Eutychus and His Kin: August 27, 1971

HOT PINK MYSTERY

By the sheerest chance I too have become the possessor of a secret document. It happened when a routine note on a small square of hot pink paper arrived from the copy editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Following a lifetime habit I turned it over before discarding it. There on the other side was this list:

him

jam

name

hue

true

sue

smite

Pursuing the public’s right to know, I queried the writer about the meaning of the list. Her blasé answer was, “I could tell you, but a little mystery in your life is a good thing.”

Now I ask you, what kind of an answer is that for a seeker of truth? And think of the theological ramifications.

Picture, if you will, King Belshazzar and his guest just getting comfortably into their bacchanalian blast when suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand appear from nowhere and trace on the wall the words MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The king, pale and trembling, is helped to his throne.

The wise men are summoned but can make nothing of the words. Word of the emergency reaches the queen. She rushes in to remind the king that Daniel is the expert unraveler of mysteries.

Soon Daniel arrives. He examines the writing, smiles, and turns to the king saying, “I could tell you the meaning, but a little mystery in your life is a good thing.”

Or picture the Apostle Paul picking up his pen and writing to the Christians at Corinth: “Listen, I would unfold a mystery for you but a little mystery in your lives is a good thing.”

Not to be put off in such a cavalier manner I submitted the hot pink document to an expert cryptologist. His firm conclusion is that either (a) the copy editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY is part of a cabal plotting to assassinate someone known as “true sue” because she has blackened the name of “him” and gotten him into a jam, or (b) she was testing a new fountain pen.

And so I want to warn my cryptic correspondent that I will be watching the papers for any news of the untimely demise of “true sue,” and also to remind her, if these are idle scribblings, that we will be called to account for every idle word—not the least of which are him, jam, name, hue, true, sue, and especially smite.

DELIGHTFUL EXCELLENCE

Permit me a few words of sincere appreciation for CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S excellent reporting on Christianity of all denominations, and on such helpful articles and editorials.

I was delighted with your report on the National Council of Churches’ rebuff (News, “NCC: A Rare Rebuff,” July 2).… The article in the same issue on possible discovery of Noah’s Ark (Current Religious Thought, “Ark Fever”) was interesting.… I also enjoyed “Unfulfilled Prophecies of Karl Marx,” by Colin Brown.

In the July 16 issue, I was delighted to find your timely and up-to-date report on our UCC Synod meeting at Grand Rapids (News, “Rejuvenating the UCC?”). All the details of the meeting were faithfully set down. Best of all in that issue was that wonderful study by Geoffrey W. Bromiley on the “Six Certainties About the Lord’s Supper.” Never before had I seen such a comprehensive outline of the blessings of this beloved sacrament of our Lord.… We praise God for your great magazine and pray his continued blessings upon your consecrated Christian work.

Shannon, Ill.

ALL KINDS OF POWER

I was surprised to read your editorial in the June 18 issue, “Portfolio Power.” You say, “Who is to say that ceasing to do business in countries whose governments condone racism (which we agree is wrong) will remove that evil …?” Should we not take a stand against evil [even though] our stand might not eliminate the evil? As I understand the Christian responsibility it is to stand against evil … whether [their position] is effective or not. The churches are in the best position to take such a stand because they are not so tied in with the economy as businesses.… Let us use our influence and our portfolio power and whatever power we have to try to change the evils of the world. If you do not feel like taking this action yourself you should not discourage the people who do.

Librarian

Third Baptist Church

St. Louis, Mo.

WEAK LINK?

I have certainly enjoyed Calvin D. Linton’s articles on literary style (“Literary Style in Religious Writing, June 18 and July 2) … However … I would like to point out two misleading statements in them.… In his first article Dr. Linton comments on the prose style of the “sparrow in the mead hall” episode in Bede.… The prose is not Bede’s but that of an anonymous translator. Bede finished writing his Latin Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum in 731.… In his second article Dr. Linton states that the Kentish translations of Sully’s sermons “remind us that we are in the age when Malory’s Morte d’Arthur helped to do for English prose what Chaucer did for poetry.” Morte d’Arthur was finished late in 1469 or 70; Chaucer died in 1400. These dates are far removed from the date cited for the Laud manuscript. It’s true that [both] dates fall in the Middle English period … but isn’t it a bit farfetched to state that works written more than 200 years apart are in the same “age” and that they played a similar role in providing “a literary standard and a link between Anglo-Saxon and modern English”?

The Church of the Resurrection

Warwick, R. I.

This two-part series should do much to encourage finer writing for God’s glory. These were two of the most beautiful articles that CHRISTIANITY TODAY has carried this year.

Assistant Editor

Decision

Minneapolis, Minn.

A QUESTION OF CREDENTIALS

With reference to the article “Ark Fever,” by John Warwick Montgomery (Current Religious Thought, July 2): Montgomery quotes, “Recent problems with SEARCH efforts—specifically the arrest of members of the group last summer in Turkey when they endeavoured to climb Ararat’s north face without obtaining approval—have reduced to nil the chances that this group will fulfill what Navarra calls his ‘greatest desire.’ ”

I suggest Montgomery gets his facts straight before making statements like the one above which can be harmful to SEARCH and its volunteer group of dedicated helpers.

