"BULL IN A NET"
To be called and not answer, to be sent and not go, and to know and not proclaim—of such a man it may be said, He is of all men most miserable. The professions are literally cluttered with fugitives from the gospel ministry, men who, like Jonah, went the other way. In effect they told the Master to get somebody else. Whether for money, prestige, or pleasure, these men have turned aside from the holiest of callings. With money, influence, and status, they are yet unhappy, for in the stillness of morn even sleep is of the restless sort. He is a man on the run who sees in his shadow an assailant.
To be sent and not go creates an eternal uncertainty. But what considerations prevented his going? Was the territory unpromising? Did his wife object because of living conditions? Or did going to that lonely outpost seem the long way to the top? Is there a man less happy than the one who was sent but didn't go.
Then who is he? The man who knew, but wouldn't proclaim? Possibly. Said Jeremiah, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones" (Jer. 20:9). The desire to communicate is basic. There is no oppression like suppression of speech, whether self-invoked or externally imposed. The command to "go" into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature is less a command than a privilege. It is "sweet release" to the gospel minister to tell what he knows. Denied this privilege, he is in truth "as a wild bull in a net," "full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God" (Isa. 51:20).
E. E. C.
LET'S GROW
Expansion and growth are goals constantly set before the church. This is certainly proper, for growth is important. But not all growth is healthy. Cancer, tumors, and even warts are types of growth, but they are most undesirable. Nothing can be more detrimental to the human body than unhealthy, diseased growth.
What about the church? Satan is not adverse to denominational expansion as long as it is of a religious pathological nature. From time to time I notice printed pleas for personnel to help staff a church institution. Qualifications of ability and skill are always mentioned as necessary, but generally nothing is said relative to spiritual requirements. True, in this age of scientific advance and specialized skill, the world emphasizes know-how rather than character. The airline patron is far more interested in the pilot's ability and skill than whether he is the husband of more than one wife. God may be foreign to Russian scientists, but the fact still remains that they lead the world in space exploration. I seriously doubt that there was any prayer or consecration on their part that helped get man into orbit.
Character and Godlikeness seemingly have little or nothing to do with success today. Satan in these last days is eager and helpful in the planning of colossal empires of industry, science, and even religion, to show that it can all be done by men who have little or no connection with God.
Would it not be well for the builders of God's church today to perpetually keep in mind that "without me ye can do nothing." Some interpret this phrase as significant only in spiritual development. But that which passes away is always "nothing." The millennium, a veritable museum of man's achievements, will be replete with scenes of "nothing." Let not the church add to the grandeur of Satan's year of jubilee, but incessantly remind itself that "only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good" (The Desire of Ages, p. 362).
J.R.S.
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN
Religionists usually argue heatedly over things they do not understand, not over matters that are commonly understood. D. L. Moody had a word on this: "It isn't the passages I don't understand that worry me; it's the passages I do understand."
How men have argued and fought over the intricacies of the theology of grace! Yet we all know how sadly man needs outside help to be found only in God. Better were it never to fight, but to bend low by the cross of Christ, seeking to find the experience expressed in the immortal words: "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8).
A clergyman columnist says he was meditating at the communion service on John's account of the Last Supper, and he realized how easy it is to differ about the historic controversies over the bread and wine—transubstantiation, consubstantiation, et cetera. Then it occurred to him that there was meaning to the towel and the basin, and he wondered why we highlight the historic controversies, but subdue deep experiential meaning in the emblems of humility and service.
H. W. L.
VIOLENCE AND DEATH
They tell me it was a rather quiet week on TV. There were only 105 shootings, six stabbings, fifty fist fights, nine beatings, one whipping, and twenty-one other assaults, plus one death by suffocation. Another scene revealed rattlesnakes slithering across the ground toward two trussed-up people.
One so-called entertainment showed in detail how to smash a man to death with repeated hand blows to the head and heart. To prove the effectiveness of the method viewers were then shown a close-up of the dead man's face.
Is it not deplorable that the programs which often obtain the highest rating of listeners are the ones that spew out the most dreadful sound and fury, pandering to the lowest instincts of viewers? A prominent psychiatrist, Fredric Wertham, has suggested that "we have become conditioned to an acceptance of violence as no civilized nation has ever been before. We have silently passed an amendment to the sixth commandment--Thou shalt not kill'—it is perfectly all right to enjoy watching other people doing it, the more the merrier, and as brutally as possible."
One television writer recently deplored the fact that with so many violent shows on the air he had to think up new methods of crime and punishment, exotic new settings for suspense and tension. He felt he had to keep devising more and more suspense in order to keep up with the program's popularity.
We are told in The Ministry of Healing, page 366, "Better than any other inheritance of wealth you can give your children will be the gift of a healthy body, a sound mind, and a noble character."
The emphasis here is placed upon a sound mind and a noble character. May God forbid that television be one more avenue to "standard-condition" us. There are worth-while programs on television, to be sure, but they are not the cheap vaudeville skits, burlesque comedy, lewd dancing productions, and vicious stories of crime that clutter so much of program time.
After children have watched TV programs they are oriented toward the sensational, the violent, and, in too many teen-agers, toward criminality of all kinds. One parent honestly admitted his difficulty in gathering the children for family worship after they had watched sensational television. Our readers are reminded that a statement on television was issued by the General Conference Committee in December, 1956. It is available in MV Leaflet, No. 49, entitled "Television—A Decision of Togetherness," copies of which may be obtained at eight cents each from your Book and Bible House.
May God give wisdom and courage to all who must deal with this ever-present problem.
A. C. F
