World
Evangelization
(Excerpted
writings)
By
T. L. Osborn
(Abridged, ca.
1960)
Dr.
Alexander Duff was a great veteran missionary to India.
When
he was an old man, he returned to his homeland of Scotland to die.
There,
during the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr. Duff addressed the meeting, and then made a strong appeal for young
people to volunteer their lives for India. But no one responded.
Under
the strain of the appeal, the aged missionary fainted and sank to the floor and was carried off the platform.
The
doctor bent over the old veteran and was examining his heart when suddenly he opened his eyes and asked, “Where am I?
Where am I?”
“Lie still,” urged the physician. “Your heart is very weak.”
The
old warrior interrupted: “But I must finish my appeal. Take me back. I haven't finished my appeal yet.”
Again
the doctor cautioned: “Lie still. You are too weak to go back.”
But
the missionary would not be stopped. Gathering his strength, he got back on his feet; and with the doctor on one side and
the Assembly Chairman on the other, the old white-haired warrior was led back to the rostrum, while the whole congregation
rose in honor of his courage. Then he resumed his appeal.
“When Queen Victoria calls for volunteers for India,” he continued, “hundreds of young men respond;
but when King Jesus calls, no one goes.” Then he paused. And once more he continued:
“Is it true that Scotland has no more sons to give for India?”
Again
he waited, and still no one responded. There was silence.
The
old man then made a major decision and under the heavy burden of India's unreached millions he concluded his call:
“Very well, if Scotland has no more young men to send to India, then, old and decrepit though I am, I will
go back; and even though I cannot preach, I can lie down on the shores of the Ganges river and die, in order to let the peoples
of India know there is at least one man in Scotland who cares enough for their souls to give his life for them.”
As
the old veteran turned to leave the pulpit, the silence was broken at last. All over the congregation young men were getting
to their feet, crying out, “I'll go! I'll go! I'll go!”
And
after old Dr. Duff passed on, many of those young men did go to India, investing their lives as missionaries as a result of
an old Gospel warrior's burden and vision for the unevangelized.
And
– what about you? Will you go? Has God spoken to you? Have you heard the cry of the unreached millions? Has the Lord
of the Harvest shown you their need? Will you answer, “Lord, here am I, send me?
Everyone
cannot go, but everyone can have a soul-winner's crown.
I
can't remember ever having a [specific] missionary call.
But
I have tried to face the facts which ought to concern every Christian. I am interested in people everywhere. I think God created
us all equal. I don't think it is fair for me to be so blessed and for them to be so needy! I don't believe it's fair for
me to know of Christ and to have His peace, and for them to die is search of peace without ever being told about Jesus.
Why
should anyone hear the Gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?
That
is why I go and do all I can to reach the unreached.
That
is why this ministry of evangelism has constantly spread out until we are doing something to reach the lost in almost every
free country in the world, and that is why we feel we MUST greatly expand our soul-winning efforts on every front.
I
have seen the heathen. I have felt the throbbing of their pulse beat. I have sat and talked with them by the hour. I have
preached to the masses. I know how hungry they are for the Bread of Life, how thirsty they are for the Water of Life. I have
held their little babies. I have studied the love and warmth of their mothers. I have observed their family ties and devotion.
I have walked among them.
They
are not “better off” as they are. They are not happy. They are miserable. They are most unhappy, they are wretched,
they suffer. They constantly fear evil spirits, and they are always doing something to appease them.
There
is no rest in heathenism, no peace, no joy. Their religions are not good enough for them. They have as much right to know
Christ as we have! We are not God's favorites. We are just the fortunate ones.
Men
brought the Gospel our way. We heard and believed. We are saved. But they are lost, lost, lost. We must reach them.
As
late as 1890, human sacrifices were legal and popular in Africa. When a chief died, heads were cut off, wives buried alive
or killed and eaten. Hands were dipped in burning oil.
Only
the Gospel has changed this – but behind the ominous walls of dense jungles, inhuman practices still run rampant even
today.
Yet,
oh what Christians those native people make when they have a chance to be saved!
Every
week the most amazing reports come to my office of the gallant sacrifices being made by native Christians as they brave treachery,
abuse and cruelty, to carry the Gospel to their own people.
Alexander
Mackay tells of three native boys who died for Christ; their ages were twelve to fifteen. The eldest stepped forward singing
a Gospel hymn. They cut off his arms, and then threw him into the fire and burned him alive.
They
did the same to the second.
Then
came the youngest – only twelve. “Please, don't cut off my arms,” he pleaded. “I will not struggle.
Just throw me in the fire.” What heroes!
Christians
in preceding generations have suffered beyond description to give the Gospel to their fellow men.
They
have been burned at the stake. They have been stone, sawn asunder, driven into dens and caves, crucified, beheaded, tortured
in cold, dark, dungeons, sent into exile, slain in bloody massacres, stretched on racks and flogged to death, eaten alive
by wild beasts.
Indeed
the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church. The price paid for us to have the Gospel today has been measured out in the
blood of ten millions of inhuman atrocities – and now that are you and I willing to pay, and do, to get this same Gospel
to our generation?
There
are more people living today than all who have lived from Adam until our generation, we are told.
What
a responsibility we face!
Jesus
said: “Preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15).
“Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
“Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ac. 2:21).
“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?... how shall they hear without a preacher?”
(Ro. 10:14).
Jesus
died for “every creature,” “all the world.”
He
came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lu. 19:10).
He
talked about “the next towns,” “other sheep.”
Paul
constantly strove to reach “the regions beyond.”
Christ
commissioned us to reach the “uttermost part of the earth.”
The
people are there – millions of them. They are ripe to harvest – multitudes of them.
They
are hungry and thirsty. They are fearful and tormented. They are lonely and forsaken. They are neglected and desolate.
What
are you and I willing to do to reach them?
“Am I my brother's keeper?”
When
others have given their lives, their blood, their all, when they have cried out in the midst of flames, “Christ is Victor,”
can we do less than our utmost?
“Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest”
(Jn. 4:35).
If
you have failed in the past to do something personal, that is no reason why you should fail in the future.
It
may be that God is calling you to go. If so, obey Him and go. Answer: “Here am I, Lord, send me.”
It
may be that he wants you to send others in your place, or to send printed messengers, or films, or other soul-saving tools.
If so, earn as much money as you can and put it back of reaching the unreached. Do your part; have a share in the most blessed
work on earth today – world evangelization.
It
may be that God is calling you to pray. Then pray; become and intercessor. Take the unreached millions upon your heart. Pray
workers out to the fields. Pray for the native Christians as they brave cruelty and persecution. Pray until the world has
been evangelized.
