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COMPILED, AND I1A-1 AN INTRODUCTION BN G. PIPPERI ItZ Pi "born again" really means The most significant movement among today—the born-again phenomena—has struck some 43 million Americans in all walks of life. Has it happened to you yet? Should it happen to you? And what does being born again involve? by Ralph Blodgett

PRESIDENT confesses he is of faith healer Ruth Carter Stapleton. sponsibility associated with the experi- one. Senator Mark Hatfield and Con- "It's so much fun being saved." ence they say they have had? gressman John B. Anderson, of Illinois, Yet his $20 million annual profits from admit they are in this group. So does Hustler and other Flynt publications What are the facts about being born Dallas Cowboy's quarterback Roger have increased, not declined. And again? What does such an experience— Staubach, former world heavyweight leaders more than a year and a if genuine—involve? How can we boxing champion George Foreman, half later are still awaiting the transfor- evaluate the credibility of someone who Heisman Memorial Trophy winner Ar- mation of his porno magazine that Flynt says he or she has been born again? And chie Griffin, and former Black Panther promised nationwide to Tom Brokaw on most important of all, how can I know if leader Eldridge Cleaver. Charles Colson, the NBC "Today" show. ("It's going to I've been truly born again? aide to Richard Nixon during the Water- be a complete, new magazine. . . . In- These questions demand honest an- gate conspiracy, has written a book and stead of hustling for sex, we'll be hus- swers. Just saying you have been born produced a movie about his experience tling for the Lord," he declared.) again does not mean you are. Neither (see accompanying interview on page does claiming you are a Christian mean 6). Billy Graham recently wrote a book Born-again experiences questioned. you know Christ. Jesus plainly declared, on the topic—the 800,000-copy first As a result of these and other abortive "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, printing of which is the largest initial born-again experiences, people both in- Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of printing in the religious-book publish- side and outside of religion have begun heaven. . . . Many will say to me in that ing world. to question the reality of the born-again day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- What do these nine well-known per- movement. sied in thy name? and in thy name have sonalities have in common? They all In fact, one person became so upset at cast out devils? and in thy name done have been "born again" and have be- the conversion of former Black Panther many wonderful works? And then will I come some of the approximately 43 mil- leader Eldridge Cleaver that he ran on profess unto them, I never knew you: lion Americans that have been swept up stage of the Orpheum Theater in Van- depart from me, ye that work iniquity" by a religious tidal wave that has appar- couver, B.C., and in front of two (Matthew 7:21-23). ently inundated America. Most of the thousand stunned onlookers hit Cleaver Apparently, in view of Christ's warn- experiences we read or hear about seem in the face with a cream pie. ing, we need to "give diligence to make genuine. Some do not. Others express their cynicism of the . . . [our] calling and election sure" Unfortunately, along with the genu- born-again phenomena in much less (2 Peter 1:10), to know positively that we ine, the born-again wave has washed up dramatic ways. "Nothing but a fad," have been born again and are walking some driftwood—counterfeit conver- they say. "Something people take up be- the path that leads to eternal life. No sions that bring a bad name upon reli- cause it's the 'in' thing to do." other question surpasses this one in im- gion. Like the convicted "Son of Sam" Such skeptics do have a point. Being portance or urgency. killer, David Berkowitz, who in New born again is becoming increasingly York City four years after being born popular. According to a Gallup survey What does "born again" mean? Not again murdered six people in cold blood not long ago, 34 percent of the Ameri- long ago a reader wrote in to the "Dear with a .44 caliber revolver and wounded cans contacted claimed to have been Abby" newspaper column with this seven others. born again. Among Protestants, nearly question: And like the infamous king of pornog- half (48 percent) admitted they had been Dear Abby: Please explain in easy raphy and publisher of Hustler maga- born again. Projected nationwide, these pool-hall language just what zine, . "I feel I can influence figures indicate that some 43 million people mean when they say they millions of people for God," Flynt said adults in the United States classify are 'born again'—'twice born.' after his midair conversion at the hands themselves as born-again Christians. Thank you.—B. H., Clay City, Il- It is certainly popular today to be born linois. Ralph Blodgett is associate editor of "These again. But do these 43 million people She responded, "They mean Times." © 1979 by Ralph Blodgett. understand the full meaning and re- that they have accepted Jesus

Cover by Gail Hunt. inside by Tim Menees THESE TIMES/July 1979 3 Four popular misconceptions about the new birth experience ACCORDING to a recent Gallup Poll survey, one out of every three adult Americans (34 percent) claims to have been born again. Yet many of these "twice-born" individuals fail to understand the full meaning of their second birth. Here are four incorrect thoughts that many Christians and the Christian life that some don't under- non-Christians harbor regarding the born-again condition: stand or prefer to ignore. 1. That a person can be born again and continue living in sin and So in the remaining portion of this disobedience to God's Word. Nothing is more plain in the Scriptures article let us attempt what "Dear than the idea that a son or daughter of God must cease living a sinful, Abby"—due to the lack of space—could disobedient life. More than six hundred times the talks about never accomplish, and try to explain the sin—what it is, how to get rid of past sin, and how to avoid present sin. true meaning of being "born again" or Anyone who continues to live in obvious sin needs to reevaluate his "twice born." or her conversion experience and find out whether he has allowed God full reign in his life. Like the first birth. All of us understand 2. That a born-again person can change himself. Equally danger- the meaning of the word born. It's the ous as the preceding thought, this statement, if believed, will inevitably process by which each one of us arrived in this world—our departure from nine lead to a spiritual downfall. No person by direct, sustained moral effort months of life in a womb and the begin- can ever give himself new inner motives and direction. ning of a new life, with new thoughts "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" asked and new activities, in a new environ- Jeremiah. "Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil" ment. (Jeremiah 13:23). With this in mind, think of Jesus' Before traveling very far in the Christian life, we will discover that reply to the Jewish ruler Nicodemus, everything which really needs to be changed in our souls can be who came one evening seeking informa- accomplished only by God. "For without me ye can do nothing," de- tion about salvation. Jesus told him, clared Jesus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot 3. That the newborn will display all the fruits of an established, see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). well-matured Christian. Newborn Christians are similar in many ways to When Nicodemus questioned Jesus on the meaning of His strange state- a corn plant. Though it grows quite rapidly in warm sunlight and with the ment, Jesus added, "Except a man be proper nutrients in the soil, it takes many weeks before it develops ears born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot large enough to harvest. "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first enter into the kingdom of God" (verse the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear" (Mark 4:28). 5). A newborn should not become discouraged if he has bad habits that This new birth that Jesus spoke of re- still fight for dominance in his life. That old man of sin doesn't die sembles in many ways our first birth. overnight. Many times he needs to be starved to death. We leave behind our old life with its 4. That good works can help our salvation process. It is easy to get familiar patterns of activities, thoughts, caught up in the "good works" syndrome—where we look upon our and interests, and we begin a new works as "our part" of the salvation formula. However, the Book of life—one that of necessity differs from Ephesians reads, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not our former life in many ways. We have new attitudes, aspirations, affections, of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should and activities. We begin an entirely new boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9). life. The condones good works and obedience in the Christian life, but as a love-response to what God has already done for Put off the old man. The apostle Paul us (1 John 5:2, 3; 2 John 5, 6), not as our part of the salvation process. A talked about this old life/new life experi- truly born-again Christian works for God, but never frantically. His work ence in three of his books, where he should neither become a means to an end nor an end in itself. employed the terminology "old man" and "new man" in an interesting way. "Put off the old man with his deeds; and . . put on the new man, which is re- Christ as their personal Saviour grace. (Theologians refer to this "grow newed in knowledge after the image of and have put their faith and trust ing" as sanctification, and the new birth him that created him" (Colossians 3:9, in Him." as justification.) 10). Unfortunately, her answer failed to You see, being saved is not only a past "Put off concerning the former con- mention that being born again includes event, but it is happening now (1 Corin- versation [life-style) the old man, which a death of the former, sinful life and the thians 1:18, RSV), and will not be con- is corrupt according to the deceitful beginning of a new life. Like a baby the cluded until Christ returns (Matthew lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of newborn Christian begins to grow in 10:22). And it is this ongoing activity in your mind; and that ye put on the new

4 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Five conditions for fruit bearing

THE TEST of conversion is a transformed life. "Ye shall know them by their fruits," Jesus declared. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit" (Matthew 7:16, 17). Below are five keys that will aid the newborn Christian in developing "fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8, NIV). 1. Daily contact with the Living Water. man, which after God is created in righ- "He shall be like a tree teousness and true holiness" (Ephesians planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season" 4:22-24; see also Romans 6:6). (Psalm 1:3). Note that the new-birth experience, in 2. Death to the old life. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of Paul's mind, included a death to the wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth former personality and activity. This is forth much fruit" (John 12:24). the true meaning of the act of burial, or 3. Willingness to be pruned. "Every branch in me that beareth not immersion, in water during —a fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, death of the old man and a resurrection that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2). of the new. 4. Following God's Word. "He that received seed into the good "Don't you know," Paul questioned, ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also "that all of us who were baptized into beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with thirty" (Matthew 13:23). him through baptism into death in order 5. Abiding in Christ. "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that that, just as Christ was raised from the abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without dead through the glory of the Father, we me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). too may live a new life" (Romans 6:3, 4, NIV*). No one who studies the Scriptures can One who has experienced it cannot new-birth experience. Briefly stated deny the fact that the Christian life is explain it any more than he can describe they are as follows: different from the non-Christian life. how a caterpillar is transformed inside 1. Conviction of sin. "When the people The non-Christian lives in sin, but the his cocoon into a beautiful butterfly. heard this, they were cut to the heart and Christian avoids it. The non-Christian However, many years ago, when said to Peter and the other apostles, has his affections set on this world; the biologists discovered that caterpillars 'Brothers, what shall we do?' " (Acts Christian, on the world to come. The somehow did change into butterflies, 2:37, NW). non-Christian thinks primarily of him- they applied the Greek word metamor- 2. Repentance. "Peter said unto them, self; the Christian, of others. phosis to the process. And Webster's New Repent, and be baptized every one of We do not stop being human beings, Collegiate Dictionary interprets this word you in the name of Jesus Christ for the but we become new beings—new to mean, "a change of physical form, remission of sins" (verse 38). spiritual beings—people who delight in structure, or substance esp. by super- 3. Confession. "[They] were baptized obedience to God's Word, even when it natural means." of him in Jordan, confessing their sins" goes against the natural grain of our past I like the last four words of that de- (Matthew 3:6). experiences and training. scription, "esp[ecially] by supernatural 4. Forgiveness. "If we confess our Those who reject this obedience as- means." That brief phrase says more sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us pect of the Christian life fail to under- about the nature of the born-again ex- our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- stand that Jesus must be both Lord and perience than a thousand or two words righteousness" (1 John 1:9). Saviour of the born-again Christian (see of random explanation. 5. Faith. "Therefore being justified by 2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18)—Lord in that Unless you have experienced the new faith, we have peace with God through we are willing to obey Him no matter birth, you can never adequately under- our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). what He requests, and Saviour in that He stand its impact on your life, your think- 6. Baptism. "He that believeth and is died for our sins—yours and mine—on ing, and your activities. baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). the cross. It results in an entirely new life-style. Remember, everybody is born once, Christ called it the abundant life; Paul but not everybody is born twice. All it The mystery of the new birth. Although spoke of it as the victorious life; and takes is a simple reaching out on your we have briefly attempted to define John referred to it as the overcoming life part and receiving the salvation that what being born again is and what it is (John 10:10; 2 Timothy 4:7; Revelation Jesus has already provided for everyone not (see box on page 4), in the final 21:7). who will believe. All it takes is a simple analysis we must admit that the process prayer similar to the one uttered by of being born again remains a mystery. How you can be born again. We must Charles Colson: "Lord Jesus, I believe not leave this vital topic without at least you. I accept you. Please come into my •The New International Version. Copyright e 1978 by New York International Bible Society and is used by permission. pointing out the steps involved in the life. I commit it to you."

THESE TIMES (ISSN 0040-6058) is published monthly (except June and August, when semimonthly) by the Southern Publishing Association of Seventh-day Adventists, 1900 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville, TN 37210. U.S.A. Second-class postage paid at Nashville, TN. Subscription price US$12.00 a year. 1;1 Southern Publishing Association, 1979. Volume 88, No. 8, July, 1979.

THESE TIMES/July 1979 5 Interview with Charley The unexpected conversion to of Charles Colson, a key figure in the Watergate conspiracy, is one of the most publicized conversion stories in decades. The event stunned Washington and resulted in a runaway bestselling book, "Born Again"—which earlier this year appeared as a movie across America. In this exclusive interview with THESE TIMES, Colson tells what being born again means to him and explains how Christians can help people behind prison bars to find Christ and become "newborn" individuals. by Ralph Blodgett

What does it mean to be born again? How would you explain this event to someone who has never experienced it? The term "born again" has fallen into disrepute today in the sense that it's be- come secularized, overused, and cheapened. To me it's a very sacred phrase. In the Book of John, chapter 3, That's the beginning; that's the opening the end. But it's not the end. It's the Christ uses the term when He says, "Ex- of the door. You can't begin the Chris- beginning of a whole new life in which cept a man be born again, . . . he cannot tian life without that. God is really going to transform us. enter the kingdom of God." However, being born again implies a In other words, a person must con- great deal more. It's God's regenerating What kind of damage can be done by front the reality of who Jesus Christ is. you and transforming you. Paul writes those who teach that you accept He must see Christ first as the living in Romans 12:2, "Be not conformed to Jesus, like you say, and that's the end? God. He must have his spirit quickened, this world: but be ye transformed by the You have a cheap grace, which is what the apostle Paul writes, which is the es- renewing of your mind." Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about in his sence of the new birth. Then he makes Being born again entails a total re- book The Cost of Discipleship. A lot of that kind of commitment to Christ in newal of the man by the power of the people believe that the Christian obliga- which he really asks Him into his life. . And that part of it we often tion is limited to pasting bumper stick- He commits himself to Christ totally. leave off in our Christian teaching. We ers on a car, so that Christianity spreads c 1979 by Ralph Blodgett. simply say, "Accept Jesus," and that's as a fashionable in-thing, the right thing

6 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Photography by Gail Hunt Colson to do for public or community accept- of weeks ago in which a man had been in ance, but the end result is that Chris- prison for eight years. He really had no tians have no impact on society. hope. You can't imagine, no one can The weakness we find today in the imagine, what it is like to live in one of Christian faith is that—although more those dungeons without anyone on the than one third of all Americans profess outside caring, without any hope for the to be born again, profess to be Chris- future. tians, to be followers of Christ—we con- This fellow came to me and said, "I've tinue to live in a world in which there is been in prison eight years." He had a apostasy, egocentricity, materialism, beautiful expression, radiant and full of and moral decay on all sides. A lack of joy. He said, "I had given up all hope. I absolutes, a lack of truth, and a lack of just didn't think anything about life pursuit of truth abounds everywhere. mattered. But I wrote you a letter, and We have all of these things going on at you sent it on to a family in Colorado the same time that we have a religious Springs. They have started writing to awakening in America. And that's hap- me; they've been here to visit me twice, pening because I don't believe we have and my whole life has changed. I have a taught yet enough about true disci- reason for living." pleship following Christ into the world. He was just joyful. I think he's in on a forty-year sentence, and it's going to be How can a born-again Christian—a a long time before he's back out on the normal, everyday person—make a street. But at least there is a human being significant impact on today's society? "Being born again entails a total who no longer feels totally rejected, for- To make such an impact I think you renewal of the man by the power of the gotten, and lost. There's some chance must first of all have the guts to follow Holy Spirit. And that part of it we often that his life can be turned around. And if the Scriptures—to follow what they say, leave off in our Christian teaching." you do that one by one, you're going to no matter what. Down through history resolve a huge problem. I really believe single individuals with the power of harm and grief to the public. it's the answer. God have started every major transfor- mation that has had profound social and What can Christians do for people be- What happens to a prison inmate when individual consequences. William Wil- hind bars? You have been in that cir- he becomes a Christian? Do the other berforce, a deeply committed follower of cumstance at one time. Can you give prisoners look upon converts inside Christ, stood against the slave trade at a me some specifics how we on the out- the prison in a bad way? time when it was very unfashionable to side can help those on the inside? Oh, yes. They are persecuted. It's do so. God's people need the guts to do You can write them. Many of them are tough to live your faith in prison. The God's work. not receiving any mail whatsoever. code of conduct among prisoners is such Second, they must begin right in their Some could adopt a prisoner, go to the that if you help a person who is own communities. We were talking on institution, and visit that person on a wounded or hurt or dying, then you're the plane just yesterday of how many one-to-one basis. They could provide next on the list. So people don't. They churches will get involved in mission transportation for the prisoner's wife skirt them. And yet our men, the Chris- giving and yet how few will care that and family who come into nonfamiliar tian prisoners, can't do that. They'll go much about the ghetto just down the areas. over and help somebody who is down. street from their own church. If every In Butner, North Carolina, for exam- Also you are subject to a lot of scorn Christian would take an interest even in ple, families are dropped off at the bus and ridicule, laughter, derisive remarks. one other nearby person, you'd have a station, which is three miles away from I found out when I was in prison that revolution on your hands. the prison. The family is without trans- such treatment gradually breaks down In our prison ministry we're dealing portation to visit the prison and need after a while. However, I don't see as with 300,000 prisoners. If one Christian help. Also, Christians can provide much jeering nowadays. Things are family would take an interest in one assistance for a person coming out of changing inside many prisons. Maybe prisoner out of the 300,000, why in no prison who needs housing, employ- part of that change is a result of the work time at all that would spread, and we ment, or most of all a friend. we're doing. would really have an answer to the crime I might just add, we've run into many, problem now sapping billions of dollars many cases of people without any hope Do you have any estimate of what per- out of the treasury and causing untold for the future. I ran into one just a couple centage of prisoners embrace Chris-

THESE TIMES/July 1979 7 tianity in hopes of obtaining a lighter rapport, with someone who is a fellow sentence? believer in Christ. And before long you There is no way of ever knowing that. develop a certain discernment of However, the parole policies are set up spiritual life that Scripture talks about. with the guidelines and with salient fac- On other occasions you should simply tor scores so that prisoners are not wait and be patient and see what hap- granted parole by their institutional be- pens with a person, and before long you havior. So they would be wasting their will see whether their lives match their time in the first place if they tried to get a profession. The apostle James wrote shorter sentence by this route. about this, that faith without your works is dead, because by definition—if the Are Christians doing anything wrong regeneration is taking place—there is in prisons? Are they exerting a nega- going to be evidence of it. You will see it tive influence by some things they do? in people. A lot of people come to an awareness of Christ's command to visit prisoners, What is the greatest thing that Chris- and they head off to their local jail or tianity has to offer the world? prison. But they find the place is The greatest thing it has to offer is the wretched. It stinks and is horrible— relationship with our Creator, the eter- enough to make a person nauseous— nal life, and the fact that we can be well and so they don't go back. And that's with God, right with our Maker. And just another rejection to people who that's so transcendent and overwhelm- have spent a lifetime being rejected. ing of all of the things that everything That is worse than never going at all. else is just secondary, obviously. Another thing is that the Christians "When you break down that hard armor I don't think the Christian way or the who go in have got to be open and toler- most of those guys ]in prison] are Christian life is an easy life, and it surely ant. There's no sense going in and tell- wearing, you discover tender hearts isn't an easy life in prison. Christ never ing a bunch of prisoners that they can't and babies inside. Many of them have intended it to be easy. He told us it drink or smoke. It's totally irrelevant to simply never been loved." would be tough. these guys. And frankly, if I could get Some folks go around and say if you their hearts turned around so they become a Christian, you're going to wouldn't go back and murder someone, Larry Flynt is probably one other have a frozen plastic smile on your face, I would consider that such great prog- prominent person who has made the and that to me is absolutely bunk. It's ress that I would let the rest of the things news with his conversion. What went heresy. It's not the faith that I follow. come in due time. wrong in his conversion experience? Christ suffered; He hurt. His disciples The third problem is that sometimes Do you have any opinion? suffered and hurt. People in prison suf- you will have in the prisons people I don't try to judge anybody. If they fer and hurt. But it is the way of truth, teaching Christ plus X. To me Christ say they're born again and they've ac- and it is the essence of our lives. plus X is not Christianity. You will get cepted Christ, I try to accept that. How- people emphasizing certain gifts of the ever, some things Larry Flynt did and I'm thinking about a prisoner who has Spirit in such a way as to be divisive said afterward just made me ill. I think committed murder; he's done some inside the prison. And we've had a lot of you're supposed to see the fruits of the terrible things; he's at the bottom of problems with this in many prisons. Spirit in a Christian's life. And I have yet the well. What do you say to him? to see them in Larry Flynt. He's lying on The real answer to him—and this is What is the best way to reach someone his back and paralyzed for life, and it's what we try to emphasize—is that it may for Christ? to try to share the joy the God's business to deal with him if the be society has turned its back on him; gospel has brought in your own life? man is not authentic. maybe he's living in a cold, hard place; I think you share it by the way in and maybe he doesn't have another which you live, by the concern and Is there some other way to evaluate— friend in the world; but someone does compassion you have for other human like you say, by the fruits of the care about him. Jesus Christ does, and beings. I think people know immedi- Spirit—the genuineness of a conver- so do God's people. When you break ately if you are the real thing or you sion experience? down that hard armor most of those aren't in terms of the way you live. We are instructed to beware of false guys are wearing, you discover tender Sometimes people can really be taken teachers and to test the Spirit. I think hearts and babies inside. Many of them back by things we say about . often you feel a spiritual warmth, or have simply never been loved. 8 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Photograph by Gail Hunt Being born again can help you cope with adversity

"I've been born again," says Jack Paget, "and that has made all the difference in how I look at everything. I now believe that out of every circum- stance God is able to bring some good if we will let Him." by Kay Severinsen

THE THING about Jack Paget is that he just wouldn't give up. Not after diabetes, kidney failure, cataracts, the loss of both legs and a finger, or after the tragic death of his teenage son. In fact, Paget has spent more time in a hospital bed than nearly every patient he has ever counseled as a volunteer chaplain at Northern Michigan Hospitals, Inc., in Petoskey. Yet it hasn't made him bitter or self-pitying. Instead, he has weathered his troubles with the kind of joyous faith Paget's troubles began years ago forty-three, Paget made a remarkable in Jesus Christ that inspires even the with diabetes, but that never stopped recovery. nonreligious. him from preaching and singing in his "June 10 was the most exciting day "I no longer have any fears," Paget Petoskey church. of my life," he remembered. "I felt said. "The greatest thing that has come Then in 1972 a kidney biopsy completely reborn. A week after of all this is the realization that God revealed that he had only 10 percent surgery I went walking around. A will always give us the strength we use of his kidneys, and he began month later I was preaching in a need. I'm not really a strong person, hemodialysis to clean his blood. nearby church. And I could sing again. but I'm aware that no matter what But diabetics rarely do well on It was great." comes my way Jesus Christ will be dialysis, and Paget was no exception. But then in the spring of 1975 an sufficient for my needs. I don't worry The thrice-weekly process left him so infection in his finger failed to heal. about the future anymore." anemic and weak that he could no Diabetics are prone to such problems. Indeed, it seems that almost longer sing and couldn't even think The finger was finally amputated. everything possible has already clearly. He resigned as pastor, and All went well for over a year. Then in happened to Paget. Friends who know doctors gave him a month to live. late 1976 an infection in his left foot and love him have often likened him to "I knew then that I could die," Paget became severe. A skin graft on the heel the Biblical character Job, whose love recalled. "I knew how sick I was. But I failed to solve the problem, and the of God prevailed through all his was never frightened or angry. It just pain became tremendous. After nine miseries. reinforced my faith in everlasting life." months of suffering, Paget had his leg But it wasn't Paget's time to die. In amputated to the knee (it is difficult to Kay Severinsen is a free-lance writer June, 1974, his brother Harold donated fit an artificial limb at the ankle). living in Boyne City, Michigan. 0 1979 by one of his kidneys for transplant. Paget's only emotion, he said, was Kay Severinsen. Defying all statistics for a man of one of relief from pain. Photography by Kay Severinsen THESE TIMES/July 1979 9 "The secret of my optimism," Paget tells a patient, "is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe that out of every circumstance God is able to bring some good if we will let Him."

still didn't heal, and tests showed that it probably never would. Rather than suffer a lot of pain in vain, Paget had that leg amputated also. A few months ago he received his second prosthesis. "Oh, to put both feet on the ground Within six months he was back in Virgil McKiddie had a similar again!" he exclaimed. "It's been a the hospital again, this time to have experience when he was hospitalized terrific experience." cataracts removed from both eyes. For to have his leg amputated. There are probably few people in a diabetic who also took steroids to "Through the prayers and the this world that would say losing both prevent kidney rejection, the cataracts brotherhood he showered on me, I legs is terrific, but Paget finds life an were no surprise. He now wears realized that I was gaining more than I increasingly joyous experience. contact lenses. was losing," McKiddie said. "He was "I don't believe that God has put all Several months later, the day he was having his leg amputated, too. The fact these things on me," he said. "I to be fitted for a prosthesis (artificial that a man with as many troubles as he believe sickness comes from a lot of limb), he was hospitalized for a severe was having could spend all that time places; tragedy too. But God's desire is infection in the other leg. He was there helping others is truly a work of the to make us stronger and to reveal His for two and a half months. Lord. He restored my faith and love in us. The secret of all my By this time Paget had become a returned me to the true course." optimism is my personal relationship familiar sight for both hospital staff "It was thrilling for me to see that with Jesus Christ. Before my troubles and patients. Whenever he could, Christ was doing the same thing for started, I loved God, but not the way I Paget would visit other patients to pray them as He did for me," Paget said. do now. I've been born again, and that and talk with them. Often, dressed in a Physically unable to return to the has made all the difference in how I hospital gown, he would roll into their ministry full time, Paget still wanted to look at everything. I believe that out of room in a wheelchair. share that strength with others. He every circumstance God is able to "He is the kind of Christian who began visiting patients regularly. Since bring some good if we will let Him." puts the rest of us to shame," says the hospital is attached to a large clinic, Had he known in advance the Rosalind Stump, a former surgical it draws patients from all over troubles he would suffer, Paget nurse at the hospital. "Even as he was Michigan. Many times their own wonders if he could have prevailed. coming into surgery he would be pastors are unable to visit them. But now his success has driven him to blessing us and praising the Lord." Nurses and staff began recommending share his newfound strength with More than one patient has said that patients for Paget to visit, and soon he others. Paget's visits changed his life. During had more than he could handle. He "After the transplant," he said, "I one of his many hospital stays Paget organized several other pastors from wanted a sense of direction. I didn't visited Jan Runyan, who was the community to help him. want to waste the extra time that God recuperating from a shattered ankle. But despite his dynamic effect on has given me. Now that I have learned "I can't say exactly what he did," she others, Paget's troubles were far from to use God's comfort to help others, I said, "but he was very warm, and he over. have the privilege of sharing that great totally accepted me. Here I was, really On November 11, 1977, his youngest love." bummed out. Not only was my ankle son, Tim, seventeen, was killed in an Although he is still unable to work broken, but the week before both my auto accident. full time, he manages to conduct husband and I had lost our jobs. And "I never would have asked for that weekly services in the hospital chapel there he was about to lose his second tragedy," Paget said, "but I wouldn't and visits patients as much as he can. leg. And yet he knew exactly what was trade some of the wonderful "He's a wonderful person," says going on with me." experiences I have had with people for Marti Moore, a hospital social worker After their talk, Jan felt Christ calling anything. A week after Tim died, we who sometimes refers patients to her to renew her faith. went to church, and the love those Paget. "He has helped so many of our "Jack is still so much on my mind," people shared with us—well, it was patients. A great person." she added, "I have to believe that God just a very warm experience that has But Paget is humble about that. allowed my broken ankle to happen so happened again and again." "It's not that I'm a great person," he that I would be led to a new life. He is Five months later one of his says, "but that God is great within me. an inspirational man—an incredible remaining toes became gangrenous Anyone can be like that. To share that human being." and had to be removed. But the foot good news with others is a real joy."4

10 THESE TIMES/July 1979 • I •

PARENTS ought to trust their children no matter what, right? Forgive me if I take exception to this fallacy, which manipulative kids have been known to use as blackmail upon parents. Parents are supposed to be par- ents, not pushovers for young experts in parent psychology. I mean, think about it. When your teenagers were younger, would you let them play in the busy street if they wanted to, just to prove that you trusted them? It is rather the par- ents' job to be reasonably skeptical about the judgment of their children. It is a precaution that is a parental duty. To question judgment is not to question worth. Or love. Or to test the parent- child relationship. Parents who hesitate to question immature judgment put themselves in the delicate position of choosing to appear to be down on ro- mance rather than to risk offending the across to the child is the fact that there is romantic judgment. There is no way young person by questioning romantic more to romance than sexual implica- they can comprehend what it means to judgment. tions. Unfortunately, too many parents be in love for so long. It does, however, The truth is that kids of all generations were teenagers who had parents quite help if they have lived in a romantic would be better off if parents came right like themselves. This means that the home for as many years as they can re- out and candidly questioned the roman- cycle repeats itself, and the parents can't member. Where there has been obvious tic judgment of adolescent young people teach what they have never learned. romance in the home it need not be em- and stopped creating a negative impres- Why is romance underplayed in many barrassing to talk about the "affairs of sion about the importance of romance. marriages? Is it because as teenagers the heart" with the teenager. The prob- Marriage needs romance much more awaken to the wonder of sexual aware- lems attending such a discussion have to than cherry pie. ness the concept of romance is predomi- do with adolescent immaturity and not A big problem for kids is that there is nated by sex? Which carries on into the what is right or wrong with romance. If a often too little romance left in the par- marriage, where sex is enjoyed without good romantic model is conspicuous by ents' relationship. The kids pick this up some of the preexisting prohibitions its absence in your situation, at least and are left to conclude the parents are against sex before marriage. Such pro- don't compound the problem by knock- not qualified experts on the subject. This hibitions happen to coincide with the ing romance. erodes the credibility of the parent in the awakening conceptualization of the na- Some parents really are out of it. There eyes of the child and leaves romance to ture of romance. If sex is thought to be is little or no romance left in the mar- be defined by the young as best they the purpose of romance and if after mar- riage. When it comes time to relate cre- can. riage sexual prohibitions are largely atively to teenage children in the family What the parent really wants to get eliminated, then the purpose of romance who are getting romantic notions, such has largely been nullified. parents overreact with sarcasm and/or Dick Jewett is the Sex is decidedly not the purpose of criticism and widen the already famous pastor and special romance in a genuine love relationship. credibility gap. youth counselor of Let us rather say that love is the purpose Perhaps for such homes it would be the Auburn Academy of romance. Love, while it does benefit better to follow the example of the kids Church, Auburn, from wholesome sex, far transcends sex. and have the parents get some romantic Washington. Those There are not enough lines on this page notions of their own. See if you can out- wishing to submit to define love. But it is a giant step romance the youngsters. Let them stay youth-oriented prob- toward a good definition of romance to home and wait up for you to get in. lems or problem situations for possible include the vast potential of love be- While they are home they can practice inclusion in this column, or for a personal tween a man and a woman who live in cherry pie baking to keep them out of response, please write to Dick Jewett, love for twenty or fifty years. mischief. Of course you trust them. But THESE TIMES, Box 59, Nashville, TN This is precisely why teenagers can it's still a good idea to keep them off the 37202. legitimately be questioned about their streets! Illustration by Tim Adams THESE TIMES/July 1979 11 1 II •. I !II I 11 1. 1 , I . I ' 1 ' gun .i 1 I

THE ROMAN and the be the emergence of Third World mis- and spiritual songs with thankfulness in Eastern Orthodox Churches inched sions. . . . And having heard of what your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16, closer together as plans are being made God is doing, will we in worship ser- RSV). to implement a common celebration of vices and private devotions join our the by the two communions. hearts in prayer with Asia's churches Survey of men's values—sex The split between Eastern and Western that the year 2000 AD will indeed see ten ranks ninth, religion tenth churches in 1054 developed because of thousand Asians in foreign mis- According to a Louis Harris survey, theological differences, particularly the sions? . . . When God declared that the health, love, peace of mind, and family issue of papal authority. Already com- feet of those who bring the Good News life topped the list of eleven major values missions representing the two church are beautiful, he didn't say anything considered by American men under fifty bodies have spent two years laying the about color!" as "very important" for a happy and groundwork for full-fledged theological satisfied life. Harris did the study for dialogue designed to erase differences A prescription for better health: Playboy Enterprises, Incorporated. Re- on concelebration and full unity. Pope Sing, and then sing some more ligion, near the bottom of the list, John Paul H expressed hope also for Prevention, "The Magazine for Better ranked tenth according to the values eventual unity with Protestant as well as Health," features subjects like food and cited most often by men as being impor- Orthodox churches.—Evangelical News- diet, fat and exercise. But the January tant. Sex was rated almost as low. It letter, February 9, 1979. issue tells us that one route to better ranked ninth. health is to "Make a Joyful Noise." Au- Missionaries' feet thor John Yates reminds us of the impor- Adventist churches red, yellow, black, and white tance of music in our common tradition: open in China "Europeans, Canadians, Americans, "The ancient Greeks went so far as to According to reports received at Englishmen, Australians, and others define a person's humanity in terms of Seventh-day Adventist world headquar- constitute the bulk of what we call music. An educated and distinguished ters in Washington, D.C., recent news 'foreign missionaries.' And their feet are citizen was referred to as 'musical,' from China reveals that Adventist white," states Richard DeRidder in while a man who was ignorant and churches have opened there. The de- "What Color Are Missionaries' Feet?" rough was said to be 'without music.' " nomination's Far Eastern Division pres- (The Banner, January 12, 1979). But we Professor Steven Urkowitz is quoted: ident reports that at least two churches are in the midst of vast change: "Projec- "Today most vocal music is a product. are now open for regular services and tions based on church growth around You buy records. You go to concerts. others will be opening soon. W. T. Clark the world suggest that, if present trends You consume singing rather than per- says members in China are hungry for continue, by the year 2000 AD fully 60 form it. In Renaissance England they contact with the world church. Accord- percent of those who are Christians will would have five thousand people come ing to the denomination's general be found in Third World countries (gen- to a service in the churchyard of St. paper, Adventist Review, initial reports erally defined as Africa, South America, Paul's Cathedral, and five thousand on and members are encourag- and Asia). . . . As a result the color of people would all be singing complex ing. missionaries' feet is also changing and hymns. It was a participatory act." will continue to change." Yates mentions the healing value of Average "moonie" faced dis- DeRidder, professor at Calvin singing in the lives of emotionally and tress before joining church Theological Seminary, reminds his mentally disturbed people. "Re- According to a group of psychologists, readers of the missionary heroes of the pressions of anxiety are believed to be Unification Church members typically past, who have been unknown and ig- reflected in the musculature of the body, come from a pool of individuals who nored in Western churches: "Who ever and cannot be relieved until the muscu- have higher than average "psychologi- heard of Joseph Merrick, Ini Kopuria, lar as well as the emotional tension is cal distress." The February issue of the Joeli Bulu, and the unnamed rowers and banished. Obviously singing, the one American Journal of Psychiatry reports on pilots of Oceania's catamarans, who form of music that uses the body itself as the group's study. The team of psychia- knew in their hearts that receiving the the instrument, is an invaluable tool in trists suggests that certain types of indi- gospel meant that it had to be shared?" this kind of therapy." viduals having a high neurotic distress Their number has been multiplying. Perhaps evangelicals, for whom music and also seeking new religious meaning "The latest survey, made in 1973, reveals may have become nonparticipatory per- may be especially susceptible to joining that not less than three thousand Third formance, ought to consider the mani- groups such as the Unification Church. World missionaries were working fold meaning of praise to our sovereign The study shows that for these indi- cross-culturally. . . . One group of God through the ministry of music: "Let viduals, church membership decreased Asian churches plans to send out ten the word of Christ dwell in you richly, the distress, increased their sense of thousand missionaries by 2000 AD. teach and admonish one another in all well-being, and played a role as a "The great new fact of our time must wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns suicide preventative.

12 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Best religious book of 1978 Joni Eareckson—whose story of victory over the physical trauma of total paralysis from a diving accident was first featured in THESE TIMES (see March, 1977, issue, pages 2-5)—has recently received an award from Reli- gion In Media for the best religious book of 1978. The RIM award went for Joni's second book, A Step Further, which was released in October, 1978. Her earlier book, Joni—which details her experience of becoming paralyzed and tells how she learned to praise the Lord even in times of severe trial and hardship—has since become a bestselling religious book. Religion In Media, which presented the award, is a national organiza- tion formed to promote moral and spiritual values in the media. In his presentation remarks, RIM chairman, James E. Willems, said, "The . . . [awards] were created as a means of encouraging excellence in the portrayal of religious concepts. . . . It is our way of saying thank you for helping us keep the faith." Jain FAR:( kson

