communism revolution \ famine earthquake \ arab ki dnapi ng

BOLSHEVISM
COMMUNISM
REVOLUTION
\ FAMINE
•\
EARTHQUAKE
K I DNAPI NG
\ AGRICULTURAL _
UNRESTi
CRIME WAVE
FLOODS
CAPITAL ANO
\
LAB oR STRIFE'
HURRICANE
REVOLliTfON
/sAILITAR,Y
PREPARATIONS
I
FoLtSH CoRRWOR
j DN..
FRICTION \
RHINE /
\ ARAB
CONFLICT
\ RACE
WAR
WORLD FORE
Franklbfk.4,Roosevelt,
President of the United States
s IT presumptuous in these days when the excep- On the other hand, Russia has for decades had her
tional is the ru
unexpecteci,,,,
thing expected AA
peer around4
ti-and Sk.oile'ffegitne'llfe a
into'llte future? Pe
but from eat
I/Ong:::the dominant power in
the hurnan,rnind hak
\-4tiable in its
a (lrIct, She feelSfliat japan is Oath:tally crowding
knowledge of to-mitt
ancients hi
04' as- hci &JUL of this sector, and:Iheref ere: declares that
trologers, their divine
heir haruspices, .04tPthem when her second five-year plan of industrialization
in their quest for ii,glihapse of things to. COrriii., "Ttiti atiditeechinization is accomplished; she will challenge
day we have our elaborate charts and graphs :Of. :*hat
supremacy in Manchuria sand the Orient.
has been to give us some inkling of what may be, In Many leaders in Japan are urging that Nippon strike
this highly scientific age we are more anxious than : befOre Russia has time adequately to prepare for t*
ever before to know what lies behind the veil.: Stock claski Thus war between Russia, alid
is a conand bond manipulators offer a king's ransoni to get stant.,,threat to world affairs; and relations between
"inside information" even an hour in advtince, of the thein , can eventuate only in conflict on the field 61
general public. Yes, nothing intrigues men ancl vvomen- battle., which conflict may involve suchglAtionea
and lures them on so much as the intimation that they Brit'*, France, and the United:§t0a.
may know what a day may bring forth.
And now what of 1934? A year of disquietude in
Europe Drifts
the hearts of men and of turmoil in the affairs of the
That is one Damoclean sword dangling Over our
world has just closed. Will the next twelvemonth
serve us better or worse? Will the heroic efforts now uneasy heads. Another is the precariotis state of Eubeing made by national and international leaders to ropean affairs. With the recent coming to' power of
bring equilibrium and security really avail, or are we Adolf Hitler, Germany and France seem nearing a
destined to drift another year on uncharted and turbu- breaking point. France planned - to keep Germany
shackled by the restrictions of.the Treaty of Verlent seas?'
. :54illes; but Hitler repudiates Versailles, and demands
Our prediction is that 1934 will be patterned
after 1933, with no appreciable alleviation. of our parity of armament and a place for Germany irt.the
troubles, and with the ominous possibility tha :"tiste world's sun. Meantime Hitler is building up Gernext world war" may be precipitated before‘aruith0 many's army, navy, and air force fiir‘ hostilities,:if hostilities must be. Germany is keenly resentful 'of , the
New Year's Day. Internationally, we are neat
aster. A world war may break out any time, or Sit rua- severance of East Prussia by the Polish Corriclor,,atid
will fight if need be for the abolishinent of 'that -Cerbe postponed a few years. Dynamite and T. N,T.
thickly strewn over the globe. Everything ,.Set'f 0 ridor. Poland.; is an ally. of France; and if Hitler
a gigantic explosion. Only a spark is lacking=; and r* should attack Poland, France woad immediately
one knows when friction may produce. thit''fatal: come to the aid of PilStuiski and hiS
spark. If we are successful in averting iworld war Some hot-heads in Irince, fearing restoration of ger,
man military power, are demanding that France war
during 1934, then we shall probably mtictdle
on Germany immediately, before Hitler has oppormuch the same as in 1933.
tunity to train and eqtiip his forces. Herriot and other
:Nf the saner minds of France are counseling time and
Armageddon 'Brewing
diplomatic jockeying rather than an immediate break.
Let us glance at the international situation briefly. The year 1934 is destined to be a crucial year in
During the next twelve months Japan and Russia will Franco-German affairs.
draw nearer to that great conflict which all students
In southern Europe and the Balkans things are in
of world affairs say is eventual and inevitable between a brew too. Mussolini is about through with the
them. Japan, led by such imperialistic warriors as League of Nations, and is trying to substitute a "conGeneral Araki, in her seizure of Manchuria, has re- cert of the major powers." His object is to cut
cently fortified her position in northeastern Asia. It France off from the support of the Little Entente,
is evident that she will challenge any and all powers and to bring into the counsel of the nations the United
that attempt great influence or territory in the Orient. States and Russia, as well as Japan and Germany,
Rimktwkwsa%wV,Qie U
Japan
General HughJohnsolb
Chief of the National Recovery
Administration
William Green,
President of the American
Federation of Labor
Henry 41:1W
Acting Secretary:6f the Treasury
Tpeor
Benito MussOlini,
Adolf Hitler,
Josef V. Stalin,
Joseph C. Pilsudski,
Dictator-Preosier of Italy
Dictator-Premier of Germany
Dictator Leader of Russia
Dictator-Premier of Pnland
Page' Two
SIGNS of the TIMES
I:AST FOR 1934
which latter have recently deserted the League of
Nations and the Disarmament Conference. Ramsay
Macdonald, Sir John Simon, and Arthur Hw.
of England, are doing their utmost to OK, ••:.•4S q
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Continental nations from coming to a s.\
It is altogether improbable that N•••t‘o :T'i.,
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will better in 1934, and they can ‘.‹,.
.. 01,, :,. 's N4 •i,,Msk,.•
more precarious state. Then
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toward a combination of paternaliem and socialism:
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pto;anda
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der of India
d. Our national life will be moremore
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the job. International trade cannot pick up,
,
nations are warring on one another comm
with no omen of truce or agreement in sigh \-,:ss
nation is trying to work out its own salvation,
with problems of unemployed millions, dep
currency, and increasing taxation.
In the United States, President Roosevelt
that old remedies for depressions are impote
present emergency, is seeking a new way ou
financial pit into which we have fallen. Un
supervision of such men as General JohnsonL
taries Ickes, Wallace, and Morgenthau, a barrage of
new plans is being tried. They are trying to curb production, stimulate consumption, and to energize moribund business by liberal injections of Federal appropriations.
The year 1934 will see Federal money poured out
in increasing billions for CWA, PWA, AAA, and NRA
projects. It will see the government stepping farther
and farther into the supervision and control of business and finance. In the United States we are headed
• as
ks•
ulous expenditure of money for relief purhave to be paid for ultimately, amj,„tht
taxation will increase in 193,4,,,,afa for a
o come. The present system is tantamount „ -----'s dole system, and once begun cannot
nued. America will probably never see the
he has less than four million unemployed
Pope Pius XI,
Head of the Catholic Church
of the time many more. Due to die disman power by machine power and the
A
'trade, the specter of unemplo,yillions is with us to stay.
1 undoubtedly see a battle royal
inflation. This_yyill tesult/Ary,,,
04, s, •s.k•.. 4 kt•.•
and instability in the business
JK
ts,a
ness. We shall also witness fur-
a a al,,` as, 8
$, •;$ nflict betWffen lirennorfest
s
se who would wrest controlling
them. The American Federation of,Labor ,„
;$$ leadership of William Green has been
engthened through the NRA codes. Oror will with increased confidente demarld„„,„_„,
Employers under straightened circum6Inekr/WiWal,lzi,
d diminishing returns will resis,t. ThereMilitary Leader of Japan
will see no let-up in the warfare between,,,,,,,,,
labor, but perhaps added friction. There
ing numbers of thoughtful men and women
e that the old capitalistic system has served...
d that its overturn is already past due.
Greater perturbation in the realm of industry,,, and
finance they say is ahead of us. Perhaps so. There,,,,
can be no dispute but the leaven of socialism and
communism is most diligently working in the social
lump these days, but the outcome—who knows!
Morally and religiously what is the d'utl,nok for
1934? In such a time of stress and turmoil it is logical to expect that men everywhere would turn to'""
God. There is evidence that many are doing this,
// eI,g,yord Herriot,
and for this we can praise His (Continued on page 15)
Political egb*f France
$
Ns..„
*soy,
aft
R yt say Maponald,
Prime nister of / at Brit
A f o r ANUA Y 2. 1',34
/
O
00
Eductr43enes, •
Fore* M inist e „,pf CzechoSlovakii0'
0.)
O
%
uss,
P
e Minister of
tria
Sze,An Simon,
Foreign Pone?. irt of Britain
Page tree
Christ
ENK1121412M-Tain*SW—i
the BIBLE, and the SABBA
f'4*;:k..'t.-IVACA
—
In all God's dealing with
men is there any foundation
for any Sabbath but that of
the seventh day of the week?
ARTHUR S. MAXWELL
r-ji.1HE Sabbath is the oldest institution
known to man. It shares with marriage the honor of receiving God's
pr. meval blessing in the Garden of Eden.
The Sabbath was given to commemorate
God's creative power. "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in
it He had rested from all His work which
God created and made." Genesis 2:3.
As Christ was the Father's agent in the
act of creation (Colossians 1:16), it was He
who established the seventh-day Sabbath.
Therefore, the seventh-day Sabbath is the
Christian Sabbath.
For All Men and All Times
The Sabbath was given to all mankind.
Mark 2:28. It was not intended for any one
nation, but for every living soul.
It was given to provide for essential physical and spiritual needs of the human race.
It is not a Jewish ordinance, but a vital factor in the life of men.
From the beginning, the Sabbath was a
token of loyalty to God. Those who revered
God kept His commandments. Those who
rejected God did not.
The knowledge of the Sabbath was preserved by God's champions through all the
early years of the world's history, and in
the heart of Noah and his family survived
the Flood.
Abraham, centuries before Sinai, was a
Sabbath keeper. God says of him: "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge,
My commandments, 'My statutes, and My
laws." Genesis 26:5.
When Israel were delivered from Egypt,
before they reached Sinai, they were exhorted to keep the Sabbath. Said Moses :
"To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath
unto the Lord. . . . Six days ye shall gather
it [the manna] ; but on the seventh day,
which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be
none." Exodus 16:23-26.
The Fourth Commandment
On Sinai, God enshrined the Sabbath in
the heart of His holy law. He said : "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
Christ observed the seventh-day Sabbath both before and after His
crucifixion. In fact, He observed no other. He sought to free it from the
red tape and the endless ceremonials the scribes and Pharisees had built
about it, and to restore its spiritual significance.
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates: for in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in
them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and
hallowed it."
Of the Ten Commandments, John Wesley says: "Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all
ages; as not depending either on time, or
place, or any other circumstance liable to
change, but on the nature of God and the
nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other."
Because the law of God is unchangeable,
the Sabbath is unchangeable. The Sabbath,
announced at creation and reaffirmed on
Sinai, is the Sabbath for all time. It cannot be changed by human ordinance. Only
God could change it, and He has not
changed it.
Christ's Example
When Christ came to the earth, He observed this same Sabbath. Indeed, He kept
the Sabbath both in His life and in His
death.
Christ attended the synagogue on the
Sabbath day. Luke 4:16. He healed on the
Sabbath day, and taught the Jews how the
day should be observed. He lay in the tomb
on the Sabbath day, and did not rise until
the Sabbath was past.
Christ did not change the Sabbath. If He
had done so, such a startling innovation
would certainly have been recorded either
(Continued on page 10)
"Signs of the Times," January 2, 1934. Vol. 61, No. 1. $1.50 a year in the United States. Printed and published weekly (50 issues a year) by the Pacific Press
Publishing Association at Mountain View, California, U, S, A, Entered as second-class matter September 15, 1904, at the post office at Mountain View, California,
under Act of March 3,1917. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage, provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, and authorized September 18, 1918.
Page Four
SIGNS of the TIMES
Our MOVIE-MAD Generation
Xt..45'.714V1.,erivri,AMYW4t,ZA7-MaDWit'e_Csia14.t'rgl...74VVitgaMMI
What the movies are showing us, and the effect of them
upon our lives.
MERLIN L. NEFF
and love. "In 115 pictures taken at random from recent productions, and analyzed
by Dr. Dale, there are 59 in which murders
and homicides are either attempted or committed. Seventy-one deaths by violence actually occur in 54 of the pictures." In this
group of 115 motion pictures there were 406
crimes committed.
Criminal Inspirations
k5i.N€4.
It is estimated that 28,000,000 boys and girls under twenty-one years of
age attend the movies each week. Is it any wonder then that juvenile
delinquents and youthful criminals are fast on the increase?. How much
better if they had their recreation in wholesome surroundings.
of stimulating crime, luring to
sexual misconduct, developing loose
living, and presenting cheap and vicious ideals before the American youth,"—
this is the verdict against the motion pictures as made by psychologists, sociologists,
and educators after four years of intensive
research upon the movies and their effect
upon young people. The startling facts are
revealed in a recent book by Henry J. Forman, "Our Movie-Made Children." 'For
many years the motion picture theater has
been charged with the serious offense of undermining American morality. The church
has preached against its evils, Parents have
seen the tragic results of the attendance of
their boys and girls at the theaters. But it
has remained for scientific investigation on
the part of educators to prove beyond argument that the culprit is guilty of the criminal
,
charges made against it.
Motion pictures, scarcely a generation old,
are luring 77,000,000 Americans to the palaces of pleasure each week. While this is a
G
UILTY
for JANUARY 2, 1934
larger number of people than comprise the
nations of Great Britain and France, the
most astounding fact is that 28,000,000 of
the movie audience is composed of youth
and children under twenty-one years of age,
and furthermore, that 11,000,000 are boys
and girls who have not reached fourteen
years.
Thirty-seven per cent of the American
movie audience consists of minors. These
young folks sit by the hour through reel
after reel of the three most popular types of
pictures—crime, sex, and love. Dr. Edgar
Dale, in studying the content of motion pictures, was led to say: "Literally hundreds
of times one notes there a portrayal of character and condqct which gives totally erroneous notions of the situation or event as it
actually occurs in real life."
What are the subjects depicted before the
eyes of the adolescent audience in these
dimly lighted auditoriums? Seventy-two
per cent of 500 pictures produced in 1930
had as their predominant themes crime, sex,
These are astounding facts to be presented
before American fathers and mothers. Murders and crimes of violence committed constantly before the eyes of youth must surely
have an effect upon the thinking processes.
Such a morbid picture of life must have a
significant part in forming ideals and character foundations. Upon the testimony of
the youth themselves, it has inspired them
to deeds of violence in scores of instances
cited by Mr. Forman.
"From these criminal pictures," confessed
a sixteen-year-old lad, "I got the idea that
I wanted to participate in crime, robbing
stores preferably." Another boy of twentythree years, writing from his imprisonment
in a reformatory says: "One of the things
that caused my downfall was some of the
movies I saw, which showed me how to
jimmy a door or window. . . . After I saw
the picture, I got the feeling that I would
like to try it." He did try it, to his sorrow
and to bitter consequences.
As the silver screen portrays the characters
in the plot, the actors become the heroes
and heroines of the youthful audience. The
pictures portray more than 87 per cent of
the characters smoking. Of all pictures examined, 78 per cent contain situations with
intoxicating liquor. It is not difficult to find
a reason for the impetus toward cigarettesmoking and liquor-drinking habits in youth,
when their screen idols constantly play the
gamut of vices.
A School of Vice
In summing up the elements of crime and
vice portrayed by motion pictures, Mr. Forman states frankly: "When we consider the
universality of a picture, its permeation of
the entire country, its penetration into the
smallest towns and even hamlets, how otherwise can this procession of criminal acts or
attempts be described than as a veritable
school for crime—especially to certain types
of boys and girls?" This school of crime has
(Continued on page 14)
Page Five
LOOKING BACK
r1HE
1
YEAR 1933 is gone. Its events and
happenings are all unchangeable. We
may plan the future and guide the
present; but how can we cope with the
past? Even the omnipotence of God cannot undo the deed that has been done, nor
unsay the word that has been said.
What kind of year has 1933 been? A
troubled year, bearing gigantic problems
which it has strained the wisdom of our race
to solve. Let us examine briefly the economic, the political, and the social progress
of 1933.
Economically, the depression,—"la crise,"
"the crisis," as the French expressively call
it, is yet with us. Much unemployment,
much distress, much financial tightness,
much social unrest, continue everywhere.
