F eatures
America at the Brink-Part I
Page 3
by Dr. D. James Kennedy
Text: “If my people, which
are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray,
and seek my face, and turn
from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land’ ’ (II
Chronicles 7:14)
It isn’t often that a truly
prophetic voice is heard in the
history of any people, but in
the last several months such a
voice has resounded
throughout the West. It is the
voice of Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn and it is a voice
which every one of us
desperately needs to hear.
About two months ago
Solzhenitsyn was interviewed
in an hour-long broadcast on
the BCC. The impact of that
broadcast on Britain was
greater than anything that
had hit England if fifty years.
So devastating was toe im
pact that for the next several
days thereafter, one com
mentator said, it was im
possible to detect the
ideological preconceptions of
toe commentators who spoke
about toe broadcast because
he pierced through all of the
veneer and tinsel of con
temporary comment and told
us the truth. Malcolm
Muggeridge, another of toe
great social critics of our
time, was asked this
question: “Mr. Muggeridge,
how do you accoimt for the
impact of this program?’ ’ He
said, “Its impact is due to toe
fact that is is absolutely true.
You see, what Solzhenitsyn
has said is on an entirely
different level from the
comments that go on aboui
our world on television by
politicians. His conunents
were in terms of truth; in
terms of good and evil; in
terms, ultimately, of the
Christian faith.’ ’ This was
rebroadcast in the United
Itates a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, it was on
Channel 2 and, therefore, its
viewing audience was no
doubt far less than in England.
But I believe that so im
portant were these words that
every Christian needs to be
aware of the essence of what
he said.
Truth Not Comforting
By the way, for those
perhaps who may not clearly
know, Aleksandr Solzhenit
syn, is without question, toe
greatest literary man in the
world today. He received toe
Nobel Prize for Literature. He
is the Dostoevski of the
twentieth century.
Muggeridge says he is the
greatest man living in our
time. He was introduced in
Washington where he gave a
speech, by none other than
George Meany, president of
toe AFL-CIO. George Meany
is not exactly what you might
call a conservative, but this is
what he said: “We heed this
voice not because it speaks for
toe left or toe right or for any
faction, but because it hurls
truth and courage into the
teeth of total power, when it
would be so much easier and
more comfortable to submit
and to embrace toe lies by
which that power lives. Wha'
is the strength of his voice?
How has it broken through tt
IS when others have been
stilled? Its strength is art.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is not
a crusader, he is not a
politician, he is not a general,
he is an artist, and by his art
he illuminates toe truth. It is,
in a sense, subversive. It is
subversive of hypocrisy,
subversive of delusion, sub
versive of toe ‘big lie’ . No
man in modem times, and
very few in all of history, have
demonstrated as drastically
as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn toe
power of the pen, coupled with
courge, to free men’s minds.’
’ George Meany, AFL-CIO.
A very interesting com
ment, I think, was made by
one of toe TimO Magazine
editors, Mr. Bernard I^evine,
who said this; ‘ ‘What shall we
do with Solzhenitsyn? Well, if
I may conclude with a modest
proposal, I suggest that the
West, when he was provoked it
a little further, should possibly
under the auspices of the
United Nations General
Assembly, formally condemn
him to death and execute him,
either by obliging him to drink
hemlock or by crucifixion.
After all, the two most noted
figures in history who
respectively experienced
those fates, were condemned
principally because they told
their own societies truths that
made them uncomfortable.’ '
Solzhenitsyn declares,
“Friends, I have not come to
tell you comfortable things,
but I have come to tell you the
truth.’ ’
Medievil Festival
Enjoyed By Many
by Debbie Wright
On October 20, 1979, the
Episcopal Church sponsored
this area’ s first medeival
festival, Michelmas Day. It
was held at In the Oaks in i
Black Mountain.
The festival was decorated i
with medeivai type banners |
and ladies as damsels in ■
distress. The men wore the
traditional garb of archers,
court jesters, knights and
kings. Little children were
dressed as pages and clowns.
The festival covered a
variety of medeival events
and pastimes such as archery,
jousting, knightly battles and
paying taxes to the King and '
Queen. The different events
were spread over toe many ,
acres of the Oaks so it was not
a crowded atmosphere but one
of leisure.
Several competitions were
held throughout toe day. One
such competition was in the
field of archery. The archer’s
target was a deer in toe
woods. Two points were given
for every organ hit and one
point was given for the flesh.
Jon Faraone, a sophomore
here at Montreat entered the
competition in a field of 15 and
placed third behind an ar
chery instructor and
professional hunter. Jon was
required to bow before the
King and Queen and was
dubbed “Sir Jon Faraone.’ ’
The festival also included
many artisans. One craft
sman specialized in the
making of medeival and
renaissance musical in
struments. He played such
; instruments as a medeival
oboe and a hanuner dulcimer.
