Four Thousand Miles up the Amazon
BY LOUIS T. TALBOT, D.D.
B Y the time you read this article, I will have begun my investiga tion of the foreign missionary work in the jungles of the Amazon Valley in South America, a task simi lar to what I was privileged to accom plish a little more than a year ago in Japan, India, Java, Singapore and other Asiatic lands. This 4,000 mile journey along the Amazon will be taken by plane, muleback and canoe. The purpose of it is to gather infor mation about the millions of people living in the Amazon basin, who do not know Christ, those, in fact, who have never heard His name. We (Mr. J. Russell Davis, my photographer, and I) expect to secure 20,000 feet of colored moving pictures of this great area so that young people in our land may see the great harvest down there waiting for the messengers of God to gather it into His garner. I know that you will be much in prayer for us. Now, as this is my last dictated message before I leave, I want to write a few words about this great statement that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus as recorded in John 4:35, 36: “ Say not ye, There are yet four months and then cometh har vest; behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” Here is the Lord giving to the disciples a vision of the world’s need. In fact, in these verses He unveils three visions. The first vision is of the Lord Him self. He had revealed Himself to the woman of Samaria as the Messiah of the Jews. She had stated that when the Messiah camp He would tell them all things, and JesUs declared to her, “ I that speak unto thee am He.” This is the first vision this poor, old world needs: the vision of the Eternal Son of the Eternal God. The second vi sion was that of a sinful and wasted life. After her conversation with Christ, the woman o f Samaria went away, saying, “ Come, see a man, which told ifte all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” No man can ever get a real appraisal of him self until he sees himself in the light, of Him who said, “ I am the light of A P R I L , 1 9 5 1
eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” In other words, the Lord was telling His disciples, “ Can’t you see the harvest?” What harvest is Christ talking about? Does He mean corn and wheat? Cer tainly not. That harvest is not so im portant. There are millions of people starving in India and China while there are billions of bushels of wheat and corn stored in this land of ours that they do not know what to do with. God takes care of these har vests. The trouble is that man is fall ing down on the job of distributing it. There would not be a hungry man woman or child in the world if it were not for the greed of the human heart. God supplies enough for all. (Continued on Page 86)
the world.” The third vision was that of the world’s need. “ Look upon the fields” (not singular, but plural). This means India, China, Africa, the Ama zon basin — all the unevangelized areas of the world. “ They are white already unto harvest.” Now these three visions constitute the making of a Christian worker and if you are to be of any use to God in fields at home or abroad you must have them: first, of the risen Christ Himself; second, of yourself as sin ful and unworthy; and third, of the world’s need. Let us look at this third vision a little more closely. The Lord Jesus said, “ Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your
Dr. Louis T. Talbot, President, and Mr. J. Russell Davis, Assistant Business Manager, of the Bible Institute, plan a missionary journey to Latin America. Page Nine
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