Reply All

Letters from readers. (Yes, we had readers even before this first official issue.)

Agnes Kantaruk / Shutterstock

Epistolics Anonymous

To the Editor:

Can you tell me, please, whether it is proper to launch an ICBM rocket with a bottle of champagne? Having flunked physics, I am somewhat unsure of myself in this atomic age. It would be great fun for an inveterate non-alcoholic to contribute some verbal pop and fizz to the launching of your new magazine, but I don’t know whether it would be appropriate.

I’m a little over-awed. Your magazine, you say, is “designed for worldwide impact.” Looking at your streamlined brochure and the impressive list of editors and contributors I can well believe it. The jet take-off of your first issue is going to be something to see!

But sir, you need a Pseudonymous Letter Writer, for which position I herewith make application. I can hear you muttering, “The pseudonymous, while not synonymous with the anonymous, is equally pusillanimous…” I wish you wouldn’t talk that way. Where would American literature be without Mark Twain? Besides, as that great master of pseudonymity, Soren Kierkegaard, has explained, using a pseudonym may show too much courage rather than too little! My nom de plume suggests not a personality but a picture. Easy slumber under sound gospel preaching was fatal for Eutychus. The Christian church of our generation has not been crowded to his precarious perch, but it has been no less perilously asleep in comfortable pews.

The resemblance to Eutychus does not end there. Eutychus prostrate on the pavement is more appropriate than we know as a symbol of Christendom today. To tap sleeping Eutychus on the shoulder, to embrace dead Eutychus in love, faith, and hope is your task.

Believe me, my heart is with you. Evangelical Christianity … never were those words more significant than in this time when many who falsely or foolishly claim the noun would assure us, in the name of unity, that the adjective is unnecessary—either meaningless or sectarian.

But if we are to contend for the truth in love, humbling humor is good medicine. When men take a cause seriously enough, there is always great danger that they will take themselves too seriously. If we see ourselves as others see us, we may discover why everyone is laughing!

May your cause prosper, your letters-to-the-editor department flourish, and may I remain (this is a threat and a promise)

your humble scribe,Eutychus

• So that the Editor will be assured of at least one letter fortnightly, Christianity Today welcomes Eutychus the volunteer. Except in the case of Eutychus, whose identity is already established (d. Acts 20:9), communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer. The title “Eutychus and His Kin” is employed for letters to the Editor because Eutychus is an apostolic symbol for one made drowsy under the long exhortation of others, or providentially awakened to new opportunities. —ED.

At this Time of Day

To the Editor:

I am venturing to ask whether your heading “The Conflict of the Gospel with Paganism” … will regularly appear in the journal? If it does so, presumably in accordance with editorial policy, I respectfully submit that the title is ill-chosen. The science of Comparative Religion itself would, I should have thought, have precluded approaches of that kind, at this time of day, to highly complex religious phenomena.

Prof. G. K. Brown, Ph.D., D. Litt.University of ManitobaWinnipeg, Canada

Blubbered mouthful

To the Editor:

Your propaganda letter is to hand. It reminds me of another blubbered mouthful: “what America needs is a good five cent cigar.” A good five cent cigar would do as much good for the politico-economic situation in the U.S. as your proposed … Christianity Today will do for the kingdom of God. … The world doesn’t need another religious magazine. … As I look at the lined-up intellectual power and the display of gifted personalities which you propose to plow into a sterile paper I pray that God may frustrate the plan.…

H. D. HammerMontevideo, Uruguay

Christianity yesterday

To the Editor:

If you have a Christianity Today that differs from the Christianity of the Apostles of the first century, followed by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, A.D. 30, I have no use for it.

Frances Lincoln CookEugene, Ore.

Approval of trend

To the Editor:

Have read your sample of the coming publication Christianity Today with a great deal of interest and approval of the trend of thought behind the movement.…

Mansel B. GreenSouth Haven, Mich.

Wings of Christian growth

To the Editor:

From 1941 to 1945 I was fighting as millions of others to preserve freedom … Over Germany and Tokyo I prayed many times … for the safety of myself, my crew and squadron. I came through … unharmed, and have always felt there was some real reason and purpose for my returning when so many finer men did not.

I have found that purpose now, … since I have now accepted Christ as my Saviour and for the first time have found peace. … I realize today … that Christ is the only salvation for myself, this nation and the entire world. I continuously pray and read my Bible for continued guidance … Mediums such as Christianity Today will help us all grow in … Christian understanding.

Lt. Col. Robert K. Morgan,USAF (Reserve)Black Mountain, N.C.

• Colonel Morgan piloted the famous “Memphis Belle” which started the round of land-based bombings of Tokyo. Oddly, the pilot who led the bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, Captain Fuchida, is now also a Christian, active in evangelistic work in Japan. —ED.

This article appeared in the October 15, 1956 issue of Christianity Today as "Eutychus and his Kin".

Books

Books in Review

A look inside Ernest White’s “Christian Life and the Unconscious,” B. B. Warfield’s “Calvin and Augustine,” and other important volumes.

Reinhold Leitner / Shutterstock

Unconscious Mind

Christian Life and the Unconscious, by Ernest White. Harper, New York, 1955. $3.00.

Writings in the field of psychiatry, especially as that field relates to man’s religious life, must meet two main requirements for the Christian. Such writings must reveal true understanding of scriptural doctrine and must indicate competence and insight into scientific psychology and psychiatry. This book of 190 pages meets both of those requirements to a high degree. Furthermore, these two highly commendable features of the book come together in many satisfying observations on the deeper spiritual issues of life and in much counsel that is biblically oriented and psychologically sound.

The author, a practicing physician with a deep interest in psychiatry developed since 1936, has worked in association with Leslie Weatherhead at the City Temple Clinic in London. He describes and uses accurately concepts like the unconscious, ego, id, super-ego, the collective unconscious, archetypes, etc. He can speak of Freud and Freudian teachings without becoming involved in the frothy pansexualism that the popular mind understands as the teaching of the man from Vienna. He understands the dynamic motivation of behavior, and realizes that such motivation to action belongs “ … rather to instinct and emotion than to intellect” (pp. 19 f.).

White’s main concern is with the Unconscious mind, that large hidden area of the personality that affects all of human life so profoundly. The author identifies the biblical term “heart” with modern psychology’s “mind” in both its conscious and unconscious aspect. He stresses the “unity of the mind” and rejects any notion of the personality in terms of sealed off separate compartments.

It is at this point that stress is laid on the biblical emphasis that salvation is of the whole man and is not just a surface change. And this emphasis can be seen in its proper light when an important doctrinal distinction is observed, namely, that between the new birth and conversion. Keeping his eye on his main concern, the Unconscious, Dr. White describes the new birth as (“… an unconscious process, apart from the will of man, wrought in the spiritual depths of the personality by the Spirit of God” (p. 30). Conversion is a conscious process involving the will of man. True conversion is an outgrowth of the new birth.

In harmony with the central theme of the book, helpful chapters are presented on baptism, Christ in the heart, sanctification, God’s guidance into truth, guidance in daily life, prayer, sin and guilt, and spiritual conflict. In the final chapter, “The Concept of God,” the importance for personal well-being of one’s conception of God is properly signalized.

An illustration of the author’s excellent counsel appears in these principles for guidance: a. knowledge of God’s will comes by daily dedication to him; b. we must not expect some special revelation from God; c. God’s guidance is not always to be looked for in success in achieving the goal sought. Another illustration is found in the thoroughly sound observation that the Christian must not expect his life to be without conflict, an unrealistic impression sometimes conveyed “… in evangelical ministry” (p. 161).

The reviewer wishes to place a question mark here and there in this largely excellent book. The author’s difficulty with God’s demand for perfection because it “… is surely a hopeless quest for anyone in the world,” suggests a failure to understand the meaning of salvation by grace alone (pp. 100 ff.). It is doubtful that we are to understand prayer in Christ’s name in the sense conveyed thus: “Name stands for character, and in so far as we conform to His character, our prayers will find acceptance” (p. 144). In his discussion on baptism the psychologist seems to have carried away the theologian. The discussion seems forced as the author looks for the significance of baptism in the symbolical meaning of water in the unconscious and in myths, “… the crystallized dreams of the racial unconscious” (pp. 71ff.). EDWARD HEEREMA

Theological Giants

Calvin and Augustine, by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Presbyterian and Reformed, Philadelphia. $4.95.

In 1931, the Oxford Press published two volumes of articles by B. B. Warfield, one a collection on Calvin and Calvinism, the other on Tertullion and Augustine. The present volume has been issued to make available the most notable of those articles on Calvin and Augustine, most of which are familiar to students of Warfield.

J. Marcellus Kik describes the book when he says, in his foreword:

To properly evaluate the work of Calvin and Augustine requires unusual gifts. These are found in Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield. … Because of his lucid and stately style of writing, his penetrating gift of analysis, his knowledge of the works of Calvin and Augustine, and his firm grasp of Reformed theology, there was no one better qualified to estimate and express the unique place of Calvin and Augustine in the history of the Christian Church.

In this volume we have Warfield speaking his mind appreciatively and critically on the work of those earlier theological giants, particularly in the areas of religious authority and knowledge. There is also a concise biographical article on each, and the article, “Calvinism,” which appears in the Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia, and which is probably the best general statement on the subject in print.

Warfield’s genius lies in the concise but comprehensive way he manages to bring every possible aspect of any given problem into an article presumably dedicated to a treatment of the views of someone else. These articles are not simply what Warfield thought Calvin or Augustine were saying at this or that point–they are masterful treatises upon the basic issues at hand which include the background against which those earlier theologians wrote as well as a critical treatment of the major existing interpretations of their work. Thus the article, “Augustine’s Doctrine of Knowledge,” for instance, becomes a major dissertation on Christian epistemology in which the later interpretations of Augustine are also weighed and evaluated; and “Calvin’s Knowledge of God” becomes a major treatment of the general problem of Revelation, especially as it has been met by theologians of succeeding generations who considered themselves Calvinists.

Throughout the articles Warfield’s own views stand out prominently. And the collection is probably most important as an outline of the Princeton theologian’s views and thus as a portrait of early 20th Century Calvinism. The current revival of interest in the Reformation and especially in John Calvin will produce constructive results only as those who seek to recapture the spirit of the Reformation become fully aware of the ways in which later Calvinism sought, however unconsciously, to improve upon the Reformer. Warfield’s writings are among the best for research in this connection and this book may well be the best brief collection of Warfield’s writings in the area of religious authority and knowledge G. AIKEN TAYLOR

Massive Scholarship

The Epistle of St. James, by Joseph Mayor. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1954, reprinted from the third revised edition (1913). $6.95.

This commentary on the book of James, first issued in 1892, belongs to the “Reprint Classic” series of the House of Zondervan. The precious ore of the epistle is small in size (they are one hundred and eight verses) but the assayer requires approximately six hundred pages to report his findings. It may be taken as some measure of the author’s thoroughness that almost three hundred pages are devoted to introductory explorations of one kind or another.

Assiduous research leads Mayor to the conclusion that the “James” who wrote the epistle was indeed “the brother of our Lord.” The disputed question of date is examined patiently and, with a wealth of evidential detail, the late “daters” such as Harnack and the “pre-Christian” speculators such as Spitta are alike refuted. Mayor concluded that the letter was writ· ten near the end of the fifth decade of the first century. This judgment finds a contemporary echo in J. B. Phillips who, in Letters to Young Churches, says that James was written “possibly early, about A.D. 50, making it the earliest letter of the New Testament.”

From this conclusion with respect to the timing of the epistle it obviously follows that Mayor rejects the anti-Pauline bias that some scholars have attributed to James. He argues in fact that James, so far from reacting unfavorably to Paul’s allegedly extreme stress on “salvation by faith,” has influenced Paul, particularly in certain sections of the Epistle to the Romans.

In the structuring of the book Mayor commits himself to such diverse considerations as (1) the relation of James to the other books of the New Testament and to the non-canonical writings, (2) the grammar and style of James, which are treated with astounding detail, (3) the question of whether the author wrote in Greek or Aramaic, and (4) an analysis of the various manuscripts and versions which provide a basis for textual criticism.

A section follows in which the text of the epistle appears in Greek and in three Latin versions set in parallel columns. This provides an introduction to the voluminous exegetical notes which run on for nearly a hundred and fifty pages.

The concluding section consists of Mayor’s own paraphrase of the epistle and a commentary on the principal topics which James introduces, such as “Temptation,” “Modes of Self-Deception,” “Respect of Persons,” “The Law of Liberty,” “Faith,” “Use and Abuse of Speech,” “Judging,” and “Healing of the Sick by Anointing and Prayer.”

The author’s paraphrase reflects smoothness, and, in certain passages, a delightful simplicity. On the other hand, a stiltedness is introduced here and there which one finds much less frequently in such a free translation as that of Phillips. For example, in chapter 3, verse 6, Mayor gives us: “In the microcosm of man’s nature the tongue represents the unrighteous world.” Whereas Phillips gives the reading: “It (the tongue) can poison the whole body, it can make the whole life a blazing hell.”

In handling the ruling ideas of James the author is careful’ to give varying viewpoints a hearing. Where the ultimate meaning is dubious he is usually undogmatic. Only here and there is the dispassionate tone relieved by touches of moving warmth. A fine instance of this more glowing style occurs in connection with the apostle’s exhortation to “Confess your faults one to another” (5:16) Mayor exclaims:

How much easier it would be to put up with hastiness or coldness on the part of a friend, if we knew that he was himself conscious of his faults and trying to amend them! … Might it not tend to increase the feeling of Christian fellowship, if those who were exposed to the same difficulties, anxious to conquer the same weaknesses and to practice the same virtues, could break through their isolation and confirm themselves in their good resolutions by the knowledge that they were shared by others.

That’s doing right well for a man who, writing half a century ago, knew nothing of psychiatry’s jargon of “empathy” and “interpersonal relations!”

All in all, Mayor on James is massive scholarship, minutely competent and humbly dedicated. PAUL REES

Wittenberg Heritage

Reformation Writings of Martin Luther, translated by Bertram Lee Woolf. Philosophical Library, New York, 1956. $7.50.

