DOOM OF EVIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 112, 15 May 1939, Page 4

DOOM OF EVIL

TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY

At. St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Kelburn, yesterday, the vicar (the Rev. G. M. McKenzie) preached on "God the King."

The Book of the Revelation of St. John, he said, was a magnificent record of faith triumphant. Its background was one o£ persecution and martyrdom and suffering for the Church, but in spite of all evidence to tfce contrary, the writer could shout, with a certainty that defied all the evidence, his triumph song, "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

It was this conviction upon which Christ staked His life and marched to Calvary unafraid. And it was a conviction of which the Church today stood sorely in need, for it was a message of triumph, of ultimate victory. God was on the throne; therefore evil, flaunt itself as it would, was doomed.

"The Christian faith is not a luxurious air-liner," said Mr, MeKenzie, "that carries its' adherents in safety to the landing-ground of Heaven. It is not an insurance policy against danger and difficulty, or it would be the most popular in the world. It is an adventure, 'betting one's life on God.' It' is the spirit of the rover in R. L. Stevenson's fable, 'Faith, H,alf-faith, and No-faith-at-all,' who, hearing that 'Odin was to die and evil triumph,' shouldered his axe and went off 'to die with Odin.' It is a spirit that dares the impossible, and achieves it. It is the spirit of a small band of men and their crucified Master who set out to turn the world upside down, and did it.

"Difficult days for the Christian? Of course, they are. There has always been a Cross at the heart of Christianity, and who are we to ask for less? Lift up your hearts and thank God for the difficulties that beset His men and women, for under the compelling conviction that 'the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,' difficulties become opportunities. Fight on until the whistle blows; the issue is never in doubt; the victory is ours, for, not evil and disaster and death, but 'the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'"