Mr. Griffis, Mr. Freed made a tour, preaching throughout Spain, visiting many Protestant churches and carefully evaluating the position of the Protestants throughout the country. Upon his return to Madrid he received word that Mr. Griffis was most anxious to see him. He questioned Paul Freed as to what he had been doing in Spain, saying that the word had come to him directly from Franco and the heads of the Spanish government about his activities in that country. The Baptist minister gave a straight-forward answer to the effect that he had been preaching a positive message, speaking against no one, but preaching the same message that he preached in America. Then Griffis told him that in reality the message that he had received from Franco was one of confidence in the work that Paul Freed had been doing and that Franco was well pleased with his activities. This confi dence from the Spanish government was priceless, giving him freedom to move about in the interest of the cause that he was championing. To further compli ment this young man, Mr. Griffis asked him to consider returning to Spain in some capacity connected with the Em bassy. “ Through this interview with Stanton Griffis he was able to come in contact with many top men in Washington. He was then asked by President Truman to come to Washington to confer with him about the matter of religious liberty in Spain. On December 21, 1951, at 12:30 P.M. . . . Mr. Freed stepped into the White House for a half-hour interview with the President of the United States. History without a doubt was being made for Spain! “ Paul Freed felt that he should return to Spain not in an official capacity but simply as an American Protestant lead er, who in the American way, was hop ing to champion the cause of religious liberty, speaking for all Americans who believe in the God-given right of reli gious freedom and expression. Also he felt he had a message, although com pletely unofficial, from the President of the United States to the heads of the Spanish government. “ During the last two months he has had continuous conferences with govern ment officials, Spanish Protestant lead ers, and the new American Ambassador. “ He was accompanied by Rev. B. I eighton Armstrong, pastor of the Cen tral Presbyterian Church of Paterson, New Jersey. “ Lincoln MacVeagh, the new Ambas sador to Spain, arrived in Madrid the last week in March. His first official ap pointment in Spain was with the enter prising young American—Paul Freed. The Ambassador was very sympathetic and he made the statement that he was positive that Mr. Freed, in the capacity in which he was working, could do more for the cause of religious freedom in Spain than he himself would be able to do. “ The Protestant leaders of Spain are waiting and watching development!.
states, ‘The Spanish government made three definite promises. NcfW the first promise was this: (1) They would go down through the list of 31 closed churches that I submitted and open all the churches that they possibly could. The ones that they could not open they would give me the exact reason. Later they indicated they would open two-thirds of them and the other third they would work on. (2) The Spanish government promised they would definitely work towards obtaining more religious liberty for Protestants. (3) They further prom ised that wherever it could be shown that there was a group of Protestants, they would give them permission to open a church.’ “ Last year Protestants in Spain hailed the improved relations between Spain and the United States as a possible ground to hope that there would be more religious liberty in Spain. Then . . . two outstanding Roman Catholic priests were converted, Senor Albornoz, World Gen eral Secretary of the Marian’s congre gation, and Senor Padrosa, Director of the Loyola Institutes of Tarrasa and Barcelona, one of Spain’s greatest ora tors. It was likely these two conversions worried Cardinal Segura and caused him to lash out at Protestants as reported in Time maeazine on March 17th in which he said, ‘This benevolent attitude toward Protestants must cease.’ The very same week saw an attack on a Protestant church in the Cardinal’s city, Seville, in which the pastor was attacked, hymnals and Bibles destroyed, gasoline poured on the altar of the church and the inside of the church burned out. “ In the midst of all this God raised up an American by the name of Paul Freed, an ordained minister of the Southern Baptist Church. Having heard of exist ing conditions relative to Protestant work in Spain, he became interested and in 1948 he made his first trip to Spain, making an extensive survey and care fully observing conditions for the Protestant church there. “ In July, 1951, he had an audience with Stanton Griffis, then the American ambassador to Spain. This was a step in the direction of religious liberty for Protestants. After his interview with
Talbot Theological Seminary A STATEMENT of more than usual interest was made at the 1952 commencement exercises of the Bible In stitute of Los Angeles. Dean S. H. Suth erland, on behalf of the faculty and Board of Directors, announced the open ing of the Talbot Theological Seminary, offering a new three-year theological seminary course to those possessing a B.A. degree who desire sound dispensa- tional and premillennial instruction in the Scriptures. During Dr. Talbot’s ab sence in ministry in the north, the Board of Directors dec'ded that this new school should be named in honor of its Presi dent in recognition of his unt’ring la bors and sacrificial service on behalf of the school for so many years. Dr. Talbot reluctantly acquiesced with characteris tic modesty. The Bible Institute of Los Angeles now comprises four schools: Biola Bible College with a four-year course offering a B.A. in Bible, Christian Education and Music; the Bible Institute proper, with a two-year course in Bible and related subjects; the School of Missionary Medi cine, with a one-year graduate course for missionary candidates; and the new Talbot Theological Seminary. Report on Spain W E would like to quote in full a recent news release written in Spain by Kay Smith, Associate Editor of The Missionary Digest, which sets forth a very informative and significant view on Protestant affairs in Spain. “ The day that Paul Freed stepped out of the White House, he also stepped into the vary middle of one of the most criti cal problems of religious liberty in the world today—Spain! Since the date of that conference, December 21, 1951, with the President of the United States, on religious liberty in Spain, probably more constructive work has been done on the problem of religious liberty in Spain since the war. “ After four interviews with the Min ister of Interior of Spain, Paul Freed
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