There were also food booths
scattered throughout the
fields where such things as
tarts, lemonade and ginger
beer could be purchased for a
grote, the equivalent of 25
cents.
A highlight of Michelmas
was the Manor House. This
tudor-style mansion was open
for the public to roam
through. Inside was a gym
nasium, a swimming pool and
a small bowling alley as well
as antique furniture and art
work.
All in all Michelmas Day at
I In The Oaks proved to be quite
a success. Considering there
was no admission charged it
was a pleasure for young and
old alike.
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((
The Great Commission
Richard Socco (photo by Carter)
Native of Zambia
by Jill Roberts
Richard is from Zambai, in
Central Africa. He is a day
student at Montreal and
commutes from Swannanoa
where his wife Cathy and his
two sons Dalitso, four years
old and Chifatso, sixteen
months old, lives now. His
foreign background is as
follows: he has lived in
Zambai all of his life and has
been part of the United States
for eight months. He belongs
to a tribe called “The Nyanja
Tribe.” Richard speaks eight
different languages from
Zambai. He was taught some
English before he came to the
United States and he attended
AB Tech for further help in
learning English so that he
could communicate with
others in toe United States.
He is praying about
majoring in being a Minister
of the Word of God. Richard
has been a Christian for
fourteen years and he loves
the lord with all of his heart.
His main hobbies are soccer,
and he likes to jog every once
in awhile . He loves to sing
with his wife to Jesus and
Praise toe Lord for everything
in his life. His greatest
achievement he plans to ob
tain is to go back home to
Zambai to minister the Word
of God. Richard has many
reasons to be thankful and to
praise God that he has come
to know Jesus as his Lord and
Saviour. His trust in Jesus is
so great that he believes he
will provide all his needs and
yours too.
by Hany Samuel
I am honored to join the
mission group here at M.A.C.
Each week a group of young
dedicated Christians under
the leadership of Francie
Griffin gather together to pray
and share about missions.
I originally came from
Egypt. Some of you call me
“King Tut’ ’. As I spoke with
many Americans, I found that
they look to Egypt as the land
of the Pyramids, old temples,
and mummies. Some others
look to the Middie East as a
place of conflict between
Israel and its neighbors.
Others consider the Arabs as
crazy people who have
nothing else to do except
raising the oil prices.
But I think that we as
Christians should look to the
Middle East from another
perspective. We should look to
toe millions of peoples there
as precious souls Jesus went
to the cross for each individual
of them, and each of them
should hear about the
amazing love of God a id
respond.
We as Christians should
show them in our lives that toe
solution to the conflicts there
cannot be achieved when each
of the parties there gains its
rights. But the real solution
is in knowing Christ, and then
give it all to Him , dying for
self and accepting Christ to
live inside each individual. By
that each individual will
become a unique expression
for the life and love of Christ
and so the presence of Christ
will draw all of them together
as one people in Him. But how
shall they hear?! It is not an
easy task to change a religion
and its traditions they
inherited for a long time.
However, the church there is
doing its best under so many
restrictions. And the
Christian leaders there are
doing their best with the very
little they have.
America contributed much
to the mission field. Our
church in Alexandria, which is
the largest Presbyterian
Church in Egypt and toe most
active church int he Middle
East, was built by the
American missionaries. All
over toe world we see the good
works of toe missioneries. We
read about “David Livingston’
’ going to reach the dark
continent of Africa for Christ.
, Mother Teressa in India, Dr.
L. Nelson Bell was a
missionery Doctor in China
for over 25 years, and here at
Montreat we have now Dr.
Billy Grahanl, one of the
greatest missioneries the
world ever knew, and where
you go in toe world today you
will find people who have
came to Christ through toe
ministry the Lord has given to
Dr. Billy Graham.
This is the age we live in.
Never before in history has a
generation enjoyed such
progress as ours. Man ac
tually landed on toe moon.
The progress in com
munication is unbelievable.
There is no “far oif ’ place
now, there is no dark con
tinent. The world became one
small continent, and we all
need each other, and we all
need Christ as our only
Saviour.
So, we as Christians should
use the technology of our age
for achieving the Great
Commission. But first we
should understand that if we
depended only on our strength.
and progress, we wdl achieve
nothing. The battle for
Evangelism is not ours. The
Battle is for the Lord. The
power of His Holy Spirit is our
guide and leader. And we
have to be sensitive to the
Spirit, able to hear and know
the voice of the good Sheperd,
willing to obey His will not
ours regardless of how much
following Him will cost us.
Jesus said; “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit,
toe gift my father promised,
comes on you, and you w'ill be
n.'v witnesses in Jerusalem,
aisl in all Judea and Samoria,
and to the ends of the earth.
He promised us also that He
will be witli us alway.'^, to the
very end of the age, and what
more assurance do we need as
missioneries for the true Lord
to the sinful world, than the
assurance of the presence of
Christ with us.