This is the second volume of the Reformation Writings of Martin Luther and is very aptly characterized by the subordinate title “The Spirit of the Protestant Reformation.” We recommend this fine volume, excellently translated into English by a master student of Luther, who is equally at home in Latin and German, the two languages Luther used to spread the Gospel orally and in writing. Eight distinctive subjects are treated in this book: “Fourteen Comforts for the Weary and Heavy Laden;” “Why the Books of the Pope and His Followers Were Burned;” “Three Sermons Preached After the Summons to Worms;” “A Word to Penitents About the Forbidden Books;” “Luther at Worms;” “The Magnificat Translated and Expounded;” “Selected Biblical Prefaces;” “The Lord’s Supper and Order of Service.” These major topics are supplemented and explained by “Introductions” and “Notes” which are designed to help the reader in understanding Luther. The reader will, no doubt, be interested above all in the dramatic events centered about Luther’s famous confession at Worms, but from a pastoral point of view the “Comforts for the Weary and Heavy Laden” and Luther’s excellent “Prefaces” are challenges to pastors as well as laymen to cherish the rich evangelical and Biblical treasures which the great Wittenberg Reformer has left as a precious heritage to evangelical Christendom. In every way, here is a book which should find many students. The translation from the Weimar edition is so ably done that only in rare cases the student is reminded that he is dealing with a version and not with the original. Both the translator and the publishers are to be congratulated on this intriguing and instructive book. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER

A Living Book

The Book of Life (eight volumes), by Newton M. Hall and Irving F. Wood. Rudin, Chicago. Twenty-third edition, 1954.

“In the ordinary printed Bible,” points out the introduction to this eight volume series, “the background is missing. The personality of the speaker, the country of the speaker, the hills of Galilee, the streets of Jerusalem, the great nations which imperilled the life of the Hebrew people … these are missing.”

To remedy this lack, to bring the “Book of Life” to life for the average reader, this eight volume series reproduces over 900 pictures, including many of the world’s greatest religious art masterpieces; adds introductory and explanatory notes, including illustrated mention of archaeological evidence supporting the claims of Scripture; and brings in related hymns and poems. Volume three, for example, contains selections from the writings of Charles Lamb, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier and Lord Byron.

All of this extra-Biblical material is set off by itself and clearly identified, and the typographic arrangement is such as to give the Scriptures themselves the pre-eminent place.

The eight volumes cover Bible Treasures (including, in this volume, a “First Bible Reader”); Bible Heroes, Pioneers; Bible Kings, Captains; Bible Prophets, Statesmen; Bible Poetry; Life of the Master; Paul, Life and Letters; and Bible Educator (including a unique series of “Courses in Bible Reading”).

While the volumes are not intended to form an exhaustive commentary on every verse in the Bible, and while their place of greatest value is probably the Christian home, their rich background material would undoubtedly be an asset also to the Sunday School teacher who seeks to do for his class what this set seeks to do for its readers: to make the Book of Life itself glow with new vitality and meaning.

Attractively and uniformly bound, the Book of Life merits a place in both home and church library. LARRY WARD

Hymnology

The Story of Hymns and Tunes, by Brown and Butterworth. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, $3.95.

This book is an authentic and comprehensive work which will find ready acceptance with both ministers and laymen who wish to know more about the origin of hymns and gospel songs. In this compilation one may encounter not only brief stories of hymns and tunes, short biographical sketches of authors and composers, but also a great deal of information concerning church history and the lives of the saints who helped to make it.

Commencing with the song of Moses and Miriam, the trail leads through Greek, Hebrew and Latin hymns; the New Testament Magnificat; Gloria and Benedictions; Germanic, English and Welsh Hymnody; up to and including early and modern day American hymns and tunes.

It makes clear the distinction between philosophical poetry and that of the true hymnic character.

Chapter headings are somewhat different, in that they do not deal with the material either chronologically or geographically, but rather emphasize its type and usage. RUTH NININGER

News

News Report: Conflict of the Gospel with Paganism, October 15, 1956

News from our correspondents around the world.

Christianity Today October 15, 1956
Ian Barker / Flickr

Jerusalem + Judea + Samaria

Canal Not Only Problem in Egypt Today

Christians in Egypt are concerned about the rights of ships to travel through a canal, but they are more concerned about the systematic program of anti-Christian legislation.

Reports from Egypt are as follows:

  • All foreign mission schools must comply with a government order requiring them to teach the Islamic religion to their Moslem students, along with Judaism to Jewish students and Christianity to Christians.
  • Meetings of worship are banned, unless they are held in government-licensed churches.
  • All Sunday sermons in Protestant churches must be approved before they are delivered.
  • Egyptian consulates abroad must obtain approval from the Ministry of Education before granting entry visas for foreign teachers, Among those affected will be hundreds of teachers in British, French, Italian and American mission schools who returned home for summer vacations.

The government announced that if an Islamic state can be so broadminded as to provide instruction in the Christian religion for Christian students in its schools, then any objection on the part of foreign mission schools to do the same for Moslem students can only be viewed as fanaticism and will not be tolerated.

A bombardment of protest followed, but the government stood firm.

Roman Catholic schools agreed to comply with the law, provided that textbooks, instructors and all expenses of the religious courses be paid for by the government.

