Editorial June 22, 1981 Issue

Perspective on the church

Truth versus slander

DeWITT JOHN

How do we judge church progress? An accurate appraisal requires us to look not so much at buildings, numbers, personalities, and organizational problems, but at the genuine Christianity, regeneration, inspiration, and healing we are attaining individually and collectively.

We also need to consider one of the leading lessons of Christian teachings and Christian history, namely, that in the encounter between the revelation of divine Truth and the world, the serpent of evil always tries to slay the spiritual idea. This is a challenge to church progress that needs to be met—and can be met—through courageous metaphysical prayer and reliance on Truth.

The Bible makes the lesson abundantly clear. Isaiah foresaw the carnal mind's persecution of Christ, Truth, when he pictured the Messiah as "despised and rejected of men." Isa. 53:3. The characterization was borne out in the calumny heaped upon Christ Jesus by his foes. The Master's sublime victory over every thrust of malice and envy proved the essential powerlessness of evil to destroy Truth—surely a healing and inspiring lesson for us today.

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