those who make capital of difficulties and apparent discrepancies in the Bible. A delightful story of a shrewd worldly agnostic and a Christian minister contains a helpful lesson along this line. The agnostic and the minister happened to be seated at the same table in a dining car. They were eating the fish course at din­ ner—shad, a fish of delicious taste but notorious for the overdevelopment of its bony structure. Eyeing his companion, the agnostic remarked, “I judge you are a clergyman, Sir.” “Quite right,” replied the minister. “I am in my Master’s service.” “Well, you look it,” said the agnostic. “Find a good many things in the old Book you don’t understand, don’t you?” “Yes,” answered the minister, “there are a number of things in the Bible I don’t understand.” “Well, what do you do then?” quizzed the agnostic. HAVE FAITH IN G O D By IONE LOWMAN Have faith in God! We've heard it said a thousand times. Yes, oft to doubting, troubled souls This message we've repeated. And in our own distress

great question of the ages, “What think you of Christ?”

C oming in the L ight of the S pirit And this brings us to the third sugges­ tion for rediscovering the Bible. That sug­ gestion is really a requirement, the great­ est single requirement for understanding God’s Word. It is a requirement without which all manner of education, the most burning zeal, and most indefatigable in­ terest, are of no permanent value. The Bible is certainly rediscovered when one comes to it in the light of the Spirit of Christ. Coleridge put this truth in a won­ derful sentence: “The Bible without the Spirit is a sundial by moonlight.” Now a sundial may be a very beautiful and roman­ tic sight in a moonlight garden, particularly when a pair of lovers use it for their ren­ dezvous. But it can never fulfill its pri­ mary function of telling time by even the brightest moonlight. So it is with the Bible. One may read it in the moonlight of liter­ ary appreciation and yet entirely miss its central purpose. One may place it under the searchlight of historical criticism and fail to grasp the heart of its message. It has one great purpose, and that purpose is to re­ veal the fact that “God was in Christ, re­ conciling the world unto himself.” Paul gives clear utterance to this essential re­ quirement for rediscovering the Bible in 1 Corinthians 2:14: “The natural [unre­ generate] man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for . . . they are spirit­ ually discerned.” In other words, the pri­ mary qualification for the true and vital apprehension of God’s Word is the illum­ ination of the Holy Spirit. Only in the light of the Sun of Righteousness can the Bible be understood. Now the New Testament is crystal clear as to just how this qualification is obtained. There is, for instance, that familiar but inexhaustible interview of our Lord re­ corded in John 3. Christ was speaking to the man who was perhaps the most highly educated of His early followers, Nicode- mus, a member of the Judean intelligentsia. And He told Nicodemus that the only way to see the kingdom of God is by being born again. Similarly the only way really to understand the Bible and its message is through finding the Person who is its Theme. Through Him alone can the Book really be understood. As Robert Murray McCheyne, that saintly Scotch preacher, said, “When you are reading your book in the dark and you come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.” Are you doing that? Are you reading your Bible daily in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ and under the guidance of His Spirit? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” applies’ just as much to the treasures of that written Word which is Truth as it does to the life after death. Are you trying to do the impossible in reading God’s sundial by moonlight, or are you coming to the Book in the light of Him who declared, “I am the light of the world” ?

Have then forgotten That He is faithful, And His Word is sure. O soul of minel Abjure the tempter. Say unto him and to thyself,

That "it is Written." "The God we serve Is able to deliver," And from this trial He will yet deliver us. So will we wait, and trust, and serve By faith in God!

Quietly the clergyman replied, “Why, I simply do just as we do when eating this delicious fish. You see, if I come to a bone, I quietly lay it aside, and go on enjoying the fish, and let some fool insist on chok­ ing himself with the bones.” So it is with difficulties in the Bible. Of course God’s Book contains things hard for man to understand. But there is a common- sense way of meeting , those difficulties. After all, it is not so much the questions we have about the Bible that are most im­ portant, as it is the questions that the Bible asks us. To any one who reads it with an open mind and a humble spirit, the Bible has some very searching things to say. It asks probing questions about one’s life, one’s relation with his neighbor, with his family, and with his God. It holds before his eyes the divine standard, and it convicts him of sin. Above all, it puts to the individual with an insistency that cannot be denied the

July, 1937

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The Old Serpent Crawls On

By LOUIS S. BAUM AN * Long Beach, California

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I N that long ago, the Master sat upon the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to Him and said: “Tell us . . . what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:3). And to them, the sons of Jacob, He gave numerous signs that would herald His return to earth. Among those signs was this: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matt. 24:9). Perhaps never since Gentile dominion has been divided among the nations, has the Jew been so universally hated—“hated of all nations”—as he is today. T he V iper of A nti -S emitism C rawls U nmolested in G ermany That anti-Semitism has been given the status of a political religion by the German government, and that this spirit has im­ pregnated all central Europe until the sor­ rows of Israel have become a tragedy of first magnitude, is a matter of common knowledge. Relentless persecution of all in whose veins flows the blood of Jacob, is the order of the day. Economic ruin now is being expedited through a denial of supplies to retailers. In one Bavarian town, according to a very reliable report given to The American Jewish Committee of New York: “Local Jews receive no attention whatever from laborers or trades­ men. No meat, bread, vegetables, or milk is supplied them, not even for children. A merchant who had been doing business with a Jewish neighbor was branded as ‘a Jewish slave’ in a handbill entitled ‘To the Pillory,’ which warned the public against him.” S omething upon W hich A mericans S hould T hink Lately, a far-reaching change has taken place in the administration of justice in Germany. The Supreme Court of the Reich, the last stronghold for fair play in G er­ many, has succumbed to the edict of GenT eral Goering, who declares that justice itself must be guided solely by the interests of the State. All of this is" merely the echo of the declaration of Krylenko, Soviet Com­ missar for Justice: “Every judge must re­ member that his decisions are intended to promote nothing but the prevailing policy of the State." Under this doctrine, the Supreme Court of the Reich is merely an adjunct to the political party, and its justice is no longer justice, but judgments dictated wholly by political motives. So biased are its decisions that the Jews realize that there is no legal protection whatever for them *Pastor, First Brethren Church.

at best, holds a rather tottery position. They have reason to believe that nothing but this temporal protection keeps them from being rounded up and plunged for an indefinite time into the dungeonlike prisons of France. No wonder their hearts are filled with torturous fears! “E valuation ” “Evacuation” is the name for the only political policy touching the Jews that most of these nations know. It is rife especially in Poland and Germany. But where are these unwanted legions of Jews to go if they “evacuate” ? The Western world has practically closed its doors to these multi­ tudes. They look to Palestine as their only hope. But on January 12 of this year, the Mufti of Jerusalem, together with Jamal Bey Husseini (his kinsman), and Auni Bey Abdul Hadi (envoy of the Higher Arab Council to Baghdad and Riyadh), went before the Royal Commission from England, and demanded the abrogation of the Man­ date, and a treaty withf Great Britain whereby full national independence shall be granted to Palestine, similar to that ob­ tained by Iraq and Syria. If their demand should be granted, of the 410,000 Jews now in Palestine, those not of Palestinian origin would be deported back to the lands of their origin. All Jewish immigration would be stopped, and the sale of all land to Jews would be prohibited. And nothing but the arm of the Briton stands in the way of this Arab program. Should that arm give way, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7) will surely have come. What would result can best be understood when we know that recently, about one hundred Jews returning to Germany after an unsuccessful attempt to settle in other lands, were put into con­ centration camps! T he T rail of the S lime E nters “T he L and of the F ree ” Not long ago, a confidential report was sent out by one of the great business sur­ vey agencies in Washington. It was filled with anti-Semitism, and gave confidential information of an anti-Semitic campaign in the United States. This spirit already has begun to show itself. While the writer was holding a Bible conference several weeks ago in a city in Pennsylvania, a great parade of anti-Semitic “Shirts and Sheets” drew a vast throng of people, and the threat to American Jewry was unmistakable. From the magazine, The Chosen People, we read:

in Germany. America at this moment needs to meditate deeply upon this deplorable perversion of justice. T he A nti -S emitic V iper S limes I ts W ay T hrough P oland The largest population of Jews in any country in the world, outside the United States, is in Poland. Three million of the sons and daughters of Jacob live there, fully one-third of whom anti-Semitism has deprived of any visible means of sub­ sistence. A Jew in Poland can hardly open his lips without being attacked for “insult­ ing thé Polish" nation.” A program of pogroms is under way there, in which Jews are wounded, beaten, killed, and their shops and homes are wrecked and burned. Jews frequently are ejected forcefully from cafes and restaurants. They are entirely driven out of certain towns and villages. For political reasons, Premier Felicien Slawoj-Skladkowski, in a speech before the Sejm, publicly deprecated these excesses; but the hearts of the Jews were not quieted by his apologies, when he, in official capac­ ity before the Sejm, said: "The economic struggle against the Jews is O. K.— but no violence!” The Jews say: “If a Polish Hitler should arise, there will be little work left for him to do.” T he O verflow of H itlerism into O ther C ountries Whither may the Jew flee? The same cruel hatred that makes his life in Ger­ many and Poland unbearable is manifest­ ing itself in other lands. In Spain, a second expulsion of Jews has been promised by the Spanish Fascists, if their war on the Popu­ lar Front Government succeeds. Spanish Fascists forced the Jewish community of Tetuan, Morocco, to pay them $50,000. Well-to-do Jews were forced to pawn their property to meet the demand. The sudden emergence of anti-Semitism in Portugal has created an agonizing sur­ prise. Leaders of Portuguese Jewry re­ cently presented to Dr. Oliveira Salazar, the Premier, a solemn protest against the defamation of the Jews in the Portuguese press. There are 25,000 German Jew refugees in France. Of these, 800 were formerly professors in German universities; 4,000 were former lawyers and judges in the courts of Germany; 8,000 of them were qualified physicians in Germany. They are not allowed to engage in any gainful occu­ pation in France. They are doomed to wander about hopelessly with a despair that almost beggars description. They know that they are living illegally in Paris, and are only tolerated because of the sympathy of the Jewish Premier, Leon Blum, who,

“Terror strikes at the heart when one reads in the newspapers that the Black Legion of Detroit, mem­ bers of which have been on trial for criminal charges these past few months, and recently convicted, had

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Jews—a subtle political stroke—and this “covenant” shall be confirmed for “one week” of years (Dan. 9:26, 27). Secondly, the great prophecy in Daniel 11:36-45 (when “the king of the south” shall be compelled to start the war in Egypt that can only end in Armageddon) will enter the era of its fulfillment. “The king of the south” of Daniel’s prophecy—who may he be? Prophecy, as it touches the territories of earth, always clusters around “the navel of the earth” (Ezek. 38:12, R. V. margin)—Palestine. What king is there who in these significant years of our age may properly bear the prophetic title, “the king of the south” ? There is but one! All the way from thè North Sea to the China Sea, in a great arc south of Jeru­ salem —Gibraltar, Egypt, the Suez Canal, India, Burma, Hongkong—it is the pathway of Britain—British possession or British influence practically every step of the way. Verily, "what momentous days are these! Saints of God, one and all—earthly seed and heavenly seed—look up! Lift up your heads! This is no time for despondency.' Your redemption draweth nigh (Lk. 21:28). O Israel ! Israel according to the flesh ! As “among these nations” you discover today that “thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest” ; as “among these nations” verily you have “a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind ; ai)d [as] thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: [As] in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morn­ ing!” —O Israel, could you, too, only be­ lieve! In believing, your weeping would be turned to a joy that no pangs from the fangs of the Serpent could ever destroy! Israel, O Israel ! Wilt thou not believe?, A Christian State Camp “He was crazy! If he had kept his eyes open, he never would have been caught.” “This is what he should have done . . .” “Any one can get away from the G-men. They’re just a lot of sissies.” Thus the conversation went on. The time was an early-summer afternoon in 1936. The speakers were five high-school boys, full of life and vigor—average young Americans of the kind who might be found in any city or town. They were standing on a sidewalk in Boone, Iowa, and J. W. Woodward, a young minister in that city who at the time was sitting in his parked automobile, overheard their talk. The boys were discussing the capture, by gov­ ernment agents, of a certain “public enemy.” It was evident that the sympathy of the boys was with the criminal and against the forces of law and order. Mr. Woodward began to ask himself: “What is being done to win these five boys—and other boys and girls of similar age and circumstances—to the Lord Jesus Christ?” He realized that every June the public schools of the nation dismiss thou- \Continued on page 285]

subversive . and above all, anti­ fascist Hebrewism and give to their manifestations a character simply and sincerely religious, or renounce their Italian citizenship and resi­ dence.’ ”

actually planned to put poison in the milk bottles that were to be delivered to Jewish homes in De­ troit, and thus exterminate the Jews. This was part of the Legion’s ‘purifying America’ program. It is a fair sample of what the propa­ ganda of Jew hate is trying to ac­ complish in this country among the ignorant and the bigoted. May God have mercy upon those who are taking part in such propaganda.”

The Popolo d’ltalia is the principal Fascist journal of Italy. It was founded by Mussolini, and is now directed by his nephew, V. Mussolini. Now, any one who reads those words and knows the Jews and also knows Mussolini, knows that serious trouble is ahead. Nebuchadnezzar’s image is not far away from that point; and its number is “666” (Rev. 13:15-18). Israel has many times before been asked to give up his ages-old dream or “leave the empire.” He will “leave the empire” if he can. If he cannot, he will die for the dream in the

Yes, “May God have mercy” ! For an un­ conditional promise, made by the covenant­ keeping God with Abraham and his chil­ dren, still stands: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (Gen. 12:3)! T he F reshest and M ost U nexpected T rail of A nti -S emitic S lime And now we are coming to something interesting! Old Beady Eye once more coils, shoots forth his forked tongue, and upon the streets of Rome hisses his hate at the children of the covenants of God. Even as we write, the wires are bearing the news of his sudden reappearance on the streets of Rome. Events of tremendous interest to every close student of events in the light of the “sure word of prophecy” rush in upon us so fast these days, that it is no easy task to try to keep up with the rush! The morn­ ing paper reads: “Rome, May 25 (AP).—Premier Mussolini’s Milan newspaper asked Jews today to give whole-hearted support to Fascism or. to leave the country, and to cease criticism of Germany. The choice appeared to be one between' race and country. Editorial writer Oreste Gregorio wrote in Mussolini’s Popolo d’ltalia that Jews must decide ‘whether they are Jews in Italy or Jews of Italy.’ The editorial emphasized that Italian Jews must give up any opposition to the German Nazi principle of a pure Teutonic race (evidenced by many restrictions upon Jews in Germany) and must abandon any participation in the Zionist movement for a national Jewish home in Palestine . . . “Support of the Zionist move­ ment would be ‘in definite opposi- ■ tion to the Mediterranean spirit of Italy1 because, the newspaper said, the natio'nal home project is de­ signed to set up a new state under British control which would be hos­ tile to Arabs and Moslems. (Mus­ solini has proclaimed his firm friendship for the people of Islam.) “Despite the strong tenor of the editorial, there was a definite in­ dication that Mussolini’s declared policy of friendship and justice for the Jews would be continued . . . “But the paper said: ‘The Hebrews of Italy face a dilemma which up to now they have ignored. . . “ ‘Either they must publicly de­ clare themselves enemies—we mean enemies—of international, masonic,

BOYS WILL HAVE FUN

Long Beach Press-Telegram. Recent signs of anti-Semitism in Spain and in Italy are of special interest to students of Bible prophecy. The accompanying article discusses the bitterness toward Israel in the nations today and the danger ahead for Jewry if the British Lion's power should be broken in Palestine. empire. The dreamer of Zion and the dreamer of “resurrected Empire on the hills of Rome” are dreamers of two different dreams. Even nowwould be a good time for Israel to turn to a prophet he has hitherto rejected, and read and heed:“Comi out of her, my people, that ye be not par­ takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Rev. 18:4, 5). “W hat S hall B e the E nd of T hese T hings ” In the meantime, has not the tail of the old British Lion been given one more awful twist ? One cannot help but cry out with Daniel : “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” (Dan. 12:8). And only Daniel’s Lord can know. And He does know. And to His own He has spoken. In view of the written revelation from the God of Daniel, we venture two possi­ bilities within events human and divine, for the very near future. First, as a result of this latest determina­ tion of Roman prince, whoever he at the time may be, there will be drawn up a very satisfactory agreement between him and thè