Two Church of Scotland schools, which refused with an unequivocal “no compliance,” were confiscated and Egyptian principals were appointed.

The American Mission in Egypt, a United Presbyterian group, weighed the pros and cons in an effort to find a solution. Soul-searching questions were asked as to whether it might be the will of God that the mission get out of the school business and pour its resources into strengthening of the church’s evangelistic witness.

Glenn Reed, secretary of the United Presbyterian board, said:

“I am not primarily interested in the reaction of Christian people to what we may, or may not, do in the situation that confronts us. If we wrap our skirts about us and walk out of our difficulties in self-righteousness, we shall receive the plaudits of many Christian people … A decision to withdraw will not, I believe, impress Muslim people with the superiority of our religion over their own, nor will it increase the possibility of their encountering Christ in their life experience. God grant that our decision may be true to our missionary calling, which is of God.”

Finally, amid tears, a decision was reached, but it was by no means unanimous. The United board agreed to observe the new law, but went on record as being firmly opposed.

This was not the first time a mission board had been confronted with an agonizing decision. In 1937 missions in Korea were faced by the Japanese government with the alternative of students bowing at the Shinto shrines or closing their schools. The Presbyterian U.S. mission and board closed their schools rather than make what they considered a dangerous compromise. Later developments made them feel their action a wise one and a great aid to the national church of Korea in making a clear-cut decision against idolatry.

Widespread alarm was voiced in Egypt during the summer because of the government’s order that worship must cease in all churches unable to produce a license. It is almost impossible to obtain one.

Some Christians obtained permits for a “hall” or residence, with a meeting room attached.

Police were posted outside the doors of unlicensed churches to prevent the assembly of Christians when the latest order went into effect. Instances were reported of worshippers brushing them aside as they said, “Kill us if you like, only kill us inside the church.”

Appeals brought results. A new law recognized unhindered worship in all church -owned properties.

A Protestant youth publication, in the midst of all the activity, declared, “It now seems necessary to have government permission in order to commune with God.”

The government has promised that further demands will not be forthcoming.

But Christians feel they have good cause to wonder!

Jordan’s Role

Significant events have taken place in Jordan during recent months. They place the country solidly behind Egypt in her struggle with the West.

Beginning in December, 1955, countrywide riots broke out against Jordan joining the anti-Communist Baghdad Pact. Christians suffered in the rioting. The Mennonites in Jericho saw relief materials worth perhaps $65,000 put to flames by the attackers. Baraka Sanitorium of the Independent Board of Presbyterians (American) was attacked. A doctor’s house was entered by force. The American consulate in Jerusalem also was a target of violence.

The rioting began again a few weeks later. The Southern Baptist Hospital at Ajloun suffered an estimated $25,000 damage. Angry, shouting, hate-filled men tore the flag from the American consulate.

In March, King Hussein of Jordan announced the termination of service for General John Bagot Glubb, head of the Arab Legion, and other high English officers. Glubb Pasha, as he was called, served 25 years with the Legion and saw it become what has been described as the best Arab army in the world. One of the biggest causes of dissatisfaction, observers said, was that General Glubb restrained the Arab Legion from retaliating against the Jews.

Because of the Suez crisis, Great Britain in recent weeks has evacuated nonessential subjects, including a number of missionaries.

The tension continues to increase, as Jordan lives up to her role in the struggle against the West.

Thorn In Flesh

The Suez Canal has taken headlines away from Israel-Arab border incidents, but Israel continues a factor in international politics far out of proportion to her size.

Israel’s Arab neighbors fear her economic potential. This fear exists for two reasons: religious and political.

Under the Arab religion, Islam, women have few rights. Religious leaders are deeply involved in politics and most political leaders are heavily committed to the Koran and its teachings. In most cases, education is only for the boys and Islam is the predominant subject. The Koran teaches that man’s fate is under the absolute control of Allah. A Moslem interprets this in such a way that he sees no value in attempting to better his position. If he is poor, then it is the will of Allah.

Moslems fear that an Israel-promoted economic progress will eat away at the foundations of their religious system. Women will get modern ideas. They will demand equal status with men, remove their veils and insist on a voice in government. Because of this fear, Moslem religious leaders already have declared a “Jinhad”-holy war-against Israel. Such a declaration is virtually a law in Islam.

Secondly, most of the Arab states are controlled by one-man or one-family regimes.

The feudalistic economy is for the benefit of the land owners and to the detriment of the people who work the land for small handfuls of grain. This feudalism will collapse with the trade of machines and ideas.

In spite of the wide publicity given to the Suez crisis, the main problem of Arabs remains the same-how to get rid of Israel. In all probability, the Suez Canal will continue to operate, Egypt will maintain control and faces will be saved.

But Israel will remain the thorn in the flesh of Araby! — D.C.O.

Sign of Sodom

Shades of human nature.

The first of 300 markers erected by the Israeli government for biblical and historical sights was one pointing out Sodom, city of infamy on the shore of the Dead Sea.

