JcrtncSa: Opportunity and Opposition
By Dick Hillis*
how to be soul winners. Then they must win others to Christ! Results—28,840! “Well,” you say, “where is the op position? It seems to me there is no opposition!” Through recent proclama-
America. This team (from Taylor Uni versity) played before 250,000 people in the stifling heat of this island. Dur ing the half-times of the games, the team members would give their testi monies or preach. Approximately 10,000 responded to the invitation to accept Christ. In two years here on the island, 215 high schools out of 230 have opened their doors for evangelistic services. Off the coast of Taiwan lie twenty-four in habited islands called the Pescadores. Our evangelistic teams took boats and visited these islands, giving to the peo ple the message of salvation. People on eight of the twenty-four islands reached with the gospel had never seen a white man there, much less ever heard of Jesus. In one of the villages a fisherman asked, “When did Christianity begin? Is it a new religion?” We answered with shame
A S our plane flew in over the airport at Taipeh, Formosa, back in No- -*-vember 1950, we got our first glimpse of this land of opportunity. At that time there were about thirty missionaries trying to reach ten million people for Christ. Very little work had been done with the aboriginal tribes in the mountains; many of the churches were spiritually dead, and souls were starving for want of spiritual food. Today, November 1952, finds a much different situation. Through city-wide evangelistic campaigns we have been able to preach to thousands and to place in eager hands the Gospel of John that they themselves might study the plan of salvation. We felt that our first responsibility was to take the gospel to the armed forces of Free China. They were scat tered over the island and in numerous islands in the Formosan Straits. Some of these islands were within machine-gun range of the mainland. Some six hundred thousand in the armed forces have heard the message and received Gospels of John. Thousands have indicated their desire to know Christ as their Saviour and are now '.taking our Bible Study and Memory Course. Many of the men have become personal workers and are winning their fellow-soldiers to Christ. The Message of Life has been carried to all. When the time comes for this army to return to its homeland, it will be a “ righteous” army because they are equipped with the Word of God “which is sharper than a two-edged sword.”
Bible correspondence courses being sent to lfS,000 young people.
tions issued by the government, no more evangelistic meetings or preachings of any kind are allowed in the schools or in the army camps. The soldiers are ordered not to attend churches. The one and only language by which the mountain tribes people can be reached—Japanese—has been outlawed. Bible studies are no long er received by the soldiers through orders from the Political Department, and in certain cases missionaries have not been allowed to distribute tracts on trains. You will appreciate the fact that the Chinese Nationalist government is fight ing for its very life in the struggle against Communism and we feel defi nitely that every order from the govern ment is for security reasons. However, we also feel that the master-strategist, Satan, is fast closing the doors as far as evangelistic endeavors are concerned. This challenges us to pray more, have more faith and put our trust in Jesus Christ. From our viewpoint, it seems as though China is being given her last op portunity to turn to Christ and we must work while it is yet day, for the night cometh when no man can work. Christ came into the world to give us the gift of salvation and it is our responsibility and yours to see that needy souls are told of this gift, so rich and free. It cannot be done without intercession and investment. “ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). Page Nine
Ellsworth Culver, Deputy Director, and Doug Sparks, in charge of Follow-Up, plan the work.
that Christ died for him and for his sins almost two thousand years ago, but someone failed to bring the news until now. The beautiful mountains of Taiwan also cry out for the gospel. The tribes people, when won to Christ, are eager that their entire village hear the news that Christ died to save them. At present we have Harold Anderson (Biola ’32) working full-time holding Bible Confer ences in the mountains. Every one who makes a decision for Christ is immediately enrolled in our Bible Correspondence and M e m o r y Course which takes about nine months’ study. Here they are grounded in the precious Word of God and are placed in a twenty-week lecture course to learn
Some of the staff of 20 Christians pre paring Bible lessons.
There are many methods of evangelism but one unique way was by means of an all-Christian basketball team from *Biola ’32. D E C E M B E R , 1 9 5 2
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