Jul 1992 - Editorial

The Pharisees betrayed their ignorance when they accused the Divine Healer of sabbath-breaking. Their philosophy was earth-bound: to them material things were foremost, they had little knowledge of the spiritual. Their attempts to criticize the Lord were futile: small-minded men pitting their wits against a large-hearted God. They retreated in shame, as described in our principal article.

Leaders of the established churches have long been concerned at the godlessness of Western society. The "Decade of Evangelism" is an attempt to stem the descent into secularism, but Focus shows that it hardly seems to be making any impact on the masses. One problem is the absence of agreement on how the question should be tackled, indeed the very fundamentals of Christian belief are in doubt among some of the participants. So there is no common ground on which to plan a campaign. We must go to the New Testament for the solution. Paul preached "Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2), and so did Peter and the rest of the apostles. There was no compromising with other beliefs.

We also read in this issue how the psalmists of old saw the impact of divine intervention as they reflected on their national history, its joys and sorrows, its failures and successes. They wrote down their findings for their contemporaries and posterity. The lessons of sacred history are always powerful. They were recorded in their poignancy by men whose hearts were deeply moved. We long that the hearts of readers may be affected by the Spirit-given words of Bible history.

unknown | Jul 1992
Editorial