Another was placed in a valley along the Jerusalem-Beersheba highway, marking the site where David slew Goliath.

Digest…

  • A new biblical scroll discovery, about one mile from the caves where the famed Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947, reportedly contains the five books of the Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy …. Native Christians in Turkey number less than two per cent of the total population.
  • “Our goal is to present men mature in Jesus Christ.” Words were spoken by the Rev. John Markarian, conference leader of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, at first graduation service this year of budding Haigazian College in Beirut, boom city of the Near East.

Africa + Asia + Australasia

Lo, How They Hate

Soldiers of Christ in North Africa, described by some observers as “few and feeble,” face many difficulties, including strong nationalist ties and conflicting religions.

The greatest problem, however, seems to be divisions among Christians.

There are organizational divisions and divisions between liberals and evangelicals, but the most serious is spiritual division.

In Algiers recently a church was split over the question of leadership. People in the apartment windows up and down the street witnessed many bitter arguments. They looked on as the two factions tried to lock each other out of the building. A leader of one group had a heart attack during a heated dispute and died.

Said the community godless:

“Lo, how these Christians hate one another.”

Both factions are considered conservative and evangelical!

Yet, in the midst of darkness and difficulty, God has planted His light. Some of the light is in the Koran itself. Followers deny the deity of Jesus, but believe that only He among the prophets can give sight to the blind, heal the lepers and raise the dead. A Moslem tribe in Nigeria has granted entrance to the “Jesus people,” because of the hope that they, like Jesus, will be able to heal the lepers.

Seventy-five years of organized mission work has done much to repel the darkness. A man from the heart of Tunisia recently appeared in Tunis to buy Bibles for a small Christian church where no missionary had been for years. A wealthy man in Morocco, who had given his heart to Jesus, brought up his nephew as a Christian. A young university track star in Fez found a discarded Christian tract entitled “The Gift of God.” He was amazed at the things God wanted to give him and followed through to become an outstanding Christian.

Missionaries have been rejected almost everywhere, but they have left God’s Word scattered all over North Africa as a testimony to the love that still shines forth from hospitals, dispensaries and craft schools.

Numbers are more encouraging among the French. Evangelical success in this field has been largely due to the efforts of a few Plymouth Brethren missionaries, some from England and some from France. The most outstanding evangelist, however, is a native of Oran.

Out of a population of 20 million, these few hundred French believers, about one hundred Spanish and a few score Arabs constitute the indigenous church in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

An estimated 24 missionaries have gone to the North African field in the last three years. A new hospital is under way in Tripoli. A radio ministry in French has been started in Tangier. The staff of the old hospital in Tangier has been strengthened. Even among Moslems, this hospital is known and loved as “The House of God.”

Christians feel the day may be neat when foreign missions will be forced to leave North Africa, but believe God will build an indigenous church beforehand that will not be dependent upon foreign direction.

Unprecedented Days

The growing willingness of church groups in the Philippines to cooperate in evangelism, regardless of other differences, was strongly evident as pastors assembled in history-making numbers at two centers this month.

Made possible by Dr. Bob Pierce and World Vision, Inc., the meetings were held at fabled Baguio, mile-high summer capital in the north, and the southern city of Cebu, second only to Manila in size and importance. The Philippine sponsoring agency was the newly-formed National Evangelistic Strategy Committee, headed by the Rev. Jose Yap, executive secretary of the Philippine Federation of Christian Churches.

Church leaders pointed to evangelism as the crucial need in the Philippines today, as evidenced by the fact that evangelism has made it possible to maintain a spirit of oneness in a situation which conventionally could be expected to erupt into discord.

Digest…

  • “Tremendously impressed” was the report of four American Episcopal clergymen on the unity achieved by the Church of South India in its nine years of life despite the problems of illiteracy, overpopulation, food shortages and an increasingly militant, nationalistic Hinduism.
  • Some portions of the Scriptures now exist in the tongues used by 98 per cent of India’s population. The remaining two per cent constitute seven million people, approximately the population of Australia.

Britain and the Continent

A Burning Heart

Greek Orthodox Layman Charles Malik, who rose from formative years at Tripoli Boys’ Mission School to later become Lebanon’s able representative in the United Nations and now serves as president of Beirut’s American University, spoke challenging words to missions at a meeting in Dhour el-Choueir.

He stated:

“Mission work has tended to withdraw from direct witness to Jesus Christ to mere good works void of a burning heart. Direct testimony is costly, but only in return to a simple gospel witness wherein Christ crucified and risen is clearly proclaimed will missions in the Near East realize God’s will in their existence.”

In reply to a question on what the evangelical has to offer his church, the Greek Orthodox, Malik replied:

“The evangelical has the power, truth and relevance of the living Word of Christ to offer the Orthodox. That Word is not lost in the Orthodox Church, but is veiled in the smoke of incense and submerged in ceremonial ritual. Perhaps in God’s providence, it had to be hidden lest it be destroyed.

