There are certain words in the Scriptures which are used in opposite senses. The classic example is that of "works," which God curses and blesses. "Not of works lest any man should boast," is followed by ‘`we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph. 2:9, 10). Works upon which we are dependent for salvation must ever be cursed of God, but works which flower from the new creation of life in Christ Jesus, are not only blessed of God, but are also a part of the purpose of our new creation.
You may stop the hands of the clock, but time will go on just the same. True progress can never be permanently arrested. When Nicholas I became Tsar of Russia, he attempted to shut off his country from all intercourse with the outside world. A historian summarized the results of the Tsar's attitude: "Russians were forbidden to travel abroad. Nicholas referred to the Moscow University as a 'den of wolves,' and restricted the number of students to three hundred." Censors struck out of papers such phrases as "forces of nature" and "movements of minds."
Many people today are seeking after various methods of improving their personalities. There are many books available on such topics as winning friends or influencing people, and one sees much advertising which features methods whereby dull people can become the life of the party, or wallflowers can win the hero of the neighborhood. These things would be more amusing were it not for the fact that many Christians follow this worldly lead and ape the earth-dwellers in their seeking for personality development.
Professor Gordon W. Allport of Harvard University urges that more psychological studies be made of healthy people in order that we may learn what makes us tick. "Many psychological theories," he says, "are based on the behavior of sick and anxious people, or upon the antics of captive and desperate rats," and "few theories are derived from the study of healthy human beings, those who strive not so much to preserve life as to make it worth living."
What right has the church of Jesus Christ, as a church, to mix in politics? We hold that the separation of church and state is a fundamental principle of both civil and ecclesiastical polity. We remember that the Lord took the kingdom away from Saul and his dynasty because he had intruded into the priests' function; Uzziah was stricken with leprosy because he had offered incense in the temple. God will not entrust the office of civil leader and priest to any individual. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can be Prophet, Priest, and King at the same time.
