IS NOT MY WORD LIKE AS A FIRE? SAITH THE LORD

HALLELUJAH!

SONIA GHANDI is to be honoured for her example of self-denial of high honours that she rightfully claimed.in the recent elections in India. She put the interests of that great nation first over any personal ambition. We honour her as an example for Christians to deny themselves of self and ambition, and put the Lord Jesus Christ FIRST. What she has done for her country, let us do even more for our Lord and Saviour. 0   O9

The Official Gaizite al

the .13181E holiness movement-

II

Today He points you to yon Cross, with the Son of God uplifted, groaning, bleeding,

dying; and all for you. Yes, for you the crown of thorns encircled His brow; for you the soldier's

Thy time on earth is short. Each closing spear brought the blood from His side; for you

year, each setting sun, each tick of yonder clock, He cried in triumph, "It is finished;" for there is is shortening thy days on earth, and swiftly, salvation free today, and if you accept it as a

silently, but surely carrying thee on to Eternity sinner, you will be saved for Eternity.

and to God. The year, the day, the hour, the   Have you been really born again?The devil

moment will soon arrive that will cloe thy life on wants you to gloss over this question; but your earth and begin thy song in Heaven, or thy wail duty is to honestly face it, and that just now. s t

in Hell. Today thy hands are busy at work, thine

eyes are beholding, thy mind is thinking, thou art planning for the future. Tomorrow all is

still: the folded arm, the closed eye remain, but

thou art gone—gone to Eternity. Others were It means that someone hasn't heard.

once busy as thou art; healthy as thou art; It means that someone's heart is cold. thoughtless as thou art; they are gone—gone to It means that one's outside the fold. Eternity. The merry voice, the painted clown, It means that someone doesn't care.

the talented artist whose presence made the It means that someone failed to share. theater and the pantomime an attraction for thee, are gone; they are removed far from the It means that someone still says "No!"

region of fiction to that of reality—the reality of It means that someone failed to go. Eternity. The shrewd merchant whose voice. It means that someone will not be was so familiar to thee is hushed, and buys and With Jesus through eternity.

sells no more—he has entered Eternity.   It means the Saviour died in vain, Thine own turn to enter Eternity will

shortly come. Ask thyself honestly, "Am I For someone chooses this world's gain.

prepared for Eternity?" Give thy conscience Oh, Lord, help us at any cost

time to answer; listen, it speaks to thee today, To do our best to save the lost! 1i

drown not its voice lest it speak to thee no more.

Go from the hants of sin, debauchery, and vice to the presence of God and the Lamb—impossible; from the crowd of the condemned, and the race for gold and gain, to the song of the redeemed and the crown of glory. No never! God says: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"

(John 3:3).

Has this ever happened unto thee? Hast

thou been born again for an Eternal Heaven? If

so, well; but if not, the horrors of an Eternal Hell are awaiting thee, and today thou are nearer its unquenchable flame than thou hast

ever been before.

Halt! Why will you meet God with an unsaved soul? He wills it not. Today He pleads, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?" (Ezekiel

33:11).

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+r+ Catherine Booth,

What is repnt ance?

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IN the mouths of three witnesses —John the Bap t i s t, Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul—this word shall be established, that repentance is an indispensable condition of entering the Kingdom of God.

People generally are all at sea

on this subject, as though insist-

ing that repentance were an ar-

bitrary arrangement on the part

of God. I believe God has made

human salvation as easy as His

almighty, infinite mind could

make it. But there is a necessity

.in the case that we should "re-

pent and turn to God." It is

just as necessary that my feelings

be changed and brought to re-

pentance toward God as it is that

the w i c k e d, disobedient boy should have his feelings brought back into harmony with his father before he can be forgiven. Precisely the same laws of mind are brought into action in both cases, and there is the same necessity in both.

If any father has a prodigal son, I ask, how is it that you are not reconciled to your son? You love him intensely. Probably you are more conscious of your love for him than for any other of your children. Your heart yearns over him, you pray for him, you dream of him. Why are you not reconciled? Why are you obliged to hold him at arm's length and not have him come in and out, and live with you? "Oh!" you say "the case is different. I cannot. It is not 'I would not' but `I cannot.' Before that can possibly be the boy's feelings must be changed toward me. He has mis-

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Am I Prepared for

Eternity?

Lost!

IT IS A TERRIBLE WORD.

taken notions and thinks 1 am hard and exacting. I have done all a father could do, but he will go on in defiance of my will." You say "As a wise and righteous father I must insist on a change in him. He must confess his sin and ask me to forgive him. Then I should run to meet him and put my arms around his neck!"

Universal laws

It is not that God does not love you, sinner, or that the great benevolent heart of God has not, as it were, wept tears of blood over you. It is not that He would not put His loving arms around you this moment if you would only come to His feet, and confess your wrong and seek His par-don. He cannot. The laws of His universe are against His doing so. He dare not and cannot until there is a change of mind in you. You must repent. "Except ye repent, ye shall all like-wise perish."

Well, if repentance be an in-dispensable condition of salvation, let us try to find out what repentance really is. How full of confusion the world and the Church are upon this subject!

Repentance is not merely conviction of sin. If it were, what a different world we should have, for there are tens of thousands on whose hearts God's Spirit has done His part by convincing them of sin. We should be perfectly astounded if we had any conception of the multitudes whom God has convinced of sin, as He did Agrippa and Festus. They are convinced of sin, but

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they go no further. That is not repentance. They live this week as they did last.

Neither is repentance mere sorrow for sin. I have seen people weep bitterly and writhe and struggle, yet hug their idols, and vain has it been to try to shake them from them. If Jesus Christ would have saved them with those idols they would have had no objection at all. If they could have got through the strait gate with one particular idol they would have gone through long since, but to part with it is an-other thing. Some people will weep like your stubborn child when you want him to do some-thing which he does not want to do. He will cry, and when you apply the rod he will cry harder, but he will not yield. When he yields he becomes a penitent, but until he does he is merely a convicted sinner.

When God applies the_ rod of His Spirit, of His providence, of His word, sinners will cry, and wince, and whine, and make you believe they are praying and want to be saved, but all the while they are holding their necks as stiff as iron. They will not submit. The moment they submit they become true penitents and are saved. There is no mistake more common than for people to suppose they are penitents when they are not.

Repentance, therefore, is not mere sorrow for sin. A man may be ever so sorry and all the way down to death be hugging some forbidden thing, as the young ruler hugged his possessions. But that is not repentance.

Neither is repentance a promise that you will forsake sin in the future. If it were there would be many more penitents. There

is scarcely a poor drunkard that does not promise, in his own mind, or to his poor wife, or somebody, that he will forsake his drink. There is scarcely any kind of a sinner who does not continually promise that he will one day give up his sin and turn to God, but he does not do it.

What then is repentance? Repentance is simply renouncing sin—turning round from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. This is giving up sin in your heart, in purpose, in de-sire, resolving that you will give up every evil thing, and that you will do it now. Of course this involves sorrow; for how will any sane man turn himself round from a given course into another if he does not repent having taken that forbidden course? It implies, also, hatred of the course he formerly took, and from which he turns.

He is like the prodigal who, when he sat in the swine-yard among the husks and the filth, fully resolved, and at last acted. He went, and that was the test of his penitence. He might have sat resolving and promising till now, if he had lived as long, and he would never have got the father's kiss, the father's welcome, if he had not started; but he went, and went to his father honestly and said "I have sinned" —which implied a great deal more in his language then than it does in ours now. Then comes the proof of his submission "and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" — put me in a stable, or set me to clean the boots, so that I can be in thy family and have thy smile. That is Jesus Jhrist's own beautiful illustration of true penitence.

Submission is the test of penitence. My child may be willing to do a hundred and fifty other things, but if he is not willing to submit on the one point of controversy he is a rebel, and re-mains one until he yields.

Spurious repentance

Here is just the difference between a spurious and a real repentance. I am afraid we have had in our churches thousands who had a spurious repentance: they were convinced of sin—they were sorry for it; they wanted to live a better life, to love God in a sort of general way; but they skipped over the real point of controversy with God; they hid it from their pastor, perhaps, and from the deacons, and from the people who talked with them.

Then another difficulty comes in, and people say "I have not the power to repent." You do not confound the renouncing of

m-'T

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the sin with the power of saving yourself from it. If you renounce it, Jesus will come and save you from it, like the man with the withered hand whom ec" in-tended to heal. Where was the power to come from to heal him? From Jesus. The benevolence, the love, that prompted that healing all came from Jesus; but Jesus wanted a condition, and that was the response of the man's will. So He said "Stretch forth thine hand." Jesus wanted that "I will, Lord" to be inside the man, the response of his will. The moment he said that, Jesus supplied strength. He stretched forth his hand and you know what happened.

Stretch out your withered hand, whatever it may be, and say "I will, Lord." You have the power and mind, you have the obligation, which is universal and immediate. God "now commandeth all men every where to re-pent" and to believe the gospel.
   O

A LIVING EPISTLE

To magnify the mercy of God in lifting me from the pit of sin, and allowing me to tell the story of redeeming love, I write the following :

I was brought up in a Christian home and was

a strict attendant at all the means of grace. I

How shall we avoid the remember what joy thrilled my whole being, when threatened danger? By insisting but a child I arose, in the old-fashioned class-more thoroughly on separation from meeting, to tell that I loved Jesus, because He

first loved me. I always felt when I sat down

the world as necessary to pardon. that I loved Him more than I did when I arose. If one has not the light then let the   At the age of ten, I went out publicly to the

penitent form. My mother thought I should go

light shine. We are becoming too out, if perhaps I might influence my cousins to weak-kneed on this and are allow- go with me. We went, and, while bowing humbly ing to ourselves the possibility of before God, I caught a glimpse of my own unre-

generate heart. I cried to Him who saved the

some having the world, and yet be- chief of sinner:;, believing that He would wash ing saved. We may allow the pos- away all my sins. Great peace filled my soulsibility of individuals not having l°3', assurance, and heaven came down. I was

His child, God was my Father, the Holy Ghost

light, but that does not release us attested that I was a new creature. I covenant-of the responsibility of letting the ed, there and then, that my life should be entirely light shine upon them, nor them devoted to Him. I felt the covenant was sealed

by His blood.

from walking in it when it does   As I grew up many things took my attention,

shine.   but the sweetest place to my soul was the Sun-

day morning class meeting, when my father used

to explain the Scripture. Nothing melted my young heart like my father's prayers and loving entreaties.

Years rolled on, but I felt the vow was passed beyond repeal. I was always glad when there was a revival meeting, so I could humble myself at Jesus' feet and search to find if there was any-thing more I could consecrate to God. I longed to serve Him, without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of my life. Many times God so blessed my soul that I thought I must have perfect love, but was disappointed to find fear still remaining. I shall ever praise God for Holy Ghost teaching on the depravity, of the Justified persons do not love the

world, and if they see anything about them in appearance worldly, they gladly get rid of it, when pointed out. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Show the people that God demands separation. If justified, they gladly receive the light. If they refuse the light, this is their con

demnation, that "men loved dark-

tural heart and the way into the holiest by the

ness rather than light, because their blooc. of Jesus. My inbred foe was uncovered. deeds were evil."   Pride and jealousy were bigger than fear. I Holding steadily to separation load d myself. I felt willing to humble myself

from the world will do much to turn in any way to have a pure heart. Pride struggled hard toe gain the supremacy. He pointed me to

back the tide of popular holiness. the pracher's wife. I had heard no teaching on

The danger here lies in our granting plainness of dress, but thought the preacher's wife ought to be a model. Why, then, should I

the fact that after light shines those not dress as she did? The Lord said, "I want

you for my own peculiar child. Follow Me." I felt the tender arms of Jesus drawing me to His great heart of love. I wanted to say, "Yes." I did say it, as test after test came to me. The hidden rootlets seemed to cling fast, but a "Yes" from the bottom of my soul, and the work was done. I could lift up holy hands, my head was up, and the glory and power of God surged through my soul. Clean I I knew I was clean, every whit clean. Fear and pride and jealousy were all gone. Blessed fountain of cleansing 1 Shout, I had to; tell it, I did.

We had some distance to drive a dark, rainy night; but the way was not dark to me. It was as if a beautiful light shone all around so that I could see the road distinctly, though my brother could not see it. For days I could scarcely reply to any question, for the glad hallelujahs choked me, and would bubble forth. I could not under-stand it at all, but it was heavenly. The words Holiness, Entire Sanctification, and Perfect Love were sweet to me. I had the language of Canaan.

Views of the whitened harvest fields often .came before me. The compassion of Jesus for the sheep who were going astray without any :shepherd, used to melt my heart. I told the Lord I would go if He opened the way for me to get back to school. Many, many times I said, "Lord, I don't know anything, but open my way and I will go." Rather unexpectedly, there was an opening for me to resume my studies at the Iroquois High School. My parents wanted me to take up music, but the call came on me. My prayer was answered. My beloved brother Aaa

and I attended school together, and began teaching the same year. My school was some distance from a place of worship, so, aside from the Sabbath School, which we organized, I had ample time for prayer and reading. At such times, my eyes were fountains of tears for the heathen. I knew God's hand was on me to go to the darkened lands. I attended a Holiness convention at, Winchester. There was a sermon on prayer—"As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." God put the spirit of prayer and supplication upon me, until I felt "The world must be conquered for Christ." I saw my littleness and how little I was accomplishing. My whole soul melted at His presence. Then the voice came, "Will you go?" "Yes," was the response. "Will you go, now?" The responsibility—home,

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outwardly worldly can continue in a justified and even a sanctified state without walking in the same. We do not grant this in our theology or preaching; but like many popular teachers, are we not beginning to fearfully fail in the enforcement of the same? When the signs of worldliness do not stir us to vigilance, it is because we are backsliding our-selves. Have you done your duty here, my brother? Sound an alarm in God's holy mountain.

Worldliness is on the increase, and we shall be swamped unless we take timely warning. Which side of the line are you on, brother? "Ye can not serve God and mammon."

We shall avoid the threatened danger from the popular holiness movement by insisting on death to the carnal mind. While this is in our theology, it is almost entirely neglected in our altar work. The generalization of the modern teacher is overwhelming us. Consecrate all and then believe, in general terms, is all

we hear insisted on. The Bible teaches a death, a crucifixion of the "old man." This is the place to bring in the conflict. Begin to talk death to carnality, and there is a stir among carnal holiness professors.

in every case there will be agony and a sense of the death throes, if the individual goes through on the line shown by the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:6.

God's holiness and vulnerability converge in

history's most important event

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified," the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth. In effect, he was saying: "I've got only one sermon in my briefcase. It's about the cross. If you don't like it, too bad, because you won't hear anything else from me." Paul knew how prone the Corinthians were to disdain the cross of Jesus, and having disdained their Lord's cross to disregard their own cross and instead embrace the glitzy, the sensational, the showy and the self-indulgent. He knew that unless they were re-acquainted with the cross, their faith would erode, their understanding would unravel, and their discipleship would cease to be cruciform. Only the word of the cross could correct them.

God's holiness

Scripture begins with God's holiness. God's holiness is that which constitutes Him uniquely God and utterly distinct from His creation. God is the absolute standard of Himself. His character is therefore without defect or deficiency. His love is free from sentimentality, His anger free from ill temper, His judgment free from arbitrariness, His patience free from indifference, His sovereignty free from tyranny.

God's holiness is what Scripture is actually about, from cover to cover. To be sure, Scripture is also about the holiness of God's people, but always about this derivatively, secondarily. Primarily, Scripture has to do with God's resolute assertion of His uncompromised holiness. This lattermost point is important,

/.i

for in our era the cross isn't seen to be about God's holiness. In our era, the cross is viewed simply as one more instance of human virtue. The world has never been without its martyrs, for instance, and the cross of Jesus bespeaks His martyrdom. The world has never been without those possessed of the courage of their convictions, and Jesus plainly possessed the courage of His convictions. The world has never been with-out those victimized by political and religious power brokers, and Jesus is one more victim.

