the worship of these for just one God of whom you had recently heard had sufficient power to do all that these other deities coupled to gether could not do? Would you? If you had been taught to believe that after the proper ceremony of several days and nights you might be heard for your much speaking and that if you trusted in the medi cine man’s repetitious sayings, his prayers would be answered for you, would it be easy for you to believe that by simply receiving God’s gift of His Son that His Holy Spirit .would enter your heart in a moment of time to abide with you forever? These are thought-provoking questions, but do they not bring you face to face with reali ties? Do they help you to see the darkness which must be penetrated before the light of the glorious gospel can shine? Do you see the barriers which must be broken down before a Navajo soul is bom again? It is all well and good to say that there is no reason why a tribe of only 70,000 Indians should not now be evangelized after years of missionary work among them. It’s easy to stand at a distance and ask why 70,000 tracts explaining John 3:16 could not quickly be distributed to the Navajo nation and get the job done. But did you know that our national failure to educate these people has made the problem of evangelization an even more dif ficult one? With 80% of these people illiter ate, even a New Testament cannot be given to a Navajo believer to help him in his new found faith. It may be easy to question the heart’s re generation when one does not see immediate separation from the old life, but do you see this occur in a new babe in Christ of the white race? Do we have one standard for our dark skinned, less fortunate brothers and sis ters, and another for that of our own flesh and blood? This is not written in defense of the car- THE KING'S BUSINESS
uppose you had been born a Navajo! Suppose your people had taught you from your youth up to fear everything roundabout you. Suppose you believed that tragedy would hit you if you angered the gods and if you did not pay proper respect to evil spirits. Suppose your entire life was made up of such superstitions. Suppose you knew nothing of a God of love and grace, but that all your religious training had taught you that even the dawn and the dusk must be bowed down to, that your prosperity and the fertility of your land and sheep, your very existence and livelihood depended on how well pleasing you were to the coyote, the snake and other low forms of animal life. Then suppose you should receive a visit from the missionary, and he should tell you that there is hut one true God. He should read to you out of a black Book and tell you that this one true God created you above all the animals and all nature and made you because He wanted your friendship and fel lowship. Suppose he should tell you that God loves you, and that He is not a God to be feared. Suppose that you should hear for the first time that even death does not need to be feared, and that your destiny does not have to be the dwelling place of evil spirits. Suppose you should be told that eternal happiness awaits you on the other side of this life if you put your trust in One whose love for you was so great that He even died to take the punishment of all the wrong things you had ever done. Just suppose this happened to you! Would you be quick to believe? Would you be like a drowning man grasping for the life line? Would you readily accept the mes sage? Would the inbred teaching of your an cestors be given up immediately? You, who had always been told to pray to the trees, to the sun, to the moon and to multitudes of other gods, would you be willing to lay down
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