1107111415: (14Structor
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1107111415: (14structor H I N K!" is a one-word motto in bold red letters Did Eve's knowledge of evil lead her to warn Adam not to challenging students in the classroom of one of the best partake of the forbidden fruit? teachers I ever had. Boys in the printing and woodwork- Has any sin you have committed made it easier for you to ing departments jointly made and presented this motto to their resist temptation? beloved friend in commemoration of one of his stirring chapel Do your "friends" who are wise in the experience of evil help talks. you to resist sin, and do they exert an uplifting influence upon you? This arresting challenge has been engraved upon the minds Do you candidly believe that these persons will give up any of hundreds of youth as they have sat in that college classroom. specific sin because they have experienced it? Yet it was not until years had passed and thousands of miles Did the One who was "in all points tempted like as we are, separated me from my alma mater that I realized the far-reach- yet without sin," lack any influence in leading people to forsake ing influence of that word. their wicked ways because He had not participated in their sins? I was visiting a church school on one of the islands of the Our thoughtful, honest answers to these questions should make West Indies. The teacher had spent several years as one of my it clear to us that a firsthand knowledge of evil is a liability to the students in a mission school. There in the front of his classroom Christian. An African proverb says truly that "it is never good to hung a similar motto: "THINK!" As I contemplated it do wrong in order that right may follow." (Continued on p. 14) that day, its meaning came home to me with new force, and although its challenge had been a guiding principle of my life for many years, I began to question the wisdom of following its advice. For merely to think may become the most unfortunate experience in a person's whole life. Lucifer in heaven thought that he should be in- 7LIL 2ttaiyAti vited to attend the heavenly councils. He, no doubt, did a lot of thinking before instigating a rebellion that caused one third of the angels to be cast out of By CLARENCE heaven. STENBERG Eve in the Garden of Eden thought the words of the serpent sounded plausible. Yes, she would gain a knowledge of good and evil and be like God. She ate of the forbidden fruit and brought sin and sorrow and suffering and death to all mankind. Adam, although he may have known that Eve had been deceived, thought he could not bear to lose the helpmeet God had provided. He partook of the forbidden fruit, and they left the Garden of Eden together. Judas Iscariot thought himself superior to the other disciples—and even to Jesus Himself. He thought that by betraying Christ he would force Him to reveal His divinity. Thus Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver and became an instrument in carrying out the evil designs of Satan. The world has been turned upside down and inside out, and nations have engaged in mortal conflict that brought suffering and horror and death to millions of persons everywhere because of the wrong thinking of a few persons. You and I, my friend, at times have done some very serious thinking and, as the result of our wrong con- clusions, have done some very foolish things—all be- cause we did not think straight. For how we think and what we think are far more important than the fact that we think. "As he [a man] thinketh . , so is he." Someone has said, "Not what we think we are, but what we think we ARE." If we think—and most of us flatter ourselves that we do—we must be absolutely certain that we think straight. For what we think determines what we choose, and life is made up of thousands of momentary choices. Again and again they confront us. If we choose this we reject that, for we cannot have both; and the sum total of our daily choices not only determines our place in this world but our final destiny as well. Sometimes into the minds of youth comes this in- triguing thought: "I can better help sinners to turn from their evil ways if I experience their sins for myself for a time." To be sure that we do not base our reasoning upon a false premise, let us an- H. M. LAMBERT swer some serious ques- Joe Missed the High Road to Achievement, Because He Thought tions which are to the That Getting By Was Just as point. Good as Playing Square VOL. 93, NO. 50 DECEMBER 11, 1945 Over T was only a dream. But it was one of death'? But when Jesus, God's only Son, out that His blood shed on Calvary's cross IL those dreams that are so startlingly real died on the cross He paid the full ransom had washed away every stain of guilt, as to give one pause, and lead him to probe price for their deliverance from this fate. since they had kept every sin confessed up into the deepest recesses of the heart. All those who have accepted Him as their to date. The verdict in such cases was ac- Redeemer on the generous conditions He quital, and an invitation was given them to has laid down may have the eternal life enter the golden city and "inherit the N angel suddenly appeared before me. He has purchased for them with His own kingdom prepared for you." A "Come," he said, reaching out his hand blood." But in many other cases the magic word to grasp mine. "Come, the King com- As he was speaking, the angels who min- "Pardoned" which had been written after mands." And quick as a passing thought istered before the flaming throne opened listed sins was crossed out and was not a the journey was done. two of the massive volumes and spread part of the sound recording. When Satan Words fail to describe the magnificence their pages before the all-seeing eye of brought his accusations against them Christ of the City Foursquare, which stood in God. The clerk of the court took his turned sadly to His Father and said, "I radiant splendor under the light of a glory place with a writer's inkhorn at his side. gave My life for all mankind. Some have brighter than the sun at noonday. Its "The books to be examined contain the refused to accept My sacrifice. The seem- wall, "great and high," seemed to gleam names of those who claim to believe the ing pleasures of the world they have held and scintillate as foundations of jasper, third angel's message, and those who are as of more worth than eternal life. Ac- sapphire, emerald, topaz, amethyst—twelve members of the remnant church," explained cording to their choice so let it be." To kinds of precious stones all told—caught my guide. "In one is recorded their good such the Judge said sternly, "Thou art and reflected the brilliant rays, while the deeds; in the other their sins." weighed in the balances and art found soft, luminous colors in the twelve giant wanting! Begone into outer darkness and gates, each one a single pearl, glowed with to death!" And they went, acknowledging a luster all their own. We were outside QUDDENLY the great host of angels the justice of the sentence given them. those gates, but the gate nearest us stood L/ vanished from before the throne, and "But I thought a sin once confessed was open, and within we could see streets of in their place stood a comparatively small 'blotted out'; that God put it behind His purest gold, the crystal-clear river of life company of God's earth-born sons and back; cast it as far away 'as the east is flowing through the midst of the city on from the west'; cast it 'into the depths of daughters. whose either bank grew the tree of life, One by one, as names were called, each the sea.' How can such forgiveness be which "bare twelve manner of fruits" and person took his place before the judgment withdrawn?" I questioned. leaves "for the healing of the nations." bar. His guardian angel, who had at- My angel guide smiled sadly as he an- Immediately before us, and well outside tended him every day of his life, and who swered: "The phrase, 'kept every sin con- the gate ajar, stood a great throne which had written the record in the book, was at fessed up to date,' is the key to your query. seemed to be made up of "fiery flames" his side. As the Holy One upon the throne If after a person has confessed his sins, whose wheels appeared to be of "burning fixed His gaze upon the prisoner of sin, forsaken them, and received forgiveness, fire." Upon this throne sat a majestic His glance seemed to burn into the very he loses his way and allows sin to separate Being, whose "raiment was white as snow" depths of his soul; at the same moment a him from God, the pardon extended to him and whose hair was "like pure wool." Be- sound film of the record of all his life ex- is withdrawn, and he 'is in the same con- fore Him were stacked a number of books, periences was projected on a great screen dition as before he was forgiven.' For and on the cover of each one was stamped which seemed to hang in space.