Herald of Holiness Volume 55 Number 19 (1966) W

Olivet Nazarene University Digital Commons @ Olivet Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today Church of the Nazarene 6-29-1966 Herald of Holiness Volume 55 Number 19 (1966) W. T. Purkiser (Editor) Nazarene Publishing House Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_hoh Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Purkiser, W. T. (Editor), "Herald of Holiness Volume 55 Number 19 (1966)" (1966). Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today. 444. https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_hoh/444 This Journal Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Church of the Nazarene at Digital Commons @ Olivet. It has been accepted for inclusion in Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Olivet. For more information, please contact [email protected]. herald Iff*** *8 & General Superintendent Young The Seeing Eye There is a charming story in the Old George MacDonald was right when he ob Testament about Elisha, the prophet of God. served, “To trust is gain and growth, not mere Several times he had saved the king of Israel sown seed!” Doubts and fears often beset us. from the military schemes of the king of They kick up dust in our eyes and our minds Svria by alerting him to the enemy’s strategy. are filled with dismay. Frequently the chron Finally, the Syrian leader traced his con ic doubter poses as a down-to-earth realist. fusion to the man of God and decided to He may infer in tense situations that the eliminate him. He sent an army on an all- believer is largely a dreamer. But faith has night forced march as they surrounded Do the seeing eye and takes God into account. than, where Elisha was to be found. Dismay Faith actually sees what others cannot see. filled the mind of the prophet’s young servant It sees before others do. It sees farther than when he saw the enemy hosts early in the others see. It does not cry for “a little lazy morning. He cried out, “Alas, my master! peace”; it pleads for deliverance and strength. how shall we do?” Elisha’s rejoinder was, Often sheer obedience helps us to hold on “Fear not: for they that be with us are more until God's power is made manifest. Then than they that be with them” (II Kings 6:16). our daily duties prove to be “joys at heart.” Then the prophet prayed, “Lord, I pray thee, We discover for ourselves, “God is light, and open his eyes, that he may see” (v. 17). The in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5). record reads that God answered this prayer George MacDonald’s word fits our need and the young man saw “the mountain was today: full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (v. 17). To trust in God is action's highest hind: Our greatest need today is not an immedi Who trusts in God, his heart irith life ate answer to three or four pressing needs: doth swell; it is rather reassurance concerning the pres Faith opens all the windows to God's ence and power of God in our daily lives. wind. Kansas City at night out TO maccptiois of a I d • B y J. J. Steele he GENERATION of Noah somewhat peculiar and exercised didn’t mention the gross perversion and of Lot was not doomed about “far-fetched” things, or a bit we always associate with Sodom. T ___J because the people did out-of-datenot and “off-beat” in their It was not this or any other sin like Noah or Lot. These men faith thinking. Otherwise they were that doomed the people of that fully warned of coming judgments, good neighbors, had nice families, city. It was their materialistic but their generations were so pre and were well-intentioned. In philosophy, their godless existence, occupied with eating, drinking, other words, they were tolerated their hardness of heart, that took marrying, buying and selling, but not taken seriously. The peo them beyond the deadline and shut building, planting and reaping that ple were so rushed and pressed for them forever from the mercies of they had no time to listen to or time, and so many other things had God. heed these men of God (Luke to have attention, that they had no There is no sin in taking food 17:26-30). time to listen. in moderation, or in legitimate Add to this catalog of preoccupa lovemaking and marriage, or in tions a few modern ones: sports, NOR DID OUR Lord say these conducting legitimate business, or politics, science, the space race, preoccupations were sinful. In in building homes, and sowing and entertainments, and you have the fact, every interest mentioned is a reaping. The deadly sin is in get reasons why comparatively few normal social, business, and recre ting so busy, so completely pre people attend revivals, conduct the ational activity. The people were occupied, with any of these things family altar, study their Bibles, prospering, enjoying life, “living it that we forget God, that we have or heed the exhortations of godly up,” getting ahead in the world, no time for private and family de men. advancing along every line toward votions, no time for God’s Word, It’s not that they are against the a better life. They were develop ing a “Great Society,” and pre and no time for special times and minister or the church. In fact, seasons of revival and seeking God. Noah and Lot were regarded high paring to settle down on this old ly by their contemporaries. They planet earth forever. CLEARLY, THEN, it was simple were thought of, no doubt, as It is strange also that our Lord materialism and secularism that JUNE 29, 1966 • (367) 3 doomed the generation of Noah and of Lot. And the crashing punch line of this lesson is these words of our Lord: “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:30). The generation that hears the trumpet sound and sees the flash ing, universal glory of His coming Not by Giving but by Emptying will be doomed, not because of gross sins and perversions, but be cause it is so completely busy with earthly things it has no time for the heavenly. It is true, “The wicked shall be turned into hell.” It is also true that they’ll go along with “all the What a man is willing to be emptied of nations that forget God” (Psalms may be taken as a fairly accurate indication 9:17). of what kind of man he is. If he is willing to It is easier to forget God in our part with place and power rather than part generation than at any time in his with his principles, you know he is made of tory simply because there are far the right kind of stuff. If, on the other hand, more activities, interests, attention- he is willing to trade character for cash, con getters, pressure-builders, and de science for comfort and convenience, you may mands on time, mind, and body. be sure you have no man on your hands but Only those who successfully resist rather a craven and a coward. the tremendous pull of modern life However, there are higher kinds of empty toward complete secularism can ing. We need to be emptied of the luxury of hope to escape the fate of a doomed complacent indifference. generation. When Jesus saw the multitude, He saw them “as sheep having no shepherd.” He was moved with compassion for them. Unconcern was an extravagance that Christ never per mitted himself. However, that sensitiveness to human woe, that sympathy with the world’s About the Cover ... burden, that awareness of the unmet needs of Boys—particularly boy scouts our fellow beings, has not always been mani like these on this week’s cover— fested by those who profess to be His friends love water if it is in the form of and representatives. a rolling, unconfined river. The In this age of the telestar, atomic power, scouts row nonchalantly past a statuesque bluff on a float trip and space exploration we are coming to realize down the Buffalo River. The as never before that “the earth is the Lord’s, river is one of many beautiful and the fulness thereof” (Psalms 24:1). Add sights in Arkansas. to this the fact that the greatest Preacher that The South Arkansas District, under the direction of Superin ever lived spoke thirty-eight recorded parables, tendent A. Milton Smith, is com and sixteen out of the thirty-eight have some posed of 51 churches with 3,763 thing to do with a man’s relations to his ma members. The district had a terial world, and we begin to capture the church schools average of 4,001 meaning of stewardship. in 1965, a gain of more than a hundred over the year before. —F r a n k N. W a t k i n Per capita giving in 1965 was $137. District headquarters is in Little Rock. —Managing Editor Volume 55, Number 19, JUNE 29, 1966; Whole Number 2827. HERALD OF HOLINESS: W. T. Purkiser, Editor in Chief; Elden Rawlings, Managing Editor; Bill Lakey, Staff Artist. Contributing Editors: Hardy C. Powers, G. B. Williamson, Samuel Young, Hugh C. Benner, V. H. Lewis, George Coulter, General Superintendents, Church of the Nazarene.

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