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The peace of mind which comes from a regular income and provision for the future may add years to your life. Fig ures prove that owners o f annuities are longer lived than the average person.
As a holder o f an Annuity Agreement of the Amer ican Bible Society you receive a check at stated intervals, regardless of disturbing world conditions. Such checks have never failed, though they have been issued regu larly for more than 100 years. You enjoy protection in old age through a steady income. You enjoy also the permanent satisfaction of taking part in the essential work of making the Bible more widely available throughout the world. Let us send you “ A Gift That Lives,” a little booklet that explains the plan and how you may enjoy its twofold advantages— plus certain tax exemptions. American Bible Society, 450 Park Ave., New York 22, N. Y. □ Please send me, without obligation, your booklet KB-89, entitled “A Gift That Lives.” □ I enclose $......... .... for the world-wide distribution of the Scriptures. Name...... .......... ................... .........._................... .................................... ....
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Official Publication of The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated
Louis T. Talbot, D.D. Editor in Chief
Betty Bruechert Managing Editor
William W. Orr, D.D. Associate Editor
Copyright, 194-8, The K ing’s Business No part o f this magazine may be reproduced without permission. All R ights Reserved. MISSIONARY NUMBER Vol. 39 February, 1948 No. 2 CONTENTS Editorially Speaking ........................................................................................ 4 The Bible in the News, William W. O r r ................................................. 5 Things A re Happening in China! Ivan A llbu tt ...................................... 6 China's Call, Howard L. Phillips . . . .......................................................... 7 The Answer to A frica ’s Evangelization, Douglas P e r c y ....................... 8 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.................................................................. 9 The Australian Aborigines, E. J. T e lfe r ........... ...................................... 10 India, Land o f Religious Night, Carol T e r r y ........................................... 11 Junior K ing’s Business, Martha S. H ook er ............................................. 12 Palestine, Russia and Ezekiel 38, Louis T. Talbot .................................. 13 Biola Family Circle ........................................................................................... 14 Seventh-Day Adventism, E . B. Jones .......................................................... 15 Our Bible Institute in China....................................................................... 16 How I Was Led to the Bible Institute, 0 . E . Sanden ........................... 20 Young People’s Topics, Walter L. W ilson ............................................... 21 Sunday School Lessons, Homer A . Kent, Allison A rrow ood ................ 26 Cover : Egypt, Gizeh. The Second Pyramid, Chephren, as seen from the gardens o f Mena House. The greatest o f the pyramids, Cheops, is closer, but out o f sight in the picture. Photograph by Philip Gendreau, N ew York. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION— “The King’s Business” is published monthly: $2.00, one year; $1.00, six months; 20 cents, single copy. Clubs of three 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. REMITTANCES— Payable in advance, should be made by bank draft, express, or post office money order payable to “The King’s Business.” Date of expiration will show plainly on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. ADVERTISING— For information, address the Advertising Manager, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 13, California. ' MANUSCRIPTS— “The King’s Business” cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts mailed to us for consideration. Entered as second-class matter November 7, 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, embodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L. and R., authorized October 1, 1918, and November 13, 1938. ADDRESS: The King’s Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 13, California.
CHRIST'S LAST WORDS ON EARTH « V E shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1 :8 ). HOLDING THE ROPES D OWN beneath the mighty ocean Divers plunge for treasures rare, But men hold the ropes above them So they breathe the upper air; Seeking pearls of richest value, Braver hearts have dared to go; But our hands must every moment Hold the ropes that reach below. S O amid the heathen darkness There are heroes, true and brave, Shrinking not from death or danger, Bearing all to help and save, But they cry, “ Oh, do not leave us ’Mid these dreadful depths to drown, Let us feel your prayers around us; Hold the ropes as we go down.” W HO can understand the darkness Of those realms o f sin and death? E’en the very air is tainted With the dragon’s scorching breath. But across the wildest billows, Love can reach to distant lands, Underneath the darkest surges Prayer can hold a brother’s hands. W AS it only for your brother Jesus spake His last commands? Is there naught for you to suffer For these lost and Christless lands? If you cannot go to save them, There are those whom you can send: And with loving hearts to help them, Hold the ropes while they descend. H OLD the ropes with hands more loyal; Pray with faith and hope more strong; Love that never fails upholds them Through their night of dark so long. Lay your treasure on the altar; Let us give our children, too; There’s a part for -—ery helper And the Lord has n-rei of you.
—Author Unknown
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F E B R U A R Y , I 9 4 8
Is This the T im e?