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AROUND THE KING’S TABLE [Continued from page 242]

set before us the conditions of revival: “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I sent pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will for­ give their sin, and will heal their land.” Are we willing to humble ourselves? Are we willing to pray and seek the face of the Lord? God has promised that if we will meet these requirements, He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. A particularly impressive cartoon ap­ peared in the Sunday School Times some years ago. The title of it was “Uncle Sam at the Mourner’s Bench.” Uncle Sam was kneeling, tears were streaming down his cheeks, and he was crying out: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” This striking car­ toon was presented to a group of business men at a breakfast club in Seattle. One man said: “I’ll give fifty dollars to re­ produce it and have it sent throughout the city.” Other men made similar offers, and after a time they had enough money for the printing of 60,000 copies of this drawing. It was distributed throughout the city of Seattle, and in thousands of homes it was hanging in a window or on the wall. It was a constant reminder of the fact that the need of the hour was for repentance. Yes, Uncle Sam needs to go the mourner’s bench. But who is Uncle Sam? He is the composite picture of the republic and all of its citizens. It is you and I that must re­ pent of sin and turn to God in faith, cry­ ing out to Him for mercy for ourselves and the nation of which we are a part. Shall we not give God a chance! John Laurence Frost John Laurence Frost has been in heaven for two years, but his remarkable Chris­ tian influence here on earth is still going on in the lives that he touched and the me­ morials that have been established by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Frost. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them” (Rev. 14:13). In reading a beautiful tribute to John Laurence Frost written by his intimate friend, John Abernathy, we were impressed by the description of the characteristics of our young brother whose works do indeed follow him. Though he was called Home a few months before the completion of his course at Leland Stanford University, he had crowded into his years of preparation a fullness of service for Christ that few attain. He was steadfast and unmovable in his convictions, and lived a consistent Chris­ tian life during his university career. “He did not go away to the university with the expectation of concealing the fact that he was a Christian,” writes his friend. He had fellowship with the Lord in prayer day by day and witnessed for Christ to his [Continued on page 286]

for the life to come, and that the state­ ment of our Lord, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33), is true to experience. Give God a chance in the realm of soul- winning. We cannot accomplish the Lord’s work in our own strength. It is His own Word, not our words, that gives life. We must wield the Sword of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit if we are to win victories for our Lord. We are in a world that is alienated from God. Men’s hearts have been made hard by the deceitfulness of sin, and nothing but the omnipotent power of God working in and through yielded lives will avail. The spirit of the age is against us. Satan is a powerful and ubi­ quitous foe. It is only our risen and all- powerful Lord that can cope with the situation. But our Lord manifests Himself through redeemed human lives, and we are His witnesses. Only as we allow the Lord to work in us “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” will there be results for eternity. Men are dying; souls are perish­ ing. God is looking for men and women that He can use in rescuing the perishing, leading people to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Have you won a soul lately? Have you spoken to any one about the Lord Jesus? Will there be many in eternity who will thank you for leading them to Christ? Give God a chance in the realm of spirituality. “Launch out into the deep” is the divine injunction. Too many of us hug the shore. Like the man who was rowing with­ out making any progress because the boat was chained to the dock, so we often re­ main chained to a man-made program, in­ stead of launching out into the deep. “If God is your partner,” said D. L. Moody to

his son, “make your plans big.” Is God really your partner? Are you deeply spirit­ ual, or are you only a nominal Christian? Is your life consistent and transparent? Are you spiritually minded? Do you have in­ sight into the Word of God? Do men take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus? Are you like Christ? Are you wholly surrendered? Have you whole-heartedly offered this prayer of con­ secration ? “Take my voice, and let me sing, Always, only for my King; ' “God is looking for a man,” said Moody, “to whom He can intrust more power than He has as yet given to any man.” Can God trust you with power ? Would you use it to His glory? Have you found God’s best program for your life, and are you living it out? Is everything on the altar? Have you said an eternal “Yes” to God ? Can you say with General Booth, “God has all there is of me” ? Give God a chance in the realm of re­ vival. Finney said that any community could have a revival if God’s people in that community were willing to meet the con­ ditions for it. We are dependent upon God, but there is a sense in which God is. de­ pendent upon us. We recognize the sov- ereinty of God, but we need also to recog­ nize the responsibility of man. Can it be true that we, the children of the dust, can hinder God? We read in Matthew 13:58: “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” The citizens of Nazareth frustrated the purposes of our blessed Lord by their skepticism and doubt. In 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14, our God has Take my silver and my gold; Not a mite would I withhold.” Yes, “Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.”

THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS How shall America face the present crisis with its widespread unrest? Are we willing to humble ourselves and pray? At the first Congress, opening in September of 1774 in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., the leaders who were assembled recognized the rulership of God, and they sought in prayer His guidance and, blessing. This picture is taken from the original painting in Carpenter's Hall and is copyrighted by the Carpenter's Company.