1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity

IN THIS ISSUE
Where Will It End?
How to Become a
Christian
Are the Dead
Conscious?
Heavings of Earth
Gone!
Children's Pages
Discerning
11,do
Times
WHERE WILL IT END?
WHEN the news'broke that Russia
had exploded an atom bomb, some
people said that as both sides now
have the bomb neither will use it
and so we can all breathe freely
again.
The more thoughtful ones, however, felt rather that the new turn
of events would only intensify efforts
to produce more and more powerful atom
bombs and to build bomb carriers for their
dispatch over ever greater distances at ever
greater speeds.
It has only taken a month or two to reveal
that the optimists" were wrong and that the
supposed "pessimists" were right. For we
learn that already a hydrogen atom bomb a
thousand times more devastating than the
uranium bomb, is ready for production in the
United States, to re-establish the American
lead over the Soviet Union.
But how long will this lead be maintained?
The theory of the upbuilding of hydrogen atoms
into heavy hydrogen and helium with the release of terrific quantities of energy, is known
to the Soviet scientists—it was actually known
before World War It—and now that the
Russians can make the uranium bomb, they
can use this bomb as a "trigger"to achieve the
temperatures and pressures needed to set off
a hydrogen bomb just as easily as can the
Americans, or any other power which has the
technical equipment for production.
So the new situation is that both sides will
soon have in production bombs which devastate
not ten but a hundred square miles per bomb,
and kill at a blow not 100,000 but a million
souls.
Nor is that likely to be the end, for when
Russia draws level America must get a further
jump ahead, which Russia will again try to
neutralize. So we have the prospect of superhorror being added to super-horror until uniOUR COVER:
Current Even
Light of the
By the Edi
@ International News
versal catastrophe at last overtakes the human
race.
How true was Jesus' delineation of the latter
times when He foretold "distress of nations,
with no way out (lit.)." Luke 21:25.
Humanly speaking, there is no way out of the
fearful race to destruction upon which the
nations have embarked. Nothing, in fact, can
now avail but divine intervention and that is
precisely what Jesus declared will take place.
When in the extremity of their plight "men's
hearts" are "failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on
the earth . . . then shall they see the Son of
man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory." Verse 26, 27.
While we honour the gigantic efforts which
are being made by many noble-minded men
who are seeking to cause "wars to cease unto
the end of the earth," we know that they cannot succeed. There is only one place now to
which we can look for deliverance and that is
"up." When you see "these things begin to
come to pass," Jesus bade those who would
be living down in the end of time, "then look
up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption
draweth nigh." Verse 28.
In that direction, i therefore, may we fervently
look, and for that decisive day may we
The Wedding at Cana
By J. Hofmann.
diligently prepare, that we may be among those
who are "accounted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to pass, and to stand
before the Son of man." Verse 36.
THIS MATTER OF THE
HALF-CENTURY
•
MATHEMATICIANS, astronomers, and others are
still arguing about whether the half-century
began on January 1, 1950. or whether it will
not start till January 1, 1951, and in consequence editors and publishers have been in
somewhat of a quandary as to whether to produce their fifty-year retrospects right away or
to bring them out next year at this time.
It has been customary to think of the present
century beginning as soon as the year 1900
opened, and for the same reason it seems
natural to regard the second half of the century
as opening as soon as we were able to write
1950 on the date line of our letters.
But, of course, the mathematicians who contend for next year as the "turn of the half
century" • are strictly correct, and if we will
take the trouble to listen to their arguments
we will solve a further problem which has perplexed many in connection with the great timeprophecies of the Bible.
Take, for example, the wonderful prophecy
of the "seventy weeks" in the ninth chapter
of Daniel (Dan. 9:25-27) which declared the
very year in which the Messiah was to begin
His ministry. The prophecy states that from
the "going forth of the commandment" to rebuild Jerusalem "unto the Messiah" would be
sixty-nine of those prophetic weeks (verse 25),
which, taking a prophetic day to represent a
literal year (Ezek. 4:6), gives us 483 years. Now
we know that the decree of the Persian king
Artaxerxes went forth in 457 B.c., and we know
that Jesus began to preach
in A.D. 27. But adding 457
to 27 we get 484 and not
483.
In the same way the 2,300day prophecy (that is 2,300
literal years) in Daniel eight
(Dan. 8:14) is invariably
interpreted as beginning in
© International Nev,s
The latest of the wonder calculators installed at Harvard University, capable of working out
problems of as many as 400
steps.
FEBRUARY 23, 1950
---"""m1111111
457 B.C., just like the seventy weeks, and ending
in A.D. 1844. But again, 457 plus 1844 gives
2,301 not 2,300.
Looking into this matter of the half-century
will settle not merely the immediate problem
of 1950 or 1951, but also the prophetic problem
as well.
Take a . piece of paper and draw on it a
vertical line representing the beginning of the
Christian era. To the right will be the years
A.D. and to the left the years B.C. Now put
several lines on either side to represent a few
years A.D. and B.C. respectively. You will immediately see that the first line to the right
must be numbered not A.D. 1 but A.D. 2 and
the first line on the left must be marked 2 B.c.,
not 1 B.c. Your diagram, therefore, begins to
look like this.
July 1, 3
I
I
July 1,
B.C.
I
4 3 2
I
2
A.D.
3
II
3 l 4
If you now calculate the time interval between, say, July 1 of 3 B.C. and July 1 of A.D. 3,
you will find that it is not six years but five.
In the same way, therefore, the time interval
between a date in 457 B.C., and a date in A.D
27, is not 484 years, but 483, as the prophecy
foretold, and the time interval between 457 B.c.
and A.D. 1844 is not 2,301 years but 2,300 years,
in harmony with the prophecy.