Toward the middle of the summer the NRA
with blare of bugles and waving of banners,
appeared on the horizon, hastening to our
relief. The plan of the NRA was, we believe,
honestly conceived and conscientiously executed. We fail to see, however, that any
special blessings have flowed from its operation. Our economic ulcers were too deepseated to be cleansed by the application of
light economic salves. The NRA is a fine
and well-meant gesture; it is not the fault
of its proponents that it has
failed to achieve its widely
heralded ends.
State of Depression
Nevertheless, we think the
depression has struck bottom, and shortly, to some extent at least, ought to lift
from us. We have about
reached an economic balance, even if it is an uncomfortable one. We believe
that soon conditions will
be placed upon a firmer footing. We do not mean that
we are headed back toward
Page Six
GWYNNE DALRYMPLE
1929 prosperity, toward a golden era of
plenty everywhere, with money slipping
through our careless American fingers. We
shall doubtless continue to learn much about
economy and self-denial as we sit before that
aged schoolmistress, Madame Experience.
But, all in all, there are unnumbered things
to be thankful for. Heroic efforts have been
made to feed the hungry and to shelter the
destitute; and these efforts are not being relaxed. When the forces of disorder, taking
advantage of the common distress, have
sought to stir up tumult and violence, they
have not found the people of this country responsive. There have been riots among the
farmers, whose lot has been hard; and the
communists have here and there staged
demonstrations in the cities. But all in all
there has been a clinging to order and decency, all through the midnight blackness of
these recent troubled years.
Not so encouraging is the failure of the
World Economic Conference, convened in
the summer of 1933. High hopes were entertained for this gathering. To its meetings
thronged the representatives of sixty-four
nations, who planned to unsnarl, adjust, and
regulate our financial situation. The conference assembled, and was in session six weeks.
How much the world expected, and how
little it got! Despite the predictions of
statesmen, economists, and publicists, little
was reaped save fresh misunderstandings
for international restlessness to feed upon.
International Tension
Politically, what has been the aspect of
1933? Dark and troubled. International
tension has increased. The feeling strengthens that another world war, not less dreadful
than the last, awaits mankind. The turbulence among the nations has not been helped
by the triumph of Naziism in Germany during the past year. Despite the fairly conciliatory attitude of Herr Hitler in international matters, his insistence upon armed
equality and a revision of the Versailles
Treaty have had no sedative effect upon the
French mind. The tendency of Europe to
One of the most significant disturbances of 1933 was "the revolt of the corn belt." Embattled farmers near Sioux City,
Iowa, destroyed this railroad
bridge (left) to stop produce
going to the cities. Center:
Men unemployed for many
months get jobs in the CW A
program. Note their jubilation. Left below: With Prohibition repealed, New York City
trains barmaids and bartenders
to mix cocktails. Right below:
Nine U.S. army planes practice
war maneuvers over San
Francisco.
SIGNS of the TIMES
at the Year
1933
The highlights of the year that is gone, and
an appraisal of its influence on time to come.
split into armed and mutually hostile camps
is manifesting itself unmistakably.
The most ambitious of mankind's efforts
for peace, the League of Nations, has sailed
through stormy seas during 1933. Its sessions for assuring disarmament have not
been successful. The spirit of militarism has
proved more than a match for the spirit of
reasonableness and amity. Furthermore, the
League has been fearfully weakened by the
withdrawal of Japan and Germany. The
United States, of course, never really belonged. Of the once great League, supposed
to represent all the world, there now remains
little save France, Great Britain, and Italy,
with a host of minor nations which, like
satellites whirling close to their planets,
move in the orbits assigned them by the
greater powers.
Since this disintegration of the League is
no secret, but rather the common talk of
every one, it is a cause for no surprise that
peoples are more and more turning to a
policy of bold and defiant nationalism, each
determined to work out its own destiny and
its own prosperity. Since none feels that it
can rely on any other, military preparations
are naturally proceeding apace. Japan
sought to devote her whole revenue, 1,300,000,000 yen, to her army and navy. Later
this was cut to 938,000,000 yen, still an
enormous amount, quite the largest that
Japan has ever expended on such purposes,
and far more than she ought to expend from
an economic standpoint. Other nations, so
far from permitting their armies and navies
to deteriorate, are planning fresh expenditures and fresh sacrifices in sharpening their
instruments of destruction. Particular attention is being paid to those gentle aspects
of modern warfare,—aviation and poison
gas. Science, which has added so much to
human comfort and longevity, is showing
great adaptability in producing more efficient instruments of torment and destruction. Plans to control these by international
agreement have not succeeded. The race for
armaments goes on. It would be difficult to
name a more pacific power than the United
States; yet in our own country during 1933,
despite much peace talk, there were insistent
demands that national defense be strengthened. "The next war" has become the commonest of phrases; every one dreads it and
every one expects it. Will it break out in
1934? in 1936? We cannot tell; but 1933
has made decisively clear that it is coming.
Socially, what has been the progress of
1933? Even the depression has not sensibly
dampened the giddy whirl of foolish pleasure, nor has it brought in any firm desire for
higher standards of conduct. Civilization
seems in a rapid way to fulfill the prophecy
of Christ, that "as it was in the days of Noe,
so shall it be also in the days of the Son of
man. They did eat, they drank, they marfor JANUARY 2, 1934
ried wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and
the Flood came, and destroyed them all.
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted, they builded. . . . Even
thus shall it be in the day when the Son of
man is revealed." Luke 17:26-30.
Prohibition Repeal
Perhaps the outstanding event of the year
from a sociological standpoint has been the
rejection of Prohibition by the American
people. It will be recalled that in 1920 the
manufacture and sale of spirituous liquors,
for common beverage uses, had been forbidden in this country. The purpose of this enactment was to free our nation from the
curse of drunkenness, and from all the misery, lawlessness, and degradation which invariably accompany drunkenness. It seemed
incredible that any people, having once
broken away from slavery to liquor, should
desire to return thereto. Yet no sooner had
liquor been made illegal than there were
frantic efforts to evade and practically to
nullify the statutes which had banished it.
Scores of journals and newspapers, many of
them in the pay of the "wet" interests, denounced Prohibition as the daughter of bigotry and the mother of crime. There was
a gradual revulsion of feeling as the evils of
drink were persistently minimized, and the
evils of the legislation against it persistently
magnified. The public memory, always
weak, slowly forgot the broken homes, the
broken hearts, the broken lives, which were
the legitimate fruit of the licensed traffic
in alcohol. In 1933 state after state has declared for the repeal of Prohibition and the
restoration of liquor. The successive returns have been received with the wildest
enthusiasm. Actors, actresses, and popular
authors have engaged in public competition
to see who can devise the most thrilling highball or the most intoxicating cocktail. "The
country is now free! Liberty has returned,
and joy has come to dwell among us!" Free
indeed,—free to walk in the paths of degradation and debauchery, with liberty to abandon decency, and the joy of turning the back
to self-control!
From the standpoint of sociology, we cannot say that 1933 has been a year of achievement and progress.
,And Religion
What has been the religious aspect of
1933? Development or atrophy? Advancement or retrogression? Both.
The single event in the religious world
which has attracted the most attention and
discussion during 1933 was the publication
of the report by the Laymen's Committee
of Appraisal on Foreign Missions. Carefully expressed in flawless though rather
pallid English, this document, along with
some helpful thoughts, attempted to drive
home the idea that the purpose of Christianity was not to convert, but merely to
gently enlighten. "The Christian [missionary] will therefore regard himself as a coworker with the forces within each such
religious system which are making for
righteousness." The apostles of the present
day who go to India and China, Japan and
Korea, are not to preach the simple Christ
of the gospel,—a crucified and risen Saviour. Instead, they are to seek out the "good
things" of Confucius, of Buddha, of Brahma;
and then are to fuse these with the gospel
into a lofty philosophy for the heathen, with
special emphasis upon the hygienic values
of brushing one's teeth and combing one's
hair. We thoroughly approve of the latter
practices; but a Christianity which contents
itself with high preachments of ethical and
hygienic values, and loses its distinctive message in a multitude of accommodations and
compromises with idolatrous faiths, is hardly
Christianity. The report of the Appraisal
Commission was a rather negative affair. It
witnesses to the waning spirit of Protestantism.
In happy contrast to modernistic attitudes toward the progress of the gospel, we
may consider the fact that during 1933 real
progress has been made in mission fields.
For example, the Seventh-day Adventists,
with a membership of only 368,062 the world
over, are energetically pushing their work
farther and farther afield in an effort to reach
all the world with the story of Jesus. Despite financial depression and the vagaries of
a fluctuating foreign exchange, the work of
this denomination goes forward unabated.
