Bible Numb THEKIK BUSINES Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES. Incorporated
FEBRUARY
1943
This Indian mother from the moun tains of Mexico became one of the first in the Tlapaneco tribe to accept Christ when the Word of God was given to her in her own language. Many others are still waiting for this to be theirs as well. joyous privilege
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Are you hazy concerning cer tain Scriptural truths? Send your inquiry to M A N A G IN G EDITOR of this magazine for Dr. Talbot’s clearcut answer from the Word.
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T h ere w ill be a time perhaps when your sol dier faces Death. When that moment comes, he too will have the Bible to sustain his faith and courage. You have seen to that! But will you not do more
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gives himself a Bible assignment Yes, he’s found that he needs to know God’s Word to be a good teacher. As signments, exams, paper wads—he for gets them all when he studies his Bible. "Isn’t it a fine experience” he asks, “to discover truths unknown before? I have taken many Bible courses, but never with the rich blessings I have found in the Scofield Bible Course!’ You, too, can learn the secrets of a deeper Christian life through Moody home study courses. Write Dept. K-815 CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL
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February 1943
41
Motto: **Vnto him that loved us, and washed us from jut sins in his own blood” (Rev, 1:5),
" I Changed My Mind on Good 1
We sent some Christmas money to •a number of Jewish Christian refugee boys. One of the “thank you” letters was so revealing of the tragic psychology into which some of these suffering Jews are being driven that we think you will want to read at Teast a few sentences: To make clear my apprecia tion concerning the gift, I want to describe in short, a few words,:—my Christmas. When Christmas vacation began, the students of my school apart themselves, many went home, others went to friends, also the poor Russian boys have friends where to'go, and to spend their vacation time in happiness; and the Jewish . . This made me think . . how is about the Jew ish ? Having no family, no friends. So that I have not to expect of somebody any friendly word, * because nobody cares about Jews, or maybe Christmas doesn’t belong to me. However I have to spend my time during Christmas vacation in loneli ness. And when I opened your letter . . . And of course I changed my mind on good. “Nobody cares about Jews!” But the dear brother found that he was wrong, and so he says, “1 changed my mind on good!” Some body did care. You who read these lines, you care, and thou sands of others of the Lord’s choicest children, they care, and they send us their heart prayers, and their money, and with their money we come to grips with this terrible condition of Jewish star vation, heartache and agony of soul, the world over. So, when you become a partner with us, you are a sharer in that ministry that touches God’s people Israel at the point of their desperate need. And all of this for the purpose of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, and making His name known. If the Lord so leads you, we will wel come your fellowship in such a worldwide and vitally important ministry for these last days. AMERICAN BOARD OF MISSIONS TO THE JEWS 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. I do want to help the Jews. Here is $.................. Use it as God directs, to make known the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ to Israel. Name ....... .............................. ..... Address ......_____ ..._____________ City.....:.....;.--------- state___ _____
King's Business
•'N .
Volume X X X IV
•February, 1943
Number 2
The True-to~the-Bible Family Magazine
TABLE OF CONTENTS Ransom D. Marvin, Staff Artist
Cover Photograph by H. V. Lemley, Mexico Around the King’s Table — Louis T . Talbot .................................. ..................42 Significance of the News —Dan Gilbert ........................... ..............„ ....................43 The Bible and Science— 0 . E. Sanden ............................................... ;............44 Our Southern Neighbors’ Greatest Need— W . Cameron Townsend. ............... 46 Christ and the Bluejacket—An Interview with Chaplain John Kopp, U. S. Naval Reserve ....................... .............................. ............;................... ........... 48 Thailand— And God’s Word to VLt— Robert M . Ohrisman .......... ................ 50 Dr. Talbot’s Question Box ............................................................................. ......51 Vera and a Verb — Ken Anderson _____________ ______ _______ ______________ 52 Junior King’s Business —Martha S. Hooker ____......____;_________________ ..55 Bible Institute Family Circle........................................ .......... ............. ..... a ___ ___ 57 International Lesson Commentary........................ .................................................. 58 Notes on Christian Endeavor— Mrs. R. E. Neighbour, James H . Christian, Geneva Kosher, Charles Girton ................................................. ....................... 69 Daily Devotional Readings ____________................ ................... ........ ...................73 Our Literature Table ..................___________ ____ ___...___............______ ...__ 79
The Official Organ of THE BIBLE ENSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Inc. LOUIS T. TALBOT MILDKHD M. COOK EMItor-In-Chîef Managing Edltor
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THE K I N G ’ S BU S I NE S S
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least three respects: she found God’s comfort sufficient for it; she saw souls saved through it; and she took a new step forward in consecration to Christ because n f it. For the child of God, every sorrow could and should have these blessed results. “Our hearts are broken," she wrote, “ but through it all, we see only God’s hand. I have the con solation that I never gave to God a more beautiful, a more perfect gift, than that little boy,” , She was drinking deeply of “the comfort of the Holy Ghost,” and thus sustained, had the joy of seeing this sorrow as a background for soul-win- ning. Her letter continues: “The very day our baby went Home, I was talking w i t h an elevemyear-old girl and I said to her, ‘Marion, remember this: the .most important thing for you in your whole life is to love Jesus first—more than you love any person, any thing. If I did not know this, I c o u l d not bear Dickie’s going.’ The girl began to cry—not from sorrow over the baby’s death, but over her own relationship to Ch r i s t . Right then and there I dealt with her about her sin and about God’s faithfulness. ‘Do you suppose, if I accepted Him as Saviour He could keep me from swearing?’ she asked. With tears streaming down her face, she did accept Him. At the same time, in our front room my husband was dealing with another girl of the same age who had come to ask him to ‘show her the way to God’ . . . And so it was that on the very day that pur baby would have had his first birthday on ’earth, had he lived, two other souls had a spiritual birthday down here. We are prais ing Him, through our tears." Perhaps the most significant part of the whole l e t t e r was the closing phrase—indeed, it was the basis of the triumph that the message con veyed throughout. These wete the words—and by God’s grace may each of us who must pass through days of sorrow be able to repeat them sin cerely and from the heart: “Still lov ing the cost of following Him.” God Lost a Boy Speaking to audiences that packed the auditorium of the Church of the Open Door on January 10, Percy Craw ford, Director of the Young People’s Church of the Air, Box 1, Philadelphia, Pa., stirred instant and deep response in many hearts when he said: “You know — you who h a v e given your men to the service [ Continued on Page 79}
Around the King's Table LOUIS T. TALBOT, Editor-in-Chief
their cows. We were delighted at the prospect ,of having fresh milk. This arrangement brought Mar garet regularly to us, and gave us t time to know her and to witness to her in Tlapaneco from the Gos pel of John, the first d r a f t of which had just been completed. Of her own accord, she asked to be taught the Tlapaneco primer in order that she might read and teach her little boy. She has ac cepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her own personal Saviour and is not ashamed to witness for Him.", An estimated one and a half mil lion Indians in Mexico are scattered among fifty-two tribes. “Our South ern Neighbors’ Greatest Need”- (Pages 46 and 47) gives a glimpse of a tre mendous task. There are at least a thousand lan guage groups in the world which as yet have not received anything of the Word of God in their own fanguages. This figure is conservative, because it does not include mutually unintel
This Bible Number This issue of THE KING’S BUSINESS gives prominence to the Bible, in the same way that the preceding number emphasized prayer. We believe it is -honoring to God that special atten- tion should be given to these two im portant means of spiritual growth and stability. Particular attention is called to the cover picture, furnished by members of the Wycliffe B i b l e Translators group, Mr. and Mrs. H. V. Lemley. “This woman," they write, "“is our Margaret, the second Tlapa- | neco woman to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour. We first met her when . she walked five miles to our little hut in the mountain fastnesses of Mexico, to buy a five-cent bar of soap. Little Samuel was a tiny boy then, strapped to his mother’s back. Margaret offered to sell us cow’s milk as often as we would like it. Milk is a precious item here, as the people seldom milk
ligible dialects. Of t h e s e one thousand languages, at l e a s t ninety-five per cent have never been re duced to writing. The call is for linguistic training and patient translation work. Will you p r a y definitely for the meeting of this twofold need, to the end that the Word of God may be re c e i v e d , as God in tended it should be, “e v e r y man in his own language” ? beautiful letters ever to' be received in the editorial offices of this magazine came recently from a young mother who had been called u p o n to give b a c k to the Lord— with unexpected sud denness — the gift of a little son that had blessed their home. The r e s p o n s e of t h i s mother to her blindin’g- g r i e f was o u t s t a n d i n g in at The Cost One of the m o s t
sail
“ A n d t h i s is t h e v i c t o r y t h a t o v e r c o m e t h t h e w o r l d , e v e n o u r f a i t h “ (1 J o h n 5 : 4 ) .
February 1943
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Significance of the*News By DAN GILBERT Washington, D. C., and San Diego, California
7^7ghelp cometh from dieLord, made heavenand ■jaNi I e v C t a »
1
fought the Indians side by side with their men-folk, helped to till the soil and conquer the wilderness, while all the time they were keeping the home fires burning, never slfirking their obligation to posterity. Today, a new standard for women is being raised: It is a standard of usefulness to the nation. What counts now is what woman is doing in shops and factories, to increase production on the farms, and—most important of all—to train the citizens of tomor row in the homes of the nation. FALSE THINKING: • It was only a few years ago that a famous educator said, “The purpose of education is to t e a c h youth to doubt.” An educator making such a statement today would run heavy risk of being branded a fifth columnist. We have learned in this crisis the destructive power of doubt. Doubt of our government, of our allies, of our leaders, is the g r e a t e s t obstacle to unity and victory. Unity lies in affirmation, not nega tion; in faith, not doubt; in trust', not suspicion. The most worthless and useless m e n t a 1 equipment that a young man can bring into the army is a highly developed capacity for doubt. FALSE IDEALS: • Higher education, so-called, h a s failed to equip youth with the intel lectual and moral qualities needed in time of national crisis. A soldier, above all else, needs to know how to die. This is one thing that is not taught in modern secular universi ties. Moreover, a soHier needs to know how to obey, to carry out orders. But modern education has been exclusive ly concerned with teaching youth how to “think for himself,” to “live his own life,” to “express himself.” The army has no place for those who are laws unto themselves, and are dedi cated to the pursuit of “self-expres sion.” Our psychologists and educators have warred for a generation against the teaching of discipline, of self- denial, of obedience. They have told us that these things should be su perseded by a "do - as - you - please,” “take-what-you-want” standard of life and conduct. Today, that popular practice is threatening the cause of victory.
FALSE VALUES: • The crisis through which America is passing is doing much to sweep away the false values which have be come an ingrained part of our pat tern of life. In times of stress and strain, accepted values are weighed in the b'a l a n c e and subjected to searching test; that which is dross and counterfeit is ruthlessly revealed. An American leader in 1776 penned the famous phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Thpse days are here. They are a l s o the times that test and reveal the true nature of men and of institutions. Today, we are coming to realize how false and vain have been many of the standards, values, and even ideals to which the masses of our peo ple have been committed in the past generation. We are coming to see how worthless and futile have become many of the things which we were led to prize and esteem most highly. Fe* a generation, we were led to think «f success and achievement in terms of ease and comfort, rather than toil and sacrifice. Personality was more highly evalu ated than character. Thick and ex pensive books were written on the subject of how to have a magnetic personality, how to have charm, how to be a financial and social success. Few books were written, and fewer were sold, on the subject of how to have character: how to be loyal, hon est, and true. Today, we are seeing that Uncle Sam has less use for highly developed personalities than for other qualities. What is required of soldiers and ci vilians alike is the kind of character which is always true, always loyal, always sacrifical in the cause of God and country. / FALSE STYLES: • For a generation, the popular fal lacy was cultivated that the highest calling of women was to be “glam orous,” to attain poise and grace, to learn to Wear clothes attractively. The movie colony and the colleges seemed to join in the conspiracy to set up this false standard for women. The idea that women should make themselves useful was secondary. But today the women of America are re turning to the paths w h i c h their grandmothers trod. W o m e n had a vital part in building America. Women crossed the plains in covered wagons,
§ Tghereiore Iwilllookuntothe |L obd ;Iwillwaitforthe God of [mysalvation:mgCodwillhearme
FALSE POLICIES: • We are paying the price today for having substituted the goal of secu rity for that of character in the lives of our people. We endeavored to plan life in terms of personal happiness, rather than the performance of per sonal and national duty. We have invested billioqs of dollars in highways, which cannot now be traveled extensively. We h a v e in vested hundreds of. millions in vaca- tionlands, which cannot now be vis ited by many. A few years ago, our planners of prosperity were advocating the ob jective of “ a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage.” A little later, a new group of pros perity propagandists came into power. Their slogan Was: “The more abun dant life.” But they did not mean it in a spiritual sense. Instead, they conceived of the more abundant life in terms of luxuries for all, a five- day working week, vacations with pay, etc. All the schemes for building per petual prosperity have long since ex ploded. As a nation, our position to day would be different had we sought Christ, instead of wealth; character, instead of pleasure; faith, instead of doubt; the path of obedience and sac rifice, rather than that of self-indul gence and ease. • A drastic readjustment in American life is urgently needed. What have been called “modern” ways and stand ards of life must be suspended in favor of older and sounder procedures. There must be a plan for victory at home, as well as on the foreign battle fronts. An army would win few- bat tles unless it had a master, over-all plan ot action. In civilian life, we must find and carry out such a plan. [Continued on Page 77] THE RETURN TO SANITY AND STABILITY:
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. The Bible .
B NCE I was Invited by Dr. Otto von Strabe, Director of McDon ald Observatory at Mt. Locke, ■ Texas, to take a course in astronomical - studies because of work I had done in other fields of research. There were ■ possibly thirty-five or forty others in the group, many of them Jews, atheists, and men from various parts of the United States. After the closing ses- ' sion of the c o u r s e , the group as sembled on the roof garden of the neighboring puebio awaiting transpor tation. During this moment of wait ing, a well-known Jewish scientist said, “We have a preacher with us ■ .tonight. I don’t know what he is do-. ing here, but I think we ought to have ■ a sermon,” The crowd laughed and said, “Yes, give us a sermon.” Seeing in their jest an opening worth seizing, I arose, replying, “Yes, gentlemen, I will give you a sermon.” I reminded them of how we" had drawn a light beam’ from the constel lation of Hercules through the casing g r a d e mirror refracting its beams, breaking it through a g l a s s prism from which emanated the light of ‘the solar spectrum from the infra-red to the ultra-violet, which, last ray we could not perceive. Since ordinary glass is opaque to ultra-violet, we ex tracted this prism^and i n s e r t e d a quartz prism, through which the ultra violet beam passed and we ascer tained its presence by spectroscopic photography. The quàrtZ' prism ex cluded the other light rays. “ Gentlemen," I said, “you have been studying the universe through the glass prism of pure intellect. You have seen every ray but One.” Draw ing my New T e s t a m e n t from my pocket and holding it before them, I went on
the slum mission or in the university chair, and when such a heart is con fronted with the truth of God, we see responses amazing, encouraging. Let us hold forth this truth, that the healing ray from the Sun of righteous ness shall illumine the hearts and the minds of men. The questions w h i c h follow are typical of many which have been raised in the course of my travels and lectures among young people. I be lieve that many of them reveal a new and encouraging spirit of inquiry. Q. What do you r e ga rd as the greatest evangelistic opportunity to day? A. As far as my own experience is eoncerned, I regard the student con ferences and chapel hours afforded us in the assembly rooms of our high schools and colleges as the most fruit ful field for evangelism to^ay. While 16,000,000 youth profess no religion,
“This is the .quartz prism of faith through w h i c h the healing ray of God’s Spirit is seen. ‘Faith eometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of ,God,’ and we check its presence on the sensitive plate of our heart. His Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God.” For two hours we continued in a session^ as I kept on bringing to bear my testimony that the universe seen merely through the eyes of science is insufficient, but seen through the eyes of faith, in c l « d é s God’s revealed power. After I arrived at my home some days later, the expressman brought to the house a large package. Upon opening it, I discovered a wide selec tion of the finest scientific books in print, with a little note to the preacher from' “All of us—because of your mes sage.” The human heart is the same, no matter where we find it, whether in
February 1943
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. .! and Science
Q. Will you furnish some specific Instances? A. Yes. The Geological Eras are the Archeozoic, the Proterozoic, the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, the Cenozoic, and the Psychozoic. They provide a perfect pattern for the content mat ter of the Mosaic account of creation. The order is identical. Botany divides all plant life into the Thallophytes, the Bryophytes, the Pteridophytes, the Spermatophytes, with their Gymno- sperms and Angiosperms. This is the exact order of the Mosaic outline of Botany. Q. What élément in science helps to establish faith? A. While faith comes by the Word of God, the world of God reflects that Word. He “bringeth out their host by number"' (Isa. 40:26). The mathe matical background of Nature, t h e “law of octaves,” percentage compo sition, all indicate a mental concept. That calls for personality. That pre sents to us God. Q. Why then do many of our sclen-' tists fail to see God in Nature? A. Many see the accidents instead of the patterns. Q. Are there accidents in Nature? A. Yes; I take them to be the evi dences of the blight of the curse, since man sinned. Q. I have avoided the s t udy of science because I feared it would rob me of my faith in God’s Word. Now I am beginning to think this is a mis take. What do you think? A. Our faith is not founded on avoidance of facts. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). A knowledge of science together with your knowledge of the Bible would enable you to help those in scientific difficulties. Q. Why do so few of our leading educators and ministers encourage the correlatioh of science and religion? [Continued on Page 78] graduated from the Texas State Universityrwith highest honors, and was e l e c t e d to Phi Beta Kappa. He was made a member also of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Texas A c a d emy of Science. Mr. Sanden was graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1923. He is a graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theologi cal Seminary of Austin, Texas.
By O. E. SANDEN
they are surprisingly receptive to the appeal of the gospel. The next best place is the Army centers. Q. Whot type of appeal do you find most effective? A. The use of scientific concepts to illustrate spiritual truths ■seems to work most readily. The student hears “in his own tongue’’ the wonderful works,of God. Q. What is the advantage of using science? -A. To many students the Bible is an unknown Book. M o s t students h a v e had some science. Strangely enough, science is saying the very t h i n g s the Scriptures have always held. For instance, one of the most prevalent bits of medical counsel given today is that of the rest cure. After citing a number of illustrations of how health is restored by the sim ple process of complete rest and relax ation, it is then quite easy to proceed to such texts as, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"' (Isa. 40:31). Or, for example, the subject can be a p p r o a c h e d from the inorganic sciences: One of the most well-known words among present-day students is “parallax,” which is an astronomical term, indicating a geometrical shift ing of the base. A still more modern expression is the “Variable” s t a r s . These are caused by partial or total eclipses. After discussing these for a while, I turn to James 1:17, “The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness [Greek: “Paralogia” ], neither shadow of turning [eclipse].” There is neither a shifting of the base nor a blackout in God! At once I have the attention of those who are surprised to find such expressions in the Bible. Q. Do you regard the Bible as a textbook on science? A. 1 do not so regard it. But where- ever it touches on “ earthly Things,” it speaks the truth. Q. Which scientific study is most usually calculated to destroy faith? A. None in particular, but rather any interpretation that robs God of
