Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

One of our Christian young women was suffering much opposition in her home ; it was under muchmental, if not physical difficulty that she attendedhurch, and she was being compelled to stop schoolwithin a few months of graduation to help in herfather's shop. We hired her for the afternoons, herclasses being in the morning, with the understandingthat it meant also Sabbath, so she could attendchurch. She missed church a few times, and when itwas mentioned, tears filled her eyes and she said,me.""I'll go to church even if my father beatsSo now we have Mr. Mita as full time Japanesemanager, with Miss Edamatsu as assistant in the afternoon, Mrs. Hansen as accountant, and Miss Huston handling the English orders and correspondence,card index records, helping in salesroom for English speaking customers, besides a few other affairs,and signing checks, with a keen eye on the Bankbalance.During these three months we have sold a littlemore than 1700 books, Japanese, Chinese, and English, and have about 100 on the shelves that are beingbought on the installment plan. An inventory showsmore than 700 English books, largely Theological andBible Study, besides pamphlets and booklets, andTheological magazines. A stock of Bibles in three prevailing languages is kept on hand, with a few in otherlanguages, besides Hebrew and Greek for use in Seminaries and Bible Schools. We keep in stock a greatnumber of Japanese books that are orthodox in theircontent, and are glad to see new books being writtenor translated such as Halley's Bible Handbook, Pilgrim's Progress, In His Steps, besides manyof aTheological nature. There is still a dearth of goodreligious and Bible Stories for children and youngpeople.A hasty count shows some 8000 books sold duringthe year, at least half being English, many of themcomplete sets of Theological books by Calvin, Nicoll,Hodge, and others of the Reformed faith. We continually marvel at the faith of ministers living on verymeager salaries, ordering a complete set of MatthewHenry or Calvin's Commentaries and other expensivetheological books. One lost his during the bombing;another buried his books only to find when he unearthed them, that they were ruined by dampness.Both are replacing them one by one as they are able.These and theological students appreciate the discount we allow them, for it is through sacrifice andprivation that they are able to buy them.The Measure of Religious FreedomThe pressure and persecution that are broughtto bear on our Evangelical brethren in Greece arehard to conceive. It is a systematic war on the partof some members of the State Church. Our missionaries are constantly dragged to criminal courts. Sixfaithful sisters just finished serving a term in prison.The authorities are still endeavoring to confiscatesome of our Evangelical property. We are being refused the privilege of building our own Evangelicalhouses of worship, while the State Greek OrthodoxChurch has been receiving thousands of dollarsthrough the World Council of Churches, of which sheis a member. Weddings of Evangelical believers inNeos Mylotopos, where one of our missionaries is the70pastor, are conducted in the open, whether it besnowing or burning hot. Why? Because in order foran Evangelical church to be built it is necessary forthe local Greek Orthodox Bishop to give his consent.Such is the measure of religious freedom that we enjoy in modern Greece, the ancient cradle of our human rights and freedoms. But what of it? Persecution has never hurt the followers of Christ.Persecution Brings RevivalOne of our missionaries who is in the thick ofthe battle writes : "How God has blessed us the lastmonth ! What a stirring of the Spirit ! We gathereddaily, at dawn, for one solid hour some forty menand women of prayer to plead with God for His intervention in this crisis threatening our Church. AndHe has given us a regular revival instead ! I am astonished at His doing. It is marvelous. Last Monday wasthe last in a series of special meetings in connectionwith our Macedonian Bible Institute. Many souls havetrusted in the Lord for salvation. The last eveningcannot be forgotten. We, or rather the Spirit, extended the meeting till 1 a. m. Men and women for Whomwe had been praying for years finally came throughand openly accepted the Lord. Oh, what a blessing! Inthe midst of our other disappointments, this was abreeze of God's refreshing air, indeed. Thank youus."for your prayers and your standing byIsn't it a privilege to pray for and help such aministry ?Financial ReportOur financial year ends April 30. For the yearMay, 1952, to April, 1953, our receipts were $101,000.For the year May, 1953, to April, 1954, our receiptshave been $146,000. Our books are audited by a Certified Public Accountant and reports are rendered toour Board of Trustees and to the proper U. S. Government authorities. It is with great satisfaction that wecan say that this is a work you can absolutely trustas sound in every way. God's stamp of approval is onit, for had it not been, the progress would not havebeen so phenomenal to jump from $2,000 to $146,-000 in eight years. To God foe all the praise and manythanks to you, the faithful supporters of this wonderful ministry. This money has supported our 37 missionaries, operated our Orphanage, our Christian DaySchool, our Christian Bookstore, published threemonthly magazines, 13 Christian books, bought anddistributed 17,000 Bibles and Testaments besides the30,000 Testaments donated by the Million Testaments Campaigns and distributed by our Mission,published two full messages each week in the onlytwo Greek newspapers in America, broadcast over 13radio stations, sent 50,150 lbs. of clothing in cratesand individual packages, 13,000 lbs. of foodstuffs besides the money sent over for the purchase of foodlocally in Greece, 75,320 tablets of anti-biotic drugs,and 9,300 vials of streptomycin.Our Annex Orphanage Building and ChristianHigh SchoolFurthermore, during this financial year westarted building and are now completing our AnnexOrphanage Building to care for more of the 400,000THE COVENANTER WITNESS