The statement is untrue, and I would like to place it on record that no members of the 1970 Mt. Ararat expedition were arrested. Secondly, all work by SEARCH on the mountain last summer was carried out with the full authority of the Turkish officials. Because of extenuating circumstances within their own system they asked us to stop operations for reasons of “national security.” This happened to other groups engaged in archaeological investigations.

The chances of fulfilling Navarra’s greatest desire are excellent, and I look forward to the day when we can return to Ararat to continue our work on this archaeological enigma.

Project Director, Mt. Ararat Expedition

SEARCH Foundation, Inc.

Washington, D. C.

Although I do not wish to question the integrity of any individual concerned in this matter, I must stand by the letter of the statements made in my “Current Religious Thought” article.… My information is based upon personal conversations with a government official, with a high official of the Turkish Mountain Guides Association, with a research scientist and others who were present when these events transpired. I myself stayed in the same hotel that the SEARCH team members had occupied, and I discussed the matter in detail with hotel staff (who, interestingly enough, expressed the eager desire to “lynch” certain members of the organization who, after they had been forced off the mountain owing to their lack of proper government credentials, insisted that others, not connected with their group, likewise be asked to cease exploratory activity on Ararat even though they had secured the required local permissions). All of these data may, to be sure, prove erroneous (in a contingent world, anything is possible), but I find them most convincing. CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S readers must judge for themselves.

Strasbourg, France

TO CATCH TRIPE

A pledge to the Eutychus V religious book award program (“Writer’s Cramp,” July 16). To category three—tripe award—I pledge $500 annually. This would be a boon to ecologists! Keep up the good work.

Augusta, Ga.

UNAUTHORITATIVE ANALYZING FROM AFAR

Peter Geiger, who interviewed me briefly on the telephone, has grossly misquoted me in his news story (“Iron Curtain Bibles: Smugglers Too Smug?,” July 16) and, we understand, Dr. Lovrec as well. He is wrong when he says that Christian literature cannot be printed abroad and legally imported into Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia is an “open” country and cannot be classified with Iron Curtain countries which suffer severe restrictions in the importation of Christian materials. While Underground Evangelism prints considerable Christian material in Italy because of the cheaper printing costs in that country, we import legally into Yugoslavia. Underground Evangelism has never referred to smuggling in Yugoslavia. We do not engage in “smuggling” because it is not necessary. Our strategies are flexible and adaptable to the needs of each country we work in. Underground Evangelism’s policy has always been to “do all we can through open channels, but not to stop there.” In other words, … we are bound to obey God rather than man.

To sum up our work in Yugoslavia, we print as much Christian material as we can inside Yugoslavia and legally support the printing and sending of literature in from Italy. This is quite different to Mr. Geiger’s statement to the effect that we “print material in Italy for smuggling into Yugoslavia despite the apparent freedom to print anything inside Yugoslavia.” He contradicts himself when he says that Bibles are legally imported from London.

Mr. Geiger apparently did not go behind the Iron Curtain to appraise the situation there. Instead, he reported on the needs of those countries from a country which, thank God, does not yet suffer the repressions of hard-line Communism. How can one give an authoritative report from afar?…

One last thought: It is Communist policy to persecute the Christians and suppress the Word of God. In Russia, for instance, while the Communists proclaim the existence of freedom of religion, their persecution of the Church gives the lie to this. This was a fact of life under Communism long before anyone thought of smuggling Bibles and gospel helps to these countries. To blame it on Bible smuggling ignores history.

President

Underground Evangelism International

Glendale, Calif.

• Mr. Geiger explains that a Yugoslavian law requires imprimatura on all publications printed in the languages of Yugoslavia. A Yugoslavian citizen or agency must take legal responsibility, as demonstrated by the imprimatur, for all literature distributed in the country.—ED.

The record Dr. Rogers quoted is not exact. The missions doing the same work and located in different countries of the world broadcast regularly to Communist countries over eight radio stations such as Far East Broadcasting Company, Radio Quito, and Radio Monaco. Their broadcastings go on right now and have never been considered as political haranguing. I personally never speak on any of the broadcasting stations for the simple fact that I lead a group of missions in thirty countries and don’t have time for this. Mr. Rogers could not have asked why he could not any longer hear Reverend Wurmbrand speaking from Monaco because he has never heard Reverend Wurmbrand speaking from there in any language accessible to him.

There is also a contradiction in this article. You write that “Lovrec’s work is financially supported” [in part] by the organization Underground Evangelism. A few sentences further you quote Mr. Lovrec as complaining that “Underground Evangelism publishes all the details which the Communist governments need to keep the Christians under their thumbs.” The two assertions contradict each other. I believe that the latter is the true one and I agree with it.

I consider that there is no purpose to smuggle religious literature into Yugoslavia, where the dictatorship is much less harsh than in other places. In Red China, North Korea, and the Soviet Union, they would have no Christian literature if it were not smuggled in.

