Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

ed."saints."saved."present"easy."walk."the laudation of the creatures, camp site, speakers,musicians, etc. with the Praise of the Creator, intended to help us relax and appreciate and enjoy.The speaker of the day was the father of the pastor,who used two texts : "... that ye should earnestlycontend for the faith which was once delivered untothe '*Go ye .therefore, teaching them to. .observe all things Under the first he set forth"the crisis times in which we live, the communists,the modernists, the mis-behaviorists, and the H-bomb so soon to strike. The message once deliveredis the one and only hope. But the message of hischurch group was not just "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be But teachingthem to "observe ALL things," a message for allraces, all ages, for all time without limitations.There is no place in the Bible where any of the commands given to the disciples was withdrawn (including "heal the sick, cast out devils," etc.). But beforeone could be healed he must get right with God.Then there was an altar call, and forty or fifty persons went forward to accept salvation.At this point the Father Valdez turned themeeting over to the son and the audience were askedhow many came to be healed (or prayed for?). Along line was formed and single-filed past the minister, he took each one by the hand or both hands,described their symptoms in a way that suggestedprevious acquaintance, then prayed briefly that theLord would heal, gave the arm a nervous jerk"You're healed"and reached for the next. A sevenyear old child was accompanied by her mother; botheardrums had almost entirely lost their sensitivity,but after prayer and the jerk and the "You'rehealed,"he told her to say, "Praise the Lord" andshe did. "Say 'Hallelujah,' but the word was toohard. Then he backed away from her two steps at atime, saying, "Say praise the Lord" and each timeshe did. After possibly twenty minutes of this, heinterrupted the procession to do what he had neverdone but once before ; he invited all who had at anytime suffered pains or aches to come forward beforethe platform and the response was almost unanimousand in almost the twinkling of an eye he prayed forthem and pronounced them cured. This was a lotcheaper than weeks in a hospital "But some doubt" The individual healing was continued on thestage, then there was another interruption. "Sincethe Spirit was so evidently all who wouldlike to be endued with His power, power for winning souls, power for healing, power for service, andperhaps power for ordinary everyday living wereasked to come forward. Again the audience responded en masse, and the father Valdez and another chiefspeaker took them in two lines, the latter one holdinghis hand above the head of each individual for abrief prayer, but Father Valdez used a differenttechnique, with one hand under the chin and theother on the crown of the head, he exerted apparentpressure, and men, women and children passed inrapid succession. Many believed "but some doubted."If this were really so, what an opportunity wasmissed !This meeting began at 2:00 p.m. and it was notfinished at 5:00 but those desiring to leave were released. We exercised our option.August 10, 1955Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt?We went to that meeting expecting a spiritualbenefit, and were not disappointed. We did not go toscoff, and we will not scoff now. We saw the facesof several hundred people who were enquiring theWay to Zion. They averaged better than that run-ofthe-minecrowd on the Milwaukee Clipper of yesterday. If their hope was an illusion, their choice wasa happy one.I have attended very few religious meetingsthat provoked as much religious conversation in ourfamily as this one. It suggested impressively thecrowds that followed Jesus. They brought all mannerof diseased, there were curiosity seekers, those willing to give Him a trial but doubting, and there werecold skeptics there too. At Nazareth He could do nomighty works because of their skepticism. Whenevidence was strong they said it was the magic ofor if a man born blind regained his sight,Beelzebub,they said it was his double, perhaps a planted duplicate. Even at the Ascension scene the crowd worshiped Him "but some doubted."Then why did we doubt? One said "it was too"Whether it is easier to say, Son, thy sins areforgiven, or to say, Rise, take up thy bed andPeter healed five thousand souls on the Day of Pentecost, could not as many bodies be made perfectlyWhole in the twinkling of an eye? What aboutpreaching?Well, we never saw it on this wise we sawstrange things today. That is the scientist's answer.Miracles don't happen.The day of miracles is past. But if miracles aresigns, maybe the day of miracles will return. RogerBabson the statistical wizard asked Charles Steinmetzthe electrical wizard what would be the greatest development in the next fifty years, and the reply was that it would be along spiritual lines. "Hereis a force which history clearly teaches has been thegreatest power in development of men and history.Yet we have been merely playing with it and havenever seriously studied it as we have the physicalforces. Some day people will learn that materialthings do not bring happiness and are of little usein making men and women powerful. Then the scientists of the world will turn their laboratories overto the study of God and prayer and the spiritual forces which as yet have hardly been touched. Whenthis day comes the world will see more advancementin one generation than it has in the past four." Thatof course is not a divinely inspired prophecy.Why were I and others doubters at the Evangelistic Camp ? I am still asking myself, but for onething there was no unmistakable visible evidence ofa physical miracle. I saw two people come in onwheel chairs, I did not see them go out walking andleaping and praising God. It is true that Pastor Valdez assured us that the little girl with the impairedhearing had an entirely new set of ear-drums whenhe pronounced her cured, and that a doctor's examination would prove that, but I saw neither the oldpair or the new ones and am still among the doubters. But I confess that I am willing for the age ofmiracles to return, assuming that it has been quiescent for a time.85