An Immoral Invasion by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 24, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 50.

An Immoral Invasion

By Editor

As an illustration of the sentiment upon which the apostle Paul places a "God forbid," an occurrence in Minneapolis, December 1, is in point. A minister in that city took for his text, "Praise Him with the dance," and then brought in two girls of the world, to reveal to his audience the character of the immoral dances of the present time. The report declares that "the most amazing and bold dances were executed by the girls." The so-called "Turkey Trot," and "Crab Crawl," and "Tortoise Tango," and "Jelly Wabble," the "Angleworm Wriggle," the "Grizzly Bear," and other dances, were given. The pastor declared that these dances were not at all exaggerated, that they "would make the devil blush,—he would hesitate to introduce them into hell;" that the very names of the dances were a "libel upon the animal world;" and that "children had come to be postgraduates in ragtime tunes and dances before they could sing a hymn or repeat the Lord's Prayer." Coins were thrown upon the pulpit platform by some in the audience, while the girls were dancing.

Now what this minister said may have been all right. We did not hear the sermon, and have only the newspaper report of it; but to bring such a scene as that into a church set apart to the worship of God, would do more harm than for the dances to be conducted in buildings that are used by the world for that purpose.

The world has always been lying in wickedness. The unregenerate heart is at enmity with God, and is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be; and this is true, whether that heart calls itself Christian, or whether the name is on the church books,

or not. That is one thing which the church needs to recognize, that the only hope for humanity is in the regenerating power of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the individual is born again, there will be no place for these kinds of dances, or the other kinds which merge into them, and which are considered 'respectable,' in his life. The great difficulty has been that the church itself has yielded to the influences of these worldly entertainments.

This pastor is reported to have said that there is a decent dance, helpful to the body, pleasant to the mind, and harmless to the soul; but the great difficulty is that just as soon as dancing between the sexes begins, they grade down and down to the wretched, immoral dances that we have at the present time. And it is pretty difficult to say as to whether these grotesque, indecent dances are more immoral than the 'respectable' waltz which has held dominion in society for so long a time.

The awful thing is that such things as that should be allowed in the church of God. Logically, to show the evil of thievery, it would be well to have some one steal. To show the evil of blasphemy, why not hire two experts at such a transgression of God's commandment, to get up on a pulpit and hurl oaths at each other? To show the evils of idolatry, why not bring some of them in, by hiring some heathen to offer there his oblations? And so on through the whole category of the transgression of the Ten Commandments. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ, or Paul, or Peter, or John, or, to come later on, John Wesley, or Alexander MacLaren, or Charles Spurgeon, using any such means as this! The world knows of all these evil things, and it knows the power of evil to entrap men and women. What the world does not know, and the people of the world do not know, is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to save.

The impressions made upon that audience will never be forgotten, and it is safe to say that they will bear evil fruitage in the minds of some, who never would have seen it otherwise. 'Shall we do evil, that good may come? God forbid.'