“The evangelical must ever point to the power of the Word, but never swing to the extreme of despising tradition and ceremony. Furthermore, the evangelical must give the Orthodox fellowship, remembering at the same time the Orthodox has definitely something to give to him.” – C. I. K. S.

110-Year-Old Testimony

It started with a letter.

A Norwegian sailor, Ole P. Petersen, wrote to his fiance, Anne Marie Amundsen, in the town of Fredrikstad. He said he had knelt during a meeting on board a ship in New York harbor and found peace with God.

This was in the year 1846.

The letter was read in many homes and made a deep impression. Anne Marie wrote and asked Ole to come home soon. “Take us by the hand and lead us into the road you have found,” she said.

Ole went home. And what he told was even more stirring than the words he wrote. The testimony was used in the conversion of six people on the day after his return. Results spread.

In 1850 Ole returned to the United States with his bride. Three years later he returned to Norway as the first minister for the Methodist Church. In his letter of presentation from Methodist Bishop Waugh, these words were written: “Thou shalt raise up a people for God.”

On Sept. 11, 1856, the first Methodist congregation was founded in Norway at Sarpsborg—where the jubilee celebration was held this fall.

The Methodist Church in Norway today has 60 congregations, with a membership of 8,433 and a “Methodist population” of 25,000. The church has 82 missionaries on several fields in Africa and Asia.

It started with a testimony! – T. B.

Digest…

  • Poland’s largest Lutheran Church, Holy Trinity in Warsaw, is being returned to the control of church authorities by the Polish Communist government … The government is now paying the salaries of the Orthodox clergy in Greece … Dr. Theodore F. Adams, president of the Baptist World Alliance who has completed a 32,000-mile tour of 15 countries, said he was impressed with the “vitality of Baptist life and work in all these countries even in the face of persecution and trouble.”
  • Withdrawal of government subsidies from more than 600 Roman Catholic schools in France was attacked by Bishop Antoine Marie Cazaux as an action “depriving Christian parents of the exercise of their rights.” Schools failed to meet teacher qualification requirements, according to government. …
  • Switzerland reports unusual results in two big evangelistic campaigns, one in Zurich and another in Geneva … An estimated 2,000 lay preachers are reported active in Norway. A revival swept Jaeren district, the “granary” of Norway, this summer when lay preacher and missionary to China preached Christ. Farther north, at Karmoy, “the island of the saints,” observers told about a revival of many months, with a pilot and preacher serving as co-laborers.

Key quotes:

  • “It is only the certainty that Jesus is Lord that makes confidence possible in a world like this. It is this that puts steel into your nerves and iron in your blood.” —Dr. Leslie Cooke, associate general secretary of the World Council of Churches.
  • “Your likeliest mission field is the office where you work, the factory or the shop, in places where they are more likely to listen to you than to me.” —Rev. J. Frazer McLuskey, chairman of the BBC Youth Department.

North and South America

Chart for the New Age

The National Sunday School Convention received some straight talk from its president, Dr. Harold W. Erickson, at Moody Memorial Church, Chicago, on October 10. It went like this:

“The new age is characterized by a new menace, world communism; a new weapon, the atomic bomb; a new source of power, nuclear fission; and a new nationalism among nations. Unless the Word of God gets a new hold on the hearts of men, this new age with all its potentialities may end in a holocaust of indescribable destruction.

“Our civilization suffers from biblical illiteracy. The Bible must become the chart and compass of the new age.

“The Sunday School is the logical instrument for the sowing of the Word of God in the hearts of childhood, youth and manhood. We must use every legitimate means to put the Bible back into use as the supreme textbook of the Sunday School. Only biblical study can produce a biblical faith. America desperately needs a generation of men and women whose spiritual experience, philosophy of life and moral principles are firmly grounded in the Word of God.”

Digest…

  • The American Civil Liberties Union objects to such questions in 1960 U.S. Census as “Do you believe in God?” and “Do you regularly attend church or synagogue?” … Conversions numbered 900 during eight days of Pan-American Congress of Evangelism held in Caracas. In follow-up work, 700 more made decisions … Theme for the 1956 Worldwide Bible Reading observance from Thanksgiving to Christmas will be “The Bible Speaks Today.”
  • Church membership in United States reached record 100,162,529 in 1955— gain of 2,679,918 over previous year … Adlai Stevenson took time out from campaigning to attend Unitarian All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. … Evangelical and Reformed Church delegates unanimously approved proposed merger with Congregational Christian churches.
  • “New pattern of holiness” for ordinary Christian men and women urged by Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, president of United Lutheran Church in America … First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, adopts 1957 budget of $705,000, with more than half going to missions … United Church of Canada cites need of at least 1,000 more churches to keep pace with soaring population.
  • Bill authorizing commercial airlines to grant reduced fares to clergy on “space available” basis signed into law by President Eisenhower … Establishment of 1,000 new churches annually for next three years adopted as goal by Southern Baptist Home Missions Board … Dr. Arno Q. Weniger, California, elected president of Conservative Baptist Association.
  • New York Evening School of the Bible established in Manhattan under sponsorship of 65 evangelical churches and organizations … “Christ for Blind Week” slated Nov. 18-25 in effort to aid 20 million sightless persons … Mrs. Glenn G. Hays, president of National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, charges government has quit publishing statistics on sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages for fear of public reaction.
  • Remarks on evangelism by the Right Rev. F. H. Wilkinson, Anglican Bishop of Toronto, Canada, at Canadian rally attended by 12,000: “It is the command of God as written in the Bible; it is the word to all the churches, and it is the universal cry of the people.” … James Hunter of Toronto proclaimed “Author of the Quarter Century” by Zondervan Publishing House. Best sellers include Thine Is the Kingdom and The Mystery of Mar Saba.