In many countries, in many languages, they
spread the message of salvation. For 1933
they report a larger increase in membership
in baptized believers than ever before in
their history. Their work, they believe, represents the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy,
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be
(Continued on page 10)
Page Seven
'ESUS
I
think what the Bible teaches us
about God. With simplicity of expression, the early writers describe the
,
contact of God with human souls; but the
important matter is not the expressions they
used, but the subject they believed in. They
were telling about men who believed that
they had a contact with the invisible, and
the immortal value of these old pages from
the Bible is best seen when we ask
ourselves this question: Do we know
how to feel God as truly and as vividly
as they felt Him then?
All through the Bible, this sure sense of the
reality of God is the scarlet thread which gives
distinction to the growing pattern of its thought.
Rapidly and plainly that thought grows. In the
records which have to do with Moses, we see
already a conception of God which is grander
and more majestic. God appears to him in the
bush that was not consumed. He moves on
Sinai, not visibly, but behind the veil of thunderclouds and lightnings. Moses seems to see
the sapphire pavement beneath His feet. He
pleads to see the face of God, but we are told
that God replies to Moses that no man may look
upon the splendor of His face and live. He hides
Moses in a cleft of a rock, and lets Moses perceive His glory as it passes by. There was
something infinite and unutterable about Him
before which the spirit of man must be in awe.
Into this thought of Jehovah, God of Israel,
there were to enter now two great influences to
lift the thought of God to a grandeUr that had
not been reached before. In the first place,
there was the growing conception that God must
be a God of righteousness. He must be all that
the best of men were, and more. Amos voiced
this conviction when, amid the proud materialism of his day, commercial prosperity and
wealth were growing rank in Israel, and, to put
the facts in modern language, men were complacently ready to give money to build fine
churches, but had no scruples about being cruel
and greedy when they went out of church to do
business among their neighbors. "I hate, I despise your feast days," cried the prophet in the
name of God, "let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."
And Hosea, with words that Jesus Himself was
afterwards to quote, spoke God's purpose thus:
"I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."
When at length these mighty voices of the prophets had made the
soul of the nation listen, men could never think again in the mechanical terms of God. Men knew that religion, if it was anything at all,
was a matter, not primarily of ritual, but of the right attitude of
the heart in everyday human life. They understood what Micah
meant when he said that a man was not ready to be religious until he
was ready to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.
the
LIGHT
ET us
To All Nations
Along with this ennoblement of men's sense of the nature of God,
there was growing at the same time a conception that this true God
of righteousness must be, not local, but universal. Huge historical
happenings cleared the ground for this new understanding to grow.
Beginning with the eighth century before Christ, there rolled in upon
Israel the tremendous tidal waves of invasion from Assyria and
Babylon. Over the eastern horizon the dark menace of their spearmen and their chariots rose like a flood and broke in ruin upon the
land which had imagined itself secure. Nor was Israel alone in this
Page Eight
disaster. Nation after nation went down before these ruthless conquerors from the East. All around there was the sound of the shattering of kingdoms and the overthrow'of civilizations, until the earth
seemed to tremble on the brink of doom. It was a time when men
might well have lost faith, and little men did lose it. What was the
worth of religion now? What had become of the protection of Israel's God? What did it mean that this people which had served Him
was about to be overthrown? To these questions the heroic moral
consciousness of the prophets was ready with its answer. They towered above the little provincialisms of their people and looked upon
the world. They gazed beyond the confusion of the time into the
quiet of God's eternal truth, and this was what they saw.
There was no longer any such thing as isolation in the earth. All
men were involved in a common destiny. All men alike were subject to the impartial righteousness of God. Assyrians as well as men
of Israel were the instruments of His hand. Israel had sinned, and
Israel was falling. Other nations too would fall. At length conqueror and conquered alike would be weighed in the same balances.
Where was their righteousness of spirit, soundness of civilization,
SIGNS of the TIMES
Fhe
WORLD
JESUS did not say merely that He had
come to tell about the light, or even to
' show the light. He said He had come
. to BE the light. The light means beauty.
The light means guidance. The light
means life.
WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE
the hungering human heart? What of the particular man, with his
wistful desires, with weaknesses which he could not overcome, with
aspirations unattainable? How should he be helped by a God who
seemed so vast and so far away? Then came Jesus. Through His
eyes there shone the beauty of a final revelation. God cared for
all nations; but He cared for them because all alike they were made
up of human souls. God was law; but also, and more intimately, God
was love. This had been hinted at and partially discovered by great
souls in the Old Testament; but in Jesus it was fully revealed and by
Him fully declared. Now and forever God's purpose was not to condemn but to save. God's love, as the infinite soul of Jesus received
it and passed it on to every lowliest man and woman, had come not
to be ministered unto but to minister. It had come to call His children back to the house of the Father's fellowship.
"And so the Word had breath, and wrought
With human hands the creed of creeds
In loveliness of perfect deeds,
More strong than all poetic thought."
Jesus, the light of the world, as the artist pictures Him in all the heavenly light
that shone at His transfiguration.
cleanness of desire? With these a nation would survive. Without
them, sooner or later, it would perish. Above the noise of men's
panic, they spoke the truth which echoes in the great lines of the
"Recessional:"
"The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart;
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget."
What more, then, was to be learned about God beyond that
which the prophets had proclaimed? God is the God of righteousness. He is no partial God of a particular tribe or nation, but the
Lord of all the hearts of men. What else was there that the Bible
needed to teach?
One supreme revelation was left, and that was the one which came
with Jesus. God was righteous. That was a noble conception. God
was the universal. Grandeur was in the thought of that. But what of
for JANUARY 2, 1934
"I am the light of the world," said Jesus. He did not say merely
that He had come to tell about the light, or even to show the light.
He said He had come to be the light. And there the climactic significance of Jesus in the Bible and in all life is suggested. He expressed in Himself the divine meaning which all men had been yearning for and without Him had only dimly seen. Out of the pages of
the Book He emerges as a living figure—the figure not only of one
who was, but of one who always is. Through the centuries since He
walked in Galilee He has become not only the supreme interpreter
of truth but the spiritual comrade on all the ways of life. The most
sensitive and the most decisive question to ask of any suggested way
of thought or action is this: Is it the way of Christ, or is it not?
"I am the light," He said. And what does light do?
In the first place, light gives to the world its color and its beauty.
Watch how the beauty fades when the daylight dies. Stand in some
great church at evening, and see the colors vanish from stainedglass windows, the figures melt into obscurity, and all the various
significance of design sink into a black, unmeaning void. Stand on
a hilltop when the night is falling, and see all the many-hued lovelinesses of the world extinguished in the gradual darkness. But
stand there again when the morning comes. Light trembles along
the eastern sky. The day breaks and the sun rises, and back to the
world comes again its beauty, the beauty of blue sky and of glinting waters, the beauty of green trees and of fields of amber grain,
the beauty 'of flowers in gardens, the beauty of faces and figures of
people walking upon their ways. Such is the first meaning of light,
and such is the first meaning of Jesus. He gives their difference and
their significance to all the aspects of human life. When He taught
in Galilee, He made men understand that even the giving of a cup
of cold water in the right spirit could be beautiful. So His Spirit
teaches always. The little common things of life do become beautiful when they are lighted by the sympathy and the kindness and
the imaginative love which the thought of Jesus
whenever it is present can inspire.
In the second place, light means guidance. In the
N.10
book of Acts the description of the wreck of the
.0"
ship which carried the apostle 'Paul across the
Mediterranean contains these vivid words: "They
cast four anchors out of the stern,
and wished for the day." They
wished for day in order that they
might see where they were going
Page Nine
and how ,to go. In the darkness we are helpless. In the light we know where our effort
should be directed. And in that sense also
Jesus Christ is light. There are many perplexing problems of human choice and conduct. There are many confusions of life
where our theoretical explanations break
down. But always there is this guiding illumination. "What is the general direction
which obedience to the Spirit of Jesus
points?" When we ask that and answer
that, we know the way ahead.
In the third place, light means life. Light
creates and preserves the highest life by destroying those things which menace it. The
germs of disease and death are killed when
they are exposed to the sunlight. One of the
acute needs of the man who has tuberculosis
is to get into a climate which is full of sun.
And what is true in the world of physical
facts is true in the world of moral and spiritual facts also. In a man's soul the germs of
sin can be as deadly as the germs in his body
are; and to these the sunlight of Jesus comes.
