For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
—Rev. 18:5
5702 What Is Sin
Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination.
Man calls it a blunder; God calls it blindness.
Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease.
Man calls it a chance; God calls it a choice.
Man calls it an error; God calls it an enmity.
Man calls it a fascination; God calls it a fatality.
Man calls it an infirmity; God calls it an iniquity.
Man calls it a luxury; God calls it a leprosy.
Man calls it a liberty; God calls it lawlessness.
Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy.
Man calls it a mistake; God calls it a madness.
Man calls it a weakness; God calls it willfulness.
—Moody Monthly
5703 Billy Sunday Fights Sin
Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist and reformer, never spared himself nor those he wanted to help in the vigor of his attacks on sin. He thundered against evil from the Gay Nineties through the Great Depression. He preached Christ as the only answer to man’s needs until his death in 1935.
“I’m against sin,” he said. “I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. When I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.”
5704 Label It “Sin”
The late Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman used to tell of a Methodist preacher who often spoke on the subject of sin. He minced no words, but defined sin as “that abominable thing that God hates.” A leader in his congregation came to him on one occasion and urged him to cease using the ugly word. Said he: “Dr. Blank, we wish you would not speak so plainly about sin. Our young people, hearing you, will be more likely to indulge in sin. Call it something else, as “inhibition,” or “error” or a “mistake,” or even “a twist in our nature”.”
“I understand what you mean,” the preacher remarked and going to his desk brought out a little bottle. “This bottle,” he said, “contains strychnine. You will see that the red label here reads “Poison.” Would you suggest that I change the label, and paste one on that says, “Wintergreen?” The more harmless the name the more dangerous the dose will be.”
—The Bible Friend
5705 Perfuming The Gas
Suppose that instead of turning off the gas at bedtime, I blew it out. Then when my wife and I awoke choking, instead of opening the window and turning off the gas, I got a bottle of cologne, and we sprinkled ourselves. The fool principle of trying to overcome the poison of gas with perfume wouldn’t work. The next day there would be a coroner’s jury in the house.
—Esther M. Tahmazian
5706 When God Blushed
An old Welsh poem tells how the Creator once held a review of the heavenly bodies. One by one, sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven passed by, and as they passed by, their august Maker greeted them with a smile. But when the earth passed, God blushed!
Yes, it matters not how fair the beginning of life, or how unclouded its early sky, every man comes at length within that shadow which is as eternal as human history, the deep, deep shadow of sin.
5707 How Heavy Is Sin?
A flippant youth asked a preacher, “You say that unsaved people carry a weight of sin. I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?” The preacher replied by asking the youth, “If you laid a four-hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth replied, “It would feel nothing, because it is dead.” The preacher concluded, “That spirit, too, is indeed dead which feels no load of sin or is indifferent to its burden and flippant about its presence.” The youth was silenced!
5708 “Who Put Sin In Sinclair”
Dr. Walter Wilson, ever on the alert to speak to men about their souls and need of the Saviour, asked an attendant at a service station who had filled his car with gas: “How did sin get in Sinclair?” pointing to the lighted sign atop the gas pump. “I do not know, sir, how sin got into Sinclair; but, sir, I have wished many times that I knew how to get sin out of my life!”
It was then that Dr. Wilson had the opportunity to tell the young man of the One who is the sinner’s friend and of whom it is written: “And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
—Willis Cook
5709 Augustine’s Improving Prayer
In the early days of his struggle toward the truth, Augustine made a prayer, “Lord, save me from my sins, but not quite yet.” Then sometime after that he prayed, “Lord, save me from all my sins, except one.” And then came the final prayer, “Lord, save me from all my sins, and save me now!” It was when he made that final decision against evil that the victory was his. There is no joy and strength and, for that matter, no peace, like that which visits the soul which has taken an unconquerable resolve against that which is evil.
—Selected
5710 Psychiatrists And Sin
“Sin,” really does exist, according to Dr. Karl Menninger. The famous psychiatrist is distressed that modern society tries to figure out its problems and talk about morality without ever mentioning the word “sin.” He is convinced that the only way to raise the moral tone of present-day civilization and deal with the depression and worries that plague clergy, psychiatrists, and ordinary folk is to revive an understanding of what “sin” is.
—Pastor’s Manual
5711 Sin And Remorse
Fears may die, but not remorse. John Randolph, when he was dying in Philadelphia, kept repeating, “Remorse! Remorse!” He demanded that a dictionary be brought so that he could study the meaning of the word; and, when no dictionary could be found, he had the physician write it out for him on a piece of paper—”Remorse.”
Remorse is like the ground swell in the ocean after a storm. The storm has subsided, the sky is blue, the air is balmy, there is not a whitecap to be seen; but the ship heaves and tosses and leaves the traveler in misery because of the mighty swell that has remained after the original commotion has subsided. So remorse heaves the soul as the tides heave the ocean.
—C. E. Macartney
THE WAGES OF SIN
5712 Some Things We Can’t Do
(1) Sow bad habits and reap a good character.
(2) Sow jealously and hatred and reap love and friendship.
(3) Sow wicked thoughts and reap a clean life.
(4) Sow wrong deeds and live righteously.
(5) Sow crime and get away with it.
(6) Sow dissipation and reap a healthy body.
(7) Sow crooked dealings and succeed indefinitely.
(8) Sow self-indulgence and not show it in your face.
(9) Sow disloyalty and reap loyalty from others.
(10) Sow dishonesty and reap integrity.
(11) Sow profane words and reap clean speech.
(12) Sow disrespect and reap respect.
(13) Sow deception and reap confidence.
(14) Sow untidiness and reap neatness.
(15) Sow intemperance and reap sobriety and temperance.
(16) Sow indifference and reap nature’s rewards.
(17) Sow mental or physical laziness and reap a responsible position in society.
(18) Sow cruelty and reap kindness.
(19) Sow wastefulness and reap thriftiness.
(20) Sow cowardice and reap courage.
(21) Sow destruction of other people’s property and reap protection for our own.
(22) Sow greed and envy and reap generosity.
(23) Sow neglect of the Lord’s house and reap strength in temptation.
(24) Sow neglect of the Bible and reap a well-guided life.
(25) Sow human thistles and reap human roses.
—James Nankivell
5713 When A Smuggler Suffocated
A passenger on board a plane bound from Zurich to Beirut cried out that he was suffocating. The plane landed at Athens and Joseph Pasatour was taken to a hospital where he died.
Undressing him, hospital attendants discovered that he was a smuggler and had on a corset with 1,500 valuable Swiss watches. Closer examination revealed that the contraband merchandise had restricted his breathing and caused his death.
5714 Entangled Among Sausages
According to the St. Petersburg Times, a thief grabbed some sausages in a meat market but discovered to his sorrow that they were part of a string forty-five-feet long. He lost his balance, stumbled again over the string, and finally became so entangled that he couldn’t get up to escape. When the police arrived, the thief was trying to untangle himself from the sausages.
5715 Point Of No Return
The scene of this awesome tragedy was in Georgia at Stone Mountain, the largest boulder in the world. Atop the mountain, a young man walked unsuspectingly along, oblivious of the gradual and almost imperceptible downward curvature of the domelike mountain. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that he was powerless to retrace his steps to safety. He had gone to the point of no return. Frantically, he cried, “Help! Help!” His piteous plea was to no avail. Horrified spectators saw him hurtled to his death below.
5716 Rembrandt’s Two Pictures
Twenty years later Rembrandt painted another picture of himself. As a young man he determined to deny himself no pleasure. He, therefore, sought out every delight and followed his appetite. Hence, one by one the torches of his life went out.
Having been untrue to himself, he lost faith in others. In middle age we see the artist shrunken, an old rag around his throat, weakness in his chin, the mark of the beast upon his brow, the eyes heavy and dull, without vision or beauty.
There are two pictures. The second shows the result of sin. His body was ruined by his own wickedness. In his youth he lived for his own ideals and for God. Twenty years later, after living for self and sin, the lights had gone out of his life. His body was a noble mansion given over to darkness and decay.
—Lee Roberson
5717 Christ And Judas In “Last Supper”
When Leonardo da Vinci was painting his masterpiece The Last Supper, he sought long for a model for his Christ. At last he located a chorister in one of the churches of Rome who was lovely in life and features, a young man named Pietro Bandinelli.
Years passed, and the painting was still unfinished. All the disciples had been portrayed save one—Judas Iscariot. Now he started to find a man whose face was hardened and distorted by sin—and at last he found a beggar on the streets of Rome with a face so villainous, he shuddered when he looked at him. He hired the man to sit for him as he painted the face of Judas on his canvas. When he was about to dismiss the man, he said, “I have not yet found out your name.” “I am Pietro Bandinelli,” he replied, “I also sat for you as your model of Christ.”
