Editorial

The pessimistic old fellow with the wrinkled brow shook his head and said, “I have so many worries that if I get a new one it will have to wait until the middle of July before I will have time to worry about it.”

This statement is so extreme it graphically points out how ridiculous it is for any of us to worry, and yet it is easier said than done. It is said that 40% of our worries are about the past, 50% about the future and only 10% about the present, so we can get rid of 90% of our worries by just following the wise advice of the Lord Jesus Christ who told us not to worry about the future “for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself,” and of Paul who told us to forget those things which are behind.” Planning for the future and learning from the past is not worrying and it is wise to learn from our past mistakes so that we can avoid making the same error again and certainly we must look forward like Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

This is a different thing, however, from worrying about the past, the future and even the present. Worry is undue concern. It is fretting and fuming over things we cannot change or alter by worrying. It shows a lack of faith. If God is for us, then who can be against us? This is wonderful consolation when we feel that we have really tried to do the right thing. There are times, however, when we must admit to ourselves that we have not done just what we should and then we feel even more distraught because we now wonder if God really is for us. This type of thinking can add greatly to our anxiety and worry. To avoid this, we should certainly try always to be right with God, to feel that we are doing our best, that truly we are seeking first God’s kingdom and therefore we can take comfort in the fact that He is for us and therefore nothing in this world can successfully be against us. This we should do, and by doing it we rid ourselves of ten thousand worries, but like Paul, we are all wretched and do the things we would not do and do not do the things we should do.

This being true, how do we avoid worry when we feel that we have failed or are not living up to the high calling whereunto we have been called? Since we have “all sinned and come short of the glory of God, the answer to this question is vital to each of us.

We find the answer in the assurance that “we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” John tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Since Jesus understands us, knows our failings and is our high priest to mediate to God for us, we have no need to worry, for we can confess our sins with the absolute assurance that they will be forgiven. Our past mistakes no longer need to worry us, for now we know again that God is for us and who then can be against us? David tells us that “if the Lord shouldst mark iniquities, who could stand ?” Since the Lord is willing to wash us thoroughly from our iniquity and cleanse us from our sins, we have no need to worry about the past and its mistakes. The future belongs to God and so with each new day He will give us new strength, so there are no worries about tomorrow. That leaves us only with the present and if we seek first the Kingdom of God, He has promised to give us the things we need, not always what we want, but certainly what we need, so once again, for the true son and daughter of God, we have nothing to worry about.

The Los Angeles County Library recently added the two millionth book to its collection. This is graphic evidence of the truth of Solomon’s remark that “of making many books there is no end.”

Solomon continued his observations by saying that “much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Every student can certainly vouch for this, for after poring over calculus or biology books for hours, the flesh can become very weary.

In spite of the weariness of the flesh that study brings, we still find more and more books being written and more and more students pouring over them in order to increase their knowledge of this or that.

In view of this mad thirst for learning which has filled the colleges and universities to overflowing, it might seem reasonable to expect that interest in God’s book would also be increasing, but unfortunately, this is not the case.

There is a very good reason for the lack of interest in Divine things in this highly intellectual space age. It is because “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” and the reverse is also true for Paul rightly observed that the preaching of Christ cruci­fied was foolishness to the Greeks. The intellectuals of today are far too busy learning and teaching the so-called “important” things to have time to read the Bible.

With all the increase of knowledge, with all the unsolved problems that face mankind today, with the threat of annihilation hanging over our heads it would seem that surely people would turn to their Bibles for comfort, for instruction and for help. This is not the case. Instead they enroll in night school to make one wise. Today, we find that even the housewife is not in the house but in the class room instead. We recall another “housewife” of many years ago who desired to use methods other than those God had appointed to become wise for she “saw a tree to be desired to make one wise, and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.”

Worldly wisdom in itself is not a sin but if we allow it to take away the time we should give to God then it can become a very bad master. There is only so much time and the question we must each answer is, are we spending our time wisely putting first things first? We can never ever read two million books and we shall never know everything about anything so what shall we study and which book shall we read first?

If we only had six months to live it wouldn’t matter very much how much we knew about astronomy, physics, ancient history or geology. These are all admittedly worthwhile subjects about which we would like to know more, but now with only six months to live, there isn’t any use learning more because we shall never have an opportunity to use what we now know. There is only one kind of knowledge that matters at a time like this. It is the kind of knowledge that Timothy had, for Paul commended him saying, “From a child thou has known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salva­tion.”

As we commence a new year of waiting for the return of our Lord, let us be sure that we always find time for the important “Book” and that we study those things that are able to make us wise unto salvation.

