municated and cast out of the church, but the Lord Jesus Christ had re ceived them and cleansed them from all sin. Smoking, drinking, swearing, and gambling all disappeared from their lives, and they are now a power ful testimony for Christ. One night I was invited by the chief of police to go high into the moun tains, and that night his two oldest sons accepted Christ. The next morn ing I left at 4 o’clock on a bus, and at 9 :30 the local priest, the mayor and the acting chief of police went over to the house where I had slept with the intention of setting fire to my bed. But they were too late! As a result of the conversion of the two young men in that town, there are nearly two hundred believers there. Invitations poured in from people who wanted to hear the Good News. The harvest surely is ripe, and the Holy Spirit is sweeping over that na tion as never before. Multitudes are anxiously seeking the Lord.
In the same region one day a young man found a tract on the highway entitled, “ The Way of Salvation.” He took it home, and that night with his brother and father he knelt down, and they were all saved. In that place there are now ninety Christians. Millions of New Testaments are needed in Italy, as well as Bibles and tracts. On trains and buses, people will listen attentively to a Christian and eagerly read evangelical liter ature. One day a teacher received the Lord and went to his home town with the blessed news. As a result of Ibis testimony one hundred people in that area have accepted Christ. Another time, a young lawyer at Calabria received Jesus Christ as Saviour. His law office became a prayer room. One Sunday morning a philosopher came running to ask how he could be saved. He, too, became a new creature in Christ. In the month of October, 1948, I was preaching in a church near Naples. There a young man received the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. He now is a conductor on the train in Sicily, and as he punches the tickets, he gives out Gospels to the passengers. It was that same night there in the church that I met Miss Eleanor Fair- child (Biola ’48), and from that time the Lord made us a team of soul win ners. Nearly three hundred in the Naples area are now enjoying ever lasting life through Christ Jesus be cause of our service in ministering to them the gospel which is “ the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Among these three hun dred is a young third-year medical student who accepted Jesus Christ with a friend a year ago in September. Nino has been deserted by his father, but he has led to Christ his mother and two brothers. In his mother’s let ter to me she wrote joyfully: “ I now have a new son, because I see in him not any longer a lost, degenerated boy.” One day as four of us Christian
workers were eating a lunch of bread, cheese, and salami, which I had pur chased with my last six hundred lire (eighty cents), a middle-aged man— an ex-officer in the Italian army— came in trying to sell chocolate in or der to buy some milk for his starving wife and baby. We shared our lunch with him, and the Lord right there multiplied the loaf. It was enough for fou r; the Lord made it plenty for five. A half hour later this man knelt down in our midst and received the Saviour. That very same night he gave his public testimony, closing with these words, “ Even though I am 51 years of age, by the grace of God, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I am only a seven-hour-eld baby, as I was born again this afternoon.” The next morning, the Lord sent to me, in a letter from America, fifteen dollars. How wonderful! He never fails. Miss Fairchild and I prayed and worked together in Naples day and night, co-operating with Youth for Christ there, as we could have use of the hall. Later Miss Fairchild was ap pointed secretary of the Italian Youth for Christ, until she became ill. After nearly three months of illness she be came much worse. We took her from Naples to Rome on April 20, 1950, praying that she might be able to fly to America, but our Heavenly Father called her Home four days after we arrived in Rome. Two thousand years ago Paul traveled by foot on the Ap- pian Way in this ancient city. This dear saint traveled on the ambulance, rejoicing and witnessing to doctors and nurses of the Lord Jesus Christ’s saving grace and power until she died. The Italian people suffered terribly through World War II. Today living conditions in many places are dread ful. The peasants do not earn more than three or four hundred lire a day: approximately sixty cents. The cost of living is very high, and there is a gen eral unrest. This explains why there are eleven million Communists in Italy, with mil lions more of sympathizers. These great masses do not want to become Marxists, but as no one else helps them they are easy prey and fall for their false promises. Spiritually speaking, they have no light at all. Much of the assistance sent from America has not—except in a very small measure—reached those who were actually starving. For instance, nobody knew about the famous “ Friendship Train,” and the tons and tons of clothing donated by the good Christians of America for the needy people of Italy has practically all gone into the black market. There is great (Continued on Page 17) T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Upper: Home town wel come to Pastor CriscI on the hills of Salerno.
Lower: Typical I tali an pea s ant family with oxen work ing in the fields.
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