The Reverend Robert Munn, when stating that the American smuggling activities heap coals of repression upon the heads of believers in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, should have also substantiated this assertion by some facts of arrests. In none of these countries is even one single Christian sentenced for having received Bibles from abroad. They are all very thankful to have gotten them. If Mr. Munn knows better, he should give us the names of those who are victims of repression.

General Director

Jesus to the Communist World, Inc.

Glendale, Calif.

SHOUTING AMEN

I am writing a letter of commendation for material of unusual excellence in your issue of July 2.… I share the Editor’s respect and admiration for Billy Graham, and these feelings date back on the beginning of his crusades (“Reflections on a Crusader,” July 2). I have checked carefully the topic sentence of each of the paragraphs. If I were a Methodist, I would shout “Amen” long and loud. I would like to thank Dr. Lindsell for using his superb writing skill to commend one of the most worthy world leaders of our generation. Billy deserves a good word that carries weight. Now and then I hear niggling comments about him and his methods by liberals who remind me of irresponsible demonstrators on the Mall trying to hack chips out of the majestic Washington Monument.

Tyler, Texas

MUST READING

Your latest issue (July 16) demonstrates again why CHRISTIANITY TODAY is must reading for me and most other parish ministers. Having recently tried to think through my understanding of the Lord’s Supper, the six certainties by Geoffrey Bromiley came as a welcome summation. It is the most concise and helpful statement on the Lord’s Supper that I have read.

The same issue carried editorials with significant interest to a busy pastor seeking to form opinions on current issues. But the lead editorial on the “Jesus movement” was superb. You have managed to state your reservations without condemning and to express your joy without sounding like a “promoter.” It caps your years of factual, honest, and searching reporting.

However, this issue has destroyed the myth that Eutychus V writes with tongue in cheek. Has he been fooling us all along or did he just momentarily slip into realism in proposing his religious book award program? I debated the possibility that this might be one more put-on. But any man proposing to offer an award for tripe-type books has to be serious. Well, honest, anyway.

My initial contribution to the financial awards will be forthcoming just as soon as a fellow minister shares with me some of the massive royalties received from his psychedelic dust-jacketed reprint of condensed Puritan theology.

Arlington Memorial Church

Arlington, Va.

Dr. Bromiley’s scholarly and devotional article will surely be used by many a minister in his own expositions on the theme.

Colorado Springs, Colo.

WHAT MIDDLE OF THE ROAD CAN DO

One of the conclusions reached by Harold O. J. Brown in his article “Dreams of a Third Age” (July 16) is an example of a type of thinking that has kept man in mental and spiritual chains since the time of Christ.

There are many Christians today who take a middle-of-the-road position between Charles Reich (“Greening of America”), who, according to Brown, “simply discards Christianity” because it “encourages man to expect fulfillment in heaven rather than here on earth,” and Brown, who simply discards any thinking that does not accept the “fact” that “the future, until Christ comes again, is just more of the present age, grown a little older, and that the present age is doomed to perish, with all its brilliance, all its misery, all its wisdom, and all its self-deception.”

These Christians deeply love Christ and expect his judgment in the future. However, they are unwilling to sit around in a mental and physical stupor and wait for it. There may indeed be a chance for heaven here on earth if we free man’s mind and encourage him to be sensitive, creative, and responsible. And if, after all our efforts, Christ in his wisdom decides to bring about his Kingdom (which admittedly may be different from the one we see in our dreams), then we can only be better for having really lived, really tried, really acted on life’s greatest stage … earth.

Eugene, Oreg.

DISTURBING MOTIVATION

Thank you for the interesting news story, “Catholics Get the Spirit” (July 16). If I may, however, I would like to point out that the investigation conducted by the Catholic hierarchy in 1968 and 1969 was not motivated by the fact that they were “disturbed.” It was Bishop Leven, of San Antonio, Texas, who urged them to investigate the movement because he was convinced of its importance.

Department of Theology

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Ind.

FEED THE ENEMY

In regard to the support given by United Presbyterian Christians to insure a fair trial for Angela Davis (“United Presbyterians and Angela Davis,” July 16), has the editor ever considered St. Paul’s words, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; by doing this you will heap live coals on his head” (Rom. 12:20)? Perhaps our brother Christians in the Presbyterian Church should be commended for their act of compassion upon one who is dedicated to the Church’s destruction. Surely they should not be condemned.

(THE REV.) JOHN T. GEACH

Englewood, Ohio

AN EXECUTIVE ORDER?

Your editorial of July 16, entitled “The Right To Know,” was certainly well written and needed. However, when you referred to Title 5, United States Code, Section 552, and suggested that the newspapers in question should have used it to obtain release of the secret report, you showed either ignorance or insincerity. You stated, “In the case of the Pentagon papers, we wonder why the Times did not avail itself of its rights under Section 552 of Title 5, United States Code.” You then quoted a few lines from part (a), which explained the method of obtaining improperly withheld records. But had you read further, or checked out your information firsthand, you would have noted under part (b): “This section does not apply to matters that are—(1) specifically required by Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of the national defense or foreign policy.” Please suggest another alternative.

Dallas, Tex.

• To our knowledge no such Executive order has ever been issued to protect the Pentagon papers.—ED.

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