His creative power and of His glory. Q. Why do so many science stu dents seem to lose their faith in the Bible? A. Because of ignorance of what the Bible actually teaches. Q. What do you consider the great est çtumblingblock to an uncondi tional acceptance of the Bible as the Word of Gbd? A. Preconceived notions about the Bible, as for example, “that the world was made 4,000 B. C.” The Bible says, “In the beginning God created.” Q. What scientific studies have tended to confirm your faith in the Bible as the inspired Word of God? A. To quote from my pamphlet No. 2, “This is not to say that I look upon the Bible as ‘a textbook of science,’ nor do I regard the various authors of the Bible as scientists, nor do I be lieve that they wrote with a view to anticipate and confirm science. But I affirm that the confidence I have held in the Scriptures as the divinely inspired oracles of God has not been shattered nor destroyed by any scien tific study. I do not go beyond my own limited area of research. Nor do I speak for others. My testimony is this—that in so far as I have been p r i v i l e g e d to study the various sciences, under the most competent instructors, my f a i t h has been strengthened rather than destroyed.” To hundreds of’ young people who have sought his advice on campus and elsewhere, the au thor of this article has brought the authoritative "Thus saith the Lord." Mr. Sanden has made the cor relation of science and the Bible his principal study for a number of years. - He resigned a success ful pastorate in order to return to the University, that he might car ry out his project He was
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Our Southern Neighbors' Greatest Need
By W. CAMERON TOWNSEND * Tetelcingo, Morelos, Mexico venge was the one passion of Martin’s life. A pistol became his inseparable possession on dark n i g h t s as he prowled along the narrow Streets, or waited at convenient points behind stone fences where he hoped that his enemy might pass. Then something happened in Mar tin’s life. Missionaries came to his town, put up their trailer house under a tree in the public square, and began to study Martin’s beautiful Aztec language, with Martin himself as their teacher. The Book they were eager to translate into his speech was one that condemned his Way of doing, and- offered something new. He began to believe the message of the Book. And the drink, the marihuana, the old domination of base passions be gan to loosen their grip upon him. But the teaching, “Love your ene mies,” seemed, however, to be at first too great a hurdle for him to take. His life had been barren of love. He could hardly imagine what the word involved, but he knew it meant not to kill. The pistol was returned to the man from whom he had borrowed it. Xransforming Power “Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you’.’—-the Book said that. There were several in the village against whom he held bitter grudges. Could he for
E ven I nd ian v illages in the mountains of M e x i c o have publicans, if a publican is de office for personal gain, rather, than to render a service to his fellow man. Martin was such, and while exploit ing the place of highest authority in his village, he made many enemies. One dark night as Martin made his way from the town hall to the mis erable hovel he called home, a shot rang out, and he, the haughty little mayor, fell in a pool of blood. Indians have iron constitutions, and Martin was no exception. He had joined the revolution under Zapata and for eleven years had been through shot and shell, privation and carous al, until he had come to think little of either life or death. To drink him self drunk; to go off into ecstatic oblivion with his lungs full of mari huana smoke; to give free rein to every passion, appetite, and whim: that was life for him. And death? Death, tcf him, was something to deal out to the other fellow when revenge or self-protection called for it, but to avoid thinking about for oneself. Now he, himself, had been shot. The Thirst for Revenge Upon his recovery the thirst for re- *General Director, W ycliffe Bible Translators. Headquarters in U. S .: i305 North Louise Ave.t Glendale , Calif . ¿See Page 77.
give them? How hard it would be! But they had not begun to offend him as much as he had offended God, and yet God had forgiven him. He 1sat down and wrote out in tedious script, a Scriptural account of what God had done for him, as a basis for the full forgiveness that he, Mar tin Mendez, now extended to all his enemies. Then he wrote a humble petition for forgiveness to each one of these persons, accompanied by a copy of the New Testament pur chased from his meager funds. Today those erstwhile enemies are forgiven friends who listen attentively as Mar tin expounds to them, in their own language, the Book he has come to understand. Some day, by God’s grace, that Book shall be available to them in Aztec, Martin himself being one of the translators. Giving Them the Word Martin’s village was the first in Mexico to be entered by the Bible translators from Camp Wycliffe—a group, of men and women with lin guistic talents and a deep longing to give the living Word to others. To day Wycliffe Bible Translators are scattered throughout Mexico among about forty different tribes and di vergent dialects mastering the diffi cult forms of speech and translating the Word for them. John Wycliffe gave England the Word of Life five hundred and sixty years ago, and we
fined as a man who seeks public
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call our precious English Bible "the Book that saved England." The Word brings life. It invariably does. Iri 1941, the entire Nevv Testament was translated for the first, time into one of the fifty-one Indian languages of Mexico by two y o u n g women, Misses Florence Hansen and Eunice Pike. Although the completed work is not yet ready for publication, boys and girls in this tribe have memo rized verses and are quoting them to their parents, and the work of trans formation ’has begun. It is recorded that the Indian tribes who received' the Word of Gpd in their own lan- guages'ip the United States were the first to put away their old customs and really enter into the life of the nation. Thus we may expect that the Indian tribes of Mexico will put away idolatry, witchcraft, sun worship, and other practices, and become true cit izens of the great Mexican nation when the light of the gospel breaks full upon them. The Bible in the Life of a Nation When the first copy of the Cak- chiqpel New Testament was presented to the President of Guatemala, Gen eral Jorge Ubico, ten years ago, he said that the accomplishment meant a great step forward in the nation’s life. Not'long afterward he showed his Cakchiquel Testament to an In dian who had come to the Presidential Palace with a complaint. The com plaint was from, the chiefs,, and it concerned a citizen in their town, who, they said, had accepted a pew reli gion and would no longer take part in the time-honored festivals of bap tized paganism and religious drunk enness. “This Book is what you need,”, said the President. “Read it. It is in your own language.” The Indian could read, and so he proceeded to peruse the Holy Writ at the place where the Spirit of God had caused the President to open the Book. "This is fine; Mr. President,” he soon exclaimed. “Where .can I get a copiy?” , - “From the very people whom you would like to keep from visiting your town,” the President replied. Today- there is a large congrega tion In that village, believers born again through the Word. God’s Word is the Book that breaks the shackles of sin, removes the blindfold of superstition, l i f t s the soul from groveling in the earthy muck of idolatry to fellowship with its Creator, and drives from the heart fear, hatred, and despair. A Cakchi quel Indian who had worshiped idols all his life learned to read in one of pur reading' campaigns. There was
nothing else to read in his own lan guage so he bought a Cakchiquel New Testament and began to read it by the flickering light of the rich pine torch. Within a few months, he invited some Christians to, his home, and he told them that he had come to. believe. They held a service of praise, in the very shadow of the life-size images that occupied the large altar at one end of the room. A few days later, one of the Chris tians returned to chat with him, and to his surprise arid joy he found that the images had disappeared. “What has happened to your form er gods Tata Felipe?” the visitor asked. With a trace of a twinkle in his black eyes, he r e p l i e d , “I serve'”
great champion of enllghtenxnent and reform, General Lazaro Cardenas, had secured from Congress, while he was President, the exemption of all books from duty especially with a view of increasing the circulation of the Bible. However, the greater reason has been a growing hunger for the Word. The Unfinished Task In over a thousand 1a n g u a g e s throughout the world, the Bible has performed miracles of mercy as nu merous aS the sands of the sea, yet more permanent than records carved in marble. We- rejoice in all that, but Paul spoke in Colossians 1:25 of com pleting the Word of God, and so we must think of completing its distri bution to the thousand tribes still without it. Some one., must translate the \yord for these tribes. To this task the Wycliffe Bible Translators are dedicated. The movement began w i t h t h e founding of Camp Wycliffe in the summer of 1934, and has grown to include the Summer I n s t i t u t e of Linguistics that meets each summer ’ (now •on the campus of the Univer sity of Oklahoma) to train pioneer Bible translators among the Indians of Mexico. The organization is un denominational and nonsectarian as is the American. Bible Society- which has assisted it, and w h i c h plans .to publish Its translations. It is sup ported through the gifts of God’s chil dren sent as God Himself places the need upon' their hearts in answer to prayer. The task of the Wycliffe Bible Translators is specialized. It is to give the tribes the Word. If it is possible to give all the unreached tribes, teachers, preachers, Bible s c h o o l s , nurses, Christian literature and the like, well and good. But without the Word, they have nothing. With it, they have enough, even if the other things that missions usually provide are not available. Furthermore, if the unreached tribes must wait for a fully rounded-out missionary program to be launched they are condemned to wait until many more generations die. If, however, we concentrate oh giving them the Bible in the scientific and pioneering fashion» of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, they can be reached in this generation. In this glorious hope, the hope of finishing soon, and banking all upon the power of the inspired Word of God, these modern Wycllffes forge ahead, now in Mexico, soori in other so-called closed fields, angl on until eventually in e v e r y p l a c e where Christ has not been named (Rom. 15: 20), men shall read the Bible, as Wy cliffe said, “in ye common tongue of ye common people."
them for years, and so when I found that they were not gods at all, I de cided that they should perform a serv ice for me. I made firewood of them, and they .are cooking my beans.” The outstanding difference between the two Americas, the Anglo-Saxpn and the Latin, is that one has had the Bible and the other has not. The peoples of Latin America are just as gifted intellectually as are those in the north. They have,great physical stamina. They are as artistically in clined. They are skillful with their hands. They lack just one thing—the Bible. True, they need a square deal from their neighbors, but ,when the Bible takes care of the defects within, they will be in a position to win the square deal from without. They are beginning to realize this fact, and the Bible is in increasing demand. In Mexico, the American Bible So ciety was able to report for the year 1941 a forty per cent increase in sales over the previous year, and that year had broken all former recqrds. This was partly due to the fact that the
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O fficial U. S. Navy Photo.
Christ... and the Bluejacket
An Interview with Chaplain John Kopp*, U. S. Naval Reserve
^nr>HE SIGHT of a couple of thou sand of our boys-in-blue sing- X ing, “What a friend we have in Jesus All pur sins and griefs to bear,” would move the heart of any child of God and certainly of any minister of the gospel. We who-are Chaplains in the United States Navy and who have the Inestimable privilege of 'Chaplain John. W. Kopp and his wife (Dor othy M. Drake) were graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1933. Chap lain Kopp received his A. B. - degree from Wheaton College in 1937 and his degree of Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary In 19tl.
preaching to these men, are even more thrilled and encouraged by their re ceptiveness concerning the g o s p e l message. With few exceptions, they are men clearly aware of the uncer tainty of life in the days in which they live, and they have come, some of them more naturally than in times past, to think seriously on eternal matters. As I have stood before audiences of Navy men—in most instances sev eral times larger than the congrega tions o/ some of our largest city churches—-I have been aware of my tremendous responsibility. I h a v *
Thousands of recruits sing praises to God at a Protestant meeting in camp. Chaplain John W. Kopp, who is conducting this Sun day morning worship hour, is shown above.
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faced such groups Sunday after Sun day and sometimes two and three times in one Sunday morning. I never haye the same audience- twice. The men are being shifted constantly through a Naval Training Station, and I know that'that one service is prob ably the only opportunity I shall have to reach those particular men, I must present Jesus Christ, in that one mes sage, so winsomely that men will want Him. It is a tremendous challenge. How Work Is Done In each service w,e explain the way of salvation carefully. Thank God/ we are free to preach what we Want to. The true minister of the gospel will spend much time in prayer and preparation, seeking God’s message directly from Him, for only thait kind of message can do an effective work in one hearing. We cannot know always what takes place in the hearts of .the men who listen, since we can not make a public appeal. . But this is not the limitation it might seem to be. There are many who have come to feel, erroneously, that the act of going forward in a service is what saves a man. Here we just present the claims of Christ, urging each man to make his own decision alone with Christ.- The Sunday services offer immeas urable opportunities to present the gospel at least once to many men. Personal interviews make it possible to seek to bring the men, individually, to a definite decision. During the week our time' is taken up entirely with such interviews with the men Who come and go. Sometimes a man will come, of his own accord, seeking spiritual help, or perhaps help in a matter not related to a spiritual need. He comes because he can approach the Chaplain more easily than some one else. Quite'often these interviews are a result of letters from relatives of the boys, asking about their wel fare. Many of these boys to whom we have had the opportunity to speak personally have accepted Christ. What Brings Men to the Chaplain Sometimes broken hearts over bro ken homes have brought‘ men to us for personal interviews. Oh, the trag edy of broken homes! Men who have been married, some, of them ten or fifteen years, have come to me in great distress. In not a few instances, after a few months of separation, wives have written wanting a divorce. When the men come to us, this Is our opportunity to point them to Christ who has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” I have seen such men, broken before God in their need, find peace in Him who “healeth the broken in heart.” And it has made
all the difference in the world in rela'- tion to their individual personal prob lem. They have One who is ever with them. Two brothers came in to see me one day. One was in tears. They had been with each other all their lives and they had hoped to stay together in the service. But one was up for sea draft and the other was not. There was nothing we could do to change that, of course, But we could point them to Him “that sticketh closer than a brother.” Before they left the office the whole, aspect of their case had been changed for them. They knew that when they were separated, both could have Him, and they were sat isfied. A strapping fellow, about thirty- three years old, came in one day ask ing for. my signature on some insur ance papers that had to be signed by a commissioned officer. That was all he wanted." After signing the papers, I asked him whether he had any in surance for the next life. “No, Chaplain, I guess I haven’t,” he answered ruefully. We talked togeth er. And he made sure of his future in surance, that afternoon, in a decision for Christ, I then learned that he had a Christian wife who had been pray ing for him for years. A Christian wife . —answered prayer—and now a Chris tian home. This is America’s true de* i fense. S M KBSi - , : , " ■ J" i; One young lad, about seventeen, knowing that he was leaving for sea duty in a few days, came requesting baptism before.he left. On question ing him as to his faith and assurance, I found that he never had accepted Christ as his Saviour—that he never had known the way of salvation. But his heart was ready and he opened it that afternoon to Christ in a humble surrender to Him.' Then he was ready for baptism. It is amazing how God leads many times. One day I had been waiting for some, time to see a senior officer concerning a personal matter, when a civilian' came in. Though he saw me waiting, he walked right in with out any introduction and I was left in the outer office. I was tired and, suddenly for no apparent reason, I became restless. I left the room and went to my own office. A young man was waiting there; he just wanted to visit for a few minutes with a Baptist Chaplain. But before he left the office, he had obtained something infinitely precious, the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, God had a purpose in squeezing me out of that other office and back to my own! Opportunities such as these abound for the Navy Chaplains. How they
