Warning the Large Cities

We must not be satisfied with past ac­complishments. To us, as truly as to ancient Israel, the Lord speaks, saying:

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left ; and thy seed shalt inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."

More than one out of every five people in the whole United States is within the con­fines of this union. We have seven cities of 500,000 or more. There are twenty-four cities of more than 100,000 population. Besides these, we have twenty-four cities with a popu­lation of 50,000 or more. At our present pace in evangelism, how long will it take us to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the teem­ing multitudes in our union? It is recorded concerning Jesus, "When He saw the multi­tudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Matt, 9:36. Who, as watchmen on the walls of Zion, can stand and view the almost endless blocks of homes in our metropolitan centers, and not feel a pang of intense anguish for the multitudes who have not yet heard the truth for this time?

Do we believe that we have the last mes­sage of mercy for men, and that without this message men and women are lost? If we do, then we must enlarge our vision and attempt greater things for God. True, we have made some mistakes in the past. But can we not use these mistakes to season our judgment, and go forward to do a mighty work for God? This is the most opportune time we shall ever have to discharge our responsibil­ity to the unwarned millions. Soon our work will meet with great problems in this country even as it is already beset with distressing difficulties in other lands. In "Testimonies, Volume VI, the messenger of God made the following appeal:

"We have no time to lose. The end is near. The passage from place to place to spread the truth will soon be hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left. Everything will be placed to obstruct the way of the Lord's messengers, so that they will not be able to do that which it is possible for them to do now. We must look our work fairly in the face, and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare. From the light given me of God I know that the powers of darkness are working with in­tense energy from beneath, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking his prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do ; but soon it will be more difficult than we can imagine."—Page 22.

Another statement carrying a similar warn­ing says: "We are on the very verge of the time of trouble, and perplexities that are scarcely dreamed of are before us." Can we not catch a vision that will inspire us to work with intense earnestness in these favorable days for evangelism? We must not fail to warn the millions while the way is open.

Unrivaled Opportunity.—Never were the times more providential for a mighty evange­listic movement by Seventh-day Adventists. Almost all the churches in Protestantism are in a fog of uncertainty. They do not know where they are going. Their gospel trumpets give an uncertain sound. Seventh-day Ad­ventists have the message of truth for this time. Our message has a ring of heavenly conviction. In the Bible and the Spirit of prophecy we have been given a divine blue­print of the needs of a perishing world, and the course we are to pursue to fulfill our responsibility. The time is here for the glo­rious fulfilling of Revelation 18:1-5.

At this time the message God has committed to us is to make great triumphs until the earth is lightened with its glory. There has been a great fall in Christendom. Many churches have lost their way, and millions of professed Christians have only a form of godliness with­out any experience in the converting power of the gospel. But not all have bowed the knee to Baal. There are many hungry hearts on the verge of the kingdom waiting to be gath­ered in. Shall we fail in this momentous hour to discharge our God-given responsibility?

Claim the Cities.—Every hamlet, town, and city must hear our great message of truth, but I appeal for a large work to be done in our cities. We are years behind with our work. "The work that centuries might have done must crowd the hour of setting sun." John Knox said, "Give me Scotland or I die!" Should not we as Seventh-day Adventists cry to God to give us these great cities of the East? We must do more than routine work. Should not conference presidents and evangelists ear­nestly seek God for ways to take these cities? Jonah took Nineveh for the Lord. Are we not to do as great things today ? The time was when we won twenty-five or fifty souls in a campaign. Now we win from one hundred to three hundred. I believe we shall someday bring in a thousand or two thousand. We must win more souls and more truly con­vert those we do win. There must be no cheapness in our work, but we must under God do bigger things.

 First Need.—Our first need for these large efforts is that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the disciples, "But ye shall receive power, after that' the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Acts 1:8. When this power came upon the disciples, three thousand were converted in a day. "To us today, as verily as to the first disciples, the promise of the Spirit belongs. God will today endow men and women with power from above, as He endowed those who on the day of Pente­cost heard the word of salvation."—Id., Vol. VIII, p. 20. Material equipment can never be a substitute for this promised gift from above. Until we are fully anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, we shall never accomplish all that this momentous hour demands.

Shake the Cities.—We have at our com­mand great facilities for reaching the large cities. The newspapers and the radios can be used as mighty factors. There are 26,666- 500 homes in the United States that have one or more radio sets. Five million automobiles are equipped with radio. In the territory of the Columbia Union, 6,184,500 homes have a radio. The newspapers are read in the office, in the store, in the streetcar, on the train, and in nearly every home.

We must plan a work for the large cities that will arrest the attention of tens of thousands. We must plan to shake these cities from cen­ter to circumference. We must use sufficient newspaper space to make our work known to whole cities, and the radio should be utilized more and more to publicize our campaigns. God has spoken through the Spirit of proph­ecy, "Decided efforts should be made to bring the message for this time prominently before the people."—Id., Vol. VI. p. 16. All through the large cities God has honest souls who are interested in what is truth. It will cost money to reach these populous centers, but they will yield rich returns in souls won and in added resources to advance the message.

Personal Workers Needed.—We must con­nect with these large efforts a sufficient num­ber of personal workers to care adequately for the interest. The department stores place large displays of advertising in the news­papers to publicize to the multitudes their merchandise. Then they supply clerks to meet the individual needs of the great throngs that come to the store. A large campaign without sufficient personal workers would be like a large store that spent money to inter­est the crowds in its merchandise, and then failed to have the needed clerks to sell the goods. We are gospel salesmen. We must not be content with exhibition alone, but we must secure the signature. We must bind off the sale. This requires house-to-house labor, and the help of "wisely directed Bible workers." (See Id., Vol. IX, p.111.)

Harnessing Lay Service.—We need to give more earnest consideration as to how to har­ness our laymen for service. In our churches there are many laymen and laywomen who could do very acceptable work as personal workers if they were sought out and trained. This would mean not only more help during the campaign, but it would also mean that Bible workers of acceptable experience could be left behind to continue the soul-winning movement after the evangelist had gone. Says the servant of God, "A well-balanced work can be carried on best when a training school for Bible workers is in progress."—Ibid. It may be helpful to make provision in the budget for carfare for laymen chosen to assist in personal work. Otherwise a lack of means may prohibit them from making their work regular and systematic.

Cultivate the Soil. I am of the firm con­viction that we ought to give far more con­sideration to cultivating the soil of the large cities in preparation for campaigns. If we could plan our campaigns farther ahead, and well-organized plans could be formulated under the able leadership of pastors to work portions of these cities with our truth-filled literature, followed by hundreds of Bible studies, our efforts would be far more fruitful and more permanent. I believe that it is pos­sible for the church members so to sow the seed of truth by literature distribution and by Bible study that hundreds of people could be ready for our evangelistic campaigns to reap bountiful harvests.