Melting with Fervent Heat

IT IS now freely conceded by many world statesmen and politicians, and urged by practically all religionists, that the only hope of saving what is left of our civilization is a great religious revival, unitedly fostered by all groups, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. Without such a united front it is now admitted that atheistic communism will sweep over the whole world, destroying religion of all kinds, and the civil liberties of the people also. Granted that this is so—and many farsighted men and women who are out in front where they can see what is happening freely admit that it is—what are the chances of the great religious bodies of the world being able to work together as a defensive bulwark against the enemy they all dread?

The Pope, in his Christmas message, urged united action against communism, and even suggested the manner in which he thought it ought to be done. The plan he announced was that all other churches return to the Catholic fold, and thus make the world a Catholic world. It is doubtful if the Catholic Church would be willing to work wholeheartedly with Protestants on any other basis than this. And are the Protestant churches willing to do this? It doesn’t seem so. Reactions to the Pope’s invitation were all negative, and most of them militantly so. Dr. John W. Behnken, President of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, largest body in American Lutheranism, said:

“There can be no return to a church which claims to take the place of Christ, and whose leader claims to be the vicar of Christ. It saddens us that the Pope refers to us believing Protestants as ‘children who abandoned us, made us, and are marking us to suffer.’ It saddens us, too, that the Roman Church has maintained and even augmented the abuses of Christ’s teachings which forced Martin Luther to protest in his day, and forces us to protest in ours.”

Among the larger and older Protestant groups is the Church of England. A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church, of England, commented on the Pope’s invitation, saying that from former rejections of similar appeals by the Pope “our position is clear.” No, the Pope’s invitation for all churches to come into the fold of the Catholic Church, and under the banner of the Vatican to put up a united fight against communism, will accomplish exactly nothing so far as bringing about co-operation: among the churches is concerned. Even all the efforts of the Catholics’ holy year will not induce a single Protestant church to give favorable consideration to the appeal.

In certain circles a strong effort is being made today, to have the people forget the religious differences of the world, to keep controversy in the background and have the general public lulled into a state of apathy in the belief that all churches are really alike, that the only difference is in the names attached to them, like the names given to different cities. All roads lead to God, they say. But such a program is not succeeding too well, for at this time when many would like to think that the great religious bodies of the world were beginning to forget their differences, they are becoming more openly belligerent toward each other than they have been for many years. Even the Pope’s plea for unity on the basis of returning to the Catholic fold called forth a fresh outburst of Protestant attack against the Vatican and the Catholic Church in general.

Controversy within the ranks of religion is not good when there is a need to work together in self-defense against a common enemy. “Fresh outbreaks of Protestant-Catholic controversies must be checked soon or both religious bodies will suffer fateful consequences,” said the Rev. Clark W. McElmury, Rector of a prominent Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York. In an analysis of the unfriendly attitude now being exhibited between the Protestants and Catholics, Rev. McElmury in the Buffalo County-Express, writes that hurling invectives against each other is weakening the influence of both, and “adding fuel to a conflagration which may consume us both and leave nothing but an atheistic communism to gloat over us.” This Protestant observer also said:

“The Roman Church is strong, healthy, and wealthy, but only in Protestant nations, and likewise the Protestant churches grow and flourish best amidst the Roman Church inflection. … Whether we agree or not, we will thrive only as long as the other goes on living. … There will be tension as long as the Roman Catholic Church insists on being considered a political entity with diplomatic rights and privileges and yet disclaims all interest in political power. … There will be tension as long as the Roman Catholic Church insists that her schools, to which she is surely entitled, must have the support of government subsidies. There will be tension as long as the Roman Catholic Church insists that she is the only true church. There will be tension as long as she insists that as a minority in America she is entitled to certain privileges—privileges which she denies to others where she is in the majority, as in Spain. There will be tension as long as she speaks of Protestantism as a second class, if not a false religion.”

While Rev. McElmury deplores the controversy raging between Catholics and Protestants, he has not refrained from speaking his own mind, and certainly the things he says are not calculated to lessen the Catholic-Protestant tension which he so frequently mentions. Continuing his analysis of what he considers is keeping the flames of controversy burning, he says:

“It is said that we do not understand the position of the Catholic Church in the world today. We understand it very well. We understand that the sands are running out for the Roman Catholic Church in Europe; that in one country after another she finds herself attacked and stripped of her former prerogatives; and that her position in Europe is no better than that of Protestantism, probably somewhat worse. We understand that the Roman Catholic Church must find a new stronghold, but seeking a haven in America is one thing and seeking to destroy a great Protestant tradition is another.

“Again we have been told that the Roman Church is the bulwark against communism, and that but for her faith and devotion all Europe would be overrun. I challenge that. There is no evidence that the Roman Church by herself can stem the tide of communism. This is a job that will be done by both or it will not be done at all. We had better understand that on both sides of the fence.”

Rev. McElmury calls our attention to the fact that the Protestant nations of Europe and outside of Europe have not yet come under the control of communism, and this he claims is proof that the Protestant Church is just as strong a defense against communism as is the Catholic Church. However, he does not confine his criticism to the Catholic Church. He sees faults with the Protestant as well, faults which, if they are not remedied, will mean the surrender of Protestantism to the onrushing sweeping tide of atheism and paganism as represented in the ideology of the Communists. Says Rev. McElmury:

“Let me speak as forcefully to all Protestants. We cannot afford to spare ourselves in a day like this. All is not well with the Protestant Church. The Protestant Church is sick. She suffers from vagueness of belief—if you doubt this ask your children, ‘What makes you a Protestant?’ You can do better still: you can ask yourself what makes you a Protestant, and you will learn how vague is your belief and how narrow is the ground you stand on.

“The sickness of our Protestant Church is in her impotence. Our church is impotent in her influence upon the moving picture industry, which is supposed to be a matter of manners and morals. She is impotent in her guidance of scientific inventions and discoveries.

“If the church wishes to regain her influence she must possess a concern for her lost legions. The losses which our churches have sustained during the last centuries are frightening. These are not in numbers—we have gained numerically. The losses are more serious. Scientists as a class are churchless. That disturbs us. The poor, as a class, are not in the churches. That disturbs us. The rich, as a class, play while we worship; that disturbs us. The minorities are not within the gates of the church; they feel themselves persecuted by such as we are. Labor, as a class, is not in the church; it insists that we have neither understanding nor concern.

“We have lost much of our missionary zeal. We are no longer evangelists. Few of us ever take it upon ourselves to speak a good word for the church or to confront a man’s soul with some eternal truth. Therefore, the power has gone from us; therefore our future is at stake. Because of this, Protestantism has become vague and impotent.”

Thus does an eminent clergyman sum up what appears to him to be a very precarious position of both the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches in the world today. “The sands are running out” for the Catholic Church in Europe, he declares. To him this explains the intensive campaign of the Catholic Church in America—they want to prepare America to be the new stronghold of Catholicism. He hints that they want to do this by destroying Protestantism, hence that this calls for a fight. Yet he starts out with the assertion that if Catholics and Protestants don’t stop fighting each other they will both succumb to communism.

He speaks of adding fuel to a conflagration which may consume them both and leave nothing but an atheistic communism “to gloat over us.” This is strong language, yet as he analyzes the situation of both the Catholic and Protestant churches it becomes apparent it is not too strong. No one will deny that the average Protestant knows next to nothing about what he is supposed to believe. Millions don’t know whether the Book of Isaiah is in the Old Testament or the New; and many more millions do not even know there is a Book of Isaiah in the Bible.

Yes, the church is “sick.” The poor have lost confidence. The rich have found security and pleasure outside her doors. Labor has formed its own church—the labor union—upon which it depends for temporal security, and spiritual values are forgotten by all classes. True, there are individual exceptions, godly men and women—and these are sick at heart because of the conditions with which they are surrounded and are powerless to change. As Rev. McElmury, sums up the matter, the church has lost about everything that made it a professing church of Christ. It is just an institution now, and one in which the people are daily losing confidence. Some of the leaders are distressed and they sound an alarm, but the rank and file of the people pay little or no heed.

But this does not mean that the purpose of God in the earth has failed. It simply means that the imposing institutions which have been erected in the name of Christ, but without his authority, are failing. The true church of Christ is made up only of those who walk faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus. The function of these has not been to rule the world during this age. Their mission has been to sacrifice their lives in proclaiming the Gospel of the future kingdom of Christ. They are represented in the Scriptures as dying for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God. But the promises of God have ever assured these that if they are faithful to their calling, in the “first resurrection” they will be brought forth to live and reign with Christ. Then Christ and the church together, as the invisible rulers of that new order, will convert the world and give all an opportunity to live forever in a restored paradise.

In keeping with this, what we see occurring now is the disintegration of a social order which professed to be Christian, but was not. The Apostle Peter foretold our day, saying that the various elements of our social order would “melt with fervent heat,” and Rev. McElmury tells us that the conflagration is now occurring. (II Pet. 3:10) He would like to see it extinguished, but his effort to do this only increases the heat. Communism may hasten the end, but even communism must succumb before the power of the divine Christ, and for this we can all continue to pray, saying, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

When the New Century Began

TWO months of the new year, 1950, have already passed, and one of the first problems of the year for the western world may well be communist China. Not only for this year, but for many years past the world has been shaken by one crisis after another, and despite all the best efforts of our wisest statesmen the general situation seems to be getting worse, rather than better. This fact has been set forth clearly in an article by Mr. Lewis Mumford, which appeared recently in the Book Review Section of the New York Times, entitled, “Mirror of a Violent Half Century.” Speaking of the controversy over whether or not 1950 is the end of the first half of the century, or the beginning of the second half, Mr. Mumford states that in his opinion the Twentieth Century really began in 1914, for it has been the period of time since then that has been marked by violence.

In the years since 1914, although less than a half century, we have witnessed literally as many world changes as has ordinarily taken many centuries to accomplish, says Mr. Mumford. “Before the First World War,” says this writer, “the greater part of western civilization was inflated by the profound optimism that had buoyed up the nineteenth century, the Century of Progress. Under the influence of the new ideology that had grown up with capitalism and mechanical invention, the leading minds of the period thought that mankind had found the secret of happiness by turning its attention to the quantitative solution of all its problems. … On these premises utopia seemed just around the corner; and perhaps the most influential book of the late nineteenth century, which expressed most deeply its hopes and aspirations, was Bellamy’s, ‘Looking Backward.’”

The contents of the book “Looking Backward” were, in reality, from the standpoint of the time in which it was written, looking forward to the utopian conditions which the author believed would be brought to the world by science and invention. Little did Mr. Bellamy and millions of others realize that the wonderful inventions of man which could have brought such great blessings to the human race, would be misused to wreck the world. But this is what has happened, and the work of destruction continues.

Another false notion advocated during the nineteenth century was that the human race had reached what was flatteringly called the “Brain Age.” The proof of this, it was claimed, was seen in the fact of the many inventions, and the great progress that had been made in knowledge and education. This was a false theory also, as the first half of the present century has so tragically demonstrated. The real explanation of this sudden increase of knowledge is found only in the Bible, and there the prophecies foretold it as a great increase of knowledge that would come in the “time of the end,” and also foretold that associated with this increase of knowledge, and resulting therefrom, there would be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.—Dan. 12:4

If we have faith in the prophecies, then we will know why the first half of this century has been one of violence; why it has experienced two global wars, and a general revolution of ideas; why it has witnessed the mass murder of millions of Jews, and the horrors of the concentration camp for millions of political prisoners of all kinds; why three-quarters of the world has been reduced to a state of starvation, with no real solution of the problem yet in sight; and why the entire race today almost literally crouches in fear at the expected outbreak of an A and H-bomb global war, the ultimate result of which no one is able even to approximate. Truly the prophecy of Daniel is correct in calling it a time of trouble “such as never was since there was a nation.”—Dan. 12:1

But the Bible tells us more than merely this fact of a great time of trouble. It points out that God is permitting the trouble as a means of destroying the present selfish social order in preparation for a new world in which Jesus will be the king. It is not that God takes pleasure in human suffering, but sees its necessity in order to prepare the people for the blessings of health and joy and life which he has promised to give them through the administration of Christ’s kingdom. In one of the prophecies in which the destruction of Satan’s world is foretold, it is said that the Lord would make a short work in the earth. (Isa. 28:21,22; Rom. 9:28) From the standpoint of the rise and fall of empires and worlds, it has been a short work, for, as Mr. Mumford reminds us, as much has occurred in a half century as ordinarily requires many hundreds of years. True, the end is not yet, but it is near, and soon the Christian’s prayer will be answered, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Matt. 6:10

The Changing Weather

THE weather, always a subject for conversation, has really become important, so much so that it is now making the headlines nearly every day. On the Eastern Seaboard the weather—last winter and thus far this winter—has averaged unusually warm. In California the weather has averaged so much colder than usual, and has presented a serious problem to citrus fruit growers and others. Add to this the drought that has caused a water shortage in New York, and the floods in the Middle West, and the many other abnormal weather conditions, and it adds up to important news.

Perhaps these are more or less normal conditions after all, but officials in the nations weather bureaus say, No. These experts, who are rarely surprised at anything that happens with the weather, admit that they are amazed at the persistent far-above-normal temperatures that have cloaked the eastern United States since March, 1948. They are also saying that there is a definite fifty-year trend toward slightly warmer weather, not just in the East, but over many areas of the whole Northern Hemisphere.

Wilson H. Ahlmann, a Swedish glaciologist, says we are in a period of “climatic amelioration,” with average temperatures slowly inclining upward. One piece of supporting evidence he offers is the retreat of many glaciers in Scandinavia and Iceland.

The Scriptures give us no definite clue as to just what we should expect in the way of weather changes as we enter the new age—the age of Christ’s kingdom. We are assured, however, that summer and winter, and seed time and harvest, will continue forever.—Gen. 8:22

We are told by one of the prophets that the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose because waters will spring out, and streams in the desert; and doubtless the Lord, in his own way, will take care of weather conditions on a planet-wide basis so that the earth will ultimately become a perfect and glorious habitation for restored man. (Isa. 35) We are already in the transition period leading to this new era of perfection, so perhaps even now changes in atmospheric conditions are being wrought in keeping with the divine purpose. Viewed from this standpoint, the weather is a particularly interesting topic of conversation.

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