Where are you going, Greatheart? by JOHN OXENHAM W HERE are you going, Greatheart, With your eager face and your fiery grace? Where are you going, Greatheart? "To fight a fight with all my might, For Truth and Justice, God and Right, To grace all life with His fair Light." Then God go with you, Greatheart! Where are you going, Greatheart? "To beard the Devil in his den; To smite him with the strength of ten; To set at large the souls of men." Then God go with you, Greatheart! Where are you going, Greatheart? "To cleanse the earth of noisome things; To draw from life its poisoned stings; To give free play to Freedom's wings." Then God go with you, Greatheart! Where are you going, Greatheart? "To lift Today above the Past; To make Tomorrow sure and fast; To nail God's colours to the mast." Then God go with you, Greatheart! Where are you going, Greatheart? "To break down old dividing lines; To carry out my Lord's designs; To build again His broken shrines." Then God go with you, Greatheart! Where are you going, Greatheart? "To set all burdened peoples free; To win for all God's liberty; To 'stablish His sweet sovereignty." God goeth with you, Greatheart! THE BIBLE and OUR, TIME S A FAMILY JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN LIVING DEDICATED TO THE PROCLAMATION OF THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL. PRESENTING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD AND JESUS CHRIST AS OUR ALL-SUFFICIENT SAVIOUR AND COMING KING EDITOR RAYMOND D. VINE ASSISTANT EDITOR ART DIRECTOR DONALD P. McCLURE C. M. HUBERT COWEN FORWARD CIRCULATION MANAGER GENERAL MANAGER E. L. SOUTHEY W J. NEWMAN VOLUME 84/1 � JANUARY, 1968 PRICE 1 /6 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE STANBOROUGH PRESS LIMITED ALMA PARK • GRANTHAM • LINCOLNSHIRE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, including postage 23/6 • SIX MONTHS 11/9 Please notify change of address promptly T HE noble old-timer, bearded and benign, was well into his tenth decade and still going strong. At 92 he had replaced his thirty-year-old Morris Cowley with a spritely new Minor, so that he could continue distributing OUR TIMES to his hundreds of friends. For him the conven- tional "chimney corner" where he could moodily meditate on the "good old days," had no attraction at all. True, his memory reached back with vivid clarity to events and personalities, as we often proved when chatting with him. But the focus of his thinking was always forward—he had faith in the future, faith in the assurance of an overruling Providence, faith in the fulfilment of the oft repeated promise of an ultimate Heaven on Earth. 23 26 27 28 28 OTHER FEATURES NEWS AND VIEWS � 7 BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED � Charles D. Utt � 9 BIBLE STUDY: Ecumenism In Prophecy � R. H. Libby � 31 WHERE ARE YOU GOING, GREATHEART? � John Oxenham � 2 TEST YOUR "WORD" POWER � R. H. Utt � 10 Robert G. Natiuk � 32 Ronald James 33 34 CONTENTS EDITORIAL THE ULTIMATE QUESTION � A CANON MISFIRES � GENERAL ARTICLES THE YEAR IS GOING, LET IT GO A. J. Woodfield, M.A., Ph.D. (Lond.) "IT WORKS" � Bob Jones WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE? . . �A. Graham Maxwell, Ph.D. CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IN A SCIENTIFIC Designed for Flight � H. W. Clark, M.A., Ph.D. AF"INDANT POWER FOR THE NEW AGE . �Donald P. McClure INDIA � John R. Lewis HOW UNITY MAY COME � W. L. Emmerson A DOCTOR'S VIEWPOINT . . . � Dr. L. G. White, L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. PARABLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The Heavenly Twins � J A. McMillan THINKING ALOUD � Major George Herbert, M.B.E. HISTORY OF THE LORD'S DAY—Beginnings � Leslie Shaw SUCCESS STORY � Arthur C. Vine WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? � . E. W. Mader, M.A., M.Th. CHILDREN'S PAGES GOD CAN SEE IN THE DARK CHERRY TREE FARM � SUNBEAMS' CORNER � 3 He had a paternal habit of clutching one's shoulder or jacket lapel, looking one straight in the eye, and hoarsely but earnestly 4 � reciting some inspirational passage of 5 � scripture or devotional writing which centred on the glories of Christ's second coming. His lean old body harboured a gay and youthful spirit—youthful because of his 6 � consistently forward look. For him, years and events were simply milestones en 11 � route to the heavenly home. He remembered the one character Christ 13 � admonished everyone to remember. In the 15 � midst of his prophecies of the end of the 16 � world and His second advent Jesus said: 18 � "Remember Lot's wife." Luke 17:32. This 22 �1 � was because she looked backward instead of forward, and for doing so, she was petrified on the plain of Sodom. (Genesis 19.) The apostle Paul had the right idea: "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14. So, in a way, did the poet Robert Browning: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be— The last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in His hand Who said: "A whole I've planned," Youth shows but half; trust God; see all, nor be afraid." . � . AGE BY THE EDITOR DISCERNING THE TIMES... CURRENT EVENTS IN THE LIGHT OF THE BIBLE THE ULTIMATE QUESTION T HE United Nations' "Dossier of Death" presented by the Secretary-General U. Thant last October is sobering in the extreme. No nightmare fantasy could outstrip it for sheer blood-curdling horror. Endorsed by such top level experts as Britain's Sir Solly Zuckerman and Russia's Dr. Vasily Emelyanov, the report frankly presented a picture of the world's nuclear potential as it actually now stands. We quote: "The arms race between the United States and the U.S.S.R. alone has resulted in the production of weapons whose cumulative destructive power is certainly more than sufficient to eliminate all mankind." It is estimated that twenty bombs each of 20-megatons could finish Britain. It is known that one such bomb would make a crater 170 yards deep and half a mile in diameter. Yet even such bombs are pygmies compared with the 50-megaton bomb which has already been exploded. The report says that "nuclear weapons constitute one of the dominant facts of modern world politics," and reveals that thousands of them are at the moment deployed by the nuclear weapon powers—the giants, Russia and America, followed by Britain, France, and China. The report realistically adds that "the risk of nuclear war remains as long as there are nuclear weapons." Of course, the very horror of the prospect is a deterrent against the This fantastic photograph of the world was taken at a height of 214,806 miles by America's satellite Lunar Orbiter V. The picture shows clear outlines of Africa's east coast. Outlines of the Mediterr � region can be clearly seen. The picture proves that the world is round, unleashing of nuclear war; yet is the theory held by Chinese leaders that "after a nuclear showdown there could be enough survivors among the 700 million Chinese to enable them to inherit the world—or what was left of it." No wonder there are frightened men among the world's leaders. No wonder many are pressing not simply for non-proliferation or severe limit- ation of weapons, but for complete disarmament. Yet none but an eternal optimist has any hope that such will be achieved. Regrettably China, which embraces a quarter of the world's population, is not one of the 122 member-nations of the United Nations. Egged on by the philosophy of her new "Bible" The Thoughts of Mao, it is certain that she will accelerate her efforts 4 to build a nuclear arsenal—not just for fun or prestige, but as a means of ultimately achieving world domination. What a world to be in ! Its "explosive" possibilities make the bravest blanch. How can anyone be really happy at such a time ! Only the Bible-loving Christian has the genuine answer. First, he knows that the nerve- racking mess into which the human race has slumped, is the very condition Bible prophecy described in its picture of the world's last days before Christ's second coming. His trust in the Bible and its promises is enriched and deepened by the very conditions which are making security —as it is generally conceived—a tantalizing will-o-the-wisp. For the Christian knows that Christ Himself said of the last days that "men's hearts" would be "failing them for fear." Luke 21:26. His conviction and inner peace are further enhanced by Paul's inspired assurance that "in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1. He knows therefore, that in terms of earth's closing chapter we have "arrived"; that "this is it"; that right now is the time, as Jesus admonished, to "look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:27. And he is happy and buoyant because of the multiplying evidences that his Bible is absolutely true and uniquely inspired. U. Thant's report declared: "The ultimate question for the world to decide in our nuclear age—and this applies both to nuclear and non- nuclear powers—is what short term interests it is prepared to sacrifice in exchange for an assurance of survival and security." Precisely what U. Thant envisages can be easily conjectured. Certainly he would advocate that nuclear stockpiles be dismantled, and that the nuclear arms race be abandoned. Yet we are still left with the fever and ferment of selfish hearts, of strident nationalism, and of clashing ideologies. Christians know the answer to the "ultimate question." They know that it is simple and practical, they also know that it is the only answer. It is that of complete submission to God; of sincere, and wholehearted response to Christ's appeal: "Come unto Me, all whose work is hard, whose load is heavy; and I will give you relief." Matthew 11:28, N.E.B. On the basis of Bible prophecy, we know that no permanent safety or security will ever be achieved for the world generally until the day of Christ's second advent, and the time when Ile shall "make all things new." Revelation 2f1:5. At that time the present joys of the Bible-loving Christian will mature into a state of unending and un- blemished bliss. Then he shall have "everlasting joy." he "shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isaiah 315:110. A CANON MISFIRES D EPARTURE from the basic teachings of the Bible is another of the great signs of our times. Reported in The Times recently was the statement by Canon J. Pearce Higgins, Chairman of the Modern Churchman's Union, in which he rejected the fundamental doctrines of death, judgment, heaven, and hell—known among theologians as eschatology [the study of "last things"). Said the Canon: "Eschatology gives me the willies. Yes sirs—the willies. I cannot understand what it means. . . . If this is the way God works in history, what is the difference from that which we read in Grimm's fairy tales?" In his renunciation of the truth of God, the Canon is making a sig- nificant contribution to the fulfilment of the apostle Paul's inspired pre- diction. In the last days, he wrote, men "shall turn away their ears from the truth." 2 Timothy 4:4. Another prophecy speaks of "scoffers" in the last days, who repudiate the truth of the second advent and the final judgment. (2 Peter 3:3,4.) The Canon, as an ordained "watchman" of the Church is morally obliged to proclaim the very things he repudiates. The Bible has a graphic picture of those who fail to sound the warning and admonitory message that is vital for our times. Such failure is bound to imperil all whd put confidence in them. The prophecy of Isaiah says: "His watchmen are blind: ... they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; ..." Isaiah 56:10. Instead of belittling the prophetic word, the fact of sin, and final judg- ment, of heaven and hell, the Canon together with all ministers of God should right now be proclaiming with trumpet clarity: "Prepare to meet your God, for the day of final reckoning is almost here." "Willies" or not, the coming day of the Lord, when the returning King of the Universe will "reward every man according as his work shall be," is an event which Is both Inescapable and Imminent. 5 6 Let us thank God that the old year has joined the past 6,000 or more relics of blasted hope and tolled endeavour that we proudly call human history. The future Is brilliant with the prospect of better than the best we can Imagine. by A. J. WOODFIELD, M.A., Ph.D. (Lond.) he is right. People had death on the brain before. In the seventeenth century they used to have their por- traits painted with a hand resting on a skull and sur- rounded their engravings with scythes and hour glasses and all the other symbols they could think up for mortality. They even used to give one another jolly little death mementos, real skull and cross-bone affairs, macabre kinds of birthday and Christmas cards. Go into St. Paul's and in the south choir aisle you can see one of its former deans peeping out of his The year is going- N INETEEN-sixty-seven is dead and gone. Not long ago the old year threw up another craze. Skeletons began popping up in advertise- ments behind well-dressed men, and others began to dangle in the rear windows of cars. Eugene Ionesco wrote: "Let us unloose the vital bonds and cultivate the yearning for death." Somebody else's enthusiasm carried him away into calling the interest in death the new pornography. On his ninetieth birthday Somerset Maugham exclaimed: "There are moments when I have so palpitating an eagerness for death that I could fly to it as' to the arms of a lover." John Crosby, columnist in The Observer, called all this a fad and predicted that it would pass. Perhaps marble shroud. He actually posed like that for the picture from which the memorial was made. He would strip off his clothes, mount his funeral urn, and wind his shroud deliciously around him, and compose him- self as if he were in his coffin. And the poet Keats confessed: Many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Ca1I'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme. They cling to life But very few really want the object of their yearn- ings. Crosby shrewdly remarked that he had never known a time when old men clung to life more than now. From Pope Pius XII to Charlie Chaplin they have been shuffling off to Switzerland to a modern dispenser of eternal youth for the sheep-foetus injec- tions he uses to patch-up their tattered tissues. Meanwhile psychiatrists and psychologists haggle over whether a doctor should tell a patient when he is going to die. Eighty-three per cent of those at the end of the road say they would like to have time "to live with the idea and to learn to die." But most doctors stoutly prefer to let them lurch out into the darkness without warning. What a mad lot of mortals we are these days! Life has become so boring and pointless that the fit and strong tickle it up in dilettante fashion mooning about a death that they smugly think happens to everybody but themselves, while the medical men fight shy of telling the doomed that their last caller is at the door. The new pornography, as our columnist called it, sounds all right on paper, but most would opt for the soft names and a near escape from the bony arms of their last lover. Why die? Have you ever wondered why men have to die at all? The fit and well do not consider death to be as natural as being born, growing up, and falling in love. There they would like to stop. That is why they fight shy of it. To lavish love and treasure on beautiful chil- dren destined only to wither at last into hideous corpses seems so pointless, so out of joint. What sense is there in slogging away the best years of your life paying off a house mortgage to spend your last doting years in a rent-free wait for the local undertaker? Why burn ourselves out—as generation after generation does—to build a brave new world we shall never enjoy and that our children will have only for a moment. Were we all born merely to die? If we were, why do we, as long as we are sane, shudder deep down inside at the thought of eternal night? Is the miracle of life just a tantalising trick in extremely bad taste played by a callous God on mortals who cannot for the life of them see the joke? LET IT GO The whole idea is unthinkable. Nothing in the w or 1 d is without purpose—certainly not its most astonishing wonder—life. Millions of happy, well- adjusted men and women can give a good answer to the problem of mortality. They learned it where the doughty Saul of Tarsus did, and after he learned the truth not even the Roman headsman could depress him. When the whisper from beyond came to Paul's inspired ears, they heard no more passing bells. They thrilled to the music of a trumpet. "We shall not all sleep," he cried out, "but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- corruptible." 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52. Unmarred life beyond So there is something beyond the end of years, and it is life unmarred by mutability. The grand purpose then of this brief life is to get used to the music that shall rejoice over the next, to listen for bells that will ring in the new year that will never grow old. To make sure that our children—and the man next door— know about this saving destiny. To get news of this round the world as quickly as we can, for all humanity is tired of time-counting, of sighing over vanishing or lost youth, of shuddering at the touch of old age. I like therefore to read of those trumpets of Paul. Neither the passage of time nor vulgar godlessness can muffle their clearness. How Paul must have shivered with excitement as he wrote about them. But how shall we feel when they shrill in our ears and we see the dead rise from their long sleep and the King of kings catch up His elect? Only scoffers then will have red faces and sick hearts. Who cares that 1967 is gone and that after a few brief days of new year excitement and hope, 1968 will grow ordinary and fade away at last as another set of new year bells jangle out? Let us thank God that the old has joined the other six thousand or more relics of blasted hope and foiled endeavour that we proudly call human history. Nor let us be concerned that the remnant of our three- score and ten is one less. The toll of passing bells, whether near or far, and the tinkling rejoicing of new year peals are nothing to the shrilling of the archangel trumpeter. And what is more, that trumpet will rejoice at the onset of eternal youth, not at the slow wasting of brief maturity. NEWS and VIEWS ABUSING OUR RESOURCES.