Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1905

Editorial

By Editor

Reviving Power

WHILE praying for a revival of God’s work it is encouraging to meditate upon the power which has been provided for the quickening of all believers. We are not to attempt the impossible by seeking to revive ourselves. We can not impart life to ourselves, nor to any one else. With God is the fountain of life. He is able to make alive that which is dead. His reviving power is shown in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and this is cited as the measure of the power which all believers may know. For “the faithful in Christ Jesus” the apostle Paul recorded the inspired prayer, that they might know “the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand.” That power which raised Christ from the dead will revive believers. That power which will raise the dead at the last day is pledged to quicken those who are now dead in trespasses and sins. We do not pray to a god that can not save. “Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as are of a contrite spirit.” “As for me, I will call upon God; and Jehovah will hear me.” With confidence we may all pray, “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”

“We humbly beseech thee, Lord Jesus, we pray, With love and the Spirit Baptize us to-day.”

Honoring Satan

An infidel in a Western city has erected a monument to Satan to show his contempt for religion. On the base of the monument is an inscription in Latin which, when translated, reads: “Man is not created, but is developed; God did not make man, but man did make the gods.” It is reported that “church-going people are particularly scandalized,” that “murmurings of indignation are freely voiced, and corrective measures are being discussed.” A later report says that it was necessary to detail policemen to guard the monument to protect it from injury. When honor is thus openly paid by an infidel to “the god of this world,” the people are startled, and their indignation is aroused, but when professed Christians do the same thing in smooth flowing sentences under the cover of “higher criticism” or “liberal theology,” it is applauded as the evidence of ripe scholarship and independent thinking. Scientists declare that “man is not created, but is developed,” and professed Christians reject the Biblical account of creation in order to be in harmony with a science which dishonors God and prepares the way for satanic sophistries. The infidel who erected this monument to Satan said in an interview that the Bible “is a pack of lies from beginning to end,” and “church-going people are particularly scandalized” thereby, and with good reason. On the other hand, because the bishops of the Methodist Church declined to confirm the election of a theological professor who had made what seemed to them “unwarranted and objectionable” statements concerning the historical character of the early chapters of the book of Genesis, on the ground that such statements had “a tendency to invalidate the authority of other portions of the Scripture,” these bishops are held up to ridicule by a professed Christian journal, which ironically declares that “a church has a perfect right to decide that in the schools it sustains and controls the pupils shall be informed that the earth is flat, and that any teacher who declares that the earth is round must be dismissed.” From our point of view, the infidel who erects his monument to Satan and openly assails the Bible as “a pack of lies” does the cause of true religion less harm than the professed believers in Christianity who ridicule those who really believe the Bible to be true, or those liberal thinkers who urge that people should read “the Old Testament stories as the folk-lore of a very ancient time.” The same master mind inspires all this dishonor to God and his Word. Our message is, “Fear God, and give glory to him.” “Worship God.”