July 1929
330
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Open Doors in Latin America The Day of Opportunity in Mexico— Wonderful Fruitage from God’s Word—A n Appeal For Prayer B y G eo r g e T. B . D a v is
length and breadth of the land. Mr. A. B. DeRoos, who was born in Holland and has been laboring in Mexico for more than 20 years, says: This year I hope to carry on systematic visitation of the different States of Mexico, conferring with the missionaries and workers in each State in regard to suitable volunteer workers, who will be gathered from the different churches. These will receive instruction in personal work and prayer warfare for a ten-day period, then they will be sent out two by two through their State, going from house to house with the books. One of the best-known men in government circles in Mexico told Mr. DeRoos how he found the truth through reading God’s Word. He said: “I was out in hiding, with my troops in the desert of O—. We refused to sub mit and had to remain in that barren region for months. I had been seeking God for five years. I was not satis fied with my philosophy. One day the men came back from a foraging trip, and among the spoils they had a little book, which they had found in an abandoned hut. It was a Gospel. I read this Book every day for four months. There was nothing else to read. My brother had an arithmetic and did problems to keep from going mad. I found God in that desert through the Gospel.” Mr. DeRoos says that this man’s speech before the Mexican Senate, telling how he found the light, stirred Latin America, and moved the evangelical church. In a remarkable manner the blessing of the Lord is resting on the Million Testaments Campaign for Latin America. It is a striking and significant fact that public attention has been centered upon Latin America in an unusual degree during the campaign for giving the Word of God to the people of those lands. One who has been in close touch with the Million Tes taments movement, and who also keeps abreast of world affairs, recently said: “Latin America has the focus of the world’s attention as never before in our lifetime; President Hoover helped in this.. Revolutions in Mexico, and the desperate spiritual and economic needs of this northernmost of the Latin American lands keep that troubled country before us. While these human and political factors have been so prominently at work, God has been working to send eternal blessings to Latin Amer ica that she has never known before.”. Two hundred thousand Goodwill Testaments have been ordered through the American Bible Society, which is cooperating heartily in the movement,—but 800,000 more are urgently needed! Word comes from Mexico that one million Testaments could well be used in that country alone! This is the hour of unparalleled opportunity to give God’s Word to soldiers, government employees, and all the various classes throughout the land. An urgent appeal has just been received for 200,000 Portuguese Testaments for Brazil, with its 40,000,000 population. Mr. Frederick C. Glass, who has been spread ing the Word in Brazil for more than twenty years, and whose latest book is entitled “Adventures with the Bible in Brazil,” writes: “The need is immense! The time is short!”
ODAY, as never before in the history of Latin America, the doors are open for the spread of the Word of God and the proclamation of the Gospel, It is God’s call to focus such a vol ume of believing prayer upon these lands that a great spiritual awakening will follow. It is in this hour of crisis and opportunity that the Million Testaments Campaign has been raised up to spread the Word of God throughout the length and breadth of these countries that have been so long without it. In Mexico a new day is dawning. Now is the provi dential moment for a nation-wide distribution of New Testaments. Mr. L. L. Legters, of the Pioneer Mission Agency, has recently returned from a visit to Mexico. He tells of new conditions, and of the great opportunities they present. He says : Today Mexico is open to a great broadcasting of the Word of God without the usual hindrances. The doors are wide open to any ordained native who will comply with the law and regis ter. All native Protestants have done that. The Catholics have refused. Hence there are no regular services in , the Catholic churches. The result is a growing hunger. In Mexico the priest has been believed to be the mediator between God and man. Today devout Catholics are praying, beating their breasts,—‘O God I Must our children be damned because the Government has taken away our only means of approach?’ There is also a new awakening among and for the Indians. For the first time in her history, Mexico is feeling her responsi bility for the more than two million Indians who speak no Span ish. A large industrial school has been started, where young Indian men from each tribe are gathered and trained. Rural schools have been begun among the Indians. An unheard of thing has happened. The children not only come willingly, but at night the fathers come, with the child’s book and a candle, to study and to learn to read. The mind is awakening. From material supplied by Mr. Legters, Miss A. M. Vandever gives the following graphic picture of the power of God’s Word : Eight or nine years ago, an Indian, while traveling in Guatemala, heard the marvelous message of salvation. He went to the missionary and bought a Book that told the story. He carried it home with him. He himself could not read it; he was an old Mam Indian. He had. a young nephew who had learned to read a little Spanish. He took' the lad to his home and had him read the Gospel. It was an amazing thing to him and, in astonishment, he led the lad with the Book to a neighbor, that the neighbor might hear the wonderful story. Thus, day after day, he would go from home to home, having the young lad read the story of the Saviour, and sharing with the other Indians thé marvelous Gospel truths. When the old man died, the young boy, having grown to manhood, continued the work, the Indians .paying him the money he would naturally earn in other work, that he might read the Bible to them and preach to them. Today more than half the inhabitants of the village are Christians. A church has been organized and they have erected their own building. Three times they have torn out the end to lengthen it. $ am told that the home congregation has about 375 members, while there are 25 organized groups of believers with this church as a center. Providentially, just at this time, the Lord has laid upon the hearts of some of the missionaries in Mexico a great burden for spreading the Word throughout the
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker