Not only open sin, but also a perverted gospel, has so befogged men's vision of the Christ of Calvary that to restore and enlarge this vision should be the highest aim of every Seventh-day Adventist minister. In my ministry, both in the churches and over the radio, I find that tracing the life of Christ through the Old Testament is inspiring to men. Evolution totters and falls before His creation, His literal seven days, His image in Adam, etc. Men are surprised yet pleased to learn that our Saviour's life is not confined to His short sojourn on earth. They are deeply impressed with the words of Micah (5:2), who traces Christ back through the archives of eternity. Men marvel at His willingness to come down to us, when they learn who He was, and is.
The marvelous unfolding of the closing hours of the Master's life on earth, as portrayed in "The Desire of Ages," is a wonderful help in measuring the price paid for man's redemption. Men are awe-struck as they realize that at the very last "the Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb." They love Him when they learn that He "felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race." His heart was broken; He died, as it were, the second death. This news softens hardened hearts, and they yield to the Saviour thus revealed.
I seldom close a service without presenting some phase of Christ's life as an appeal for decision. The call is not drawn-out, but direct. I do not encourage personal solicitation in a public meeting, but offer every opportunity for public expression on the part of the individual, —show of hands, rising to the feet, testimony, or coming forward to the altar. Recently nine persons presented themselves at the front in answer to an appeal, among them a man and his daughter (a public school teacher) who were rather backward in public. It required four Sabbath services and calls to bring them, but at last they came of their own accord. In my visits to homes I use the same methods, and deal individually with men.
As evidence that this presentation of Christ is different from that of other denominations. I tell you that at a funeral I held recently, an experienced undertaker wept throughout the service. O for more power fitly to present the crucified Christ to the teeming multitudes in this dying world!
