The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1950-06-15


To these people. MI
living in discour-
aging times. MAI
achi had. and has.
message from *
God. ~. $50
His prophecies do
not have the bitter tang OF Amos
nor the melancholy Of Hosea. the
grandeur Of Isaiah. the dramatic
power of Jeremiah or the eerie Wis
ions of Ezekiel. But with inspired
common-sense. he offers in the
name of God simple remedy with
-four ingredients.
Better Leaders
CPEAKING DIRECTLY to the
- leaders Of the people. namely
the priests, Malachi condemns them
for not really taking stock In the
thing they were doing. How we
need that today! II the church today
In any place is dead. you may be
sure there are some dead leaders.
Dead from the neck up. that Is.
And not necessarily the preachers.
Many q good preacher breaks
his heart for lack Of support.
How many men and women, In
your church, can the minister
count on TO fiji In where they
are needed, without making up
q dozen reasons why they
cant" do II?
Why do Christians talk and pray
as II their religion we're all-impor-
tant, but act as IL everything else
came first?
Law Observance
n MOTHER THING for which
"A Malachi pleads is law observ-
ance. (E.g. 2:8; $3.50 They did not
need new laws. for they had good
ones. What they needed was to
obey the laws they had. This again
Is what our times need. We have
so many laws now that only an ex-
pert can keep up with them. No
civilized nation could live. to be
sure. under the unchanged statutes
OF generation ago.
Nevertheless, II all the legisla.
lures In America were to resolve
to pass no more laws for five years.
and II for five years the energy.
time and money spent ordinarily
on getting up new laws were put
In on educating the people In the
laws now In existence. and In fos-
tering law observance and In pre-
venting and Furnishing crimes. ours
would be better country.
The Unbroken Home
X GAIN. Malachi stands for the
- unbroken home. He knows
that no country can be strong
when Its homes are weak. (2:I0-
it, In the year l948 there were
about 420. 600 divorces in the United
States. and 100 million marriages.
That Is divorce rate of about
q PER cent. In some states the
percentage of divorce Is even high
er. Indeed. In one large midwest
ern city It was announced in the
papers about two years ago that
the marriages had caught I'D
with" the divorces. i.e.. they were
ut last having more marriages
than divorces! This was an ex-
treme case.
To say nothing else about Il,
100000 divorces and 1900 deser-
tons means that in the United
States alone there are at least 49,
600 persons who have no regard for
the most solemn promises.
Support The Church
FIRST AND LAST, Malachi asks
! better support of the church.
You need the church, of course:
but then the church needs you.
There is need for better leadership
In the first place. and better sup
port from the common man. Few
persons want to live In a commu.
nifty without churches; yet a mere
church building win not effect
community life in the least. A
beautiful building and a tall white
spire are not church.
The only church which will
help . neighborhood IL one In
which the neighborheod takes
IN active part, . church where
neighbors together worship God
and where they arc inspired 70
plans and acts Of service for
their fellow-men.
The main object Of the church IL
not to shore UP the country: still
Il you want Z better country, one Of
the best ways to support Il 10 10
support the Christian church. For
Of al the institutions In Che nation.
the church Il the only one devotsd
to the purpose Of transforming hui.
man lives.
tGepyrisht By the Interns ttonsl counsu
- Heustous Education on behalf q q