But the apostles never speak like this of the cross of Jesus. John the Baptist was a victim; John possessed the courage of his convictions; John was a martyr; yet the apostles never speak of the death of John as they do of the death of Jesus. The cross of Jesus has a force, a significance that the beheading of John doesn't approach.

What's more, the cross of Jesus is that one, singular event that looms over everything in Scripture. The older testament anticipates the cross, from the story of Abraham and Isaac to the pronouncements of the prophets. What is it about the cross that renders it the event in human history, the event in the drama of salvation, the event in the life of God Himself apart from which there is no possibility of life eternal for us?

Here we return to the centrality of God's holiness. Everything about Him and us must be understood in terms of His holiness. Sin is our defiance of God's holiness. God's anger (His reaction to our

CPNTfMtteoD f"-SG %b

Dr Victor Shepherd

Chair of Wesley Studies Tyndale Seminary

f

No doubt there are thousands deceived today who have gone through with the intellectual formula. It is, "I consecrate all and put it on the altar. The altar sanctifies the gift. I believe God's words and I am now sanctified." The poor soul often finds pride, envy, jealousy, touchiness, peevishness, impatience, stubbornness, love of flattery, desire for place, lustfulness, evil thoughts, evil surmisings, etc., in his heart, but calls it temptation, goes through with his formula, and goes on saying to himself, "There isn't as much in holiness as I thought, but I must believe and not dishonor God." Oh! bring your "old man" to the cross. He hates the cross, but bring him to it. Now not in theory, if you please, but confess your carnality to God. Look at the blackness until you realize it. Cry out to God, "Let me die." Don't waver or let any dauber with untempered mortar divide your mind. It shall be done. You will know when you have gone through the death throes. Consecration will walk hand in hand with the death agony; and when your "old man" is dead, your consecration will be complete. Hallelujah! Then faith will spring up and grasp God easily, naturally. Amen. God bless you. Go to the rock. Fa,

friends, and all came before me. It seemed as if the whole world was crushing me to the earth. I felt I should die under the burden; but what could I do? The voice said, "Go, and tell Brother Horner your call." It was a heavy cross, but heavier was the weight resting upon me.

I went home, but had to wait until after sup-per was over to unburden my heart. It seemed so like presumption for me to tell him I felt I must offer myself for the work of the Lord. I told him about my call, but said, "Perhaps it is only a test. You won't offend me if you don't think I

am fit for the work." He told me the need was great, and there would be a place for me. I could not understand why I should have to offer myself for evangelistic work in the homeland, when there was a call on me for the foreign field. He said this would be the best preparation for Tt I could have. The whole mountain rolled off my back, and I knew I was in divine order.

The next clay, March 1st, 1895, the Lord crowned me with Fire and Power. The Holy Ghost baptism fell on me, while I was on my way

to the altar.   I felt I was clothed upon from

heaven. I could compare it to nothing more fitting than Samson ,strength. I felt if they bind me with cords, or try to hinder my going I'll burst every bond. Go, I must. I can't do anything else. In a remarkable way God went before me. Truly, IIe goeth before and maketh the crooked places straight; IIe breaketh in pieces the gates of brass and cutteth in sunder the bars of iron..

While God put the burden on me, He was dealing with father, so that when I told him of my call to preach the everlasting Gospel of Jesus, he was perfectly satisfied.

After laboring iu the homeland for five years, the welcome news came for me to sail for Africa's shore. I felt like a bird set free. I could not shed a tear in bidding farewell to father, mother, brothers and sisters. I felt perfectly at home in the land of Pharoah. I was blessed in ministering to the Egyptians, whether in school work, houseto-house visitation, or the public ministry of the Word. God helped me to glean a few precious souls, some of whom are safely housed above the fire. I expect God will give me a few more years to spend in His service. "My times are in His hand." tf

CORA WA VANCAMP. gone to her reward after many years of mission service - her brother died in China as a holiness missionary

Aspiring musicians Lloyd and Dorothy Dwyer changed not only their lives but their

C:3   careers when they became Christians.

Now new workers with CLC, they plan to go to Jamaica early next year.

they were old, they had lived a full life. "But for myself, I was only beginning to enjoy my life and so I didn't need God. Not yet, anyway."

But the more she heard about Jesus, the more Dorothy became aware that "God is not just for old people and I could very well give my life to Him now ... but what would I do about my career, my life, my friends? And what about Lloyd, my boyfriend? No, it would be too complicated at the moment. I had a few more dreams to realise yet."

So Dorothy carried on with her singing, at the same time feeling more and more that there had to be more to life than this, until one Sunday afternoon when she and Lloyd went to visit her mother. Lloyd described what happened:

"I too had become restless and was thinking that there had to be more to life. When we went to visit Dorothy's mother that day, I happened to be casually looking at her bookshelf. A book caught my eye. It was called The Back Side of Satan, by Morris Cerullo. The Lord Himself must have guided me to that book. Dorothy's mother was more than happy to lend it to me, and so I took the hook home and began to read. Little did I know that that book would turn my life around completely.

"It warned of the dangers of the occult and drugs and was aimed at those who did not

Lloyd, Dorothy, Lauren and Matthew.   L„ynO

ife couldn't h ave been better—or so, we   that, for them, it was a natural progression thought," is how Lloyd remembers the

summer of 1984. "Dorothy and I were climbing the heights of our chosen careers." Dorothy was a singer, Lloyd a saxophonist—neither of them dreamed of the enormous change that was just around the corner.

It was while Lloyd was in the army that he discovered his musical ability. After studying jazz part-time at a music college in London, he became lead saxophonist in a well-known group. "I began to make a name for myself on the professional circuit, which is very exclusive and open only to a small percentage of musicians." Earnings were high, and so was the living — alcohol, drugs and all-night parties became a way of life. During this time Lloyd met Dorothy, a singer, who became his girlfriend.

Dorothy's interest in music developed while she was in her teens, and eventually she was persuaded to leave her job as a typist and join a singing group. She went on to sing with other groups and became "more and more taken up in the social life. I loved to dress up and be

seen at parties with 'the stars'. I became totally entrenched in this crazy musicians' world!"

Into this crazy musicians' world came a new influence. Dorothy's mother had become a Christian at the outset of Dorothy's career, and then letters from her father, who was now living abroad, began to indicate that he, too, had "gone religious". Dorothy concluded

know Jesus in a personal way. In particular, the last two chapters challenged the reader to make the decision to choose to give their life either to Christ, or the devil. I knew this was the truth and it was then that I chose to give my life to Jesus.

"As soon as I made that decision, I wept uncontrollably for three days, not because I was unhappy, but because I felt the Lord forgiving me and I felt clean. I turned away from my old style of living and I knew that I was a new person. But I had one problem — how was I going to tell the girl I loved what had happened to me?"

New person

Unbeknown to Lloyd, Dorothy had also been reading the book, and by the time she finished it she, too, was no longer the same person. For two weeks neither of them could bring

themselves to tell the other what had happened, then the time came for confrontation: "Can you imagine the joy, happiness and gratitude to God that we felt? It was monumental," says Lloyd.

Within six weeks they were married, and the day after their wedding they were baptised. They left the music world and found alternative employment, Dorothy as a typist and Lloyd in the Civil Service, but right from the start they had a feeling that "God wanted to use us to glorify him in a particular way." As time went on, His purpose became clear.

About a year after becoming Christians Lloyd and Dorothy decided they should visit Dorothy's father in Grenada. They also thought it would be a good opportunity to spend time listening to the Lord regarding their future. On the way to Grenada they spent a few days in Barbados.

"The night before we left for Grenada, a small gathering of friends had assembled to say goodbye to us. One young lady nervously approached us and said that she felt God had given her a message for us. He had told her that He wanted to use us and He would send someone to us in two weeks' time who would reveal what God had in store . . . Amazingly, two weeks later, a Christian gentleman came

(II.

to my father-in-law's house. This man had never seen us before, yet he told us he felt God wanted to use us, and he gave us a missionary challenge.

"This Christian gentleman turned out to be Bill Almack, Field Leader at that time for CLC in the Eastern Caribbean. He also told us of the need for workers in that area and that they had been praying specifically for a couple from England to join the team. Could we he the couple? We felt immediately that we were!"