The mathematicians use the same diagram
to illustrate their arguments for 1951 as the
turn of the half century." From it you will
see that the first century A.D. began not with
January 1 of the year 0, because there was no
such year, but with January 1, A.D. 1. Therefore, they say, the twentieth century began not
with January 1, 1900, but with January 1, 1901,
(Continued on page 10.)
tp
By I. Hofmann
-What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
liow to Become a Christian
A Voice of Prophecy Broadcast
W HEN the crew of the submarirv.,
Squalus realized that they had taken their
last dive and were lying helpless at the bottom
of the Atlantic Ocean. 240 feet below the
surface of the water, they sent up smoke flares
and a buoy with colouring matter to dye the
waters and thus attract attention. Would one
of their sister ships find them? Could they
be rescued if their submarine was located?
All help must come from above. There was
no possibility of help from any other direction.
There, in agonizing silence they waited: and
every hour seemed an age.
But. within less than an hour after that
fatal dive, the submarine Sculpin set out in
search of them. In a few hours the red film
on the surface of the water was discovered,
then the buoy. But twenty-four hours passed
before any real rescue work could be started.
Think of the long, long hours there in the
darkness of that submarine! Then a giant,
ten-ton diving bell dipped and rose again and
PAGE FOUR
again, each time bringing up several men from
those awful depths, until at last all thirtythree men who were still alive in the submarine
had been rescued. When that great diving
bell came for the Squalus crew, not one sailor
refused to be rescued. All were glad to accept the way to safety.
Radio friends, if we are to be saved and
have a place in God's kingdom, we must
accept God's way of salvation. Remember,
all the help we shall ever get will be from
above, not from this earth. Salvation is
from God. Do you want to be a Christian?
Would you like to be a Christian, but do
not know how to begin? Well, this radio
broadcast is especially for you. The steps
to Christ are few and plain and easy to
understand, and we shall just turn to God's
Guidebook now for our information.
Do You Believe?
What must one who would come to God
PRESENT TRUTH
•
b
do first of all? The answer is found in
Hebrews 11:6: "He that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
„
of them that diligently seek Him.
We must believe that God exists and that He
rewards those who seek Him. That's the
first step. But you say: "I don't have faith.
How can I get this faith in God?” Well, here's
the way as' described by the apostle Paul in
Romans 10:17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
The Word of God, then, as found in the
Bible brings faith when we study it and
receive it into our hearts. So begin at once
to follow the Bible path.
Now we come to the second step, which
leads us to a change of life. It is here in
Romans 2:4: "Despisest thou the riches of His
goodness [that is, God's goodness] and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"
Now, no one is going to repent if he isn't
sorry for his sins. We read in 2 Corinthians
7:9: "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made
sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance."
Repentance is simply being sorry for our
sins and putting them away. It is not a sorrow
for fear of punishment, but a hatred of sin
itself because we know it grieves the heart of
God, whether or not we suffer for the sin here
on earth. Is it natural for us, of our own
selves, to repent? No. In Acts 5:31 we read:
"Him bath God exalted with His right hand*
to be a Prince and a Saviour [this is speaking of
Jesus], for to give, repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
You know, friends, conviction is not repentance. It is one thing to be awakened at five
o'clock in the morning, but it is another thing
to get up. As the coloured woman of the old
slave days said, "Repentance is being so sorry
for sin that you quit sinning."
Across the great Zambezi River in Africa,
just below the Victoria Falls, there is a great
bridge spanning the chasm over the most
terrible turmoil of waters on earth. It was
built by engineers working from both sides of
the river until the two arms met above midstream, thus completing the bridge.
Repentance and faith are the arms of the
bridge that enables us to pass from earth to
heaven. They unite to make our salvation
possible. Neither of itself is sufficient. We must
believe in God and we must repent. It is
useless, friends, to try to be Christians if we
do not repent of our sins. We cannot change
ourselves from sinners to believers in any other
FEBRUARY 23, 195 0
way. We read in Jeremiah 13:23: "Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopiard his
spots? then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed to do evil."
Repentance is absolutely necessary. One
reason why we • have such unhappy lives is
that we do not repent. Many who carry on
a form of Christianity have never truly repented, and therefore have never been happy
in their Christian experience. Friend, have
you repented? Will you repent?
Confession and Reparation
The next step in becoming a Christian is
confession. "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may •
be healed." James 5:16. "He that covereth
65 sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth
and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Prov.
28:13.
Confession that leads to the forsaking of sin
is the real kind. But, in addition to this, what
else is necessary on the part of the repentant
sinner?
"If the wicked restore the pledge, give again
that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of
life, without committing iniquity; he shall
surely live, he shall not die." Ezek. 33:15.
Real repentance and confession mean not
only to stop sinning, but to do everything
possible to make right past wrongs. No man
can steal ten shillings and expect God to
forgive him unless he tries to pay back what
he has taken. Otherwise it wouldn't be real
repentance or real confession. But when a
person truly repents and confesses, God forgives, for we have already read in 1 John 1:9:
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness."
Forgiveness is God's work, not ours. When
we confess, we simply believe that God forgives,
and He does. That the end of it. We may or
may not feel that our sins are gone, but they
area We are not to depend upon feeling; we
are to believe God.
The son of a minister strayed from the
straight and narrow way into a life of debauchery and sin. He made a name and great fame
for himself in the world of affairs, but allowed
himself to slip down to the lowest places. He
described his own condition as that of a drunkard, a dope fiend, and a down-and-outer. But,
after fifteen long years, he gave God a chance
to redeem him and he was gloriously saved.
Then he returned home, but only to find
that his poor father had died of a broken
(Continued on page 12.)
PAGE FIVE
Popular Fallacies.-13
Are the Dead Conscious?
OF all the sorrows which afflict
mankind, that of bereavement is undoubtedly
the keenest. The heavy hand of sickness, failure,
or of some other calamity may fasten its paralyzing grip upon us or upon our loved ones, but
even this is more tolerable than the heart-rending void created when the swift arm of death
lays low some cherished relative or friend. There
is a keen sense of loss and almost unbearable
gloom, when we bid our final adieu to a devoted parent, partner, or maybe to a cherished
child.
