AROUND THE WORLD WITH DR. TALBOT
October 6 Bangkok, Siam
September 19 Tokyo, Japan
We have been here four days, and how full they have been! Bangkok, with its population of 1% millions, is a city of contrasts. The temples to Buddha are the most magnificent and colorful in the world. Photographers representing Post, Life and National Geographic tell us there is nothing like them even in India. People at home would not believe the story if we did not have the pictures. The colors are beyond description or imagination, decorated with semi-pre cious stones and porcelain, all hand cut, carved and set! Every color of the rain bow makes them glitter like a city of another world, covering an immense area. Some of these temples although they were built 600 years ago appear as if they were just finished. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, so-called be cause the image of Buddha is carved from one giant block of emerald, is the most magnificent of all. This work is a lost art. The Temple of the Sleeping Buddha is covered with gold leaf, precious stones and porcelain, and inside is the image of Buddha in a reclining position S3 ft. long, 12 ft. high, and covered with gold plate. One must see to believe its mag nificence. We got a flashlight of this and colored movies of the exterior. Yet, in spite of all this magnificence, God is not known. The creature, rather than the Creator, is worshipped. In the temple grounds all kinds of carved ani mals, birds, serpents, are to be seen, even the pig, because the Buddhists be lieve in re-incamation. We have spoken to a few Buddhist priests about Christ but few have ever heard His name. The city is a contrast to the temple in that it is one of filth and this too is beyond imagination. The city thorough fare is a system of water canals and there half the people live in the worst of squalor. We engaged a sampan—sat in the prow, and took pictures as we were rowed along, and what pictures! The canals though only about 20 feet wide are a mass of traffic. There in the filthy water we saw people washing their teeth, scrubbing their hair, empty ing garbage, washing clothes and bath ing. The canal is almost choked with boats, and no one is in a hurry. They just “inch” along, one sells sarongs, an other has a floating market, another a floating restaurant, another sells birds of various kinds. A Jew has a sampan loaded with monkeys. He asked our guide whether we would like a few at reduced rates. If anyone at home wants a mon key here is your chance—any kind you want. The children are all unclad. The rest wear very little, and who can •blame them when the heat is 106°, and the humidity stifling. I have taken six baths a day to keep alive. (Continued on Page SU) I H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Just a word to report our safe landing in Tokyo, a city of 7,000,000 people. We were met by missionaries and are loca ted in a quaint Japanese hotel. The need is tremendous. Shintoism is again mak ing a strong bid for followers, and so is Communism. But the people want to know what Christianity is. Yesterday we preached in an open air meeting and hun dreds gathered to listen. It is not unu sual to see as many as ten thousand lis tening to gospel messages. We attended church service yesterday and the atten tion and reverence were marked. Every place is too small to accommodate those who want to hear. Yesterday I had a two-hour conversa tion with General Whitney at General MacArthur’s headquarters. I received a very gracious reception and learned much about Japan. We may see any part of Japan we like. We are going to Kyoto which is one of the most fanatical cen ters of Shintoism and Buddhism. We should get good pictures. All former stu dents and graduates of Biola are getting together for a Biola rally; there will be about twenty-five in all. I am amazed at the splendid work General MacArthur is doing to restore order and to give the people a hopeful spirit. Under his guidance the people are learning to appreciate the American way of life and what true democracy is. The spiritual need is very great but the opportunity is correspondingly great be cause the people have open minds and hearts to the gospel message. I am thank ful for the part the Biola graduates are having in moulding the future of this great nation. When I told General Whit ney that we had almost a thousand stu dents in Biola all training for the Lord’s work, he became intensely interested and expressed the hope that many would come to this great land. He has arranged for me to have a conference with Gen eral MacArthur. Kyoto is ten hours from Tokyo and is the cultural center of Japan and the home of the emperors one hundred years ago. All of them, including the present emperor, were crowned here. We saw the building where the coronations took place, also the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and another that has 38,000 im ages of Buddha in it. We secured pic tures of these temples, and of thousands of children on their way to the Shinto shrines. I had a long conversation with a Buddhist priest. The people bow as a greeting of re spect and I have bowed so much since my arrival that the muscles of my back are beginning to hurt, but I will have to keep it up till I leave. I wish all of our readers could have attended the open air services. What attention! What results! September 20 Tokyo, Japan September 23 Kyoto, Japan
On September 12th Dr. Louis T. Talbot, President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and Editor in Chief of this magazine, set out on a .modern missionary journey around the world by air, to visit the mission stations where graduates of the Bible Institute are laboring. W e will publish month by month ex cerpts from his letters in order to furnish our readers a view of the needy harvest fields as seen through his eyes. September 15 Honolulu, Hawaii Our Pan American Clipper was a monster ship, with two decks and one hundred passengers. We had a perfectly smooth trip all the way—not a single hump. Arrived here safely and met by Christian leaders. The two days’ stay on the Islands has given us an opportunity to see the great need for the gospel. The two most outstanding testimonies are directed by graduates of our school. The largest Protestant testimony in Honolulu is Kawaiahos and the pastor is Edward Kahale, a native Hawaiian and a 1921 graduate of Biola. This church seats about a thousand and has had a testi mony for Christ for over one hundred years. The building is of coral blocks, cut by the natives from the ocean bed. The last of the Hawaiian kings attended this church and the royal pew is still preserved. I preached there last night; it was a joy to proclaim the gospel mes sage in such a historic spot where one of our own Biola boys is pastor. I will show pictures of this work when I re turn. There are forty Buddhist temples in Honolulu, but only the middle-aged and elderly people are any longer in terested in idol worship.
Dr. Louis T. Talbot
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