90
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e . s s
February 1930
and faded picture the peasant crosses himself and r e p e a t s the customary prayers. If a longing for help more than human stirs within him, if trouble and sorrows burden him, he bows before the ikon and makes his prayer to a picture god that can neither hear nor answer. This peasant is like millions of others on our field. Why do they still live in dark ness when we have the light? Would you not count it a precious privi lege to become a coworker with God for the evangelization of 250,000,000 needy souls on our field? Marvelous things God has already wrought on the 'field. Among those whom the missionaries have led to Christ are priests and soldiers, officials and policemen, drunkards, gamblers, and vicious characters. Everywhere people tell our missionaries that they never heard the Gospel until the missionaries came. A M illion Souls for Christ in Japan Communism has thriven upon the eco nomic distress of Japan, we are told. Kagawa, the great Christian leader of that country, believes that communism can be conquered by love, by undertaking sacrificially the terrible burden under which the people struggle. This is why he is leading the churches in the “Million Souls for Christ” movement. This is not a revival campaign of the kind with which we have been familiar. He does not wish to win a million souls to swell the ranks o f church members, but a million souls to go down among the outcastes, and become their friends and bring to them love and hope.yf>Church Missionary Outlook. When God Undertakes A recent letter from Herman Becker o f the C. I. M. brings this cheering news from Yuanchow, Hunan: “A few days after I had left Yuanchow, a new batallion of soldiers came to this place. The major, with other officers^ came to our Chinese evangelists and asked if the soldiers could come to the — o — — o —
The Call to Intercession From every mission land comes the call for prayer, prayer, and more prayer. The great question, as one writer puts it, is : “How to multiply the number of Chris tians who will, individually and collective ly, wield this force of intercession for the conversion and transformation of men ? That is the supreme question o f Foreign Missions. Every other consideration and plan is secondary. We take for granted that those who love the work and bear it upon their hearts will follow the. Scrip tural injunction to pray unceasingly for its triumph. To such, not only the morn ing watch, and the hours of stated devo tion, but all times and seasons will wit ness an attitude of intercession that re fuses to let God go until He crowns His workers with victory. “Missions have their root in the love of Christ.................. Intercession is the chief means appointed by God to bring the great redemption within the reach of all. The Chinese have a forcible way of saying things. Take, for example, the motto of« the recent meeting of the Na tional Christian Council, ‘O Lord, revive Thy church, beginning from me.’ That at once' injects the right personal equation, and brings ' the" matter from a large vagueness to immediate individual con cern. This motto was inscribed in large Chinese characters and hung over the council platform.” Prayer is asked for the lands in and around Central Asia-Mongolia, Turkes tan, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. These are strongholds to be besieged on our knees. Anti-religious, Sovietizing in fluences throughout Central Asia contrib uted to the fall o f Amanullah. They also strengthen the antogonism of Islam and Buddhism to the Gospel. Pray that .the hospital at the Himalayan town of Leh may have a much-needed doctor. This is an important center; many thousands pass through this town for trade and pleasure. Leh fever killed two Moravian doctors here in 1891. and 1907. Pray also for Madta, a zealous Buddhist convert, and for' a new evan gelistic effort at Nubra, the home of Yosef Gergan, translator of most of .the Tibetan Bible. Let us remember in prayer Captain Mann, who is now surveying the populous1 cities of Central Asia with a view to planting centers of work. Volunteer mis sionaries are urgently needed; who will go? . From Russia comes this call to be a coworker with God, as given in The European Christian. One corner o f the Russian Orthodox peasant’s hut is reserved for the ikon, a picture which may show the Virgin Mary, •or h saint, or martyr. About the ikon paper flowers are often hung, and a candle burns before it. Before this usually soiled
meetings, and what time was most con venient. They are now Coming four times during the week, and twice a week the evangelists ■ go to the barracks to teach Gospel hymns and have Bible readings. More than'twenty soldiers are also com ing to the inquirer-meetings. We are very thankful that the Lord has again opened this door among the soldiers. Now we have to pray them through to a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Keep on praying for this work. “One o f the soldiersj who had been baptized a few months ago, went home' for a few weeks. He took with him some New Testaments and tracts. He told his people about his Saviour and they became interested. Before he returned to this place, seven of his family had decided for Christ and burnt their idols. We are very thankful, for this proves that the soldiers who were baptized, are really witnessing for Christ” .—o— Power in the Blood Leah, the wife o f Reuben, at work among the Nandi, lay dying. Brought out o f heathen darkness and confronted with death, she said to her husband, “ Call the people, that I may talk with them.” Her husband called them, and she talked to them, telling them to trust in, and follow the Lord Jesus in spite off all that might happen. Her words seemed filled with power. After she had finished talking to them, she said, “ Reuben, let us pray t6- gether. I cannot lie down and pray, but if you will help me, I will sit ujp.” Her prayer was for the children of the school, and the work of the Mission in Nandi, “Now let us say good-by. I have a little strength left. Presently I shall not be able to talk to you; but I am ready now, awaiting God’s word. I thank Him for the blood of Jesus which has cleansed my heart, and also that He has shown me heaven so that all my fear o f death has gone.” With the comforting words of Isaiah 41:10, " Fear thou not; for I am unth thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God,” she “passed in” to be with her Lord.— Inland Africa. —rO-- Giving Up Voodoo in Haiti Gonave Island is a large island fifty by twelve miles, in the Bay of Port-au- Prince, Haiti, about twenty-eight miles from the mainland. In One year seven teen missionary stations have been estab lished with a preaching place and a pri mary school in each. Thus 3,000 believers have been enrolled as members of the congregation. As a result, the whole is- . land is Protestantized and the inhabitants, numbering some 12,000, are abandoning voodoo fetishism and worship o f the great serpent god.
A New Friend of the K. B. in Washington passes on this word to us: "I saw your valuable maga zine at the Brethren Church, that was left there by R e v . ----- . I am quite in love with it and am sending you a check for two subscriptions.”
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