Back in London, Lloyd and Dorothy met the CLC staff several times. This confirmed for them their call into the Mission. They then applied to a Missionary Training College, where they studied for two years before applying to CLC for missionary work in the Caribbean. Themselves converted through reading a book, they are now stepping out into a life of passing on the good news through Christian literature.■

SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
By REV. W. ARTHUR

Have not those who see and feel the importance of first seeking the regeneration of individuals, too often insufficiently studied the applicotion of Christianity to social evils ... Fearful social evils may co-exist with a state of society wherein many are holy, and all have a large amount of Christian light. The most disgusting slave-system, base usuages fostering intemperance, alienation of class from class in feeling and interest, systematic frauds in commerce, neglect of work-men by masters, neglect of children by their own parents, whole classes living in sin, usages checking marriage and encouraging licentiousness, human dwellings which make the idea of home odious and the existence of modesty impossible, are but specimens of the evils which may be left age after age, cursing a people among whom Christianity is the recognized standard of society. To be indifferent to these things is as unfaithful to Christian morals on the one hand, as hoping to remedy them, without spreading practical holiness among individuals, is astray from the truth on the other.—TOF.

Teenager Andrea Winkler found herself in the middle of a real-L ANDS Iife nightmare when her father had

a heart attack and died right next to

her — while he was piloting their

planet

The terrified 18-year-old never had a flying lesson, yet had to take charge as A the plane hurtled toward the ground

from 3,000 feet.

"Help me, my dad's collapsed, and he isn't flying this plane anymore!" panicky

Andrea shrieked to air traffic controllers.

Incredibly, the brave teen landed safe and sound a short while later - with help from ground control.

"It was like they were with me in the cockpit," re-called Andrea.

"Without them, I never would have made it.

"At one point the plane started nosing toward the ground. I had seen Papa land plenty of times and knew I had to pull the nose up.

"But it was only when two flight instructors spoke to me that I was sure I could do it.

"They told me to turn the stick this way and that way. They were constantly telling me not to

worry, that it was going to,,._.__

be O.K.

"I just grabbed hold of

the controls anfor jthe Lgitp help   _me.'

The midair drama occurred as Andrea and her 56-year-old father were in the middle of a 200-mile

flight from Germany to Dad collapsed and every-

Austria.   thing became a blur," An-

"We were chatting, then Brea recalled "I think I

elp me! My dad's collapsed & he

H EART-
BROKEN
HERO: An-
drea recov-
ers after
landing the
plane as
rescuers
take care of

her dad's

body.

"She did as she was told.

and although the touchdown

was bumpy, she emerged un-

was crying. but I can't re- "She reacted profession- 'cathed." added Hopper member much."   ally and followed instruc- Tragically Andrea's dad
Andrea was amazingly tions exactly- he declared. was beyond help. Para-

icscould onlyl_ his

Para-calm under the cireuni- 'We gave her very precise medbody from the cock' pipult.

stances, said Siegert Hop- instructions about what to

per: one of the flight instruc- do. how to throttle back and Airport officials were tors who guided her over turn the aircraft around. We amazed   at   Andrea's

t! e radio. were very methodical, like courage. A spokesman said.

you would be for someone "she was a real heroine. getting into a car for the Imagine how difficult it was

first time."   to fly the plane with her

dead father next to .her."

Andrea, back home with her family in Vilsbihurg, Bavaria, said her father would have been proud. She added: "I will never get over losing him but I do not think he suffered too much. If he could have planned it. there'd be nothing he'd have wanted more than to die ill

,the air" F, —JOHN COOKE

_

0 LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name (Isaiah 25:ta).

You are worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power (Revelation 4:11a).

Emergency crews were on standby as the tiny, single-engine TB-10 aircraft came gradually down to the runway in Linz, Austria.

They knew the high school girl had never taken a flying lesson and were prepared for the worst.

4-

15'

1

Rev. JOHN

"God is love." Let us be like "our Father who is in

heaven." Satan is uncharitableness and variance: detest we

his likeness, and let not the faithful and true Witness be obliged to say to us one day, "ye are of your father the devil, whose works ye do," when you keep up divisions. "The devil," says Archbishop Leighton, "being an apostate spirit, revolted and separated from God, doth naturally project and work division." This was his first exploit, and is still his

grand design and business in the world. He first divided our first parents from God, and the next we read of in their first child, was enmity against his brother. The tempter wounded truth, in order to destroy love, therefore he is justly called by our Saviour "a liar, and a murderer from the beginning." He murdered our first parents by lying, and made them murderers by drawing them into his uncharitableness. God forbid that we should any longer do the work of the father of lies and murders!

The great apostle of modern infidels, Mr. Voltaire, has, it is supposed, caused myriads of men to be ashamed of their baptism, and to renounce the profession of Christianity. His profane witticisms have slain their thousands; but the too cogent argument, which he draws from our divisions, has destroyed its myriads. "The shameful quarrels of divided Christians have done more mischief under religious pretences, made more bad blood, and shed more human blood, than all the political contentions which have laid waste France and Germany under pretence of maintaining the balance of Europe." And shall we still make good his argument by our ridiculous quarrels? Shall we help him to

make the world believe that the Gospel is an apple of discord thrown among men, to make them dispute with an acrimony and an obstinacy which have few precedents among men of the most corrupt and detestable religions in the world? Shall we continue to point the dagger with which that keen author stabs Christianity? Shall we finish him with new nails to crucify Christ afresh in the sight of all Europe; or shall we continue to clinch those with which he has already done the direful deed? How will he triumph if he hears that the men who distinguish themselves by their zeal for the Gospel in England, maintain an unabated contest about the doctrines of grace and justice?

Ye are no strangers to the craft and rage of that powerful adversary, 0 ye pious Calvinists and godly Arminians! For

"ye wrestle not with flesh and blood only, but with the principalities and powers" of the kingdom of darkness! Cease then, cease to spend in wrestling one against another, the precious talents of time, strength, and wisdom, with which the Lord has entrusted you, to resist your infernal antagonist.

Cannot Christ's blood, "by which you are brought nigh to God," bring you nigh to each other? Does it not "speak better things than the blood of Abel?" kinder things than your mutal complaints? Does it not whisper peace, mercy, gentleness, and joy? Behold the bleeding Lamb of God, and become gentle, merciful, and loving! See the antitype of the brazen serpent! He hangs on high and says, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me:" and in me they shall centre as the solar beams centre in the sun. And will ye reply,

"We will not be obedient to thy drawings: we will not be concentrated in thee.

"Come to the banqueting house," the temple of peace where "the Lord's banner over you will be love," and his mercy "will comfort you on every side." "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies; fulfill ye the joy" of all who wish Sion's prosperity: "be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. He is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, in whom there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither bond nor free," "but Christ is all in all. My heart is enlarged: for a recompense in the same, be ye also enlarged," and grant me my humble, perhaps my dying request: reject not my plea for peace. If it be not strong, it is earnest: for (considering my bodily weakness) I write it at the hazard of my life.

But why should I drop a hint about so insignificant a life, when I can move you to accept of terms of reconcilation by the life and death, by the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ? I beseech you, "put on, as the (Protestant) elect of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; even as Christ loved and forgave you, so also do ye." Instead of absurdly charging one another with heresy, embrace one another, and triumph together in Christ. "Come up out of the wilderness" of idle controversy, "leaning upon each other as brethren, holy and beloved:" and with your joint forces attack your common enemies, Pharisaism, Antinomianism, and infidelity.

Thus united, how happy are ye among yourselves! How formidable to your enemies! The men of the world are astonished, and say, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" Surely it is a Church formed upon the model of the primitive Church. These people are Christians indeed. See how they "provoke one another to love and to good works!"

Such will be the fruit of your reconciliation. When Pharisaism and Antinomianism shall be destroyed, the Church will be "sanctified, cleansed, and ready to be presented to Christ—a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." Then shall we sing with truth, what we sing without propriety:

"Love, like death, has all destroy'd, Render'd all distinctions void: Names, and sects, and parties fall, Thou, 0 Christ, art all in all."

"Be at peace among yourselves," or sing at your love-feasts:

Love has not our pride destroy 'd,

Render'd our distinctions void;

Names, and sects, and parties rise,

Peace retires, and mounts the skies.

