School days were happy days for A. J. Friendly and popular as he was, he enjoyed many temporal blessings. The son of Christian parents, he was brought up in a God-fearing home where the Bible was read regularly and believed unconditionally. Being very diligent in all of his school work, he made ready progress. He was active and alert, and the years at school passed all too quickly. The time soon came for him to leave home for college.
Here, as at school, success went with him. He readily adapted himself to his new surroundings, winning friends and working studiously. However there was a deadly evil prevailing at college from which he had been sheltered in the seclusion of his home. That evil was infidelity. A. J. soon had to encounter its withering blasts, for among both the students and the faculty there were many who openly scoffed at the Bible as the inspired Word of God.
Infidelity is not new, for it appeals to the natural mind. Quite often those who profess to believe it make a great show of learning and knowledge. Frequently this deadly poison is exploited by very brilliant people. This fact was true in A. J.'s college, for some of the best students were the most blatant infidels. Among these was a young man whose name was E. D.
It was a sad day for our friend when he began to make a companion of this worldly-wise infidel. He should have realized the danger of such a choice for he knew God's warning in His Word: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." 1 Cor. 15:33.
We are all influenced for good or bad by the company we keep. Scripture tells us that "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23), and "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9.) For this reason it is important to avoid companions who have no fear of God, even if they are very pleasing people. A. J. had to learn this sad lesson. He was not a Christian, and so was unacquainted with the keeping power of the indwelling Spirit of God. Leaning on his own understanding he was soon poisoned by the reasonings of his new friend. Little by little he drifted further and further from God and into infidelity. By the time he was ready to leave college, he was among those who talked openly against the Bible and denied the existence of God.
A new chapter of A. J.'s life was about to open. At this point he and his close friend, E. D., were to part company forever. Each went a different way. Our young friend A. J. decided to travel about and see some of the country before settling down.
During his travels he met an elderly man who was a true Christian and faithful servant of the Lord. This man spoke very earnestly to him about God and His Word, and warned him of death and judgment. The conversation made a deep impression on the young man. The truth of God was not like the hollow arguments of infidels, for it reached into his conscience. It made him uneasy and shook his confidence in infidelity. It again seemed real that there was a living God to whom he must give account.
The following night, after a very wearying day of sight-seeing, A. J. sought lodging in a large home where rooms were rented to travelers. The man of the house explained that there was only one vacant room left, and that it was next to the room occupied by a young man who was dying. After thinking it over, the tired young man assured the owner that it would not affect his sleep, and he would take the room.
In spite of his affected indifference, he could not sleep. He was very tired, but sleep went from him. The entire night was spent thinking about the young man in the next room who was dying. None of the foolish arguments of professed infidels could help him sleep. The realities of death and judgment, heaven and hell, pressed upon him, and the words repeatedly spoken to him by that faithful Christian kept ringing in his ears: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27.
In the morning he was not only tired but wretched and miserable as he went down to the living room. There he was informed that the young man whose condition had cost him the night's sleep had died during the night. This fell like a great weight on his already troubled soul, but a greater shock was yet to come. Out of human interest he inquired the name of the man who had died, only to learn that it was none other than his old college chum, E. D. This was almost too much for him, and he rushed straight back to his room. There for several hours he could think of nothing but those awful words, dead! lost! All his infidelity fled in the presence of death, and he cried to God for mercy upon his own lost condition. In anguish of soul he cut his trip short and returned home.
Desperately unhappy, A. J. now sought peace in his childhood surrounding and practices. Deeply repenting the folly of his past he turned to the Lord Jesus, and ere long A. J. was enabled by faith in Him to thank God for delivering him from the dreadful delusions of infidelity.
He proved the truth of the Word of God, and found lasting joy and peace. From that day on, he sought to warn others to "flee from the wrath to come." He began and continued faithfully to preach Christ and Him crucified.
Now, dear young people, be warned by this experience. Do not choose for companions those who hate Christ. Be like the Psalmist who said: "I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts." Psa. 119:63.
Remember that it makes no difference who it is that contradicts the Word of God; he is doing the devil's work. From the days of the Garden of Eden on down, Satan has been calling in question what God hath said. Do not be carried away in any measure by the baseless, soul-destroying poison of infidelity, even though it be garbed in the name of intellectual wisdom.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Prov. 9:10. That is not wisdom which seeks to set aside the Creator for the mere hypothesis of evolution. It matters not how high one may climb in the field of intellectual knowledge. If he denies the truth of God, the day will come when he will see his great folly. It may then be too late, and he will have all eternity to remember with remorse his sin against a loving God who would have all men to be saved.
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psa. 53:1.
And may you say from your heart: "I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right." Psa. 119:128.