This Dark Hour.

When these lines reach you it will have become more certain what the outcome will be about Korea. It seems rather sure to me that we are facing a third world war, with Russia and China and very likely more of the Asiatic peoples as our enemies instead of our allies which they were presumably in the last war.

The latest news that I have received is that they are preparing to evacuate a part of our army and that they are also preparing to defend Seoul and the 38th parallel. Truman and Atlee have conferred and their word is that there will be no appeasement but opportunity has been given for Red China to nego­tiate.

From the looks of things it seems to me that our power is not sufficient at this time to force the Chinese to nego­tiate terms which will retain even a sem­blance of our original purpose to fight in Korea. When nations and peoples have gathered so much strength and courage to attack, there lies behind that a planned purpose and it is humanly impossible to stem that tide of war.

The future is dark. Especially is it dark if we notice the comments of com­mentators and leaders. One narrator re­marks that it is the darkest hour in our history, that we have suffered the worst military defeat in our history. General Marshall warns that we must prepare for a life of tension, and that the situa­tion now is much more serious than in the early days of World War II.

It may be that the future is darker than these leaders dare to tell us.

The Asiatic situation has always been a dark problem to my mind. Some lead­ers have and still believe that our grav­est danger lies in Europe. Such is the concern also of the European nations who seek assurance that our strength will not be spent in the Pacific so that they will be subject to the immediate danger of Russia.

Russian Domination.

However, it seems to me, even when and if we are to make the European na­tions strong allies, we still face the peo­ples of Asia. This may be postponed for a time through appeasement or some kind of diplomacy, but never again will it be possible to sail into the harbors of China and Asia and dictate terms to them.

The details of the future are not known to us. The general pattern is from the Bible. We know there shall be rumor of war. We know there shall be a final war in which shall be engaged the east and west powers which seem to be shap­ing themselves now into battle alignment. We know too that there shall be more of a one world power than now. Only time will reveal to us whether we must experience this world power with its artificial peace and power without much war between nations, except for a few skirmishes, or whether we are still to witness another total war before that world peace.

Somewhere in this fast moving scene in which we shall soon witness the ap­pearance of our Lord Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven, we must experience a peculiar twist in history. There shall be a turning upon the servants of God in most bitter hatred, as the cause of all the evil.

In view of these things I am very hesi­tant to speak about the future with cer­tainty.

It is sure that the dark hour for the Christian is not the same dark hour of the world. In all these hours there is the purpose of the Author and Finisher of our faith to cause our faith to shine forth to His praise.

In this hour therefore this much is clearly evident: we must pray for the church, for the peace of Jerusalem. The church must have the peace in Christ, the knowledge of its righteousness to stand firm while the judgments of Gad are being poured out upon the earth, to stand firm in the knowledge that these are not judgments upon the church, but are signs of its deliverance. In this peace of heart and mind we have a hiding place until these calamities be past.