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The second is the Stony Brook method. Vacancies for the fall term opening September 17 are now being filled. For a catalogue and view book, address tonyfirookJckool Please mention King's Business Frank E. Gaebelein, Litt. D., Headmaster, Stony Brook, Long Island, N. Y. E S TMON T CO L L EG E A CHRISTIAN LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE Outstanding among fundamental Christian colleges on the Pacific Coast is Westmont College, known for careful scholarship, sound doctrine, and consistent Christian living. The Board of Trustees is composed of promi nent spiritual and educational leaders who are doctrinally sound and financially conservative. Exceptional faculty . . . students carefully chosen. PRE-ENGINEERING • PRE-MEDICAL • PRE-THEOLOGICAL Bible Christian Education Education and Psychology Physical Education Biological Sciences Physical Sciences Social Science English and Speech History Philosophy Music Mathematics
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The King's Business The True-to-the-Bible Family Magazine The Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Inc. LOU IS T. TALBOT • M ILDRED M. COOK Editor-In-Chief Managing Editor
A-Millennial? Pre -Milennial? Post-Millennial?
Motto : “ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5)*
Volume XXXII
August, 1941
Number 8
If you are a pre-millenarlan, I have a message of supreme value for these dark days. I advertised this same message some time ago. The re sponses from those who had sent for it were filled with gratitude to God for a new revelation that had come to them; almost every one said in effect: “This should be read by every Christian in America.’' So I am making t h e s a m e announcement once again: I want to reach every true Christian who is longing for the coming of the King, and I am doing my part to accom plish it. Whether I reach you depends on yourself. Just enclose 10c (stamps will do) in a letter and say, “I am a pre- millenarian; send me your message.” If you are not a pre-millenarian» please do not answer this advertise ment. And may I remind you also of the continuous needs of our missionary undertakings? In the spirit of Isaiah 40:1-2, we stand astride the world and seek to bridge the gulf between a misrepresented Christianity and a misled Judaism. In this ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18) your faithful, prayerful undergirding is needed far more than you will ever know this side of eternity. Our work merits your every confi dence. It is a program of world-wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Tour fellowship in prayer and in gift is always welcome and appreciated. Our monthly publication, THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, is of course sent to all contributors.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ransom D. Marvin, Staff Artist Shelled and Sunk—Why?................................__________ ..... 290 Around the King’s Table — Editorial ........ .;................................... 292 Word from “ Biola in China ”— Charles k . Roberts .............. .......292 Significance of the News — Dan Gilbert .................. ..................... 293 “ Every Man . . . In His Own Language”— Elisabeth Haven Lathrop ........ ...........................................294 Will Afghanistan Be Evangelized?............... ................................ 296 Answering the Missionary’s Critic — Samuel Fisk ........................ 298 The Jews’ Darkest Hour—and the Dawn —Louis S. Bauman 300 Bible Institute Family Circle.......... ........................ ....................... 302 Junior King’s Business —Martha S. Hooker .................................. 303 International Lesson Commentary.................. .......................... ... . 305 Notes on Christian Endeavor —Dawson E. Trotman, Natalie Romans, Homer A. ¡Cent, and Lyman A . Wendt........ 317 Daily Devotional Readings............................................... ............. 321 SUBSCRIPTION PRICE! “The King’s Business" is published monthly. SI.00—one year; $1,50—two years; 50 cents—six months; 10 cents—single copy. Clubs of five or more at special rates; write for details. Canadian and foreign subscriptions 25 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address to become effective. Please send both old and new addresses. REMITTANCE—Payable in advance, should be made by bank draft, express or post office money order payable to “The K ing’s Business.” Date of expiration will show plainly each month on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. ADVERTISING—For information with reference to advertising In "The King's Business," address the Advertising Manager, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif., or our eastern representative, Religious Press Association, 1601 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. MANUSCRIPTS—"The King’s Business” cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent to it for consideration. Entered as second-class matter November T, 1938, at the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in the Act of February 28, 1925, em bodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L. and R „ authorized October 1, 1918, and November 18, 1938. THE KING’ S BUSINESS 558 South Hope Street 9 Los Angeles, California INFORMATION FOR SUBSCRIBERS
J. Hoffman Cohn, American Board of Missions to thè Jews, Inc., 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
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A Graduate of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles Obtains First-Hand Information from Zamzam Survivors as They Arrive in Brooklyn, N. Y.
I T WAS the morning of May 19. The nation’s news stands bore blazing headlines. The nation’s radios filled the air with tragic news; THE ZAMZAM WAS SUNK AND ALL ABOARD BELIEVED LOST! •The Christian world was startled, stignned, appalled! The Zamzam, ship of many prayers, bearing more than one huhdred ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, missionaries of various agencies who were going forth with the gospel of the grace of God which this war-ridden world must have—could that ship be Unforrhation for this article was furnished to Evelyn W. Woodsworth (Biola ’31)' by mem bers of the Africa Inland Mission, twenty-sial of whom were aboard the Z4m*am.—E ditor .]
had been no panic on the stricken ship. One young missionary had turned to her husband as shell after shell was bursting on the Zamzam, and said, “Praise the Lord, if we should go Home this morning!” Deep inside the darkened prison ship, where only dim blue lights in the hall way cast weird shadows of the guards as they paced back' and forth on duty, another missionary, lying, on a mattress on the floor, from time to time had felt the ever-ready life belt and then had fallen into a sweet and. quiet sleep, for the Saviour was on guard. A third quoted, triumphantly, “ Any where with Jesus I can safely go.” A wife whose husband was some where in Germany stood before the audi ence. She had few words to speak, but they carried weight. She spoke of those left behind in Europe and asked simply, “Will you not pray for them, that they, too, may be witnesses in the concentra tion camps?" One after another, twenty heralds of the cross, faces aglow with the glory of their Saviour’s rescue from the jaws of death, faced the Brooklyn audience, a living challenge to the faith of those who still believe in the power of a miracle-working God. The Zamzam lies at the bottom of the South Atlantic, with five years’ equip ment for over a hundred missionaries. The missionaries are back in America pleading to be sent back to Africa despite their recent experience. Before ever they had set sail, these bearers of Good News had been fully aware that dangers lurk everywhere in war time. Like that mighty missionary, the Apostle Paul, they had known_ they might expect to be “in joumeyings often, is perils of waters, . . . in weari-
sunk ? Could those lives be lost ? Christian hearts in the homeland were bowed before their Lord. Where had the failure been ? Certainly it was not with God. Contrite ones confessed their guilt of scanty intercession and pledged anew their lives and time to supplication for the field which is the world, and for the sowers bearing precious seed on their travels to and fro. They prayed and hoped and wondered. - In the meantime, that very morning, a crowded German prison- ship, after seven anxious days spent in running the British blockade, was winding in and out of little inlets on the north of Spain, as- it made its secret way ‘to France. Aboard were the missionaries whose
loved ones mourn ed their loss at home. Inside two days, the hearten ing news reached America. Less t h a n six weeks later, at a great mass meet ing in Brooklyn, N. Y., held jointly b y t h r e e well- kndwn faith mis sions on June 27, thç word “peace” occurred again and again in testimo nies of those who had returned from the disaster. Shell ing there had been, devilish war on ev ery side, yet peace, His peace, was the predominant note of the whole ex perience. T h e r e
Zamzam Facts The S. S. ZAMZAM, an Egyptian boat carrying more than obe hundred missionaries, sailed from New York on March 24. It arrived safely at Pernambuco, Brazil, on April 8, whence it set out the next day for South and East African poi-ts, traveling in complete blackout. Early on the morning of April 17, just four days west of Capetown, the ZAMZAM was severely shelled by the German raider TAMESIS. Passengers and crew took to the lifeboats, some of which had been rendered unseaworthy by the shell ing, and were picked up by the raider. After the transfer of some of the cabin baggage to the raider, ’ he riddled ZAMZAM was sunk by time bombs at 3:00 P. M. After thirty hours aboard the raider, the entire party was transferred to a prison ship from which, after five and a half weeks, they were put off at St. Jean de Luz, in occupied France. There the British subjects—including several mis sionaries—were separated from the party, later to be taken to a concentration camp in Germany. The Americans were held at Biarritz, France, for twelve days and then removed, through negotiations by the Ameri can consul, to a suburb of Lisbon, Portugal, where arrange ments were made for their return to the United States. The entire American group safely reached the home shores by the end of June.
ness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, . . . in cold and nakedness.” But they were not looking at danger; they were looking to Christ who said: “Lo, I am with you alway.” Graciously He had preserved the life of each one. That He did not fail—that He cannot fail—is the testimony of those who have known the complete disruption of their own plans, but have had opportunity to prove the promises of God and find them wholly true in the deepest hour of trial. Is the sinking of the Zamzam in any sense a defeat ? Hay it not be heaven’s call to the church of God to shake her from her ease and awaken her to the responsibility of prayer for the world wide mission field? Behind the blocked seas to Africa and India, behind the compulsory shrine worship of Japan and Korea, behind their hostile governments, behind the closed door to China, stands one who hates the very name of Christ and who, down through the ages, has poured his venom on servants of the living God. Yet we need not cringe at his menacing threat, for in heaven above sits One who laughs ,at the puny strength of man, One who has “spoiled principalities and powers,” making “a show of them openly, triumphing over them,” One who has never once retracted His last earth ly command:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the n a m e of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: . . . and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the age.” He knew what the end of the age would be. He knew the “wars and rumors of wars” that Satan would use to quench missionary zeal and to withhold from lost souls the knowledge of re deeming,love. He knew—He knows now — and still He says, “GO.” Let the church of God fall on her face be fore Almighty God, until over China,' Korea, India, Africa, the islands of the sea, she sees by faith and then by sight thé flaming letters glow: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” Are the greedy wars of man, with Satan’s craft be hind them, going to keep the message of God from h e a t h e n lands ? Praying Christian, WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER T
God s Rainbow Left behind by the last lifeboat, two missionaries tightly clutched a Bible and Testament and plunged into the sea from the listing ZAMZAM. As they swam for their lives to a hastily launched raft, the Bible slipped from the hands of one and was lost in the depths. But later, when the two men spread their wet clothing on the German raider’s rail, the older man picked up the Testament, soaked and bedraggled. Reverently he thumbed its pages, opening ¿ad spreading it in the sun to dry. Suddenly words seemed to leap from the open page, while a rainbow—one of the five distinctly visible in a clear sky during those awful weeks of uncertainty—arched its brightness over the dreary deep. God was speaking again, as, centuries before, He had spoken to His servant on the seas: “NOW I EXHORT #OTJ TO BE OF GOOD CHEER: FOR THERE SHALL BE NO LOSS OF ANY MASi’S LIFE AMONG YOU, BUT OF THE SHEP" (Acts 87:22).