Perhaps the poet Byron was not very far
from the truth when he wrote:
"What is the worst of woes that wait on age?
What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow?
To view each loved one blotted from life's page
And be alone on earth."
Death is an Enemy
The consolation of the Christian faith is.
of course, proof against the most painful of
life's experiences. But it nevertheless remains
that death is a foe whose power to disrupt
and sadden is well-nigh unparalleled. The Bible
recognizes it as such. "The last enemy that
shall be destroyed," says the apostle Paul, "is
death." 1 Cor. 15:26. And visualizing that
future time of unblemished joys, John the
revelator assures us that "God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.
Rev. 21 :4.
Meanwhile, however, this earth remains the
domain of death. Whether of low degree or
high, whether enjoying the sparkling limelight of fame and notoriety, or merely existing
in the lowly level of mediocrity, all men and
women must yield at last to the cold embrace
of the grave. Death is no respecter of persons,
and has been appropriately described as • "the
great leveller."
It is, indeed, a sobering thought that "earth's
highest station ends in 'Here he lies': and 'dust
to dust' concludes the noblest songs."
The universal revolt against the claims of
death, together with the universal desire for
consolation when loved ones are irretrievably
torn from us, has resulted in certain false
conceptions. It is a natural and wholesome
PAGE SIX
By R. D. Vine
tendency to seek to see the bright side of anything. And the hope which proverbially
springs eternal in the human breast," has
led men to interpret death in other ways than
that suggested by the cold, corrupting clay
which alone remains of those who have laid
life's burdens down.
Is Death Merely a Portal?
Death is incredible, they say. It cannot be
that nothing now remains of those departed,
other than that which is so sorrowfully committed to the grave. It cannot be that the bands
of death have silenced them completely. This
life of mortal breath must be but a suburb
of the life elysian, whose portal we call death."
By thus regarding death as merely the portal
through which the departed pass to the immediate enjoyment of better things, many
claim to find great solace. Plutarch, the Greek
biographer, who was a convert to this conception, therefore suggested that "not by
lamentations and mournful chants ought we
to celebrate the funeral of a good man, but
by hymns; for in ceasing to be numbered with
mortals he enters upon the heritage of a divine
life."
This may sound very pleasing and comforting, but how much confidence can we place
in such a conception? From sincere and noble
minds may emerge ideas which are apparently
noble and consoling. But how may we judge
the extent to which -such ideas are factual?
Merely to claim that the dead must, and do,
live on, because any other belief may seem
distasteful and even revolting, is no proof at
all. And what of the bad man or woman?
What of those who do not merit "the life
elysian," and whose very presence would tend
to disruption rather than tranquillity?
"From the voiceless lips of the unreplying
dead there comes no word. They lie, still
and silent, and are quite incapable of ratifying
or refuting the opinions of men.
The One Source of Truth
But there is one, and only one, authoritative
PRESENT TRUTH
•
source to which we can go for true information
—the Word of God. Knowing the pangs of
sorrow death would cause, and knowing what
questions would naturally arise among those
bereaved, God has given a clear account in the
Bible of the true nature of death. He has faithfully described just where our departed loved
ones are, their mental and emotional condition,
as well as their future prospects. In this revelation alone can we place confidence—for it is
from the great Life-giver Himself.
Death, the Bible tells us, is merely a prolonged sleep. "Lighten mine eyes," prayed
the psalmist, "lest I sleep the sleep of death."
Psa. 13:3. When going to Bethany to comfort
Mary and Martha in their sad bereavement.
Jesus said to His disciples: "Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake
him out of sleep," John 11:11. The disciples
at once assumed that all was well. "Lord," they
said, in effect, "if he is sleeping all will be
well. Sleep is just the thing that a sick man
needs." (Verse 12.) "Howbeit," says the Record,
"Jesus spake of his death. . . . Then said Jesus
unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." Verses
13, 14.
Lazarus had been dead four days. His
body was already in the process of decomposition. (Verse 39.) Yet Jesus described his condition as one of sleep. At the Master's command, however, health and vitality took
possession of that dead man, and he was
reunited with his jubilant sisters.
It is remarkable that Lazarus had no tale
to tell of elysian fields or celestial joys. Death
for him had been no portal to sublimer things:
It was merely a sleep—in his case of four days
duration—from which he was awakened by
Him who is "the resurrection and the life."
The Silence of Death
The Word makes clear that "the dead praise
not the Lord, neither any that go down into
silence." Psa. 115:17. Death is therefore no
portal to. eternal things. How otherwise could
it be truthfully described as an "enemy"?
Death is a condition of silence and unconsciousness, shared alike by godly saint and
hardened sinner. 'There the wicked cease from
troubling; and there the weary be at rest."
is the inspired assurance given in Job 3:17.
What knowledge have the dead? How keen
are their emotions? God's Word again supplies
a very clear answer. "For the living know that
they shall die: but the dead know not anything, . . . also their love, and their hatred
and their envy, is now perished." Eccles. 9:
5, 6. Some seem convinced that the dead are
mindful of those whom they have left behind.
But the Bible tells us otherwise. We are
assured that: "His sons come to honour, and
he knoweth it not; and they are brought low,
but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21.
Surely it is only merciful that such should
be the case. How unbearable the thought that
the dead should be tortured by the sight of the
suffering, sorrows, and hardships their living
relatives may be enduring. How much better
to accept God's assurance that they are
asleep—et rest, unconscious of either pain or
sorrow.
It has been beautifully remarked that a
Christian graveyard is
a cradle where, in the
great motion of the
globe, Jesus rocks His
sleeping children. This
lovely conception is in
complete harmony with
the teaching of the
Bible.
(Continued on
back page.)
Lazarus had no story to
tell of conscious existence
in death after he was
raised to life again by
Jesus.
PAGE SEVEN
HEAVINE
What do they portend
International News
The catastrophic results of
a Japanese earthquake.
"Heavings of earth tell the vast wond'ring throng,
Jesus is corning again !
Tempests and whirlwinds, the anthem prolong :
Jesus is coming again !"
So reads a stanza of a hymn whose opening
verse has been heard all around the globe. Why
did Jessie E. Strout assert that the heavings
of earth had any theological significance?
In the Master's prophetic survey of the signs
of His glorious return, He predicted "great
earthquakes shall be in divers places, . . . and
fearful 'sights." Luke 21:11: Matt. 24:7,
Moffatt. These were to add their fearful testi
mony to the "great signs from heaven" that
the coming advent was near at hand. "But
when these things begin to happen, look up
and raise your heads, for your deliverance is
not far off." Luke 21 :28, Moffatt.
Another scripture which deals with the
heavings of the earth as a sign of the times
is Hebrews 1:10-12: "And Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundations of the
earth; and the heavens are the works of thine
hands: they shall perish; but Thou remainest ;
and they all shall wax old as loth a garment;
and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up,
and they shall be changed: but Thou art the
same, and Thy years shall not fail."
This is a vivid picture of the earth growing
PAGE EIGHT
old and threadbare like a wellworn garment beginning to rip
at the seams and break out at
the elbows. It is a quotation
from Psalm 102:25-27. Another text repeats the theme:
- The heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the
earth shall wax old like a garment." Isa. 51:6. There is
no doubt but that our planet
is showing visible signs of
growing old and becoming
threadbare. It is being increasingly visited by "fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms,
tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal
waves, a hni earthquakes.
Increasing Frequency of Earth Tremors
There is a popular idea that earthquakes have
been general throughout the centuries, and
that there is no special significance in this
prophecy of Jesus. Like many popular ideas,
however, this is not borne out by the facts.
Many years ago Dr. John Milne presented to
the British Association for the Advancement
of Science some arresting evidence on the
frequency of earthquakes during the Christian
era. Here is his list which makes very interesting
reading in the light of our Lord's prediction:
Century
Number of
Earthquakes
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
Eighth
Ninth
Tenth
15
11
18
14
15
13
17
35
59
32
Century
Eleventh
Twelfth
Thirteenth
Fourteenth
Fifteenth
Sixteenth
Seventeenth
Eighteenth
Nineteenth
Number of
Earthquakes
53
84
115
137
174
253
378
640
2119
It is easy to see from this table that there has
been a steady increase in the number of earthquakes. In the nineteenth century there were
actually fifty-six more quakes than in the entire
preceding eighteen centuries.
PRESENT TRUTH
•
OF EARTH
By J. A. McMILLAN
It is undoubtedly true that the increase in the
number recorded is partly due to the more
sensitive seismographs that have been in opera lion. The figures given by Dr. Milne can be
stepped up considerably if we take all the recorded quakes over the past century. The first
half of the nineteenth century witnessed 3,240
quakes, this being an average of 64 each year.
The following eighteen years. 5.000 occurred,
an average of 277 each year. But between
1868 and 1908, the records listed 130,000 earth
shocks, an average of 2,600 per annum. This is
537 more in one year than the shocks listed by
Dr. Milne for the first eighteen centuries of our
era. Truly the earth is waxing old like a garment.
Nor is frequency of shocks the only significant feature of this study of earthquakes. The
appalling loss of life should also be noticed.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 accounted for
the loss of 50,000 people; 100.000 died in
the Messina shock of 1908, and 180,000 in the
Chinese quake of 1920. Twice, 300.000 have
have been slain by earthquake,—in the Indian
earthquake of 1937 and again in Japan in 1923.
The year 1920 also saw the death of 250,000 in
Kansu, China, and again, another 70,000 in
1932. A quake of only two minutes duration
left 25,000 slain
and 40,000 injured in Chile.
This occurred in
1939.
What Moral Seismographs Reveal
T h e literal
heavings of
earth have not
only increased in
number, intensity, and destructive force,
but the very
A volcano in
eruption.
11
foundations of civilization itself seem to have
suffered. It has been graphically said that "the
human world in all its aspects, politically,
socially, physically, spiritually: has been built
upon fictitious conventions. These conventions
are no longer believed. The very ground upon
which the world stood is cracking and sagging
beneath our feet."
This is tragically true wherever we apply it.
The moral, social, political, economic, and religious seismographs all record global tremors
of instability. This is also one of the evident
tokens of the approaching advent of Jesus.
The editor of a prominent modernist religious
journal has described the present instability
of human hopes and activities in moving terms.
"Mankind's present desperate plight confronts the Christian church with an unprecedented opportunity, and lays upon it a unique,
urgent, and fateful responsibility. 'We move,'
Will Durant said several years ago, 'into an
age of spiritual exhaustion and despondency
like that which hungered for the birth of
Christ.' Can anyone who is even half alive
to what is happening in our world doubt that
this age has now fully come? Never was the
world so devoid of faith and direction, so hopelessly confused. Yesterday our fathers hailed
the approach of an Age of Enlightenment;
to-day we quail before the prospect of a new
ID-ark Ages. Desperate, , affrighted, baffled,
modern man cries an old cry, but with a new
note of terror: 'What must I do to be saved?'
And he is asking that question of the church.
"For, one by one, other 'saviours' have failed
him. Science, once hailed as a house of refuge
for man, has turned out to be a broken reed.
Education, once regarded as the sure and swift
means to a noble world order, has been proved
the slave of the propagandist and the fashioner
of mass deceits. Politics, by which an elder
generation had sought liberty and a tranquil
order, is now herding millions to destruction.
Commerce and industry, to which man once
looked for security and comfort, have failed
to provide even a sustenance for many, and
have drawn all dependent upon them into a
never-ending warfare."
Build on the Rock
Students of earthquakes, their causes, and
effects have learned one important lesson that
has been applied in countries like Japan where
earthquakes are of frequent occurrence. As the
Encyclopedia Britannica expresses it: "In every
earthquake the damage to property is always
least on hard rocks; it is more in houses built
on soft ground; greatest of all on recently 'made'
land, especially on that filling up a marsh or
creek. Sites on hard ground should therefore
be selected, while the neighbourhood of unsupported openings, such as the edges of cliffs
or river-banks, should be avoided."—Vol. 7,
page 852.
The spiritual application of this is obvious.
It becomes increasingly so when we read anew
the words of Jesus. "Therefore whosoever
heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth
them, I will Liken unto a wise man, which
built 65 house upon a rock. And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock. And every one
that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand: and the
rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it
fell: and great was the fall of it." Matt. 7:2427.
The Last Shock
There is to be one overwhelming global
earthquake at the end of time that will usher
in the day of the Lord. John describes it: "And
there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great. . . . And the cities
of the nations fell: . . . and every island fled
away, and the mountains were not found."
Rev. 16:18-20. This will be the final earthquake of which the increasing number of
present-day shocks are a portent. John Biddolph
wrote a poem on the Lisbon earthquake of
1755 which sums up the lesson:
"Who can with curious eyes this globe survey,
And not behold it tottering with decay?
All things created, God's designs fulfil,
PAGE TEN
And natural causes work His destined will.
And that eternal Word, which cannot lie,
To mortals hath revealed in prophecy
That in these latter days such signs should come,
Preludes and prologues to the general doom.
But not the Son of God can tell that day;
Then, lest it find you sleeping, watch and pray."
Concerning this final shock God says: "Beware of excusing yourselves from listening to
Him who is speaking to you. There was no
escape for those others, who tried to excuse
themselves when God uttered His warnings on
earth, still less for us, if we turn away when He
speaks from heaven. His voice, even then,
made the earth rock; now, He has announced
to us that it shall happen again, only once;
He will shake earth and heaven too. Only
once again ; that means that what is shaken,
this created universe, will be removed; only
the things which cannot be shaken are to
stand firm. The kingdom we have inherited
is one which cannot be shaken; in gratitude
for this, let us worship God as He would have
us worship Him, in awe and reverence; no
doubt of it, our God is a consuming fire."
Heb. 12:25-29, Knox's translation.
We must, then, if we would avoid being
swept away in the storms of divine judgment,
build on the solid rock. We must avoid building our character near to a cliff of steep temptation, or the rivers of this world's allurements.
Only the enduring qualities of the Word of
God will stand the testing strain and stress of
our times. But the reward is well worth the
labour required. When all else is shaken and
torn apart, God's kingdom will stand, and
His children will also stand. "The ungodly are
not so: but are like the chaff which the wind
driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Psa. 1:4, 5. As
the New Testament apostle declared: "And
the world passeth away: . . . but he that doeth
the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:17.
-4.-
-4.
This Matter of the Half-Century
(Continued from page 3.)
and the second half-century begins with
January 1, 1951.
This matter of the half-century may be
largely academic and does not matter much
anyway, but if the controversy has made this
matter of the prophetic time-prophecies clear
to some who have been perplexed by it, it
will not have been in vain.
PRESENT TRUTH
•
GONE!
The Tragedy of the
Lost Opportunity
•
By Mary J. Vino
IT was a good thought. It cheered
me up. In the morning, I said to myself, I will
write it down. In the morning, though, I was
busy, and I didn't. Never mind, I said,
do it this evening. But again I didn't. HI have
time to-morrow, I said, I'll let nothing put me
off—to-morrow. But now it is to-morrow's tomorrow, and even the morrow after, and my
thought is gone.
Gone! You can repeat some words until
they sound senseless, but you may repeat that
word the livelong day, and it will never lose
its rueful ' significance. Gone! What heartburning may that little word entail, what
haunting regrets, what retribution, what longing, lingering looks behind— what bitter remorse. Gone! What a fearful word!
If Only He Were Herel
Little sturdy Claude was suddenly taken
but even still he kept on asking questions
as children wilt—queer questions, his mother
said. And as he rapidly grew worse she grew
too worried and upset even to try to answer
them. Suddenly, though, she had a bright
idea. The grocer had just given her a shining
new penny among her change. "Here Claude,"
she said, "I'll give you a penny to be quite quiet
and to ask no more questions." She couldn't
readily relate the rest. There was a lump
in her throat---you know the kind. "Next
morning," she said, "when we took his hands
to fold them on 65 breast, the penny was
firmly clasped in one of them. I can never
forgive myself." she added. "How many
pennies would I give now just to hear him ask
one question more."
But the opportunity was gone. It isn't
always the last adversary either who robs us
of it. Ourselves, we don't make the most of
FEBRUARY 23, 1950
© Newton & Co. Ltd.
"Could ye not watch one hour?"
our chances. We fail miserably to realize that
this is our hour and that it is now or never
so far as they and we are concerned, and,
figuratively speaking, often they grow up
without even the comforting feel of the penny
in their palm. Daddy and Mummy have in
a way let them down, and now it is too late.
Their golden hour is gone.
Gone! What a melancholy ring it has.
The flood-tide came and we didn't take
advantage of it. And now we are too old.
Perhaps through very self-consciousness in our
young clays we subjugated some creative urge,
or maybe circumstances seemed too much for
us, and now the inspiration has faded, the
desire atrophied. We are too old! What a
dreadful cry! Small wonder that Carlyle was
so desperately emphatic in his concluding
sentences of his "Everlasting Year." "I say now
to myself," he says. "Produce! Produce! Were
it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a
Product, produce it, in God's name. 'Tis the
utmost thou hast in thee; out with it, then!
Up! up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy whole might! Work while it
is called To-day; for the Night cometh, wherein
no man can work!"
He Was Too Late
There was a brother in the church who held
a grudge against another brother. Day after
day, month after month, year after year, he
held on to it. And yet, some day, he hoped
that things would be righted-4n his way of
PAGE ELEVEN
course. But then there came the news, and it
ran through his veins like ice, the brother was
dead. That day the iron verily entered his
soul. Like a man in a dream he kept repeating
it. "Gone! He is gone!" But like Judas with
his betrayal money, they were all useless now
whatever approaches he might have hoped tc
make toward reconciliation. His chance was
gone.
They Missed Their Hour
They were weary, they three—Peter, James,
and John—and with good reason, and there
in the shadows of the quiet garden it was easy
to fall asleep, even on their knees. But this
was their hour. This was the one hour of all
His hours with them, when the dear Lord
needed them most. But they slept, and because
they slept they didn't see His agony or realize
its significance. Neither did they see His
angelic visitors, who also could have comforted
them. They missed their hour of infilling, and
being empty, the Adversary filled them instead
with deadly fear.
It was they who should have supported Him
and carried His cross, but that dear privilege
fell to a stranger. And only by report did
they hear of His gentle injunction not to weep,
for it was not their tears He saw, and it was
not spoken to them. They were not within
earshot. The tragedy of that hour haunted
Peter to his very end.
It was, of course, only the culmination, that
particular hour. It was really that they had
never yet realized Jesus' actual purposes. That
they failed in this supreme hour was only because they had failed all the way, and we
to-day are in the same danger, that daily we
shall fail to realize the splendour of our
opportunities and the urgency that Jesus wants
to put upon us to make the most of them. There
is a danger that they will slip by neglected and
unused, and that somehow our minds too may
be incognisant, our hearts, unstirred, and our
spiritual sensibilities dulled.
There is no question, but that soon a cry
will echo all round the earth, a cry of terror,
a cry of incredible dismay: "It is gone, our
day of opportunity. The harvest is passed, the
summer is ended, and we are not saved!"
Gone! It will be a cry of blackest horror
then, horror past our comprehension, and a
far cry from my regret over my errant thought
or even the worst of our bewailings, for God
is ever merciful and He is still above. We may
well, however, allow its sober influence to
strengthen us day by day in our resolve not
to let our opportunities for good slip by so
easily.
PAGE TWELVE
Is there a little hand reaching out for ours?
Let us grasp it gladly.
Is there a question we can answer? Let it
never be said we didn't do our best.
Do we hold a grudge? Let's put it right
while we have time.
Are we cherishing a noble purpose? It will
evaporate if we don't crystallize it into action,
Let's do it now.
"We should fill the hours with the sweetest things,
If we had but a day;
We should drink alone at the purest springs
On our upward way;
We should love with a lifetime's love in an hour,
If the hours were few;
We should sleep, not for dreams, but for fresher
power,
To be and to do.
"We should waste no moment in weak regret,
If the days were but one,
If what we remember and what we forget
Went out with the sun;
We should be from our clamorous selves set free
To work and to pray;
To be what the Father would have us be,
If we had but a day."
Shall we pretend that we do, actually, have
"but a day"? Shall we? God bless us every
one!
How to Become a Christian
(Continued from page 5.)
heart, calling his name ; that through all those
years his mother had kept a lighted lamp in
the window every night and all night.
Friends, God has a light in His window for
all His wayward children; and, while the
lamp holds out to burn, the wandering sinner
may return. Won't you come back now, for
God will forgive you?
The change which comes through faith,
repentance, confession of sin, and following
the Word of God in all obedience, is called
the new birth. Jesus said, "Ye must be born
again." John 3:7. This is spoken of also as
regeneration. It's a new life, a re-creation by
the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the
one who believes. This is not something that
we can work up, not a form of psychology. It's
not a by-product of education or culture, but
it's a miracle wrought by the power of the
Holy Spirit of God. Then Christ lives His
life within us, a life of perfect obedience. Can
we obey in our own strength? No, for in John
15:5 we read: "Without Me ye can do
nothing." But how much can we do with
Christ's help? The answer comes to us from
PRESENT TRUTH
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me."
But if we do sin after we have made a start
for Christ, should we become discouraged and
cease to follow Him? Never! We read
John 2:1: "My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
A saint, or follower of Jesus, is not necessarily one who never sins, but one who, as soon
as he does sin, asks forgiveness of God, believes
himself forgiven, and goes on rejoicing to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the
Lord. He may stumble and fall, but he gets
up and presses forward again. Such a fall is
not counted against him when he repents and
asks forgiveness and divine help to live the
right life. But he is to grow stronger and
stronger. Is it possible to be kept from falling?
Jude 24 answers that question: "Now unto
Him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy."
•
Keeping Spiritus_' Fit
Then, in order to keep stron , in our Christian life, there are three essentials. Just as in
our physical life we must breathe, eat, and
exercise, so in the spiritual life we must observe these three essentials to success and
happiness. The Christian life is a growth, and
we must not expect too great results at first:
but, if we follow these three essentials to
Christian life and growth, we shall have happiness and joy in Christ's service here on earth.
First, we must eat. What is the food for
spiritual life? "The words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit, and they are life." John
6:63. "Thy words were found, and I did eat
them: and Thy Word was unto me the joy
and rejoicing of mine heart." Jer. 15:16.
Second, we must breathe spiritually. Prayer
is the breath of the soul. 1 Thessalonians
5:17 tells us to "pray without ceasing." And in
Romans 12:12 we read. "continuing instant
in prayer. "In every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God." Phil. 4:6.
"Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as
to a friend." "Ask, and it shall be given you,"
said Jesus. (Matt. 7:7.) Prayer and its
answer is a wonderful theme, and a more
wonderful experience.
Third, we must exercise or engage in Christian work. We are to labour in God's vineyard. (Matt. 21 :28.) In what part of it? Mark
16:15 tells us: "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature."
Jesus came into the world "not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
His life a ransom for many." Matt. 20:28. This
is service and salvation for others, which is
very food, and life, and exercise.
As we take Christ's name, we shall follow
in His steps, doing what we can to help the
needy, relieve the distressed, and encourage
the downhearted. Most of all, we shall do
our utmost, losing no opportunity to point
sinners to "the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world." John 1:29. Feeding
on the Word, keeping the heart constantly in
the spirit of prayer, and consecrating our
energies to the eternal welfare of our fellowmen—that's the ideal Christian life, the happiest. most satisfactory life that man can know
on this earth.
