OCTOBER 22 , 2021 Editor | Dr . Shelton Smith Vol . LXXXVII , No . 20
Offenses 5
Tender Compassion
12
The “ Easy Street ” Myth
9
No More Crying !
“ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death , neither sorrow , nor crying , neither shall there be any more pain .”— Rev . 21:4 .
Beloved , a Bible text stands at the top of this page . I am going to tell you something which I hope will make you remember that text as long as you live .
I am going to tell you about three places of which the Bible says a great deal . It matters little what we know about some places , but it matters much to know some - thing about these three places .
First , there is a place where there is a great deal of crying .
Second , there is a place where there is nothing else but crying .
Third , there is a place where there will be no crying at all .
J . C . RYLE
I . There Is a Place Where There Is a Great Deal of Crying
What is that place ? It is the world in which you and I live . It is a world full of beautiful and pleasant things . The sun shining by day and the stars by night ; the blue hills looking up to heaven and the rolling sea ebbing and flowing ; the broad , quiet lakes and the rushing , restless rivers ; the flowers blooming in the spring and the fields full of corn in autumn ; the birds singing in the woods and the lambs playing in the meadows — all , all are beautiful things .
I could look at them for hours and say , “ What a beautiful world it is !” But still it is a world where there is a great deal of crying . It is
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Afghan Chaos Continues
Christians in Hiding , Sharia Intolerance
They take turns staying awake , praying and walking the floor while others sleep — blissfully unaware , at least for a few hours , that they are being hunted . They have no passports , no visas and very little of what they need most of all : hope . For these Christians , in a safe house deep in Afghanistan , time is running out . Together , they live in fear of a single knock on their hiding place door , from the Taliban .
“ It happened so fast ,” Sarah said . “ We had many plans for preaching the Gospel with other brothers and sisters .…” Now , their plan is just to survive . Even that , they know , will be difficult . To the despair of rescue groups and humanitarian workers , the small population of Christians in Afghanistan has seemed to vanish , almost overnight . Some have fled to the hills , others have retreated into the shadows , turning off their phones and hunkering down in whatever undisclosed locations they can find . Some have just gone missing completely .
For people like Jean Marie Thrower , those are the ones that haunt her . “ People … are going missing and getting killed every day .” On the ground , her Afghan Rescue Crew hears the harrowing stories of desperate parents . “ We have had people shot , beheaded . They ’ re taking the kids . If you ’ re on the run and they find your family , they ’ ll
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Socialism Unamerican , Unchristian , Marxist
I . SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM ALIKE
Let me define socialism . I have here a book , Labor and Tomorrow ’ s World , by the late Bishop G . Bromley Oxnam , Methodist bishop in Washington , D . C .
A . Socialism , Just Like Communism , Says Do Away With Private Ownership of Property and Business
On page 90 Dr . Oxnam tells us what socialism is . This is an au -
In II Timothy , chapter 4 , we have a wonderful picture of Paul the Aged . He is old in years , although we do not know just how old ; but he is aged by something more than the passage of time . The bent form , the scarred face and shoulders , the wrinkled brow tell us of his suffering .
They tell of the time he was stoned and left for dead , of the times that he was beaten , of the hours he spent in the stocks and of his days on the dusty roads and storm-tossed seas . That air of intense concentration reminds us of his long preoccupation with his work and the “ care of all the churches ” which came upon him daily .
Yet in spite of his bent form and gray hair , there is still a fire in the eyes as he looks out and a suggestion of vital energy from within in his movements that tell us that Paul the Aged is still Paul the Apostle , the same man who met Christ on the road to Damascus .
“ Preach the word ; be instant in season , out of season ; reprove , rebuke , exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine .
DR . JOHN R . RICE
thoritative statement . He was a socialist and favored it and knew what it is .
In a little volume now more than thirty years old entitled Socialism Summed Up , Morris Hillquit set forth the essential position of the socialist with exceptional lucidity . He says : “ The Socialists demand that the principal industries of the nation , the business of providing the necessaries of life , be conducted by the community for the benefit of its members .”
Come Before Winter Meeting or Missing Opportunities
JAY PEDEN
“ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers , having itching ears ;
“ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth , and shall be turned unto fables .
“ But watch thou in all things , endure afflictions , do the work of an evangelist , make full proof of thy ministry .
“ For I am now ready to be offered , and the time of my departure is at hand .
“ I have fought a good fight , I have finished my course , I have kept the faith :
“ Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness , which the Lord , the righteous judge , shall give me at that day : and not to me only , but unto all them also that love his appearing .
“ Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me :
“ For Demas hath forsaken me , hav - ing loved this present world , and is departed unto Thessalonica ; Crescens to Galatia , Titus unto Dalmatia .
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And then he says :
Stated in more concrete terms , the Socialist program requires the public or collective mem - bership and operation of the principal instruments and agencies for the production and distribution of wealth — the land , mines , railroads , steam - boats , telegraph and telephone lines , mills , factories and modern machinery .
That takes in most of it , doesn ’ t it ? What about that , that they are not to be privately owned but to be owned by the government ? That is socialism . We read on :
This is the main program and the ultimate aim of the whole Socialist movement and the political creed of all Socialists . It is the unfailing test of Socialist adherence , and admits of no limitation , extension or variation . Whoever accepts this program is a Socialist ; whoever does not , is not .
What is the program ? Public ownership of all the principal in - struments and agencies , production , distribution of wealth , the land , the mines , railroads , all the farms , all the factories , all the shops , steamboats , telegraph and tele - phone lines , mills , factories and modern machinery . No private ownership — that is socialism .
You ask the difference between that and communism . No difference in the creed . The only difference is that communism insists on the right to take over with a violent overthrow , bloodshed and murder , while the socialists say , “ No , let us get in and do it in America little
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