— Dr. D. Coggan, Arch- bishop of York, recently made a special plea to slow down the space race and devote the money to worthier purposes—such as helping to feed the world's starving millions. He called on the World Council of Churches and science organizations to denounce our present "follies" which sap our resources yet bring little personal good. He said: "The unsuccessful American Surveyor IV moon probe cost 80 million dollars— and that was only one little bit of a vast programme. One asks if this is the best use for resources at this point of human history when ignorance and disease stalk our earth. Could not the Church and science become a combined force for sanity in man's madness and inhumanity to man?" (Reported in The Christian.) REVERSING THE REFORMATION.—During his visit to U.S.A., the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey, predicted that "Christians would unite in One Church with the Pope as presiding bishop." Columnist John Gordon in the Daily Express com- mented: "The Archbishop of Canterbury thinks the Christian churches might in time be united with the Pope as presiding bishop—if he ceased to claim infallibility. "Dr. Ramsey should remember that the ancestors of the Church of England and other Protestant Churches founded and built their communities just because they didn't like rule by popes, whether fal- lible or infallible. . . . "Dr. Ramsey is perfectly free, if he wishes, to take the road to Rome. But he should take it alone, without dragging his Church with him." "SEX BACKLASH."—Noted American psychiatrist Dr. F. J. Braceland, addressing a three-day national Meth- odist Convocation on Medicine and Theology held in Rochester, Minnesota, said that premarital sexual relations resulting from exposure to the so-called New Morality has greatly increased the number of young people in mental hospitals. The permissiveness sanctioned by many schools and colleges has imposed stresses on students severe enough to cause severe emotional breakdown.—The Christian Century. "SPEAK OUT."—Now is the time for Protestants who hold the historic Biblical faith and who believe in the divine mission and the indestructibility of the Church of Jesus Christ to speak out against the existential blight that oppresses the Body of Christ. We might well ponder these words of Henri-Frederic Amiel in his Journal intime: "I am oppressed by a feeling of inappropriateness and malaise at the sight of philosophy in the pulpit. 'They have taken away my Saviour and I know not where they have laid Him'; so the simple folk have a right to say and I repeat it with them." Let Protestantism be done wih the scandal of self-preoccupation. Let it stop repeating the weari- some clichés of existentialism and get on with fulfilling the commission of its sovereign Lord.—The Christian. "LEECHES!"—Entertainer and singer Frankie Vaughan at an encounter with "Flower People" outside the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, expressed strong dis- approval of their views on drug-taking and free love. "You are leeches on society!" he said. "Why don't you just go and do some work?" Afterward he said: "I wish I could help them. I am frightened of them." He launched a campaign to combat the spread of "hippy" influence on his annual tour of national boys' clubs which began last October. We know that the malaise of which the "hippy" phenomenon is a symptom, can be combated in no better way than by a return to Bible standards and teachings. TRUE STORY FEATURE "11 WORk5 !" THE MOST INTERESTING STORY I EVER HEARD by BOB JONES An Arkansas mountainside, a teenage soldier dying in an epidemic of measles, a Bible promise, are parts of an unforgettable drama of the American Civil War. T HE most interesting story I ever heard was told me years ago by a man over eighty years of age. We were sitting together on a projecting rock of a mountainside in Arkansas. Here's the story: "I was down in this country during the Civil War. Across on the other side yonder there were hundreds of tents where our soldiers were encamped. Measles broke out, and many of our brave lads died. The epidemic got so bad we stretched some tents farther down the valley and moved all the measles patients into these tents. This, of course, was done to protect as far as possible the health of the well soldiers. I was wardmaster in charge of the tents where the measles patients were located. "One night while I was on the ward, I passed a bunk where there was a very sick soldier lad not more than seventeen years of age. The boy looked at me with a pathetic expression and said, 'Wardmaster, I believe I am going to die. I am not a Christian. My mothet isn't a Christian. My father isn't a Christian. I' never had any Christian training. I never did attend church. I did go with a boy friend to Sunday school just once. A woman taught the Sunday school class. She seemed to be such a good woman. She read us something out of the Bible about a man—I think his name was Nicodemus. Anyway, it was about a man who went to see Jesus one night. Jesus told this man he must be born again. The teacher said all people must be born again in order to go to heaven when they die. I have never been born again, and I don't want to die like this. Won't you please get the chaplain so he can tell me how to be born again?' " The old man hesitated for a moment. "You know, in those days I was an agnostic—at least, that is what I called myself. As a matter of fact, I wasn't anything but an old sinner. So I told the boy, 'You don't need a chaplain. Just be quiet now. Don't worry; you'll be all right.' I went on around the ward, and in about an hour I came back to the boy's bed. He looked at me out of such sad, staring eyes as he said, 'Wardmaster, if you won't get me the chaplain, please get me the doctor. I am choking to death.' All right, my son, I'll get you the doctor,' I said. So I went off and found the doctor, and he came and mopped out the throat of the lad so he could breathe just a little easier. I knew the boy was going to die. I had seen many other cases just like his. He thanked me for my kindness. He thanked the doctor for being so good to him. "In about an hour I came back expecting to find the boy dead, but he was still struggling. He looked up out of his eyes of death and said, 'There is no use, Wardmaster. I have got to die, and I haven't been born again. Whether you believe in it or not, won't you find the chaplain and let him tell me how to be born again?' I looked at him for a moment and thought about how helpless he was in the grip of death. So I said, 'All right, my son. I will get you the chaplain.' "I walked away a few paces and then turned and went back to the boy's bedside. I said, 'My boy, I am not going to get you the chaplain. I am going to tell you what to do myself. Now, understand, I am an agnostic. I don't know whether there is any God. I don't know whether there is any heaven. I don't know whether there is any hell. I don't know anything. Yes, I do. I know one thing. I know my mother was a good woman. I know if there is a God, my mother knew Him. So I will tell you what my mother told me. You can try it and see if it works. Now, I am going to teach you a verse of Scripture. The verse is John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." My mother said that I cannot save myself, but if I will believe in Jesus, He will save me." "I asked the boy to say the verse with me. I started, and he followed with a weak and trembling voice. 'For God so loved the world, For God so loved the world'; 'that He gave his only begotten Son,' 'that He gave his only begotten Son'; 'that whosoever believeth in Him,' that whosoever believeth in Him'; 'should not perish,' should not perish'; 'but have ever- lasting life,' but have everlasting life."Now, my boy, my mother said if a person will trust Jesus, he will not perish but have everlasting life.' "I referred the lad to another verse my mother taught me, but he closed his eyes, stretched his hands across his breast, and in a whisper he quoted slowly, repeating some of the words several times, 'For God so loved the world . . . He gave His only begotten Son . that whosoever, whosoever . . . whosoever believeth, believeth in Him, believeth in Him.' Then he stopped and said with a clear voice, 'Praise God, Wardmaster, it works. I believe in Him! I shall not perish! I have everlasting life! I have been born again! Wardrriaster, your mother was right. Why don't you try it? Do what your mother said. It works, Wardmaster. This thing works! Wardmaster, before I go, I want to ask you to do something for me. Take a kiss to my mother and tell her what you told me, and tell her that her dying son said, "It works." ' I leaned over and kissed him in the mouth, and then as he drew his last breath, he said, 'It works.' " The old man wiping tears out of his eyes and tears out of the wrinkles of his face, said: "The lad was right. It does work. Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but has now everlasting life. It works. I know it works!" -)IE- • -*- • )1(- • � • � • # • # • lc • • Intl AMU by CHARLES D. UTT ARE BIBLE STORIES TRUE? QUESTION: Do you believe Jonah really lived in a whale's stomach or that the three Hebrews survived in a fiery furnace? Just how literally do you suggest we interpret the Bible? ANSWER: Because these two stories, and others in the Bible, are outside the range of ordinary human experience, some find them difficult to believe. When we begin to consider some parts of the Bible as pious folklore where do we draw the line? Is there not a strong possibility that, having discarded chapter after chapter and book after book, we will finally be left with only the Bible's empty covers? Mankind today accepts many scientific ideas which are quite outside the periphery of past human experience. Why should we then question the miraculous as presented in the Scriptures? Is it because we do not think our God to be strong enough to accomplish these things? If so, it might be argued that He is not strong enough to raise the dead or bestow on His followers eternal life. I prefer to consider the Bible just what it purports to be, God's inspired Word to the human family. If God says He cared for Jonah and the three Hebrews through most unusual circumstances, I see no reason not to believe Him. NO RESTRICTIONS QUESTION: In Leviticus the Bible limits the kinds of meat, fish, and fowl which God originally permitted man to eat. Is there any limitation placed anywhere in the Bible on certain kinds of fruits and vegetables? ANSWER: No. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed; to you it shall be for meat." Genesis 1:29. Fruits and vegetables comprised man's original diet, and this has, never been limited or circumscribed in any way. 9 TEST YOUR "WORD" POWER Here are some more Bible-verse "ovals" to test your knowledge of the Scriptures. Under- each verse portion, write in the name of the book of the Bible in which the portion is found. Choose your answers from the list at the foot of the page. .111,661"41114% ove, the � tz. ly; but then face to face: nog., ow in part; but then shall I kno' even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope .harity, these three; but the greate these is charity. I e shewed me a pure water of life, clear as cry roceeding out of the throne of Go and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it lnd on either side of the river, w • e the tree of life, which i- nner of fruits, an ment, deceived me, - ew me. 2 Wherefore the law is holy, an, e commandment holy, and just, d good. 13 Was then that which is goo le death unto me? God for • - � that it might a • 1- � • smne And he said, A certam two sons: 12 And the younger of them said t his father, Father, give me the por- ion of goods that falleth to me. An e divided unto them his living. And not many days afte n gathered all 7. 1 Corinthians, Est John, Luke, Proverbs, Psalms, Revelation, Romans. by RICHA � UTT perish, but 6 � For God so loved the wor at he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in lf 11 ould not perish, but have everlast life. wor God sent not his So . 4" cond •11 e's sake. ea, though I walk through alley of the shadow of death, I w ear no evil: for thou art with me; th od and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before 11 e presence of mine ene -iointest my head with , ather together a are present in Shu'shan, st ye for me, and neither eat n • three days, night or day : I als and my maidens will fast likewise. 'nd so will I go in unto the kin • h is not according to the erish, I perish. CHAPTER 22 A Good Name is Better than Riches GOOD name is rather to b chosen than great riches, and ving favour rather than silve gold. -.4. rich and poor meet tog- rnalre.. 1 - 1 : . 10 by A. GRAHAM MAXWELL, Ph.D. It is vital that we discover the right answer to this question. The wrong answer can seriously affect man's whole attitude to Christianity. Accepting the truth about Jesus Christ, His life, His death, and resurrection, is the secret of real happiness. P ERHAPS the best known verse in all the Bible is John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." All of us know the story of how the Son of God came to this earth, how He lived among men as the most gracious Person the world has ever seen, how still in the prime of life He died a most terrible death, and then rose from the grave and returned to His heavenly Father. But why did He do this? Why did Jesus come in human form? Why did He have to die? If you had been in God's place on that day in Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned, what would you have done with them? Would you have forgiven them and offered them at least one more chance to stay in the garden? Human parents do this every day for their disobedient children. Since God is love, why was Adankbanished on his first offence? ong answer to this question can seriously *tude toward God and one's practise Many believe that God has long been angry with the human race, most reluctant to forgive and bless His erring creatures. For thousands of years men have offered sacrifices—sometimes their own children—to win the favour of their offended god. Even in the Christian world, some teach that were it not for constant intercession God could not find it in His heart to love and save sinners. But need we do anything to make God love us? Nothing is more emphatic in Scripture than that God has always loved even His most wayward child. When God said: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," He was uttering no arbitrary threat. In love for His creatures, the Father was only warning of the consequences of rebellion. Sin so changes the sinner that it actually results in death. Separated from the Source of life, he will surely die. Now out of harmony with his Creator, he can no longer endure the life-giving glory of His presence. Even Moses was warned that he could not see God's glory and live. (Exodus 33:18-23.) How, then, could God save sinners? How could He come close enough to win them back from their rebellion? A distant offer of forgiveness would not restore the damage done. How could God make clear the truth about Himself, that men might come to love Him once again and so be healed? God's answer was to send His Son in human form. "Christ, the Light of the world, veiled the dazzling splendour of His divinity and came to live as a man among men, that they might, without being consumed, become acquainted with their Creator." When Adam and Eve first turned their backs on truth, they showed more faith in the miracle-working serpent than in the One who had given them life. How could God secure their allegiance once again? Love and faith are not produced by force. Only by love can love be won. By the life that He lived and the death that He died Jesus revealed so much of the kindness and patience of God that some are led thereby to repentance. (Romans 2:4.) "We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19. No force. Just truth and love. The universe was watching when God forgave Adam and Eve and granted them time to be restored. God had said in the garden: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." "Ye shall not surely die," contradicted the serpent. "It is perfectly safe, in fact highly beneficial, to eat the fruit of this tree. God has lied to you and is unworthy of your trust and worship." Had God permitted Adam and Eve to reap the 11 immediate and perfectly legal consequences of their rebellion, the truth of His own words would have been clearly demonstrated, and Satan's falsehood would have been unquestionably exposed. But "the Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. Instead of death He offered another chance for eternal life. Graciously He preserved the life of the sinner that he might have opportunity to understand the nature Of the deception and turn once again toward the truth. What a risk God ran of being misunderstood! All His intelligent creatures are free to decide whether to place their faith in God or accept Satan's accusations of tyranny and fraud. Already the great deceiver had persuaded more than one-third of the holy angels to side with him against God. Now even God's willingness to forgive was turned into evidence of divine duplicity. "I told you so," exulted Satan. "Sin does not result in death. Ye shall not surely die." For thousands of years it seemed that Satan was right. But God was saving His answer until the most auspicious moment. Finally, in the fullness of time, God gave His awesome reply. He sacrificed Himself in His Son. The death He died was far more than crucifixion. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin." 2 Corinthians 5:21, R.S.V. Jesus died the awful death of separation, the inevitable consequence of sin. This is what forced from His lips the despairing cry: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. God's own justice had been called in question before the universe. His warning that the wages of sin is death had been ridiculed in Eden. But not so any more. Christ's death clearly demonstrated the right- eousness of God. (Romans 3:25, 26.) God was shown to be right in what He had said; He had won His case when He took it into court. (Romans 3:4.) For these reasons, and more beside's, the only way to win back sinners, and silence Satan's charges, was for God Himself to assume humanity and live and die as He did. This is why some nineteen hundred years ago God clothed Himself in the body of a baby boy. As Jesus grew to manhood and lived His matchless life, His one great purpose was to reveal the truth about God. God's desire to save He wanted to show how infinitely loving the Father is, so He treated everyone with utmost courtesy and understanding, even though He was so often rebuffed and insulted in return. One day the disciples asked if Jesus desired them to command fire from heaven to consume the rejecters of His love. They supposed that this would be pleasing to God. But God's Son replied: "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Luke 9:56. Jesus wanted to show how every detail of our lives is of concern to the Father. When He met people who were hungry, He fed them. When the sick came to Him, He healed them. One day He attended the funeral of one of His friends, and the Bible says He wept. All of this was leading up to the final supreme demonstration of what God is like. On Thursday evening Jesus was arrested. He was illegally tried. He was falsely accused. He was grossly insulted. But not once did He become angry. For God is like that. Twice He was horribly beaten. All night long He was allowed no sleep, no food. But did He become irritated? Not for a moment. For God is like that. They made a game of slapping His wounded head. They jeered at His mysterious birth as illegitimate. One man even spat in His face. But did His patience run out? Did He become angry with His tormentors? Never! For God is like that. "Father forgive them" Even as He hung on the cross, enduring the pain of crucifixion and the mocking of those He came to save—even as He passed through the unspeakable agony of separation from His Father—He prayed: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. This is the kind of Person our God is. All love and strength and dignity and compassion. And the Father is just as loving and forgiving as the Son. For Jesus said: "He that bath seen Me hath seen the Father." John 14:9. For six thousand years God has worked to win us back, to persuade us to love Him as He loves us. During all these years He has mercifully veiled us from the glory of His presence that we might have time to know Him better. Soon all will have decided. Then the glory of God will flash forth again throughout all creation. In that day the righteous will not be afraid. But the impenitent will be slain by the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonian 2:8.) "By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire. The glory of Him who is love will destroy them." This brings us back to John 3:16. "God so loved the world." He is not angry with us, even though we are sinners. "That He gave His only-begotten Son." He has given Him for ever as eternal proof of His love, a continuing reminder of what He was willing to do to restore man. "That whosoever believeth in Him." That is to say, all who have accepted the truth about God revealed in Christ and thus been won back to faith and love. "Should not perish." That is, should not be consumed by the glory of His presence. "But have everlasting life." In spite of our rebellion and all that we have cost Him, God wants us to live with Him—for ever. Could we ask to be treated more generously? All God asks of us is that we love Him in return, and love Him enough to be willing to do things His way and so be made fit to live in 'His presence. Are you ready to live in His glory? Are you ready for Jesus to come? READERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW more about the great truths of the Bible, are earnestly invited to avail themselves of the special, free, HOME BIBLE STUDY GUIDES advertised on the back cover. �Editor 12 Amazing facts about our feathered friends which declare the wisdom and power of their Creator. by H. W. CLARK, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Biology, Pacific Union College. CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IN A SCIENTIFIC AGE O F all living creatures, none shows the wisdom of the Creator more than does a bird. And what makes a bird so different? Principally the fact that it is designed for flight. Everything about it seems to be bent to this one objective. Zoology texts try to make us think that birds are derived from reptiles. Why? Looking through a list of ancient reptiles we find the duck-billed dinosaurs, which have two features that are somewhat birdlike in nature. They are bipedal, that is, they walk on two feet. And they have duck-like bills, sometimes, though, with as many as 2,000 teeth. This evidence is rather meagre upon which to build a theory of ancestry. Of course it is true that skeletally birds and reptiles are somewhat similar. But similarity does not always mean ancestral relationship. Remarkable adaptations One cannot study the anatomy and functions of the birds without being forcibly struck with their remark- able adaptations to their peculiar habits of life, particularly to flight. Let us notice some of these. Anyone knows that the strongest structure one can produce with a given weight of material is the hollow tube The bones of birds follow this principle, being hollow. This gives them maximum strength with as little weight as possible. Then, too, the bones of the head are thin and lightly put together, to save weight. The sternum has a large keel to which the huge flight muscles are attached. Within the body are large air sacs. It used to be thought that these added to the buoyancy of the bird, but that is no longer considered important. Rather, since a bird's exertions in flight produce a large amount of heat, it is believed that the air sacs assist in removing this heat from the body. They are connected with the lungs by tubes, so that the breathing movements create a circulation not only through the lungs, but through the air sacs as well. In mammals air is drawn into the lungs by the action of the diaphragm. Birds have no diaphragm, but the lungs are expanded by slight motion of the ribs, and contracted forcibly by any compression of the sides of the body. In this way the action of the lungs is correlated with the action of the heavy breast muscles used for flight. Feather formation Feathers are among the ,most remarkable structures found in nature, combining lightness with strength. Each feather consists of a central shaft along which are connected parallel and closely spaced barbs. Each barb has tiny barbules on its sides, and they are equipped with hooklets that hold them together. Besides these flight feathers and contour feathers, birds also have down feathers that are very soft, providing in- 13 sulation against cold. In water birds there is a layer of thick, heavy down beneath the contour feathers. Feathers also serve as protection by coloration. Those on the upper side of the body are dark, making the bird blend with the landscape when seen from above. Those beneath are light-coloured, serving to blend the bird with the sky. Hearing and vision are both acute. Birds can detect many sounds that the human ear cannot readily distinguish. They have the most highly developed eyes known. It is a well-known fact that an eagle can see its prey on the ground when it is so far up in the sky that a man cannot see it. Small birds can twist and turn among the branches of trees, yet navigate without striking any of them. Accommodation of focus takes place extremely quickly, thus adapting to speedy flight. Rapid circulation of blood Circulation of the blood is rapid, and there is a complete separation of the pulmonary and systemic circulations. This is necessary, since the bird exerts itself so vigorously in flight. A bird may fly as much as fifty miles an hour, and some have been clocked still faster. The heart is much heavier relative to body weight than in a mammal, and the resting heartbeat is faster. In a robin the heart may beat as high as 570 times a minute. Strenuous exertion may double the rate of heartbeat. The normal temperature of a bird is high, running from 105 to 110 degrees. This is an important point, for it is a scientific fact that chemical processes go on faster at higher temperatures. This high body tempera- ture is therefore definitely an adaption to make higher metabolism possible. In other words, a bird literally is a "faster liver"; he must be so in order to propel himself through the air the way he does. Digestive adaptations The digestive system is specialized to the needs of the bird. Instead of having to stop to chew food as we do, the bird swallows it whole or broken up in pieces only small enough to be swallowed. It is held in a large sac, the crop, and then passed on to the true stomach, the gizzard, where digestion begins. Thus the bird does not have to waste time masticating food, but can swallow it rapidly. Digestion continues while the bird goes on with other activities. Leg specializations Birds' legs show special adjustment for their manner of life. Instead of having heavy legs, with muscles on the lower parts, as in other animals, birds have very slim legs. This shape is accomplished by a re- duction of the bones of the lower legs and the feet, with the muscles only in the upper sections. There are many specializations of the legs: for wading, for scratching, for seizing prey, and so on. Tendons run in fluid in narrow channels, making for quick action. Especially interesting are the tendons of the feet. They are so arranged that they run through pulleys in the joint just above the feet. When the bird "sits down" on a branch, the tendons pull and clamp the toes tight. The bird cannot let go until he stands up. This prevents him from falling off while he sleeps. If you wish to test the efficiency of this arrangement, just let a hawk sit on your finger. You will invite him to stand up at once! At the base of the tail the bird has oil glands. These supply oil to keep the beak soft, and are generally supposed to be useful in waterproofing the feathers. Watch a hen take oil from the gland and then preen her feathers and you will get the idea. Nest building Much might be said about nest building. Each type of bird has its own kind of nest, and the patterns seem to be instinctive. Any ornithologist can recognize nests without much trouble. And a bird makes just as good a nest the first time as it ever will. Then, too, it is a striking fact that there is no evolutionary sequence of nesting types that can be found. Of course, nests vary according to the location, as for instance, in the case of water birds that build coarse nests of reeds. Some very peculiar nesting habits are to be noted, as in certain ducks that nest in holes in trees. Nest study is an interesting hobby, and one that will give much pleasure. The eggs of birds are larger in proportion to the size of the mother than are eggs of fishes, amphibians, or reptiles. With a large amount of nutriment in the egg, the young are able to reach a good degree of development as soon as hatched. Others require a few days of growth, especially those that fly instead of run. Territorial limits Another peculiar feature of bird life is known as "territoriality." With many birds the male establishes singing posts that mark the boundaries of his territory. He goes from one post to another during the nesting season, singing to warn others to keep off his territory. If another male bird of his species encroaches, a battle ensues until the invader is driven away. When the season is over, this activity ceases, and the birds feed together without any trouble. A whole book could be written on the migratory habits of birds. This is one of the most remarkable of all their activities. Migratory habits vary greatly and are generally related to the food problem. Insectivorous birds must migrate in winter to localities that are warm enough to support insect life upon which they can feed. Some of America's best songsters winter in South America, either in the foothills of the Andes or in the jungles or plains of that great continent. Such grain-eating birds as geese will winter in the Southern States or in California, where they are often seen feeding in the grain fields. It is a peculiar fact in many species the young begin their migration before the old ones do; thus they are not dependent on their elders to show them the way. How they know where to go is a mystery. "The Lord hath wrought" In this brief survey of the structures and habits of birds, we have only touched the subject with our fingertips, as it were. Whole volumes have been written on birds. But the point we wish to make is this: How can anyone observe all these marvellous adaptations without realizing that "the hand of the Lord hath wrought this"? We have discussed about a dozen characteristics of birds. If each one were to be taken as a single unit, the chances of all of them developing simultaneously in order to make a functioning mech- anism is about one in 500,000,000. But each one is not a simple unit; each one is complex, consisting of many factors. It is safe to say that anywhere from ten to a hundred anatomical, chemical, or otherwise essen- tial factors enter into each. By mathematical laws, the 14 chance of these "just happening" to get together is infinitesimally small. You may take ten pennies and throw them up into the air. The chance of them all coming down "heads up" is one in about four million. And that does not mean that when you reach the four millionth throw, they will come that way. There is still a chance that they may not. But when you deal with living creatures, the law of blind mechanical chance does not operate. The reason is simple: Living things must be adjusted to their environment, and those adjustments are so intricate that unless they are all correctly correlated the organism will not survive. In order to develop a bird from a reptile, you would have to have hundreds of mutations taking place simultaneously. If one feature of the structure should "evolve" by itself, the animal could not survive. The possibility of new "advances" in structure being able to hold their own until they had produced a new type are exceedingly remote. The theory that birds have evolved from reptilian ancestors is accepted as a matter of course, not because there is evidence of such chances having taken place. It is a rather significant fact that while the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica devotes over twenty pages to birds, less than half a page is given to a discussion of their supposed evolution. While nearly 9,000 species of birds exist now, only four kinds of fossil birds are known that could give any clue to their evolution. In all, there are about eight hundred species of fossil birds, but they are nearly all closely related to modern birds and give no aid in deciphering the supposed evolutionary history of the group. Plainly, the birds give strong evidence of creative wisdom and of the superintending Providence that brought them into existence. * • * • * • * • * • * • � • � • Aleow 0", � 41M4, ,des , ABUNDANT POWER FOR THE NEW AGE by D. P. McCLURE T HE Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Atomic Age was celebrated in December when scholars and statesmen from all over the world gathered at the University of Chicago. It was here on December 2, 1942 that the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved. Great advances have been made particularly during the past decade in the use of atomic energy for peace- ful and constructive purposes. Tagged atoms One of the developments from the atomic age is the availability of radio-isotopes. These radioactive atoms can be used as "tags" to tell a research worker many things he needs to know and quickly. Similar to putting a bell on an animal to know where it is, or a ring on a bird to study migration routes, tagged atoms can answer such questions as: How fast do roots grow and how deep? How quickly does water get to them after rain? How long does it take hay to reach the bloodstream of a cow in the form of nutrient? This has been of great value to agriculture in obtaining a better understanding of plant processes. The "tagged atom" is also useful in the human body. Dr. E. W. Phelan, Professor of Chemistry, at Tusculum College, Greenville, Tennessee, says that tagged atoms may be traced to bone marrow, red blood cells, the liver, kidneys, or made to remain in the blood-stream where they can be measured. "Radio- isotopes may show the behaviour of internal organs; they may differentiate between normal and malignant tissue. Hundreds of hospitals are now making thousands of these tests annually," he states. In addition there are several other uses which have been developed from atomic research, e.g. town water- purification systems which are an outgrowth from water-purification methods developed for reactor- coolant methods. Atomic power—symbol of power through Christ The more obvious use usually associated with atomic research is power, and we are familiar now with many power stations generating electricity from atomic reactors. As we consider the power that can be unleashed in the atom, it is fitting to remember the largely untapped power available to those who consecrate themselves to Jesus Christ. The Gospel is called the "power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Romans 1:16. Not only is it power which saves us from the guilt of the past and the evils of the present, but for the future we are assured that we shall be "kept by the power of God." 11 Peter 1:5. We can be victorious over the onslaught of the tempter only by the abiding presence of the Source of true spiritual power—Jesus Christ. This is the time of year when so many sophisticated non-Christians of modern society sentimentalize over the birth of a baby in Bethlehem long ago. Commercial interests boost their products with advertising which attempts to link up with, but in reality is far removed from, the true understanding of the humble stable scene. However, let us remember that the purpose of the Babe's arrival was to grow up to demonstrate to man the divine power available to live a victorious life and to provide by His own sacrifice the opportunity of glorious life with Himself in eternity. At this anniversary of the birth of Christ—of vastly more significance and importance than the anniversary of the Atomic Age—let us allow the Prince of peace to be born again in our hearts in order to bring to us that conquering power in our spiritual life that will enable us to overcome the adversary. Then we may look forward to seeing the return of Christ with "power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30), when He shall come to claim His own. 15 --•\/"" ""N"—"\,t" W. by JOHN R. LEWIS T HE sub-continent of India is like an enormous cul-de-sac. Hemmed in on the south by the deep waters of the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the impassable, ice-blue heights of the blizzard- swept ranges of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush peaks (some, five miles high), an ever spawning population compresses itself. One sixth of the world's population is restricted to a land only three-fifths the size of Europe, a density of nearly four hundred people to the square mile. The story of this population of fabulously rich princes, of tea-growers, holy men, beggars and peasants, is largely the story of a religion. When Advent Missions or Oxfam feed a starving child today, they are meeting a situation developed from religious attitudes embraced five thousand years ago. Religion is the basis of the culture, the social condition, and the way of life of these interesting peoples. Fateful phrase And this is remarkable. For the religious culture of India is based on one phrase, one group of four words, and these occurred in a conversation six thousand years ago. We learn from "digs" in the Indus plain, from language developments in the river and plateau areas, that there were migrations into India; these followed the pattern suggested by the Bible narrative of the origin of mankind. Successive waves of migrants from Ararat, descendants of Shem and Japheth, moved into India via the few doors available. Some marched along the twenty mile coastal gap at Karachi. Others filtered through and over the rugged defile of the Khyber pass and Kabul. A third group reached the Ganges Delta after negotiating the rocky tracks and torrents of the Brahmaputra and Irrawaddy Rivers. These migrants brought with them a religious concept which had its origin in the tradition of the garden of Eden. The museums of London and Paris exhibit wonder- fully preserved, carefully guarded Bible manuscripts old as time. One can still read in them the treasured tradition of the world's first recorded conversation. "You shall not die." How seductive and persuasive, was the insinuating suggestiveness of the voice's tone— the voice of mankind's adversary. The whole story is told in Genesis 3. These words of Satan suggested that man's body was inhabited by an undying soul, and much of man- kind sub-equently accepted the suggestion as a fact. Migrations carried the concept which led to various forms � spirit worship all over the world, but there are fea natiols which have been so strongly influenced as India. "No one knows"! Here is a conversation with Kanti, a youth of twenty-one from India. "What happens to a Hindu when he dies?" "No Hindu knows what will happen to him when he dies." "What do you mean, Kanti?" "Well, if he lives a good life, he will be born again into a second life, a better one. If he lives bad, he will be born into a poor life. He may be a prince, he may be in a cow." "For how long, Kanti?" "Until he has reached a state of perfection." There are two names for such an idea. One is soul transmigration, that is, some Hindus believe that the soul migrates from body to body as a bird migrates from country to country. The other term is re- incarnation, the concept of a new body being inhabited in place of a dead one. In the Hindu world of today there are one thousand variations and permutations of these ideas which came to India with the migrants from Ararat. One of the first civilizations in India was that of the dark-skinned Dravidians. They settled in Sind. The artefacts show a likeness to a Sumerian civilization at Ur in the Chaldees. The people built wide streets, used an elaborate draining system, had baths, sewage disposal systems, used bronze razors, and drew geometric designs. Incidentally, so many early civilizations are being found now, that the hypothesis of early mankind being all cave men, is being abandoned as unrealistic. (Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia.) The religion of these people was a fertility cult. People worshipped the sacred bull, the goat, the snake, the crocodile, and fig tree. Nature worship Around 1500 B.C. India was invaded in waves from the north-west. These people being Aryan, a white race, brought a European speech which was to blend with the Indian tongue. There began a fusion of dark Dravidian with these Aryans, and a fusion with Mongol types filtering from the Chinese corner. The result is that every shade of colour can now be found in India. The new invaders brought with them a religion of nature worship, another permutation of the "inherent immortality" theme. As man had accepted that he was possessed v � a supposed undying soul, he peopled the sun, trees, flowers, rivers, the dawn, with a multitude of spirits. He worshipped these spirits by sharing sacrificial food, or propitiated them with blood sacrifices. Here was the beginning of the modern 16 India's influence has spread around the world. This vast sub-continent presents a major challenge to Christianity. Today great changes are afoot which have a direct relation to the world's final day of reckoning when Christ intervenes in the world affairs. Hindu error of pantheism, in which God is envisaged as being in all things. Sacred cows Everyone knows that in India the cow is sacred and must not be killed or interfered with. I asked, as before: "Kanti, why is it that Hindus will not kill cows?" "Because of the milk. The little child, and everyone, needs the milk to support life." So it would appear that the Brahmins, the Hindu priest class, saw the god of fertility and life dwelling in the cow. The peasant's cow was a vital possession to him; he needed its milk. So the cow was made taboo, sacred, or in modern terminology, was made subject to a "government protection" order. The passage of centuries, and ignorance have perverted the original idea. Evils of the caste system The Eastern doctrine of Karma—a fatalist slant on the idea that a man's life of misfortune was the result of his soul's previous existence, and could not be altered—played a part in the development of the caste system. The caste system developed five centuries before the days of Christ. The Brahmin priests were, the highest section of the original five caste sections. There are hundreds of caste sections today. Members of these castes will not touch one another, nor will they eat together. Many of India's social weaknesses and problems, much of India's terrible poverty, is now recognized as the result of the belief in Karma .and caste. The late reformer Mahatma Gandhi fought both ideas. What is not yet widely grasped, is that the erroneous concept of man possessing an undying soul is basic to both Karma and caste. Attempts to change Five major attempts have been made to change the way of life of the Indian peoples. The Persians invaded India and ruled for two hundred years. The Greeks invaded India in the fourth century. But the over-all influence of Persian and Greek culture was negligible. Then came the influence of Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed. Gautama Buddha taught disciples at Benares in the days of Isaiah. Dissatisfied with life, he spent five days in fasting and sleeplessness, asking the question: "Why am I 'not completely happy?" After much questioning of himself, he began to teach that there was escape from distress in gaining "serenity of soul or Nirvana." This, he claimed was found by denying the longing for personal immortality. Christianity came early to India. "Thomas having evangelized Arabia, arrived at Crangalor where the most powerful Malabar princes resided. Having here wrought many miracles, and established a church, he journeyed to Coulan and laboured with equal success. Indian philosophies are making their impact on ti, western world. Among the most celebrated converts are the Beatles who have turned—we hope temporarily—from the truth of Christianity to the spiritualistic philosophy of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Below.—One of India's millions of cows—all "sacred," and allowed to wander where they will and to eat what they will. He traversed the Peninsula and arrived at Madras. He extended the faith so widely as to excite the hatred of the Brahmins. They stoned him, one pierced him with a lance."—(From History of the Eastern Church, by J. Neale.) In A.D. 225, "there existed large bishoprics or conferences of the Sabbath-keeping [Saturday} Church of the East stretching from Palestine to India."— (Migana, Early Spread of Christianity.) A Buddhist Conference in A.D. 220 reported that many of "the monks had begun to keep the Sabbath" So there was continued on page 30 17 HOW UNIT1 by W. L. EMMEI Having abandoned the authority of God's Word, much of Christe The wisdom and truth of God have thus been replaced by the it apostasy which characterize the religious world generally, they of God's Word. It is one of the p UT picH 2 URE? A TER three days of intense study in Bristol by the "Faith and Order" Commission of the World Council of Churches of the disarray into which the ecumenical movement has disintegrated, the five sections into which the Commission was divided, came together in the final plenary session to see if any tangible progress toward unity had been made. But it was soon painfully revealed that they were no nearer unity in any of their fields of study. than when they came together. In the report on "Catholicity" presented by Orthodox Professor Jean Meyendorf of Tuckahoe, New York State, U.S.A., after defining the nature of the unity to which the Holy Spirit leads, it goes on to say: "We must ask in all candour where we ourselves stand" in respect of the Holy Spirit's call. And it had to confess that on almost every point the churches of the World Council still stand very much apart from one another. Disunities still unresolved The Spirit, said the report, "challenges the exclusive claims of clan, tongue, and nation" in God's plan to reconcile men to Himself, and to one another. "Yet consider the irony and the pity of it, that secular society produces forces of unification and reconciliation which often appear more catholic than those within the churches." "We are . . . painfully aware," the report goes on, "of the contradictory criteria by which we recog- nize the gifts for ministry. Some tend to restrict them to traditional offices within particular churches, and in consequence no single form of ministry is univers- ally recognized as a gift of the Spirit. Others discover authentic ministries both inside and outside the Church wherever needs are met in the name of Christ." "We have been saying," states the report, "that the Holy Spirit creates and fosters unity between the local congregation and the universal fellowship of the Church. One event by which we celebrate unity is the eucharist which enables 'all in each place' to gather at one table. But . . . while some of us consider it both possible and necessary for the divided churches to come together at the same table in order to manifest the Church's catholicity, to others such a step is both impossible and dangerous. To them the eucharist implies a common commitment to the fullness of God's truth as revealed in the one Church; eucharistic com- munion, without this commitment, would not be a manifestation of catholicity, but a dangerous substitute for true unity, which would threaten the foundations of the ecumenical movement." Fundamental cleavage This fundamental cleavage on access to the table of the Lord was made concrete in the Tyndale Baptist church on the second Sunday of the conference by the fact that when the moment of communion was reached, the Orthodox and Oriental delegates, who had listened to the preceding sermon, conspicuously walked out of the service. The Roman visitors did not walk out, but they took no part in the actual com- munion service. "When we differ so much," says the document, "can there be any concensus on the meaning of cath- olicity?" "When we are so divided on these matters . . . . How can we share the same mission to the world?" "When we thus consider the divisions among us at this Assembly," the report concludes, "we become aware how empty and deceptive our talk of catholicity may be." These findings of the section on "Catholicity" were underlined by the reports of the section on "Eucharist" and "Ministry." When the section on "Eucharist" re- ported that there was no concensus that would enable the divided churches to come together at one table, discussion turned on the suggestion that at the Fourth Assembly at Uppsala an "agape," or fellowship meal often held in the early Church, might be arranged at which all the delegates could be present. But even this was strenuously opposed by both "Protestant" and "Catholic" delegates. They argued that it would merely be a common meal with its significance heightened by certain religious acts, and that while this could improve the "image" of the World Council in the eyes of the world, it might be regarded as a "substitute communion" which could obscure the unsolved divisions between the churches. Similarly in the study on "Ministry" it had to be confessed that there was no basis of agreement as to whether it is primarily "functional" (Protestant) or "sacramental" (Catholic), or what gives validity to ministry. And it was suggested that the Commission should go back again to the very beginning and re- examine the whole question of ordination. In the discussion of these reports, Dr. W. Stewart of Scotland felt that they leaned over backward to stress "what had not been achieved" and "went too far in the direction" of emphasizing the continuing divisions. He found their "negatives . . . rather de- pressing," and wondered whether the documents express- ed "any catholicity at all." Dr. Josef Smolik of Prague in Yugoslavia, on the 18 MAY COME )N m is left with nothing but subjective criteria of truth and unity. fect philosophies of man. But despite the disturbing turmoil and a world-wide movement resolute in its stand for the whole truth standing signs of the last days. other hand, declared that the reports clearly indicated that there was "no solution" to the problem of disunity. "The differences," he said, "are maintained." Warning concerning "secular theology" But beyond all this, the intractible differences be- tween Protestant and Catholic were eclipsed by the exponents of "secular Christianity" in the report on "God in Nature and History." They regarded all these discussions as irrelevant, and called for a radically new interpretation of doctrine and history, and for new patterns of ministry for the achievement of God's purpose in the contemporary world. They would give "top priority" not to the questions Lie confessed to disappointment at the slow progress or ecumenical understanding which he attributed to three paradoxes: 1. The toughness of institutions in the face of the fluidity of ideas, as a result of which, out of the immense variety of unity schemes, very little actual unity has been achieved. Indeed, he said, the only concrete union across confessional barriers thus far is in South India. 2. The increasing need for unity, which is set against the indifference of many, especially the young. 