T HE press and radio are reporting the debate of the United Nations Or ganization over the proposed partition ing of Palestine. Those Christians who are taught in the Word of God are always greatly interested in any news items which con cern the return of the Jews to their homeland. According to the word of prophecy, we are led to believe that the Jews will return to Palestine and again will become a nation with its own rulers. This event is significant because in prophecy it heralds the near return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. For the last fifty years or more, the Jews scattered from one end of the earth to the other, have indicated a revival of nationalism. The Zionist movement came into being because of the impelling de sire in the hearts of God’s ancient peo ple for a homeland of their own. This effort was foretold in the Word of God and is always inseparably bound up with the Second Advent of God’s Son. The question before us is this: Will the partitioning o f Palestine and the emergence of the Jewish nation be the beginning of that train of events which will first culminate in the short reign of the Antichrist, and then in the personal, visible return of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Dr. W. B. Riley was a frequent visitor at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and the Church of the Open Door. Al ways when he stood up in the pulpit to preach, there would flow from his lips a powerful defense of the truth, an exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ and an utterly sincere appeal to men and women, boys and girls, to surrender their hearts and lives to the Saviour. There will be no dearth of memorials to Dr. Riley’s memory. There is the stirring and fearless literature which has come i from his pen. Thousands of God’s children have been established in the faith by reading his books. There are the schools which he has founded, a Bible training institute, a Bible college and a seminary. The First Baptist Church of Minneapolis is a testimony to nearly 50 years as a pastor. But the most imposing memorial to the memory of W. B. Riley are those young men and women, who are today scattered the world around living and preaching the glorious gospel o f the Lord Jesus Christ, whose lives were influenced by this great Christian’s life. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S A Spiritual Giant Departs S HORTLY before midnight on the evening of December 5, 1947, Dr. W. B. Riley turned on his sickbed and said to his wife, “ Goodbye, dear,” and departed to be with the Lord. Thus the Christian world became decidedly poorer through the loss of a great man of God, who has been on the firing line for Him more than threescore years.
THREE VITAL QUESTIONS CONCERNING MISSIONS— AN EDITORIAL W ELL over nineteen hundred years have passed since the death and resurrection of the Son of God. hearts, making them new and clean and different? Does the preaching o f Christ actually work? Is it, as it claims to be, the power of God unto salvation?
These centuries have witnessed the begin ning of the church, its phenomenal growth, its ebb and flow. It is safe to say, however, that never in all its his tory has the church been so potentially powerful to do the will of God as it is at this present hour. Yet, the truth of the matter is that the church is divided; leaders are occupied with unworthy en deavors, while the great call of Christ for world-wide missions goes unheeded. Here are three great questions which every church and every individual Chris tian ought to ask himself: Are Unbelievers Really Lost? I S it clear in your heart that the person who has not received the Lord Jesus Christ as His own individual Saviour is lost eternally? Are you convinced that those who have not opened the door of their beings to the gospel of Christ will spend eternity away from God, love, light, and Christian friends? This is a grave question and demands a serious answer. The Word of God is solemnly clear. “ There is none righteous, no, not one,” “ All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” “ The wages o f sin is death.” The entire Scripture insists that from the time o f Adam to the present moment, men and women, born in sin, are desperately in need of a Saviour. Pride, greed and selfishness are in men’s hearts, and as a result crime afflicts our earth. The Christian will never become vitally interested in missionary endeavor who is not wholly convinced in his heart that every last man, woman and child in the world who does not know Christ intimately is lost, without hope and without God. Will the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Save Them? T HIS is the second question to which Christians must reply. Is that blessed gospel which we have known and loved able to reach down into the degra dation of sin and lift fallen men and women out of its clutches? Will the story of the crucifixion and the resurrec tion of the Son of God change sinful Page Four
You will find that strong missionary- minded Christians are more convinced of this fact than of anything else in life. God’s Word demonstrates this over and over again. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, found new birth in be lieving the words of the Saviour. The sinful woman at the well drank deeply o f the Water of Life and became a new creature in Christ. Since apostolic times, literally thou sands upon thousands of brave men and brave women have left home and loved ones and, for love of Christ, have gone to the ends of the earth. In any gather ing of Christian people, there will be scores who will testify thankfully that this blessed story changed their lives. Yes, it is true, the gospel of the Lord Jesus is the answer to the world’s woe! What Are You, as a Christian, Going to Do About It? I T is possible for a Christian to be firmly convinced that men are lost and to be absolutely sure that the gospel will save, and yet be so lulled into leth argy that he fails to act upon this im perative need. We must understand that “ Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day o f salvation.” The challenge of this present hour is that Christians everywhere should arise and unite in sending this glorious news to the ends of the earth. To be sure, our great adversary will oppose and offer all sorts of excuses for not engaging in this effort. Then, again, we must not expect men and women who are outside of Christ and thus spiritually ignorant and unable to understand, to sympathize with what we are doing. We can, how ever, be sure of this one all-important fact that this is the will of God. and we may expect the power of God to rest upon our efforts. Let Christians everywhere pray and unite for action. Let unim portant differences be forgotten. May the world feel the impact of a great Twen tieth Century Crusade for Christ throughout the mission fields of the world!
