Halloween Fantasy
Double, double toil and trouble—
The witches have flown to the moon (Where they should, for a spell,
Form a communist cell,
Since Russians will join them there soon).
Double, double toil and trouble—
They’ve left us a witch legacy
Of mascara-ed eye-lids,
Masquerading small kids,
And bubbling brews on TV—
(Bubble, bubble; less toil, no trouble—)
This legacy seen on the screen
Shows a lather enriched
With a charm that’s bewitched—
Commercials are pure Halloween.
Double, double bowls of stubble—
The world is de-witched, air-conditioned,
And when Hecate mocks
From a cereal box
Her face is a mask for nutrition.
Double, double trick or treat—
Three rubber-faced witches are there;
Little goblins with bags
Clutch the skirts of these hags,
Unnerved by the masks that they wear.
Double, double, all the trouble
Since witches have turned to thin air,
Is the hunt that goes on
When the witches are gone,
The witch hunt which hunts what’s not there.
Pastor Peterson thought my poem had a point, but he is not so sure we are free of witches. “Perhaps Macbeth’s trio has gone, but what is meeting modern Macbeth’s in the night?” He added a stanza:
Double, double, triple trouble—
In crisis we mustn’t decry sense …
Is there not enough reason
To declare open season,
And bag a few hags with a license?
EUTYCHUS
Remonstrant Riposte
All of us who are interested in the Christian college are indebted to Professor C. Gregg Singer for the sober and generally well reasoned warnings in his article “Why Evangelical Colleges Die” (Sept. 11 issue). But the section on “Theological Weaknesses” reminds one of finger paintings with mixed paints, and leaves us evangelicals of the Wesleyan tradition gasping for breath.…
Perhaps the real trouble where modernism has made inroads in both Reformed and Arminian circles is a defection from simple willingness to accept the Bible as God’s written Word and man’s final authority.
STEPHEN W. PAINE
President
Houghton College
Houghton, N. Y.
It is apparent … that he does not believe colleges with an Arminian emphasis have the theological strength to survive.… We are glad to rise to Dr. Singer’s challenge. I am sure there are many others who join us.
MERNE A. HARRIS
Vice-Pres. and Dean
Vennard College
University Park, Iowa
May I suggest that the cause of evangelism is not well served by a kind of infighting between Calvinists and Arminians? In two recent articles … the authors are biased in favor of Calvinism.
MILO C. ROSS
President
George Fox College
Newberg, Ore.
Arminianism is not humanistic nor sub-biblical.… Maybe evangelical colleges die, but it is not due to an Arminian Achilles heel—rather, … failure to be truly regenerated, … failure to tarry until filled with the Holy Spirit.…
W. J. YOUNG
Grace Church of the Nazarene
Yuma, Ariz.
Has Dr. Singer never read that statement in the Methodist Discipline: “The Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” Is that sub-biblical?
J. B. CAIN
Memorial Methodist Church
Bolton, Miss.
It seems that Calvinism would say, “It was decreed to die anyway” … we would say we must be on guard to prevent our schools from death.
A. REUBEN HARTWICK
First Pentecostal Church
Coraopolis, Pa.
Christian, Jew And Arab
My effort to evangelize my Jewish dentist has shown me the wisdom of your comment (Aug. 28 issue) “… when a Jew comes to the Messiah, he does not cease to be a Jew.” I am sure such a strategy is even more urgent in Israel.…
I feel that the evangelization of Israel and the dialogue between Jewish and Gentile Christians is even more important than the dialogue among Protestant churches or between Rome and Protestantism.
HAROLD WHITE
Belvidere, N.C.
It is a tragic fact that the very people who will liberally give to a Jewish mission in some far-off place make no attempt to witness to the Jews of their own neighborhood or community.
BELDEN MENKUS
Nashville, Tenn.
We must never lose sight of our opportunities and privileges as Christians in Israel, but the distinct and unique contribution that Baptists and other evangelicals can make to this young state just celebrating her Bar mitzvah this year is the Christian concept of religious freedom. Democracy has always enjoyed greater security when the tasks of the watchman on the wall were shared by evangelicals.
In many ways I feel that we are near our goal. The young people, the intellectuals, and the self-styled free-thinkers are completely fed up with Israel’s creeping theocracy. They are convinced that reformation and not reform (small ‘r’) is the only solution. There are also increasing pressures from world Jewry to break the strangle hold of the Orthodox on the jugular of Israel.
DWIGHT L. BAKER
Baptist Church
Nazareth, Israel
I’m afraid I am not able to see the Arab situation quite the same way (Sept. 11 issue). By official British census, in 1947, the number of refugees is nearer 600,000 than 1,000,000. Thirty-eight of the 40 million world refugees (the Hong Kong and Palestinian being the exceptions) had been resettled in the lands that received them. This is standard procedure. In no case have they gone back to the point or points of origin. There is a three million dollar UN fund held in escrow for this resettlement. Arab leaders will not permit it, however, preferring to “use” the refugees in the game of propaganda politics. The Israelis have already taken back, to reunite families, a considerable number of these persons. They are prepared to take back up to 100,000 more when the Arab states are ready to call off their war and sign a peace treaty (in spite of the fact that this is not the way of dealing with this kind of problem anywhere else). Furthermore, two factors: (1) Israel has taken in 400,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries coming with only the shirts on their backs (bank accounts frozen and goods confiscated), but no one seems concerned to make a fuss about this, and (2) the refugee movement out of Israel-Palestine was at the initial instigation of Arab military leaders (even if “atrocities” some genuine, some trumped up, were used to encourage it). I think we have to admit to these facts along with others that might be pro-Arab.
G. DOUGLAS YOUNG
Director
Israeli-American Institute of Biblical Studies
Evanston, Ill.
You may find the following material specially helpful in rounding out … general conclusions:
Who Knows Better, Must Say So, by Elmer Berger (American Council for Judaism, 201 E. 57th St., New York 22, N. Y., 50¢)—Jewish, but anti-Zionist. (Many Jews feel the Zionists have gone too far in their propaganda and moneyraising, and have really hurt the Jewish cause.)
Olive Trees in Storm, by Morris S. Lazaron (American Friends of the Middle East, Inc., 225 E. 46th St., New York, N. Y., paperback ed., $1)—analysis of Jew-Arab situation in Egypt-Syria-Jordan-Iraq-Lebanon-Israel. Largely pro-Arab and anti-Zionist.
Exodus—A Distortion of Truth (35¢, Strife in the Holy Land (15¢), and many other publications (Arab Information Center, 120 East 56th St., New York 22, N. Y.)
For enlightened Christian attitude, write (1) Dr. Joseph P. Free, professor of archaeology at Wheaton College, and founder. Near East School of Archaeological and Biblical Studies—on Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Jordan (Dr. Free’s address: Free Haven, Park Rapids, Minnesota; Dr. Free can supply many other helpful titles and information); and, (2) Dr. G. Douglas Young, professor of Bible, etc., Trinity College, Chicago, and founder, Israel-American Institute of Biblical Studies (Street of the Prophets, Jerusalem, Israel). Dr. Young’s address is 1046 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois.
PETER STAM, JR.
Covenant College and Seminary
St. Louis, Mo.
To Repair The Damage
In the recent article by Eugene Peacock, “New Life for Christian Colleges?” (Aug. 28 issue), some very worthwhile things are said. However, permit me to make two remarks.
I am pleased with the fact that he recognizes that no one is without a world-view, and that a church-related college is committed to a Christian world-view. The assumption is that this is desirable for higher education. But I would ask is this not also true on the primary and high school level? We give our children 12 years of secular education and then expect the Christian college to repair the damage.
Another statement of the writer puzzles me. After telling us that in church-related colleges there are men without faith, he assures us that he is not asking for witch hunts or heresy trials.… If our church-related colleges are to continue to be Christian, should not such men be removed, even though it should take a heresy trial to do it?…
RALPH J. BOS
Willmar Christian Reformed Church
Willmar, Minn.
He Prefers A Both-And
As an individual member of the Conservative Baptist Association of America, I take exception to the letter (August 28 issue) from B. Myron Cedarholm, General Director of Conservative Baptist Association of America, in which he states, “Many of us feel that CHRISTIANITY TODAY’ is more concerned about being courteous and scholarly than they are in being biblical and positive.” … I fail to see the “either-or-ness” of Dr. Cedarholm’s statement. Cannot a dedicated, Holy Spirit-born Christian be courteous, scholarly, biblical and positive all at the same time?
GEORGE A. COLE, JR.
Calvary Baptist Church
Bristol, Pa.
