King's Business - 1920-02

THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

169

God through the ignorance that is in them because of. the SPANISH blindness of their heart.” WORK What better description could be given of those among whom we are called to labor than that which Paul gives in Ephesians 4:17, 18 above quoted? How many times, dealing with Mexicans personally, we have asked them if they know Jesus as their personal Saviour or if they have received liim as their Saviour from sin and they are non-plussed. Why? “ Hav­ ing the understanding darkened.” That is why we !need to have patience and give the Gospel to them “ line upon line and precept on precept.” They feel no need of troubling themselves concerning their souTs salvation. Have they not the Church and priest who will pray them out of purgatory eventually? Why •should they have a care? They are taught that they will be saved at last so long as they g6 to mass and confess their sins and give the priest money. As we question them concerning their eternal welfare and their responsibility as to accepting or rejecting the Saviour there is awakened within them a new world of thought and consequently we have to begin with the A, B, C of the Gospel: “ All have sinned!” “ Believe on,the Lord Jesus Christ” ; and “ con­ fess with the mouth.” They need to awake from their sleep and arise from the dead and Christ will give them light. With this terrible condition in which we find the Mexicans, one would despair of any results but, praise God, He who has all power in heaven and on earth and who has commissioned us to “ go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” says, “ Lo, I am with you alway” and ha,s also given us the Holy Spirit sent down from above “ to convict of sin, of righteousness and of judgment and placed in our hands a weapon which is nothing less than “ the Sword of the Spirit,” the Word of God, which is “ quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Master also has said, “ My words, they are spirit and they are life,” which is also able to quicken those that hear and believe. We have had the blessed privilege of seeing many become quickened and enter upon a new jife through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a problem sometimes, just how to get the

men together for a preaching service, as the evenings are cold and dark now! Having no tent or room where we could gather, a happy thought came to us as we saw a woman place a boiler on a fire in one of the camps. We said to the men, “ Let us gather around this fire and have a camp-fire meeting,” and very soon fifteen men got some boxes and boards and sat around the fire and thus we had our congregation about us and with the help of a couple of stu­ dents we sang some hymns and then ' gave a message, not only to those who sat around the fire, but also to the women, some with babies in their arms, whom we saw sitting in the doorways taking in the message. Thus a problem was solved, and then with this experience we solved the prob­ lem of how to reach the children in an­ other Camp. But another problem con­ fronted us and that was how to get the children to learn some hymns and Scrip­ ture verses. We made an effort to have them sing but, not one responded so we told them if they would sing we would bring them something they would like. Then it was easy, and every one helped- as we taught them “ Jesus Loves Me.” The next week we made a couple of dozen of popcorn balls and took them to the camp. When the children came out to meet us we gathered some wood and built a fire and very soon had thirty children sitting around the fire. We sang some hymns and taught them Scripture texts after which we distri­ buted the popcorn balls, to their great joy. One little girl said, “ I wish you would come every day.” None of us ca,n tell the influence these little ones will have in the homes. God be praised that we had the privilege of sowing the seed in their little hearts. It has been a source of great joy, on visiting some of the converts, to hear their testimonies, as to how Jesus satis­ fies the hungry heart. One young man before his conversion was a picture-show fiend, but now he testifies how God has taken every desire for it from him. While relating this incident to a couple of converts at another place, they also Confessed or testified that they did not frequent the picture shows. Praise God that He can and does satisfy the human heart. In several of the camps we have been told of the visit of the priest, but as soon as he meets a believer or convert, they are not at all backward or fearful

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