Too Few
«J* There is no doubt but that Japan has been greatly blessed by the choice of Gen eral Douglas MacArthur as the American leader in that land. One o f the most sig nificant statements he made to the de feated Japanese was: “ You can’t have democracy without Christianity.” He has issued a call for 1,000 Christian workers to minister to the spiritual needs of that stricken land. Recent figures from Religious News Service show that the Catholic Church has responded by sending workers, but that Protestants are a very poor second. As a result, there are now in Japan 1,120 Catholic missionaries to 220 Protestant. A Record? j ! In a recent news item the 618 mem bers of the Second Baptist Church of Houston, Texas were reported to have given a total of $310,018 to their church last year, at which $85,346 was desig nated for missionary endeavor. The total annual giving for this church of aver age size amounts to approximately $500.00 for each member. Death at 103 •£ Recently a 103-year-old resident of a Southern California town died from burns received when she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette. No doubt such a news item could be used by the tobacco companies in their effort to prove that smoking promotes longevity. This is just another rather unusual case out of the thousands of injuries and deaths which are attributed to smoking. Successful Marriages Dr. Edwin Dahlberg, President o f the Northern Baptist Convention, recently told the 28th annual Southern California Baptist Youth Fellowship Convention that more successful marriages are started through church socials than in any other way. Dr. Dahlberg advised that young people find their companions in church life, recommending that in his opinion it was real insurance to the hap piness of marriage to select a boy or girl with well-established church-going habits. . 5% Non-Religious «St In a partial report of a recent relig ious census of Columbus, Ohio, only 5% of the 'residents had no religious affilia tion or preference, while 74% were either members of Protestant churches or ad mitted that to be their preference. The remaining 21% were Roman Catholic or Jewish. No inquiry was made as to the reg ularity of church attendance on the part of the 74% Protestants including the prayer meeting on Wednesday night! Wise Words «5* Most Christians who listened to the broadcast of the recent British royal wedding weré thrilled and blessed by the F E B R U A R Y , I 9 48
By WILLIAM W. ORR, D.D.
property on the outskirts of San José. It is hoped that this new station will be the means of reaching tens of thou sands in Central America with the story of the gospel of Christ. More Confirmation «St The Madras Mail of November 28, 1946, is responsible for the following item: ' “ Man’s skeleton found in 12-foot shark caught off Bombay. Bombay, November 26: A twelve-foot tiger shark, weighing 700 pounds, was dragged ashore last eve ning at the Sasson Docks. When the shark was cut open, a skeleton and a man’s clothes were found. It is thought that the victim may have been one of those lost at sea during the recent cy clone. The shark was caught by fisher men thirty miles from Bombay.” This brings to mind the long and bitter battle over the scriptural account of Jonah and the whale. Now the critics no longer reveal their ignorance by scoff ing at Jonah’s story, for this incident off the coast of India is but one of hun dreds on record revealing the capacity of sea monsters to swallow men. First Book «Jt Now traveling across the broad acres of our beloved land is the Freedom Train. This train houses for exhibition purposes many of the priceless documents which have to do with the founding of our country. This train will enter various cities where young and old will be in vited to view its priceless contents. Among the documents contained in the train is a copy o f the first book ever to be printed in America, dated 1640, pub lished by one Stephen Daye in Cam bridge, Mass., on a press given to him by friends in Holland. It is “ The Bay Psalm Book” which contains the entire book of Psalms arranged for singing. Only eleven copies of this book are known to exist, so its money value is very great, but not so great as the fact that the first book ever to roll off the printing presses of the United States of America was one wholly occupied with the words of Scrip ture. Page Five
wise and solemn counsel of Archbishop of York. Very clearly he spoke to the young couple telling them that in spite of their exalted royal position before God, their marriage vows were to be taken in the same truth and sincerity as those of anyone else. In addition, he admonished the happy couple: “ But this service is far more than the taking o f solemn vows. It is one of bless ing. For it is only through God’s help that you can keep the promise you have made. God’s blessing has been given you that you may so live together in this life that in the world to come you may have everlasting life. The ever-living Christ is here to bless you. And He will always be near to help and guide you. His perfect love will deepen your love. The nearer you keep to Him the nearer you will be to one another.” No Drink or Smoke Jt Years ago a 13-year-old boy in Kan sas wrote this letter to his aunt: “ Since I have been at this trade, I find that a great many printers chew and smoke and drink. I have been fig uring it up : if a man spent ten cents a day for whisky, that in ten years without interest would be $365, and for tobacco, if they spent only twenty cents a week, that would be $104 in ten years, and al together that would be enough to buy a secondhand press and type. I am now thirteen years old and I am going to save my money, instead of ' spending it for tobacco and drinks, and by the- time I am twenty-one, I will have enough to buy a good secondhand press. Yours truly, Art Capper.” Radio TIFC «S* A recent news bulletin from the office of the Latin American Mission in San José, Costa Rica, tells of the near com pletion of their new radio station TIFC. This new venture of faith is a memorial to the late Dr. Harry Strachan, founder, and for many years president, of the Mission. Broadcasting from this station will begin with the power of 1,000 watts on a frequency of 1,000 kilocycles. The site of the studio is a beautiful six-acre
