There is little doubt but that America is gradually becoming a Roman Catholic country. This is not surprising, however, for the strategies of Rome give her considerable earthly advantage. Her claims are impressive: the bishops in communion with the See of Peter form a divinely constituted, perpetual, inerrant, teaching Church. Rome is a continuation of Christ’s incarnation. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. Rome is the only power which has defeated secularism and modernism. She is at home in all lands. She is the Church of the catacombs, the Church of the Fathers, the Church of the great councils, the Church of the Middle Ages—in short, the Church of all ages. If any Christian effort will endure to the end of time, and thus merit the devotion of men everywhere, it is the Church of Rome.
An expert from the American Institute of Management recently examined the management excellence of the Roman Church. He concluded, in a 26-page report, that the Church was eighty-eight percent efficient [Time, January 30, 1956], Rome is disciplined and determined; her wealth cannot be assessed. She adapts her strategy to every situation. When her interests are at stake, she is cruel. When they are not, she is gentle. The Inquisition is valid against Protestants but not against children of the Vatican. When the Church speaks, debate is out of order, for the good is what the Church approves.
Rome’s confidence was illustrated several years ago when I had coffee with a learned Jesuit at Harvard Square. As I quizzed him about the future of the Roman Church in America, he looked at me with flashing Irish eyes and thundered, “Today, tomorrow, or a century from now, it makes no difference. We are patient. We will subdue the earth to the greater glory of God.”
Life magazine recently reviewed one phase of Roman Catholic power in America. The leading story of the May 27th issue was devoted to the 75th year of the Knights of Columbus. The pictures, many in full color, depicted the kind of pomp and circumstance which goes into Roman strategy. The legions of Rome are awesome. More than one million practicing Catholics make up the ranks of the Knights of Columbus. They are fraternally pledged to the ideal of bringing America under papal rule. They are powerful, wealthy, loyal. Little wonder that the Pope affectionately describes the Knights as “the right lay arm of the Catholic Church in America.”
It is significant, however, that the same issue of Life ran a story about Billy Graham. The contrast between the Knights of Columbus and Billy Graham pretty well sums up the contrast between Roman Catholic and orthodox Protestant intentions. The reader sees a young man in a business suit. He is holding an open Bible. In passion and love he pleads with sinners to repent. The pictures are in black and white, not color. There are no uniforms, no banners, no legions. The Garden is filled with people from all walks of life, people whose hearts are as hungry as their minds are curious. Before Billy Graham has finished, hundreds leave their seats to unite with the person of Jesus Christ. Even priests of Rome find their way to the mourner’s bench. The suasions of Rome are no match for the gospel. The tens of thousands which have responded in the Garden and to the televised broadcasts from the Garden give living evidence to the power of a message devoid of pomp and ceremony.
The Protestant Church is not very healthy. It is divided and weak. Its clergy dispute about matters which are elementary to the Christian faith. Scholarship is neglected in the colleges and seminaries. Rome, of course, interprets this as nothing but the logical conclusion to the Reformation. The ecumenical movement, on the other hand, says that the illness can be cured by devising new forms of visible unity. Rome is wrong in her diagnosis and the ecumenical movement is wrong in its therapy. The Protestant Church is sick for one reason: the gospel of Jesus Christ is not being preached with power and conviction.
We have no intention of making an idol of Billy Graham, but the fact remains that this young evangelist is a symbol of what God can do through a humble life. When Billy Graham stands behind the sacred desk, he makes it clear that he is mediating the Word of God. He is not discussing personality integration or the power of mind over body. This was strikingly reviewed in the June 25, 1954, issue of U.S. News and World Report. Scotland was astonished at the power of Billy Graham. Many were puzzled to explain the phenomenon. U.S. News editors cleared up the matter. “The people want to know the truth. They want it declared with authority and conviction, dogmatically and without apology. They prefer half an hour, or even three-quarters, of this kind of preaching to the ten minutes of platitudes which all too often is given from church pulpits.” This is excellently taken. There would be no sickness in the church if priests and ministers would bind their consciences by the Word of God.
Another symbol of this same power is the distinguished dean of American radio evangelists, Charles E. Fuller. For over a third of a century he has preached a compassionate gospel to those who labor in hard and distant places. His weekly listening audience is estimated at twenty million. He seldom refers to himself. With a tear in his voice and compassion in his heart he beseeches men everywhere to be reconciled with God. God blesses his ministry because his ministry is true to the Word of God.