FLETCHER.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created (Psalm 148:5).

January 1, celebrated 40 years of revolution. Throughout these years the Christian church has suffered varying degrees of difficulties and persecution. At times this meant restrictions on evangelism or church ministry, at times

imprisonment and even martyrdom. But God has remained faithful to the church. Although there

are still many difficulties and restrictions placed on the church and its ministry, and Christians still

can suffer imprisonment for their faith, God is opening new doors to reach those who still need to hear about the love of Christ.

1 6.   nit q —

sin) is the reaction of His holiness. God's patience with us is the persistence of His holiness. God's love is His holiness refusing to compromise itself even as it refuses to abandon us. Where does it all come to expression? In the cross. And the cross, the outcome of it all, is the triumph of God's holiness.

Because God is holy, He is jarred by our sin. Sin does more than assault Him; sin offends Him. Since there's no sin apart from sinners, God can't tolerate them either. Then He has only two choices: either He annihilates sinners, or He remedies their sinfulness. It's plain that God has chosen not to annihilate sinners and, because God's love is holy love, He provides what the apostle John calls "the remedy for the defilement of our sin." To say that God's love is holy is to say that His love is neither sentimental nor petulant. It won't let us off, neither will it let us go. In other words, not only is God's love righteous, it is also resolute. His holy love will provide the remedy for the defilement of our sin.

The reason that the cross dominates Scripture is that in the cross, God's holy love absorbs His holy anger and His holy revulsion. In the cross, the judgment of the holy God is enacted and displayed. In the cross, the judgment of the holy God is borne by the Son of God—which is to say, borne by the Father Himself, for Father and Son are one in nature, one in judgment, one in the execution of that judgment, and one in its absorption. The cross is the triumph of God's holiness in that God's relentless opposition to sinners and His unending love for them; His revulsion before sinners and His patience with them; His authority over sinners and His self-willed humiliation beneath them; all of this is concentrated in the cross and finds expression there.

I have said that in the cross, the judgment of God is seen to be operative: His face is set against sin, and sin must issue in alienation from Him. Were there no judgment upon sin, God would cease to be holy. Were God to remain unaffected by our sin; were God to be aware of our sin but indifferent concerning it; were God to know of our sin yet not react to it,

God is willing to suffer for those He loves, and suffer immeasurably, God is there-fore useless. On the contrary, just because His suffering is effective, His suffering can save us.

Let us never forget that the crucified One is not raised healed; He is raised wounded. Let us never forget that the ascended Christ suffers yet. Scripture is perfectly clear on this matter. The hymn writer knew whereof he spoke when he wrote, "Rich wounds, yet visible above."

Since the ascended, glorified, omnipotent Lord suffers yet, it's plain that His rulership of the cosmos is a rule He exercises from the throne of His cross. No one grasped this better than Martin Luther. Over and over in his writings, Luther speaks of the "theology of the cross," theologia crucis. When the world beholds the crucified, it sees only shame. The Apostle John, however, rightly discerned the cross to be the "hour" of Christ's glory. The world sees the cross as weakness. The Apostle Paul, however, knew the cross to be God's strength. The world sees the cross as folly. Yet the Church knows the cross to be that wisdom of God. The world sees the cross as that hideous moment when death gloats. Disciples know that the cross yields life eternal.

Luther knew that the cross is the crucible of all Christian understanding. In the crucible of the cross, the world's understanding is transformed as the

resurrection renders the cross victorious and therein renders Christian under-standing truth. Luther knew that while the world regards the cross as proof of God's uselessness, the cross in fact is the venue not only of God's mightiest work, but also of His most characteristic work. Vulnerability for the sake of Christ's Kingdom has to characterize our disciple-ship. Our discipleship must be cruciform, and a cross is never easy. Take forgiveness, for example. What we forgive is precisely what can never be excused. Most people confuse these two matters. We excuse the excusable. We forgive, on the other hand, what is utterly inexcusable. We forgive precisely what can never be excused. Forgiveness is never easy. Only those people forgive who have been seared and stamped with the cross.

All Christian service is cruciform. Luther said that the Christian never lives in himself. The Christian lives in another. He lives in Christ by faith, and he lives in the neighbour by love. What does this entail?

In the first place, said Luther, we live in our neighbour by sharing his need. This is not especially difficult. Out of our abundance we share our goods with our neighbour in her scarcity.

In the second place, we live in our neighbour by sharing his suffering. This is considerably more difficult, since proximity to another person's pain is itself painful for us. At the same time, we feel rather good about sharing our neighbour's suffering because we feel somewhat heroic, virtuous; we feel even better if we are recognized and commended for this.

In the third place, said Luther, we live in our neighbour by sharing his disgrace. Now no one commends us for it. In fact, people despise us for it. They whisper that we've compromised our standards.

17.

They wag their heads all-knowingly and claim that those who lie down with dogs get up with fleas. They remind us that you can always tell a person by the company he keeps.

Have they lost sight of the One who was numbered among the transgressors? Yes, they have. Was He a transgressor Himself? No, He was not. He who knew no sin was made to be sin in order that inexcusable sinners like you and me yet might be forgiven, and therein be rendered the righteousness of God.

But people of shrivelled heart and bit-ter spirit don't grasp the logic of a love that finds us living not in ourselves but in the neighbour for the sake of the neighbour. Not grasping the nature of such a love, they also fail to grasp the cost of a love that becomes ever costlier as we move from sharing the neighbour's need to sharing his suffering to sharing his disgrace. All discipleship is cruciform.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Christians that the one sermon they were going to hear from him concerned Jesus Christ crucified. The cross must preoccupy us as well. For the cross is that event in which the holiness of God is recognized even as the wrath of God is averted, and the love of God is visited upon disobedient men and women. The cross reflects the truth of He who acts most effectively and most characteristically, precisely where He is most derided as useless. The cross is the pattern of our discipleship, for no servant is ever going to be greater than his master.

The cross is, and ever will be, that act of God whereby His holiness remains uncompromised and His love unimpeded, as holy love fashions a people who reflect His goodness. This people, as stark as it is strong, is a city

it

z o

g

set on a hill. It may be harangued; it

may be harried; it may be harassed;

but in any case it can never be hid. CI -wig rxoap

"God's men are in hiding until the day of their showing forth. They will come. "

"The prophet is violated during his minis-try, but he is vindicated by history."

There is a terrible vacuum in Evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the Prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally other-worldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist. Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and stagnant churchianity. Let him be as selfless as Paul the Apos-

tle. Let him, too, say and live, "This ONE thing   By Leonard Ravenhill I do." Let him reject ecclesiastical favours, let

him be self-abasing, non self-seeking, non self-projecting, non self-glorying, non self-promoting. Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself, but only that which will move men to God.

Let him come daily from the Throne Room of a Holy God. The place where he has received the order of the day. Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism. Let him cry with a voice this century has notheard because he has seen a vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.

God have mercy; send us PROPHETS! 1. -The

`Those who love God with all their heart,'

Mr. Wesley said, `must expect most

opposition from professors who have gone

on twenty years in a lazy, old beaten track,

and they fancy they are wiser than all the

world; these always oppose the work of

sanctification most:" u

Slum lowdown   1 q.

UN-HABITAT'S Global Report on Human Settlements reveals some stunning statistics about the world's slums and slum dwellers. The proportion of the world's urban population living in slums is 32 per cent. But in developing countries that proportion rises to 43 per cent and in the Least Developed Countries to 78 per cent. Meanwhile 6 per cent of city dwellers in the rich world live in slum-like conditions.

The total number of slum dwellers in the world increased by about 36 per cent during the 1990s. In the next 30 years it will increase to about two billion if no concerted action to address the challenge of slums is taken.

In Nairobi 60 per cent of the population lives in slums which occupy about 5 per cent of the land. In about one in four developing countries the law prevents women from owning land or taking mortgages in their own names.

All slum households in Bangkok have a colour television; almost all have a refrigerator and two-thirds have a washing machine. The average number of cellphones per Bangkok slum household is 1.5.

One of the most successful examples of slum upgrading was in Karachi, Pakistan, where residents of the Orangi Pilot Project constructed sewers to 72,000 dwellings between 1980 to 1992, contributing more than two million dollars from their own resources. The community also has exemplary provision in basic health, family planning, education and empowerment. /

—ir-4raRNnridNnu•r

"I have set Thee A Watchman unto the house of Israel."

Ezekiel 33:7

Flame-:in9 *

Is the PROPHET

'Village One' in Mathare Valley, one of the most notorious slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

BANGLADESH: Since following UN advice to dig deeper wells 12 years ago, 15,000 serious cases of arsenic poisoning have been identified. Up to 150 million people from Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam,. Nepal, Pakistan, China and Cambodia have been drinking arsenic-

contaminated groundwater for up to 20 years. The World Health Organization describes it as the 'largest mass poisoning of a population in history'. W

%a.■ Georgia is considering removing the word "evolution" from all text-books. The proposed curriculum would instead discuss "biological changes over time," which can be explained by "competing theories," including the creationist teaching that God made the world in six days, and put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. A teacher who helped devise the new curriculum said it was designed in response to community demands. "When you say the word 'evolution,' people automatically, what-ever age they are, think of the man-monkey thing," she said.   eg

Places for Prayer Each Week of the Year

Ukraine

Venezuela Vietnam

Zimbabwe

'International Offices

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GREAT THINGS!

Here, in the desert land between

Egypt and

Ethiopia, some of the worst

persecution of   believers, so

Christians in the world takes place. Christians are

being crucified,

Japanese Businessman Finds Christ in Prison

On the day he was released from prison in Osaka, Japan, businessman Yashima handed missionary Sam Krause an envelope containing 50 dollars. It was his expression of deep appreciation to Krause for sharing the Gospel with him. Sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his involvement in a bad business deal, Yashima was faithfully visited by his mother and Krause, a church planter with Mennonite Brethren Missions/Services in Osaka.

While the guard sat nearby taking notes of all that was said, the visitors encouraged Yashima and studied the Bible with him. He committed his life to Jesus Christ and upon his release, a Christian businessman hired Yashima to tell his story to the company's 300 workers. Ni

kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Yet they continue to share God's Word with ?10i1-

Christianity will spread across this spiritually starved country u

Z 2r'

PROTESTING SLAVERY - especially children enslaved into hard labour, cruelty, and abuse. Many are injured for life, and all are deprived of education, family, and proper loving childhood. God will judge those evil nes who engage in this vile heartless trade

Revolutionary

r- istianity

uotations from

John Wesley

Y

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

"Nay, in all these Chines we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, „or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre-sent, nor things to come,

"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35,37-39).

More than one hundred people in Punjab, India demonstrated against bonded labour in a week-long march from 2 December, the United Nations

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

Several local groups organised the march, including Anti-Slavery's partner Volunteers for Social Justice (VSJ)•

Bonded labourers, members of scheduled castes, activists, and sympathisers travelled more than 1,5oo kilometres from Bhagwandass Village to Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab. The key aim was to raise awareness among bonded labourers, employers and the general population that bonded labour is illegal under Indian law but remains a significant problem in the region.

On the final day nearly i,000 people marched into Chandigarh to present the governor with a memorandum calling for the Bonded Labour Act to be implemented and for agricultural bonded labourers to be protected from having to work on demand.

VS) founder Jai Singh, is optimistic given the march's success in raising this issue with the authorities. Significantly, five bonded labourers imprisoned in August for refusing to work have been freed and will not be prosecuted. 1

at is t en the perfection of

which man is capable while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the ' loving the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind.' This is the sum of Christian perfection. It is all comprised in that one word, Love.” (Works: Vol. 6 p. 413).

" Scriptural holiness is the image of 'God, the mind which was in Christ, the love of God and man, lowliness, gentleness, temperance, patience, chastity." (Works : Vol. 10 p. 203).

"Wherever Christian Perfection is not clearly and strongly enforced, the believers grow dead and cold. Nor can this be prevented but by keeping up in them an hourly expectation of being perfected in love. I say an hourly expectation, for to expect it at death, or some time hence, is much the same as not expecting it at all." (Works : Vol 3. p. 113).

" And what is ' righteousness ' but the life of God in the soul, the mind which was in Christ Jesus, the image of God stamped upon the heart, now renewed after the image of Him that created it? What is it but the love of God, because he first loved us and the love of all mankind for His sake?" (Works : Vol. 5 p. 256) .

" The   doctrine   that   Christ's
righteousness being imputed to us, we

need none of our own, is a blow at the root of all holiness. Hereby Christ is ' stabbed in the house of his friends ', of those who made the largest professions of loving and honouring him ; the whole design of his death, namely, ' to destroy the works of the devil,' being overthrown at a stroke For wherever this doctrine is cordially received, it leaves no place for holiness. It demolishes it from top to bottom, it destroys both root' and branch." (Works : Vol. 10 p. 366).

" The most effectual way of preaching Christ is to preach him in all his offices

and to declare his law as well as his gospel, both to believers and unbelievers. Let us strongely and closely insist upon inward and outward holiness in all its branches." (Works: Vol. 8 p. 318).

"Absolute, unconditional election and reprobation cannot be found in the Bible and it is a plant which bears dismal fruit. An instance of which we have in Calvin himself who confesses that he procured the burning to death of Michael Servetus, purely for differing from him in opinion in matters of religion." (Works : Vol. 10 p. 266).

" We understand by that scriptural expression, ' a perfect man,' one in whom God bath fulfilled his faithful wd7'd: ' Prom all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.' We understand hereby, one whom God hath sanctified throughout, even in ' body, soul and spirit,' one in whom is ' no darkness at all,' the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, ' having cleansed him from all sin.' " (Works : Vol. 8 p. 485).

" I have this day lived fourscore years and, by the mercy of God, my eyes are not yet waxed dim. And what little strength of body and mind I had thirty years since, just the same I have now. God grant I may never live to be useless." (Works: Vol. 4 p. 256).

" What marvel the devil does not love field preaching! Neither do I. I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, an handsome pulpit.. But where is my zeal, if I do not trample all these under foot, in order to save one more soul." (Works: Vol. 2, p. 491).

All quotations are from John Wesley's Works,

Herbert McGonigle

Indians marc

SECURITY DOCTRINE

Frank M. Walker,   of Ezekiel to continue our study. "The

. Turn now to Ezekiel 18:4. soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son "Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of shall not bear the iniquity of the father, the father, so also the soul of the son is neither shall the father bear the iniquity mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." of the son: the righteousness of the

Under grace back there, God gave or righteous shall be upon him, and the spelled out His Dlvine rule of life, and we wickedness of the wicked shall be upon find the same thing in Romans 6:23: "For him" (Ezekiel 18:20). There is no respect the wages of sin is death; but the gift of for persons in this passage. Then the God is eternal life through Jesus Christ grace of God, as in the New Scriptures, our Lord." To understand that Paul was enters the picture "But if the wicked will talking to believers who had accepted turn from all his sins that he hath Christ, read the context in verses 17-22. committed, and keep all my statutes and These brethren had been servants of sin, do that which is lawful and right, he shall but they had "obeyed from the heart" surely live, he shall not die" (v 21).

the Gospel terms (v 17). "Being then Verse 22 states that "All his transgresmade free from sin, ye became servants sions that he bath committed, they shall of righteousness" (verse 18). They had not be mentioned unto him: in his received the experience of those in righteousness that he hath done he shall Ephesians 2:1-10. They were made new live."

creatures in Christ (II Corinth- True repentance involves a change of ians 5:17,18).   lifestyle or conduct. Read verses 30-32.

The old life of sin had been replaced by The same thing applies in New Testa-a life of righteousness or holiness ment times.

