Steinbach Bible Institute - Star Yearbook (Steinbach, Manitoba Canada)

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With Eyes Uplifted The challenge, “lift up thine eyes,” oc¬ curs many times in the Scriptures. Often it is applicable to us today. Moses was one who was challenged in this manner. On Mount Pisgah the Lord said to him, “Lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes.” Deut. 3:27. This view of the Promised Land must have stirred Moses’ heart. A view of the joys of heaven will encourage and stir us, too. “With eyes uplifted,” may well have been the motto of the Psalmist. He declar¬ ed, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord.” Ps. 121:1,2. A look at the Lord Jesus Christ will strengthen the Christian for daily victory. Another challenge for “uplifted eyes” was given by Christ to His disciples. “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35. The need, great as it was then, is greater now. May our vision of the harvest field send us out as the disciples were sent. With eyes uplifted we shall see heaven — to stir us, Jesus — to strengthen us, and harvest fields — to send us out. REV. H. G. REMPEL ACTS, MINOR PROPHETS MR. MENNO R. HAMM Dean of High School Dept. The Lord God himself commanded - “Make this valley full of ditches”. God purposed to give the much needed supply of water, but there was a human preparation essen¬ tial first. The valley needed ditches, to serve as containers for the supply that God would gi ve. The dry valleys of our hearts must be made full of ditches be¬ fore God can fill with the needed supply of living waters. Blessings upon our lives must be prepared for. The spade of God’s Word must dig out the works of dark¬ ness in preparation for the filling with the living waters. God has a glorious work to do in every life yielded to Him. A Bible Institute in which God is given the pre-eminence, is an instrument caus¬ ing the spade of the Word to dig deeply into the heart, casting out the rubbish of sin, and filling with the joy of salvation and the knowledge of His perfect and ac¬ ceptable will for our lives. To be a teacher in such an institution is a divine calling but also a privilege. To have a little part in the shaping and moulding of young lives has been my great joy ever since God called me into this ministry. Henry G. Rempel. 11

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When Is Education Christian? The Church of Jesus Christ today, per¬ haps as never before, is wrestling with the problem of education. To deny the fact of the struggle is to be blind either to the nature and purpose of the Church or the nature and purpose of unredeemed society which the Bible calls the world (kosmos), or to both. This struggle between the Church and the world in the areas of education is the battle for the minds of men. It is a fight for the loyalties of man. A careful study of scripture makes it completely clear that the claims of Christ and therefore of Christianity permit no compromise. Christianity is a totalitarian religion. It demands the total man, all his loyalties. It lays claim to his physical, emotional and total intellectual life. This becomes easy to understand when one sees that man is a “whole” being and cannot be compartmentalized so that any one part of him lives and acts apart from the “whole”. Man is a unit and a unity. When he acts he acts as a unit. The inclusive nature of Christ’s claim and the oneness of man clearly point out that a Christian’s life cannot be segmented into the secular and the non-secular. His every choice, his vocation, his social and intellectual life have spiritual significance and must be conditioned by and dedicated to Christ. His whole life must be lived in the context of his total commitment to Christ as Saviour and Lord. It is no wonder, then, that Paul, speaking of the Christian’s in- REV. ARCHIE PENNER Registrar THEOLOGY, CHURCH HISTORY, GREEK, ROMANS tellectual life, includes it totally in the Christian’s subjection to Christ. He states he is “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5). The Church, which is the body of Christ, has been commissioned with the task of bringing to realization in the lives of Christians this harmonious Christian per¬ sonality which finds its fulfillment in Christ and only in Christ. To accomplish this the Church must use all legitimate tools at her disposal. Education, in its broader sense, is one of the most impor¬ tant means to the desired end. But here comes the question: What must this education be? The answer is obvious: it must be a Christian education. Education can only accomplish that which it is it¬ self. The end to be accomplished must de¬ termine the means. At the same time the means condition the end. If then Christ in all of His purpose and being must be the whole object and fulfillment of a Christ¬ ian’s life, then Christ in all of His pur¬ pose and being must be the whole object of education. Education is, therefore, not made Christ¬ ian by the mere use of religious phraseolo¬ gy, nor does it consist of a search for proof- texts in support of the theorems of geome¬ try or mathematical formulae. Neither is education Christian because somewhere in the curriculum of a school a com¬ pulsory Bible subject or a religious period Of one nature or another is tacked onto its activities. It must also be observed that there a e not two sets of facts or truths in education, for example in science, one set for the believer and one for the nonbeliever. Positively, it follows from this discus¬ sion that education is Christian only as it is wholly related to Christ. The motives and purpose of education, to make it and determined by Christ. The acquisition of knowledge and skills is not for the purpose of preparing for a vocation or career but for the Christian’s service for Christ’s sake. Relating this to the re- Continued on page 42 10

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REV. BEN HOEPPNER GERMAN, PRAYER. OLD TESTAMENT, SYNTHESIS, HOMELETICS God Wondered What k- tremendous statement! How could He ? Does He not know all things ? Does He not transcend time and space? Yes, all this and more. How He could won¬ der, we do not know. But one thing is clear — the cause of His wondering must have been great. Why did He wonder? Isa. 59:16 tells us. He wondered because “there was no inter¬ cessor.” That is, there was no one to pray down the blessing of God upon men, and no one to bring the needs of men to God. Judah had forsaken God. As a result, Judah’s relationship with God was broken and prayer unknown. The Lord so greatly deplored this declension that He wondered. Could it be that God wonders today as then? We believe that He does. Perhaps not because there are no intercessors — there are some — but because of the little prayer response He gets in view of what He did and in view of what He promised. What did He do? He died on the cross to bring us into fellowship with Him. If any thing should move us to pray, it is this. In spite of this supreme sacrifice, so many pray so little. This could cause Him to wonder. He might wonder too, because we do not claim His prayer promises. The pro¬ mises are almost incredible. Observe John 14:14 — “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” If the individual be¬ comes a Christian and prays in Christ’s name, he meets up with the incompre¬ hensible term “whatsoever”. At least four times the Lord seeks to impress this truth upon the hearts of the disciples in John 14—16. What is the response on our part? A ready mental consent, but rarely a practical appropriation. The result — pray- erlessness and death of precious souls. “Lord, teach us to pray.” MR. CLIFFORD REIMER GEOGRAPHY X BIBLE SCHOOL ENGLISH 12