—Indian Christian
5718 Progressive Likenesses Of Nero
In the Roman Gallery of the British Museum there is a long line of marble busts erected on pedestals, bearing the name of each. These are of intense interest, for they enable the visitor to look upon the likenesses of the Roman Emperors, who, for weal or woe, held in their hands the destinies of the world.
An earlier bust of Nero also shows nature at work. Here the nature is less coarse, the brutal element less pronounced; there is still an inclination, though fugitive, toward better things. In the latter bust, however we see written for us in indelible marks, the change produced upon a human countenance by unbridled passion and unchecked cruelty. In the interval between these two likeness, Nero had murdered his mother, set Rome on fire, and burned the Christians to appease the populace; and we see in his brutal face, his heavy eye, his sensual lips and thick neck, the marks of the beast he had become.
—James Burns
5719 Law With No Penalty
When the State of Washington first passed a law taxing the retail sales of gasoline, the legislature slipped up on one very important detail: they forgot to attach a penalty to a violation of the law. At first dealers began collecting and paying the tax, a very small one comparatively, but when they discovered the error in the law they refused to comply. The legislature then had to be called back into special session in order to attach a penalty to a violation of the tax law and make it retroactive.
—Evangelistic Illustration
5720 Korean Kite Ceremony
Pastor Lewis Llewellyn says that the Koreans have a curious New Year’s custom. Desiring to forget unpleasant things and make a fresh start, each person determines what bad habits he would like to eliminate and what past deeds he wants forgiven. Then he writes the names of these evils on a kite and flies it high into the air. When it is almost out of sight, he cuts the string. As the “paper bird” takes a nosedive and disappears from the sight, he thinks that all his faults and previous transgressions are forever removed.
—Henry G. Bosch
5721 License Plate Imprint
Police had no trouble at all tracking down the burglar who ransacked a house in Pelham, N. H. The burglar came by automobile and, in backing the car to leave, rammed a snowbank. The license plate left a perfect imprint in the snow.
—Anthony Paul
5722 One Eye From Each Of The Two
Zulcucus, lawgiver of the Locrians made a law that adultery should be punished with the loss of both the offender’s eyes; unhappily, it turned out that his own son was the first to commit that crime.
To express both the tenderness of a father and the uprightness of a judge, he caused one of his son’s eyes to be put out and one of his own.
”ALL HAVE SINNED”
5723 “All Is Discovered”
There is a tradition to the effect that Noel Coward sent identical notes to the twenty most prominent men in London, saying, “All is discovered. Escape while you can.”
All twenty abruptly left the town.
5724 Graham Got Telephone Directory
Preparatory to beginning a meeting in a large city, famed evangelist Billy Sunday wrote a letter to the mayor in which he asked for the names of individuals he knew who had spiritual problems and needed help and prayer.
How surprised the evangelist was when he received from the mayor a city directory.
5725 Same Sins In “Gulliver’s Travels”
One of the world’s classics is Gulliver’s Travels, a satirical romance, written by Jonathan Swift in 1726. It is a fanciful and fabulous account of a trip which the author took to four imaginary countries which differed in every way possible, even in the size of the citizens—some were dwarfs, some were giants.
Despite all these differences of material and social conditions, the inhabitants of all four countries were alike in their vices and follies. The conviction you take from the story is that man can go low morally under any form of government and in any manner of life. True, social and other conditions help a great deal, but the solution of all problems comes down to the conversion of the individual.
5726 God’s Photograph Of Man
In the days when there were fewer cameras and fewer photographs, and when it was an event in one’s life to have one’s photo taken, an evangelist with a party of friends was enjoying a pleasant Saturday afternoon in Rouken Glen, Glasgow, Scotland, on a lovely summer day. He carried with him a little leather case containing his Bible and, as he walked along, a company of young people out for an afternoon’s enjoyment approached him and said, “Please will you take our photograph,” thinking that the little leather case contained a vest-pocket Kodak.
Without a moment’s hesitation the evangelist said, “O, I have it already.” The spokesman of the party asked in surprise, “When did you take it? You must have got us on the hop.” “Well, anyway I have it here, and here it is,” said the preacher as he pulled out his well-worn Bible, opened it at Romans 3, and began to read to them from verse 9 to verse 23, “This is God’s photograph of every one of us,” he said, as he concluded his reading with the words, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
—A. Naismith
5727 U.S. Novel: Everyone a Suspect
A literary review in the London Times Literary Supplement complained that American writers of detective stories do not keep to the proper rules of the game.
“In the traditional English story the author—unless without a sense of craftsmanship—does not have the murder done by a clergyman; he does not extract skeletons from the cupboards of those who are to live happily ever after; within the limits of the genre his characters observe the conventions of their social position to the point that where they disregard them they are marked down as suspects. But in the American story, spotting the culprit is more difficult because anybody may have done anything.
—Donald Grey Barnhouse
5728 Jumping To Catalina Island
I have an old illustration about the game of jumping to Catalina Island. It’s about twenty-five miles directly across to Catalina from the pier in Santa Monica. We get to the end of the pier and we run and jump off the end to see who can jump to Catalina. Now up to the present, nobody has made it. There have been some mighty good jumps, but nobody yet has made it.
It’s a delightful game because when you jump, you get wet, and you can say to the other fellow, “I jumped farther than you did.” And it is true. Some jump farther. I see some people that I’m sure could outjump me. But I’ll tell you this, if you do you’ll get wetter than I will. The farther you jump the more water you get, but you won’t make Catalina. All come short of Catalina although some jump farther than others. “All come short of the glory of God,” although some are not as great sinners as others.
—J. Vernon McGee
5729 Moody’s “Saints” Stayed In Church
At a church where D. L. Moody was invited to preach, he was warned that some of the congregation usually left before the end of the sermon.
When Mr. Moody rose to begin his sermon, he announced, “I am going to speak to two classes of people this morning: first to the sinners, and then to the saints.”
He proceeded to address the “sinners” for awhile, then said they could leave. For once every member of the congregation stayed to the end of the sermon.
—Sawdust Trail
5730 Burial Of Emperor Joseph
Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was buried in the gloomy crypt of the Church of the Capuchin in Vienna, where sleep all his fathers of the house of Hapsburg. At the entrance to the vault the procession was halted by a voice from within: “Who is there?”
The reply was: “His most serene majesty, the Emperor Francis Joseph.”
The challenger then said, “I know him not. Who is there?”
A second reply was made: “The Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary is outside.”
Again the challenger answered, “I know him not. Who is there?”
This time the voice without replied, “A sinful man, our brother Francis Joseph.”
Then the portal was opened and the king was laid to rest among his fathers.
—C. E. Macartney
5731 “I’m A Good Sinner”
I have met a few people who have tried to convince me that they were not bad sinners. I met such a lady in Bluefield, West Virginia. This well-dressed woman came forward on the salvation invitation. I took her hand and prepared to give her a prayer to repeat after me. The prayer I usually give is, “Dear Lord, I know that I am a no-good sinner. I know I can’t save myself. I do need forgiveness for my awful sins. I can’t do without you, Jesus. Please forgive me for my many sins. I here and now receive You into my heart as my personal Saviour. I’ll try to live for You from this night on. I pray my prayer in Jesus’ Name. Amen!” Thousands of people seeking to be saved have prayed this prayer with me.
I took this woman’s hand and began to give her the prayer to repeat after me. “Dear Lord, I know I’m a no-good sinner.” She never said a word. I looked at her and said, “Don’t you want to be saved?”
She said, “Yes, Eddie, I do want to be saved, but I’m not a sinner.”
“Then you can’t be saved,” I said, “Jesus only died for sinners.”
“But, Mr. Martin,” she replied, “I m a good sinner.”
“A good sinner! Lady, there are no good sinners. You will have to take your seat. God can’t save you until you become conscious that you are a no-good sinner and need His forgiveness.”
“But, Mr. Martin, you don’t understand. I’m really not a bad sinner.”
I told her to go back and sit down. She held on to my hand with a vise-like grip. Finally she looked me in the eyes and said, “Oh, please forgive me. I know I am a no-good hell-deserving sinner. I am a proud, no-good sinner. I do need Christ to forgive me of my sins.”
“Wonderful! Now, lady, you are ready to do business with God.” We prayed together there at the front, thousands of people looking on. The lady came clean with God. God saved her. But she never would have been saved if she had not changed her attitude. None of us are good sinners. We are all big sinners, bad sinners.
—Eddie Martin
See also: Lawlessness ; Moral Laxity ; Salvation ; Violent Times ; Dan. 8:23; 12:10; Matt. 24:12; II Thess. 2:7; II Tim. 3:13; I John 5:19.