Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

paper?"void."salvation."Suppose the Presses Stopped!When the newspaper strike in New York stoppedthe giant presses from rolling off their Niagaras ofnew editions daily, America's first city suddenly feltitself all but paralyzed."No daily eight of every ten peopleasked each other in bewilderment. One of the greatest publications missed its issues for the first timein more than a century.Inveterate readers who took their newspapersfor granted as much as their coffee suddenly foundthemselves "lost." Radio-television newscasts andflashes, and motion picture newsreels, proved no substitute for the paper to be read and digested at will.Whenever I enter a Christian home where noChristian publication is subscribed to and perusedregularly and intelligently, I feel that here is a domicile which in one sense is "lost." It has deprived itselfof the greatest continued news story of the timesthe story of the Lord at work in His world in thesedesperate, yet challenging days. The presses for thatfamily have stopped.But when I find a Christian publication alongside the Bible in a home of devout followers of theLord Jesus Christ, I sense that here is a family thatis alive to the world and its spiritual problems, and tothe many ways modern disciples are militantly battling to meet them.I regularly read eight or ten church weeklies ormonthlies, and I find no literature of the day moreinformative or invigorating, none more helpful inunderstanding current complexities or more revealing in the only way Christ's way to meet them.Newspapers and magazines are neither substitutesnor competitors of the religious press. Its service isunique, vast, incomparably important and influentialin advancing the Kingdom of God.There is no organization in our land comparableto the Christian Church. We count more than 90,-000,000 members on church rolls, but the number ofChristian adherents, including the nominal, mustrange from 130,000,000 to 150,000,000. Atheism oragnosticism, at least the militant, blatant type hasalmost disappeared from the scene. It is no longer thesmart thing to deny God. It is true a vast paganismexists, but there is a virile counter-faith,the fundamental doctrines of historic Christianity,which millions proclaim and live, and for which multitudes would be willing to give their lives.By William F. McDermott(Outstanding Christian journalist; formerly withChicago Daily News)October is Protestant Press Monthrooted inThere's news there, friend. The greatest, best,most exciting news anywhere. And there's only oneplace you will find it chronicled faithfully, fully, accurately and inspiringly in your Christian publication.The Bible itself sets the pattern for today'sChristian publications. Webster's dictionary definesthe word "gospel" as "the good news concerningChrist, the Kingdom of God, andWhatbetter statement could fly from the masthead of the230Christian press in our land today ?Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles, we find themeatiest story ever printed the story of the founding of the Christian Church and its spread in a fewdecades over the known world. It's news without parallel in history.Christian publications do a follow-up today ofthe "greatest storyever told." Let's look at the picture from different angles.Secular news columns are rife with threats ofwar, killings, corruption, and violence. Possibility ofthe suicide of the human race hangs like a black shadow over reports from the capitals of many nations.Is there no counteracting influence ?I turn to my church paper. I find there the storyof a Christian doctor in a primitive, hunger-riddenland, who in his missionary hospital performed3,000 cataract operations in a year on the eyes ofpeople going blind, and of an American group ofchurchwomen furnishing him with 500 artificial eyesfor those who have lost partial sight. Think of thegood will created thereby the good will which alonewill bring peace.Again, a story that mentions Halley's comet intrigues me. What has that to do with religion ? I discover that a descendant of that famous astronomercondensed the Bible to one-third its size and committed all that condensation to memory; for yearsHenry H. Halley held "Bible memorywhich his "sermons" consisted of Scripture quotations. He could recite Bible passages for an hour anight for six weeks and never repeat a line.revivals,"atYou read of juvenile delinquency increasing, ofdope addiction and vandalism, of jails packed withteen-agers, of adolescents committing atrocious murders. But there's another side to youth. In mychurchpaper I find the account of 11,000 Christian workerstraveling a total of 6,000,000 miles to attend a greatSabbath School convention. I read of young people bythe hundreds dedicating themselves to Christianservice.My church paper tells me of new churches beingfounded, of Christian service in prisons and hospitals, of evangelical schools and colleges preparingmen and women for missionry work, of progress being made in good race relations, in relief of the poorand needy, of the influence of Christ in all phases oflife.I read the story of revival the world over, ofthe Word of God being preached in hundreds of languages and of Bibles printed in more than a thousandtongues. I learn of thousands being converted inevangelistic campaigns here and in foreign lands. Ifind that God is working in His world in amazingways, making one realize that "My word shall not return unto meYour Christian publication not only informsCOVENANTER WITNESS