DR FRENCH E. OLIVER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16112, 28 April 1923, Page 2

DR FRENCH E. OLIVER.

“A RACE WITH DEATH,”

“The Bible is either what-it claims to bo, the inspired Word of God, or it is the greatest, the most stupendous" fraud ever perpetrated upon tho human race,” remarked Dr. French E. Oliver at the Opera House last night, during the. course of his lecture upon . “A Race with Death.” The majority of men, flashed for their opinion, would say the Bible was a “good book,” that Christ ivas a “good” ntan, and that* Christianity wos a “good thing” if men wanted •to live it. He took issue on every point. The Bible was not simply a “good book.” Its inspiration was above man’s literary genius. Every Scripture, in the original, whs God-breathed, and there was no Scripture that was not Godbreathed. The lecturer quoted verses to show that Christ emphasised the authority of the Scriptures,. pointing outthe remarkable fact that more than 100 years before Christ lived on earth the translation from the Hebrew. to the Greek text had been completed. He confirmed the Old and pre-authenticated tho New Testament. Turning ...to the Book of Jonah, which he remarked had been made a theological “football,” he read: “And the word of the-Lord came to Jonah.” Go to the oi'iginal and they would find the word “of” did not occur. It was “the Word Jehovah” which was none other than the second Person of the Trinity (John 1—1.). He would like to blazon that fact all over Australasia; for the critics could not cbhtradict it j. There were lots of “good” books in tho world, but the Bible, could not be measured by the measuring rod of man’s genius. Some said they believed in the Divine inspiration of the Bible, but believed that many of the poets were also inspired. If they wanted, to . find out what the .Book was let them swear, thenlife by it,and see flie transformation ..it would effect in their lives. Every man was going to be judged by'the standard' of the Bible. The majority 6f men would say: Christ was a good man. Christ was more than a “good 1 ’ man: If any man knew men it was Napoleon Bonaparte. He said once: “I : know men. Jesus Christ was more than a man.”' Dr. Oliver submitted that Christ’s claim: “I am tho Resurrection of the Life” could only have been madd by the Goniune'Unef or by, the grossest impostef* the world had seen. He was God revealed in the flesh; so. away with the nonsense about Jesus Christ being merely a “good” man. Someone in Gisborne had said that religion was a good thing for women arid children.. Anything that would keep women in their home, virtuous and clean, was a good thing for men, too. Ho condemned the action of those who were scoffing at and casting a slur on pure womanhood and pure childhood. The’ closer men and women of tho ages had walked to Christ, the purer and nohler had been their lives. Twenty centuries confirmed the claim of Christ as set forth in the Book. If it was a- book of fables why didn’t they establish a church on those lines? The Bible would outlive its foes, for Christ had said: “The Scriptures will not be broken.” The Book made it very clear that the man who rejected Jesus Christ was doomed, and to those who received Him it said: “Come ye blessed of My' Fatherf”God’s' official mandate to men was, “Harden not, your heart.” Supposing this was the last day in which they could meet their God. The lecturer nrocecded to narrate a thrilling story of the chartering of a special train by ft' multi-millionaire to speed across America, to tho . bed of his dying child. The' l train travelled 1045 miles in 19 hours and a few minutes, but arrived too late. Tt was a race with death and death won. To-dav was God’s day. Delay formed one of the grim tragedies of life. God’s spirit would not always strivo with men.; It would cease if they continued to reject the offer of salvation. Dr. Oliver gives three lectures in the Opera House to-morrow—at 11 a.m., 2.30 n.m. (for men and hoys only), and at 6.30 p.m.