In a recent article entitled “The True Function of a Christian Church,” John Heuss said concerning the First century church, “It was a fellowship that placed very little value on any organization or activity which did not contribute directly to three important things. What organization it boasted was for worship, for teaching, and for the collection of alms for the needy brethren. Being a member of the fellowship did not mean committee work. It meant a changed relationship to God. It meant a new quality of life among believing Christians. It meant a joyous expectancy that the future could not be bad.”

The writer laments the fact that the churches of today are missing the whole point. As Christ’s brethren and sisters, we too, need to be sure that we are not missing the whole point. Just how has our faith transformed our lives and just how do our lives reflect our faith? Our faith is not just something to be believed, it is a life to be lived, and everything we say or do should reflect this. It is not possible for a true member of God’s family to hide his light under a bushel. If we become on fire for the Lord, then this contagious enthusiasm will also infect our fellow brethren and sisters and even our friends and neighbors. Our life must become a living epistle known and read of all men.

This kind of faith will infect our whole ecclesia and transform our light stands into beacons showing the way to our Lord, if each of us individually light our candle. Perhaps we have seen demonstrated the amount of light that comes from each person lighting one match in a large open air arena. Individually our lights may be feeble indeed but combined with other soldiers for Christ, they become a blazing torch.

This may sound fine, but how do we do it? How do we each light and keep lit our candle? The scriptures abound in examples of light and the need for oil as fuel. “The foolish took no oil, . . . the wise took oil.” Without the oil our lights will go out. To have a strong ecclesia we must have strong members, and to have strong members we must be men and women of the word. If we will but read and study as the faithful of old, we will be so full of the truth that we could not if we wanted to, hide our light. Surely this was the case with Jeremiah for he says, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. Even when Jeremiah wanted to be quiet, he couldn’t for he said, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay.”

The real answer to all our problems is found in our personal study habits. If we will only follow the example of Jeremiah, of David who said he meditated in God’s law day and night, of Ezra of whom it was recorded that he “prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it,” of those in Berea who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,” then we need not worry about apathy within the ecclesia, we need not concern ourselves with poor attendance at lectures, we need not fret at all, because if we, each one individually, become filled with the word of God, we will all be busy presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, we will all be transformed by the renewing of our mind and we will be able to prove to all around us what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” These words of Jeremiah, penned so long ago, apply to us living in the fall of 1962.

It is possible to become weary as the days stretch into weeks, months and years and still our Lord remains away. Surely “now is our salvation nearer than when we be­lieved.”

We must always be on our guard that we do not lapse into the foolish thinking of those Peter tells us will say “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

In the last few years we have witnessed so many startling developments it seems unbelievable that such thoughts should drift into our minds for we have seen the establishment of the state of Israel and the increase of knowledge to the point where men can orbit the earth in a matter of minutes and yet for most of us “all things con­tinue as they were.” Our lives fall into a routine that soon becomes a rut and the startling headlines become commonplace to us as we go about our daily tasks.

Our lives should be filled with eager anticipation, anxiously awaiting the coming of the Lord. We should be looking for the Lord from day to day and season to season so that we can say almost with surprise, “The summer is ended and we are not saved!” This is the attitude we should have, but do we? Those in Jeremiah’s day were far too busy with their routines, too deeply entrenched in their ruts to heed the prophet’s warning. Is history repeating itself? Are we really as anxious for the Lord’s return as we should be? Perhaps we would just as soon have him wait until we finish college or get married. Would it be inconvenient for Christ to come now because we are busy building a new home or getting a business started ? Have we been lulled into an apathe­tic state of mind due to television, sports and vacations?

God told Haggai to warn those of his day that they should consider their ways because they were busy living in their own cieled houses and had neglected the house of the Lord.

The harvest is past, but what did we sow? The summer is ended, but how did we spend it? The fall is upon us, what are we doing? Let us consider our ways. Are we busy building the Lord’s house or our own? Is our time taken up in His work or ours? Jesus warned us that we should not concern ourselves with thoughts as to “What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ?” And then Jesus tells us why we should not concern ourselves with these things for he says, “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” We know that he was right. These are the things that concern those around us and it takes up all their time, but we must be different, therefore Jesus admonishes us to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

If only we will be wise and seek first the kingdom of God, then we need not be concerned that the summer is ended, and we are not saved, because we soon shall be.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

“It is easy to be impressed by what one does not understand very well,” so said G. H. Hardy, and we can see the truth of his words everyday.

Children are awe struck by the display of the knowledge of an older child when the facts being shown off are really quite simple. Adults are much the same, one can easily impress another by the use of a few technical phrases or trade talk. Often after a relatively short association with the same subject we wonder just why such simple things seemed so complicated to us.

In order to keep a person impressed, it is often necessary to keep them in ig­norance and for this reason many unscrupulous people have gone to great lengths to withhold valuable knowledge from those whom they wish to control.

It is certainly sad, but also true, that many church goers are easily impressed by their clergy because of their ignorance of the things contained within the pages of The Bible.

Nearly everyone owns a Bible. It is the best seller year after year, but it is also the least read. If we stopped a hundred people at random on the street, it is safe to predict that more than half would have read “The Tale of Two Cities,” “Tom Saw­yer” or “Gone with the Wind.” It is also safe to predict that less than 5% will have read their Bible from cover to cover. Isn’t this incredible? Almost everyone will readily admit that The Bible is the word of God and yet few, very few, have ever taken time to read what God has said. No wonder they are so easily impressed, it’s because they understand so little.

Unfortunately this ignorance has worked to the advantage of many preachers because they are able to tell their congregation just what they want them to know and their “little flock” ignorantly accept it.

Paul tells us that the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation. Since this is true, why are the churches so hesitant in requiring their members to read the Bible themselves? Only a few denominations actually openly discourage their members from reading the Bible but on the otherhand almost none of the churches openly demand the daily reading of the Scriptures. Why? Let us hope that it is not because the congregations are more easily impressed by what they do not understand very well.

A person may be impressed because of his lack of understanding but he will not be motivated to a life of sacrifice and dedication unless he has more understanding. There is a vast difference between being impressed and being transformed by the renewing of the mind. A man may be impressed when he understands little but the wise man knows a great deal about the cause before he sacrifices everything and devotes himself wholeheartedly to it.

Christ wants us to be more than impressed, he wants us to be zealous (on fire) for the Truth and this is only accomplished by knowing Him and “hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whose keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” I John 2:3-5.

Jesus asks us to come to him and learn of him and this is only possible by making our Bibles the book we live by. Our love for God is shown, not by being impressed but by knowing His commandments and keeping His words for then the love of God is perfected in us.

The following copy appeared in an advertisement in Newsweek magazine some­time ago: “It wasn’t the Goths that defeated Rome. It was the free circuses! Lux­uries, power, indulgence had made the once tough Roman people soft. To stay popular, their emperors gave them more and more of the ease they craved, free bread, free circuses, easier living. So the Romans softened up themselves for the ambitious, hard working barbarians.”

The firm that paid thousands of dollars to run this ad in Newsweek is justifiably alarmed by the soft life and easy living of today. They fear that the enemy will be able to overcome and conquer the United States because of this internal weakness.

True soldiers of Christ should be justifiably alarmed also. Not because we fear an outside enemy, for we know God’s plan and purpose with this earth. We know that no mortal will be successful in his attempt to set up the fifth universal kingdom because God has declared that the fifth one will be Divine. Nevertheless we should be alarmed because this soft life that caused the destruction of the Romans could very well lead to our personal destruction because God is not pleased with those who serve self instead of Him. Jesus told us, “if any man come to me, and hate not his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

Now comes the uncomfortable question. How do we spend our time? Pleasing self by indulging in the free circuses which today have their counterpart in television, radio, golf, baseball, bowling and on and on. The list is endless and if we spend our free time indulging in these things that please us, are we not following the example of the Romans ? What are Christ’s true soldiers supposed to be doing?

Paul tells us that “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;” why not, Paul? He tells us plainly, “that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” And now the powerful lesson, “Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

And this brings us to the second uncomfortable question. What hardness have we endured and are enduring for Christ?

What do we do that we don’t like to do, but we do it for Christ’s sake? What would we like to do but do not do it, for Christ’s sake ? If we can’t take a sheet of paper and compile a long list, then we’re in trouble. It means we aren’t enduring hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. It means that we, like all the people around us, are living too soft a life, spending too much time to the gratification of the flesh.

Huxley said, “The most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done whether you want to do it or not.”

It is this thought that motivated the ad in Newsweek. It is this thought that should motivate all Christ’s soldiers to get up and get busy. Turn off the television and read the Bible. Climb out of the easy chair and go visit the sick. Cancel the golf date and go make some personal calls on those interested in learning the Truth.

It can be boiled down to the subject of love. It all depends on who we love most. If it is self, then we shall continue to cater to ourselves and die in our sins as did the Romans. If we truly love God with all our heart, soul and mind, then we like Christ, will be up and doing and we will become a living example of Christ’s words, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

The human eye is a wonderful thing. Blind people think a lot more about eyes and sight than those with normal vision because it is common to take for granted the many blessings we enjoy and only think about the things we want and do not have.

Although most of us are blessed with vision of some degree, yet we all possess what is commonly called blind spots. These are two areas located on the right and left side. An eye doctor can draw the exact size and shape of our blind spot by use of a curved black flannel board and a little pointer with a white dot on it. We can see above and below, in front and behind, but within these blind spots we cannot see a thing.