Convention Reports

Lake Junaluska, N.C. — The strangely-warmed spirit of founder John Wesley, who rode the equivalent of ten times around the world during his horseback ministry, hovered over the recent Ninth World Methodist Conference, the largest non-segregated meeting of its kind.

More than 2,000 delegates and accredited visitors, reflecting the life of 18 million Methodists in 44 countries, moved toward main goals of a strong world church and a vigorous denomination—but there was a wistful look toward evangelism.

“If Wesley were alive today, he would most assuredly be an evangelist,” remarked Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke of the Pittsburgh area.

Dr. Harold Wood of Australia put it bluntly:

“Nothing can save the world but the Gospel, preached and practiced in a church as pure and as passionate as the primitive church which first proclaimed that Gospel … Not ethical teaching, not even primarily the Sermon on the Mount, which was not the substance of apostolic preaching, but the Gospel of regenerating and reconciling grace: this we have to communicate.”

Conference observers felt that Wesley would be comfortably at home in the challenge to social evils. Frontier Methodism in America” had lashed at slavery, alcoholism, gambling and Sabbath violations. Wesley had sought justice for the laboring classes in the cities.

Some observers felt Wesley would have sounded such warnings as “beware of bigness” … “beware of respectability” … “beware of an atmosphere not conducive to the life of the spirit” … or “beware of apostasy, which has a form of religion but lacks its true doctrine and passion for souls.”

Presiding officer Bishop Ivan Lee Holt of St. Louis, succeeded as world president by Dr. Harold Roberts, British theologian, remarked to a platform guest, “Some things are being said in Methodism that could not have been said ten years ago.”

Despite some reservations, most delegates were inclined to think Wesley would concur proudly that his church, after two centuries, still moves by and large in the direction of its beginnings.

The distance, however, between the place of the Bible in modern Methodism and Wesley’s Methodism, was laid bare by Dr. Norman H. Snaith, principal of Wesley College in Leeds, England. Speaking on “The Authority of the Bible,” he said:

“The uniqueness of the Bible is not in the myths and legends … not in the early laws, but in its one grand common theme. This theme, backed by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, constitutes its unfailing authority . . . This common theme is the action through the centuries of God the Savior … the work of the Savior God.”

World Evangelical Fellowship

PROVIDENCE, R. I. — Fellowship is wonderful, but bolder action is needed to reach a lost world for Christ.

This was the feeling as delegates from 27 countries expedited the World Evangelical Fellowship’s transition from a program of fellowship to one of strong action in evangelism, literature and religious freedom.

The movement struck out boldly for a cooperative world program with international leadership in six major world offices. Unusual growth of the organization was noted, with recent applications approved from Vietnam and Indonesia, but it was pointed out that the biggest lag has come in European lands where biblical higher criticism thrives.

By way of achievements, W. E. F. leaders stressed the movement’s positive and constructive temper, its emphasis on the spiritual revival of the church and the evangelization of the world, its support of evangelical theological education and literature. The movement supplied the initiative and local organizational nucleus for many of Dr. Billy Graham’s strategic rallies abroad. It has carried to distant lands the long-denied evangelistic voices of such men as Dr. Ockenga, Dr. Paul Rees, Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse, Dr. J. Edwin Orr and others.

Lt. General Sir Arthur Smith of Great Britain was re-elected for a third term as president. Vice presidents are Dr. Rees of the United States, the Rt. Rev. Hugh R. Gough of Great Britain and Dr. A. P. Guruswamy of Ceylon. John Bolten of the United States is interim treasurer. Members of the international executive committee are Dr. Ockenga and Dr. Clyde Taylor of the United States, Calvin Chao of Singapore, J. Bordreuel of France, Dr. John Savage of South America, Dr. Rene Pache of Switzerland, Dr. Everett Cattel of India, the Rev. A. Kurumada of Japan and the Rev. E. A. Lee of Korea.

Christianity Today is a subscriber to Religious News Service and Evangelical Press Service.

This article appeared in the October 15, 1956 issue of Christianity Today as "Conflict of the Gospel with Paganism".

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube