Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

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convictions."
Glimpses of the Religious World
Frank E. Allen, D. D.
Classic Liberalism
A series of articles are running in The Banner under the
title, "Classic Liberalism," or "major religious movements
in America during our ecclesiastical history."
A subtitle,
among others is "Evolutionism," in which the writer, John
H. Bratt, says: "Our theological students were advised by
Prof. William Heyns to regard evolution as a 'theory of un
belief striking at the heart of the biblical doctrine of crea
tion. That criticism was directed not merely against atheistic
and deistic evolution. Theistic evolution which he termed
'. . . an attempt to harmonize Scripture with the assertions
of the natural sciences in regard to the antiquity
of the
earth'
was likewise open, he thought, to very serious ob
jections. Heyns was quite convinced that the 'day' of Gen
esis 1 was 24 hours in duration and claimed, 'It is not ad
visable to change the old interpretation of that chapter with
out good reasons, and such good reasons have not yet
presented themselves.'
"Prof. Louis Berkhof, whose molding influence rests so
richly upon our present-day clergy, was equally strong in
his repudiation of evolutionism in all forms and phases.
While allowing for development within the various species of
families, he regarded any such thing as unlimited develop
ment through resident forces as untenable for the Chris
tian. He termed theistic evolution 'a very dangerous hybrid'
and concurred with Fairhurst who said that it 'destroys the
Bible as the inspired book of authority as effectively as does
atheistic evolution. Ministers of the denomination and pro
fessors in our college (Calvin) uttered similar warnings from
time to time."
The Formosan Crisis
Rev. E. J. Tannis, writing in the above paper says:
"Some readers may think that Satan has nothing to do with
the Formosan crisis, but a well-informed Christian knows
better. He believes that there are legions of evil spirits di
rected by a Supreme Commander, known in the Bible as
Satan, the devil, Beelzebub, the Dragon, the old serpent (Rev.
20), the Prince of this world (John 12:31), and other names.
Jesus always dealt with him as a personal adversary, his
greatest and most dangerous enemy. We are standing on
biblical ground when we say that Satan has a hand in the
crisis in the Far East. He sows the seed of dissention and
hatred everywhere, also in the hearts of powerful leaders.
Statesmen are no more immune to his attacks and intrigues
than the humblest Christian. .
"We should remember also that Satan not only uses god
less Communistic leaders in Asia for his diabolical purposes,
but he has access also to the hearts of our own leaders, and
the more so if they do not reckon with the possibility of
such an evil and dangerous influence. Satan can blind our
own leadership to the best interest of the nation and of the
world. Our present day Christianity is so extremely super
ficial, even the orthodox type, that there is very little com
prehension of the spiritual character of the world situation,
which in the last analysis is a conflict between the kingdom
of light and the kingdom of darkness."
False Christs
Jesus foretold the appearance of false Christs. One has
>xisen in France by the name of Georges Roux, who claims
U2
to be the reincarnated Christ. He plans the conquest of the
world. He claims to be able to heal, denies the existence of
evil or Satan and maintains that salvation may be had by
our own unaided effort. It is said that he has quite a follow
ing from French Protestantism. What must be the condition
of that type of protestantism
Youth Protests UMT
The United Christian Youth Movement sent a letter to
all the members of the U. S. Senate and House, stating:
"Universal military training is neither a democratic nor a
Christian answer to the problems confronting our nation, and
this conviction has been repeatedly reaffirmed by our Gen
era] Council. Our young people want you to be aware of
our
Persecution in Greece
Mr. Charamabus Agapides, of Katerini, Greece, was
tried and sentenced to prison for two months in January
because he had written a letter to a Thessalonikan news
paper condemning
the Orthodox Church authorities and
some political officials for persecuting
church in Katerini,
the Evangelical
of which he is a deacon. This is where
the Rev. Argos Zodhiates is pastor. The NAE's secretary of
affairs has protested against this action to the Greek am
bassador to the U.S., as opposed to the free practice of re
ligion and freedom of expression and of the press.
Missionaries Salaries Raised
The Presbyterian Board of National Missions (USA) has
authorized the raising of the lower-level salaries of mission
aries to be retroactive to the beginning of the year. To cover
this the Board has increased its 1955 budget for salary ex
penditures by $298,000.
Moody's New Auditorium
The new Torrey-Gray Auditorium of the Moody Bible
Institute was dedicated at the recent Founder's Week. It was
the 118th anniversary of the birth of Dwight L. Moody and
(Continued on page 170)
THE COVENANTER WITNESS
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REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
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not necessarily the views of the Covenanter Church or of the Editor.
Dr. Raymond Taggart, D.D., Editor
1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka Kansas
Contributing Editor
Frank E. Allen. D.D.
Prof. William H. Russell
Walter McCarroll, D.D.
Remo I. Robb. D.D.
Departmental Editor.
Rev. John O. Edgar
Mrs. J. O. Edgar
Mrs. Ross Latimer
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COVENANTER WITNESS