Now most natural things have a spiritual counterpart and this is true of our blind spots. A blind person cannot see at all. A normal person can see clearly in most areas but is also completely blind in two specific areas.

We all know extremely intelligent people who have a wonderful knowledge of mathematics or physics, who can explain the workings of intricate machinery, who are diligent in business and skillful in some sport but who know nothing, absolutely nothing about the Bible and what’s more, they don’t want to. Religion is their blind spot.

When we turn our hearts to God, we do not lose our blind spot, we just become blind to different things. If we can only learn to become blind to the evil that is around us instead of focusing our eyes upon it, how wise we shall be. The lust of the eye is one of the three causes of sin and if we can only learn to have eyes for the things of the Lord and not look upon evil, we shall avoid many of the pitfalls that make others fall.

Unfortunately our blind spots are not limited to evil things. Our blind spots are usually those faults which we possess and others can see so clearly and we can’t see them at all. We all have them, and if only we can learn to see them, then they won’t be blind spots any more.

In the natural we can change the position of our blind spot by turning our head or backing away to get a different slant on things. If only we will train our spiritual vision to compensate for these weaknesses we can avoid stumbling.

Peter and Paul are outstanding examples of faithful followers of Christ who at one time had a serious blind spot. Peter’s trouble was he acted first and thought later. One minute he refuses to let Christ wash his feet and the next he wants him to wash also his hands and his head. One minute he pulls out his sword to defend Christ and the next he denies that he even knows him.

Paul, on the other hand, was so wrapped up in what he thought was right that he wouldn’t listen to reason. When confronted with the wisdom of Stephen he became violent and consented to Stephen’s death.

Both of these men were rescued from their blind spot by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will also rescue us from ours if we will but turn to him for help. Jesus prayed especially for Peter that his faith fail not and Peter was able to strengthen his brethren as well. In the case of Paul, Christ personally appeared to him to convert him and it is interesting to notice that Paul was struck blind for a time. It seemed to take natural blindness to make Paul see spiritual things.

We all have blind spots. Let us get busy pulling the beam out of our own eye so that we may see clearly. Jesus plainly teaches us that it is the beam in our eye that causes us trouble, not the mote in our brother’s eye. The trouble is we can see his fault and we can’t see our own. Let us busy ourselves looking for the beams in our eyes so that we can remove the blind spots that cause us to stumble.

In the south there is an old man with a row boat who ferries passengers across a mile wide river for ten cents Asked “How many times a day do you do this?” he said, “As many times as I can because the more I go the more I get, and if I don t go, I don t get This old man knows well a lesson which many of the so-called wise have forgotten that if we don’t go, we don t get We live in an age of subsidies, social welfare and social security Sweden has developed their social welfare program to such an extent that every­one is cared for from the cradle to the grave and yet Sweden has the highest percentage of suicides of any country.

The `something for nothing” craze is supporting such places as Las Vegas and the race tracks and unfortunately it has infected religion so that the pulpits today preach instant salvation Unlike the old man, people today believe that they can get without going and the most popular preachers now preach what the people want to hear.

They are told that they can believe most anything they want and do most anything they want, that since God is not willing that any should perish they can please themselves and it will work out all right in the end.

While this type of thinking is on the increase it evidently is not new for Malachi speaks of those who weary God by saying such things He says, ‘Ye have wearied the Lord with your words Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them, or, Where is the God of judgment.

Yes, it wearies the Lord when we say that those who do evil appear good in His sight They ignore God, crowd Him completely out of their file, spend all their time and energies pleasing themselves and then expect God to give them eternal life.

On the contrary, the scriptures plainly teach us that only those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, only these will receive eternal life.

Eternal life is the gift of God, we realize that It is a gift and cannot be earned, never­theless God is only going to give it to those who have patiently continued in well doing If we don t go, we ‘don’t get If we don’t seek first the kingdom of God, we shall never receive it If we don’t lay aside every weight and run with patience, we shall not receive the prize.

There is no such thing as something for nothing Not in this life, not in the life that is to come If we don t go we don’t get.

We must adopt the old man’s philosophy and apply it to higher things, for we must realize that we all need to go We live in an age when people want to get without going and to be Infected with this thinking is fatal.

As we travel through 1962 let us go as many times as e can Let us go where Jesus would have us go and do as Jesus would have us do Remembering that faith without works is dead, let us show our faith by our works We should visit the sick, we should support the classes and lectures, we should write to those in isolation, we should be doing and going as much as we can.

“Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts”.

We are to work out our salvation Let us get going because if we don’t go, we don’t get.