Sidem
"It's Great to be a Christian"
Let me bear my personal testimony—it's
great to be a Christian! Friend, won't you
give God a chance in your life? Won't you
become a Christian? Won't you take these
steps,—these steps to Christ?
A missionary in Chi i.a was telling of Jesus
for the first time to a group of people in an
inland town. When he had finished, someone spoke up and said: "Oh, yes, we knew
Him. He used to live here.'
Surprised, the missionary said: "No, He
didn't live here. He lived centuries ago in
another land."
Then the simple countryfolk took the missionary out to the village cemetery and showed
him the grave of a medical missionary who
had lived, healed, served, and died in their
community. Ah, yes, they had seen Jesus in
this man! And they thought he was Jesus.
Dear friends, do people see Jesus in you,
in me? May it be so to-day.
ea
VOICE OF PROPHECY PROGRAMME
RADIO LUXEMBOURG EVERY TUESDAY, at 4 p.m. (1,293 metres.)
FEBRUARY 23, 1950
PAGE THIRTEEN
THE HILDREN:f PACES
nowpag 16 a
riencl
By Marie Larsen
TOBY flung himself flat on
his sledge and felt the metal
slip forward as the sledge
whisked across the rounding
top of the hill and started
down the icy sledge path. The
skimming speed of his sledge
made his heart leap high. This
should show the Thomville
boys that he amounted to
something! They would know
now that he stood a good
chance of winning the race in
his age group at the snow
festival the next day!
He especially hoped Austin
Nellor was watching. Austin
was his nearest neighbour in
this new town, and he wanted
to be Austin's friend. But so
far Austin hadn't shown any
friendliness to him.
"Look out!"
There was the sound of
yelling behind him. Toby
turned his head to look back
and saw Austin close behind
him. Toby's eyes had left
the sledge path only a moment,
but he felt his runners hit the
soft snow at the edge of the
trail. He swerved quickly, but
the sledge tipped. The next
moment he was struggling in
a snowdrift, spitting out the
cold snow that filled his
mouth.
There was laughter from the
hill-top. There was laughter
from below, too. Austin was
laughing at him from the
PAGE FOURTEEN
bottom where he had stopped
to look back. Toby's throat
tightened. If these boys were
his friends he would enjoy
the laughter, but they were
making fun of him.
"Only Thomville boys know
IN FEBRUARY
Oh, they say it's growing colder
Every day,
That the winter's growing bolder
Every day;
Since the hedgehog's gone to
sleep
In his cavern dark and deep,
There'll be some weeks more of
snowing,
Of breezing and of blowing
Every day.
But the day's a little longer
Every day,
And the sun's a little stronger
Every day;
If we're patient for a while,
We shall see the summer smile,
And the buds will soon be
showing,
For they're growing, growing,
Every day.
And the birds will soon be singing
Every day,
Northward now they will be
winging
Every day;
Though the frost is in the air,
There's a feeling everywhere
That the skies are growing
clearer,
And the springtime's drawing
nearer,
Every day.
—Author Unknown.
how to take this hill," Austin
shouted. "Newcomers won't
stand a chance in the race!"
Toby got up slowly. Snow
on his collar slid clown his
neck and sifted through to his
back. The coldness of it must
have pulled 65 face into a
startled expression, for Austin
laughed again.
Toby got his sledge out of
the snow. He didn't say anything because his throat felt
choked, but he rode on to the
bottom. Then he said, "I live
in Thomville now. I've a right
to race, too. I can take the
hill all right to-morrow. You
just wait."
He turned quickly and
started down the lane to the
village that was his new home.
He expected to hear the
laughter as he walked away,
but he didn't. Even so, he
couldn't forget that he had
been laughed at. It remained
with him so plainly that he
expected to hear it the next
morning when he again pulled
his sledge to the hilltop for
the race.
The boys were already
gathered with their sledges.
waiting for the signal. Toby
pulled his own sledge into the
line. He looked at the boys
one by one. They were all
eager to go. And he thought
they looked a little annoyed
that he planned to enter the
race.
Austin was not in the line.
Toby wondered why. He
looked around the crowd. He
was surprised to see Austin
standing at the edge of the
group, his shoulders slumped,
his face plainly showing disappointment. To b y was
puzzled.
He turned to the boy nearest
him. Isn't Austin going to
be in the race?" he asked.
The boy looked away a
moment, then he decided to
answer. "Austin crashed his
sledge into the fence down by
PRESENT TRUTH
•
•
•
I
•
•
the lane this morning. Broke
it. He couldn't find another
one. All of us wanted to race.
too."
"That's too bad." Toby said
quietly. And he meant it. It
seemed somehow that Austin
should be in the race.
Toby got up and left his
sledge poised on the level line.
He walked • over to Austin,
taking a deep breath so that
his voice wouldn't quiver.
"Would you like to ride my
sledge down the hill, Austin?"
Austin looked at him with
a frown. "What do you mean?
Trying to rub it in because
you found out about my
sledge?"
Toby wet his lips. "I mean
it, Austin! All Thomville boys
should be in this race—the
regular
" Thomville boys, I
mean.
He hoped Austin would accept his sledge. Perhaps another year he could race.
Will- you race with my
sledge. Austin?"
Austin hesitated. "I don't
know why you're doing this,"
he said slowly. "It isn't the
way I had you figured out, but
I would like to race."
Toby grinned. He heard
the starter shouting through
his megaphone.
"Go on, Austin! They'll be
starting any minute!
The other boy gave
Toby an odd grin. He
moved to the sledge
that Toby had left in
line. Suddenly t h e
signal came. The boys
were off down the hill,
runners kicking up •
fine snow spray that left a
thin cloud upon the snow path.
Toby kept his eyes on his
own sledge. He saw it skimming down ahead of all the
others. He saw it take the
bend at the bottom of the hill
and flash past the lane fences
to the finishing line. He felt
a sudden pride within. He
had made it possible for Austin to win!
