OCR Text |
Show FoodlF0RTIhioiuiglbiiL The Presbyterians of the United States are out for wartime prohibition. Their action should be indorsed and given suport by all the churches. If the people believe the country can go 1 drunken into victory and the great day of a new order, they have another guess coming. The drunken debauehery in which the nation is wallowing is very greatly slowing down its spiritual power which is so much needed and without which the war cannot be won, no matterhow great the munitions. - With all due respects to Neighbor Hess who has named the war, War against Wickedness, we will say that God has named it and as Destiny Magazine says, "While men grope for a name the churches are dumb, unable to speak and give the name because of their unbelief. The name is Armageddon" The business of all of us should be service to our fellows( to give light to them who walk in darkness, to help feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to help stabilize the weak and the faltering. There may not be money in this but there is something vastly better and dearer than money. i i There are millions of youths just touching feet to forbidden forbid-den paths. Who will furnish the help necessary to turn them back? There are other millions of boys and girls who, through poverty have had so many of the paths of opportunity closed to them. Who will help them? And who will do something for (he millions of little children orphaned and cast put by the war, wandering starving and homeless about the earth? And for the many aged for whom the dreams of life have fallen away, who will sustain them when the government can no longer help them. Just how much is the average man doing toward making the path of life smoother or easier for those coming after? What are those with wealth doing in order that their less fortunate for-tunate brothers and sisters may go on their way with a little more security and abundance? . The churches of the country, which includes all the Christian Chris-tian and Jewish organizations, are doing wonderfully well in helping gome of those unfortunates who are in dire need in the conquered and warring lands. Wherever hunger and heartache is there they seek out the needy. Help has been extended in 35 nations. It is true that Jesus went to His death without resisting those who falsely accused Him. But that task completed, com-pleted, He becomes the leader of the armies of heaven and in that capacity John describes Him returning to fight against the agressors in order to establish justice and peace upon the earth. Any true follover of Jesus Christ can not do less than fight for such a cause. Destiny. "Finding spiritual strenght, we will be better able to serve anywhere, in this great war, and to keep on serving despite setback, discouragement or grief; better prepared also, for the tass that will follow after the job of rebuilding a world that man has devastated, and the bigger and more important . job of restoring and improving our democraay, and of establishing, estab-lishing, here and everywhere, a way of life that will be just, and beautiful, and secure in accord with God's principles." Dishouepty in business. Excessive greed for profits. Graft and corruption in politics. Gangsterism and the crime wave. Licentiousness and gross immorality, which is the festering cancer on the life of today. Liquor and the saloon and all the hangouts and hideouts and dens of iniquity resulting therefrom there-from Infidelity and atheism. These are the sign posts of the grave dangers that are weakening the nation's power, and which, if not repented of may cause breakdown and defeat. And remembjr this: All these things can only aet as shutouts for us when the great dav of peace shall come. A writer in the Christian Science Monitor says, on the subject of spiritual power: A recent convention of a national manufacturing association approved a ninety per cent profit income tax above a minimup. exemption desired by assoc'ation members A profit income tax should include a tax on the apprecia tion in credit within monetary and financial organizations organiza-tions incident to the increase in the national debt. The total in circulating aad deposit credit in the U.S. is approximately equal to the present annual oduction in consumer production values or sixty six billion dollars. We are fully aware that certain religious leaders in Christian Chris-tian churches teach a doctrine of non- resistance, but Jesus taught and practised militant opposition to evil in all of its manifestations. He could hardly be called a pacifist who took a whip and drove the moneychangers from the Temple, turn-I turn-I ed their tables over, telling them they had made the Temple a den of thieves; counselled the vitrue of armament in His statement, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are at peace;" asked His disciples if they had any swords and found two and instead of telling them to dispose of these said they were enough; who condemned those who take the sword of aggression to be finally overcome by the sword in the hand of the defender and stated that He came not to bring peace but a sword. There is a front line to this war which is more important than many realize. That front line is the moral and spiritual fiber of the people and it, as much as the guns, may determine determ-ine the success of the war. Anything that interferes with, or breaks down this moral and spiritual force is an enemy to be reckoned with. Here are some of the factors that work for weakness in the national effort: Am I doing the best for society? Am I producing good things? Do 1 work with the thought that the consumer must be fed. We mn3t get away from the idea of production for self alone; we must translate our interest into the common good. That is the higher incentive incen-tive for good work and this is the incentive which co-operation brings. |