Christian Yellow Pages titude that they feel God's presence stitution is too great to warrant a con- "born again" in Kansas City when they hear a Beethoven symphony vention. Many experts doubt whether a Like a bad penny or a four-leaf clover, or when they're out fishing. convention could be limited to a single depending on your viewpoint, the con- In the 1970s, he said, there were too topic. Therefore Adams opposes the troversial Christian Yellow Pages has re- many attachments to a writer or a idea. As director of public affairs/ surfaced in the Kansas City area. The speaker or a guru. "There were the Anita religious liberty for the Seventh-day controversial directory for only born- Bryant people, the Corrie ten Boom Adventist Church, Adams fears that again Christians is making its third ap- people, and the David Wilkerson changes in the Constitution might pearance in the Kansas City area alone people. But there was no long-term weaken provisions for religious liberty. after more ups and downs than a roller fidelity to a group. Christian ministry in coaster in cities nationwide. Over the next ten years will have to run Vietnam POW now chaplain twenty thousand copies of the 16-page counter to this kind of thinking," he of Texas air force base directory began appearing in local said. Lieutenant Colonel Jerry A. Singleton, Christian bookstores earlier this month. Dr. Marty, a professor of the Univer- a former Vietnam prisoner of war (POW) "I think the people behind the idea are sity of Chicago Divinity School, spoke in who attended chapel services at Shep- well meaning," said Jack Vaughn, Kan- the opening session of the week of lec- pard Air Force Base, Texas, at his sas regional executive director of the Na- tures sponsored by the Iliff School of homecoming in 1973, is now senior tional Conference of Christians and Theology. Protestant chaplain of the base. He Jews, "but the end result is divisive- He believes the seventies will be seen began his new career as a military chap- ness." as the era in which people "turned lain at Sheppard in June, 1978, after In some of the forty cities and counties themselves over to others or to a guru." completing studies at Dallas Theological across the country where they have ap- This kind of attitude should be changed Seminary in May. He is a minister of the peared, directories have encountered in the eighties, he believes, because Southern Baptist Convention. stiff secular and religious opposition, "there is a growing resistance to, and A 1962 graduate of the Air Force critical editorial comment, and an occa- suspicion of, religion and church. We've Academy, Chaplain Singleton was on sional lawsuit. "People misunderstand had our free ride. But now, we've been his second mission over North Vietnam what we are," said Kenneth Braunlich, through a decade when people would as a helicopter rescue pilot when he was area manager of the directory. "We are believe anything." As someone said, if shot down in November, 1965. He was a not out to hurt anyone. Our sole purpose you don't believe in God, you'll believe prisoner in North Vietnam for more than is identifying Christian businessmen so in everything. seven years in several camps, including Christians can do business with other the "Zoo Annex" on the outskirts of Christians in a Christian atmosphere." Religious liberty spokesman Hanoi. He was among the second group opposes Constitutional of POWs returned to the U.S. in Febru- convention ary, 1973. Challenge to today's churches In the wake of Proposition 13, there Chaplain Singleton remarked that is cited by Martin Marty has been a vigorous drive to rewrite the during his years of imprisonment he There is too much of the Thomas Jef- U.S. Constitution to mandate a balanced had resolved to change "a few things in ferson attitude about religion, Dr. Mar- federal budget. Already twenty-seven this world." He said, "The changes that tin Marty believes. The noted theologian state legislatures have called for a Con- need to be made are changes that only said that Jefferson had been quoted as stitutional convention. Only seven more God can make, because they are not of saying, "If I must go to heaven with a are needed before Congress must con- our nature. I feel that what I can do now group, then I won't go." Dr. Marty sees vene such a gathering. in making those changes is to try to that as dangerous thinking, the same Church-state authority Melvin Adams show people what the Lord has to say way he views those who have the at- says the risk of tampering with the Con- and bring them to Him." 4 THESE TIMES/July 1979 13 I'm preparing for immortality

Those serious about living for an eternity will want to check the six suggestions offered by this minister of many years' experience. by Glenn H. Asquith

WISHFUL thinking, isn't it—almost How can I prepare for immortality? Cer- presumptuous—to suppose that I, or tain it is that no one has gone to the anyone else, can make acceptable prepa- realm of immortality and returned to tell rations for the journey into immortality? me all about it. Even Jesus, after the res- If it were a matter of my wife's saying urrection, said to a woman at the tomb, to me: "Let's go over to the shopping "Do not hold me, for I have not yet as- mall," I could prepare quickly. I would cended to the Father" (John 20:17*). grab the car keys, put on a coat or what- My only resources are the general ever outer garment the weather indi- teachings in the New Testament, the cated, and we would be on our way. I conclusions of some holy men and have been to that mall dozens of times; I women, and that which comes to me by know what I will find there. inspiration of the Spirit. In times of Or if we should decide (rashly!) to go meditation, prayer, and experiencing on a backpacking trip in a strange moun- the common events of life some light tain area, we could prepare. There comes. So I have made a plan for myself, would be available the advice of others a plan which might well be helpful to who had been there; experts could ad- persons at any age. vise us as to what to take and the route to follow. 1. lam exposing myself to beauty, hop- Even when it was decided to send ing to become quite saturated with it in some men to the moon, preparation was the time left to me. not impossible. Enough was known by When weather permits I sprawl on a scientific observations and collected lounge chair on the patio and open my data to guide the plans to meet the eyes to the world. At times the unbroken changes in atmospheric conditions and blueness of the sky brings wonder. At varying gravity pulls. Elaborate space other times that blueness is accentuated vehicles, space suits, delicate instru- by the presence of fleecy, white clouds ments, dehydrated foods, were brought moving in changing patterns. Birds with into being to make for success in the various colors of plumage come and venture. perch near me. Squirrels approach and But here am I, having reached the age sit up to eye me curiously. Occasionally I of seventy, knowing that I must face up see a hawk soaring in graceful swoops to my going from this world into another and rises. The flowers, the grass, the state of existence. Friends and loved trees are other evidences of the beauty of ones leave me one by one. The daily God's Creation. newspaper announcements of deaths And beyond what I find by looking clearly show that after age sixty-five the around me, I discover even greater proportion of voyagers is high. Without beauty in men and women, boys and being fearful or morbid, and accepting girls—my fellow pilgrims toward that the fact as natural, I know that my days which is to be. Rarely is the exterior of a are thinning out. With the urgency of brother or sister remarkable for beauty this thought upon me, I want to know (as mine is not), but there is something about the future, my future.

Glenn Asquith is a retired Baptist pastor Walking in nature and reading thought- and denominational editor, the author of filled books are two activities that Pastor twelve books and scores of articles. © 1979 Asquith (right) recommends to help put by Glenn H. Asquith. you in touch with your Creator.

14 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Photography by Richard Harris expressed by each person that speaks of 5. / am divesting myself of things. I re- the real soul within. Purpose, courage, No one knows member the farmer in the New Testa- love, come out as lovely traits to suffuse ment parable who laid up many his being. when Jesus will "things" so that he would never lack. Fortifying me in the belief that beauty come and give us But God said to him, "This night your is a real ingredient of immortality is that the precious gift of soul is required of you; and the things God has given to people of all genera- you have prepared, whose will they be?" tions the desire to be surrounded by immortality. (Luke 12:16-21). Without narrowing my beauty. That which I see in the material life to any appreciable degree, I find that world and in people has been captured I can give away things that I have so that by artists of all times. Therefore I visit art To do this tracing I find that old they may be used to better advantage. galleries; I collect prints of masterpieces; diaries, mementos of a biographical na- And when pleas come from CARE, the I try to share that which the painter or ture, saved letters, and cards restore for World Relief Fund, and other worthy sculptor has wistfully tried to save for us me some of the vividness of the past. groups, I find that it is time for me to of his vision. I feel a kinship with the Strangely enough, I find that the dispense any small sums I may have laid crowds who have flocked to the exhibits perspective of the years has done some- by as a snug surplus. of the King Tut pieces from Egypt. thing to the "bad guys" of my career. This applies not only to my present I feel strangely convinced that what- These were the ones who offered criti- period of life but to the future when I can ever else immortality will be I am to ex- cism of me or of my work, who blocked no longer decide how the good things pect ultimate beauty in the life to come. some favorite project, who shoved or God has given me will be distributed. I If I can saturate myself with the samples pushed me at times. Now I see that the have made a will and have given other found in the here and now, I may be a bit gray pieces and the black pieces that instructions about minor possessions better prepared for the marvels ahead. they put into my life mosaic bring out that may be left behind. Those words, the bright colors by a soft contrast. They "Whose will they be?" put upon me a 2. I am reading thought-filled books — represent discipline, patience, forgive- sense of responsibility. mostly old ones. ness. As I look backward, I find only "What!" someone may say. "Does he "good guys" insofar as the final effect on 6. l am becoming better acquainted with not know that that old stuff is done with? my life is concerned. God. In the past, without my intending This is the day of realism!" What I know I have an impossible, fanciful idea it, I may have related God too exclu- is that much of the product of the presses that I would like to send a round robin sively to a book, the Bible, or I may have today represents hasty writing and an letter to everyone whom I can remember thought of Him as sequestered in a accommodation to the blind narrowing having crossed my path with, "Bless church or as at the other end of my awk- of life to sexual expression. You!" in large letters. That being impos- ward prayers. Now I am remembering Occasionally we get a good recent sible, I do write many individual notes the old catechetical phrase, "The chief book, but not too often. The men and as I find the opportunity. I strive to re- aim of man is to love God and enjoy Him women authors of earlier times—the vive myself to them because I know that, forever." If I hope to be nearer to the ones who wrote the books that live— for good or ill, I helped form their life presence of God in my immortal state, I saw life as a whole. They were thinking mosaic. must strive harder to know Him on an people who challenge me to think. I do intimate basis. not find so much of the rat-a-tat-tat re- 4. I am endeavoring to employ all of my To this end I hold conversation with porting of events as I do come to grips potentials. By this I mean that I shall not God as I lie in my lounge chair—I remark with the "why" of what happens. be content until all of my abilities and on the wonders of His world. Before At my time of life I earnestly want to possibilities can be marked "Used," as going to sleep I renew with Him His know the "why." I feel a sympathy with an old car is classed as "used." To illus- covenant of "steadfast love" as I descend George Fox, the founder of the Quaker trate: My wife and I are constant rivals at into the darkness of the night. I awaken movement, who went about England the game of Scrabble. As we have be- with thanks for the gift of another day. I trying to find someone who could come experienced, we have found that sense His presence all day long. "speak to my condition." I go into the one of the stupidest things to do is to be These efforts to come closer to God world of books now, trying to find those found at the end of the game with an S serve to lessen, if not to allay, the awe- that speak to my present condition. unplayed when the other declares, "I someness of facing the great change have played all my tiles!" The reason for from the here to the hereafter. I may be 3. l am tracing the bits of my life. In one of this is that an S is almost always play- different, but I have faith that God will the books that I have mentioned I found able, usually for many points. The use of be the same, and this will make every- this thought: "Everyone's life is a that final S before the other player has thing all right. mosaic of the pieces that others have put finished and ended the game might well So I am working my six-point plan. into it." Just as a pavement picture is be the difference between winning and And as I mentioned earlier, this plan made up of bits of glazed tile or other losing. should be suggestive to young people material, my life shows the contribution If I have some ability to use for God's and to the middle-aged as well as to us of many, many people with whom I have children, if I have some word to speak or "older folk." After all, no one knows lived and worked and played and strug- write, if I have some carefully saved-up when Jesus will come and give us the gled through the seventy years. I am idea that should be made public, I do not precious gift of immortality. How won- looking at these pieces that have made want to die with that S in my possession. derful if our preparation can make that life what I find it, and I am endeavoring I think that being a miser with money is moment joyfully welcome! to recapture the fellowship feeling that I no worse than being a miser of a gift that had when the piece was put in. has been entrusted to me for use. 'All quotations are from the Revised Standard Version.

16 THESE TIMES/July 1979

THIS Is the month of watermelon, pic- nics, and fireworks at the fairgrounds. Of Sundays at the beach or lazy after- noons around the pool. But maybe you're still running franti- cally, a little bitter inside because you'd looked forward to summer, and now that it's here, nothing's changed except the weather. The demands upon your time have not lessened, the leisurely pace you'd anticipated somehow evades you. Even at the beach, where everyone else sprawls in golden postures of sun worship, you can't slow your mind. Is the salad staying cold in the car? That cough of your husband's—could it be something worse than an old cold— like lung cancer? Could daughter Anne be smoking pot? That strange odor that clings to her clothes lately. The grinding noise the washer's been making—if it could go? Fewer flower beds, less for me, I will call upon God. . . . Evening, breaks down, there goes the vacation knickknacks, an easier hairdo, a more and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and money. Spartan wardrobe (why do we insist on cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice" You might be surprised, if you could such overstuffed closets?). Weed your (Psalm 55:16, 17). peep into the heads of those about you, life. Thin the rows. With pencil and Daniel, a man in whom the king of to find their minds whirling just as paper now document your new life- Babylon found such an excellent spirit feverishly as yours. Let's face it. This style. The resulting time is yours. What that he set him ruler "over the whole planet isn't conducive to peaceful medi- will you do with it? I have two sugges- realm" (Daniel 6:3): "He kneeled upon his tation. We are born into the world by tions: knees three times a day, and prayed, and slimmest chance (sperm-mating being (1) Is there something that all your gave thanks before his God" (Danie16: 10). what it is) and then often spend the life you've wanted to do or be? Is it too Jesus, whose magnetism so rocked this years allotted us seeking the purpose of late to start now? Why? Could you begin planet two thousand years ago that even our existence. Not to mention the prob- at once to work, in a small way, toward today millions rally to His cause and lems of survival while we're here. your goal? How? Will you act upon your await His return: "And it came to pass in So treat yourself right now, in this resolution no later than tomorrow, or those days, that he went out into a summer of 1979, to one hour in a lawn will next summer find you in the same mountain to pray, and continued all night chair. After you've looked at the blue sky old rut? If so, whose fault will it be? in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). and wiggled your toes in the grass (2) Do you think the Bible is of any The disciples of Jesus, who evangelized awhile, take out a sheet of paper and try practical value today? Is prayer a part of their world without the aid of television this little quiz. your daily routine? Would you consider or radio: "We will give ourselves continu- Have you ever sorted out your meditation a waste of time? ally to prayer, and to the ministry of the priorities? In my own study of the Bible, I've word" (Acts 6:4). Are there some nonessentials you noted that those who accomplished Paul, that hardy old soldier of the cross could eliminate from your schedule? much and yet retained a very calm ap- who ministered to a pastorate so wide- List them. Think again! Are there not proach to life were those who spent a lot spread that he was often far from his some clubs, lessons, committees, that of time with God. It's a paradox, I admit, scattered flock: "I have remembrance of to spend large blocks of time in prayer thee in my prayers night and day" (2 and Bible study and still be a super- Timothy 1:3). June Strong, of Bata- achiever. Yet that's how it seems to I wonder what would happen if we all via, New York, is a lec- work. Let's let them speak for them- spent an hour a day with God and then turer and author of the selves: pursued a goal that utilized all the tal- books "Journal of a Isaac, wealthy and faithful patriarch of ents with which He has endowed us. Happy Woman" and earliest times: "And Isaac went out to Perhaps we could inject new life into the "Mindy." She enjoys meditate in the field at eventide" drowsy Christian community and drop people, writing, gar- (Genesis 24:63). some of our own fears and frustrations dening, and sewing. David, Israel's most-loved king: "As in the process. It's worth a try.

Illustration by Tim Adams THESE TIMES/July 1979 17

56 gallant men the rest of the story

Few Americans living today comprehend the courage needed to sign the now famous Declaration of Independence. Here is the true story of the fate of the fearless fifty-six who affixed their names, and their lives, to that historic document. by Paul Harvey

YOU REMEMBER the cherry tree story a a speck of dust blew in the window and long time after you forget the more penicillin was discovered. earthshaking, history-making episodes in the life of George Washington. You've Something to remember. But for any misplaced in your memory the details of Fourth of July, I, Paul Harvey, do be- Ben Franklin's statesmanship, but you queath unto you "something to re- remember his flying a kite. member." Joyce Kilmer was a great military hero, You may not be able to quote one line but the only thing you personally recall from the Declaration of Independence at about him is his poetic tribute to trees. this moment. Henceforth, I hope, you Maybe what will be best remembered will always be able to quote at least one of this current century will not be its line. It's in the last paragraph where you wars and its jet planes or its giants who will recall, when I remind you, that it pall/ lived and died. Maybe all that will sur- says, "We mutually pledge to each other vive to linger in the day-by-day vo- our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred cabulary of generations yet unborn will Honor." ze' be a song about a Tennessee fron- You recognize those impressive tiersman or the incident one night when words, but you don't understand them until you know the rest of the story. So Paul Harvey is a radio and TV newscaster, here goes. lecturer, and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. © 1978, Los In the Pennsylvania State House, now Angeles Times Syndicate. called Independence Hall, in Philadel-

Illustration by Tim Adams THESE TIMES/July 1979 19 They considered liberty so much more important than security that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their honor to achieve that end.

phia, the best men from each of the colo- Here is the documented fate of those their lives. His fields and gristmill were nies many years ago sat down together. gallant 56: laid waste. For more than a year he lived It was a fortunate hour in our nation's Carter Braxton of Virginia, wealthy in forests and caves and returned home history, one of those rare occasions in planter and trader, saw his ships swept after the war to find his wife dead, his the lives of men when we had greatness from the seas. To pay his debts he lost children gone, and his properties gone. to spare. his home and all his properties. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion These were men of means, well- Thomas Lynch, Jr., who signed that and a broken heart. educated. Twenty-four were lawyers pledge, was a third-generation rice Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed, and jurists. Eleven were merchants. grower. An aristocrat. A large plantation his family scattered. Nine were farmers and owners of large owner. After he signed, his health Philip Livingston died within a few plantations. failed. With his wife he set out for France months from the hardships of the war. One June 11 a committee was ap- to regain his health. Their ship never got John Hancock is well-remembered, pointed to draw up a declaration of in- to France—was never heard from again. mostly due to a quirk of fate rather than dependence. We were going to tell our Thomas McKean of Delaware was so anything he stood for. That great, British fatherland, No more rule by Red- harassed by the enemy that he was sweeping signature, attesting to his van- coats! Below the dam of ruthless foreign forced to move his family five times in ity, towers over the others. One of the rule the stream of freedom was running five months. He served in Congress wealthiest men in New England, he shallow and muddy. We were lighting without pay. His family lived in poverty stood outside Boston one terrible night the fuse to dynamite that dam. and in hiding. of the war and said, "Burn Boston, This pact, as Edmund Burke later put Vandals looted the properties of El- though it makes John Hancock a beggar, it, "was a partnership between the liv- lery, Clymer, Hall, Gwinnett, Walton, if the public good requires it." ing and the dead and the yet unborn." Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton. He, too, lived up to the pledge. There was no bigotry, no demagoguery, And Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, in this group. All had shared hardships. raised two million dollars on his own Of the fifty-six, few were long to sur- Jefferson, with help from the other signature to provision our allies, the vive. Five were captured by the British committee members, finished a draft of French fleet. After the war he personally and tortured before they died. Twelve the document in seventeen days. Con- paid back the loans, wiping out his en- had their homes—from Rhode Island to gress adopted it in July. All that is famil- tire estate. He was never reimbursed by Charleston—sacked, looted, occupied iar history. What follows, however, is his government. by the enemy, or burned. Two lost their not so familiar. In the final battle for Yorktown, Nel- sons in the army. One had two sons cap- son urged General Washington to fire on tured. Nine of the fifty-six died in the King George III had denounced all Nelson's own home, which he believed war, from its hardships or from its more rebels in America as traitors. Punish- was occupied by Cornwallis. merciful bullets. ment for treason was hanging. He died bankrupt. Thomas Nelson I don't know what impression you had The names, now so familiar to you from had indeed pledged his life, his fortune, of the men who met that hot summer in the several signatures on that Declaration and his sacred honor. Philadelphia. But I think it is important of Independence, were kept secret for six The Hessians seized the home of Fran- what we remember about them: months. For each knew the full meaning cis Hopkinson of New Jersey. They were not poor men or wild-eyed of that magnificent last paragraph, in Francis Lewis had his home and be- pirates. They were men of means. Rich which his signature pledged his life, for- longings destroyed, his wife impris- men, most of them, who enjoyed much tune, and sacred honor. oned. She died within a few months. ease and luxury in their personal living. Fifty-six men placed their names be- Richard Stockton, who also signed that Not hungry men, but prosperous neath that pledge. Fifty-six men knew declaration, was captured and mis- men. Wealthy landowners, substan- when they signed that they were risking treated. His health broke to the extent tially secure in their prosperity. everything. They knew if they won this that he died at fifty-one. His estate was But they considered liberty—indeed fight the best they could expect would be pillaged. they had learned that liberty—so much years of hardship in a struggling nation. Thomas Heyward, Jr., was captured more important than security that they If they lost, they'd face a hangman's when Charleston fell. pledged their lives, . . . their fortunes, rope. But they signed the pledge. John Hart was driven from his wife's . . . and their sacred honor. And they And they did, indeed, pay the price. bedside while she was dying. Their thir- fulfilled their pledge. They paid the That is the rest of the story. teen children fled in all directions for price. And freedom was born.

20 THESE TIMES/July 1979 A divorce of a different kind

than those of his contemporaries. He and I spend hours together, reading books, talking, or roughing it up. This relationship would hardly have come about had things advanced on the plane they were headed to before the "great divorce." Nor do I find my weekly activities involuntarily programmed in advance, in the way that they used to be. But even beyond these obvious differences there remain a number of subtle, rewarding improvements that have recently come into my life. For one thing, being on my own (so to speak), I've been forced constantly to be more resourceful, to concentrate regularly on what I'm doing. Whether it's cooking, cleaning house, reading, socializing, or conducting business, the distractions to which most people are subject are no longer present. Then, too, although I often find that I do not share with other people many of the same topics of interest, now that the divorce has commenced to divide me from them along such clearly defined lines, this does not seem to interfere with our relationships. And I do not think it would be boastful to suggest that not a few of my acquaintances—particularly those whose families suffer from the same preseparation syndrome to which I was subject—envy my liberation. What finally did me in, of course, was the discovery that the longer I If you analyze the costs—financial, spiritual, and went on, the more time I was emotional—you may decide you need this kind of prodigally consuming and the less I cared to be a party to it. I was divorce too. by Steven Finer reminded of that Shakespearean dictum, "If it were done, . . . then A FAIRLY happy marriage of some am dumb. But rather than lament the 'twere well it were done quickly." fifteen years ended nine months ago, past, I can now revel in the present. So Marion and I sat down to talk out and I will swear on oath that my life Certainly the daily routines, to our plight one evening. Then another. has been liberated in a truly which most of us are subject, have And then still another. And when, remarkable way. As to why I had never been radically transformed in my finally, we analyzed the cost and thought before to take the big step, I household. Marion and I no longer suddenly took note of the soporific and while away hours together, rather violent effect our television was Steven Finer, free-lance writer, Turners wondering, in the aftermath, where all having on our nine-month-old son, we Falls, Massachusetts, has had articles in our time has gone. And Jeremy, having then resolved to unplug that cursed the Boston "Phoenix," "The Christian now gotten used to a special kind of machine and remove it to the barn. Science Monitor," "Upcountry," and attention in these, his early, formative As I have said, family life has "Southern Living." © 1979 by Steven years, shows that his verbal skills are improved markedly since we took that Finer. improving a great deal more quickly giant step forward. 4

Illustration by Tim Menees THESE TIMES/July 1979 21 The Holy Spirit may be asking you to write a love letter today to someone you know who needs encouragement, comfort, and love. by Sally Hammond

DEPENDING on your age and marital and put all this in a Christian context. it, knowing that it will arrive at just the status, you may have seen quite a few Is there now time for Christian moment it is most needed. You were years go by since you received a love love-letter writing? directed to send it, and it will arrive on letter. Most of us have at some time or You are washing dishes. Suddenly time. another experienced the into your mind, like a pebble dropping Send a love gift sometime. How breath-snatching, heart-somersaulting into a quiet pool, comes the name of a marvelous it is to receive a mysterious thrill of receiving one. Maybe two or friend—rather, someone who was a brown paper package when it is not three, perhaps many. friend ten years and three moves ago. Christmas or a birthday! How much If we did receive them once, chances You are praying, "Send someone, more thrilling to find it is something are that we still have them, bundled dear Lord, that I may help today." A we need or have admired long together, tied with a scrap of ribbon, moment later the face of someone you ago—and that someone else has had hidden from curious eyes in bottom knew in high school confronts you. the thoughtfulness to remember. drawers or dark cupboards, maybe You are preparing a meal. That little By all means thank friends and even in camphor-wood chests. Their gadget given to you two Christmases relatives for gifts soon after they arrive, unexpected appearance, often in the ago really does make the task easier. but think what a pleasure it gives midst of the annual spring-cleaning or You are shopping. There in the someone if you write: "It is five years packing in preparation for a move, will bargain bin at the record counter is a now since you embroidered that cause a glow to brighten the most tired classical record that a distant but dear tablecloth for me, yet I never use it face, and eyes will turn radiant. Once friend admired when she heard it in without thinking of you and thanking more we are newly loved, appreciated, your home last year. God for your friendship." Continuing chosen. You close your eyes at last. The appreciation strikes a far deeper chord Caught now in the swing of routine, chock-full day has ended. So much fills of joyfulness than a perfunctory jobs, children, grandchildren your days. You think of that old lady at thank-you note, correct as it may be. even—should love letters have a place church, the one who sits at the front. Think of those who need you. Those in our lives today? Should we take Her days are full of loneliness and the whose lives are sterile and dry, those valuable time from meetings, hours hobble past. who never want to see another sunrise. gardening, committees, bedtime What now? Can we consider these They need you—and your God. Share stories, and telephone calls? Are we to supposedly chance thoughts to be Him with them. Write a note, using again immerse ourselves in flourishes divinely implanted? I believe we the prettiest paper you can find. Call of ecstatic prose? can—if every motive and imagination them on the telephone. Love them Come with me and turn full circle has been put at the Lord's disposal. back to peace. The Holy Spirit may be asking you to All the world, even our little corner Sally Hammond is a free-lance writer in write a love letter today. Do it right of it, needs love. It needs men and Geraldton, W.A., Australia. She looks away. Do not keep Him waiting. women with hearts made sensitive to after her two small children, assists her Write it from your heart, giving the feelings of others. It needs pastor-husband, and claims to be a thanks to God for His goodness to you. available Christians, ready to drop thoroughly unliberated housewife, but Point your friend to Jesus, include a routine to do God's errands. It needs loves every minute of it. © 1979 by Sally favorite text or inspirational passage. men and women willing to love as Hammond. Fill it to the brim with love, then mail Christ loved.