The Pope must look to his legions because he can no longer look to the gospel. Let me illustrate this. Father Kelly recently warned Roman Catholics not to listen to Billy Graham [Time, May 6th]. The priest’s contention was that Graham evades “Catholic distinctives.” His converts, thus, are only “half saved.” This is an interesting complaint, for it betrays the distance which Rome has come from the simplicity of the gospel. The Apostle Paul could cry, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” And so can Billy Graham. But Father Kelly cannot. He must cry, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, plus the necessity of baptism, plus the mediatorial work of Mary, plus the centrality of the mass, plus the unity of the Church, and you will be saved—providing, of course, you improve grace throughout your life by performing good works, and then only after a frightful bout with the flames of purgatory.”
The Roman Catholic Church will continue to grow. She will infiltrate government, education, and labor. But let us not fear. Rome has her limits. The Lord says to worldly wisdom, as he says to the tides of the sea, “Thus far shall you go, and no farther.” Rome can coerce the film industry to use priests and Christopher medals in movie plots; she can lobby senators with effective cunning; she can rule over the treasuries of the world. But these are strategies of worldly wisdom. They have nothing to do with the gospel.
This is effectively pointed out by the late Donald M. Baillie [The Theology of the Sacraments, page 96]. He cites Karl Barth’s admission that “The mass in its conception, content and construction is a religious masterpiece. It is the high water mark in the development of the history of religion and admits of no rival.” He then adds the shrewd conclusion of Barth, “Religion with its masterpieces is one thing, Christian faith is another.” This is the sum of the matter. Rome is a genius in worldly wisdom. But worldly wisdom is one thing, the gospel is another.
If we honor the Word of God, we have no reason to fear Roman Catholicism. God is sovereign. His Word will not return void. The ministry of Billy Graham is witness to the biblical truth that it is “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6 RSV). We sing with Martin Luther,
And tho’ this world with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thro’ us.
The Prince of darkness grim, we tremble
Not for him; his rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
The Pope will continue to look to his legions. But let us look to the power of the gospel. Whenever the counsels of worldly wisdom become too efficient, God seeks out a man of faith—an Abraham, a Gideon, a David. And he uses this man of faith to confront an entire culture with the claims of Jesus Christ. God destroys the proud in their own folly. One sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit can undo in a day what worldly wisdom has taken a century to build.
The Pentagon’S Responsibility For Servicemen Abroad
The Girard case has focused the attention of America on the predicament of our service men when accused of crimes while stationed abroad.
The Formosa riots likewise illustrated that America has no one policy for dealing with such cases, in some countries retaining jurisdiction and rights of prosecution of servicemen while in others recognizing the rights of the local governments and courts.
Unfortunately little that has been said about the situation in Japan, Taiwan (Formosa), Germany or elsewhere, has dealt with the basic problem of the behavior of our troops overseas.
The average American soldier is a decent boy, thrust into new and often frustrating surroundings and at the same time confronted with temptations in their rawest form.
There are serious attempts to condition servicemen for the situations they will encounter overseas. Many officers add their influence to that of the chaplains to maintain the moral and spiritual standards important for the soldier as an individual and for him as a representative abroad. That such conditioning and safeguards often prove insufficient is known by the Pentagon, by American civilians living or traveling abroad and by many of the people living in the lands where servicemen are stationed.
Frankly, we feel that far more can and should be done to prevent incidents and to keep Americans from becoming increasingly unpopular in areas where they are quartered.
First of all, not all men who volunteer or are inducted into the services are suitable to send abroad for garrison duty. Some of them are obvious liabilities from the very start and some procedure should be devised to eliminate them from foreign service.
In the second place, we believe far more should be done to indoctrinate those sent abroad, not only as to the reason they are being sent but also the objectives in that area. Most important, these men should be made to understand clearly that as long as they are on foreign soil they are representatives of America and will be required so to act.
Finally, the strictest possible discipline should be enforced on those who get into trouble. Nothing does more to harm relations with those America wants to help than to see American men guilty of illegal or immoral acts go unpunished and often unnoticed.
We have before us a long letter telling of multiplied incidents in Formosa which built up a seething resentment which finally boiled over in riots. This letter tells of Chinese injured by drunken Americans; of others injured by speeding American vehicles; of the use of money to entice and at times debauch young women from good homes; and most of all, of wrongs reported to authorities which went unheeded and without redress.
Part of the difficulty comes from failing to look at incidents through the eyes of local custom and opinion. For instance, a “peeping Tom” would be frightened away in China, or he might be caught and beaten, but to kill him is as drastic punishment as would be the shooting of a speeding motorist in America.
Even a verdict of “guilty” with a suspended sentence would have in some measure appeased an aroused populace. A quickly rendered acquittal was regarded as a grave affront to the Chinese and also as a flagrant miscarriage of justice. The same ends could have been accomplished by taking due regard to local customs.
All of which leads to the conviction that, living in a small world as we do, and wielding the world-wide influence and power which we do, America will be wise completely to revise its policies with reference to its representatives abroad. The day has passed when we can do as we please—and the opportunity for drastic reforms may be very short.
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