Big Dividends
"It is estimated that every student will live fifty years after leaving Magic Valley. That means that for every hundred students who are helped to be better servants in the Lord's church we receive five thousand years of service! We know of no place where money may be invested with any hope of securing a bigger dividend."
The above paragraph was written by "Doctor" George W. DeHoff, President of Magic Valley Christian College. It appeared in The Christian Magazine, of which "Doctor" DeHoff is editor, Vol. 14, No. 1, pg. 2, July, 1959. This issue of the paper was "devoted entirely to Magic Valley Christian College, Albion, Idaho"
"Doctor" DeHoff did not reveal who "estimated that every student will live fifty years after leaving Magic Valley." Surely he did not mean to imply that a couple of years spent in the "Valley" at the school which he took the "lead in establishing" would as if by "Magic" ensure the student's longevity to the number of "fifty years" from the date of his departure! I suppose he meant to present this as the potential life expectancy of any normal and healthy young man or woman of eighteen or nineteen years of age. If this be the correct impression from the "doctor's" statement, wouldn't the life expectancy of "every hundred' disciples of comparable age who are taught and trained in the local congregation "to be better servants in the Lords church" equal "five thousand years of service" also? — not to "we receive,' but to the Lord?
Of course, in this statement the "doctor" was appealing for monetary gifts to Magic Valley Christian College. It is obvious that he did not consult a competent insurance actuary before penning it!
I knew "Doctor" DeHoff when he was just plain George attending school at Harding College in Arkansas. . As I recall, the school at that time was located in Morrilton. Plain George would drive to Russellville where a small, despised group met in an open tabernacle by the side of the railroad tracks — on the wrong side at that — and preach the gospel of Christ to us. Because of his limited education in anything other than the word of God, he knew nothing to preach save "Christ and him crucified." In his preaching he extolled the church as the greatest, grandest, most glorious and sublime institution this old world had ever known or would ever know. This type preaching plain George continued to do until a few short years ago. It seems that Harding College, which had since plain George's school days moved to Searcy, and which is barely able to confer a master's degree, "doctored" plain George and, lo, transformation set in.
Before the malady could be arrested it was aggravated by a high institutional fever which had a softening effect on the cranium, allowing it to stretch till it was three times its normal size. Some craniologists called this a growth, others diagnosed it as a swelling. (Whatever it was, it resulted, in the layman's language, in softening of the brain.) All the diagnosticians agreed that the damage done to plain George's thinking apparatus by the Harding operation could never be repaired; and although it was estimated he might sufficiently recover to expect to live thirty more years, he would be subject to institutional seizures which would hinder his rendering the faithful service to the Lord's church that plain George had rendered.
During the convalescent period, which was unbelievably brief, a metamorphic ring in George's sermons and appearance in his writings was easily discernable and plain George emerged a full-fledged "doctor" — of the "honorary" type, that is.
The Board of Magic Valley Christian College, having a perfect understanding of plain George's metamorphosis, selected "Doctor" DeHoff as the first president of the school which he was to take the lead in establishing. That the choice from the Board's viewpoint was a wise one is attested by Dallas H. Harris, Chairman of the Board. He said: "When we selected Dr. DeHoff, we felt that we were selecting the finest President in the world. Now we know it."
This selection brought on another institutional seizure, and the "finest President in the world" declares he knows of "no place where money may be invested with any hope of securing a bigger dividend" than Magic Valley Christian College! — a product which he helped create!
Dr. DeHoff, did you ever hear of the Lord's church? Ask plain George. He used to preach it as the place where Christians could invest their money with "hope of securing a bigger dividend" — the biggest dividend one can secure, the hope of everlasting blessedness. And he based his teaching upon such statements as: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth . . . But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ... For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness . . ."(Matt. 6:19, 20, 33). ". . . seek those thing which are above.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3.1,2).
Dr. DeHoff evidently believes that one who contributes money to Magic Valley Christian College is obeying these divine injunctions and will be as richly rewarded by the Lord as if he had cast his money into the Lord's treasury, for he wrote: "We know of no place where money may be invested with any hope of securing a bigger dividend."
My impression is that plain George was better informed in the Scriptures than "Doctor" George is.