365
October, 1945
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God’s Intervention and My Surrender God had His plan for rr..\ and the farther away from Him I thought I was getting, the nearer I began to feel that He was to me. Just at this time He began to make known to me what were His plans for my life. A man Of God, minister of the Church of England, upon learning of my spiritual situation, became interested in me. He invited me to discuss with him my reasons for taking the step I had. At the same time he attempted to make me see that I was in the wrong, not just be cause I had left the Church of Rome, but because I thought that by doing so I had put God out of my life. In our conversations, he allowed me to speak as much as I wanted to and to explain my position, but invariably he concluded with an expression of his Christian point of view, saying: “There is one thing you do not know, there is one thing you lack, and that is Christ in your heart.” I had adopted toward this friend the superior attitude that a Roman Catholic priest, after completing his full theological training, manifests toward any Protestant minister. At the same time I could not but admire the sincerity and earnestness of the man. I was obliged to admit that I had never heard before the 'exposition of justification for every sinner by simple. faith in Jesus Christ, that he repeatedly made to me. The last time he invited me to visit him, he had everything ready for a final and decisive attempt to win me for the Lord. From his house, he took me to a room in which a few per sons were waiting to commence a prayer meeting. After he introduced me to them, I was astounded to see them get down on their knees. The whole thing was absolutely new and unexpected to me. One after another prayed for me personally, for they all knew my story from begin ning to end. The good pastor had informed them that I had to be won for Christ, and here' they were praying for me in my very presence with all their hearts. I cannot say that I was converted to the Lord then, But I was deeply moved. That was the turning point from my un belief to Christ as a living reality. The following Sunday, I went for the first time in my life to a Protestant church, and the preacher, another real man of God, took for his text, John 3:7: “Ye must be born again.” So similar to Nicodemus’ experience was mine, that as he explained the meaning of Christ’s words to Nicodemus, I thought that surely he knew my story too and was referring to me in what he said! I was deeply troubled. My mind and spirit were all upset. I began to think that I must do something about the mes sage I had heard. Some days later, in my own home, when my heart was very heavy, I said prayerfully: “If it is true that Christ saves and brings peace, I want Him to come and give it to me." And He did! From that moment, the doubts that, had troubled me, and all the spiritual darkness, vanished, and the peace and tran quillity, hitherto unknown to me, came into my heart. Working for Him I do not know how the Evangelical Mission of South America, which carries on a work in various South Amer ican republics, learned what had happened to me, and that I was disposed to go to work for Christ amongst Spanish speaking peoples. But when they asked me to go to Peru to proclaim the Gospel, I accepted gladly. To do this work, however, I needed the solid grounding in the Word of God that I was lacking, so I was sent to the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, Scotland, where I spent the happiest months of my life in the company of and under the direction of the saintly Dr. David McIntyre, whose godly influence remains still fresh in my heart. My first sphere of labor for the Lord was Lima, Peru, where I was engaged for twelve years in the publication
A Living Bright Reality
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Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me A living, bright reality, More present to faith’s vision keen Than any outward object seen, More dear, more intimately nigh,
Than e’en the sweetest earthly tie.
Nearer and nearer still to me
Thou living, loving Saviour be,
Brighter the vision of Thy face,
More glorious still Thy words of grace;
Till life shall be transformed to love, A Heaven below, a Heaven above. —A. B. Simpson.
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and circulation of Spanish Gospel literature in Spanish America. During my stay there, I was sent by the British and Foreign Bible Society on an evangelistic trip through out the republics of Colombia and Ecuador. Whilst making this trip, I came to Quito, Ecuador, where the Pioneer Missionary Broadcaster, “The V o i c e of the Andes,” had started the preaching of the Gospel by radio to the Spanish speaking countries. I must confess that I had not much faith in the effectiveness .of such radio preaching, but when Mr. Clarence W. Jones, founder of the station, invited me to give some Gospel messages, and I felt the immediate reaction to them in the listeners from the telephone calls and letters received, I changed my mind, I realized that the Roman Catholics, who are so difficult to reach on account of prejudices and church prohibitions, listen to the Gospel in their homes, if it is presented to them without bitterness and in a dignified manner. This conviction became more deeply rooted in my heart as the years went by. Now I see that in it all was the hand of God, who had beep in a wonderful and mysterious way preparing me for such a wide Gospel ministry. The Gospel on the Air When Mr. Clarence W. Jones, some years later, invited, me to join him in Quito to take charge of the Spanish Gospel programs at “The Voice of the Andes,” I could not refuse for I felt that it was the Lord’s call. Soon I went to Quito to start what has become a continental Gospel ministry. At first, “The Voice of the Andes” could not reach much farther -than the limits of the city of Quito, but God has been increasing its power, until today, with its five wave-lengths on the air for simultaneous Gospel broadcasting, it reaches to the utter most parts of the earth through fourteen different lan guages in fulfillment of the Word of God: “Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world” (Rom. 10:18). Many of those who have listened for the first time to the Gospel through the instrumentality of “The Voice of the Andes” have accepted the Lord as their Saviour. The many letters received in Quito and the testimony of missionaries all over South America bear witness to this fact. It has been my privilege to preach the Gospel in Spanish'from the microphone of HCJB, “The Voice of the Andes,” for six continuous years morning and even ing. Some one has said that I have preached the Gospel to more Spanish speaking people than any other person who has ever lived on this earth. I shudder at the re sponsibility that this privilege lays upon my soul. The prayers of all the people of God will be very much ap preciated for the faithful discharge of this responsibility toward my Lord.
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