Perversion! The curious theory that this is a Christian age with other denominations proclaiming the gospel news of Christ as Saviour, so that the herald of the threefold message is but the proclaimer of corrective doctrinal truths, is a false premise, and one of the most tragic misconceptions that could ever take root in the mind of a Christian worker. If ours is not a gospel message and movement, then the whole foundation is torn from beneath our feet, for our designated message is the " everlasting gospel " which we are commissioned to " preach " in its fullest expansion to meet the needs of the present day. It is complete and final, not an adjunct or an addition. It is designed to save the soul, not simply to correct errors of belief, though it must do both. It is to be so preached as to meet the predominant evolutionary and modernistic perversions, isms, and departures of these last times with their denial of the Creator and the distinctive sign of His creative and redemptive power, the implications of the judgment, and the moral fall of professed Christian bodies rejecting the present application of the everlasting gospel. Salvation, full and free, pure and] potent, from both guilt and power of sin, — eperience and ours to proclaim.
Orthodoxy! How abused the term ! But what constitutes true orthodoxy? It embraces vastly more than intellectual knowledge and assent. The demons in everlasting chains believe " orthodoxly " in God, Christ, creation, and the Sabbath ; they recognize the eternal surety of the moral law, the credentials of the cross, the judgment, the approaching end, and Christ's return ; but they are lost rebels, and defiant traitors withal. True orthodoxy — the kind not stressed by heresy hunters — touches those heart relationships that are in harmony with but far surpass such intellectual knowledge. It is confined to twice-born folks, who live In the new covenant relationship. God give us this kind of orthodoxy.
Unethical! The studied effort to supply people and press with sermons and opinions merely to gain crowds1 or to cause comment, is a vulgar forsaking of the highest ideals of preaching. It is reaching after temporary popularity (or notoriety) by mere trickery. All bizarre, claptrap methods and gaudy, novel attempts to catch the crowd are unethical and unministerial, and comparable to the quackery in the medical profession which is so severely frowned upon by reputable physicians. Let no minister of this movement cheapen his calling.
If this affliction be chronic, he would better seek the lecture platform or the stage.
Tolerance! Freedom for original research and investigation to verify and confirm the foundations through reverent, loyal study, is to be encouraged, not crushed. Nor should we look askance or with dark suspicion upon such faithful brethren who love their Lord and His message as ardently as the rest of us. Intolerance is one of the cruelest, blindest, and most insidious passions extant. It is the weapon of weak men. the cudgel of moral cowards. May mutual confidence and sympathetic encouragement ever reign in our ranks.
L.E.F..
