THE DEVIL'S MISSION OF AMUSEMENT.
By Archibald C. Brown
(Concluded.)
[The following is from a tract by Rev. Archibald C. Brown, of East London (England) Tabernacle, published by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.] HOW DID the apostles carry on their mission work? Was it in harmony with their teaching? Let the Acts of the Apostles give the answer. Anything approaching the worldly fooling of to-day is conspicuous by its absence. The early evangelists had boundless confidence in the power of the gospel, and employed no other weapon. Pentecost followed plain preaching. When Peter and John had been locked up for the night for preaching the resurrection, the early church had a prayer meeting directly they returned, and the petition offered for the two was, "And now, Lord, . . . grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word." They had no thought of praying, "Grant unto thy servants more policy, that by a wise, discriminating use of innocent recreation they may avoid the offense of the cross, and sweetly show this people how happy and merry a lot we are." The charge brought against the apostles by the members of the council was, "Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." Not much chance of this charge being brought against modern methods. The description of their work is, "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Then, if they "ceased not" from this, they had no time for arranging for entertainments; they gave themselves continually "to the ministry of the word." Scattered by persecution, the early disciples "went everywhere preaching the word." . . . The congregations in those days did not expect anything but the word of the Lord, for Cornelius says to Peter, "We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." The message given was "words whereby thou and all thine house shall be saved." Cause and effect are closely linked in the statement that men of Cyrene "spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed and turned to the Lord." Here you have their method—they preached. Their matter—the Lord Jesus. Their power—the hand of the Lord was with them. Their success—many believed. What more does the church of God require to-day? When Paul and Barnabas worked together, the record is, "The Lord gave testimony unto the word of his grace." When Paul, in a vision, hears a man of Macedonia saying, "Come over and help us," he assuredly gathers that the Lord had called him to preach the gospel unto them. Why so? How did he know but that the help needed was the brightening of their lives by a little amusement, or the refining of their manners by a collection of paintings? He never thought of such a thing. "Come and help us" meant to him, "Preach the gospel." "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures"—not about the Scriptures, mark, but out of them—"opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead." That was the "manner" of evangelistic work in those days, and it seems to have been wonderfully powerful; for the verdict of the people was, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither8also." Just now the world is turning the church upside down; that is the only difference. When God told Paul that he had much people in Corinth, I read, "And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Evidently, then, he judged that the only way to bring them out was by the word. A year and a half, and only one method adopted. Wonderful! We should have had a dozen in that time. But then Paul never reckoned that providing something pleasant for the ungodly was part of his ministry; for on his way to Jerusalem and martyrdom, he says, "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." This was all the ministry he knew. The last description we have of the methods of this prince of evangelists is of a piece with all that has gone before: "He expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening," "preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus." What a contrast to all the nonsense now being perpetrated in the holy name of Christ! The Lord clear the church of all the rubbish that the devil has imposed upon her, and bring us back again to apostolic methods! Lastly, the mission of amusement utterly fails to effect the desired end among the unsaved; but it works havoc among the young converts. Were it a success, it would be none the less wrong. Success belongs to God; faithfulness to his instructions, to me. But amusement is not a success. Test it even by this and it is a contemptible failure. . . . Let us see the converts who have been first won by amusement. Let the harlot and the drunkard to whom a dramatic entertainment has been God's first link in the chain of their conversion, stand forth. Let the careless and the scoffers who have ceased to thank God that the church has relaxed her spirit of separation and met them half way in their worldliness, speak and testify. Let the husbands, wives, and children who rejoice in a new, holy home through "Sunday evening lectures on social questions," tell out their joy. Let the weary, heavy-laden souls who have found peace through a concert, no longer keep silent. Let the men and women who have found Christ through the reversal of apostolic methods, declare the same, and show the greatness of Paul's blunder when he said, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." There is neither voice nor any to answer. The failure is on a par with the folly, and as huge as the sin. Out of thousands with whom I have personally conversed, the mission of amusement has claimed no convert. Now let the appeal be made to those who, repudiating every other method, have staked everything on the Book and the Holy Ghost. Let them be challenged to produce results. There is no need. . . . Ten thousand times ten thousand voices are ready to declare that the plain preaching of the word was, first and last, the cause of their salvation. But how about the other side of this matter—what are the baneful effects? Are they also nil? I will here solemnly, as before the Lord, give my personal testimony. Though I have never seen a sinner saved, I have seen any number of backsliders manufactured by this new departure. Over and over again young Christians, and sometimes Christians who are not young, have come to me in tears, and asked what they were to do, as they had lost all their peace and fallen into evil. Over and over again has the confession been made, "I began to go wrong by attending worldly amusements that Christians patronized." It is not very long since that a young man, in an agony of soul, said to me: "I never thought of going to the theater until my minister put it into my head by preaching that there was no harm in it. I went, and it has led me from bad to worse, and now I am a miserable backslider; and he is responsible for it." When young converts begin to "damp off," forsake the gatherings for prayer, and grow worldly, I almost always find that worldly Christianity is responsible for the first downward step. The mission of amusement is the devil's half-way house to the world. It is because of what I have seen that I feel deeply, and would fain write strongly. This thing is working rottenness in the church of God, and blasting her service for the King. In the guise of Christianity it is accomplishing the devil's own work. Under the pretense of going out to reach the world, it is carrying our sons and daughters into the world. With the plea of, "Do not alienate the masses by your strictness," it is seducing the young disciples from "the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ" (Revised Version). Professing to win the world, it is turning the garden of the Lord into a public recreation ground. . . . It will be no wonder if the Holy Ghost, grieved and insulted, withdraws his presence; for what concord hath Christ with Belial, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? "Come out," is the call for to-day. Sanctify yourselves. Put away the evil from among you. Cast down the world's altars and cut down her groves. Spurn her offered assistance. Decline her help, as your Master did the testimony of devils, for he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him. Renounce all the policy of the age. Trample upon Saul's armor. Grasp the Book of God. Trust the Spirit who wrote its pages. Fight with this weapon only, and always. Cease to amuse; seek to arouse. Shun the clap of a delighted audience, and listen for the sobs of a convicted one. . . . Let the church again confront the world; testify against it; meet it only behind the cross; and, like her Lord, she shall overcome, and, with him, share the victory.