W ITHOUT QUESTION, the most per secuted church in the western hemisphere is to be found in Co lombia, S.A. As is suggested in the Bible, however, it is experiencing a phenomenal growth. Biola graduate Ed Murphy of Overseas Crusaders tells of over 2000 professions of faith registered in one eight-day evangelistic crusade. (Prior to this time the area had less than 300 bap tized chu rch members.) Violence and persecution have accompanied this mighty movement of the Holy Spirit. “Evangelism-in-Depth” has shared much of the responsibility for planning and programming this project of missionary advance. We definitely believe that it is "harvest time” in Colombia. In the fourth chapter of John we find some interesting truths which shed light on what we see happen ing in South America. Here Christ is emphasizing both His deity and His humanity. His wonderful method of personal work reveals a deep love for th e individual is revealed. The Saviour tells His disciples, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white al ready to harvest.” The Lord talked about a harvest in a place where reaping would easily come. The reason there is the ingather ing in Colombia is because the har vesters are prepared to be used by God. They are expecting that when they preach, they will see results* after committing their ministry to the Holy Spirit. The disciples, this portion tells us, were in Samaria. The Jews def initely discriminated against the Samarians. They felt they were un
believers and id o la to rs , “h a lf breeds” in a sense, although they ac tually were “relatives.” Perhaps these were some of the main reasons why they didn’t believe there could ever be a harvest in Samaria. Basic ally, it was the sin of discrimina tion which had blinded them. Unfor tunately this can take place in our own lives, too. We may feel that our next-door neighbor wouldn’t ever believe and perhaps that he is beyond the grace of God. It is not for us to prejudge. In a sense, this is what Jonah did. He considered the Ninevites as God’s enemies, not deserving of the grace of God. When you get right down to it, who does deserve the grace of God? The Lord, however, is not willing that any should perish. We have been given the respon sibility of gathering in the harvest. These disciples had walked with Jesus for nearly three years. Still they were blinded to the over-ripe harvest. The woman at the well, who was converted, went back to her peo ple and testified, "Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” She be came the witness. No doubt the dis ciples had been in her city, but hadn’t thought of witnessing. What a picture this gives us of our cir cumstances today! The Bible tells us that actually many of the Samari tans believed. It is tragic that we often neglect our next-door neighbor or cross off some individual, declaring that they couldn’t possibly be won to Christ. In this way we seek to excuse our selves from delivering the Word of God to them in power. Every Chris tian is to be a harvester. The Lord is telling us that we are not to be 5
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