22 THESE TIMES/July 1979 acknowledgment of one another. I've become a bit of a bleeding heart for old people. I'm still raw from the experience of the nursing home, from seeing too many elderly people neglected, forgotten, or abandoned by their families.

I cannot relate the sufferings of these people without revealing personal pain, as my father—a young person of sixty-nine—lived for three months in such a home and there died. We, his children, took an active part in caring for him, visiting him daily. The things I saw and the impressions formed are mine alone. This will be an opportunity to learn, I told myself, and I keenly took notice of the perspiration-stained banister, the smooth stone steps leading to his ward, the quaint dark woodwork along the walls, and then the smell—Lysol and urine! I wrinkled my nose, but yes, even this I would "accept"—I would breathe deeply. I had planned my outfit, the brightest dress I owned, and clacked down the corridor, confident that my pretty presence was bringing sunshine to all those I passed by. I did not know then that my "opportunity to learn" would go far beyond remembering the sights and sounds of a building called a nursing home and that compassion was more than a cheery hello and a smile. I would come in contact with a I'll come on Sunday hidden people and from them learn of loneliness in its truest form, as well as The promise is easy to make—too easy perhaps. of death and my own vulnerability to it. Unfortunately, to many of the elderly, shut away in the My father, having survived a brain country's nursing homes, it's a promise empty of hemorrhage and an operation, had been transferred from the hospital to either hope or happiness. by Sandra Birdsell be rehabilitated so that he could care for himself and return home. I was THERE SEEM to be so many of them stride past them. "Come on, confident that I needn't involve myself now, little shriveled up gray Grandpaw! Move it!" I honk the horn with all the sad cases around people—or perhaps they've always and swing around him. Ten miles an him—they were the losers and Dad been there, and I just haven't noticed. I hour, ridiculous! He shouldn't be was on the winning side; he wouldn't can recall dogging their steps on allowed to drive. But that was the be staying for long. crowded sidewalks or in shops, extent of my awareness of their But as one week stretched into three impatient, looking for an opening to existence. and then three to four, and his Now I look for them, and they condition worsened, my smile faded, Sandra Birdsell, Winnipeg, Manitoba, appear to move through the flow of life and I knew it was not a matter of Canada, has had her work appear in phantomlike, inconspicuous, almost as rehabilitation but a matter of dying. many Canadian literary journals. 1979 though they lack physical substance, Reluctantly, primarily because they by Sandra Birdsell. existing only in their interaction and could not he avoided, I began to notice

Photograph by Barry Edmonds Photography by Barry Edmonds the others about me, the losers. sitting with his chin on his chest and his hands lying still and white, palms There was Alfred, either lying in bed up, in his lap. The sound of the rain on with the sides up and his wrists tied the windowpane is dismal, and as I down or in a wheel chair hunched approach I see wetness on his face. "Like frail ghosts in pajamas, over, his hands fumbling inside his "Hi, Dad!" I attempt to sound they shuffle down the hall reeking diapers, moving down the hall lighthearted. pushing metal contraptions and trailing a puddle. I began to visit "Home," he whispers. "Get me out called walkers, or they're in with him. "My son," he cries in a of here." voice that sounds like a cranky spoiled "This place isn't so bad," I reason, their wheelchairs, looking child. "My son, he's a farmer; he's and really it isn't. It's one of the better neither to the left or right as coming on Sunday." nursing-care homes. It's clean, and the though they are accustomed "Don't mind him," I am told. "He workers are kind. always cries. Just ignore him." "Home," he says. to going unnoticed." "How long have you been here?" I ask Alfred, a thoughtless question I So we try to have him transferred to realize too late. the hospital in his town, where people "Sunday," he whines. "I came on he knows will care for him. We fail. Sunday." We bring some of home to "He's been here two years," the him—pictures, his own robe, and attendant explains. "He's not all there. slippers. We hang photographs of lakes An alcoholic, you know. The old and mountains and crayon drawings geezer drank rubbing alcohol and shoe done for him by his grandchildren. polish. Ignore him," he says again. The brightness of his corner makes the I wish I could. Alfred's bed is about rest of the room appear bleaker, stark. twelve inches from my father's. Some The more we do for him, the more I nights, especially when it's late, I want notice the others. to scream at him to shut up, because "Please"—a small man in a when he knows we are there behind wheelchair clutches at me as I walk the screen, he wants to talk. "Hey, past him in the hallway—"I can't find Girlie, you know my son? He's coming my room; help me." Something about on Sunday, isn't he? He's busy, ver-r-y his helplessness makes him busy. He's a farmer, you know," and irresistible. I allow myself to respond, on and on. I have never seen Alfred touching him on the shoulder. visited, and I think that he purposely Instantly he has his arms about my wets himself so that the attendant will waist in a very strong grip and is come and scold him and call him a crying into my stomach. "My wife, naughty boy. she's on a holiday," his body shakes against mine. "She promised to take At the end of the hall is a large room, a me home in three weeks but hasn't combination waiting room for visitors come." and recreation room for patients. The I stand and pat his back like I would walls are turquoise, chipped and a small child's, and the thought passes peeling, with cream paint showing through my mind: This man—who has through. Lining one side of the room lived so much longer thanl—could are windows through which one can have been one of my teachers at see the sky and trees, gray and school. As a child I would have said black—as it's early spring—matching hello to him on the street and regarded the gray curtains that hang down each him with awe. He has lain with his side. woman and produced children, The large maroon flowers spread out provided for and watched over them. over the drapery look like old blood. Now he is here, making my sweater The men are lined up in wheelchairs wet with his tears, clinging to me, a for recreation—that is, to watch the stranger. I feel naked, inadequate. one television set that blinks and rolls "She promised to bring me some in the corner. It's visiting time, yet Kleenex, and I haven't any, and now there are few of us. Gray heads in a what will I do?" He hangs onto me row and one black one, my father, long after I say I will bring him some tissues, and then we find his room. I can only smile and nod as he Later a nurse tells me that it was the attempts to tell me something. He is only way the family could convince the good. The attendants like him. He lies old man to come. They were waiting so still and never asks for anything. for him to "settle in" before they "He is a good boy," they say, "not like would visit. Alfred, who makes a mess of himself and tears his bed apart." Then there are those who are never "He should be allowed to die at visited. Like frail ghosts in pajamas, home with his son and daughter," I tell they shuffle down the hall pushing myself. "Not here where he cannot metal contraptions called walkers, or even communicate his desires." they're in their wheelchairs, looking "What can we do?" they shrug. "We neither to the left or right as though both work, and who would care for they are accustomed to going him? Soon he will be better, and then unnoticed. Some never leave their he can come home and look after his rooms. But you know they are there. garden again." He is ninety-two-years You can hear them. At ten o'clock old, yet they speak as though he will every evening a man begins to wail, live forever. "Aaah aaah ummm aaahh," his voice "You are a unique family," the night rising in pitch and subsiding to a nurse says. "We're not used to such whimper. It lasts only a moment, yet devotion in this place. We respect your shouts and curses are regularly flung at father." the offender to make him stop. From I walk to his room, her last words in these rooms, too, come the complaints my mind. "We respect your father." of stolen blankets, missing slippers. Was she implying that the others were When I stop in occasionally to say not respected? Things I've said in the hello, I am ignored or met with an icy past come to me now. "I just don't glare. I see myself, as they must, a have the time." "I want to remember fly-by-night do-gooder, and I don't him as he was." "She's senile and fault them for not putting the walls won't know me; what's the sense of down. it?" Excuses. The night is long. I stand watch and try to imagine conflicts or We stay the night with our father as hurts deep enough to justify leaving the end draws nearer. Someone dies, one's parent or sister or brother to face and the next morning the others know. this alone—dying, or years in lonely "I hear someone took a one-way exile--and I cannot. ticket out of here last night," a cocky voice calls to me as I pass. He thinks I The sun rises and breaks through the am a nurse. gray sky, sending its weak rays into "Pardon?" the room. Sparrows, unlike caged "Oh, sorry," he mumbles. He is one birds, bounce and chirp about on the of the healthier patients. He can afford ledge outside his window. I hear a to joke a little about dying. He is loud, mourning dove call, and then Father demanding, and sometimes abusive. dies. How fitting, I think. He's set free But one day, even though his door is too. closed, I hear angry voices. Presently "Where did he go?" Alfred asks me his door opens, then a young man several weeks later. "Did he go home?" storms out. I hear weeping behind the "Yes," I answer. door, and the cocky man is silent for "The lucky dog," he says, and while days. I would not have put it in those exact "Jesus," the man across the room words, I agree. I'm glad he's at rest. whispers into the dark room. "Ah, Alfred claws at me as I turn to leave, Jesus." He is praying for relief from the his small eyes glittering. "You know pain of gangrene. During the day he my son?" lies quietly clutching the border of his "I know him," I sigh. blanket. His eyes, sunk deep into his "You see, Girlie, he's very busy. head, follow me about the room He's a farmer, but he's coming to see hungrily. He can't speak English. me on Sunday."

Photography by Barry Edmonds

"I've become a bit of a bleeding heart for old people. I'm still raw from the experience of the nursing home, from seeing too many elderly people neglected, forgotten, or abandoned by their families." Cancer facts you need to know

Cancer in its various forms will strike one in four of all hypothesis, our advisory board feels Americans now living. Here are some facts about this that it is not unreasonable to increase dietary fiber and decrease saturated fats, dread disease that you need to know. The life you given the suggestive evidence from save could be your own. large population studies linking dietary patterns to colon cancer.

E VEN THOUGH cancer is a distinct sec- this leading cancer killer—cigarettes. Breast cancer: When breast cancer is ond to cardiovascular disease (including What we do about this knowledge may discovered in a localized stage, the heart attacks and strokes) as a cause of be a commentary on our intelligence and five-year survival rate is about 85 per- death in this country (390,000 versus resoluteness as individuals and as a na- cent. The vast majority of breast lumps over one million each year), it is clearly tion. (eight of ten turn out to be benign) are the most feared of all diseases. Much of still discovered by self-examination. this fear stems from the image of long Colon-rectum cancer: Cancer experts Continuing research is being focused on and lingering death associated with say that two out of three persons with methods of discovering abnormal areas malignancy, but part of it comes from a cancer of the large intestine could be of breast tissue that cannot be felt. feeling of helplessness as to how to saved by individual attention to sus- Mammography offers an excellent avoid cancer, which in its various forms picious symptoms and the use of screen- method of such detection, and newer will afflict one in four of all Americans ing and diagnostic tools. Suggestive technology considerably reduces the now living. symptoms worth paying attention to in- radiation exposure associated with older We are constantly bombarded by clude rectal bleeding (assumed to be due equipment; however, the benefit of messages suggesting that almost every- to cancer until proved otherwise) and mammography lies primarily in "high- thing in our environment—external and persistent (more than two weeks) risk" women (previous breast cancer; internal—has the potential to cause changes in bowel habits or abdominal suspicious symptoms—discharge, pain, cancer. Not surprisingly, many "give distress. lumpy breasts; strong family history in up" when it comes to thinking about a The single most important screening females on both sides; infertility or no personal program of cancer prevention. tool available is an annual check for oc- child before age thirty)—and should be Yet, the startling fact of the matter is cult (hidden, microscopic) blood in the reserved for such women. After age fifty that there are effective methods of pre- stools of persons over forty. This should the incidence of breast cancer justifies vention or early detection for all of the be done as part of a routine physical; the more routine use of mammography. five leading kinds of cancer. doctor obtains a stool specimen during a Thermography as originally con- Summarized briefly here are some of rectal exam, which also allows detection ceived has fallen into disuse, but newer the measures all of us can take and of growths within reach of the examin- variations on the theme—including the should be taking in terms of personal ing finger. Such screening can also be so-called "graphic stress telether- cancer control. done with home kits that can be mailed mometry" recently described by the to a doctor or clinic for interpretation. Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as Lung cancer: While new measures for The finding of hidden blood should worthy of further study—may prove the detection and treatment of lung lead to X-ray studies and direct visual beneficial for screening. cancer report limited success, the cur- inspection by proctoscopes (ten inches) rent overall rates for diagnosis and cure or colonoscopes (the entire length of the Prostate cancer: A thorough rectal ex- are dismal—as reflected by the fact that large intestine). Persons with a past his- amination in males (as part of any physi- lung cancer kills almost twice as many tory of polyps or ulcerative colitis may cal exam—and yearly after age sixty) still persons as the next leading cause of need these latter studies on a regular offers the only feasible method for the cancer deaths. Chest X rays, while sim- basis. early detection of prostate cancer; about ple and relatively safe, seldom detect More recently, much attention has three quarters of all such cancers are lo- lung cancer early enough for a cure. been devoted to the role of nutrition in cated in the posterior lobe of the prostate That's the bad news. preventing colon cancer. While the role gland—readily accessible to the examin- The good news is that we know the of fiber and fats in the prevention of ing finger through the front wall of the cause of at least 80 percent of the cases of colon cancer is still a matter of rectum. (Note: the rectal exam thus rep-

28 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Cancer statistics

for 1978 uterus. Therefore, attention to early warning signs is important, and the single most important warning sign is any vaginal bleeding in a postmeno- BREAST pausal woman, considered to be due CANCER to cancer until proved otherwise. En- 91,000 dometrial cancer usually occurs in new cases LUNG women over fifty and is more common 34,000 CANCER among those who have a late meno- deaths 102,000 pause, who are overweight, and who new cases have experienced the long-term use of 92,000 estrogens. Such women should have deaths careful pelvic examinations (yearly after age fifty), and periodic sampling PROSTATE of the lining of the uterus to look for CANCER UTERINE CANCER microscopic changes should be con- 57,000 sidered. new cases 88,000 new cases 21,000 Other measures: Several other themes deaths 11,000 deaths of cancer prevention and detection should be mentioned as safe and/or ef- COLON-RECTUM fective: CANCER 102,000 new cases (1) Skin cancer: avoidance of excessive 52,000 sun and early check on suspicious deaths lumps, areas of increasing pigmenta- tion, or chronic bleeding.

(2) Oral cancer: careful visual inspec- tion, especially in heavy smokers (in- cluding cigars and pipes) and drink- ers, for unusual white or red areas within the mouth. CANCER in its various forms will strike one in four of all Americans now living. And although three times as many people die from heart attacks (3) Voice-box cancer: visual inspection each year as die from cancer, it is clearly the most feared of all diseases . (by a tube inserted under light anes- Above are the statistics for five of the most deadly forms of cancer, thesia) in persons with persistent which account for more than half of all cancer deaths in America. hoarseness (more than two weeks). Chart 1979 by THESE TIMES, Nashville, Tennessee f (4) Testicular cancer: self-examination resents a "triple threat": detection of the womb. Important prevention- for lumps every three months. rectal cancer, occult blood in the stool, detection information for the two can be and prostate cancer.) briefly summarized as follows: (5) Industrial chemicals: avoidance of Possible warning symptoms of pros- known carcinogens (asbestos, aniline tate growth—mainly difficulty in (1) Cancer of the cervix: The Pap smear dyes, vinyl chloride) and checking on urinating—are most often due to benign is a very easy and reliable means for the safety of continued or concen- prostatic enlargement, which is ex- early detection of this cancer—which trated exposure to any chemicals. tremely common in elderly men. Symp- is more common in women in whom toms of advanced prostate cancer—bone sexual intercourse begins early and/or (6) Urinary tract cancer: investigation pain in the pelvis or lower back—reflect who have multiple partners. Given of blood in the urine (hematuria)— a stage where the cancer has already this fact, routine Pap smears should again, cancer until proved otherwise. spread, as do increases of certain blood be the order of the day, rather than enzymes originating in the prostate or morbid concern about possible virus In summary: Attention to the above by bone. So, routine rectal examinations causes or waiting for symptoms all of us would very significantly reduce still represent the "bottom line" in terms (bleeding, pain) that usually represent the incidence of cancer deaths. These are of early detection for prostate cancer. a late stage of disease. things we can do!

Excerpted from the April, 1978, issue of "The Harvard Uterine cancer: The phrase "uterine (2) Cancer of the lining of the uterus Medical School Health Letter." 0 1978, President and Fellows cancer" anatomically refers to two very (endometrium): The Pap smear does of Harvard College. Individual subscriptions at $12 are avail- able. Write: "The Harvard Medical School Health Letter," 79 different cancers that both originate in not reliably detect cells from inside the Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Illustration by Robert Wright THESE TIMES/July 1979 29

I 1 I

"THERE ARE SOME things we do not be- Taylor Coleridge puts it, "I feel as if God others are on the bottle. lieve unless we understand them. There had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty- Nearly eight thousand young Ameri- are other things we do not understand two springs in every year." cans die each year in accidents involving unless we believe them." We can hardly exalt the Sabbath alcohol, forty thousand are crippled or Augustine, a great churchman, may enough. It is the climax, not only of the disfigured. Dependency on drugs or not have had the Sabbath in mind when week, but of living itself! Abraham Hes- drink spawns related crimes to support he penned this truth, but the mysterious chel, a great Jewish philosopher, says, those habits. Los Angeles police guess- beauty of God's holy day is understand- "To the biblical mind . . . labor is the timate that three thousand boys and able only to those who believe what God means toward an end, and the Sabbath girls under the age of fourteen are prosti- has said about the Sabbath and have put as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining tutes. Three thousand in just that one Him to the test. There are joys unspeak- from toil, is not for the purpose of recov- city! able for those who come to worship Him ering one's lost strength and becoming More than half of what the FBI calls on His day. Here is God's clear state- fit for the forthcoming labor. The Sab- serious crimes—rape, robbery, mur- ment: bath is a day for the sake of life. Man is der—are now committed by boys and "Remember the sabbath day, to keep not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is girls between ten and seventeen. Last it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and not for the purpose of enhancing the ef- year in our schools there were nine do all thy work: but the seventh day is ficiency of his work. 'Last in creation, thousand reported rapes, twelve the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it first in intention,' the Sabbath is 'the thousand armed robberies, and seventy thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor end of the creation of heaven and thousand assaults on teachers; more thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manser- earth' " (The Sabbath, Its Meaning for than $600 million lost to vandalism. This vant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cat- Modern Man, p. 14). year one million desperate youngsters tle, nor thy stranger that is within thy Some Sabbaths, of course, are more will run away from home; it's indicated gates: for in six days the Lord made memorable than others. But always dur- that 40 percent to 60 percent of those flee heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in ing the week there is the intriguing child abuse and incest. The average age them is, and rested the seventh day: question, What treasure will God have of the runaways is fourteen. wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath for me this time? It may turn out to be a Perhaps the most tragic toll is the loss day, and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11). gem from the sermon, a blessed conver- of so many youngsters to depression, Ever since I first kept the seventh-day sation with a fellow believer, a height- emotional stress, loneliness. Last year Sabbath several years ago, I have sensed ened realization of His presence. But four thousand school-agers killed them- its awesome, heavenly qualities. I have a none of this is possible or understand- selves and eighty thousand tried. keen sense of anticipation as the Sab- able unless we believe what God says Among Americans between the ages of bath begins at sundown Friday. The about His Sabbath, unless we take Him fifteen and nineteen, accidents are still holy atmosphere continues throughout at His word.—K.J.H. the leading cause of death—but second the Sabbath hours. And then under- is suicide. standably an aura of sadness descends There is no way to prove that our Su- upon me like a blanket as the spirit of the More room at the top preme Court's determination to disas- workweek begins to crowd out the Sab- My travels take me to a somewhere- sociate religion and education has con- bath joys after sundown on Saturday else campus at least once a week. I am tributed to this mass frustration, but it night. encouraged by much of what today's can be proved that when Christianity It is said that religion is an art, not a young people stand for—and some of was ordered out of the classroom a science. The Sabbath affords an entire the things they are refusing to stand for. whole bunch of substitute religions day to explore the wonders of God, to be But I am not blind to the unpre- rushed in to satisfy the inevitable an artist of sorts in spiritual things. cedented intrusion of drugs and related hunger of all young people for a sense of Imagine an entire day each week given depravity into the ranks of what we used rightness and wrongness. This appetite to oneness with the Person Jesus Christ! to call "children." has spawned five thousand substitute It is a day for the young and the old, for If there is any "bright side" to the religions—cult and occult—with some the poor and the wealthy, for the un- numbers I am about to relate, it is this: three million members, mostly young. schooled and the educated, for the weak All those youngsters on the way down An unprecedented proliferation of and the strong. A single Sabbath can are leaving a lot of room at the top for the "church schools" is now offering an al- bring man to spiritual heights never others. ternative to the barrenness of public thought possible. It is always gratifying, Half of all high school students now education. And again—if there is any restful, inspiring, exciting. It satisfies have experimented with drugs, and compensation for the degeneration of so the soul with seemingly inexhaustible more than one third consider them- many of this oncoming generation, it is supplies of grace. And during the week- selves "regular users." That is one third that—for the disciplined others—they days there is always that same anticipa- of 37 million. And yet for every school- are leaving a lot of room at the top.— tion of the Sabbath. The poet Samuel ager popping pills or on the needle, Paul Harvey.

30 THESE TIMES/July 1979 AS DISTRICT SURGEON of the thirteenth dromat. Reading THESE TIMES made me Led me to Christ VFW district of Maryland, I have happy. As a fellow Christian I would like It was through this magazine and the distributed many copies of the charts on to have it sent to me to read regularly at warm love of the local minister thirteen the dangers of smoking that were in the home.—Mrs. Robert Bell, Colum- years ago that I accepted Jesus as my October, 1978, issue of THESE TIMES. We biaville, Michigan. Saviour. May God bless your wonderful hope that our members cease smoking, ministry.—Donna Guire, Tecumseh, but we are happy if they even cut back to Touched me deeply Michigan. a moderate amount. I feel that such I am truly amazed at how I can relate to pages are most effective and are better this magazine in reference to my life and THESE TIMES welcomes letters from readers presentations than the ordinary layman the people around me. The January issue on subjects dealt with in the magazine. The was my second copy, and the article could ever produce for himself.— editors reserve the right to publish those "Love in the Balance" touched me very Donald P. Seibert, Baltimore, Maryland. letters they choose and to edit them for deeply. Although I don't have any idea clarity and length before printing. Send to: Caught my attention who gave me this subscription, I don't Letters, THESE TIMES, Box 59, Nashville, want to miss another.—Stephen Russell, This very interesting magazine caught TN 37202. my attention one day while at the laun- Perryville, Maryland.

111FSI II \11 ,, Editor's note: At even open the magazine and read it for Genesis story of Adam and Eve and the the end of the letters fear of the picture's reappearing. serpent (snake) tempting her to eat the 111. U01•! WINImIstelerno, column in the March However, I think that your covers are fruit (apple?), it was a very clever way to issue of THESE TIMES usually very outstanding, and I enjoy impress upon minds that we are in a we published a letter what I see. The August cover picture is sinful world and we need deliverance criticizing the use of something I just cannot look at.—Mary from it.—John R. Goffin, Collegedale, a snake on the cover Browe, Stevensville, Michigan. Tennessee. of our August issue (used to illustrate an article titled "Who's to I probably wouldn't have written except I have no love for snakes. A harmless Blame for Sin and Suffering?"). We con- for the editor's invitation for comments garter snake will make me jump straight cluded by inviting our readers to add their on the letter from the lady who thought up the same as if it were a rattler. How- feelings, pro or con, to the same cover. snakes were "horrible." ever, I have studied the picture, and I What follows is only a small sample of the I personally think snakes are pretty believe I see its full meaning: the snake many letters that came in on the topic. and nice animals, some of God's crea- represents the serpent in the Garden of We're sorry space does not allow us to in- tures. Each has its beauty in its own Eden, and the apples represent the for- clude more. right. I have always caught them in the bidden fruit. summer, and they are as pretty as Actually, a lot of snakes (as the one on I say Amen to the person that wrote printed materials and art prints. They the front cover) are beautiful creatures. against the snake on the cover of your have lovely patterns. Some people don't Yet one never thinks of snakes and ap- magazine. Of all the things in this big know they are often gentle and make ples together. If you have any more wide world, why did you decide on a good Fets. Snakes really shouldn't be snake pictures, let's have them. Pictures "slimy," creepy, heel-biting, ugly thing any more associated with evil than ap- cannot bite.—Kenneth D. Jones, Buhl, as that, and with a paper shortage be- ples or people! I love your magazine.— Idaho. sides? Please, no more snakes, or worms Tammy Mills, Coleman, Texas. either.—Maxine B. Munson, Los In my opinion the snake is a symbol of Angeles, California. It's in our nature to hate snakes. God the devil—Satan, a created being—and was talking to Satan and to the serpent he is something we should be aware of at I agree with Mrs. King about the picture both when He said, "I will put enmity all times. I liked the cover.—Evelyn of the snake. You have always had such between thee and the woman, and be- Reed, Boyd, Texas. beautiful pictures on the cover of THESE tween thy seed and her seed" (Genesis TIMES. I had to get my husband to tear 3:15). I enjoy your covers, even though I About the August issue with the snake that cover off. I hate snakes and am don't enjoy snakes.—Mrs. Edward on the cover. I didn't receive one but scared to death of them. Can't even look Dietz, Grand Island, New York. wondered if it's possible to receive one at a picture of one.—Kathryn Hazzard, now. I would be glad to send the money. Weems, Virginia. I must say I was profoundly impressed I would reach out for any of your THESE with the cover showing a snake and ap- TIMES magazines, even if it had a live I, too, must agree with your reader from ples. Since the average person thinks snake on it!—Mrs. Carol Bilton, Collins, Ohio. It really upset me. In fact, I did not about sin starting on this planet with the Ohio. • Some say that God predestines some plan of salvation will be eternal life; the God, we will seek to live in harmony people to be saved and others to be ultimate destiny of those who reject it with His Word, and His Holy Spirit will lost. They cite the cases of Peter, will be eternal death (Romans 6:23). guide us. If we choose to dabble in sin Judas, and others. Could you clarify "And this is the record, that God hath and to play with evil, we open the door this? given to us eternal life, and this life is in to demonic control. That is, if we sin his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; against what we know is right, sin The Scriptures teach a doctrine of pre- and he that hath not the Son of God hath against the illuminating grace of the destination (Ephesians 1:3-12, for not life" (1 John 5:11, 12). Holy Spirit, we run the risk of coming example), but they do not teach that God Sometimes readers of the Bible con- under the total domination of Satan to be has predestined individuals specified fuse God's foreknowledge with the used or abused as he wills. by name to be lost. In the Scriptures subject of predestination. God is omni- God's judgment, therefore, of any im- "predestination" simply refers to God's scient, that is, all-knowing (Psalm penitent, devil-possessed or otherwise, plan—determined in eternity past—to 139:1-6; Isaiah 46:9, 10). Because God does not rest simply on the fact that such save all who will accept Christ as their has foreknowledge, He can look down are sinful or demon-controlled—the re- Saviour and Lord. God "desires all * men the corridors of time, as it were, and sults of transgression. The real condem- to be saved and to come to the knowl- know what each individual will do. nation rests upon the fact that God's edge of the truth." "Christ Jesus . .. gave Reading the future as the present, He is grace—His Spirit and truth—have been himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy cognizant of the acts of either a Judas or a knowingly rejected. "This is the condem- 2:4-6, RSV). Heaven is not willing that Peter. However, God's foreknowledge nation, that light is come into the world, any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), nor does never interferes with the free exercise of an and men loved darkness rather than light, the Deity derive any pleasure from the individual's will. No one is forced to act as because their deeds were evil" (John death of the impenitent (Ezekiel 33:11). he does. Although God foreknew Judas 3:19). On this point anyone may be fairly Every individual is free to accept the would betray Christ, Judas exercised his judged. gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ own choice in performing this act of Let us remember, however, that Di- (John 3:16). The invitation is universal: treachery. No person knows that what vine Love has reached out to all sinners, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. God has foreseen will take place; hence, even to the devil-possessed. "God sent And let him that heareth say, Come. he acts in perfect freedom for or against not his Son into the world to condemn And let him that is athirst come. And God and must accept the consequences the world; but that the world through whosoever will, let him take the water of of his decisions. him might be saved" (John 3:17). God's life freely" (Revelation 22:17). chief objective is to save, not to destroy; Not persons, but ultimate destina- How can God in fairness judge a to redeem, not to simply reject. It is His tions were predetermined by the devil-possessed person, since his ac- glory to rescue even the most degraded Godhead. The ultimate destiny of those tions are controlled by the demon and and fallen, if they will permit Him. persons who accept the provisions of the not by his own choice? The restoration of the Gadarene de- moniac illustrates the divine objective. 'Emphasis is supplied by the author, unless otherwise noted. While it is true that the family of man is In some manner the Holy Spirit was able born in a state of sin (Psalm 51:5), and to illuminate his crazed mind when he In this column Pastor thus is, in a certain sense, under the saw Jesus. Sensing his great need, "he Frank B. Holbrook control of Satan, the prince of this world, ran and worshipped him" (Mark 5:6). answers questions yet God has implanted within every Christ heard the unspoken plea of his about spiritual truth, heart a measure of grace to resist Satan's heart, for the demon controlled his lips ethical behavior, and rule (Genesis 3:15). In addition to this when he attempted to speak, and re- Biblical understand- grace (actually, the operation of the Holy sponded by freeing him from Satan's ing. Write to him clo Spirit), God has given to each the right power (see Mark 5:1-20). 6 THESE TIMES, Box of choice (cf Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 59, Nashville, Tennessee 37202. Names are 24:15). Divine grace awakens our minds confidential. If a personal answer is desired, to see the difference between good and please send an addressed envelope. Only evil and allures us to choose the right. questions of general interest are published. The choice between right and wrong is ours to make. Neither God-possession nor devil- possession is forced upon anyone. It is a matter of choice. If we choose to serve

32 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Presenting Jesus Christ in all His fullness to all the world.

We believe the Bible to be the authoritative Word of God, Satan to be our great adversary, Jesus to be our all-sufficient Saviour, and the coming Christ to be our only hope THIS TIME as the world nears its cataclysmic end.

NEVER HAVE WE touched on a theme so important as that which occupies the Editor Kenneth J. Holland Associate Editor Ralph Blodgett first several pages of this issue. Call it being born again or converted or Art Director Gail R. Hunt experiencing the new birth or receiving a new heart, the topic demands our Circulation Manager Derek Mustow Associate Circulation Manager profound attention. The trick is to catch the POINT of it all, the real basis for W. R. Robinson a correct relationship with God. Unless you and I understand how even to Subscriptions Larry R. Burtnett approach the problem of salvation, we will remain unsure of ourselves and eventually lapse into despair. Contributing Editors: Consider now the words of Ellen G. White, one of the most prolific California Neils-Erik Andreasen, William A. Fagal, Paul Landa, V. Norskov Olsen, H. woman writers of all time, as she puts her finger on the foundation of the M. S. Richards, Jr., George E. Vandeman born-again experience, without which we flounder helplessly, find no joy Michigan Thomas H. Blincoe, Harold G. Coffin, Raoul Dederen, William Johnsson, in religion, and eventually give way to doubting and fear. C. Mervyn Maxwell, Gottfried Oosterwal "It is peace that you need—Heaven's forgiveness and peace and love in New York June Strong the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot Ohio Oliver Jacques Tennessee Richard Coffen, Frank B. Hol- attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God brook, Gerald Wheeler offers it to you as a gift, 'without money and without price' (Isaiah 55:1). It is Washington, D.C. Thomas A. Davis, Roland R. Hegstad, Joyce McClintock, yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it. The Lord says, Don F. Neufeld, Francis A. Soper, 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they J. R. Spangler be red like crimson, they shall be as wool' (Isaiah 1:18). 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you' (Ezekiel 36:26). Editorial Offices: "You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have P.O. Box 59, Nashville, Tennessee 37202 All subscriptions are prepaid. If resolved to give yourself to God. Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash you did not order THESE TIMES, it is away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this being sent to you as a gift from a friend. You will not be billed. because He has promised. This is the lesson which Jesus taught while He was To subscribe, fill out the form below, and on earth, that the gift which God promises us, we must believe we do mail with payment to THESE TIMES, receive, and it is ours. Jesus healed the people of their diseases when they Box 22365, Nashville, TN 37202. For change of address only, please had faith in His power; He helped them in the things which they could see, notify us 4 weeks in advance, attach thus inspiring them with confidence in Him concerning things which they the old mailing label, and mail to THESE TIMES, Box 22703, Nashville, could not see—leading them to believe in His power to forgive sins. . . . Tennessee 37202. "You cannot atone for your past sins; you cannot change your heart and ❑ Personal Subscription ❑ One year US$12.00 make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. ❑ Gift Subscription ❑ Two years US$23.50 ❑ Renewal ❑ Overseas—add $1.00 You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. ❑ Change of address per year for postage You will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His word to you. If you believe the promise—believe that you are forgiven and cleansed—God supplies the fact; you are made whole, just as Christ gave Name the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is Address so if you believe it. "Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, 'I believe it; it is so, Zip not because I feel it, but because God has promised.' " We live in a day when emotion is king. If you feel it—it's right. Our eternal salvation—being born again—has nothing to do with our feelings. THESE TIMES Member, Associated Church Press We have a better foundation. "We have redemption through his blood, the A publication printed and published by Southern forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7). Publishing Association of Seventh-day Adventists. 19(30 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville. Tennessee 37210. USA With the rich promises of God's Word before us, who are we to doubt? No stockholders, a religious. nonprofit organization owned by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Washington, D C 20012

Southern Publishin,g Association

THESE TIMES/July 1979 33 You run; I'll walk Jogging may be great for the athletically inclined, but as far as I'm concerned nothing can beat a good walk. by Vance Havner

THESE are bad days for the Walking implies a degree of solitude pedestrian. A generation on wheels and meditation, and this generation is bears down upon him. Americans are the sworn enemy of both. The not disposed to walk two blocks if pedestrian is cast upon his resources at transportation is available, and any both ends, head and foot. He is surviving exception is stared at as obliged to think and walk, and many though he were an intruder from Mars. an American is ill fitted for either. To Policemen keep an eye on any man avoid the necessity of thinking, he afoot, suspecting that he may be up to carries a transister radio blaring rock something. Dogs bark at him as dissonance. He avoids a stroll as he though an apparition had been would a plague, for he cannot face the sighted. If he is seen strolling along a suspicious eyes of his contemporaries highway, it is assumed that he is either who wonder what sinister motives out of his head or out of gas. must be behind such strange behavior. Considering the hours Americans sit The Bible has a lot to say for the in cars or offices all day and stare at pedestrian. Enoch set the example. He television at night, if various parts of walked with God, pleased God, and our anatomy develop or degenerate in was not, for God took him. What a proportion as they are used, it will be biography and what an epitaph! Isaac interesting to see what strange meditated in the fields at eventide. creatures we shall turn out to be in a Our Savior trod the roads and few decades. lakesides of Galilee. We are bidden to I have lived on the road for thirty walk as He walked, in newness of life, years and of necessity, not by choice, by faith, worthy of our vocation, stayed in hotels and motels. These circumspectly, honestly, in light, truth, hostelries are not geared to the Spirit, and love. Today tourists in pedestrians. They are meant for the Holy Land rush breathlessly motorists on the move, snatching a few through Palestine and about all they hours' sleep and a quick meal while can say is, "I ran today where Jesus they scan road maps figuring how to walked!" get from Dan to Beersheba. Walking is It is general knowledge that walking about as remote to their thinking as is the perfect exercise. Nervous space travel to a Hottentot. I usually Americans cannot move at that gait, so find myself in a noisy intersection of now we have jogging. turnpikes, a labyrinth of filling I anticipate walking on a redeemed stations, repair shops, and hamburger earth when the Savior returns to set up stands where walking would mean His Kingdom. I assume that the Lord sudden death from speeding Jehus will make ample provision for all who who have made highways more prefer bypaths to boulevards. The dangerous than battlefields. faithful few in Sardis were promised that they should walk with Him in Vance Havner is a well-known white. God grant that we shall be evangelical writer. This article is qualified to join those purified reprinted from Dr. Havner's newest book, pedestrians who will walk with Him "Hope Thou in God." © 1977 by Fleming there because they walked with Him H. Revell. here!

34 THESE TIMES/July 1979 Photograph by Tim Menees

PUZZLED BY BEASTS AND HORNS AND KINGS AND THINGS IN DANIEL AND REVELATION?

THE EDITORS EDITION, AND OF THESE TIMES THEY OFFER IT HAVE PUT THESE TO YOU FREE PERPLEXING BOOKS WHEN YOU TOGETHER IN A PURCHASE A SPECIAL 84-PAGE ONE-YEAR COLLECTOR'S SUBSCRIPTION. For centuries people This special collector's have scratched their heads edition is selling regularly over the prophecies of for U.S. $1.00. But if you Daniel and Revelation. Are act now, you can receive all those beasts real or are this vital information FREE they symbols? What does when you order a one-year the future hold? Where is subscription to THESE Armegeddon? What is a TIMES at U.S. $4.95. millennium? How about all Now for less than U.S. those time prophecies? $5.00* you will not only Now the editors of Send to: receive this interesting, in- THESE TIMES have DANIEL & REVELATION SPECIAL EDITION OFFER formative commentary on P.O. Box 22365 compiled an illuminating Nashville, TN 37202 the two books that shed commentary on these two light on the end of the amazing books in consulta- ❑ YES, send me the special issue on Daniel and world and Christ's return, tion with twenty-five promi- Revelation and a one-year subscription to THESE TIMES but you will also receive the (twelve issues). I have enclosed U.S. $4.95*. nent theologians. THE award-winning THESE AMAZING PROPHECIES 1=IPlease send me only the Daniel and Revelation TIMES, the magazine that OF DANIEL AND special issue. I have enclosed U.S. $1.00. makes Christ and Chris- REVELATION explains Name tianity relevant and practi- these mysterious books (please print) cal for you today. clearly and simply, with full- Address Order yours today. color illustrations and ar- City (Please put additional chaeological photos and maps to help shed light on State Zip names on separate sheet *Add U.S. $1.00 for each overseas subscription. key words and phrases. of paper.)