else could I go?” Miss Kreick then told her that there was a place for her in heaven. Very sim ply she told the story of redeeming love and pressed home the truth that Jesus Christ had died to save her. “ This salva tion is for you,” Miss Kreick went on, “ if you will but believe on Him.” “ Believe?” the woman cried. “ Yes, I believe. No one had told me about Him before. I want Jesus to save me!” Some of our missionaries are giving full time to child evangelism, and while they are winning the little ones to Christ, they are also teaching older Christians how to do the same kind of work. It is a new thing for the Chinese to take active interest in the salvation o f children, but Mrs. Estella Kirkman tells of forming three child evangelism classes in Christian homes of Kunming, and Miss Hilda Riffel has captivated the interest o f churches in eastern China with her demonstration of visual aids in children’s work. Deep revival is going on in many of the educational centers of China. “ Stu dents are coming to Christ like the gathering of the clouds.” renorts Calvin Chao, General Secretary of the China Inter-Varsity Fellowship. About 6,000 out of China’s 120,000 college students are either converted or making earnest inquiry into the gospel. Several of our missionaries are giving full time to wit ness in China’s high schools and col leges, and others have assisted the Pocket Testament League in its timely presentation of annotated Gospels of John to hundreds of thousands of China’s soldiers. Modern methods are being used to proclaim the old-fashioned gospel to China’s ancient people. Some of our mis sionaries are using slide projectors with telling effect, and a few are equipped with public address systems and gospel recordings which amplify their voices
Y OU NAME IT ! What is your idea of effective missionary work? You will find just that kind of work going on in China today! Paul had a three-fold aim: to preach the gospel to those who had never heard it, to win souls and teach the converts, and to establish churches. Each of these three objectives is dependent on the other two, and the three together make a spear head o f advance into territory where Satan has long held sway. Preaching the Gospel to Those Who Have Never Heard Penetrating deep into the wilds of west China, Dr. A. J. Broomhall has just made an entrance into the long- forbidden country of the independent Nosu, traveling over land never before seen by a white man, much less by an ambassador o f Jesus Christ. This was no haphazard adventure. Years of prep aration and experience lay behind this pioneer exploit, and the barrage of prayer had so softened resistance that he was able to sum up the whole expedi tion by saying, “ The heart of Nosuland is wide open for occupation!” Tokens of God’s blessing on this advance were the conversion of Dr. Broomhall’s inter preter and of a famous and powerful Nosu chief. Alan Crane rejoices in firstfruits among the Wa tribe in his part of Yun nan province, where eight families in one village have turned to the Lord. These new Christians were immediately oppressed with heavy “ fines” for their
associating with the white man, but they have stood true to their Lord in the face of bitter- opposition. It took John B. Kuhn five months to criss-cross the hills of western Yunnan and make a survey of the tribespeople who live there. He listed one hundred different tribes. Only four of these tribes have been fairly well evangelized, while sixty or more o f them are wholly untouched. An unusual proportion of the China Inland Mission’s new workers were sent to the tribal fields in 1947. We are pressing on into new territory with steady, earnest evangelistic fervor. . Winning Souls and Teaching Converts Pioneer evangelism is not restricted to remote areas. Untouched fields are to be found in relatively accessible dis tricts—anywhere that souls are to be found who have not come under the sound of the gospel, and that means practically every part of China. Never have the people been so open to the gospel as now. Missionaries write from every province telling of hungry hearts —men and women, boys and girls, ready to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, if only some one will tell them of Him. For instance, this is what re cently happened in Yencheng, Honan: “ Where would you go if you should die?” Miss Katherine Kreick asked an old lady of eighty years. “ I’d go to hell,” the poor woman re plied with an air of finality. “Where
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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
CHINA'S CALL REV. HOWARD L PHILLIPS Of the China Missionary and Evangelistic Association
and multiply by hundreds the number of souls reached with the message of life. It is not the end of the battle when a soul accepts Christ. These new believ ers must be instructed in the Word, en couraged in their testimony, and warned against backsliding. We must remember that most of the converts have no Chris tian background and they need help at every turn. From Kangting, Sikang, up on the border of Tibet, Mrs. Pearl Kraft writes of a schoolgirl who came to her in tears. The girl had accepted the Lord a few months before, but sin had crept into her life. “ I have sinned,” she sobbed, “ what shall I do?” Mrs. Kraft pointed her to I John 1:9: “ I f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “ Is that for me?” the girl asked. When Mrs. Kraft assured her it was, she con fessed her sin, accepted the Lord’s blood- bought forgiveness, and went on her way rejoicing. 1 Rubbed Out j 2 A little lad was told by his 1 J mother not to play near a certain 1 j pond. One day, the temptation was j j too much and, venturing too close. ! t he fell into the water. Met at the j J door by his nurse, he was told that i j his mother was ill. This made him j J very conscious of his wrong-doing i i and most uncomfortable. So he j I wrote on his school slate: “ Dear \ Mother: I am sorry I have been | bad. If you forgive me, please rub j it out.” Back came the slate, per- | | fectly clean, with all the writing j I I erased! How like the love of God, ! who said: “ I have blotted out as a j thick cloud thy transgressions, and ! as a cloud thy sins: return unto j me, .for I have redeemed thee” j (Isa. 44:22). Establishing Churches This means more than organizing the believers into a group and leading them into self-support, self-government, and self-propagation. It means working with them until God raises up in their midst men who are capable of leadership. It means teaching the Christians to read the Word of God for themselves, for many o f them are illiterate. It means teaching them the basic facts of the gos pel. It means -encouraging the more likely ones to go on in their Bible study, with the prospect o f their becoming full time gospel workers. It means co-oper ating with sound theological seminaries and Bible schools operated by the Chi nese—the China Inland Mission has a part in no less than sixteen of these. All this is going on, and the place of the foreign missionary in world evange lism is more and more found to be in this phase of the work—though hand-in- hand with the ministry of teaching go pioneer evangelism and soul-winning. Things are happening in China! F E B R U A R Y , I 9 4 8
B UFFETED by both internal con flict and international criticism, China has reached a crisis time un paralleled in all her history. Everywhere observers are awake to the existing po litical and military conditions, but to a large extent the spiritual situation has been disregarded. In this indifference to the fundamental problem of sound per sonal or national life lies the greatest obstacle to successful reconstruction. China is a nation of tremendous in dustrial potentiality. Her resources of man power are unequaled, her mineral wealth inestimable, her initiative un tried. She is like a ship adrift upon the currents of the earth. There is no stabil izing force for the individual, consequent ly no stability for the community. China’s spiritual sterility, past, present, and prospective, may be described by the w o rd s , “ Confucius, Confusion, and Christ.” Confucius The famous name of Confucius not only refers to China’s great ethical lead er, but it symbolizes the complex relig ious life of China of the past. To say of a Chinaman, “ He is a Buddhist,” or a “ Taoist,” or a follower of any other historical religion of China is practical ly impossible, for the vast majority of the Chinese people have had a combina tion of religious beliefs. Almost all have believed in good and evil spirits. They worshiped the evil spirits to placate them; they said of the good spirits, “they won’t harm us anyway.” Ancestral reverence and worship have been so long inbred that the Chinese have been in clined to look favorably upon spiritual ism. Their idolatry has been virtually a polytheistic fetishism, integrated in the religio-social structure. All Chinese placed great value upon the teachings of Confucius; and, whether or. not they worshiped him, their reverence for his writings paralleled the Christian doc trine o f scriptural inspiration. Over such a spiritual house as this many raised the superstructure of Mohammedanism, Taoism, or Buddhism. The truth of this remark is attested over and over again in Chinese writings as well as in the lives of the people. In his autobiography, General Feng Yu- Hsiang, popularly known as “ China’s Christian warlord,” states: “ Father be lieved in Buddhism and in his later years he became more devout than ever . . . The whole family lived year in and year out in an atmosphere of many gods.” Confusion The havoc wrought by World War II shook the Confucianist edifice off its foundation. Multiplied millions of Chi nese have seen the inadequacy of their
gods in the face of mere human might. This whole structure was so bound up in material things that the bursting blasts of temple-striking bombs shattered the chains of superstition and false re ligious security. Despite their templed gods, whole vil lages were reduced to rubble. When the cemeteries, once bases for buzzing war planes, lay destroyed beneath the dirt- packed runways, the spirits of the ances tors could no longer be worshiped. Mil lions of Chinese forsook their ancestor- gods, and all they once revered, to trek westward before the invader, with the hope in their hearts that somewhere security could be achieved. The religious leaders acknowledge their bewilderment. In one place, Buddhist priests have re quested a missionary to come to their monastery to teach them the Bible. Ruin rules in religion, but, as ever, “ It is the tenor of the highest hearts to strive most upward when they are most burdened,” and, “ Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Christ It is in the spirit of optimism that the prospect for China is viewed as “ Christ,” and not, “ Communism.” Be assured the forces of the enemy of Christ are al ready at work amidst the chaos of the cults prepared to oppose God with every possible snare and delusion. Communism survived, and even thrived upon the war; this atheistic ideology sees neither need nor niche for God. Not “ religion,” but “ relation”—person al relation to Christ—will meet China’s need. Relief organizations and institu tional work will help these in the recon struction o f China, but without Christ nothing permanent will be accomplished. Wide doors o f opportunity are open. The people hear with hungering hearts, silenced lips and listening ears; mission aries are welcomed by the government; students at the universities—China’s fu ture leaders—are studying English in missionary-taught Bible classes. Some are already turning to Christ through these contacts. Only an immediate, aggressive gospel preaching program can fully help China in her desperate need. China is ready to lay a new foundation, but there can be no surety for a nation which fails to heed God’s warning. “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” China spiritually sound, will be China politically, educationally, socially, and militarily safe, sane, and secure. Across the Pacific comes China’s chal lenge to the church of Jesus Christ in America, “ Come over and help us.” What will our answer be? - Page Seven
^ Jlie s^ ln ó ive r to ^ 4 f r ic a ó é^ uan^ efizu tion
By Rev. Douglas Percy of the Sudan Interior Mission
A Moving Description of Native Missionary Effort
most encouraging work on the African scene of missionary en- deavor at the present day is the intense, wholehearted, concerted eifort of the native Christians to evangelize their fellow countrymen. More than ever be fore, men are being trained for God— the African to reach Africans— in an effort to furnish a sure spiritual founda tion for a people who are slowly waking from their centuries-long sleep, and who are stirring under the after-effects of the war and the impact of western civili zation. Within the framework of many missions there is a growing native mis sionary movement that indicates a re vived land, a movement reaching even into the wild, unsettled hinterland of a heretofore backward people. This new effort is calling for two things: conse crated missionaries from the homeland who will train the native Christians for this servicd, and consecrated Africans who will accept the challenge of the open door amongst their own people, and will give themselves to be trained for sacrificial service for God. A GREAT deal has already been said about the lack of foreign workers. One cannot over-emphasize the crying need for men and women who will give themselves to a foreign tongue and a strange people, to live under trying con ditions, to strive under God to train workmen that need not to be ashamed. However, too little is said of those black skinned but white-hearted people of the tropics who, after accepting Jesus Christ
