The Gospel By EUGENI
J e s u s s a v e s ! These are the blessed words of promise blazing from the two giant neon signs which have stood for almost a quarter of a century atop the thirteen- story buildings of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. To the teeming thousands of travelers who pack the Holly wood and Harbor Freeways night and day, they bear silent but steadfast witness to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The seven-foot crimson colored letters of testimony standing on the roof of Lyman Stewart Hall are on a framework thirty-one feet high. This sign, gift of Miss Annabel Ramage, of Riverside and Laguna Beach, California, was dedicated to the service of the Lord at an impressive ceremony held Sunday evening, February 13, 1935, on the roof of the south wing of the school. Three years later the second JESUS SAVES sign, gift of the beloved Hebrew Christian, Mr. Daniel Rose, was raised on top of Horton Hall. In order that his proclama tion of Christ’s saving grace might be beamed over the top of the Los Angeles Public Library building to the north of Horton Hall, eight-foot red neon letters on a thirty-five foot base were used. No more appropriate day of dedication could have been chosen than Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938, when a great crowd of Christian believers assembled in the street in front of the buildings and on the roof of Horton Hall to ask God’s continuing blessing and use of the new sign as it was turned on for the first time to proclaim the GOOD NEWS to all who travel the busy streets of the ever expanding city of Los Angeles. According to both Miss Ramage and Mr. Rose, the prayer-inspired plan to place these two consistent and untiring signs of witness on the BIOLA wings came from Dr. Louis T. Talbot who was then serving the Lord as pastor of the Church of the Open Door, and as President of the Bible Institute. The Doctor was deeply concerned for the crowds of confused and discouraged souls that wandered the streets of Los Angeles in ever-increasing numbers during the days of the depression. He felt that since the Church auditorium was cradled inconspicuously between the towering wings of the Institute, neon signs of invitation on top of the Stewart and Horton Halls would encourage people to attend services. Miss Ramage had planned to place a Gospel message in neon on her Laguna Beach property, but when she was told ¿hat the Church needed such a sign, she was happy to change her plans and have her sign designed for the Stewart wing. Dates of the erection, as well as details of the dedica tion services of both signs, were carefully recorded by THE KING'S BUSINESS
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For more than 24 years, the life-giving message that "Jesus Saves" has been emblazoned in the Los Angeles sky from the BIOLA buildings. Clearly visible from the busy freeways, the signs constantly give hope to spiritually needy souls. Below, standing beneath one of the signs, 150 feet up, the letters are 7 feet high. They are easily read from the freeways.
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