HARD LABOR
Newspaper slaves are not the people who produce them but the people who read them. I could hardly believe it when I read recently that a certain issue of the ---------------- Times contained 409 pages plus two advertising supplements!
Two women at the market checking counter were discussing how they spent their Sundays. One family went to the sea, the other stayed at home because, to use the wife's words, "My husband spends all day reading the paper and drinking beer." Every man to his taste! But liquid entertainment apart, what slavery to have to spend a whole day with a newspaper—even one as good as the Times!
Life is largely made up of time and how we spend it. It would do us good to record exactly how we spend one whole day or one whole week of time—sleeping, eating, shaving, dressing, working, talking, golfing, shopping, arguing, reading, et cetera. From that we could estimate the whole thing approximately on a lifetime basis. We have seen it done by some men and it looks astonishing.
A whole day on a newspaper is neither solid entertainment nor profitable employment, neither a good investment nor a wise pastime. For a minister whose primary concern is to save souls in a perishing world, it is mental slavery, and thus a waste of time, which is God-given and strictly to be accounted for.
H. W. L.
MAKING THE SINNER'S MOUTH WATER
Charles H. Spurgeon is reported to have said on one occasion, "Today I am to speak to the saints on Christian blessings rather than the sinner's dangers. It will make the sinner's mouth water."
How can a preacher make the sinner's mouth water? Does he thunder about inevitable hell? Does he tirade against the immorality of one man in his church without mentioning his name, creating the impression that the church is an unclean thing? Do the people need more discussion about hell or more about heaven?
It is a fine art to know how to preach so that sinners will cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" Nevertheless, that is what real preaching means, and it can be done only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God.
We are wont to declaim against some phases of the work of America's great hell-fire preacher, Jonathan Edwards, but it might be well for us to read that at the end of his life he said, "I got more results and my people more blessing when I preached on the benefits of the Gospel than when I thundered on hell."
Seventh-day Adventists do not thunder about hell, but there are errors in preaching that can be quite as bad, and we should guard against them. Let us preach on the blessings of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the redeeming love of God manifested in Christ, on the redeeming and enabling grace so freely outpoured on Calvary's cross, and equally freely ministered to us by our great High Priest in heaven. Such preaching lifts the people up to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, and it fortifies the saints in the relentless warfare with evil. When we preach the delectable things of the kingdom, of the joys that are ours and the blessings that are reserved for us in the kingdom to come, we shall make the mouths of some sinners water!
H. W. L.
SINGLE-MINDED CONFUSION
Pentecost, as it is recorded in the New Testament, does not present a picture of smooth-running machinery. The 120 were sitting quietly pondering recent events, when suddenly supernatural sights and sounds filled the air. Rushing wind, fiery flames, foreign tongues, wonderful works of God—all culminating in the amazed cry: "What meaneth this?" And with it all the contemptuous accusation of the mocker that they had been drinking (Acts 2:13).
Then followed the great sermon that pierced men's hearts and made them cry: "What shall we do?" In quick succession, sounding almost like confusion, followed miracles, signs, wonders, fear, rejoicing, anger, persecution, imprisonment, judgment, communal unselfishness, property and money given to the cause, et cetera.
Suddenly, Ananias and Sapphira open the door and the devil enters. Death strikes and fear grips men. But onward moved the cause, albeit with floggings, imprisonments, warnings, tumults, martyrdom, internal problems, and hosts of unknown and unmentioned difficulties.
Yes, it looks like electrified action, poisoned animosity, craven selfishness, and holy boldness all mixed up together.
But there is this also. The believers "were all filled with the Holy Ghost," and were all drawn together in faith (Acts 2:4, 44).
If it all looks a little like confusion, perhaps we ought to pray for the single-minded confusion that was Pentecost! Churches overflowing come from hearts overflowing with the Spirit of God. The problems of churches besieged by men and women seeking the kingdom of heaven are more inspiring than the problem of cold hearts and empty pews!
H. W. L.
