THE DEVIL'S MISSION OF AMUSEMENT by Rev. Archibald C. Brown

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 22.

THE DEVIL'S MISSION OF AMUSEMENT.

By Rev. Archibald C. Brown

[The following is from a tract by Rev. Archibald C. Brown, of East London (England) Tabernacle, published by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.]

But again. PROVIDING AMUSEMENT FOR THE PEOPLE IS IN DIRECT ANTAGONISM TO THE TEACHING AND LIFE OF CHRIST AND ALL HIS APOSTLES. What is to be the attitude of the church towards the world, according to our Lord’s teaching?—Strict separation and uncompromising hostility. While no hint ever passed his lips of winning the world by pleasing it, or accommodating methods to its taste, his demand for unworldliness was constant and emphatic. He sets forth in one short sentence what he would have his disciples to be: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Yes, the salt, not the sugar candy, nor a “lump of delight”—something the world will be more inclined to spit out than swallow with a smile—something more calculated to bring water to the eye than laughter to the lip.

Short and sharp is the utterance: “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” “My kingdom is not of this world.”

These passages are hard to reconcile with the modern idea of the church providing recreation for those who have no taste for more serious things—in other words, of conciliating the world. If they teach anything at all, it is that fidelity to Christ will bring down the world’s wrath, and that Christ intended his disciples to share with him the world’s scorn and rejection. How did Jesus act? What were the methods of the only perfectly “Faithful Witness” the Father has ever had.

As none will question that he is to be the worker’s model, let us gaze upon him. How significant the introductory account given by Mark: “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel.” And again, in the same chapter, I find him saying, in answer to the announcement of his disciples that all men were seeking for him, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth.” Matthew tells us, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” In answer to John’s question, “Art thou he that should come?” he replies, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” There is no item in the catalogue after this sort: “And the careless are amused, and the perishing are provided with innocent recreation.”

We are not left in doubt as to the matter of his preaching, for when “many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door, he preached the word unto them.” There was no change of method adopted by

the Lord during his course of ministry, no learning by experience of a better plan. His first word of command to his evangelists was, “As ye go, preach.” His last, “Preach the gospel to every creature.” Not an evangelist suggests that at any time during his ministry he turned aside from preaching to entertain, and so attract the people. He was in awful earnestness; and his ministry was like him. Had he been less uncompromising, and introduced more of the “bright and pleasant” element into his mission, he would have been more popular.

Yet, when many of his disciples went back because of the searching nature of his preaching, I do not find there was any attempt to increase a diminished congregation by resorting to something more pleasant to the flesh. I do not hear him saying: “We must keep up the gatherings anyway; so run after those friends, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service to-morrow, something very short and attractive, with little, if any, preaching. To-day was a service for God, but to-morrow we will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it, and have a happy hour. Be quick, Peter; we must get the people somehow, if not by gospel, then by nonsense.” No, this was not how he argued. Gazing in sorrow on those who could not bear the word, he simply turns to the twelve and asks, “Will ye also go away?”

Jesus pitied sinners, pleaded with them, sighed over them, warned them, and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. When the evening shadows of his consecrated life were deepening into the night of death, he reviewed his holy ministry, and found comfort and sweet solace in the thought, “I have given them thy word.” As with the Master, so with his apostles, their teaching is the echo of his. In vain will the epistles be searched to discover any trace of a gospel of amusement. The same call for separation from the world rings in every one. “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed,” is the word of command in the Romans. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing,” is the trumpet call in the Corinthians. In other words, it is, Come out, keep out, keep clean out, for “what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?”

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Here is the true relationship between the church and the world, according to the Epistle to the Galatians. “Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them,” is the attitude enjoined in Ephesians. “Sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life,” is the word in Philippians. “Dead with Christ from the elements of the world,” says the Epistle to the Colossians. “Abstain from every form of evil” (Revised Version), is the demand in the Thessalonians.

“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use,” is the word to Timothy. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach,” is the summons of the Scriptures. James, with holy severity, declares that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Peter writes: “Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living” (Revised Version). John writes a whole epistle, the gist of which is: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doth the will of God abideth forever.”

Here are the teachings of the apostles concerning the relationship of the church and the world. And yet in the face of them what do we see and hear?—A friendly compromise between the two, and an insane effort to work in partnership for the good of the people. God help us, and dispel the strong delusion. (To be continued.)