as personal Saviour, give themselves in unstinting missionary service amongst their own kind. T HESE are men who have known sin in all its virulent forms; men who almost without exception have broken nine, if not ten, of the commandments of God; men, washed in the blood o f the Lamb, who now must face and con demn those evils in which they once in dulged. S OMETIMES we cannot comprehend paganism in its true light. Our own temperate thinking, controlled by years of the Christian concept of living and a general environment of decency, forbids our fully understanding from what depths these souls have been saved, and to what, in order to preach the gospel, they return. E VERY town, every village, yes, every home without a single exception, is a sink-hole of iniquity, a miasma of evil. Prostitution, even amongst children, is not a hush-hush phase of native life. It is to them the natural order o f things, to be practiced openly. Great drunken orgies are not occasional lapses, but an integral part of pagan life; juju and an cestral worship, the blinding, deadening force in their animism, to be reveled in alike by toddling children and doddering old men. Marriage, the home, family units, chastity: these are so foreign to their thinking and life that they cannot
understand the missionaries’ repugnance to their promiscuous, disease-producing relationships. One would shrink to relate the full tale of evil and sin which is the rule rather than the exception of all the native life. Christians and Christian homes are indeed lights that spring up in these habitations of cruelty. T O this, then, the Bible-trained na tives return, taking the story of love, sacrifice and purity, of sin, judg ment and death, of Jesus Christ and His gospel o f redeeming love. Into these muck heaps, into these dregs o f life, only those can freely go whose tongue and color are similar. For, Phoenix-like, they have risen from the ashes of such lives and can tell their fellows o f the new life in Christ. T HESE native evangelists are not al ways welcomed with outstretched hands. One had his house burned around his ears; he saved only his school note books and Hausa Bible, before the grass roof collapsed. Others have been driven from their towns by irate chiefs, who could not bear the purity o f the gospel, or who took umbrage at the preaching of personal sin. On the other hand, some have been begged to stay and offered homes and granaries full o f guinea corn, if they would only continue to teach and preach in their villages. H ERE is a gateway for rich, fruitful service. Past these Bible Training Schools, where the native Christians are prepared for the evangelizing and pas- toring of their own people, flows a cross- section of native life symbolic o f the people to whom the students are minis tering the Word o f Life. H ERE travels the proud Mohamme dan, his flowing robes swishing as he walks, scattering dust as they drag the ground, or spread around him on the withers o f his pawing, prancing horse. There goes the nomadic cattle Fulani, with his distinctive fine fea tures, light skin and long, braided hair, sauntering by with his arms hooked over the long herding stick yoked across his shoulders, or his counterpart, the Fulani Udawa, rich in sheep and goats, driving his bawling, baa-ing herd to noisy, native market. Leaf-aproned women, in the fresh bloom of woman hood or parchment-skinned old age, la boriously climb past and up the never- (Continued on Page 20) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
At left, Biliri Teachers’ Training School; at right, Bible Training School.
Page Eight
'ÍÁJycfi^e dSiLÍe ^JranóHatoró, ^9nc.
A NEW METHOD OF DISSEM INATING THE OLD GOSPEL
I N 1933, thie work o f the Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., came into being as a result o f the vision o f L. L. Legters and W. Cameron Townsend. An unde nominational, unsectarian enterprise, it was incorporated in 1942. It is dedicated to the sole purpose of translating the Bible into new languages, many of which have to be reduced to writing for the first time. There are over one thousand such languages in the world at the pres ent time so the task is most important. This organization endeavors to serve all missionary organizations and Bible so- cities, as well as providing for transla tors when requested. Closely interwoven with the work of the Wycliffe Bible Translators are the Summer Institutes of Linguistics at Caron, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Nor man, Oklahoma, where free training is given to accepted candidates on Protes tant mission boards, and to students who have nearly completed their training. This work, first known as “ Camp Wy- cliffe,1’ was founded in 1934, at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, on a small farm in the rustic Ozarks. It was thus named in honor o f the man who in 1382 gave Eng lish-speaking people their first Bible for which he was persecuted cruelly. It is open fo r two and a half months each summer when seminaries and Bible in stitutes are generally closed. During the first session, the men lived in an old farm house, slept on hard bunks, sat on nail kegs,'etc., and did their own cooking. Here over 1,000 missionaries have been trained for more than forty societies. It is the conviction of the Wycliffe
Bible Translators, based upon experience, that two and a half months spent at Camp Wycliffe prior to going to the field will save the pioneer missionary at least two and one-half years of trial and error struggling with an unwritten language. The courses are in “ descrip tive linguistics” which emphasize the un derlying principles of language analysis, thereby enabling the missionary to re duce an unwritten language to writing and to produce a translation more quick ly and accurately than with the usual methods. These institutes present the lin guistic problems o f the translators be fore universities and governments and furnish articles on the subject for scien tific journals. The Lord has raised up two most able linguists to teach these courses—Dr. Kenneth L. Pike and Dr. Eugene A. Nida. In 1946, 285 students attended these classes. Each year, new recruits have been added to the Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., until there are now nearly 162 Americans studying the languages of about 50 Indian tribes. No denomination backs them financially and it is against their policy to solicit funds, yet none of them has had to withdraw from the field for lack o f money. The government of Mexico has manifested its sincere appre ciation o f the beneficial and scientific services of these youthful translators by giving some financial assistance, but most of the support has come from friends here and there who have somehow heard o f the work and have contributed. To translate the Word, a new language must be learned and reduced to writing.
A South American Indian.
The translator makes his home with the tribe whose language he wishes to trans late, gains their confidence, and pro cures an informant. Then the words, phrases and pages o f texts are analyzed. The rough draft and revisions must be checked and re-checked; parallel pas sages having similar words in various chapters must be made to coincide; then all is typed carefully, submitted to the Bible Society, proofread four times, and printed. The Word of God in the native tongue is a necessary foundation to evan gelism and Christian growth, for it is the permanent testimony which bears fruit in Christian lives. As the Word is translated, the illiter ate must be taught to read. This is ac complished through Dr. Laubach’s meth od, which utilizes flannelgraphs, thus as sociating words with pictures. The real problem is to convince the uneducated that they really can learn to read. Another phase of the work is the pro vision of a Jungle Training Camp in the wilds of Chiapas, Southern Mexico, where recruits learn to exist and work in the jungle before they go to their respective tribes. There is much work to be done. Be sides translation work now going on amoiig 50 tribes in Mexico and Peru, there are 400 tribes in Africa, 150 in Latin America, 50 in the Philippines, 75 in Russian Asia, 50 in Southwest China, 125 in India, 100 in French Indo-China and Burma, 50 in various islands, and others in Central Asia, who need the Word of God in their languages. The work has only begun. There is an unlimited field, and millions o f souls in the darkness of heathenism are waiting for the Word of Life in their own tongue. Pray and give that our workers may complete the task ere “ the night cometh when no man can work.”
A courtyard where JVycliffe translators lived among the Tzotzils.
F E B R U A R Y , I 9 4 8
Page Nine
THE AUSTRALIAN
Nomads of fhe Lonely Heart By Rev. E. J. Telfer of the Australian Aborigines Evangelical Mission
cally, they have powers of accomplish ment and endurance that would stagger many an athlete o f the white race. Men tally, they are capable of intense con centration, and their rules relating to marriage and social life are worked out in great detail, and are enforced with stern severity. The workmanship o f their weapons is, in many instances, an outstanding achievement, and is evidence of scientific deduction as well as o f artistic embellishment. It is true, nevertheless, that many of the native customs are crude and de basing. Spiritually, the aborigines are deep in the darkness of heathenism. They are saturated with superstition, and dominated by witch doctors who delight to deceive and terrify them by pretense of healing, or by threat o f death or disaster. On the other hand, these primitive folk have many laudable qualities, and are capable of brave deeds of devotion, and of unswerving constancy in friendship. The boys and girls are particularly attractive, and are the most affectionate and lovable children on earth. This was strikingly demonstrated to me during my recent visit to the interior with American friends. We planned to visit their.campfires as the dusk faded into the semi-darkness of a . (Continued on Page 18)
number more than a thousand unevan gelized aborigines. Beyond these there may be other war-like tribes of which nothing is known, but rumors of their existence and probable location are con veyed by isolated nomads who occasion ally drift in to the outskirts of civiliza tion. These people live under Stone-Age conditions, gaining a precarious exist ence by persistent hunting for animals, birds, reptiles, and even insects; and by tireless effort in collecting edible roots, berries and grass seeds. The men of the various tribes are warriors and hunters of big game. Tall, muscular, and com pletely naked, they walk about with sev eral spears, held haft forward, in the left hand, while in the right hand is the ever ready womera, or spear-thrower. In a sudden emergency, whether in the hunt, or in tribal •warfare, the spear is swung around by a circular motion in front of the body, the haft fitted to the hook on the end of the womera, and the spear hurled at its mark with amazing velocity and accuracy. The whole thing seems to be done automatically in the fraction of a second. Human enemy or unsuspecting kangaroo would have little chance of escape. The men concentrate their hunting en ergy on the larger game, such as kan garoo, euro, wallaby, dingo, emu or tur key; or it may be the large python of the rocks and sand-hills, or perhaps Australia’s giant lizard, known as the goanna. The native women, entirely primitive, are the burden bearers, carry ing cooking utensils and other require ments. When the nomad family is on the march, the woman usually walks some distance behind her husband. Balanced on her head, without hand support, is the coolamon, a shallow wooden vessel, filled with water. In her left hand she carries her implements, and her dilly bag for seeds, fruits, berries, witchity grubs, and other articles of food; and held astride her right hip is the young est child o f the family. She walks along cheerfully, with erect carriage, and takes her load as 'a matter of course,' while her husband strides ahead with spear and womera. The Australian aborigine is placed by anthropologists in a special group, in many ways unique. He is not European, or Mongoloid, or Negroid, but is worthy of a separate classification, now known as the Australoid. The aborigines are by no means the lowest race of human beings. This fallacy of their supposed inferiority has been disproved. Physi
An Australian aboriginal warrior with his womera.
f - r ^ H E MOST ISOLATED area in Australia is that broad expanse of -A. territory lying to the north and northwest of thé great central reserve for aborigines. Few white men have penetrated this region; some who have ventured therein have never returned. This great stretch of country is thought to be a waterless waste of desert, with countless miles of sandhills, spinifex, and mulga scrub, and here and there a barren mountain of limestone, granite, or red ironstone rock. This is probably a true, though inadequate, description of that lonely, unexplored heart of the continent. Geographically, the location is approximately one thousand miles north east from Perth, five to six hundred miles west from Alice Springs, and is mainly in West Australian territory. In this survey we are not primarily interested in the geography or geology of the area, but we are deeply concerned with the knowledge that in this remote region there are many tribes of wild nomadic natives without any enlighten ment o f mind or heart concerning Christ and His great message of redeeming love. A conservative estimate would Page Ten
Australian aboriginal woman.
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
By CAROL TERRY Of the Ramabai Mukti Mission of India
W EARY pilgrims tumbling out of jammed cattle cars; dusty pil grims walking barefooted along the roads; tired pilgrims jostling along in bullock tongas; desperate pilgrims prostrating themselves on the ground every few feet from their homes to the holy city; singing pilgrims carrying flags signifying vows; seeking pilgrims hungering, thirsting for an answer to their prayers. From every direction they come and in every way they come to Pandharapur, with hope and expectancy shining in their faces. A t the sight of the holy city, they prostrate themselves on the ground. It is a privilege just to have its dust on the body. With joy they bathe in and drink the filthy water of the river. Be cause the river is supposed to be the stream of perspiration from a god who fought to save them, they are taught that its waters cleanse from sin. The savings of many years are thrown into that river, while coconuts and flowers are purchased and offered to its holy waters. Those who have Saved their earnings for a lifetime are able to pur chase a white cow to give to the Brah man priests. Such is the goal of many, for they are taught that when they die and must cross the river of death, that cow will come, and, letting them hold its tail, will take them across the dreaded river. Those who cannot afford to buy such a cow may pay for the privilege of worshiping one provided by the priests. At the riverside there is the pilgrim beating himself, and with each stroke calling the name of a god. His chest is black from the beatings and his heart is desperate in its effort to make the gods hear. There are the hordes of beg gars, to whom the pilgrims give lavishly that they might gain merit with the gods; there are the highly-painted devil dancers, whose very movements are of another world, and whose eyes reveal those possessed. There are the evil Sad- hus, who are the leaders of the people, and yet whose wicked faces haunt those who know the truth. There is the woman paying a Brahman that she might kiss his feet, while another woman is pros trating herself for miles along the road leading to the temple in an effort to make the gods hear her prayers. The intense earnestness of her face as she gives her all that her prayers might be answered wrings the hearts of those who know the disappointment that awaits her. What ever her petition to the gods may be, she is desperately, deadly in earnest, and the milling crowd makes a path through F E B R U A R Y , 1 94 8
its midst for her to continue her pros trations. As the pilgrims enter the temple, many lick the mud at the entrance that has been tramped upon by thousands of filthy, diseased feet finding their way to
are those who drain from the pilgrim all that he has. For several days the pilgrims live in feverish excitement and utter devotion to the gods. Their emotions stirred to unprecedented heights by the devil dan cers, nothing is too much for them to give, no self-affliction too great a sacri fice. As they leave by train, by tonga, by foot, all their money is gone; the spring has left their step; .their shoulders droop, the excitement has passed, and the light of hope and expectancy has left their faces. They have done all the gods re quire; they have given until there is nothing left to give; they have afflicted themselves nigh unto death, and all that remains is a feeling o f unrest, emptiness, and hopelessness. Some will not come back the next year, for they have seen through the sham and pretense o f the priests. They have recognized the holy city to be naught else but a market for priests to peddle their wickedness and bleed the people o f their money, and they start despondently homeward without a god and without hope. And by the wayside stand the Mukti Bible women calling out to them the news of a living God, who is saying unto them, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat . . . Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa. 55:1-3). The missionaries came-back from the visit to Pandharapur with a burden that crushed the heart. For days afterward the heavy oppression of the city’s evil and darkness caused severe headaches and troubled sleep. The faces of the wicked Sadhus and the desperation on the faces of those afflicting themselves came before our eyes whenever they were closed for prayer or for sleep. The in fluence of the powers of darkness con tinued to hang like a pall over those who had had eyes to see and hearts to under stand. How good and clean and pure Mukti seemed upon arrival home! But an inescapable burden remains—the burden o f thousands of pilgrims seeking, seek ing, seeking answers to their prayers, only to be deceived and robbed by those who know not the meaning of mercy and truth; a burden that wrings from the heart a cry unto God that there may be those who will go and tell them of a God who can save, and that there may be those who will care enough to be ear nest intercessors in prayer for the mis sionaries who cannot battle the powers o f darkness in their own strength. Page Eleven
Miss Carol Terry In November, 1941, Miss Terry started for India, landing in Manila on Dec. 7, and with hun dreds of other missionaries, literally walking into the arms of the Japanese! Interned for three and one-half years, suffering unspeakable deprivation, Miss Terry had her final “baptism of fire” for her missionary service. After her release in May, 1944, she was obliged to remain home for some time to regain her health, but in 1946 she realized the desire of her heart to begin her labors in her adopted land of India. Her experiences in Manila are described in an interesting booklet entitled, Kept. the shrine of the gods. A bell is rung to inform the god that pilgrims have come. Dressed in silks and costly jewels, the god Vithoba, with eyes that cannot see and with ears that cannot hear, stands ready to be worshiped, as pilgrims pros trate themselves before him and leave all their living at his feet. The pilgrims pay and pay and pay. For the privilege of entering the city a fee must be paid. Money must be of fered to the river, which money goes to the priests. The coconuts purchased and offered to its holy waters are re gathered and sold again to other pil grims. To each priest two rupees must be paid; to the gods offerings must be made, and to leave the holy city, one must pay again. On every hand there
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