3. And thirdly, he said, we have the fact of the cohesion of the forces of ecumenism in the coming together of "Life and Work," "Faith and Order," and the of the historicity of the Bible, the nature of the sacraments, and ecclesiology, but to the "dialogue with the behavioural and physical scientists" in order to work out a basis on which the churches can be re- newed "secularly" for service today. Dr. Lucas Vischer, general secretary of Faith and Order, accepted this and suggested that, in its future programme, "first place" should be given to a new study of "Man in Nature and History," parallel to that already begun on "God in Nature and History," in order to reach "a Christian understanding of man which is attentive to the diverse anthropological im- plications of philosophy and the natural and social sciences." No wonder that some of the delegates began to feel that the intervention of "secular theology" bade fair to undermine the whole basis of the unity move- ment, as originally conceived, and Dr. Schlink had to impress on the Commission members that "all individual subjects should subserve the main purpose of the unity of the church." Paradoxes of the ecumenical movement In his closing address to the Faith and Order Commission, which was also his final utterance before retiring as its chairman, Bishop Oliver Tomkins called the delegates back to the "realities" he had referred to in his opening sermon. The Bishop of Bristol preaching in Bristol Cathedral at the opening service of World Council of Churches "Faith and Order" Conference. "International Missionary Council" in the World Council of Churches, and at the same time a growing doubt as to the role of the World Council in reference to unity. The new diversion posed by "secular Christianity" is "inescapable," he said. There must be a more intense study of the "theology of the natural." There is here indeed a "new world" of thought and action to be mapped. We need to understand the "form of the new humanity" and the new "form of the church." At the same time, he went on, it must not be over- looked that the purpose for which the World Council came into existence was the unity of the churches as such. We said at Lausanne, "God wills unity." We said at Amsterdam, "We intend to stay together" in spite of our "deepest differences." At New Delhi we defined "the unity we seek." There are those who would now turn aside to seek unity in other ways than we have been following, but they have not given any indication as to what the alternatives to the institutional unity of the church are. So there is nothing to be done, until this is shown to be wrong, but to "plod on." "How can visible unity be achieved," he asked, "than by the. means we have been studying." One of the crucial questions, in his view, was how much further progress the separated churches could 19 Bishop Mudjugin of Leningrad being greeted by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bristol at the civic reception in the Council House. Behind him is Fr. Borovoy, Russian Orthodox Church Represent- ative at the World Council in Geneva. make in their dialogue until they took the step of faith in manifesting their visible unity. Perhaps they had reached the limit of what they would find until they united? Was it possible that there were things which God would conceal until the step of union was taken? At one point in his address he referred to the saying that "nothing can resist an idea when its time has come," and then significantly asked, "Is the time wrong?" or "Is the idea wrong?" It may be that this aside was even more relevant than he realized! Recovering a "genuine doctrine of the Word" Rather remarkably, in the crisis into which the World Council of Churches has come, an even more intense concern was voiced for the bringing into the forum of the World Council the "evangelical churches" at present not in the Council. Some urged that their Biblical emphasis was needed as a counterbalance to the disturbing development of historical criticism. Others wanted it to combat "Catholic" and Roman dominance, and still others as an antidote to the secularizing of theology. Professor J. K. S. Reid of Aberdeen declared that, like Scheme 13 of the Vatican Council the report on "God in Nature and History," in its anxiety to talk to the world, forgot that the Church has "a Gospel to the world." "We cannot," he said, "allow the Gospel to be rewritten by the world." Baptist Principal L. G. Champion urged: "We cannot ignore revelation from above. We must speak in Biblical categories, and this is what tends to be ignored." "We need," said another theologian, "a genuine doctrine of the Word." Dr. Haakon Flottorp of Kristiansand, Norway, urged that more important than getting close to Rome, was the necessity of getting close to the Conservative Evangelicals, and recovering their emphasis on the Bible as the basis of unity. Dr. Lukas Vischer countered this by asserting that while it was desirable to seek dialogue with the Conservative Evangelicals, it was also important to assure the Roman Catholics that the World Council was anxious to develop dialogue with them, for this was one of the positive features of the ecumenical movement. One member of the Commission even urged that an attempt be made for the calling of a General Council of the Church, including the Roman Catholics, in order to further the unity of the Church, which seems unattainable by the separate searches now going on. In conversation with Dr. Flottorp after the session, however, he reasserted to me his conviction that if the World Council did not concern itself more with the witness of the Conservative Evangelicals, the Scand- inavian churches would eventually be compelled to leave the World Council. It was striking to note that no fewer than three of the sections reporting pleaded that study be urgently given to the question of the source of "authority." Section Three report ended with the comment: "There is need for a study of Freedom and Nuthority in the Church. This is a subject . . . of great importance to the work of Faith and Order as a whole and should be studied, at an appropriate time. by Roman Cath- olics and the World Council, care being taken to include Conservative Evangelicals in their study." It is certainly important because in the course of their studies practically every section of Faith and Order has undermined every authority of the past and left them without any but subjective criteria of truth, holiness, and unity. The report on "God in Nature and History" actually admitted that without any authoritative Word the Church finds itself with "no clear interpretation of history'. and it has, thereMre, "no guarantee against making mistakes in this realm." It can only hope that it may "sometimes speak the right prophetic words" in the direction of the redemp- tion of man and the actualizing of God's purpose in history. Disunited churches and disunited nations All this suggests that the forces of unity are truly in disarray, and near breakdown. In this situation there seems to be a striking parallel, not of course in spirit, but in the circumstances of the development of the United Nations and the World Council of Churches. When the United Nations came into existence, the problem of unity and peace, though intractable, was a straightforward confrontation of East and West. Similarly, when the World Council came into existence, the basic issue, if equally intractable, was a confront- ation of the Protestant and Catholic conceptions of unity. Now, however, the possibility of the United Nations solving the political and ideological disunity of the world has been enormously complicated by the coming into the forum of the nations of a host of new nations of the so-called "third world," which have submerged the problems of East and West with a vast number of new issues, and have reduced the United Nations to a "talking shop," which is becoming increasingly impotent to exert any positive influence for unity and peace in the world. In the same way, the original issues w'th which the World Council of Churches was confronted in its beginning have been so diversified by the emergence of 20 Left to Right.—Dr. Paul Minim, retiring chairman of the Faith and Order Commission; Dr. E. L. Blake, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches; Dr. 0. S. Tomkins, The Bishop of Bristol; and Dr. Lukas Vischer, Director of the Commission. Right: (facing) Rev. P. E. Coleman, local organizer of the Bristol meeting, chatting with Dr. Mincer (left) and Dr. Vischer. the new positions of form-criticism, the scientific world- view, secular Christianity, and the rest, that the World Council is in danger of becoming spiritually impotent by the proliferation of divisions which not merely separate the classical divisions of the Church, but are cutting across confessional boundaries and increasingly compli- cating the basic issue of the unity of the churches. From this, the conclusion might be hastily drawn that the World Council of Churches is going to pieces and that any unity in disunited Christendom is destined to be unattainable within any foreseeable future. But this would be a wrong conclusion, and here again comparison with the United Nations provides some dramatic pointers. On the international stage, the impotence of the United Nations has led the great powers to discard this supra-political organization and to pursue bilateral negotiations for the establishment of bigger and bigger political blocs in the world. And in like manner the turning of the World Council of Churches into a "talking shop," and its growing importance to influence the relations between the churches, is leading them to discard the World Council as an organ of unity and to pursue independently their own bilateral union negoti- ations. And so it is outside the World Council of Churches that the important events in reference to church union are taking place today. A study group of nineteen theologians representing the ten Orthodox and Oriental churches met in Bristol just before the Faith and Order meeting and issued a bulletin to the effect that the "theological differences" between the "two families of churches," which have been separated since the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, "do not appear to be of such a nature as cannot be overcome with patient study and the growth of mutual understanding." Before long therefore we may see a union of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as closer relations between the auto- nomous Orthodox Churches themselves. Then only a few weeks ago the Pope flew to Turkey to visit the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul "to discuss with him the best manner for promoting theological and canonical studies for the purpose of smoothing the way toward the re-establish- ment of a perfect communion between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church." After the visit, Metropolitan Emelianus of Calabria described it in Geneva as "a gesture that will move all Christians, and especially all Orthodox, very deeply. . . . This marks a new page in the relationship between Roman Catholics and Orthodox." Meantime the "bridge" Church of England, while assiduously cultivating relations with both Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church, is also pursuing negotiations with Presbyterians and Methodists with a view to effecting an organic union of the non-Roman churches on an episcopal basis, in preparation, it is hoped, for eventual unity with Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church. Similar efforts are being made by the Church Consultation in America. In this connection a Roman Catholic observer with whom I talked at Bristol expressed himself as seeing "great hope" in the discussions of the Anglican Evangel- icals at Keele University earlier this year (reported in the August, 1967, issue of OUR TIMES), and their resolve to go along with the ecumenical movement. Presumably he felt that this declaration would set a pattern for non-episcopal evangelicals in relation to church union with the episcopal churches. Two parallel unities and the "unity of truth" Just what will result from these ecclesiastical politics cannot at the moment be predicted. Whether Rome will unite with Orthodoxy and confront the rest of the non-Roman world, or whether Orthodoxy will enter into union with the Anglican and other non- Roman churches over against Rome remains to be seen. If the primacy of the Pope prevents the "Catholic" churches from forming one world "Catholic" church, there may emerge a Roman "Catholicism" and a non- Roman "Catholicism" which, while divided on the primacy of Rome, will converge in opposition to a third ecumenism which will stand for the whole truth of God against the apostasy of the Roman and non- Roman "Catholic" churches. This is actually the picture of the last-day religious world presented to us in the prophecy of Revelation, where the "beast" and its "image" (Revelation 13:14, 15; 14:9) combine to eliminate the "remnant" of the saints who hold steadfastly to the "faith of Jesus" and the "commandments of God." Revelation 14:12. It is for us, therefore, to discern the "signs of the times" and to see that, by grace, we take our stand "with Him [Christ)" in the final crisis of the ages. (Revelation 17:14.) 21 lent which anned nor e e ich A DOCTOR'S VIEWPOINT by Dr. L. G. WHITE, L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. YOUR ANSWERS NEEDED 9 T HE New Year seems an appropriate time to into your attitudes and reactions to a medico- invite your co-operation in a "Market Research" religio-psychological questionnaire. You each have a family doctor under the National Health Service, and you would do us a great favour by giving your considered answers to the questions below. We are told that of all the diseases from which we suff � a • e 40- i .e � have a nervous basis. Some Ge -ra 'rac ti er wou c a th that inva � t �in too illions of is rising a • t � i ons n drugs and da � s re i rea no account � th t ther nknown sold across � e • emist' c prescriptions. At he s. e ime people go to � c rgyma fo advice, t consolation. .yc trists av You will • � eed a � f p several—and we will be happy to scrutinize � • ssess your answers if posted to me, c/o "OUR TIMES," Alma Park, Grantham, Lincs. 1. Would you regard your doctor as a medical man equipped to deal with anxiety problems? 2. Do you believe that he would be willing to listen completely to your problems and give you good advice? 3. If he told you that there was no physical disease and that you did not need medicine but only reassur- ance, would you willingly accept this counsel? 4. Is your doctor a practising Christian? 5. Do you trust him absolutely? 6. How many times have you seen him professionally in the last twelve months? 7. Can you subdivide the problems into: (a) do nright physical disease and/or injury: such as orous, definite, planned treatment: mental or nervous breakdown: e discomfort, worry, anxi-depression for ca � as fo en � tim, � doctor all sa ery nev � ing entioned nt ith a s � you come r ti � 1 right to ain drugs like penici in may produce in rashes, irritation, nausea, and giddiness, among ethers. Nor does it happen neccessarily, at the first or second time only. They may appear only after many times without any apparent effect. Question: Would the occurrence of side-effects destroy your confidence in the doctor's skill or the effectiveness of the remedy? Some patients complain of feeling ill and weak, and attribute this to the drugs they are taking. They have overlooked the fact that the illness itself makes them feel this way. It is sometimes necessary n' annua be witho fewe rea ore al � t � •gu tra euil zi oug octor we at ent, an ng � tel •er—in• es d neede (b) (c) wh 8. the t gs d yo al pr If you c to you the ne "Side-e produce pected. Cer 0 yo hay u w le ye le a f ea dru y gi to doc ent. th a t An archaeological wonder of today is the funerary step pyramid of the chancellor of Pharaoh Djoser of Egypt's Third Dynasty (2800 B.C.). It is located at Saqqara. 22 to remind one that the devil is responsible for sin! 12. If you developed some unforseen effect from medicine or tablets, would you stop the medicine, or inform your doctor? 13. Do you accept and take your doctor's tablets without question or do you like to have their purpose explained? 14. Do you "look up to" the surgeon more than the family doctor? If so why? 15. What is your view of the differences between "drugs," "medicines," "tonics," "pills," "tablets," and "capsules"? 16. If your doctor considered further investigation into your illness necessary, would you welcome his inquiry into personal, social, and emotional relation- ships? 17. Suppose your doctor said that part of your treat- ment would be to see a minister or clergyman, what would be your reaction? 18. Did you take all the tablets and medicines pre- scribed for you last time or did you throw half of them away or leave them in the cupboard? Be honest now! You do not need to sign your answers to this questionnaire. 