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Signs of the Times for 1940

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Signs of the Times for 1940 SIGNS OF THE TIMES Vol. 67, No. 8 UNCHRISTIAN FRONT See page 2 THIS LAWLESS AGE See page 8 February 20, 1940 I VIE:Fit1A.7,CH AL INTERNATIONIO Canadian troops boarding a transport bound for England. Some of the largest A SURVEY of WORLD EVENTS ships of the Royal Navy escorted them across the perilous Atlantic. THE GREATEST by the EDITOR CRISIS tions all the prophets have warned us WING to the apparent stalemate this war will be very different from the to expect just before the revelation in O upon the Western Front and the present one." glory and power of the returning Christ. inability of the Allies to deal effectively General Smuts has judged correctly. with their enemy in any other place, We have indeed arrived at the greatest some have begun to think that perhaps crisis in human history, spoken of by the this war will not amount to much after prophets of old. This is the time envis- all. This is not the opinion, however, ioned by Jeremiah, when he wrote: "Evil UNCHRISTIAN of some of the leading statesmen of the shall go forth from nation to nation, and FRONT day. A few weeks ago we quoted Mr. a great whirlwind shall be raised up from J. L. Garvin's statement that the present the coasts of the earth." Jeremiah 25:32. FEW weeks ago the country was lull "is like the quiet and orderly com- This is the beginning of the time of trou- A startled by the arrest of eighteen pounding of high explosives," which ble "such as never was since there was a men accused of conspiracy to create a will be "exploded soon enough like a nation," foreseen by the prophet Daniel. revolution in the United States. Accord- volcano bursting from quiescence into Daniel 12:1. This is the time described ing to revelations made by J. Edgar eruption." Now General Smuts of South by Christ Himself as filled with "dis- Hoover, head of the FBI, plans were al- Africa has added a similar warning. Ad- tress" and "perplexity," with "men's ready on foot for the seizure or destruc- dressing the commandants of the wom- hearts failing them for fear, and for look- tion of post offices, banks, armories, rail- en's auxiliary services in Pretoria, he said : ing after those things which are coming roads, and communication lines of all "I am not taking a light view of the on the earth." Luke 21:25, 26. kinds. A small arsenal was unearthed, circumstances we are in today, for I think Yes, we are viewing the very condi- including bombs, rifles, and ammuni- this war may prove the greatest crisis in tion. human history, the most upsetting event But perhaps the most shocking discov- which ever happened in civilization. ery was the fact that this subversive or- "We hope and pray that we may be OUR COVER PICTURE ganization was working under the title spared the worst calamities; but, judging Dressed in white, and carrying light of "The Christian Front." machine guns on their backs, these gal- by all the signs, this is a struggle to the lant Finns go forth on skis to defend Now it may be a "Front" of some death. Nations will disappear and others their country. kind, but it is certainly not "Christian," will rise, and the world emerging from and has no right to use this holy name. Page Two SIGNS of the TIMES "Unchristian Front" would be eminently more suitable. The word "Christian" implies follow- ing Christ—teaching and living in har- mony with the principles set forth by Him in His word. How can anyone call himself a Chris- tian who preaches class hatred, foments racial antagonisms, fosters revolution against the powers that be ? Today, as everybody knows, there are prominent religionists doing this very thing. Even priests are prostituting their powers to this end. Yet they dare to call themselves "Christian;" they claim to be in sympathy with the "Christian Front"! There is nothing Christian about any such program, and it is an outrage that the name should be travestied in this way. If Christ were here today to form a truly "Christian Front," how different it TOPICAL Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Britain's Prime Minister, visiting a gun emplacement during his would be from that of these fire-eating, tour of the Western Front. revolutionaries seeking power for them- selves and their organization! They might be found counseling how threatening its destruction; but this It would be revolutionary, no doubt, best to aid refugee Jews and Poles and "Front" must be Christian not only in but in such a different way. It would be Czechs and Finns—indeed, the poor and name but in word and deed. a revolt against many customs and tradi- outcast of every nation, but never schem- tions and widely tolerated evils; but it ing for the hurt or the discomfiture of would be conducted by peaceful, not vio- anybody, no matter what his race or na- lent, methods. Mr. Hoover and his gal- tionality. lant men would find no arsenals in the They might be found fighting the liq- A HANDFUL homes of Christ's followers. Nor would uor traffic, fighting the dope traffic, fight- OF MEN any plans for destruction of property or ing the white slave traffic, fighting every assassination of opponents be discovered evil thing that is blighting and destroy- COME people laughed at "all the fuss" among them. ing human lives, but never fighting peo- •,-) made over the eighteen men arrested They might be found praying, but ple as individuals; rather, loving them for supposed revolutionary activities. not plotting. and seeking to woo them into the king- What could eighteen men do in a com- They might be found preaching the dom of God. munity of 130,000,000? gospel, but not proclaiming some politi- A true "Christian Front" is needed to- Even if they had ten followers for cal panacea. day, no doubt. These evil times demand each man arrested, still what could they They might be found giving their lives a powerful, united Christian witness for do? Surely there could be nothing to in the slums, in the hospitals, even on the truth and righteousness. They challenge fear from just a handful of men like battlefields, wherever the need was great- Christendom to rise up in its God-given this? Why bother about them? est, but not killing or planning to kill. might against all the ugly forces that are Yet the past warns us that over and over again it has been the "handfuls of One of the most dangerous tasks of modern warfare—removing the fuse from a floating mine men" who have been responsible for during mine-sweeping operations. the great overturnings of history. The majority always prefer to follow the regular routine of their lives. Even if conditions are not entirely to their lik- ing, they would rather endure them than cause a disturbance. It is the determined few, many times an insignificant group of malcontents, who bring the great changes to pass. Every one of the dictatorships of Eu- rope today was brought into being by a handful of men. As the editor of the San Francisco Examiner wrote: "The people of the German Republic were not unduly ex- cited over Adolf Hitler's beer hall putsch, away back in 1923—the conspirators were 'just a handful of men.' "Likewise, the rank and file of the Russian people were unmindful of the plottings of Joseph Stalin and his terror- ist groups. (Continued on page 7) INTERNATIONAL for FEBRUARY 20, 1940 Page Three Certainty in an Uncertain World-8 CHRISTIAN ITY'S COMPETITORS FEW years ago a popular writer, ,Are Other Religions The fisherman apostle, Peter the out- whose name is currently well "Just as Good"? The spoken, told men in his day the very known in magazines and news- thing we need to insist upon now. The papers, ventured the opinion that "the Word That Gives Life power of Jesus had just set a lame man teachers of Christianity must not make leaping and walking and praising God the mistake of assuming that the Chris- before all the people. Peter cried out tian teaching has all the good there is. about this Jesus: "Neither is there salva- There is good in other religious systems by WILLIAM A. SPICER tion in any other: for there is none other as well." name under heaven given among men, Then he went abroad and spent some whereby we must he saved." Acts 4:12. months surveying the great non-Chris- No one else can do it. No one else ever tian mission fields, as we call them. He did it. It is not merely a question of was a keen observer, and himself a be- teaching. It is a question of life. In the liever in Christianity. The visit to the next chapter of this ancient history which Orient changed his viewpoint. He said we call the Book of Acts, we find the he had been wrong—that the straight- angel opening the prison doors, leading out teaching of the Christian religion was the apostles out and saying to them: "Go, the only thing that would save men. stand and speak in the temple to the peo- Of course; it is not mere teaching that ple all the words of this life." men need. It is teaching attended by the creative power of God—a new life from Dead Formalism Cannot Save above. That is the only hope. It is no use talking merely of human teaching.
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