The sin of selfishness, the sin of rebellion
against God, the sin of spiritual indifference
or despair, cannot live in the light of that redeeming power which streams from the life
and death of Jesus. And as thus the light
which is within him destroys those things
which menace life, so positively that light
makes all good things flourish.
Flowers wither in cellars, they blossom in
the sun. Little children grow pale in gloomy
houses, they come back to health under the
shining sky. And all human souls likewise
attain their rightful health and full-grown
power only when they dwell in the sunlight
of that remembered love of God which pours
from Jesus.
Phillips Brooks grandly expressed this
truth when he wrote: "The idea of Jesus is
the illumination and the inspiration of existence. Without it moral life becomes a
barren expediency, and social life a hollow
shell, and emotional life a meaningless excitement, and intellectual life an idle play or
stupid drudgery. Without it the world is a
puzzle, and death a horror, and eternity a
blank. More and more it shines -the only
hope of what without it is all darkness."
Looking Back at 1933
(Continued from page 7)
preached in all the world for a witness unto
all nations; and then shall the end come."
Matthew 24:14. God grant that indeed the
gospel of His kingdom shall quickly reach
all nations!
Now 1933 has left us. Yet in its crowded
months and weeks and days we have seen
many events and tendencies which, we think,
are in strangely accurate fulfillment of those
Scriptural prophecies which are to indicate
when our Lord's return is near. "There shall
be . . . upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and
for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they
see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption
draweth nigh." Luke 21:25-28. May it not
Page Ten
well be that during the year before us-1934
—We shall witness yet more striking fulfillments of the-word of God, and yet more impressive signs that the return of Jesus shall
not be long delayed?
Christ and the Sabbath
(Continued from page 4)
in the Gospels, the Epistles, or in contemporary Jewish writings. But He did not
change it. He observed the Sabbath, He
honored the Sabbath, and He magnified the
Sabbath, but He did not change the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was the seventh day when
Jesus came to this earth, and it was the seventh day after His ascension. His resurrection made no difference to the Sabbath.
The Apostles and the Sabbath
The apostles kept the seventh-day Sabbath. Says the apostle Paul: "So worship I
the God of my fathers, believing all things
which are written in the law and in the
prophets." Acts 24:14. "I have committed
nothing against the people, or customs of
our fathers." Acts 28:17.
At Thessalonica, "Paul, as his manner was,
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Time Passes
ROGER ALTMAN
TIME passes. Sometimes he seems swifter
than a weaver's shuttle. Sometimes he seems to
stand still, like the moon in the valley of AjaIon. But in reality he knows no haste and no
delay. He steals with soft step through the
shining archways of our childhood, passes
inexorably into the bright courtyard of our
youth, pausing to drink deep at the fountain of
our illusionment, and leaving it all but dry.
His echoless feet continue down the corridor of
our years, his breath chilling the air, his shadow
lingering behind- him to fall on the memory of
each hour, whether sweet or bitter, softening
the outlines of our recollection. He never looks
back. He never trifles with us. He rarely
smiles. He is never gay. Sometimes he pursues
his solemn course for threescore years and ten.
Sometimes he wearies of our house and slips
cut quietly through a side door. We never
know when he may leave us. We often ask
him; but he never answers, except to bid us
hearken to the bell tolling the hour, and to
whisper, "The night cometh."
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures."
Acts 17:2.
At Corinth, where Paul remained for a
year and a half, it is said that "He reasoned
in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:
4, 11.
All through the centuries there have been
godly men who have preserved the knowledge of the seventh-day Sabbath, and have
kept God's banner flying despite all attempts
of the enemy to tear it from their hands.
To-day, when God's word is doubted,
and His power to create so generally denied, the observance of the Sabbath is of
special significance, as marking those who
champion His cause in the earth.
There is no command of any sort in the
Bible authorizing the change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to any other day.
The original Sabbath that began at sunset on the sixth day of the first week of the
world's history, and ended at sunset on the
seventh day of that week, has been God's
true Sabbath through the ages. No other
day can take its place. It was God's Sabbath in the beginning. It is God's Sabbath
to-day. It will be His Sabbath in His eternal kingdom. Isaiah 66:23,
Position of Sunday Keepers
This does not mean to say that all who
have ever observed the first day as the Sabbath were thereby excluded from the ranks
of God's people. Far from it. Some of the
godliest saints of history have followed this
course. They knew no better. In all good
conscience they lived in the full light that
had been revealed to them, and would have
gladly accepted God's true emblem had they
known of it. We may rest assured that a
God of infinite mercy will accept the motive
that inspired their lives of service.
But, as the apostle Paul said when addressing the Athenians on Mars' hill, though "the
times of this ignorance God winked at," He
"now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He' hath appointed a day, in
the which He will judge the world." Ignorance ceases to be an excuse when knowledge
has dispelled' it.
Ignoring the Sabbath
Many people in these busy times do not
keep any day sacred. Sunday has entirely
lost its significance to them. It means no
more to them than Monday or Thursday.
And as for the seventh day, they have never
considered its divine claims.
To them also God speaks to-day. They
need the blessings of the Sabbath. They cannot afford to ignore God's gracious provision
for their physical and spiritual needs. The
body, like all machinery, cannot be overworked indefinitely without grave consequences. To starve the soul is equally perilous. To insure the perfect development of
man the Sabbath is indispensable.
Those who to-day perceive God's will in
this matter will not hesitate to carry it out.
Indeed, all who would be His champions will
wish to keep His Sabbath as His chosen emblem of loyalty. The true disciple will ever
desire to be as his Master, and to follow
where He leads. The path of obedience is
the path of blessing.
SIGNS of the TIMES
Sin
Still Pays the
Same
Wages
For six thousand years the code of sin
has demanded the highest wage—
death. There has been no recession
from this standard.
MATTHEW E. ELLIS
I
page of history. It is the echo of man's
despair because he is without hope or God.
The cry of the heart is, with Job, "Oh that I
knew where I might find Him!" Job 23:3.
Innumerable crowds of people mill and
stampede like the droves of cattle which are
driven to slaughter—they know not where
they are going or what will happen to them
when they get there. If they stop to think
at all, it is generally to infer that the path is
best which has the most people in it; but
this is to conclude on the fineness of the cloth
by the breadth of the warp. For the Bible,
the guidebook, not only presents us with an
account of the purity of those who shall be
saved, but also impresses us with the smallness of their number. Those who follow
others blindly in sin are in danger of following them in suffering. Man is lost—he
needs a guide.
Sin is disease. Salvation is health. "Heal,"
"whole," "holy," come from the same root
word. Men needed a Saviour in Christ's
day because they were not whole, and they
need Him now for the same reason. The
principle of sin should be studied in the light
of this fundamental fact. Disease is due to
lack of conformity to the law of health. To
neglect this law is as fatal as to violate it
willfully. Sin results from lack of conformity to the law of righteousness, which is the
What Profit?
law of holiness, or wholeness, or health. We
"What shall it profit a man, if he shall think of disease as applying to the physical
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" man, and sin as applying to the spiritual
(Mark 8:36, 37) is the question of ques- man; but the whole man is involved in wholetions that searches every heart. We often ness. Note well, however, the difference beuse the expression "a lost soul," and various tween sin and guilt. Sin is the general conideas cluster about the words. But one thing dition. Guilt marks, the crime of willful viois sure—when one is lost, he does not know lation of law. Many who are not directly
his way. And this one thing is sure about guilty of sin must suffer because of the sin
every man who does not know God—
...q;
of others, as in the case of the wife
he is lost. This need of a lost world,
and children of a drug addict. Just so,
partly realized and partly unrealized,
163
,;(z,
every human being is born into sin,
is written in blood and tears on every
- '
the sin of the race, deepening and
N SPITE of strikes and lockouts, union
regulations and strife between capital and
labor, inflation, depression, and the NRA,
the wages of sin remain about the same—
death. What havoc sin has wrought! What
a sweatshop master sin is! How sure sin is
to pay the wages agreed upon!
The most pitiful object in the world is a
man who has become a slave to sin, betraying his helplessness as his struggles grow
weaker; his will deteriorates and his
strength of character disappears. He may
have all that money can buy; his social position may be unquestioned; his intellect
may be keen,—for the tree of knowledge
has often flourished where the tree of life
never grew,—but he knows that he is a slave
of the devil, "taken captive by him at his
will." He is absolutely helpless, he cannot
save himself. He cannot realize spiritual
health or purity of heart in the sight of God.
He realizes that he has begun to die naturally before he has started to live spiritually;
that he may have to "give up the ghost" before he has received the Holy Ghost. Eternal will be his darkness if the sun of his life
sets within him before the Sun of Righteousness shines upon him. Sin makes of man a
slave—man needs a Redeemer.