"...and the end (of such a life) We now ask the question: What about everlasting life" (Romans 6:22). Then the righteous man who turns back into a follows the solemn warning to those life of sin and dies therein? "But when believers that the wages of sin is still the righteous turneth away from his death for them if they turn from the life of righteousness, and committeth iniquity, obedience wrought by the power of and doeth according to all the abomina-Christ. Verse 21 says plainly so in tions that the wicked man doeth, shall he substance: "What fruit had ye then in live? All his righteousness that he hath those things (sinful life) whereof ye are done shall not be mentioned: in his now ashamed? for the end of these things trespass that he bath trespassed, and in is death."   his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall

In Romans 5:21 Paul explains further he die" (verse 24). Does this man have "That as sin bath reigned (in their lives) eternal security? Answer: "All his right-unto death, even so might grace reign eousness . . . shall not be mentioned." Sin through righteousness unto eternal life carries the same penalty today for the by Jesus Christ our Lord." Grace does unrepentant backslider.

not reign if sin is reigning. Grace God loves the backslider and pleads for produces and reigns through righteous- their repentance (verses 23, 30-32), but if ness to eternal life. For grace to reign, we they refuse to make the change and die in must remain dead to sin. Read Ro- sin, the penalty is death. Remember that mans 6:1-12 carefully. Remember, this is Jesus by the grace of God tasted death for the same apostle who wrote Ephes_ every man (Hebrews 2:9). That included

ians 2:1-10.   those people in the days that God gave

Let us now go to the eighteenth chapter his message to Ezekiel the Prophet. ip

25, Believers are brothers and sisters in Christ, and love for

each other is the mark of our discipleship. Jesus said, By this

shall all men know that ye are my disciples, by your love for one another.

RIDE the subway or a bus in Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary, and you will be impressed by a cacophony of languages, all shades of skin colour and an array of cultural histories. Our cities and towns are rapidly changing around us. We now eat more tortillas for breakfast than bagels or biscuits or pita bread; and more salsa is sold now than ketchup.

There are very few communities free from

the touch of immigration. What does it mean

• for the church of Jesus Christ to live and make

its witness in a multicultural world?

Most Christian congregations are homogenous and ethnocentric. The staggering diversity being embraced by the postmodem world overwhelms our theological senses.

Now should be a time of rejoicing. These

times are similar to the Day

of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended. Those who had previously been separated by geography, culture and language suddenly found them-selves understanding others with whom they had nothing in common save that they were all descendants of Abraham. But as scripture reminds us, not all who witnessed this event understood.

The Pentecost nature of

An hour given now for God may be worth Christian mission can create new paradigms a thousand you intend to give Him to- for witness and evangelization. But instead of morrow! ! Our opportunity for service is dim- rejoicing, we find ourselves threatened and

inishing with each passing day. Surely the defensive, wondering whether all this heteroworld is full of awful reminders that our tune is short.   geneity is not merely the babblings of a world

falling apart, rather than the blessing of a It is imperative that we sot for God now.

There may not be many tomorrows for all- world to which God is giving birth.

out obedience to the command of Christ to reach a world. Back your prayer with action now. — Paul W. Fleming.

WHAT

COLOUR

ts youR

GOD?

By Sam Owusu

will praise You; for You have heard me. and have become my salvation

(Psalm 118:21).

ACTION '

There are really four churches in Canada: the black, the white, the brown and the yellow. The lack of serious attempts toward merging these parallel tracks is a shameful statement about the Canadian church.

Do congregations see themselves as the last line of defence in a siege by a pluralist and skeptical age, maintaining the status quo down to the last member, or do they have the willingness to adapt for missionary ministry in this postmodern setting?

The affirmation of our plurality comes easily, but defining what now unites us is a far more difficult task. Is it any wonder that people are skeptical of the plausibility of multicultural congregations?

How the church of Jesus Christ deals with the rapidity and the complexity of this multi-cultural, postmodem ethos will tell the world whether or not it has reason to listen to the message we proclaim.

During the civil rights struggle, in the U.S., the church in essence said to the culture, "Do as we say, not as we do." To the culture they said it was a moral imperative to integrate our schools, workplaces and neighbourhoods – while simultaneously preserving segregation in services of worship.

By refusing to embody the truth claims of the gospel that they preached to their culture, the church lost her credibility.

If we cannot be trusted on an issue such as with whom we are willing to share the body and blood of Jesus, why should our culture believe anything else we have to say? We say it is okay to be multicultural in our schools, workplaces and even neighborhoods – but not in our churches.

I am convinced that the advent of the postmodern world has given the church a new opportunity to engage our culture. I also

believe multicultural congregations are the new plausibility structures in this environment that will inspire the world to consider the gospel's plausibility.

On a typical Sunday in our church is

-r, people of different ethnic back-grounds enjoy a wonderful and exciting experience. This reminds us that Christ is greater than we can imagine – a multicultural God who understands the languages of the multitudes all over the world.

We might have thought of God as siding with our cultural group and concerns alone. But the diverse group in the sanctuary reminds us that our God is also active in other lands, caring for the child in Singapore, the mother in the Tijuana countryside and the young man selling his wares in northern Nigeria.

We limit the greatness of our Lord when we know him as a local God who speaks our language and understands our conditions alone. The Intentional Multicultural Church provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of the scriptures.

It takes away our haughtiness, our belief that we are more important and more knowledgeable than others. It teaches us to learn the word in more depth because the-insights of others help us see things that our blinders shut out before. It tells us that one part cannot tell another, "I have no need of you."

Every Christian looks forward to the day when 'every nation, tribe, people and language' (Rev 7:9) will stand before God's throne. The body of Christ is incomplete until it reflects all the peoples Christ came to save. The church must widen her vision, or wither.

Sam Owusu is pastor of Calvary Worship Centre

MISSION FIELDS

NOTE: Out of respect to our Lord and for the edification27'

of our neighbour, we beseech in His Name that women and girls appear in church services modestly dressed slacks, shorts, sleeveless, minis and low—cut dresses do not meet the norm-of Christian modesty. Your cooperation is an evidence of your lover for OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR and respect for the

place of worse

Ptileeeff-t

by Victor Burford,

Please explain the correct interpretation of the word "hate" as Christ uses it in Luke 14:26 "If anyelhe comes to Me and does not hate his-father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." Doesn't "hate" contradict the commandment to honor our father and mother?

The word "hate" in Luke 14:26 should be understood in a relative sense, not in an absolute sense. The verse appears in a context dealing with Jesus' teaching on the high cost of discipleship. A person who elects to follow Jesus-soon realizesthat there are certain difficulties

involved in maintaining loyalties both to Christ and to other earthly interests such as family, friends, and career. Sometimes the Christian is forced to choose between his love for Christ and his love for family. ' The outcome usually indicates who has priority.

However, Jesus is not contradicting the commandment to honor one's mother or father. Rather, He is stating a principle intended to underscore the radical demands of true discipleship: Loyalty to Christ must supersede all other loyalties — including that to family — particularly when other earthly attachments become hindrances to, the supreme relationship one has with Christ.

The same truth is expressed in a different way in Mat-thew 10:37, 38: "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (NIV). Salvation is a free gift, but disci-

pleship is a costly sacrifice. It requires that one bear the

shame and pain often associated with allegiance to Christ. w

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, ■nd the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; - And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb:

For the greet day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev. 6:14-17

And 1 will say to my soul, Soul, thou bast much goods laid up for many years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hest provided?

So Is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and Is not rich toward God.

Luke 11,15-21

Dublin

Thank you for not smoking: Ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces—including pubs and restau-

rants. Patrons annoyed by smokers flouting the new law can call a hotline set up by the Office of Tobacco Control and report offending pubs and other establishments. Irish health officials said the ban was intended to prevent cancer and heart disease. Nearly one-third of Irish adults smoke, and Ireland has the highest rate of heart disease in Europe. But not everyone supported the ban. "In my view, it will lead to trouble," said Member of Parliament Jackie Healy Rae, "real terrible trouble later in the night, when people have

— 1/ R had a few extra drinks."

I

Army's beginnings, wrote: "There

are those who tell us that the hope of The Salvation Army in the future is in its young people. I do not agree with that. The hope of

the Army is in its penitent form. As soon as that goes out of use, we go out. The sign of the finger of God on the mercy seat is the crowning glory of God's favour on The Salvation Army."

i sometimes wonder if we are witnessing the beginning of the disappearance of the mercy seat. I cherish the thought that in every Salvation Army place of worship around the world there is a bench, chair or altar of some kind as a symbol—sanctioned by God—where prodigals may find their way home. Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle said that it was at the mercy scat that the two great spiritual crises—salvation and sanctification—were resolved.

