Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1911 — Avoid Fear as a Calamity [ARTICLE]

Avoid Fear as a Calamity

DEAR is a great ealamed to all the sorrows of life, closed linked to all the crimes of the world! One of the* blessings of true Chris' tlanity Is the release It gives from fear. But alas! true Christianity, true Christian faith, and the present rewards of these are hot very common even in Christendom. Pew know the meaning of the Masteris words, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Pew appreciate the assurance, ,‘lf the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free Indeed” (Matt. 11:28; John 8:36). Pear has its foundation in sin. We 'may be sure that the angels In heaven know no fear. After Adam had disobeyed the divine command in Eden he feared his Maker and hid from him. Similarly, fear afreets all of Adam’s posterity, because of. the general realization that “all are sinners.” g| - It may be asked, Why Is it that the Master’s cure Is little considered today? Why are so few pointed to Christ, the Great Physician, for the rest and peace and comfort and Joy which he promised to his followers eighteen centuries ago? Have his words proven untrue? Are his professed followers amongst the most anxious and troubled and overcharged and sick and sorrowing and fearful of our poor, groaning creation? If so, what Is the explanation? We must concede the inference. We must admit that the four hundred millions of professed Christians are much more unhappy, much more fearful, much more nervous, peevish and sickly than the twelve hundred millions outside of Christendom. %|| Christian Only In Name. The explanation of this peculiar situation is that Christendom is not Christian; that the name Christendom Is a misnomer! Christ's kingdom does not prevail amongst the civilized onefourth of humanity. For centuries now Christendom has deceived itself and has seriously misrepresented Christ, -his teachings and his promised kingdom of righteousness for which still we are praying, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.” Our standing armies, prepared to destroy each other; and our Dreadnought navies, prepared to blow each other to atoms; and our submarines and our flying machines, our great cannon)} and tor-; pe-does—all prove the mistake of calling human civilization Christ’s kingdom. Similarly, the worry, fear, strife, nervousness, etc., of Christendom all prove that the Great Teacher’s antidote for fear and worry hail not been taken by the masses of Christendom. We hold that the Good Physician’s remedy for sin, corroding care, worry, fear is just as effective today as it was eighteen and a half centuries ago. There is only the one divine remedy for this harmful fear. That remedy is associated with the gospel of Christ; but there are numerous subterfuges. Some drown their fears, disappointments and sorrows with alcohol or various narcotics. Some seek to drown them with sensuous pleasures, some with business activity, some with church activity, some with “devil-may-care” unreason. Of late a considerable degree of subterfuge success has come along the lines of deceit —denying the existence of sin, denying the facts of pain and sorrow and death and, contrariwise, affirming that everything Is good, regardless of the untruthfulness of this proposition. Mystery of the Gospel Age. To attain the highest blessing which God has to offer at the present time certain difficult requirements must be complied with. Bin mast be repented of heartily, and, so far as possible, restitution must be made, which means that sin must be forsaken to the extent of ability. Faith must then recognize the “Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world”— that the sacrifice for sins was necessary, and that God himself provided it in the death of Jesus. ' To properly understand the Bible as a whole it Is necessary to discern that God has foreordained two Israels —the earthly and the heavenly, feoth are precious, both are “elect,” both are to be used of the* Lord during Messiah’s kingdom reign—the one on the heavenly plane and the other on the earthly. A mistake has been made by some in recognizing the earthly Israel and not recognizing the heavenly or spiritual Israel. Others have made the mistake of recognizing the heavenly or spiritual Israel and not recognising the earthly Israel. “The promise of God Is to be sure to both the seeds of Abraham —to that which Is according to the promise, the oath—the spiritual seed—and also to that which is according to the law, the natural seed (Romans 4:16). The spiritual seed must be develproceed from the heavenly seed to the earthly seed, then from the earthly of becoming members of the earthly