The shouting had died away
and another event was being
announced when Toby saw
Austin pulling the sledge toward him. Austin was smiling happily.
"Your sledge got me the
prize, Toby. Look, it's a pair
of ice skates!" He handed
them toward Toby. "They
really belong to you, though."
Toby shook his head. "You
won them, Austin. I—I think
I won something else."
He was thinking of the
friendly smile Austin gave
him. He knew it was better
than anything the race might
have done for him, if it was
really as he imagined. And he
must have imagined right, for
Austin said, "You're Thomville kind. Toby. And you're
my neighbour!"
He said the last as if he
now owned something special,
and it brought a special gladness to Toby's heart.
Results of Competition No. 23
Prize-winner.—Ingrid Rutishauser, 1
Carlyon Court, Carlyon Road, Alperton,
Wembley, Middx. Age 12.
Honourable Mention. — Jacqueline
Dowell (Lowestoft); Juli a Catton
(Bournemouth); Pamela Richardson
(London, N.13.); Margaret Jamieson
(Ormiston); Nigel Needham (Carshal.
ton); Colin Glenister (Leicester); Peter
Walker (London, N.10.); Pamela Foat
(Hayes).
Those who tried hard.—Colin Francis
(London, S.W.4.); Philip Power
(Birmingham, 19.); Jackie Magill
(Larne); Kenneth Lane (Norwich);
Doris Payne (Southampton); Miriam
Harris ,(Maxey); Shirley Bradshaw
(Stoke-on-Trent);
S h e i la
Lucas
(Coventry); Judith Mills (Stamford
Bridge); Jean Bennett (Sutton Cold.
field); L. Tipping (Stamford Bridge);
June Stockwell (Wallington); Irene
Winkworth (Westcliff); Barbara Cammish (Sheffield); Sheila Craig (Aberdeen); Marina Luffman (Hayes);
Barbara Lowther (Newcastle); Eileen
Pilgrem (Westcliff); I. Chettleburgh
(Norwich); Edna Smith (Birmingham,
21.); Sheila Emery (Folkestone); Jack
Rountree (Portadown); Carol Medforth
(Torquay); Joy Doggett (Norwich);
Annie Hall (London, E.1.); Leonard
Martin (Enfield); Judith Bowdler
(Nottingham); Molly Rich (Launceston); John Rich (Launceston); Pearl
Rich (Launceston); Patricia White
(Plymouth); Ann McCarthy .(Newport);
Angela Martin (Rumney); Lydia Harris
(Cambridge); Ronald Earl (London,
S.W.12.); Barbara Drummond (Clackmannan); Margaret Johnson (Addington); Patricia Lewis (Birmingham, 21.);
Ruth Knowles °lath); Elizabeth Ball
(Yelverton); Peter Hurst (Huntingdon); Ronnie Ellard (Bristol); Chloe
Chrietoe (Norwich); Doris Metcalfe
(Enfield); Donald Maclennan (Stornoway); Janet Gracie (Watford.)
PRESENT TRUTH
Vol. 66. No. 4.
Price 3d.
Printed and published in Great Britain
fortnightly on Thursday by
THE STANBOROUGH PRESS LTD.,
WATFORD, HERTS.
EDITOR :
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p
See how nicely you can
Faint this • picture and send
it to Auntie Hazel, The
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later than March 9th.
FEBRUARY 23, 1 950
PAGE FIFTEEN
11M111111111111111•111•11111111J
111
"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
"So little timer declared Dean F. G. Holloway in an address at Drew University, U.S.A. on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will
"So little time to bring the kingdoms of the raise him up at the last day." John 6:40.
Paul also says this great awakening will be
earth out of opposing camps, each seeking to
at
the last day when Jesus Christ returns in
devour the other, into co-operating bodies all
His second advent glory. All who have died
striving toward a common goal.
"So little time. So little time to take the in the Lord will "be changed, in a moment,
resources of the world and dedicate them to in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
saving civilization. . . . So little time to feed for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
the starving, shelter the cold, clothe the naked, be raised incorruptible, and we [which are
heal the wounded, restore the sick, rebuild alive at that time, not having tasted death]
shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.
the broken, re-establish the faltering."
That we may merit so glorious an experience
in that great day of the Lord, it behoves us to
MOMENTOUS EVENTS IN THE EAST
use profitably that time of probation which
"IN comparison with what is happening in
God has given us. A few statements of inAsia, events in Europe are but small potatoes," spired advice will serve to clarify God's exasserted Field-Marshal Smuts recently.
pectations of us.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do
it with thy might: for there is no work, nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the
grave, whither thou goest." Eccles. 9:10.
Are the Dead Conscious?
Jesus had this in mind when He said: "I must
(Continued from page 7.)
work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is
But the silent sleepers are not to be left for day: the night cometh when no man can work."
ever in their resting-places. That is one of the John 9:4.
thrilling truths of the Christian message. There
Finally the advice of the Lord through Peter:
is coming a universal awakening.
"Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call
"If a man die, shall he live again?" asked on the Father, who without respect of persons
the patriarch Job. (Chapter 14:14.) "Yes," judgeth according to every man's work, pass
comes the comforting assurance of the Saviour the time of your sojourning here in fear: forHimself. "All that are in the graves shall asmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
hear His voice [the Son of man], and shall come with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . . .
forth: they that have done good, unto the but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
resurrection of life: and they that have done lamb without blemish and without spot." 1
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John Peter 1:16-19.
5:28. 29.
Undoubtedly one of the many incentives
As for the time of this great deliverance to living a virtuous, god-fearing life, is that
from death's domain—'this universal awakening by so doing we will not only have peace of
which will mean immortalized bodies and heart and mind right here, but will prove
eternal bliss for all those whose lives have been worthy at last of the resurrection of life, by
under God's guidance.---there is
which means alone we may
no need for doubt or conjechope for glad reunion with our
ture. Jesus Himself assured us:
departed loved ones.
"SO LITTLE TIME"
AO.
4