Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

praying."praying people in my church. I told them of thephysical needs, and then I told them of the greaterspiritual needs. I asked them to begin to pray inearnest. I told them that it was not enough to remember these missionary representatives once aweek on Sunday morning. I reminded them thatthere are twenty-four hours in the day, and suggested that all day long, just as many times as theSpirit of God brought our missionaries to theirminds, they should lift up their hearts in earnest anddefinite prayer for these dear friends of ours, deepin the jungle, thousands of miles away.To aid the failing memory, we obtained a number of prayer cards. For wives we suggested the inside of the kitchen cupboard door ; to the men, a placenear their desk or workshop. I asked that in everymeeting of the church, the choir, the young people'smeetings, business meetings, etc., we not forget totalk with the Lord regarding our missionaries.It is now some seven or eight months since Ireturned from my visit, and you are wondering whatis the result of this prayer crusade. Has God seenfit to honor our faith ? Are there visible accomplishments on the missionary field? How happy I am tosay in answer, the news from the field is most thrilling.We have been praying for definite, specificneeds and we are seeing God answer our prayers in adefinite, specific way. The missionaries themselvesare receiving new inspiration. They are unable to explain it, but we know it has come from God. There isa real stirring among the people to whomthey havegone to minister. Souls are being saved, not only byones or twos, but whole villages are in line to betouched with the gospel story.The missionaries write, "Your prayers are beinganswered. Please keep onMore snecificneeds are coming, and these are placed in individualIiands with the instruction to keep on praying untilthe answer is forthcoming. We are finding God isfaithful. We are uncovering a source of irresistiblepower.What is the missionary's greatest need ? It is theconstant touch of Almighty God in his life. This isthe key to true success. This is the entrance intoeternal accomplishment. How may it be obtained?Only when you and I at home lay aside less important things, and through the amazing power of Godbelievingprayer bring it to pass in his life. May Godhelp us so to do!REJOICING TO SUFFER . . . .from front pageA Courtroom Turned to a Preaching CenterOne of our missionaries, Brother Constantin D.,was arrested in the course of his itinerant ministryof the distribution of Scriptures and Gospel literature. He was arrested due to the insistence of apriest who claimed that these books were circulatingillegally. Our Brother was taken to the police stationand there beaten relentlessly. After being detainedfor three hours he was issued with a summons to appear before the criminal court. The trial was held andthe single judge of the court sentenced our brother toa fine of about $100 and forty days imprisonment.We immediately appealed the finding to the court of278appeals before which the case was heard just a fewweeks ago. As a result of your generous help contributed to our General Fund, we were able to employa lawyer for the defense of our Brother. (This iswhy we advise you, when you are not sure how todesignate your gift to put it in the General Fundbecause that is the Fund that meets the greatestneeds and emergencies such as this one of employinglegal counsel for our persecuted brother.)There also came down as a witness one of ourEvangelical pastors. The trial opened before a threejudgecourt. The court room was packed with 200people, lawyers, professors, newspaper reporters andother leaders from the whole country who came tofollow this queer trial of a man accused as a criminalbecause he was distributing Evangelical Christianliterature. If this happened in heathen Africa or Asiaone would understand such an attitude, but it happened in Greece, the cradle of freedom and civilization and it was instigated by those who are the recipients of the benevolence of major Protestant Denominations in the United States through the WorldCouncil of Churches and who sit in religious councilswith the Protestants of the United States.In opening the case, the president of the Courtturned to the witness for the accused, the Evangelical pastor, and asked him to explain to the courtwhat the Evangelicals mean by "salvation." So ourbeloved pastor rejoicing for this wonderful opportunity took the New Testament in his hand and for halfan hour explained from the Word of God the wholeplan of salvation.Then the presiding judge turned to the GreekOrthodox theologians who were examining the booksthat the accused was distributing and asked themwhat they thought of them. They asserted that theteachings of these books were contrary to the teachings of the State Church and, therefore, on the frontpage of each, according to law, they should bemarked "Of Evangelical Principles." When the GreekOrthodox theologians finished giving their testimony, our pastor from Athens pulled out of his pocket a letter that was received from a Greek OrthodoxBishop who was stating that our Evangelical publications were wonderful and that the Greek Orthodoxpeople ought to read them because they would begreatly benefited by them. This surely put the courtin a dilemma. On the one hand the local Greek Orthodox theologians said the books were against theGreek Orthodox Church while the Bishop said theywere wonderful! The court finally decided to tablethe matter and refer the books to the Holy Synod ofthe Greek Orthodox Church.While the witness and the accused were leavingthe court room there was loud applause for them.Furthermore, the Lawyers' Guild of that town issuedan invitation to the Evangelical pastor who acted aswitness, to come down as soon as possible and givethem a lecture on the Evangelical Faith and the Bible. The most wonderful thing is that almost everyone of the people who attended the trial is now anxious to obtain a Bible and study it. Please pray thatwe may be able to provide these 200 Bibles in modern Greek. God certainly caused the wrath of manto praise Him in this case and it is expected of youand of me to complete this marvelous doing of Godby providing His eternal Word.Read Acts 5 :38-42.COVENANTER WITNESS