19. Do you believe that medicine and religion go together, or should they be kept entirely separate from one another? One of the earliest interesting characters of history is Imhotep. He was trained in the learning of Heliopolis, and was the chancellor of King Djoser, of the Third Dynasty in Egypt about 2800 B.C. He was celebrated as an architect, astronomer, priest, writer and sage, and above all, as a physician, being eventually deified as the god of medicine. His greatest monument is the funerary Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Remains of this are a landmark and archaeological wonder today. But Imhotep himself appears to be more famous than his Pharaoh, and was ultimately venerated as a god and equated by the Greeks with Asklepios, their own god of healing. In hieroglyphic Egyptian his name spells out as "he who gives contentment." Giving "contentment" seems to me to be, in the truest and deepest sense, the ideal for every Christian physician in his "cure of souls." * • * • * • * • * • * • * • * • * The HEAVENLY Both Law and Love emanate from God and are embodied in God. The fateful choice is open to all: accept God's Love and Law and be blessed, or reject it and suffer unhappiness and hopelessness. Man has taken a few trifling excursions into space, and swollen with the conceit of his scientific achieve- ments, he is now denying the timeless concepts of all the wisdom of the past, declaring that "God is dead." We can truly say that modern man has become a scientific giant and a spiritual dwarf. He has apparently gained the whole world, and lost his soul. We consider that Nature is now at our "beck and call." Yet, when we think of the vast reaches of outer space with its innumerable galaxies and con- stellations of stars and planets, our infantile probes into space have scarcely "gotten off the ground." Another paradox of our age is that never has man known so much about the intricate and complex laws that govern the universe from whirling worlds to the common daisy. Everywhere we see the majestic rule of orderly operations called "laws of nature" yet in human society, there is a lawlessness that can seldom have been paralleled in history. The shift in religious thinking has been summarized by the statement in the Christian Century: "A generation ago the focus of controversy was the defence of Genesis against an encroaching 'Darwinism.' Today it is the defence of some kind of God against 'materialism, atheism, and humanism.' " An old ref rain Now the theologians who wish to be considered "with it" at all costs, have joined the chorus which chants "God is dead, God is dead." So they join the throngs who chanted the same refrain two thousand years ago, and again during the French Revolution. History has a way of repeating itself. Fichte said "the only necessity for a God is that He may look after by J. A. McMILLAN T HIS is an age of extreme paradoxes. We have, for instance, on the one hand, great humanitarian movements and benevolent schemes, involving vast sums of money and good will; and on the other, the most highly organized developments to wipe the human race out of existence. Since the days of Vasco Da Gama and Christopher Columbus when medieval man was catapulted into the modern age, our world has shrunk into a village neighbourhood, so that events happening in the most remote parts are known to millions within minutes; yet never have races and peonies been so far a nart, torn by prejudices and antagonisms that defy solution. The world is divided into hostile camps that harbour hatred, contempt, and murder. We have pushed back the horizons of intellectual and scientific knowledge until nothing is hid from man's "omniscience!" Our technological know-how is immense and grows ever more extensive; yet at the same time, brain-washed mobs scream their hysterical slogans, and behave as demented as did the Gadarene swine. As man has grown out of his geographical and intellectual limitations, a new freedom of thought and expression has emerged. Old standards have been demolished, new, bold ideas have supplanted faith, and a sceptical attitude toward religious and moral teachings has been cultivated. The Bible has been subjected to a critical and often subjective debunking that has deprived it of its inspiration and authority. 23 Symbolic of the peace of heart which is vital for the unity of mankind is this Lakeland scene. The love which alone assures happy human relationships is that which respects and obeys the Moral Law expressed in the Bible, and exemplified in the life of Jesus. our interests." We now think we can manage for ourselves! This notion suggests a few questions. If God be dead! then He must at some time have been alive, and subsequently since then, has "passed on." The precise date of His demise may not be important, or may be indeterminate—though the production of a death certificate would set a lot of minds at rest. On the other hand, it may well be argued that the expression—"God is dead" merely presupposes that God never really existed—that, in fact, the whole idea of "God" is merely a human invention. This is the teaching of Karl Marx and Chairman Mao. So in the broad daylight of this technocratic age it is no longer necessary to keep up the fiction! As the little boy said to his companion when asked about the existence of the devil: "No, the devil, like Santa Claus, is your father." Two basic qualities The solution to the riddle of the universe is both simple and profound. We find two basic qualities without which the human race, and the universe, cannot function. They are love and law. There have been many arguments (and they are still valid) for the existence and personality of God, but the existence of love and law in the universe are the most simple and most potent. Love, of course, needs definition, for there are many meanings attached to this much used and much maligned word. The Greeks had several words to suggest the differing meanings of love. These ranged from the most exalted and sublime benevolence, to a mere lust, an animal sexual gratification. In the Greek New Testament, two words are found, phileo, used 25 times and signifying affection, a strong attachment, the emotion of liking or feeling toward someone. The other word, agapao, is more of a principle than a passion, more a regard of the mind than a feeling of the heart. It suggests esteem, regard, impartial choice and respect. It is used 138 times in the New Testament. As Dr. Trench points out "agape is a word born within the bosom of revealed religion."— Synonyms, page 43. This love, ranging from the God-like quality of the impassioned poetry of 1 Corinthians 13 to the compassionate attitude of the prodigal's father, is first and foremost, the expression of our heavenly Father toward His earth-born children. It should never be confused with "liking," or with "feelings of affection" which are generally beyond our control. Agapao is an attitude of mind and heart whereby we treat even our enemies with consideration and respect. "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the child- ren of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:44, 45. God-given virtue Such a love as this, free from the passions and prejudices of man, can only be an attribute of benev- olence, an attitude of sheer goodness bestowed on the unworthy and undeserving. Such a God-like quality could come only from God, "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant 24 in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousinds, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Exodus 34:6, 7. No wonder that Micah wrote; "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy." Micah 7:18. Jeremiah, the sensitive prophet of Israel's captivity, whose heart bled for His suffering countrymen, testified of this divine love: "The Lord hath appeared from afar unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I extended loving- kindness unto thee." Jeremiah 311:3 (martin). The once proud, self-righteous Pharisee who caught a glimpse of this divine characteristic, wrote "For God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Roman 5:8. "Such a conception of God was never given to the world by any religion but that of the Bible. Heathenism teaches men to look upon the Supreme Being as an object of fear rather than of love—a malign deity to be appeased by sacrifices, rather than a Father pouring upon His children the gift of His love."—E. G. White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page 74. Dimensions of love It is for this reason that Paul continually prayed that Christians might be able "to grasp how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ—and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled through all your being with God Himself." Ephesians 3:19, J. B. Phillips. This divine quality of love is as long as eternity, as broad as the universe—"as far as the east is from the west. . . ." Such an eternity of love presupposes an eternal Godhead: for love, to exist, calls for at least three components; Love itself, the Lover, and the one loved. Since "God is Love" and "Love is of God" it follows that there must of necessity have been from all eternity these divine Beings or Persons who thus loved. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:16. Law, like love, an expression of God Love and law are the attributes of mind and person- ality. As we cannot think of love without the lover and loved, neither can we think of law as a "blind, impersonal, mechanical operation." Law- presupposes intelligent planning, just as a dictionary cannot possibly be merely the fortuitous conglomeration of disjointed letters falling together to form words. "Each after his kind" calls for mind and creative power beyond the scope of matter. Emmanuel Kant confessed: "There are two things in the universe which awe me: the glories of the heavens above, and the majesty of the moral law." Wherever we look, we see the operation of "law," which is another way of saying that everything in the universe, animate and inanimate, is under fixed orderly ways of operating. "There are no exceptions to this rule: for nothing that the divine hand has made has been forgotten by the divine mind."—E.G. White, Selected Messages, Book 1, page 216. The same idea is expressed by F. E. Marsh, who wrote: "Law is the principle which governs everything."—The Structural Principles of the Bible, page 1. This is the basis of all human achievement from physics to farming. Isaiah recognized that "law" is an expression of the divine mind. He wrote: "The Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King." Isaiah 33:22. And Paul, following in the same tradition, reminds us that the entire universe is held together by the sustaining word of Christ. "Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He existed before creation began, for it was through Him that everything was made, . . . He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation." Colossians 1:15-17, J. B. Phillips. The "law of gravitation" or the "laws of relativity" are just as much the expression of God's love as "the law of the spirit of life." "The moral law is God's law for persons, and belongs, therefore, to the very essence of the personal life of man in relation to God. This law is inwrought by the Creator within the heart of man and registers itself in the decisions of conscience." Ernest F. Kevan, M.Th., in The Evangelical Doctrine of Law, page 6. "For our good" The divine law is but an outward expression of the Love of God. This is claimed by Scripture. "The Lord came from Sinai, . . . from His right hand went a fiery law for them, Yea, He loved the people." "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, . . . for our good always, that He might preserve us alive." Deuteronomy 33:2, 3; 6:24. So Jesus, in His teaching, stressed the close harmony between love and law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, . . . "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40. Likewise Paul recorded the fact that "the whole law is summed up in love." Romans 13:10, N.E.B. Also James: "If you obey the royal law, expressed by the scripture, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' all is well." James 2:8, J. B. Phillips. Fateful choice Mankind faces this eternal choice: Accept God's love and law and be blessed; reject it to your physical, mental, and spiritual impoverishment. "Don't be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man's harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows. If he sows for his own lower nature his harvest will be the decay and death of his own nature. But if he sows for the Spirit he will reap the harvest of everlasting life by the Spirit." Galatians 6:7, 8, J. B. Phillips. "For to love God is to keep His commands; and they are not burdensome, because every child of God is victor over the godless world." 1 John 5:3, N.E.B. DIAL - A - PRAYER Phone : Birmingham (ViCtoria 5754); Bolton (Lancs.) 24111; Cardiff 40811; Dundee 40333; Newport (Mon.) 73051. A community service by telephone by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The two-minute message and prayer are changed 25 Thinkin aloud BY A FORMER MP Major GEORGE HERBERT, M.B.E. D URING my Army service in both World Wars, and my world travels, I found it difficult to harmonize the nature of God with the condition of men. This problem, for many thinking people, persists today, as the great controversy between good and evil continues. As I see life, there is confusion, enmity, despair, poverty, and affluence; and these conditions appear to be enclosed behind walls, which shut out the radiance of love, and understanding, and real happiness. Therefore in my first contribution in OUR TIMES I have taken as my text: "He [Jesus Christ] is our peace, who hath . . . broken down the middle wall of partition . � ." Ephesians 2:14. These words have a profound meaning today. The world has now more separating walls than ever in its history. No wonder the cry of millions of people is: "When will some power break through the walls which hide freedom, justice, unselfish service, and truth?" The fact is that Jesus Christ is the only effective answer. There is no other way. A paradox Man, through the ages, has himself erected separating "walls" of all kinds to hide his aims and works from the true light of heaven. Yet today, without divine, or even democratic mandate, he is seeking to pierce the veil of heavenly space. What a paradox! The evil one is trying to ensure, through speed and adventures into space, that man has no time to meditate and to "lift up his eyes unto the hills from whence cometh his true strength." The prophet Isaiah revealed that the original advent of sin was due to Satan's ambition to wrest dominion of the universe from Him who is the Creator and Sustainer of all. (Isaiah 14:13, 14.) This same spirit animates man. It is almost as if the cunning of Satan is using science to try to conquer space, and thereby to deflect man's concern and attention from the one sure means of achieving such a goal--that of preparation for the second coming of Christ in power and great glory. Whatever progress man may be allowed to make with his schemes to invade the heavens, or to foretell the future, the Bible is very definite that one day soon the triumphant Christ at the head of His invincible armies will appear from outer space, to intervene in human affairs and to bring an end to the age-long controversy between good and evil. (Revelation 19:11- 21.) What a comfort it is that those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Christ Jesus have nothing to fear and everything to look forward to. (Revelation 14:12.) Barriers of religion Let us pause, and take further stock of the modern position. Undoubtedly the many barriers of oppression are signs and portents of the latter days, and reveal the urgent need for the second coming of our Lord, which, according to Biblical prophecies, must be near. There are man-made barriers in all spheres of life, and they abound in religion. These barriers effectively conceal the true guidance and light which can be obtained only from the Word of God—the Bible. They reveal the religious sphere as the arena of Satan's spearhead attack, and illustrate how man has mistaken his leadership for the divine truth, right down the ages. Truly, as the Bible warns, such is the deceptive power of evil that Satan himself "is transformed into an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14. Barriers of colour As the Fatherhood of God must imply the brother- hood of man, the colour bar is contrary to the laws of God. "Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us?" Malachi 2:10. The devil is the creator of the colour bar, and I am afraid he will strive to sustain it, whether coloured people have self-government, or not. It might well happen that, in the future, the colour bar will act more definitely in reverse, and be revengeful. . . . The ideal is that of a true partnership founded on the Commandments of God. Personal testimony I conclude with a personal note. Shortly after my wife died fifteen years ago, I was on my way one Sunday evening to our Anglican church in York, when my veil of sorrow was suddenly rent in twain. I was strangely moved to divert from my usual route and attend a service conducted by Pastor John West, whom I had never before met. Immediately on entering the meeting I felt at home. The curtain hiding the true Sabbath was pulled aside, and my religious confusion disappeared. I remember discussing this matter with my vicar, who regarded Sunday as the Sabbath because our Lord's resurrection occurred on the first day of the week. But no power on earth has ever been given authority to alter any of the Commandments of God. Some people consider that as long as one day in the week is regarded as a Sabbath, that is all that matters. But the fourth commandment is specific, and no man can alter it. God selected the seventh day when He created all things. (Genesis 2:2, 3.) Man has ignored for centuries the principle—and privilege of Sabbath keeping; and there can be no reasonable doubt that much of the confusion in the world today is really a direct result of this neglect. 26 tlfilhitt by LESLIE SHAW ( History of the Lord's Day Few God-given provisions are more potent in their capacity for doing good than His weekly rest day—a day of relaxation which we are morally obliged to enjoy. T HE Sabbath is a divine institution. Its origin is revealed only in the sacred Scriptures. It is there shown to have been established and appointed by God Himself in association with His creative works, and with the object of commemorating this creation among men in all time. Says the Psalmist, with reference to God's purpose in this: "He [God) hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Psalm 111:4. The Revised Standard Version says: "He hath CAUSED His wonderful works to be remembered." That which causes man—and was intended by God to cause man—to remember Him through His works, for it particularly draws his attention to them, is the Sabbath, for the Sabbath is the divine memorial of the creative works of God. Made while the world was still perfect It is important to notice that the Sabbath was instituted in Eden, and that this happened before man had sinned. This fact cannot be over-emphasized. It is impossible to evaluate the Sabbath correctly unless this is recognized. Since it was instituted in Eden before man sinned, it follows that the Sabbath would have had a permanent existence among mankind even if , sin had never entered this world. God committed the Sabbath to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family, and it was the divine plan that, at the close of each week forevermore, sinless man should celebrate it. The Sabbath was wholly commemorative, and was to be a perpetual reminder of the Creator, a guarantee that mankind should never forget God, a permanent bond cementing the relationship of the creature with his Maker. "Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment on the part of all that should dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and rightful Sovereign; and that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His authority." And, since the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, and though, through human freewill, these purposes may be postponed, yet when sin and sinners are no more the Sabbath will still be kept, and will fulfil its original purpose. Of this we are assured by the prophetic word of God: "For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord." Isaiah 66:02, 23, R.S.V. 27 God saw that it was good for all It is perfectly clear from this, that God saw that the Sabbath was essential for mankind. And this was true even in paradise—even in man's sinless condition. And this prophecy foresees that even in the hereafter it will still be essential for Him. "God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God, and med- itate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God, and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator." —Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 48, by E. G. White. • • )Ic • • SUCCESS STORY by A. C. VINE Principal. The Voice of Prophecy Bible School. Man's forgetfulness Man is prone to forget what he ought to remember —a characteristic intensified by sin. How short a memory has man for kindnesses received, and how little gratitude does he show! On the reverse side, how frequently does he nurse grievances, and thereby inten- sify the memory of them engendering bitterness! Moses warned ancient Israel: "Then beware lest thou forget the Lord. . . . Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His Commandments, . . ." Deuteronomy 6012; 81111. And what was it that made Israel likely to forget? The context shows that Moses considered that it was the settling down to an easy life, an enjoyment of the luxuries of the land into which they were then going. And did this warning suffice? No, when they got settled in the land, they soon forgot. The history of Israel is a lesson for all who should live in later times, illustrating this tendency on the part of man to forget Him who is the "Giver of every good and perfect gift." Their history also teaches the fatal results of such forgetfulness. But somehow or another, men generally fail to learn. Has ever a generation enjoyed more of the bounties of God in the possessions of the natural world than ours, and has ever a generation been more forgetful of God? To be continued • .* • -* • lc • *- questions about spiritual things answered, their despair replaced by hope, their loneliness superseded by a sense of divine nearness, and a communion with God through a better understanding of His Word, the Holy Scriptures. One of the greatest reasons for the paralysing fear that grips so many lives is in not knowing the sig- nificance of current happenings, or how they fit into any scheme of things, or how they are likely to affect our lives. Those who read the Bible with the help of our Study Guides are released from the grip of fear and uncertainty as they see a loving yet Almighty God revealed behind the shadows, keeping watch over His own. We do not have to guess at the success of the work of this school. The letters we receive bear clear testimony to the blessing of God in so many lives through the help we are able to give. Here are a few: "Personal Saviour" Elaine Kirlen wrote: "These Bible lessons have brought blessing to my soul, and through them I have received Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. I am trying to introduce other souls to Him." "Enlightened" Paulette Daniels, a nurse says: "Many thanks for these inspiring lessons. I can surely say that since I started my TAKE HIS WORD course I have been enlightened and greatly blessed." LL the world loves a love story. The same goes for stories of success; so a story combining both types is bound to be of interest. Such is the story of THE VOICE OF PROPHECY. Perhaps you have already looked at the back page of this magazine. What you see there is an invitation to enjoy extraordinary privileges: assurance of great enjoy- ment, of help in solving many important problems, and the guarantee that your own little bit of world can be made happier, and your prospects brighter. Such is the work of THE VOICE OF PROPHECY Bible Correspondence School which has eight thousand active students, people of all ages and conditions and circumstances. This school was started in Britain almost thirty years ago in a quite small way, in response to the many inquiries that came to us from seekers after truth. Since then thousands of people have had their "Radical views changed" A doctor writes: "I have read much religious liter- ature, but I have never found the Bible so interesting or my delight in studying it so great as I have since taking THE VOICE OF PROPHECY guides. My radical views have changed and my faith in Christ is real. Thank you for your help." "Faith grows stronger" Miss Kirten, London, says: "I am glad to say that the Bible study has meant much to my life. My faith in Jesus grows stronger and stronger." "'Tension relaxed" One lady wrote: "For years I have been suffering from what was thought to be osteo-arthritis. Recently special examination and tests revealed that my trouble 28 is actually cancer of the bones. When I was told, a terror gripped my heart and my distress was great. I sought comfort in prayer and the study of the Bible. After completing the study Lesson 10 and thinking much about it, my mind became calm, my tension relaxed, and I found complete tranquillity in a new ability to trust God, come what may. I thank God for your help." "I am so happy" Desome Bolder, a London schoolboy writes: "Dear Teacher, I am writing to let you know that I have found Jesus. I have been studying your lessons on prayer, and have found that He does answer prayer. . . . I am so happy, and shall do anything He commands me." "No longer estranged" Mrs. H. of Leeds wrote: "Rejoice with me. Our home is a happy place again. My husband has joined me in prayer and the study of THE VOICE PRO- PHECY lessons. Thank God we are no longer estranged, but united in our love for each other, and in our will to make Christ the Head of our home. I thank God for the guidance your course of study has given me, and the blessing it is bringing to us." Well, these are but a few of the expressions of appreciation of the wonderful work God is doing in many lives and homes through the guidance in the study of His Word which we are privileged to give. Can we be of any service to you? There is a small coupon on the back page to make it easy for you to find out. * • * • * • * • * • * • * • * • * ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF CHRIST • 2 by E. W. MARTER, M.A., M.Th. Department of Religion and Biblical Languages, Newbold College What difference does it make that Jesus Christ was not an angel but a man ? I. What reasons are given in answer to this question in the book of Hebrews? (a) It is human beings, not angels, for whom He is preparing the future world: "For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come." Hebrews 2:5. (b) It is human beings, not angels, for whom He suffered death: "In Jesus, we, however, do see one who for a short while was made lower than the angels, . . . so that, by God's gracious will, in tasting death He should stand for us all." Hebrews 2:9. (c) He became a human being, not an angel, to be able to die a human death: "A family share the same flesh and blood; so He too shared ours so that through death he might break the power of . . . the devil." Hebrews 2:14. (d) He became a human being, not an angel, to be able, by sharing in and understanding human experience, to help men and women in the stresses of life: "It is not angels, mark you, that He takes to Himself, but the sons of Abraham. And therefore He had to be made like these brothers of His in every way, so that . . . since He himself has passed through the test of suffering, He is able to help those who are meeting their test now." Hebrews 2:16-18. (e) He became one of us so as to set us a practical example of obedience under our conditions of life: "For ours is not a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who, because of His likeness to us, has been tested in every way, only without sin." Hebrews 4:15, 16. The words "without sin" show that it was possible for Jesus to sin, and that by His noble and sinless life He set us a genuine example. It is "as the Son of man [that) He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey." The Desire of Ages, page 24. (f) As a genuine human being He can truly represent us in His capacity as our High Priest in the Temple of God in heaven: "For every high priest is taken from among men and appointed their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Just such a High Priest we have, and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens, a ministrant in the real sanctuary." Hebrews 5:1; 8:1, 2. 2. Why then did the Son of God become the Son of man, a human. being like ourselves? The answers given above from the book of Hebrews are taught all through the New Testament in other passages: Jesus "became flesh" and "came to dwell among us" (John 1:14), to set us "an example" (1 Peter 2:21), to die "for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3), to "represent" us in heaven and there to "plead our cause" (Romans 8:34), and finally, to give us an "inheritance . . . that nothing can destroy or spoil." 1 Peter 1:4, 5. 29 3. In all this what may we consider to be the key action on the part of the Son of Man, this Second Adam, the new Head of our race? "There is one God and also one Mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus, Himself man, who sacrificed Himself to win freedom for all mankind." 1 Timothy 2:5, 6. "For as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19. 4. In view of what He is, and what He has done and is doing for us, what would be the appropriate action on our part? "My friends, the blood of Jesus makes us free to enter boldly into the sanctuary by the new, living way which he has opened for us through the curtain, the way of His flesh. Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of our gracious God, where we may receive mercy and in His grace find timely help." Hebrews 10:19, 20; 4:16. (Quotations from the New English Bible.) COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Cover by Barnabys, also pages 13, and 24; Studio Lisa, pages 2, and 27; Keystone, pages 3, 4, and 17; By courtesy World Council of Churches, pages 19, 20. 21; Dr. L. G. White, page 22 ANSWERS TO TEST YOUR "WORD" POWER 1. 1 Corinthians (chapter 13, verses 12, 13); 2. John (chapter 3. verses 15 to 17); 3. Revelation (chapter 22, verses 1, 2): 4. Psalms (Psalm 23, verses 3 to 5); 5. Romans (chapter 7. verses 11 to 13); 6. Esther (chapter 4, verse 16); 7. Luke (chapter 15, verses 11 to 13); 8. Proverbs (chapter 22, verses 1, 2). We hope you have en- joyed reading this issue of "OUR TIMES." We in- vite you to join our large family of regular readers. SIMPLY FILL IN THE COUPON AND POST WITH CHEQUE OR POSTAL ORDER TO: The Circulation Manager THE STANBOROUGH PRESS LTD. ALMA PARK • GRANTHAM LINCOLNSHIRE p � No um ========= My postal subscription of 23/6 for twelve months. E My postal subscription of 11/9 for six months. � Place a tick against the order of your choice � I Mr/Mrs/Miss � Address � Block letters please INDIA continued fram page 17 a spread of Christianity in India for over twelve centuries. Strangely enough, it was not.the Hindus who were the bitterest enemies of the Church. It was the "haughty Jesuit monks from Portugal and Goa who, skilled in sublimated treachery, and trained for years in the art of rapid debate" destroyed the Thomas Christians of India in bitter persecution. (Truth Triumphant, B. G. Wilkinson, Ph.D.) Today there are eight million Christians in India, and the number is rapidly growing. The Moslems invaded India in the seventh century. Today about 100 million Indians accept the Moslem faith most of whom live in the State of Pakistan. It should be noted that the difference between the Pakistani and the Indian is not one of race but one of culture spreading from difference in religion. The Indian sub-continent is divided on the basis of religious and social customs. Hinduism's effect How has the Hinduism of India affected the world? In 1875, Madame Blavatsky of Russia • opened the first Theosophical Society in America; and Annie Besant brought Theosophy to England. There are forty-four National Theosophical Societies in Britain today. Theosophy stresses the old Indian errors of re- incarnation, Karma, and pantheism—teachings that actually emerged from the serpent in Eden. � - But in all western countries there are wealthy individuals who gather around Indian mystics, or who follow Psychology Cults based on Indian mysticism, or even adopt the mystical beliefs of the cultured Indian. Even the Beatles have succumbed, and have had lessons in mysticism and transcendentalism from an Indian seer in Bangor, North Wales. What should be the Christian reaction ? How should the follower of Christ react to these movements? In Bible times, the prophet Isaiah had to face up to them; he wrote of those who were "replen- ished from the East." (Isaiah 2:6.) Isaiah was not one, who believed that all religions were acceptable. His un- compromising stand for truth led the Jewish leaders to murder him—they put him between two planks of wood and sawed him in two. He believed like all Bible prophets, that what had been revealed by the Creator to the Hebrew peoples was the only true faith—all others being false, and that therefore all should be encouraged to accept it. But great changes are affecting India. Communism, and other political elements are breaking down old traditions. Indians are travelling and receiving travellers. Education is removing the incubus of tradition and superstition from the minds of the masses. Into this God-provided opportunity of flux and investigation hundreds of Christian missionaries are stepping. Chris- tian books are circulating, the Bible is being read. Correspondence courses in Christian teaching are being studied, large scale evangelistic campaigns are (being held in major cities. Christian hospitals are bearing a witness. What does this mean? It means that this is the time of "decision" foretold by the prophet: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision." Joel 3:14. It 1 1 � 1 1 30 also means that the time has now come when "every nation, kindeed, tongue and people" is to hear the "everlasting Gospel" on a scale never witnessed before. It means that Jesus Christ, the "Desire of all Nations," will soon return to earth to set up His everlasting kingdom where the poverty and disease of India will be unknown. We know there will be many from "India's coral strand" in the eternal kingdom. ECUMENISM in PROPHECY by RAYMOND H. LIBBY How does the apostle Paul picture the state of Christianity near the end? "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Note: Professing Christians will have deteriorated in spirituality and faith to the point where their pro- fession is no more than a farce, a "form of godliness," while they refuse to let God live in their lives. How will spiritual apostasy within the church reveal itself in the last days? "In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." I Timothy 4:1, 2. Note: How many Christian denominations today are making the Word of God their sole rule of faith and practice? How does the apostle Peter depict the last-day church? "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?" 2 Peter 3:3, 4. Do the Holy Scriptures lead us to expect ecumenism near time's end? "Associate yourselves, 0 ye people.. . . Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand." Isaiah 8:9, 10. Note: A perusal of Isaiah 8:9-22 makes clear that this passage refers to a religious union of sorts. What command does God give to Bible-believing Christians concerning such a nation? "For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confed- eracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Isaiah 8:11-13. Note: It is interesting to note that advocates of ecumenism plead that fear of communism, fear of secularism, and fear of disunity are prime reasons for forgetting denominational boundaries and uniting in an ecumenical force of world-wide proportions. As the ecumenical confederacy moves toward fulfilment, what will happen? "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." "And I beheld another beast coming up. . . . And [he] causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, . . . saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 13:3, 11-14. Note: Prophetic symbols here reveal that a power of political-religious character—which once had ecumen- ical authority, but lost it—will rise again. Once more the world will accept a universal religious confederacy. Is it God's plan that there should be an ecumenical church? "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Ephesians 4:5. Note: Paul here describes God's plan for His true church. There is only one God and Father of us all. The Scriptures reveal the one true faith. The true church can only become the "bride of Christ" by burying all of the erroneous philosophies and traditions that have split Christendom from the second and third centuries. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Ephesians 4:4. How only can ecumenism succeed? "For the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:12, 13. Note: Ecumenism without God is doomed to fail. A confederacy that harbours Christian atheism and other doctrinal errors cannot last. Christ died and rose again and ministers in heaven to bring to pass His sure promise that His true church—a remnant of the whole (Revelation 12:17)—will be gathered into His "many mansions." Christ is the Head of His church, His bride, spotless and pure in faith and godly living. This universal church will abide forever with "one Lord, one faith." 31 THE 4, • PAGEM George pointed to a cloud of mist about a hundred yards ahead rising from a narrow strip of open water. GOD CAN SEE IN THE DARK by ROBERT G. NATIUK F ACH horse pulled a narrow, double-ended sleigh. There were two sleighs making the trip together, one driven by Will Mc- Questen, the other .by George Larrigan. They were both young, strong men; only the young and strong would start out on such a journey. Only the young and strong had any chance of completing it. The horses' nostrils bristled with frost, for it was a cold winter day in northern British Columbia, Canada. The two men had left Glenora that morning and had started north, hoping to get to Atlin, a goldmining town, and find jobs. The trip was to cover almost two hundred miles. There were no roads or railway stations, just mountains and forested wilderness. Darkness came early. Will's sleigh was breaking trail, and he coaxed his horse toward a sheltered cove of spruce trees. George drew his sleigh alongside. They would camp here overnight. "When do you think we'll reach Atlin, Will?" George asked as they untied the horses. "Oh, perhaps in two weeks," Will replied. "It'll depend a lot on the weather and trail." They blanketed the horses and, as an extra precaution, wrapped their legs with gunny-sacks. Soon the tent was set up between the two sleighs and a blazing fire started. After a hot supper, the men bedded down. "George?" Will asked in the dark- ness. No answer came. Will turned in his blankets to see if George had already fallen asleep. He saw the dark outline of his companion kneeling, praying silently. After a minute, George stretched out between the blankets. "What did you want to say?" he asked Will. "Uh, nothing," Will said. "I'm pretty sure we'll make the trip." About three o'clock in the morning, George sat up suddenly! He held his breath, listening. The howling pierced the stillness again, then the horses neighed. Timber wolves were closing in! Will was up by now, and he reached for his rifle. The two men pulled back the tent flap and peered outside. In the moonlight they saw a pack of six wolves circling them, coming closer to the camp and the horses, nearer and nearer. "What do you think?" George asked. Will shook his head. "I heard they killed a horse in this valley a few days before we started, but I won't shoot unless they come too close." The men waited. As daylight began to appear the wolves slunk away into the timber, their spine-tingling howls fading in the distance. The next week of travelling went well, and the two men reached the southern tip of Teslin Lake. This lake stretched northward for almost a hundred miles, then flowed into Teslin River which later joined the mighty Yukon River. The pair planned to go on the ice only a short way, then cut across the mountains westward. George drew his sleigh to a halt, and Will came up beside him. "Listen!" George commanded. "Sleigh bells?" Will was puzzled. In a few minutes, a dog sled driven by two Red Indians rounded a bend. The sled was pulled by Mackenzie River Huskies with bells on their harness. The Indians steered toward the sleighs and stopped. The men exchanged a few comments. The Indians were from Atlin, and were going to Teslin Lake 32 for a potlatch [an Indian winter festival). "You come too," the Indians invited them. George shook his head and explained that they couldn't waste a day, for the hay for the horses was getting low. "Which is the best way to Atlin?" George asked before the dog sled departed. "There's no trail," one Indian replied. "But if not too much snow fall, follow our track. Go about fifteen miles along this lake. There is a new empty cabin. A small creek run by cabin and into the lake. Follow it up as far as it go, then climb hill and go straight west." They exchanged farewells and departed. The weather became warmer, and rain fell as darkness settled across the land. The snow was wet and heavy, and steering the sleighs proved difficult. It was getting dark and Will was in the lead when he could just make out the outline of the cabin on the shore, about half a mile ahead. Suddenly, a shaft of his sleigh broke and the runners bogged down. George pulled up beside him and suggested that they camp on the frozen lake for the night. "I'll cut straight across to the shore on the right before it gets too dark and get a tree to brace the shaft," Will sug- gested and hurried off. George pulled the tent across the two sleighs and set up the portable stove. When Will returned with a small spruce tree, they ate supper and went to bed. The weather turned cold in the night, and in the morning the sleigh runners were frozen solid to the ice. They had to be chopped out. George gazed ahead in the direction they had been travelling the night before. "What's that?" He pointed to a cloud of mist rising about a hundred yards ahead from a narrow strip of open water. They walked over to examine it. A warm spring from shore flowed into the lake and prevented a narrow strip from freezing. "If—the shaft hadn't broken . . ." Will began. George nodded. It had been too dark last night for them to see far ahead. If the shaft hadn't broken when it did, the horse and sleigh, and very likely Will as well, would have plunged through and drowned. "And being so close behind, most likely I would have gone in with you," George concluded. They didn't talk on the way back to the tent. Both were thinking of the protecting hand of God. "God is just as real now as He was two thousand years ago," George said. They started preparing breakfast. "Let's have a real treat this morning," George suggested. "What shall we cook?" They dug into their sacks and came up with all the extras they had—dried potatoes and dried peaches! They cooked them and ate the meal slowly. "I'm not much of a praying man outside of church," Will said. "But I just can't help feeling that God is very close today. I know He protected us last night even when we couldn't tell there was danger, for God can see in the dark." George agreed. "I've seen His pro- tection many times in this country, Will. I guess if a person keeps his mind open, and looks for ways in which God protects, he'll see them often." After breakfast, they fixed the shaft and hitched the horses. They circled wide of the water, then cut to shore again. The first few miles were easy climbing, but then they came to a steep ridge. The supplies, the sleigh, and the horses had to be hauled up by hand and block-and-tackle. Finally, all were on top. They found the Indians' trail and followed it. It was with thanks in their hearts that they safely arrived at Atlin. They knew God had watched over them. Just-a-Minute Janet by A. S. MAXWELL J ANET! Janet!" called Mother. No reply. "Coo-oo Janet!" she called again, going to the kitchen window to see what Janet was doing. "Just a minute, Mummy," came a little voice from the garden. "I shan't be long." "But I'm waiting for you," called Mother, "I want you to come now." "Just a minute," came floating back from the invisible Janet. "Dear me!" exclaimed Mother to herself. "How tired I am of hearing her say, 'Just a minute.' Just wait till she comes in!" Five minutes passed. Then ten min- utes. But no Janet appeared. "Janet!" called Mother, going to the window again. "Come here at once!" "Just a minute!" "Oh!" said Mother, "if I don't—" But at this moment Janet's little face popped around the corner of the tool- shed smiling so sweetly that Mother didn't know what to say next. "Here I am," said Janet pleasantly. "Did you call, Mummy?" "You heard me call," said Mother, trying to look stern. "Why didn't you come at once?" "I was busy," replied Janet demurely. "You see I was washing dolly's clothes." "Maybe you were," said Mother, "but when your mummy calls you must obey at once. It's very rude to keep Mummy waiting ten whole minutes before you come to her." "Yes, Mummy," said Janet. "And don't you ever say, 'Just a minute' again." "No, Mummy." said Janet. "All right," said Mother, "now take these eggs round to Mrs. Jones." Janet took the parcel and ran off happily, humming a little tune to herself. But while she was gone she quite for- got all that Mother had said. When she returned she went out into the garden again to her "wash-tub" behind the shed. Oh, what fun it was rubbing and scrubbing and making soap- suds just like Mother! And she had a clothes line all for herself, some of Mummy's pegs, and a real scrubbing board. No wonder she was happy ! But by and by a familiar voice was heard again. "Janet! Janet!" The reply was equally familiar. "Just a minute, Mummy." "So she has forgotten already," said Mother. "Then she will have to learn some other way." Once more the minutes passed— five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen min- utes. Still no sign of Janet. But meanwhile Mother went on with her dinner and when she had finished, cleared the table. She was half repenting of her decision when an unusual sound caught her ears. "Oh, Mummy, Mummy ! Come quick! Come quick! The water's all spilled over me!" "Just a minute, Janet!" "Oh, come quick ! Come quick !" wailed Janet; "my shoes are full of water!" But Mother did not stir. She merely called back once more, very deliberately. "Just a minute, Janet." At this the poor, soaked Janet appear- ed round the corner. What a picture she looked! As she had jumped off the stool after hanging dolly's frock on her line she had brought the whole basin full of soapy water on top of herself. Mother couldn't help laughing. It was too funny for words. "Why didn't you come when I called?" said Janet very crossly. "Can't you see I'm all wet and horrid?" "I couldn't," said Mother. "You see, I was busy. I had to clear the table after dinner." "Is it as late as that?" asked Janet, looking surprised. "Yes," said Mother. "And I have been waiting for you all this time. If you had come when I called this wouldn't have happened." Janet saw the point and a faint little smile flickered across her dear little face. 33 YOUR LETTER tiv Dem. 54.4.440-4, Well, children, you will be sorry to say good-bye to Auntie Pam, won't you? She has been writing to you for many years; so many in fact, that some of her first Sunbeams are now married and have Sunbeams of their own! I know you have enjoyed her letters, and I'll tell you a secret! Each time I had a new issue of OUR TIMES, I turned to Auntie Pam's letter, because I liked reading it, too! She will always be interested in your painting results, and has promised to write to you occasionally, so she's not really saying good-bye. We can liken this New Year to a newly opened book. Each day is like a new page, clean and unspotted. Most people make New Year resolutions. They look back over the old year, see their failures and mistakes, determine to do better in the future, and make resolutions to help them do so. This is a good time for us to review our Sunbeam promises and resolve to keep them to the best of our ability. There are five of them : 1. I will read a portion of the Bible every day. 2. I will not forget my morning and evening prayer. 3. I will try to help someone every day. 4.1 will defend all animals I see unkindly treated. 5.I will write a letter to "Our Corner" at least once every three months. Our motto is good, don't you think? "We Bring Sunshine." If you all try to bring sunshine into your homes every day, just think how many happy ones there will be. How can you do this? Read the following verses and they will help you : "I would be a little Sunbeam, Shining brightly all the day, With its light and joy and gladness Driving all the clouds away. "I would be a little Sunbeam, And with happy smile or song Cheer the hearts of those around me— Make them cheerful, brave and strong. "I would be a little Sunbeam ! Help me, Jesus, so to shine: May the light of Thy dear Spirit Fill this little heart of mine. "Shining every day for Jesus, Like a sunbeam pure and fair, Driving out the gloom and sadness, Shedding sunlight everywhere." Won't you resolve to be a Sunbeam for Jesus? If so, send for your applica- tion form. Fill this in and return it to us. We will then tell you what to do to become a member of our Sunbeam Band and a proud wearer of the Sunbeam badge. Yours affectionately, aLLP,9_. RESULTS OF OCTOBER COMPETITION Prize-winners.—Irene Festorazzi, 137 Inverness Avenue, Westcliffe-on -Sea, Essex. Age 14. Anne Crawford, White Lodge, Denewood Road, West Moors, Dorset. Age 10. Honourable Mention.—Elaine Wilkinson (Birmingham 34) ; Rosslyn Tuson (Edmonton N.18) ; Howard Lane (Nottingham) ; Pamela Sheldrick � (Carlisle) ; � Roderick Crawford (West Moors) ; Jane Warren (Kettering) ; Rosemary Pringle (Deptford) ; Eleanor Fames (Romford) ; Janet Palmer (Lt. Wenham) ; Kevin Catto (Woodbridge); Linda Hayward (London W.2) ; Ian Whiting (Stroud) ; Kay Ellis (Hemel Hempstead) ; Paulette Haughton (London S.W.20); Linda McMorris (Londonderry) ; Satinder Singh (Southall) ; Sharon James (Leicester) ; Margaret Murphy (Hockley) ; William Line (Southampton) ; Christine Slawson (Totton) ; Sylvia Peters (Banwell) ; Christine Baldwin (Watford) ; Linda Baldwin (Watford) ; John Secker (Castle Bromwich) ; Veronica Russell (West- cliff-on-Sea) ; � Kevin � Keeler � (Norwich) ; Edward Harrison (Aberdeen). Those Who Tried Hard.—Carolyn Walker (Londonderry) ; Helen Baskeyfield (Stoke- on-Trent) ; John Dilks (Croxley Green) ; Gail � Todd � (Westcliff -on-Sea) ; � Dianne Boulton � (Stockport) ; � Loraine � Murphy (Londonderry) ; Petrina Littlechild (Grays) ; Janie Wylie (Lerwick) ; Valerie Wilson (Lame) ; Raymond Lewis (Weston-super- Mare) ; Lionel Hinks (Watford) ; Janette Upson (Abbots Langley) ; Sherene Martin (Doncaster) ; Joyce Clark (Strathord) ; Eric Harris (Gloucester) ; Linda Gray (Moseley) ; Christine Pringle (Deptford) ; Joyce Birney (Liverpool 4) ; M. Lawrence (Sheffield 7) ; Christine Doyle (St. Annes-on-Sea) ; Elma Morgan (Birmingham 27) ; John Vickery (Stoke Newington) ; Robert Hayes (Fulford) ; Caroline Gill (Weymouth) ; Peter Murray (Eastbourne) ; Patrick Morgan (Birmingham 27) ; Peter Bandura (Nottingham) ; Joanna Lock (Truro) ; Paul Samuels (London N.17) ; Yvette Reddall � (Nottingham) ; Clement Morgan (Birmingham 27) ; Jackie ? (East Croydon) ;Jonny ? (East Croydon) ; Linda Needham (Beeston) ; Jeremy Pearson (West- cliff-on-Sea) ; Carolyn Whiting (Stroud). "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty: and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Proverbs 16:32. cirm boRn its Ir~i l7 SHoNERID See how nicely you can colour this picture and send it with your name, age, and address to Auntie Alice, The Stanborough Press Ltd., Alma Park, Grantham, Lincs., not later than February 5th. P5F1 L.M. 26. I. 34 Ideal for all who desire a better life and are uncertain how to find it STEPS TO CHRIST • HANDY SIZE • FULL-COLOUR HARD COVER • 96 PAGES • ILLUSTRATED DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE 1968 THE MORNING WATCH 1892 • Still in heavy demand • Millions have been purchased Published in 20 languages PRICE 6s. 6d. post free PRICE 1s. 3d. post free First published This book, written by one who was truly inspired of God, will genuinely help you to enjoy a closer walk with Him. It will help you to a fuller under- standing of why Christ came to this earth, and why it was necessary for Him to die and be raised again. It is a clear, convincing, and heart-warming portrayal of the truth of the Bible's best-loved text—John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." r SEND CASH WITH ORDER TO: The Stanborough Press Ltd. Alma Park, Grantham, Lincs. Please send me �copies of STEPS TO CHRIST @ 6s. 6d. each Post free. � I enclose £ � Mr./Mrs./Miss � I Address � BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE OT L � • THE MORNING WATCH has specially selected texts from the Bible with brief captions for every day of the year. • Devotional poems, and systematic Bible study plans. • Beautiful full-colour cover. 36 pages. r SEND CASH WITH ORDER TO: The Stanborough Press Ltd. Alma Park, Grantham, Lincs. Please send me �copies of THE MORNING WATCH @ 1s. 3d. each Post free. � I enclose £ � Mr./Mrs./Miss � Address � BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE OT JUST FILL IN THE COUPON INDICAT- ING YOUR PREFERENCE AND THE LESSONS WILL BE DISPATCHED TO YOU IN PAIRS UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE COURSE AND RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE. Why not invite the into your home THROUGH A FREE BIBLE STUDY COURSE SENT TO YOU BY POST ? WHATEVER YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES— WHATEVER YOUR PERSONAL PROBLEMS —WHATEVER YOUR AGE — op GOD'S WORD HAS HELP FOR YOU RRY � -I:SON, ARTIST e �& HERALD F ItE E HOME BIBLE STUDY GUIDES ARE YOU INTERESTED to know the meaning of world events today? Do you wonder whether there is life after death? Are you interested to find the secret of answered prayer? Then, "GREAT TEACHINGS AND PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE" will help you. ARE YOU A PARENT OR TEACHER helping children to know more of the wonderful life of Jesus Christ? If so, the "HOPE OF THE WORLD" Bible Study Guides are just what you need. ARE YOU A YOUNG PERSON wishing to become better acquainted with the interesting stories of men and women of Bible times? Then you will find the "YOUNG PEOPLE'S BIBLE COURSE" interesting and informative. COMPLETE COUPON AND POST TO: VOICE OF PROPHECY BIBLE SCHOOL, 123 REGENT STREET, LONDON, W.I. THE VOICE OF PROPHECY HOME BIBLE STUDY GUIDES WILL HELP YOU TO FIND IT. Please send me the course indicated below. (Tick course desired) K GREAT TEACHINGS AND PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE El HOPE OF THE WORLD (Life of Christ) E YOUNG PEOPLE'S BIBLE COURSE Mr./Mrs./Miss � Address OT BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE