Report on Formosa
A Prison Turned Into a Gospel Center
By Dick Hillis As Told to Dorothy C. Haskin T his September Red China start ed shelling Quemoy Island and the Nationalist Chinese Army under the leadership of General Chiang Kai-shek, retaliated by shell ing Amoy, on the coast of China. This flare of hostilities has focused world attention on Formosa. Christian mission work on Formo sa began about 1870. But prior to World War II only two boards worked there. Since then the mission ary population has increased a thou sand per cent. Thirty seven mission groups are represented. In 1950, there were 30 Protestant missionaries, to day there are over 300. In 1953, 109 churches were built and in 1954, it is estimated that there is an average of two new churches each week. Orient Crusades, with which I am connected, was invited to Formosa in 1950 by Madame Chiang Kai-shek. World Gospel Crusade furnished Ells worth Culver and myself with half a million Gospels of John. (Later, an other million were given.) Teams were formed of an American Chris tian, a Mandarin-speaking Chinese and an Amoy-speaking Chinese. We went into the camps, preaching the gospel. Soldiers listened and believed. When pressure came from the Budd hists and Catholics, we were no longer permitted to enter the camps but opened the only service center for Chinese soldiers in Kaohnsiung. Next came studen t work. We reached 218 of the 230 high schools before they (for the same reason as the camps) were closed to the gospel. Then Dec. 1, 1952,. Campus Cross Roads, a service center for students, was opened a block and a half from the main gate of the National Taiwan University. Among those reached was Lilly Lin, who in nine months won 20 to Christ and kept track of them, seeing them established in churches. Soldiers and students were not enough. The teams started going into the villages. There are 6 thousand villages and in two years time we reached 1,700 villages with the gos pel. To build up the believers in the faith a Bible correspondence course, headed by Roy Robertson of the Navi gators, was offered. There are now 132,000 in this course. These people are hungry for the gospel. And they must be reached now. END.
B efore you read this, please read Acts 16:22-40. This incident as well as that described in the Acts took place in Greece. For a year now the Greek Government has been trying arbitrarily to seize from the Evangelical Community in Katerini, Mace donia, a park located between the Evangel ical Church and its Orphanage building. This park has been used by the Evangeli cals for over 30 years. The seizure was ordered by the central Government, which sent its officers to occupy it. Immediately Luther’s famed hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” filled the air from the tower of the Evangelical Church. That was the signal for all the women to assemble in the park, where they challenged the police to kill them if they wanted to take over the church property. There was not much the police could do but go away. How ever, they issued summonses against six of the women as disturbing public order. Finally these women were arraigned be fore a criminal court and sentenced to ten days imprisonment. They could have gone free by paying a fine if they wanted to, but they unanimously decided to go to prison for the sake of Jesus Christ. Each one carried a Bible and a hymnbook with her, much to the surprise of the guards. These were indeed strange prisoners! How ever, they were not permitted to bring the books in. The women then turned to the guards and said, “Don’t worry, we know whole chapters of the Bible by heart, and many hymns. You can take our books away, but you cannot sew up our lips.” In prison they continually sang praises to God. That prison was turned into a Gospel Center. A woman who had at tempted to commit suicide heard the Gos pel and the claim of Christ on the life she had tried to do away with. Greek Orthodox restaurant owners sent them ex cellent meals as a token of sympathy. The very guards who would not permit the Bibles to be brought in now want to read the Word of God! Everybody wants to find out about the Christ for whom these women considered it a joy to be impris oned. One hundred Bibles are needed for those whose lives were influenced by the wonderful testimony of these women. What a great joy American Christians can experience by helping to complete the testimony of these gallant sisters in the Lord by providing these Bibles at $2 each, through the American Mission to Greeks, Inc., P.O. Box 423, Dept. K, New York 36, N.Y., Rev. Spiros Zodhiates, Gen. Secretary (in Canada, 90 Duplex Ave., Toronto 7, Ont.). There are many such suffering, persecuted Greek believers whom we must stand by. One of the needs of our Evangelical Orphanage is for blan kets, at a cost of $5 each. It is heart breaking for the house parents of the Orphanage to hear the little ones cry, “I’m cold,” as they try to sleep at night. You may have one of these children as your very own to pray for and care for if you wish. When you write us, we can give you all the information required.
Department of Missions V % P American Sunday-School Union 1816 Chestnut St., Philadelphia 3, Pa. "THE PIONEER SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZATION OF THE U.S.A."
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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