The Smoke of a Thousand Cities!

Replying to friends who were pressing him to remain at home in ease and com­fort, David Livingstone said, "I have seen the smoke of a thousand villages which have never heard the name of Christ, and I must go to them." The cry of human need, the sob of breaking hearts, meant more to him than fame. He had seen the misery of the multitudes, his ear had caught the wail of sorrow, his heart was wrung with anguish—and nothing could hold him.

In those days the foreign mission program was in its infancy. The Christian church had not fully realized her God-given task to carry the gospel to every nation. But the great mis­sionary's picture of a thousand Christless vil­lages so gripped the imagination of the churches in Britain that all over the land groups of earnest, praying Christians were dis­cussing the problem of missions. "Africa for Christ !" became the slogan. Larger planning resulted, and soon the Dark Continent began to yield to the progress of the gospel.

Another challenge faces the church today—the challenge of the unwarned cities. No longer is paganism confined to heathen lands. It has invaded every country of earth, and for half a century has dominated the educational world. The philosophies of some of the world's greatest nations have been molded by it. Beginning as a little stream, it has been steadily rising until now, like a flood, it is sweeping the world. It is holding high car­nival in some lands, and the devastating results of such thinking are being recorded in the bombed and blasted cities of three continents until educators and statesmen alike quail in fear before a monster of their own creation. The pagan philosophy of the survival of the fittest lies behind the cruel and crushing con­flict that is tearing our civilization apart. The sacrifice of human life to the juggernaut of expanding nationalism is terrifying. Everywhere the multitude in fear is asking, "What do these things mean?"

Since Livingstone sailed forth to Africa, the world has changed—and mightily changed. Great cities like New York and London have doubled their population, while hundreds of entirely new cities have come into being. In fact, a completely new order of city life exists today. Groups of cities, called metropolitan communities are largely replacing the old con­gested centers of manufacture and commerce;

The city of Los Angeles is per­haps the foremost example of this new order. There are about 150 metropolitan areas in North America alone. These great sprawl­ing centers of population, found in every civilized land, present perhaps the greatest challenge of all times to the Christian church. Their teeming millions, most of whom live in smug complacency amid comforts and luxury unknown in any other generation, are for the most part ignorant of the imminence of our Lord's return. What are we doing for them? Surely Jonah's God grieves over the unpre­paredness of these modern Ninevehs.

Could the Master have been visualizing this unaccepted challenge when He said, "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man become"? No greater problem con­fronts the leadership of this movement today.

"The smoke of a thousand Christless cities" should stir the church of Christ to action. Has not the time come when we should studiously plan a program of large-city evangelism on a scale not attempted hitherto? Is it not time for us to awaken to a new realization of our Heaven-given task? Not only in the lands of ^-every nation," but in the ears of "every people," must be sounded God's message for today. No longer are these cities the syno­nyms of security. A new day has dawned; a day of terror and dismay. Armies are on the march. Mechanized warfare is hourly proving the insecurity of city life. Soon it may be too late to preach the message in these centers of civilization.

The all-out-for-evangelism program launched at the recent General Conference session marks one of the most significant advances in our whole denominational history. Many features of evangelism were considered. Many needs were discussed. These needs for the most part clustered around methods and men. It is true that we need better methods. But we need better men. When we have better men, we will have better methods, for it is largely true that the man is the method. The record says, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." God did not send a method, He sent a man, and the method resulted. There may be, and possibly will be, as many meth­ods as there are men. The most imperative of all our needs is men with a consecrated vision. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

The compelling power behind Livingstone's sacrificial service was the vision of a thousand Christless villages. Would that we could hear the call of a thousand Christless cities ! Would that the smoke of a thousand commercial centers would drive us to our knees in impor­tunate prayer that Elijah's God would give us both the preparation and the enduement com­mensurate with the task!

As we face the responsibility of giving the advent message in these self-satisfied centers of our modern civilization, we cry "Who is sufficient for these things ?" "A special message is now to be borne, a message that will pierce the spiritual darkness and convict and convert souls."—"Testimonies," Vol. VIII, p. 36. For the giving of that special message, God is look­ing to the ministry of this movement. Ours is a world program, including all races and all men, irrespective of color, culture, or creed. It embraces all social standards from the huts and hovels of primitive people, to the lordly palaces of wealth and aristocracy. In that all-embracing sweep, however, are the con­gested centers of civilization and culture. To find men with the educational, cultural, and spiritual background for such evangelism is difficult. It requires more than ordinary train­ing and experience to hold the multitudes.

"In connection with the proclamation of the mes­sage in large cities, there are many kinds of work.

. . The Lord has given to some ministers the ability to gather and to hold large congregations. This calls for the exercise of tact and skill. In the cities of today, where there is so much to attract and please, the people can be interested by no ordinary efforts. Ministers of God's appointment will find it necessary to put forth extraordinary efforts in or­der to arrest the attention of the multitudes."

"I am instructed to point our ministers to the unworked cities, and to urge them by every possible means to open the way for the presentation of the truth."—Id., Vol. ix, pp. 109, 123.

These statements from the messenger of the Lord reveal a heart burden for this work. This message came to this people years ago. We might well ponder what kind of message would be given today in view of the enlarging task. Notice the statement that it will be "necessary to put forth extraordinary efforts in order to arrest the attention of the multitudes."

Looking down the centuries to this time, the prophet Joel was stirred with the sight, and exclaimed "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision." While this prophecy has a rela­tion to the final conflict of nations, it also fittingly describes the world-wide conditions in these last days. How do the multitudes affect us ? Of Jesus it is recorded that "when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with com­passion." That moving mass constituted both a call and a challenge. There is something both suggestive and significant in the word "multitude." While Jesus loved to converse with one individual, He nevertheless was just as much at home with the multitude. The multitude spoke of multiplied needs.

It is thought provoking indeed to stand in these large cities of earth and watch the surg­ing crowds, the words of God the while ringing in one's ears—"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?" Not the smoke of a thousand villages, but the wail of broken hearts in broken homes, and the silent falling of a billion tears, becomes the urge to the evangelist to unfold the story of a Saviour's love.

The vision of the multitude drove the Master to the mountain to pray. There He received His message, and from there He went forth to proclaim His gospel. He demonstrated evan­gelism at its highest. But what would the Saviour do in such cities as New York or Calcutta, Berlin or Buenos Aires, Shanghai or Sydney, Los Angeles or London ?

When Christ proclaimed His evangel, He preached for a verdict. His was no half-hearted appeal. He spoke as Heaven's ambassador. He spoke as one having authority. And yet as He proclaimed His message, it was from a heart burdened with the griefs and cares of those to whom He ministered. "Tears were in His voice" as He denounced the sins of His age. As we deal with the multitude, we, too, must preach for a verdict. It is not enough to let people "go home and think it over." They must be brought face to face with their responsibility to God. But we must appeal in love rather than denounce in self-righteousness. To feel the challenge of human need and then to meet that need with a mes­sage—that is evangelism.

The Lord has given us His message for this hour. He looks to us to give it to the multitude. This is our task. Only a church that lives by capture can hope to live at all. The greatest things for the advent cause are yet in the future. The whole world is to be lightened with the glory of this message. Ours is a tre­mendous responsibility, but it is a glorious opportunity. The challenge is our chance. Someone has said, "A self-centered church is dead now, and will be buried later." We dare not become self-centered or self-satisfied.