The Running Sands

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 1]

     The civilization of western men, receiving its impetus from the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, has acted as a dike to keep back the frothing waves of the sea of barbarism and cruelty. Behind that dike the nations of the west have elevated the living standard of their citizens to the highest peak yet scaled. Scientific research has eliminated the fear of many diseases, the average length of human life has been greatly increased, new techniques have been discovered in the realm of surgery and medicine which enable practitioners to salvage many who would have been lost a few decades ago. Old age assistance, increased pension funds, and social security benefits have eliminated the thought of dependency in the declining years. Slums are being rooted up, scientific housing projects are going up, and even low income groups can now share in things which would have been counted as luxuries, obtainable only by a few of the wealthiest people, but fifty years ago. It would seem to the casual observer that this is a golden age and that it will continue so until it blends into the eternal.

     But the careful investigator, using the measuring reed of history for a guide, detects dangerous cracks in the dike, and sees the water seeping through the crevices, and he is fearful for the future. He hears the ominous beat of the breakers as they foam in fury against the foundation and the sound is a portent of evil days ahead unless the breaches can be cemented and the walls buttressed. It is as if the hour glass of western culture had been inverted for the last time and the trickling sand is getting low in the upper portion, and time is running out. The cool wind in the face is the harbinger of a storm which will unleash its violent fury in a destructive blast against all that we hold dear.

     These are not the pessimistic ravings of a professional precursor of doom. They are the sober conclusions reached from a comparison of our present condition with the condition of every nation of the past which has been ruthlessly overthrown at the height of its power. A careful analysis of the symptoms of corruption which undermined those nations, together with a study of our own situation, will convince any serious thinker that not one symptom is lacking. We can mention but a few.

     Our great cities are not only breeding grounds of crime, but crime is no longer an enactment of a weak anti-social individual, or of small groups welded together in a nefarious scheme. Crime is syndicated. It is the product of an organized gang with tentacles reaching into every department of our governmental structure. The master minds are members of the dread "Black Hand" movement, the sinister Mafia, with its hired assassins and imported thugs. Prostitution, gambling and liquor are fertile fields of activity for this underworld coterie, and "Murder, Incorporated," represented the ulti-

[Page 2]

mate of its plan to manipulate and control the entire nation for gain. Crooked lawyers are on the alert night and day to thwart the law, and are sustained by the payroll of the gang. With well placed agents in high places, the hoodlum element has rendered local officials and average citizens well-nigh helpless. And the greatest weapon in the gang arsenal is not the blackjack or tommy-gun but the spirit of apathy, indifference, and unconcern of the populace.

     The workmen's unions which began as a protective measure to counteract the exploitation of labor by industrial management, have often been infiltrated by communists and gangsters. The thought of great "war chests" composed of millions of dollars exacted in compulsory dues has attracted the underworld like sugar attracts flies. Men like Dave Beck and his son, of the teamsters' union, have filched and stolen, to live like Oriental pashas in sumptuous luxury on the spoils exacted from the toils of grimy and sweaty men. While denouncing capitalists they have existed in a style which many of those they deride have never known. Worst of all has been the fomenting of hate and class consciousness. The worker has been taught to look upon the employer as an enemy from whom he must exact the last penny regardless of the means employed. In turn, the employer feels a sense of contempt for those with whom he bargains only through a professional agent, who frequently "plays politics" with the welfare of the very workers whom he is engaged to represent.

     This is a day when men seek to get all they can, and in many instances where fair means will not avail, foul methods obtain. We are not opposed to the idea of men receiving just compensation for their labor. We are pleased that certain benefits are now accorded them, such as fewer hours of labor per week, and lengthier vacations. But what use is made of increased wages and more leisure? Do these contribute to the strengthening of the social fabric and the moral betterment of our world? On the contrary, there are grave implications the opposite is true.

     Each wage increase brings a corresponding rise in commodity prices, which in turn produces a higher cost of living index, and this brings a clamor for increase of the hourly wage scale. An inflationary spiral is created which places manufactured goods on an ever higher price level. But many wages are relatively static, and each time the price is increased, a certain number are eliminated as potential purchasers. The available market will sooner reach the saturation point and unemployment will result. We have already priced ourselves out of the world market, and now must loan other nations the money with which to purchase our finished products. What will happen when the day of accounting arrives?

     But the danger lies not in high wages and price increases, although history attests to the fact that even on a world scale economic conditions run in cycles, but in the spirit that prompts the demand for these things, and the use to which they are put when obtained. Have higher wages generally improved our moral and spiritual status? On the contrary, the demand for increased pay has not been based upon increased effort and service, the just basis for calculation, but upon greed and envy. These recreant twins besmirch everything they contact, and like borers in a tree, will eventually destroy the very social structure upon which they feed.

     Greed gives birth to the most dangerous philosophy that can infect a nation. It places an emphasis on things and engenders the view that the more things one possesses, the better he is. It estimates the value of a man by the neighborhood in which he lives, the size of his car, or the cost of his suits. This is in direct opposition to the doctrine of Jesus, who declared, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesses." One needs only to stand at the checking counter of a large supermarket to see that better wages do not mean better living. Beer by the case, and cigarettes by the carton, constitute a major part of many weekly purchases. One is tempted to cry out like the ancient prophet, "Wherefore

[Page 3]

do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not?"

     Our problem is not the high cost of living, but the cost of high living, or perhaps, the high cost of low living! It is interesting, but frightening, to realize that Russia looks upon cigarette sucking as an indication of weakness and demoralization in the western nations, and warns against it. The increasing incidence of lung cancer in smokers, has convinced me that the tobacco trust is a better agent of the communist world plot than all the secret spy rings in the nation. It is a tragic truth that while we fear the atomic bomb we may be beaten into submission by a weed. Our people get wrought up at the thought of radioactive fallout which may sear the lungs and eat the body tissues, but at the same time, deliberately pay for the privilege of sucking into their lungs the tars "which will eat as doth a cancer."

     It has been said that you may judge the character of a man by what he does with his leisure time. One cannot always do what he would like during his hours of gainful employment. He works for another and must be subservient to his will. But one makes his own decisions relative to what he calls his "free time." What is true of judging an individual is also true of a nation which is only a group of individuals living under a common government. Has increase of leisure time and freedom from daily toil been used to strengthen our moral and spiritual resources? Have we used these hours to gain wisdom and intellectual growth, better to serve humanity? Is our recreation truly a re-creation of vital forces sapped by the daily grind?

     It is probable that an honest survey would reveal that the opposite again is the case. Our forefathers who hewed their homes out of the wilderness, had to provide their own entertainment. As a result they became excellent conversationalists and inimitable story tellers. Men who could hardly read or write could enjoy mutual exchanges of the spoken word for hours or days. Their little world was circumscribed, but they gained the ultimate from every experience. Today, with the television bringing the whole world into the living room, we are tongue-tied and our speech organs are virtually paralyzed. A local university is giving a course entitled, "How to be a good conversationalist." We are no longer able to entertain; we have become a nation that must be entertained. We have lost our power of creativeness, spontaneity, and purposeful interest. The sense of humor has given way to the repetition of stale jokes of cheap cigar-smoking comedians, who derive an agonized living out of trying to make us laugh.

     Again, our hearty foreparents engaged directly in their athletic events, simple as these were. While waiting their turn at the grist mill, there were foot races, jumping contests, weight lifting tests, or shooting matches. These were participation sports. Now, we are a nation of spectators, sitting in packed grandstands, munching peanuts, devouring wieners, imbibing soft drinks, and watching others exercise. How much has our civilization gained when thousands will jam a great stadium to see two trained gladiators beat each other into insensibility, and yell and scream with delight when gore spurts from a battered nose, or an eye goes shut from brutal blows? Has our leisure improved our family life? Has it made our home ties any stronger? Those who are inclined, in this sophisticated age, to look with a patronizing air upon the simple lives of their grandparents, need to recall the warning in Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard:

                    Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
                         Their homely joys and destiny obscure;
                    Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
                         The short and simple annals of the poor.
                    The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
                         And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
                    Awaits alike the inevitable hour;
                         The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

[Page 4]

     There are indications that "the inevitable hour" may be much nearer than many think for our famed civilization, and the shadow on God's dial may be further on its decline than we realize. Those who are students of the rise and fall of empires stare in grim fascination at the trickling sand in the hourglass of destiny. Those sands are running out. What factors, if any, at this late hour, can hold them back, and retain for our children's children, a world from which hope has not fled, and faith remains a vital force? We propose to state a few principles upon which, God willing, we shall elaborate in future issues. We present them now, merely that you may meditate upon their value, in advance of our application of them.

1. The only force in the universe capable of sustaining any nation indefinitely is moral power.
2. All power is of God, and the principles of his moral power were first revealed to chosen persons, and then exemplified in a person, the Word who was made flesh and dwelled among us.
3. A civilization is truly strong only to the extent that those who compose it exemplify the principles enunciated by Jesus of Nazareth, and it is weak to the extent that they pay lip service to the person of Jesus, and neglect to apply his principles in personal conduct.
4. A nation which is weakened by internal corruption cannot be preserved by the development of natural resources, emphasis upon scientific research, or increase of expenditure to maintain greater armed might. It can only be saved by repentance, which is the first requisite of moral re-armament.
5. The call to reform can effectively come only from those who have been transformed by the power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus would have been but another ethical philosopher except for the cross, so those who have not personally experienced their own Gethsemane and Golgotha, can never exert a power calculated to transform those whom they touch. It is only the crucified life which can lead to the Crucified One.
6. The world must be preserved by salt. This is God's decree. There is no alternative. "Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its strength, how can the earth be preserved?" Before we can salt the earth, we must restore the strength, or preservative power, to the salt. That is our real problem today, and our major consideration.
7. When the preservative power is present, to be effective the salt must work in united effort. As one grain of salt, isolated and alone, would be ineffective to preserve a body, so our strength must be exerted in a fellowship, and such fellowship to be truly efficacious, must include and make use of all the strength of all the salt.
8. The salt must come into contact with that which it is to affect or influence. Just as salt in a shaker may maintain its identity and yet be worthless because it does not accomplish its mission, so disciples of Jesus may remain aloof from the world of mankind. The purpose of salt is to lose itself in service to that which it seeks to preserve. When: the church becomes introverted, it is concerned with strengthening itself in faith and becoming a respected community organization, and it always ends up by worshiping itself. The world then becomes ignorant of the church, because the church is ignorant of the world. (Please read the forthcommg article in our next issue, entitled, "Sunset in the West.")