AMER ICA ’S BOOK The.Bible is America’s Book. No nation on earth owes more to the Bible than does.,the United States. For a century preceding the political birth of our nation,, our colonial forefathers were de veloping a c ommo nwe a l t h around three institutions — the home, the school, the. church— and in all theBible was supreme. —BIBLE SOCIETY RECORD. need prayer that they may be kept spiritually aggressive in dealing with men! There are many difficulties. All whom we would-win are not willing to come—all are not reached as read ily as the ones mentioned. Many spiritual battles must be fought. Prayer for the Men Great as is the Chaplains’ need for prayer, perhaps the men in service need it even more, especially those men who know the Lord as their Saviour. It is easy to neglect Bible reading and prayer and to feel utter ly alone in a company. Many of the men have come from fine Christian homes. Some of these have been lead ers in young people’s s o c i e t i e s and they have b e e n actively en gaged in other forms of church work, back home. Now, with nothing of that nature to take their time .and thought, there is a gap in their Chris- - tian experience, a yearning for spirit-; ual fellowship, and, in many cases, bittèr disappointment. Wè have found that when a man' has come out with â clear testimony, showing his colors for the Lord, other men have rallied around.' In several instancesva little group of believers, has been formed, and lasting Chris tian friendships have been made as men have .met for fellowship in off- duty hours. It is a blessing to have a bluejacket come into the office with his face beaming as he testifies that Christ does satisfy; that He keeps him through every circumstance; that He gives grace and courage to speak to other'men about the Lord. In personal interviews and •con tacts with the men, the Chaplains can reach but a bare fraction of the total men in camp. Therefore it, is imper ative that men in the barracks, who know the Lord, be faithful in their witness in being “Unofficial Chap lains’ Assistants.” Therefore, “continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utter ance, to speak the mystery of Christ.”
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On the GRIPSHOLM, some 900 missionaries r e t u r n e d to the United S t a t e s .
By ROBERT M. C H R K M A N '
Thailand—And God s Word to Me I T HAS BEEN my privilege (and I use the word advisedly, in the light of Romans 8:28) to pass a deeper sense, the meaning of those texts. And my trip home from Thai land accentuated that meaning. Guided by God covering 125 miles, in something like twenty hours. The greater part of the trip was over roads unbelievably bad—really nothing m o r e than ox cart trails.
through the bombings on our station during the Thai-Franco, border inci dents, and to experience six months’ internment in a concentration camp at Bangkok. Through it all I have found, in a new and blessed sense, that God's Word means just what it says. I still possess a few well-worn bits of cardboard, portions of my mother’s Promise Box. They are among the very few things that were not con fiscated. Back in 1930, when Mrs. Chrisman and I first set sail for Thai land, my mother had opened my packed suitcases and had pinned to my shirts and other clothing a few of the cards from her Promise Box. My wife and I began at once Jo learn, in *Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Chrisman (Esther Ender, Biota. *27) are missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, having spent ten yehrs in Siam, now known as Thai land. Upon advice from the State Depart ment, Mrs. Chrisman and their two children returned to the United States late- in October o f 1941, but Mr. Chrismpn remained at his mission post. He left Bahgkpk' for repatria tion to America on June 29, 1942, and after traveling 16,090 miles arrived at the port of New York, August 25, 1942. Mr. Chrisman is now using his knowledge of the Thai lan - gouge fo r m e xiot/erntrccnc in life ptimccatiutt of the war. He is associated with the Pacific Bureau o f the Overseas Branch o f the Office of War Information ( O.W.I.) at San Fran cisco •
May I take you back to the morn ing when Pearl Harbor Was attacked, and briefly sketch the events that followed? The morning of December 8 (Thai land time), as Paul Gunther, Peter Voth, and I were eating breakfast, we were stunned to hear, from a Manila radio station, the report of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tension had been high in our country for many months, but little did we dream that the Jap anese would make such a bold attack, nor did we believe that Thailand would yield with practically no re sistance. We were fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. Follow ing telegraphic advice received from the American Minister to Thailand, we began immediately to try to es cape into Burma. Then it was that one verse from the Promise Box took on new bright ness for us: “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for ever more” (Psa. 121:8). And He did. We three men, together with Mr. and Mrs. Case, took the first lap of that journey in a Ford two-ton truck,
We reached a little outpost on the edge of the jungle, and from there it was our plan to go on elephant back, hoping that after ten days of such travel, we could cross over into Brit ish Burma. We were stopped in this strange little town, arrested as being enemy aliens, held in miserable quar ters for eight days, and then re turned to our home town riding over the truck’s rear wheels, sitting on packing cases filled with opium, and under the guard of drunken police captain. Uncomfortable but '‘Satisfied” After miserable delay, we finally reached the city of Bangkok and were interned in the newly constructed camp, along w i t h o t h e r “ enemy aliens.” There were over 300 Ameri can, British, and Dutch interned— men, women, and children. We were under the custody of the Thai army. They had converted part of the build ings and campus of the University of Moral and Political Sciences into a camp enclosing a four-acre plot of ground with a high barbed-wire fence which was to keep us from the out side world.
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