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Around the King's Table LOUIS T. TALBOT, Eelitor-in-Chief
der that he may read the Bible . . . “3. He must attend all services of his church during the week and on Sunday. “4. He must tithe, even though he may be able to give only a handful of rice. "5, He must attend a class in which he studies the doctrines of the Christian religion. “6. He must break completely with his caste by eating in public with Christians who have originally Come from other castes, thereby proving to the-non-Christian group that’ he is really in earnest. “7. He must win some one else to Christ.
Passports If you desire to travel to another country, you .will discover how essential is the possession of a passport. Your travel may be limited to this side, of the Atlantic at present, but even on a journey to South America,' a passport is an indispensable part of your equip-, ment.' With this authority, you can pass freely into any country indicated and secure the protection of which you stand in need. Having your photograph and autograph, the immigration authorities at a foreign port are able to check easily your authentication. Profession, place and date of birth, domicile, height, color of eyes and hair, special peculiar- ities—all these must be set forth in the passport. Gustave Dore, the noted French art-- 1st, was once sojourning in a foreign land.’ In his travels he had lost his passport. As he sought to cross thé border into another country, he came to a spot where the government officials demanded the document. He told them he was Dore, the French artist, but that his passport had been lost. Thinking to catch him in an untruth, the officers sneeringly -handed him a pencil and paper, demanding that he . prove his identity. “AH right,’’ said the artist, and with a smile and a look of confidence, he took the pencil and paper and began to sketch the landscape before him. The officer looked on in bewilderment as the picture grew under the pencil of the famous man, and then he said, “That will do, sir. You are Dore, for none but Dore could do that.” A few years, ago, the late Bishop Taylor Smith was traveling throughput America in connection with the Moody centenary celebrations. At one time, he had to go. to Buffalo from Toronto for a special meeting. Unfortunately, he had left his passport in his Toronto hotel. At the border, the Londoner was asked for his passport. The official who made the demand was not satisfied with the bishop’s explanation and insisted upon further corroboration of the facts from the president of the institution that had arranged for the meetings. When the official at length allowecj him to proceed, the kindly bishop, with that unique way of his, said to the immigra tion officer: “Well, you have done your duty. Being a Chaplain-General to His Majesty’s Forces, I learned obedience,
India’ s High Standard ' If every- person who sought church membership in America were faced with the high standard set by certain believ* ers living in India, one wonders how ..many would qualify for acceptance.'The following facts, contained in a-mission ary letter, will put most Christians to shame: . -: ./ “One Christian group among the ‘untouchables’ [in India] has-set up •t h i s sevenfold •requirement for church membership. :Any one wish- -ing to become a member-of the - church must satisfactorily fulfill these seven qualifications: “1. He must conduct, family de-- /votions in his own .home, so ,that - his family may realize what is -in-.- 'yolved.' “ 2. He must learn to read, in or - ‘'[These comments are taken from per sonal letters written by Mr. Roberts, the Superintendent of the Hunan Bible Insti tute (the China Department of the Bible- Institute of Los Angeles) to his wife, who, with their children, is detained at home although her heart is with her husband and the work in China. The letters were not ..written originally with publication in mind, but their very in formality accentuates — perhaps more ffian any other method could—the cour age, of Christian devotion, the tragedy of present-day conditions in many parts of .China, and the opportunities that are being afforded for gospel witnessing. M&y the facts stir every reader to player ¡—EDITOR.] l HE EVANGELICAL CHURCH here is in ruins. Bombs hit all four corners of the crossroads and also in other places in the district. Three bombs struck the mission com pound, BUT at the mission corner, where the pastor, and. his wife and. a Bible ywxmarl and a dozen others were in their dugout (no‘ foreigners’, all Chinese tbgre), not a soul was hurt, althoii^h the closest borfib hit within seven feet 1 the dugont.- At one' other corner there ‘ were' many killed' and wounded because'of falling debits.
“When he has done these seven things, 4m may become a member of the church.” Word From "Biola in China"
By CHARLES A . ROBERTS Changsha, Hunan, China
The pastor and wife and Bible woman (a former student of ours) are now living on our compound. As soon as the planes left, I rushed off to see what could be done to help. Such dreadful sights I saw! There was a mother who had just arrived on the scene to find her teen-aged laddie mangled and dead; in her grief she was throwing herself about on the ground. There was a crater with three small youngsters all in pieces. . . . Another bombing, and such a need for nurses and doctors! In this great city of nearly half a million, there are only three trained nurses, only one American nurse—and the little Chinese nurses (a couple of dozen or so) do need inspira tion in times like these. There is only one foreign doctor in Changsha. . ■. . This afternoon after the prayer meeting of united churches of Changsha, held once a month, the workers met to discuss' a, few things. The suggestion was made that we have another city wide evangelistic effort similar to the one of last spring when you were here. I have just finished meetings with the Evangelical Mission, a three-day series for the upbuilding and encouragement of the workers, with fifty-eight evan- [ Continued on Page 302]
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and thus obeyed your instructions. You would not permit me to go beyond the barrier without my passport. Now that you are assured that I have one, the way is clear. Tell me, friend, have you your passport to heaven?” Then fol lowed an intimate conversation on eternal things. How tragic it would be for one to reach the borderline of eternity without a passport to heaven! Can you read your title clear to mansions in the skies? If not, take out your passport—receive Christ—and_ then no refusal will be yours at the entrance to the eternal city. Sin’s One Remedy Several months ago, a friend of the writer returned, from a rather extensive tour of foreign mission fields. One thing particularly impressed him in all the countries he visited. In Africa, China, Korea, India, and Palestine, he was amazed at the zeal with which representatives of some of the principal cults which are operating in the homeland were introducing their wares. He found them rushing here and there, selling their literature • freshly translated, sowing down the areas where true gospel work once prevailed, or following on the heels of faithful mis sionaries of the cross. Our friend discovered, however, that none of these busy workers were in pioneer fields. They were “ correctors,” traveling the paths cleared by other mis sionaries. By many of the natives they were looked upon with suspicion, mere propagators of western culture which is not wanted in any Oriental country. The people seemed to sense that these mes sengers had no remedy to offer for the curse of sin, and their efforts to shade off the Bible truths or to spread their own shibboleths only met with contempt. Only the old gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” No true spiritual revival has ever centered in any other teaching. Our friend happily bore tes timony that only where he found the faithful missionary or layman going in the highways and byways with the mes sage of Christ crucified and risen did he find rapt attention being paid by the people and lives being transformed by the Spirit of God. Oh, that we could get the ear of all the self-sent “missionaries” and remind them that until men have within them the very life of God they are powerless to do the works of God! That life they can never know apart from acceptance of the finished work of Christ. Brethren, let us waste no time wash ing corpses (cf. Eph. 2:1), cultivating moving carcasses, and jollying along people who are in a state of protracted death. If you know not the message that “is quick and powerful,” „find it before seeking to minister to dying souls.—Keith L. Brooks.
Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT Washington, D. C , and San Diego, California
COMMUNISM’S ANTIRELIGIOUS EDITCATIONt • “Godlessness is identical with Communism. Therefore, every effort must be made to stamp out of the lives of the Russian people the last vestige of religious belief. World- Wide propaganda for atheism must be intensified." Thus declared the official Communist newspaper published in Moscow, Pravda. In a long editorial, reviewing the course of the Red war against God,, Pravda laments the “laxity in the antireligious campaign.” The editorial explains: “Many have not yet understood that antireligious propaganda is an integral part of all Soviet political and cultural education. Certain re gional committees of the Party do not introduce in their-conferences any antireligious subjects, or con sider that antireligious propaganda has any relation to the election cam paign. There is a neglect of anti- religious work. . . . “Numerous Soviet organs do not understand that antireligious propa ganda in our country has an official status. Thus, organs of the Com missariat of Public Education and the schools do not inculcate anti- religious education in the children, and even those who leave school sometimes entertain religious senti ments. , “The Soviet press and that of the Party do not pay enough attention - to the warfare against religious sur- ' viváis. . . . We mugt utilize all ■ organizations and furnish them with the essential e l e m e n t s of anti- religious propaganda to accelerate the suppression of religious surviv als among the millions of workers. Then only will socialist society free itself from one of the reactionary heritages of the past and the move ment toward Communism become more rapid.”
A BIBLE-BASED FOREIGN POLICY! • Some correspondents have asked for a “recommendation” as to what Amer ica’s foreign policy should be. This writer offers no such formula. He goes no further than tp suggest that it should be based upon the sound judgment and conscience of the people looking to the Word of God for guidance. Whatever the agreed-upon policy, it should be made honestly and should be honestly proclaimed. Bluff and pretense have no place in the policy of a self- respecting democracy. . America dan afford to act in the open. America can afford to be honest. America can afford to let her own peo ple and the whole world know where she stands. „I t must be confessed that, in the past, our policy has been confused and even concealed behind the distortion of the very phrases of international law. America should set an example to the world for truthfulness, honesty, and fair dealing. In the long run, that policy will win, because God is on the side of • The forces of totalitarianism are car rying on the struggle for conquest on two fronts—one is on the military battle field, the other is “behind the lines.” Dictatorship may be defeated on the military front, and yet may conquer be hind the lines. Whenever and however the war in Europe may end, the war behind the lines in America must be carried for ward to a successful conclusion if our nation is to be made safe. Our harbors and cities may never be occupied by the military forces of dictatorship. But as long as the hearts and minds of large groups of our people are occupied by alien isms, totalitarianism will be a menace to the security of America. Revolution, bloodless or bloody, usu ally comes as the aftermath of war. Lenin, the Bolshevik dictator, said, “The first World War produced a Bolshevik Russia. The second World War will pro duce a Bolshevik Europe.” War paves the way for revolution. It creates the hatred, the chaos, the disillusion, the suffering, the cynicism, the unemploy ment and the depression—out of which anarchy and revolution are apt to grow. America needs now to take effective measures of defense against the sub versive intellectual forces which are de termined to win by propaganda and in ternal revolution, even if they lose with submarines and bombing planes. truth, and God is almighty. WAR ON TWO FRONTS:
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Man . . . In His Own Language"
"Every
By ELISABETH HAVEN LATHROP none of the Word of God in their native tongues. A very small proportion un derstand their Indian idiom and Spanish equally well. ‘ Many can- understand enough to buy and sell, but find it very difficult, if not impossible, to compre hend the truth of the gospel, much less the great facts of the abundant life in Christ, unless the explanation comes to them in their own language. But these Indian groups are_ not for gotten, for there are .now thirty-seven young people working in eighteen of the fifty-one tribes in this country, re ducing their difficult languages to writ ing, compiling dictionaries, puzzling over knotty grammatical problems such g.s they had never dreamed existed. They are learning to speak understand ably, and are translating parts of God’s Word for the Indians. The Gospel of John has already been published in one dialect of the Aztec, and is received with great delight by believers of that tribe. For another tribe, two able young wo men have finished the whole New Testa
ment in its first draft in the Mazateco language. Language As a- Door to Understanding For four hundred years there has been a form of Christianity in Mexico. But priestcraft enslaved the Indians who mixed the already perverted teachings of Roman Catholicism with their own forms of idolatry. And practically all the teaching was in Spanish, in creasing* the errors for these people who understand so little of that language. "This is the first time in many years that I have been up here to see the ‘old man,’ ” remarked Nalo, as he brushed away faded' floral offerings to reveal to his companion a man-shaped outcropping of rock. "You see, it is only recently that my | fear of him is gone. The witch doctor in the village says that he serves just as well as the saints in the church for divining diseases, and for other secrets of witchery. But now I know this is nothing but a rock.’’ Several years before, the Lord had t
n T w e n t y INDIANS gathered be neath a big tree with their Span- 1 ish Bibles open to the Sunday- school lesson of the day.' Their red blankets, shirts of every hue, and bright belts made a splash of color against the brownness of the mud houses and the dusty ground. The stocky, bronze-faced man who stood before them was their pastor and teacher, Isaac, a full-blooded Indian, one of the very few who has had an education in Spanish and a training in the things of the Lord. Yet he faced a great difficulty in teaching these In dians, for though several of them could read Spanish haltingly, the words meant little to them. Therefore it was neces sary for Isaac to translate extempo raneously into their language, as best he could, and teach -them in the tongue in which the truth could reach their hearts without the hindrance of misun derstood words. Isaac and his little group of believers are representative of the three million Indian population of Mexico, who have
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given a missionary a contact with this young Mixteco Indian, Nalo, and had made Nalo willing to work as an “in formant*' of his native language. Day after day was spent in long and often tedious labor on strange intricacies o f an unwritten tonal language, and after wards in seeking to put the Word of God into that language. Little by little the truth had penetrated his heart until his fear of witchcraft and Roman idol atry had given place to a living faith in a risen Lord. Five years ago, when missionary en trance to Mexico seemed to be becom ing, more. and more difficult, the Lord opened a door which Satan had not thought to make secure. Language students were permitted by the govern ment to enter the country, study the primitive languages existing there, and translate the Scriptures. Each year a' new group has come urrtjl now thirty- seven men and women are engaged in the work. No task could be more im- •portant, for salvation is by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever, and there is no abundant life for a people who do- not have God’s Word in a tongue that they can understand Puzzles in Tones aryl Grammar One of the first young men to enter the open door found himself confronted by a strange situation. He was gain ing quite a vocabulary, but the people were not understanding him, though he pronounced the words exactly a3 they founded to him. One day he stum bled upon the reason. The language he was seeking to learn, the Mixteco, spok
en by some 200,000 people in the south ern part of México, was tonal! A .word spoken with one sequence of pitch meant an entirely, different thing from the same word spoken in reverse order. “ Kuni-na tata,” said the informant (speaking the syllables on .the tones: re do-mi, re mi). “That means, T shall see the Lord.’ But if you say, ‘kuni-na tata,” he continued (speaking the syl lables on the tones: re mi-mi, re'do), “it means, T want some seed corn.’ That is the reason we cannot write our lan guage. It looks just the same on paper.” Any alphabets the Indians knew were inadequate to express wHat they spoke, so the first step in translating the New Testament into Mixteco was to prepare a special Mixteco alphabet which would ■express the tone and the other peculiari ties of the language. Not until this was done could these people be taught’ to read and write the Word of God which was to be translated for them. Mixteco is not the only tonal lan guage in Mexico. At least a dozen oth ers have so far been discovered to pos sess this phenomenon, some with three levels, some with four, and a great var iety of possible glides from one tone to another. Translating hymns into a tonal language presents particular problems. An attempt was made in four-tone Mazateco to translate a Spanish hymn, “ Come to the Lord, Ó Sinner,” but the tone made the singers plead instead, “Gome to the Lord, O fat person,” the difference between the words “sinner” and “fat person” being only a matter of tone in that particular language. Many other brain
Camp Wycliffe Prepares Translators Year by year for six summers, the attend ance of prospective missionaries has increased at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Camp Wycliffe, Sulphur Springs, Ark. This summer the enrollment has reached fifty-five, includ ing a number of returned missionaries from Africa, South America, Central America, and 'Mexico, Mrs. Lathrop, writer of the article on these pages, has been working with her husband. Maxwell D. Lathrop, In investigating the language of the Tarascan Indians of the state of Michoacan in southern Mexico. W. Cameron Townsend, Director of the Institute of Linguistics, formerly served, with Mrs. Townsend, in Guatemala, C. A., where they reduced the Cakchihuel Indian language to writing and published a translation of the New Testament. Eugene A. Nida, formerly Professor of New Testament Greek at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, is serving as Director of Camp Wycliffe, where the linguistic students hold their sessions. Correspondence concerning the work may be addressed to Professor Nida at Camp Wycliffe, Sulphur Springs, Ark., during the summer months. After September 10, it should be sent to Mr. W. C. Townsend at Box 2975, Mexico City, D. F., Mexico. tives, accusatives, and locatives in Latin. But Indian tongues could give them far more of a workout fdr their minds, for in some of them you may take off the case endings from two or three words and pile them up on the word at the end of the sentence, so that you will have a possessive and an accusative on the same word, and add a locative to the combination for good measure. Errors Intentional and Accidental The young translators in Mexico must leam to speak the languages idiomat ically, for the Word of God must be correctly rendered, in such a way that the people will feel that it belongs to them, and not that it is some foreign thing. The possible mistakes are legion, especially in languages where one letter or two in very long words may com pletely change the meaning. There is the famous example quoted by Dr; North in The Book of a Thousand Tongues, of the translator - who found he had rendered, “Nation shall rise against na tion,” by “a pair of snowshoes shall rise up against a pair of snowshoes," the difference being just one letter in a seventeen-letter word. In one Indian tribe in Mexico, the difference between “life” and “perdition” consists in permit ting the breath to escape through the lips before a “p” in the middle o f the word! Among some of the mistakes found in time to correct them were the fol lowing humorous ones. The informant who helped in the translation of the [Continued an Page 315]'
puzzles f a c e this band of language students. There are sounds in primitive I n d i a n languages which A m e r i c a n ears com p 1e t e 1y miss. There are p’s and t’s a n d k’s which are spoken with a little less or a little more breath passing through the lips. T h e r e a r e sounds which are “glottalized” ; t h a t is, the throat is sud denly opened, pro ducing a s o u n d which is somewhat guttural. There are nasalized vowels, r’s that sound like l’s, s’s that turn back u p o n themselves, vowels that stretch out to double length. There are ques tions of grammar to be solved. Boys and girls in high school struggle over geni-
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Will Afghanistan Be Evangelized?
Seven Million Souls Behind Fast-Barred Doors of Fanaticism Perish Without the Gospel. How Are They To Be Reached?
M a r j o r ie a i n s w o r t h * breathed deeply of the bracing air. As the train climbed the steep gradients ^toward the frontier of Afghanistan she looked out over the cardboard brown hills that were closing in around them and her excitement mounted. It was true—not a dream af ter all—but a fact, that she was soon to be in Peshawar. Suddenly, there was a break in the hills and the train crept slowly over the narrow, lofty bridge across the In dus River. Marjorie gazed far down to the swift sullen stream and was glad there was now a bridge! “What a grand sight to have seen Alexander the Great and his army cross ing that flood by ferry!” she thought. The train pulled on through a tunnel and entered a country vastly different from the one just traversed. The bare brown hills had receded, forming a *The "Marjorie'Ainsworth” of this article was graduated from\the Bible lnslitute of Los Angeles in the class of ’21 and has been an honored missionary in India for a number of years, fo r personal reasons she prefers that her actual ñamé be withheld. Oply a few missionaries working, under va ries auspices have been able to minister to the needy in - habitants of Afghanistan ; the land as a whole still wutts the penetration of the gospel.
visiting mission stations situated in stra tegic centers at the mouths of the im portant passes which lead into closed Afghanistan—the nearest approach mis sionaries can make to that land in order to do Christian work. “You will show me Your will, Lord, I know,” she breathed upward, as the train pulled into the station. She was to remember that brief prayer, later. It was as though the Lord had taken it as a challenge and had accepted it! Into her short visit in Peshawar and the surrounding terri tory there was crowded a panorama of a tremendous need and opportunity of which she had never dreamed. . . . The peaks of Tartars gleam grey- green in the early morning light to the visitor who motors the ten miles from Peshawar to- Jamrud, grim fortress be tween India and Afghanistan. There a narrow sword-cut in the hill^ gives entry to the far-famed Khyber Pass that was once the main entrance to In dia and over which caravan loads of fruit, carpets, and silks came into In dia. But now a well-kept motor road winds up to the summit and then down again on the far side of the mountains of Solomon. There is a certain thrill in finding
fringe around a wide, well-watered plain, where stands Peshawar, the rendezvous for Indian, Tatar, Afghan, Armenian, Persian, and Asiatic Jew; and trading center of the Pathans of the Frontier Province and of the tribal hills. The names were magic to her ears. Her interest in Afghanistan first had been stirred one summer at Landour, Mussoorie, in northern India. There she had listened long and thoughtfully to a British army captain and his wife tell of their experiences on the North west Frontier. She had been alternately thrilled by the excitement of adventure and repelled by the stark cruelty of the people, but beyond it all she had glimpsed the tremendous need for gos pel work. From that first summer of language study in Landour, she had returned to her station in another part of India. But the burden the Lord had given her refused to lift. All through the years the thought persisted: "The need here is great, but Afghanistan and the tribes lands are still unevangelized. Seven million souls are waiting there, without the gospel.” And now she was here, on the North west Frontier, in the spring of 1930,
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August, 1841
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oneself in a place so filled, with the romance of history as is the Khyber Pass. But this thrill was overhadowed for Marjorie by the knowledge that on either side of the Pass and beyond the border, the messenger of Christ was excluded. From Landi Kotal, the last British fort, she stood and gazed over into Afghanistan, following the ribbons of motor and camel roads down through the pass, by the toll gate and away in the direction of Kabul. In the far dis tance disappearing in the haze a snow- clad range indicated thé border of A f ghanistan and Russia. And in all that country, arid beyond in valleys where she could not see, there was not one bit of Christian witness, except as an Afghan traveler had accepted a portion of Scripture or a tract and'carried it with him. Afghanistan, a land-locked independent country, has had no gospel witness since the Nestorian Christians established a bishopric in Samarkand during the sixth century and sent mis sionaries to preach in India and Arabia. Beyond the much-photographed sign that bars entrance to Afghanistan with out proper visas, missionaries may not go except as travelers. Merchants were now welcomed, but not the messenger o f Jesus Christ. Since the days of Ti mur the Great, Afghanistan, has been a Mohammedan country. One hundred per cent of the tribesmen follow Moham med with fanatical zeal, and Christians .are hated infidels. . . . Travelers going either into India or Afghanistan- through the Khyber Pass traverse the streets of the walled city of Peshawar. This city is one of great antiquity.. Here, a few mission aries seek to contact the traveler with the Word of God—that it may go where they cannot, behind the barred doors of Afghanistan. From the Kabuli Gate, the main street, “The Place of Gossip,” stretches out broad and straight through the city. The first time Marjorie walked there she was the center of all eyes. The street was thronged with people, but there were few women. Only occasion ally did one hurry by, draped from head to foot in a white burkha which hid her completely from the public gaze. Marjorie wondered at the woman be hind the veil as one passed near her. Was she content in her seclusion and ignorance? Did she ever rebel against
it? Into Marjorie’s heart crept a hunger that was never to be entirely dulled; a hunger to win these Moslem women for Christ. And what of the throng-on the street? There sat a money changer in his car peted booth with, the coins of the world heaped about hirii. A little farther on she saw the place where the beggars crouched in their tattered .garments. A scholar, prodd of his long beard, sat, on the ground and with a horn for an inkpot wrote in slow, deliberate strokes that curved about the page. From the Street of the Story-Tellers there sounded the eager voices of the orators to whom the pleasure of oratory is second only to that of love and war. Several Mongolians passed on their sturdy, ambling ponies. There in front of a tea shop strolled a couple of Jews, and on a verandah’ of a near-by shop sat a silk, merchant from West China. A prosperous-looking Hindu banker passed by in dignified aloofness and a bearded Afghan led a haughty, superior camel slowly along the street. “What an epitome of Frontier history Peshawar presents, its crowds compris ing the elements of every race!” Mar jorie murmured to herself. “And few, if any, of them know Christ, whom to know is life eternal!” From a high place. Marjorie looked over the “city of a thousand and one sins,” as Peshawar has been called. Across the city the big mosque with its lofty minarets caught her eye. There, she knew, the Mullah appeared five times each day to give the call to prayer in his far-reaching falsetto:
“God is great. There iS no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah. Come to prayer.” In imagina tion she could see every strict Moslem turning toward the Holy City of Mecca at that cry and •praying to Aliah— one-ninth of the world's population re peating its Arabic prayers. What an overwhelming challenge—these so near the truth and yet so far from it! All this she saw, but her chief in terest-was in the Pathans that had been pointed out to her. These had come from Afghanistan and the independent border • tribes. Was it not this territory that was closed to the gospel—the largest unevangelized field in the world ? Even the doors of Tibet were slowly swinging open on their rusty hinges, but Af ghanistan doors were still fast locked fo the messenger of the Lord. They were magnificent men, these men from the hills, with their fihe fig ures, the iriuscles cording under their shirts, their wind-burned eyes steady. A group of them passed her as she walked back-through the city. With" their high turbans and long sheepskin coats they strode along as though the whole world belonged to them. They spoke in the harsh guttural Pushtu :tongue which Marjorie did not under stand. Bom fighters, to whom war is as natural as eating and drinking, they •were very much like their country, hard and cruel. They smiled now, upon the edge of laughter and their smiles flashed across the darkness of their faces, giv ing them a gay and friendly look. But she had heard stories in plenty of the [ Continued on Page 316]
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Answering the Missionary's Critic By SAMUEL FISK* Los Angeles, California
D ARKNESS settled down u p o n the Java sea w i t h seeming abruptness. A murmur of dis tant thunder heralded one of those tropical storms which bring for a brief time a torrential rain and then disappear almost as quickly as they come. We lingered over our coffee cups after dinner that night longer than usual. Outside we could hear occa sionally a splash of spray from one of the wind-driven waves as it swept the lower deck. Theije was little attraction outside with all the ship darkened by the precautionary blackout. As though life were not already sufficiently cir cumscribed by being confined to a small freighter, our life was further limited by war-time regulation. Drapes hung heavily about the chandelier illuminat ing only the center of the table before us. The captain ordered drinks for the little group, and all but one partook. Tomorrow we would be passing the island of Borneo. The D y a k s, long considered the wild men of the fabled isle, were mentioned. 1 made the re mark that many of them were becoming Christians. “Yes, and what a pity!” exclaimed the globe-trotting retired school-teacher with almost startling assurance. “They are being forced to give up customs that they have retained for generations. It’s a shame to see their primitive arts dis appear. I once met an oil man who had been among them and had found them very interesting. They have a unique culture all their own, but the mission aries have to go and change everything.” Some one was heard trying, perhaps not too carefully, to hold back a muffled laugh. The wine-drinking crowd knew perfectly well that what was said was an indirect slap at the one missionary among them. The gruff old sea captain broke the * Missionary in the Philippines, serving under the Association of Baptists for World Evan gelism. Mr. Fisk is a former student of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles now home on furlough.
For the child of God, the one full and sufficient justification of foreign missions is the command of his risen Liord. That divine voice comes sounding down the years in clear and definite tones. The “Go ye” of the Great Com mission is as final as it is unmistakable. When our Lord stands with those nail- pierced hands beckoning us on to the regions beyond, we should need to give no further argument as vindication for obeying His command. To some we may at times be led to make a secondary ap peal endeavoring to dispel the false con cepts and distorted notions under which they and others may be laboring. From those who would disparage the world-wide preaching of Christ’s gospel, let us take up two or three representa tive objections and examine them. Are All Religions “ Good Enough” ? We frequently hear it said that since there is some good in all religions, why not allow every one to believe that which, so far, has proved good enough for him? In answer, we could give the testi mony of thousands from among those who have abandoned their native re ligions, and who, because of the in adequacy of those native religions, have embraced Christianity. These believers in the Lord Jesus Christ testify that while they were enslaved by their pagan beliefs they never knew the peace and hope which they now possess. But to make our testimony even more striking, let us note a few words of those who are still active adherents of their national cults, and let us see what they themselves a c k n o w l e d g e about those systems to which they still profess allegiance. We naturally would not expect to find individuals who would be so self-condemning as to admit that the systems which they follow give them no satisfaction. Yet their words prove the utter futility of any teaching that is substituted for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
brief but tense silence. “Well,” he de clared, “I’ve seen many a tribe in my day, and they have about as many re ligions as there are tribes. And as far as I can see, their religions are good enough for them.” “ Sure,” put in a care-free y o u n g seeker,of foreign adventurk. “Why in terfere with their religions?” “But,” I protested, “those who have abandoned their old religions to become Christians seem to think they are better off now, and they themselves appear very grateful for Christianity.” A businessman whose chief interest was evidently the development of his foreign markets spoke next. “I’ve got nothing against the missionaries,” said he, “but isn’t there still a lot to do at home? We ought to do things for our- own people first. I can’t see why the missionaries haven’t found enough to keep them busy within our own shores.” “Sure,” once m o r e interjected the young adventure-seeker w h o s e com ments showed little originality. “I guess charity begins at home.” The rain had now ceased, and the group broke up as some one brought word that the lights of a distant fish ing fleet could be made out. For my own part, I retired to my cabin. I had been taken a bit by sur prise, not so much because of the an tagonistic spirit of what had been said, but more because of the startling frank ness with which it came. Furthermore, I had been momentarily unprepared for it through long association with those whose viewpoint was more my own. Only a little reflection made clear the vagaries of their reasoning and its basic misconceptions as I analyzed it. Clearly I had no need to shrink back before their attacks. And yet t h e i r views were but natural to their expe rience. These fellow passengers of mine were not to be so much denounced as they were to be pitied. Their prejudice and callousness were only representa tive of the indifference of multitudes.
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