[1
for JANUARY 2, 1934
The stock market may fluctuate
from day to day, but the returns
from sin are always the same.
deadening through the centuries with cumulative effect. Many fail to realize their need
of being saved from sin because they are
not overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. But
their sin is no less fatal. This, again, marks
the pathos of human history. Whether he
senses it or not, man is sin-sick—he needs a
physician.
Satan continually tempts us to sin. He entices us, but temptation in its largest significance is really only testing. Resistant
forces are always to be reckoned with. If
man did not need to work to get bread, the
race would quickly deteriorate and character be lost in a lazy animal. Struggle is a
condition of strength. Temptation is the
test of fidelity, and sin must be conquered if
righteousness shall crown the life. The
devil may flatter us, but he cannot force us;
he may tempt us to sin, but he cannot compel us to sin. He could never come off a
conqueror were he not joined by our forces.
The fire is his, but the tinder is ours. Still
we often have to admit that Satan is too
much for us; he is powerful and subtle, and
sin is pleasant and seductive; and so when
man is tempted—he needs a helper.
Sin makes man a slave—but the One to
"buy back" the slave and set him free has
come, "for God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not His
Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through Him might be
saved." John 3:16, 17.
The Guide, Physician, Helper
Through sin man is lost—but the Guide
has come, stayed with us long enough to
mark out the way, left personal directions to
be followed by the lost ones in His absence,
and very soon is coming again in person.
Jesus said as He was leaving after His stay
with us: "I will come again. . . . And
whither .I go ye know, and the way ye know.
. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
John 14:3-6. "Neither is there salvation in
any other: for there is none other name unPage Eleven
der heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved." Acts 4 ;12.
Man is sin-sick—but the Great Physician
is near with healing power for soul and body.
It was said to Christ's disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, He said unto
them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and
learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy,
and not sacrifice: for I a‘m•not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Matthew 9:11-13.
Satan tempts and sin entices; but when
man is tempted, he may have an all-powerful Helper in Him who has said, "Sin shall
not have dominion over you." Romans 6:
14. "When the enemy shall come in like a
flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a.
standard against him." Isaiah 59:19. "There
hath no temptation taken you but such as
is common to man: but God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able
to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.
by a little verse in the fifth chapter of John,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that
sent Me, bath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from
death unto life." Verse 24.
The evangelist gave her the verse, written on a little card, and sent her home rejoicing, with her little son. They both went
to bed that night, happy as angels. But in
the morning she came down to breakfast as
gloomy as ever, her face all clouded and her
heart utterly discouraged. She had had a
night of conflicts, doubts, and fears, and
when her little boy asked what was the matter, she could only burst into tears and say,
"Oh, it is all gone ! I thought I was saved,
but I feel just as bad as ever."
The little fellow looked bewildered and
said,"Why, mother, has your verse changed?
I will go and see." He ran to the table and
got her Bible with the little card in it, and
turned it up and read, "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth My word, and beWAUSWASOFAMOSININIMB
lieveth on Him that sent Me, bath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."
"Why, mother," he said, "it is not changed
a bit! It is just the same as it was last night;
it is all right!" And the mother looked with
a smile at the little preacher whose simple
trust was used of God to save her; and taking him in her arms, she thanked God that
her precious verse was still the same, and her
peace as unchanged as the everlasting word
of God.
Is this what the apostle means? We are
justified, now let us hold fast to the peace.
It is not merely forgiveness, but it is an
everlasting decree. Let us walk in the full
strength of it, and never allow the shadow of
a doubt or fear to cross the sunlit sky of our
heaven.—The Christian.
Pur God's mercy to the test! He can bear
a greater pressure still. Lean hard, harder,
hardest, again! You cannot fatigue Omnipotence.—Joseph Parker.
r,s=.1.1101MinaleMMORNMO
-441-"CarR
The Mercy of God
What a sad thing it would be if, with such
rich mines of grace opened, not a penny's
worth of the riches should fall to us! But
the returning prodigal yet meets with a welcome reception. Christ still delights to see
a repenting sinner, to hear a mourning Ephraim, to help a sinking Peter.
But we must not take God's forbearance
for our acquittal. It is one thing to forbear
the debtor—it is another to forgive the debt.
Though the patience of God is lasting, it is
not everlasting, and, "He, that being often
reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly
be destroyed, and that without remedy."
The first characteristic of true religion is
a right view of sin. Liberal theology, socalled, and true theology meet and part at
a signboard marked "Sin." One road leads
to the cross, and the other away from it.
Our prayer should be, "Wash me throughly,"
even as the spotted robe in David's day was
cleansed in a vat with strong acid and alkali,
mauled and bruised with a mallet, till the
stain was gone.
Pay Day Sure
Pay day for sinners is one of the surest
things in the world. "God is love," but the
day is not- far distant—we find in His word
—when His justice will no longer be tempered with mercy. As we look about the
world, the aspect of things is stern—very
stern. We are ruled by the law of love, which
has been a law of infinite mercy, but it will
be a law of boundless rigor too. It is love
that does not shrink from human agony.
Sin, and you will suffer. The law is not reversed. Each must decide the question:
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
Has Your Verse Changed?
A WRITER in the Alliance Weekly tells the
following story of how a little child was used
to lead a mother back into the light.
A poor woman in one of Major Whittle's
meetings in Glasgow was brought into light
Page Twelve
Begin the New
Year With
By GRENVILLE KLEISER
EGIN the New Year with clear purpose,
strong resolve, and supreme faith. Concentrate upon essentials. Put your high ideals into
practice, and resolve to live nobly every day.
Do your work well. The best reward for good
work will be greater work and a larger sphere
of usefulness. Rid yourself of everything which
in any way retards your best progress. Scrutinize your thought habits, and be alert to every
chance for self-improvement. Keep your mind
upon a high level of constructive thought, realize the priceless value of time and opportunity,
and feel inspired by the truth that success is
your birthright.
Cultivate silence and stillness. You grow your
best thoughts in times of solitude and meditation. To continue to grow and to accumulate
useful ideas, you must have frequent periods of
mental and physical relaxation.
Beware of the modern tendency to hurry and
waste. The time you give to quiet and intelligent meditation will repay you well. Cultivate
quietness, poise, and deliberateness. When you
are still and receptive, you can best hear the
voice of God and learn His will.
Among your good resolutions for the New
Year you might include these:
fl Resolved, That I will be an intelligent optimist, and look for the best in every one and in
everything.
CI Resolved, That I will daily develop the
habit of constructive thinking.
C] Resolved, That I will maintain a high
standard of personal conduct at all times.
CI Resolved, That I will always speak well of
other people, or keep silent about them.
II Resolved, That I will cultivate in my daily
B
life the cardinal qualities of courtesy, gratitude,
sincerity, generosity, courage, and humility.
Greatness of character implies self-denial and
self-sacrifice. As you grow in bigness of spirit,
you will more readily yield your personal preferences to the wishes of others. The spirit of
Christ is to give freely, generously, and daily, to
render helpful service when possible, to seek
constantly to make the world better and happier.
Greatness of life is largely the product of clear
purpose and lofty ambition. When you have
made definite choice of a worthy life purpose,
there will come to you a wonderful sense of
increased power, and many influences will set
to work for the sole purpose seemingly of helping on your progress. The consciousness at the
close of each day that you have made real and
substantial advancement toward a great purpose will increase your courage, and still larger
possibilities will be revealed to you. In this
spirit you will learn that all really worth-while
work must be in harmony with God, and that
worthy work always has divine approbation.
The Daily Life
Your daily life is made up of desires, choices,
judgments, and deeds. These are largely under
your personal control, so that in reality you are
daily making your own destiny. Nothing can
hold you back if you have set your mind and
heart wholly and earnestly upon a great life
purpose.
There is something sublime about the beginning of a new year. Possibly the past year has
been filled with dark misgivings, losses, disappointments, and dominating fears. But the
beginning of a new year, with its promise of
unexplored possibilities, should gladden the
heart and inspire the soul. It is the time for
stronger resolutions, for new courage in the face
of difficulties, for more diligence in useful labor,
for more generous service to less fortunate fellow pilgrims.
SIGNS of the T I M ES
RE YOU GETTING
YOUR FOOD
MINERALS?
Dietitian
GEORGE E. CORNFORTH
White bread, meat, cake, and candy can
never enable children to grow good teeth.
Sugar and candy do not attack the outside
of the teeth and cause them to decay, but
the minerals that grow in the plant from
which the sugar is made are refined out of
the sugar in producing granulated sugar.
Sugar-cane juice, maple sap, beets, raisins,
dates, and other naturally sweet foods contain calcium; and to avoid missing the calcium that nature puts into foods, naturally
sweet foods should be eaten, not refined
foods from which the calcium and other
minerals have been removed. In the South
What Iron and Calcium Do
sickly babies are sometimes allowed to
Greens thus are seen to be a valuable drink all the sugar-cane juice they want, and
source of iron in the diet. Other sources are they soon become plump and healthy, belentils, peas and beans, prunes, raisins, bran, cause sugar-cane juice not only supplies
' sugar, which is a fattening food, but also
molasses, and all-grain bread.
supplies an abundance of minerals, which
sv
are a necessary part of the diet of a child
Needed to proFOUND IN
tect against
who is to be healthy.
It has been suggested that a diet lacking
Spinach and other greens, bran,
Anemia
egg yolk, legumes, molasses, raisin calcium, such as one made up largely of
ins, prunes.
white bread, meat, and sugar, predisposes
to tuberculosis. The best foods for tuberMilk, nuts, legumes, greens, bran,
Bone diseases,
molasses, celery, cabbage, lemons,
tuberculosis( ?)
culosis patients are those that contain an
oranges, grapefruit.
abundance of calcium—milk, eggs, unrefined
Bran, whole cereals, vegetables,
cereals, all-of-the-wheat bread, greens, fruit,
legumes, nuts, eggs, milk.
and fruit juices.
Milk is one of the best sources of calcium.
Potatoes, turnips, parsnips, cabCancer and skin
bage, plums, cherries.
diseases(?)
This is one reason why milk is such a good
food for children. Other valuable foods
Whole cereals, spinach, legumes,
(The most laxative
containing calcium are greens, bran, beans,
apples, cherries.
element)
molasses, nuts.
E HEAR much about the importance
of vitamins; and they are important. But besides vitamins, for
strong health we must have an adequate
supply of all the minerals that go into the
composition of the body. These minerals
are also needed as regulators of body processes.
The blood and other body fluids and tissues normally contain a variety of mineral
substances. The minerals must come from
the food we eat. If any are absent from the
food, they will soon be found in the body in
too small quantity for the maintenance of
normal health and vitality. Food is our only
supply of these precious minerals.
I will name some food minerals, and tell
what foods supply them, as well as what the
body needs them for. See the table below.
N'e
MINERALS
NEEDED FOR
Iron
Blood
Calcium
Growth of bones, and
to regulate beating
of the heart
Phosphorus
Nerve and brain
tissue, bones
Potassium
Body cells
Magnesium
Iodine
Thyroid gland
This green coloring matter is an iron compound. The body takes this green iron com-,
pound, adds oxygen to it, and makes a red
iron compound.
This change is illustrated in the cooking
of lobsters. A live lobster is greenish. After
it has been boiled, it is red; the change in
color being due to the oxidation of the green
coloring matter, changing it to a red substance. A similar change takes place in the
baking of bricks. They are made of sand,
but after baking they are red in color.
Goiter
eke
These are not all the minerals that are
needed by the body, but they are the most
important. If foods are included in the diet
that supply these, there is little likelihood
that the others will be lacking.
Iron is needed to build red blood. The
haemoglobin, or red coloring matter of the
blood, is an iron compound, and the body
cannot build this iron compound in sufficient quantity
unless sufficient iron is found
in the food. The great food
source of iron is the chlorophyll, the green coloring matter of the leaves of plants.
for JANUARY 2, 1934
The world was thrilled recently by the announcement that Dr. Stephen Maher (center) of Connecticut, after twenty-five years of research, had developed a technic for the breeding of a special type
of bacteria that destroys the bacillus of tuberculosis.
Agar-agar, Irish moss, radishes,
turnips, beets, lettuce, tomatoes,
melons, green peas, oatmeal.
ICA
Calcium is necessary for the building of
bones and teeth. The beating of the heart is
maintained by the presence of calcium in the
blood. 'Children cannot build good teeth unless there is an abundance of calcium in
their food. And the only time when good
teeth can be built is in childhood. If good
teeth are not grown then, no amount of use
of the toothbrush will make
good teeth out of poor ones;
and teeth will decay in spite
of systematic, daily use of the
toothbrush if the material for
building them is not found in
abundance in the food.
Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium
Phosphorus is needed to build bone, brain,
and muscle tissue, and, like the rest of the
minerals, to help maintain vitality and protect us from disease. Phosphorus is found
in cereals from which the bran and embryo
have not been removed; it is also in bran,
legumes, nuts, eggs, milk, and vegetables.
Potassium is necessary for the construction of the cells of the body. The belief has
been expressed, based upon an observation
of the diet of people who are free from the
disease, that a predisposition to skin disease and cancer may result from a lack of
potassium in the diet. Potatoes are an excellent source of potassium, as are also turnips, parsnips, and cabbage.
Page Thirteen
Magnesium is the most laxative of the
food minerals, and is found in laxative foods
—bran, prunes, raisins, vegetables.
Iodine is needed by the thyroid gland,
and seems to protect from goiter. Goiter in
children has been cured or benefited by the
administration of iodine. Iodine is found in
sea plants,—agar and Irish moss; also it is
likely in melons, radishes, turnips, lettuce,
beets, tomatoes, green peas, and oatmeal.
But there is one more regulator of body
processes to consider. This is analogous to
the "roughage" the farmer must feed to his
stock. It is called cellulose, and is indigestible. It makes up the framework of vegetables and fruit, and the bran of cereals.
We were created to eat food as it is provided by the plant kingdom,—food containing considerable substance that is not
digested; and when people live on refined
foods like white bread, white rice, and sugar,
besides cakes, pies, and puddings made
from white flour and sugar, with few vegetables and little fruit, the digestive tract
cannot function normally. Constipation,
with a long train of resultant ills, follows.
Mr. Ralph Waldo Trine, in a lecture on
diet, when referring to the need of cellulose
in the diet said, "The interior of our anatomy needs a daily scrub as well as its exterior." A French physician has called spinach the broom of the stomach. We may call
the cellulose in food the broom of the alimentary tract.
Prepared Roughage
Since most of us live on civilized food and
eat some foods made with white flour and
refined sugar, and drink some milk and eat
some eggs (though the use of milk and eggs
is not to be condemned because they lack
cellulose), and some even eat meat, all of
which contain no cellulose, it is a pretty
good plan to include some bran in the diet,
unless we eat more freely than most people
do of vegetables and fruits. The eating of
all-the-wheat bread, which is to be recommended, will not alone, in the diet of most
people, make up for the lack of cellulose in
the other foods they eat. The foods that
are to be specially recommended for their
mineral elements and cellulose are vegetables, fruits, bran, oatmeal, whole-wheat
cereals, natural brown rice, all-the-wheat
bread, rye flakes, and some other cereal
foods to which the manufacturers have
given special names.
Movie-Mad Generation
(Continued from page 5)
an enrollment of 28,000,000 young people
who are students of its vicious curriculum
fifty-two weeks in the year! Certainly the
menace of the movies is far greater than the
average citizen ever imagined it could be.
Upon the clean slate of the child's mind
the motion pictures trace permanent records.
The average child of nine years will remember three fifths as much of the motion pictures as the adult. Prejudices may be instilled, hatreds kindled, and opinions formed
by this powerful instrument. Youth remembers the lewd embraces, the vulgar remarks, the passionate love scenes. Indelibly
written upon the fresh, pure minds are many
Page Fourteen
of the sordid, distorted, and filthy imaginings
of the screen. "While all of us are shaking
our heads in vague surmises, the power of
the motion picture in influencing and shaping young minds" goes steadily on.
The indignation of the public turns
against a dairy which furnishes contami
nated milk. The water supply of our cities
is tested frequently to guard against impurity. But though the source of cinema
thoughts, images, and ideals has become so
impure and diseased that the stench reaches
to heaven, American citizens sit complacently by and send Tom or Mary off to the
movies for two hours of this corrupting entertainment.
Do motion pictures influence conduct?
The findings of the research committee of
the Payne Fund, as reported by Mr. Forman, brought forth amazing statistics. A
sampling of nearly five hundred autobiographies written by high school students showed
that "33 per cent report definite imitation
from the pictures of ways of love making."
Many other young people refused to answer
the questionnaire. Crimes portrayed in the
films become the ideals of adolescent minds.
Fifty-five per cent of the delinquent boys
started on their careers of crime from ideas
gained in gangster and gun-play motion pic-
Next Week
THROUGH EUROPE'S STORM
CENTER
This is an eyewitness' account of the explosive Polish Corridor, by Arthur S.
Maxwell, our London correspondent, who
recently visited Poland.
SELF-MURDER
Did you know that suicide has increased
600 per cent in 70 years? Do you know
why? If not, read this article by Russell
Quinn.
The SABBATH AND CHILDREN
Some have the idea that the Sabbath day
is a gloomy one, especially for the boys
and girls. Your mind will be changed on
this point after reading Arthur W. Spalding's contribution.
The WORLD NEEDS THE BIBLE
Some fascinating stories of the power of
God's Book in the far-away parts of the
globe, by Walter Russell Bowie.
The PRINCE OF THE MENU
Being a most interesting contribution on
salads, by a chef and dietitian. A number
of recipes are given.
IS CHRIST IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT?
Some- people say No, some answer Yes.
Which is right?
TIMELY EDITORIALS
"Gleams and Glints of Prophetic Light,"
"The World Outlook," and "News Gleanings," each filled with down-to-the-minute
comment on world affairs and trends, appear next week.
SIGNS TIMES
Advocating a return to the simple
gospel of Christ, and a preparation
for His imminent second appearing
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tures. The chief interest of forty-five out
of every one hundred boys in the movies
centered in the life of criminals depicted
there. Scores of young men behind prison
bars testified that the ideas of criminality
were shown them by characters on the celluloid film.
Though the movies usually inspire the
boys toward crime, they turn the girls more
often toward sex delinquency. "Forty-nine
per cent of the 252 delinquent girls said that
the movies imbued them with a desire to live
a gay, fast life; and nearly as many admitted
a craving for wild parties, cabarets, and road
houses as a result of movie inspiration."
Motion pictures with distorted love themes
and base ideals lead many girls into the
depths of degeneracy.
Reaping the Harvest
This conclusion as to the menacing power
of motion pictures must be quoted from
"Our Movie-Made Children:" "When 43
per cent of delinquent girls examined state
that movies gave them the itch to make
money easily; when 14 per cent declare they
acquired ideas from the movies for making
money by 'gold digging' men; 25 per cent,
by living with a man and letting him support them," it probably means that there is
"something socially wrong, something subversive of the best interests of society in
the way a substantial number of present-day
movies are made, written, conceived."
We are reaping to-day the results of a
generation of sowing. Impure thoughts,
base acts, twisted views of life, have been
viewed by millions of people, and especially
by the youth. Such a panorama of distorted
characters continually passing before the
minds of 28,000,000 American young people
is reaping crime, heartaches unnumbered,
broken homes, and damaged lives. The motion picture theater is counteracting the influences of the home, the school, and the
church.
From the evidence set forth in the book
"Our Movie-Made Children" there is no
further need for a Christian to ask, "What
is wrong with the movies?" The average
SIGNS of the TIMES
motion picture has no place in the life of a
follower of Jesus Christ. Like many other
valuable inventions, the devil has capitalized
the visual educational powers of the films.
Its influence, as Dr. John J. Tigert, former
United States Commissioner of Education,
now president of the University of Florida,
declares, "is the most powerful now known."
Wielding such a national and international
sway in the moral and social spheres of conduct, the motion picture is more menacing
in its effects than perhaps any other one
amusement.
The Christian cannot compromise himself with the average motion picture theme.
His standard is higher than the debasing
subjects of the majority of films. Paul
states the standard of the follower of God:
"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things."
(and every passing day vindicates this viewpoint), the world's extremity will be God's
opportunity. When things get so far out of
hand that humanity can no longer cope with
the situation, then God, through the second
coming of His Son, will intervene, destroy
sin forever, and make a new world.
We believe that 1934 will bring us one
long stride nearer to the realization of this,
the Christian's hope and the world's hope.
Surely affairs cannot go on forever in the
present distraught fashion without civilization's meeting its Waterloo, Because of the
love of God for men, and because of His
avowed promise some day to restore a world
fallen into sin to its pristine Edenic state,
we sincerely believe that the time is not far
distant when God will take a hand in human affairs. Could God be God and let the
Eating
for
A World Forecast
(Continued from page 3)
name. But there is a most disheartening factor to be considered. Many of those who
stand as religious teachers and leaders of the
people have gone a-whoring after strange
gods and doctrines alien to the gospel; therefore these shepherds are no longer able and
worthy to lead their flocks to the fountains
of life. Millions there are who cry out of
their despair and fear for a knowledge of
the true and living God. But their leaders
offer them only the wisdom of men. For
bread, they give them the stones of human
philosophy; for water, they offer them the
fluid theories of current sociology. For a
"Thus saith the Lord," they are given a
"Thus saith Darwin" or a'"Thus saith Fosdick." Modern religion has enthroned the
human and forsaken the divine. It flouts the
supernatural and the miraculous elements in
Christianity and apotheosizes only the rational and the natural., Thus as at present
when men need supernatural power and a
divine God they are shown only a man-made
grate in which the coals have lost their glow
and heat.
Mankind is at sea these days when it comes
to right and wrong and guidance to the kingdom of God. Rejecting the word of the Lord
as the Christian's chart and compass, men
drift from one speculation to another. And
1934 will see no improvement unless everywhere there is a genuine conversion to Jesus
Christ, a new love for God, and a new obedience to His law. The world is fast trending
toward secularism and humanism. Only a
miracle can save it from spiritual and moral
shipwreck.
"But," you say, "what a gloomy forecast
for the year to come!"
Humanly speaking, it is decidedly pessimistic. Apart from God and the prophecies
of His word there is not a great deal of hope
for to-morrow. Except those who merely
say, parrotlike and without thought, "Oh it
may come out all right after all," every
heart is filled with foreboding these days.
Men's hearts are failing them for fear, and
for looking upon the prospect of things to
come. But as this paper has so often said
,for JANUARY 2, 1934
world go on endlessly in such trouble and
woe as now encompass us on every hand?
No, the same God who sent Jesus to us nineteen hundred years ago will some soon day
send Him to us again, this time not to suffer
and die in ignominy, but to take over the
rulership of the world and to establish His
kingdom. "Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many; and unto them that look
for Him shall He appear the second time
without sin unto salvation." Hebrews 9:28.
With such a promise from God we can
face 1934 with courage and faith. Though
the clouds of earthly affairs swirl and lower
about us, we can look above and beyond to
the imminent coming of our Saviour, who
shall create a new heaven and a new earth.
May 1934 hasten that glad event toward
which creation is fast moving.
B.
HEALTH
AND
LONGEVITY
HE GREATEST and most far-reaching famines ever known
to mankind are the individual famines of the present day.
These famines are not because of a lack of food, but because
of a failure to procure and properly to prepare food which
will build strong bodies. The administration of the right kind and
quality of food to the human organism constitutes the key to.the
solution of our health problems.
Science of Fad' and Cookery
has been prepared by an expert dietitian after years of study and of testing
the food value of the more than five hundred recipes given. Full and complete instructions accompany each recipe. The author also gives practical
instruction in home dietetics, a comprehensive study of foods, their value
and uses in the body, and how to prepare and serve them tastily.
Contains 298 pages,
Illustrated.
Bound in waterproof
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Page Fifteen
AMERICA RECOGNIZES RUSSIA
After a break of sixteen years, the United States recently recognized Russia and its Soviet regime. To
the left above is Maxim Litvinoff, Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, who conducted the negotiations with President Roosevelt in Washington.
Center: President Roosevelt bids adieu to William
C. Bullitt, who sailed recently for Russia as America's first ambassador to the U. S. S. R. Right:
Alexander Troyanovsky, who has been named the
first ambassador of the U. S. S. R. to the U. S. A.
THE WORLD'S LARGEST
The U. S. Navy's dirigible "Macon" casting off
from her mooring mast at Moffett Field, Mountain
View, California, for a three-day maneuver with the
navy on the Pacific.
HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER
November 20, Lieut. Commander Settle and Major Fordney went into the skies more than eleven miles. To the
right above can be seen the balloon which carried the
metal ball just as it was leaving the ground at Akron,
Ohio. It appears only partially inflated, but soon filled as
the rarity of the upper air allowed the warm rays of the
sun to expand the gas within. Major Fordney can be
seen above just as he was climbing into the ball, with
Lieut. Commander Settle standing on the ball with his
back to the camera.