Are We Holding Our Own? by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 22, 1916

Are We Holding Our Own?

By G. B. T.

In an essay on prayer Rev. G. Granger Fleming says:—

“In 1910 we had a world-wide missionary conference. This was held with the purpose of an advance on all the enemy’s outposts. There was great enthusiasm and an evidence of splendid organization. One great note of weakness was, however, struck. The churches were prepared to invade the world, but it was found that they were incapable of holding their own in their present centers in proportion to the increase of population. Everywhere is the sense of need felt. How shall it be met?

“We must get back to the trenches; back to where we are sure; back to the Word of God, back to prayer, back to cultivation of the inner life. The Christian in his trench need fear no foe. Given to prayer and meditation, he is more than equal to all that can come upon him.

“What is wanted today is more intensity, more reality, more of the hidden work of grace. If we get right with God, we shall soon be right with men. If we become men of the Word and of prayer, we shall soon prove our worth in the field of action and practical service.”—The Dynamic of All Prayer, p. 2.

This statement is doubtless true, and is very suggestive, containing some thoughts that are pertinent to our work, and that we shall do well to study.

The writer of the essay says that the churches preparing to invade the world found they “were incapable of holding their own.” Are we holding our own? We are not pessimistic. Neither do we have any sympathy with that class who seek to sow the seeds of disaffection by endeavoring to show that the work of God on earth is disintegrating and drying up. The movements which have been started by those who have left this message have disintegrated and withered away. Individuals who have become dissatisfied with the foundation and with the way the work was carried on, and have stepped out of the ranks to warm themselves by the sparks of their own kindling, have declined in spiritual power, and have ceased to be religious leaders. There seems to be no exception to this. But this message, born in obscurity and cradled in poverty, in the face of great obstacles and in spite of wolves from without and of men arising in our midst speaking perverse things, has gone steadily on, until the world has been girdled, and in nearly all nations the message of a soon-coming Saviour is being preached. At no time in its history has there been seen greater vigor and growth in all departments of the work than at the present time.

But it is not best to number Israel, and estimate too much as to whether or not the required number is made up, so that the Lord may come. While we are making advancement in the world and pushing the conquest into new fields, are we holding our own spiritually? How is it, brother, in the church you attend? Is it increasing or decreasing in numbers? Are you holding your own spiritually? Is there as earnest a spirit in the hearts of the believers now as when your little church was organized? Do you love one another as devotedly now as in the former days? Or are you losing your first love, and in this respect not holding your own? Are you holding your own in the prayer meeting? Is it as well attended now as some years ago? Do you attend as regularly as you once did? Are the fervent “amens” heard as often when some of the sublime truths of the gospel are brought home to the heart as years ago? Are you holding

your own in Sabbath keeping? Are you as careful concerning the observance of God’s holy day now as when you first learned that you were keeping a day substituted by man for the day that God blessed and made holy at creation? Should we not think soberly and prayerfully in reference to these things?

Are we holding our own in reference to plainness of dress, and practicing the principles of health as taught in the Word of God? Or are we growing more careless, and following more and more the fashions and customs of the world? These are personal questions, and it is not intended that they be answered by pointing to some one else and saying, “Well, I hardly think Brother and Sister Blank are living up to the light as carefully as they should, or as they once did.” They may be doing better than you are, measured by God’s standard. We are asking you. Are you holding your own along all these lines?

Again, are we holding our children in the truth? They are the most priceless heritage, and the greatest asset of the denomination. How about the flock which was once in your church? Did you hold them? Are they all in the truth today, or have you been incapable of holding them, and today they are in the world, without God and without hope? I heard a prominent evangelist once say that investigation showed that many of those in the slums, and dyed in the deepest of sin, once sat in Sunday schools. The churches had them, he said, but were incapable of holding them.

“During the great simultaneous revival campaign in the city of Philadelphia, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, at a noon-day meeting in the Garrick Theater, read a letter from a well-known evangelist in which he said that while conducting a morning meeting in a certain city a tramp came in and sat down in a pew. During the service this tramp stood up and said: ‘My father and mother used to sit in this pew. It is the first church I ever attended. My father was an officer in this church. Seven boys used to sit in this pew in the Sunday school class. We had a great love and respect for our teacher. Saturday afternoons she invited us to her home for an entertainment of music, eatables, and a look over the lesson. After a while, being anxious to please us and hold us, she brought out a pack of cards and taught us the names of the different cards. None of us had ever used cards, but we became enthusiastic over them and soon learned the game. Then we said, “Do not give so much time to the lesson, but let us have more time for playing cards, and teach us some more tricks.” After a while we got a pack of our own and were off in the cotton-gins playing cards, and not going to her home. Later we failed to go to Sunday school. Cards and cigarettes were followed by drink and gambling. We all, at different times, left our homes. Two of these boys have been hanged, three are in State prison for life, one a vagabond like myself. No one knows where he is; and if the authorities knew I was here, I would be arrested and put behind the bars.’”—The Master Workman, pp. 44, 45.

The church had these boys once, but did not hold them. It is time that we seriously investigate to see if our churches and Sabbath schools are capable of holding their own and of saving the young among them. If not, we must get “back to the Word of God, back to prayer, back to cultivation of the inner life.”

We are making our activities, I fear, far too much a substitute for piety, for study of God’s holy Book, and for prayer. We need to return to God, to humble the heart, to put away sin, to pray, to supplicate the throne of God for Pentecostal power, that we may not only hold our own in spiritual power, but be able also to reach out and lay hold upon others who are being drawn by the ebb tide of sin into the yawning gulf of perdition.

G. B. T.