Yet any symbol can lose its power and become dead and useless. When that happens we must find ways of bringing life back into that symbol or eventually it will be set aside. The salt will have lost its savour.

"The dividing line between God and the world goes through each man's heart;" wrote John Henry Newman. "The worldly man is one whose heart is so earthbound that he has forgot-ten that he is made for Heaven"

We, Like our Salvationist comrade arc a penitent--lam people - in all our meeting halls, there is a Mercy-scat of prayer !vim-17 bench sinners can publicly kneel in repentance and seek the lord and Saviour- we too, must take this to hear/

I-Colonel David 1-lanunand is a rcrircd ollicer

II      repentance and faith.William Booth said:"I began there; I have i] he Salvation Army mercy scat was originally a place of

continued there and I intend to die there, and if there he any token placed in my coffin as a symbol of my heart's delight, let

be a mercy seat." For Booth it was a place where the miracle of public

onversion took place.

More than a hundred years ago, British entrepreneur and statesman ccil Rhodes visited the Army's farm colony at Hadley Wood, where the and-ion of the mercy scat was explained to him."Ahf Yes, i see it now;' e said."This is the line of demarcation that separates the old lift from ie new:' He grasped the concept immediately. The mercy seat is the ividing line that marks our decision to separate ourselves from the pint of the world and our greedy self-centred age." Therefore come out rani them and he separate, says the Lord" (2 Corinthians 6:17a).

Time has eroded the original purpose of the mercy seal. Cataracts loud our spiritual eyes and we are in danger of losing our vision. onducting a survey among British Salvationists about current mercy eat usage, Major Nigel Bove), discovered that it apparently serves mulple purposes. increasingly, Salvationists are linking the mercy seat pith the communion table—a meeting place rather than a changing aom. The first purpose of the mercy seat has been all but forgotten, eeking and saving the lost no longer a priority mission.

The Apostle John wrote: "Jesus is the propitiation (atoning sacriceJ for our sins ..." (I John 2:2 KJl').'t'he Greek word hilasteriorr is anslated in the Krug hones Version as "propitiation" but by Tyndale s "mercy seat" Does that shed light on our darkness? Perhaps that is 'hy our forefathers, when calling people to the mercy seat, would often ouch their invitation in words such as: "Come to Jesus!.

General Albert Orsborn, whose roots were deeply entrenched in the

The mercy seat is a mystical line that exists everywhere we live and

work. Jesus said to Pilate:"My Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

Two kingdoms—Christ's and Satan's—are the milieu in which we live

out our existence in this fallen world, and daily we make choices about

our investments. The glory of the Army's message is that no matter where

we are, there is a place to meet with God and be reconciled to his pur- I Cherish the

poses. Think of the thousands who have knelt in the open-air meeting

by the curbstone using an old drum as the place of prayer, wept tears of thought that in repentance and exercised childlike faith in a loving Father. It is no wonder every place 0 f

that our forebears regarded the mercy seat as supremely important.

I have noted with sadness that in some of our places of worship the worship around mercy seat has disappeared.And, what is more troubling, its absence is barely noticed. It does not seem to make a difference. If this becomes the world there

a trend, it has tremendous significance for our future and for our mis-

sion. Pray that the mercy seat will remain central to our Movement and is a bench, chair remain a high priority in our affections. It is still the"line of demarcation" between the old life and the new. gl< Hn g.12o u   or

0 let my hands forget her skill,

My tongue be silent, cold and still,

This throbbing heart forget to beat,

If I forget the mercy seat! (SASB 5731 ___....

the second coming of Christ is the great hope of the church, the grand climax of the gospel and plan of salvation. His coming will be literal, personal, and visible. Many important events will be associated with His return, such as the resurrection of the dead, the destruction of the wicked, the purification of the earth, the reward of the righteous, and the establishment of His everlasting kingdom. The almost complete fulfillment of various lines of prophecy, particularly those found in the books of Daniel and the Revelation, with existing conditions in the physical, social, industrial, political, and religious worlds, indicates that Christ's coming "is . near, even at the doors." The exact time of that event has not been foretold. Believers are exhorted to be ready, for "in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man" will be revealed. (Luke 21:25-27; 17:26-30; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 1:7; Heb. 9:28; James 5:1-8; Joel 3:9-16; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Dan. 7:27; Matt. 24:36, 44.)

1d~«y

in some of our places of worship the ilercy seat has disappeared. We are in danger of losing this important „line of demarcation”

// ®'' \ jLt.

I

prodigals may find their way home

3o.

Expect It Now

IT CANNOT BE DENIED

-   Benjamin

By   >l eld

The entire sanctification of our nature

By Daniel S. Warner may take place long before death, and be "This is the will of God, even your exemplified in whatever position Provianctification." (4:3). Had they been en- dence may place ifs. Our reasons for this irely sanctified when they "received the conclusion are:

vord of God" and the "joy" of pardon, 1. We find no intimation in the Bible here would be no need of the Apostle that we cannot be cleansed from sin while irging it upon them now, no occasion in life and health; and in no one pas-or affirming it to be the will of God, sage is it hinted that the glorious trans-or they would have known it by experi- formation must be postponed to the end once.   of our career: All the commands and

Sanctification is urged upon these con- promises that relate to this subject are rerts lest they fall into the shameful so worded as to convey the idea of a )ractices common to the low grade of present application.

ieathen society from which they had been

•aised by the gospel. 2. We are nowhere taught that the Paul continues to urge this important soul's connection with the body is a necesvork of grace upon them by declaring sary obstacle to its entire sanctification. hat "God hath not called us unto un- indeed, it is explicitly declared that the

leanness, but unto holiness." (4:7) body, with all its appetites, powers, and Finally, as if to arouse all their ener- members, is to be sanctified to God. ;ies into immediate effort to reach the (Rom. 6:13; I Cor. 6:19-20; II Cor. 4:10-;lorious summit of full salvation, the 11; I Thess. 5:23; Heb. 10:22).

Apostle lays before them the manner of His fervent "night and day" prayers: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." (5:23-24)

With this epistle open before us, I postively assert that:

1. It cannot be denied that the Thessalonians to whom Paul wrote were genuinely converted to God.

2. It cannot be denied that they possessed more than ordinary faithfulness in the Lord.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION is the purifying or purging of the heart of the believer from the root of sin and all selfishness, so that the believer will be enabled to love God wholeheartedly. It is received by repenting of, or a renunciation of inward sin, and a simple faith in the L'n-d Jesus for entire cleansing. le

Soul Winning with Gospel Tracts by Rev. Romule S. Buchanan

• A tract always speaks clearly and right to the point.

• It always sticks to the Truth - never compromising or arguing back when its message is disputed.

• It only glorifies Jesus, as the Holy Spirit reveals the Word of God to the reader.

• It can easily get into secret places - even where you cannot gain entrance - to be revealed at His chosen time.

• It never gets tired, upset, discouraged or gives up.

• It requires no food, clothing or shelter.

• It costs very little and travels inexpensively.

• It can be distributed by anyone, any age - deaf, mute, crippled, even blind or in a wheelchair.

• It conveys a rpessage that is never lost like a sermon and can be read over and over again, long after you are gone and forgotten.

• It may be read by scores of people before the Holy Spirit is completely finished with its purpose.

No other Method of Evangelism
and Church Promotion is as Personal
and Cost Effective as a Simple Gospel Tract!

1 HOW ABOUT

GopeE r-acts

"Who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."

HEBREWS 11:33,34

IS FAITH A RISK? Of course.

But failing to step out in faith is to risk missing real life. To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To place our ideas, our dreams, before a crowd, is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

RISKS must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love. . . live. M

Author unknown

L   J

3. It is the blood of Christ, and not "the last enemy," that cleanseth from all sin (I John 1:7; Rev. 1:5) ; and-it would be an insult to Christ and to His "precious blood" to suppose that He cannot saye His people from thew sins while soul and body are united.

4. The Scriptures connect our entire sanctification with subsequent habits and acts to be exhibited in the conduct of believers before death." (Rom. 6:6; 19, 22; II Cor. 7:1; I Thess. 5:23).

5. The Scriptures, also, "require us to bring fo