Covenanter Witness Vol. 41 - Reformed Presbyterian Historical ...

48 THE COVENANTER WITNESS July 21, 1948
BACK OF "THE NAVIGATORS"
by the
Rev. Remo I. Robb
Among the Bible memory courses
suggested by the Evangelistic Com
mittee in the booklet "The Cove
nanter Crusade"
(pages 9, 10) is
"The Topical Memory System"
by
the Navigators. This course of over
a hundred selected verses is put up
in an attractive, convenient, and ap
pealing form, which should prove
invaluable to any person or group of
persons who send for it.
Not long ago a friend wrote of
having heard how this memory
course developed, and here is the
story:
"During the war I heard a young
chap talk one night over the air. He
was in the navy, had been converted,
had memorized the verse that con
victed him, and gone right after his
buddy with the same verse, and got
him. 'That gave him an idea and he
began to hunt out verses that he
thought would be suitable for put
ting
at the unsaved. He memorized
the verse, chapter and book, so that
he was sure he was master of it. He
kept going after his mates and soon
there was quite a bunch of them, all
following the same pattern. As soon
as one was converted he had to be
gin committing and as soon as he
had a verse or two that he could use
he had to get after someone else.
He discovered that committing
verses and using them to witness for
Christ in personal work not only won
men but had a most remarkable ef
fect in helping
to stabilize the new
converts, including himself, in an
upright Christian life and behaviour.
They named themselves "The Navi
gators"
and became a loosely formed
organization.
"I heard him again last Sabbath.
He is out of the navy and giving all
his time to trying to look after new
converts anywhere he finds, them and
getting
them to use his method. He
says, perhaps with truth, that
present evangelism as practiced
drops the convert just at the begin
ning of his new life when of all
times he needs help to get estab
lished in a Christian way of life. He
is sailing for China in a few days.
He says with truth that the Chinese
are great committers. There are
now twelve thousand
members of a
Youth Movement over there mainly
in several of the great cities. He is
going to try to get this method
across to them. Committing
be hard for them,
will not
and he thinks it
will give the work in China a great
boost if he can get these twelve
thousand young people to learn to
use the Bible directly on their friends
and mates. He said he was recently
in an American city where twenty-
six churches had united in an evan
gelistic campaign and had over seven
hundred who answered the altar call.
He came there three months later
and got them to hold a general
meeting, especially inviting all the
ones who had come forward, to be
present. The audience was not large
when they met, and he asked for all
those who had gone to the altar in
the revival to raise their hands.
Not a single one was there. There
had been no care for them and they
had all failed to get started in the
Christian life.
"I have the deep conviction that
the man is hitting
Young
a vital spot.
people who profess their
faith need to have help in getting
established in Christian living. The
most effective way to establish them
is to have them seek for the salva
tion of others. The most effective
weapon is the Bible, and any one
can begin to use that with one verse.
This chap had acquired three hun
dred verses when he spoke during
the war. I do not know how much
farther he has gone. It occurs to me
that if that idea could get hold of
our young people, the problem of a
goal for the Church would have an
excellent chance of success. The
last year I was in China, I one day
asked my class of ten young .men
what had led them to definite de
cision for Christ. EVERY ONE said
it was the personal appeal of a
friend who was a Christian. They all
agreed that they had learned most
of their knowledge of the gospel by
hearing, preaching and reading, but
it was a personal appeal by a friend
that led to decisive
action."
There you have the beginning and
development of "The Topical Mem
ory System". Born in the mind of a
reborn child of God, it offers a
steady building up of tested New
Testament passages centered around
evangelistic themes. Advance in the
course comes after each group of
texts is ACQUIRED,
which means
that the portions are to be recited
At one sitting
Correctly
Quoted
Unassisted
Including
References
Eliminating
Doubt
The cost of the "Topical Memory
System"
is $2. An introductory
booklet with sample selections and
full explanation, called "B-Rations"
may be secured at 54
per copy. Get
a supply of these for your Sabbath
School or Missionary and Young
People's Society. The address is "The
Navigators", P. 0. Box 70, Los
Angeles, 53, Calif.
LEAGUE OF
COVENANTER
INTERCESSORS
David Brainerd, missionary to the
American Indians, did his greatest
work by prayer. He was in the depths
of those forests alone, unable to
speak the language of the Indians,
but he spent whole days literally
in prayer. What was he praying
for? He knew that he could not
reach these savages; he did not
understand their language. If he
wanted to speak at all, he must find
somebody who could vaguely inter
pret his thought; therefore he knew
that anything he should do must be
absolutely dependent upon the power
of God. So he spent whole days in
praying, simply that the power of
the Holy Ghost might come upon
him so unmistakably that these
people should not be able to stand
before him. What was his answer?
Once he preached through a drunken
interpreter,
that he could hardly
a man so intoxicated
stand up. That
was the best he could do. Yet scores
were converted through that sermon.
We can account for it only that it
was the tremendous power of God
behind him. The hidden life, the life
whose days are spent in communion
with God in trying to reach the
source of power, is the life that
moves the world.
The Covenanter Church has com
mitted herself to projects which
CANNOT BE ATTAINED on the
level of human effort. Therefore
Synod has authorized the continu
ance of the League of Covenanter
Intercessors and all members of the
Covenanter Church are invited to
unite through this League or ac
cording to one's own leading by the
Lord in claiming the promise of
Matthew 21:22.
The first congregation to report
the number of names on the new
Intercessor's Roll is OAKDALE, re
porting 52 names. When will the
name of your congregation appear
here? "Let us unite in
prayer."