The Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1964

Th rnoking question: _e ristian as no nee ort esmo 13, ] , 11l(S /\ • • l{J/111.f 11. Edit()/' • I _ tl1c ti111l' tl11, .1rt1clL' 1, 11r1,1tcll ir1 tl1 111aga..,1 n(.: l''L rhar,~ the ft1r r l'' \.,. t 1~ rt f' )T t l1\ tlll: Pt1l1l1c Health t'r' 1('~ ,11101' 11g ,, 111 t1..1, 1 e ahc1tcd. bt1t ... ar tl1 ,, r1t1ng tl1c1 c 1 111t1cl1 contro- .... , c r ....., l,\ t' r th L' 1• ~ tl c. T, the l hr1~t1"111. the problcn1 of 111 k.111g hot1 ld not be an 1 ~tie. ho"' - ... c, er. there 111a, be ome \\ ho ha, c • ·1 t allo\\ ed Chr1st f t1ll ,\ a) 1n their Ii , e, and g1, en th~ H I) pirit full ' ntrol , er their 11, e . The report confirm the "'or t fear that ha , e been a.. ailing moker for e, eral , ear becau e of the finding - of nt1n1erou other tudie . What thi con1n11ttee ha done i to review all the a,,ailable data and draw conclu - ion a to the relation hip of moking to health. It conclude that cigarette n1ok1ng 1 "cau all,' related·~ to lung cancer. lar)'ngeal cancer, chronic bronchiti and other di ea e . And it re, ie\\ even population studie \.\ hich ho\\' a death rate for male moker from lung cancer nearly 1.000 per cent higher than for non– smoker . The mo t di turbing item 1n the re.port i this: "The mortality ratio for male cigarette mokers com– pared with non- mokers for all cau es of death taken together, is 1.68 repre enting a total death rate nearly 70 per cent higher than for non- mokers.. , Record num b er used But this is the problem. Evidence ha been accumulating for a decade or more that smoking is a ignificant factor in the incidence of lung cancer and other disease , but smokers con– tinue to smoke and young people continue to take up the habit. A re– cord number of 523 billion cigarette v. ere lit by Americans last year. The American moker spends near– ly eight billion dollars a year. Thi produces 3.2 billions in federal, tate and local taxes and is the economic ba e for 750.000 farm families. I this the reason for the hesitancy by the federal government to take ac– tion against the use of cigarettes and ro regulate advertising? We think so. A few years ago the Depar tment of H ealth and Welfare announced about Thanksgiving time that a cancer producing \.\'eed killer was used on cranberries. Immediately p e o p 1 e Page 6, FEBRUARY, 1964 • 1ng a it "t )()i1ctf hl1\ 1 ing c ra11l,crr1c', i1nc.l crc– ,l tt.:tf ar1 cco110111ic harc.J~l11p in that i11tll1,tr . 1' et tl1c dc1ngcr there. a\ wa\ J,1tcr c, 1c.Jcnccd. wa \t11all co111parcd to the danger in cigarette. . Wh} doe n't the moker quit the n? He c,1n't. The moking habit ha t1ch a hold on hi body that he i p werle again t it power. Some hrug off the report, others ay it finding are not conclu ive enough . Bt1t I 'm convinced. Smoking ha never been a problem in my life. My fat her aid when I wa young HSon don~t ever tart moking cigarette ." And, of course, I heeded hi advice and am ever thankful today. What we can do But what can we as Christians do to help other ? Fir t we can turn people to the Lord J e us Christ as their per onal Saviour. Then they have the Holy Spirit in their lives to give them strength in time of need to overcome thi habit. In II Cor. 5: 17 we read, ' Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away· behold, all things are become new." Second, as pastors and Sunday School teacher we can continue to teach our young people of the evils of smoking. The tobacco indu try has lanted commercials to make smok– ing attractive to this age group be– cau e seldom doe a person start James R. Johnson s111{lk i11g af tl!r l1c rcuc l1es hi twe nti es, l1 c is a]rcn<..ly ca ugl1t ir1 tl1c sr1aru be– fore tl1 is tit11c. Ot1r cl1i) l lrc r1 (lcscr\'e t lie cl1 a11cc to a voi(I the J)cri I. ,..fhal is where otir preventive ctll1cation shoultl bcgi n. J 11 ot,r , R BC circles we took thi s s tand yea r ago. Our fJOsi tion i con1plctc separation fron1 anythi11g that destroys the L,ody. Since our bod} i\ the temple of the Hol y pirit, we cannot partake of that which i. not honoring to God. Much could be written on thi evil. But if there i one who find this in hi life, I would ay, Trust in C~hr1st. He will give you the trength to over– come thi cigarette habit. You' ll feel better, too. Beams from the Lighthouse By Mrs. W. H. Keisler Huntington City Mission Huntington, W. Va . Greetings in the Name of our Wonderful Lord! Since many of you have, from time to time, asked me to tell some– thing of our activities at Christmas, I will try to answer your request. It is a busy time around the Mis– sion, wrapping a toy and filling a tocking for about 175 children; and supplying approximately 375 people with a complete Christm.as dinner. For many of these boys and girls, the toy and stocking (filled with nuts, apple orange and candy) will be the only gift some will receive. Before we give out the Christmas baskets, Christmas dinner to the needy, or the toy and stocking to the children, we have a Gospel service. In past years we have had souls saved at the e services, for which we prai e Him. We always put the spiritual need fir t in all the work we do at the Mission. This is also true in something new we have tarted. This is the age of rummage sales by all kinds of groups to rai e money, but we have tarted rummage giveaways" to reach people with the Go pel. The people come at a pecified time, and a ten to 15 minute Gospel message i given. We have had two of the e "Giveaway ", and have had everal make a pro– fes ion of faith in Christ a their Saviour. We had the next one in January. At our fir t Giveaway", there were two women there who acknowl– edged their need but who rejected the Saviour. One lost her husband that same night in an accident. What (Continued on page 8 ) THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST