THERE are those who send up the mournful cry that the time for working the great cities is long past, that these great metropolises, "almost wholly given over to idolatry," have sinned away their day of grace and so hardened their hearts against the voice of God that there is little use for us to put forth great efforts for them.
On the contrary, millions in the major cities have never heard God's last warning message. Such was the case in the city of Madras. In years past, various small campaigns have been held throughout the city, but with the inauguration of the Field School of Evangelism on June 30, 1968, at Periyar Thidal, Madras saw a city-wide campaign by the Seventh-day Adventists. People came from every corner of the city. Christians cried, "Why haven't we heard these things before?" "How is it that you have known this message so long and have not told us about this?" "We have been in Madras for many years and have never heard these great truths!"
Christians of all denominations rallied behind the program. Many brought their non-Christian friends to hear the message of the gospel. Dozens of these Hindu people took their stand for Christ and were baptized.
Accepting Truth Under Adversity
Using the public transportation system, from six to twelve hundred came every night, traveling as far as forty miles each evening to attend the Bible-marking classes. One woman, Nesamani by name (means "pearl of love"), seventy-eight years of age, walked two miles each night to the electric train, rode the train eighteen miles to the city, then walked another half mile to the auditorium. She was a retired Christian worker who was being supported by a missionary woman in America. The property on which she lives belongs to another mission. This mission threatened to expel her if she was baptized. The lady who provided her sustenance wrote that if she became a Seventh-day Adventist she would not receive another dollar of help. Despite these forbidding circumstances, this dear soul felt that the truth was more precious than all, and took her stand with God's commandment-keeping people. She said, "I may have to sit alone on some hillside if they throw me from this place, but God will be with me and He will care."
A seventeen-year-old Hindu boy, a Burma repatriate, living in appalling poverty, could not afford to pay the bus fare, so walked almost five miles to meetings each night. His family has accepted the message and one of his brothers has been baptized. The other four members are planning to join the church in the near future.
A Brahman woman attended the meetings each night with her Parsi husband. When the Sabbath truth was presented, she overheard some people talking about it on the road after the meeting. She turned to them and said: "What! You call your selves Christians and are arguing against the truths of the Bible! I am a Brahman, but to me the words of the Bible are more precious than gold. You are Christians and you should gladly accept the truths that have been preached at Periyar Thidal." "All right," they said, "you can go ahead and keep the Sabbath and become a Seventh-day Adventist. We won't." "Don't worry," she said, "I will," and she was in the first baptism.
Hindu Not Dissuaded
A Catholic gentleman was trying to win his Hindu friend to Christ. He brought him to the Bible Made Plain lectures for this purpose. However, when the testing truths for these last days were presented, he was not willing to accept them. His Hindu friend challenged him: "You have been encouraging me to follow the Bible and now you are not willing to follow these truths because your church does not teach them. What is being taught is clearly from the Scriptures." The Catholic gentleman stopped coming to the meetings, but his Hindu friend continued. Now he, his son, and his brother have all been baptized, with their wives planning on baptism in the near future.
A Catholic woman named Gloria took her stand for Christ and was baptized. Immediately she was disowned by her family. They said, "You are no longer considered one of us. You are not welcome in our home, not even to visit." Two days later one of her relatives was to be married. She was not permitted to attend the wedding. All these things did not move her, however, and already she has won two of her sisters to Christ, and has a strong influence on others.
Brother Roberts, a driver in the electricity department, was urged by his relatives for many years to accept Christ and become a Pentecostal. However, he hesitated because he could not accept their doctrine of tongues. Now he has been baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and his Pentecostal relatives are amazed at the change in his life and are inquiring into the message that brought this change. He is now studying with them and preparing them for baptism.
Warnings Unheeded
Mr. and Mrs. Gnanasigamony were warned by their fellow church members not to attend the Adventist meetings, but the Spirit of God impressed them to go, and they attended regularly despite severe opposition. They began to rejoice in the truths they heard, but each night after the meeting their fellow church members met them at the gate of the compound urging them not to accept the "teachings of these false prophets." They testified, "You must come to these meetings and you will see that these are not false prophets. They are teaching the Word of God." The pastor of their church came into their home and pleaded with them to reject these new doctrines. But nothing could dissuade them. Brother Gnanasigamony is also a driver in the electricity department. He had always refused to work on Sunday under any circumstances. Now he went to his boss and told him that he would work on Sunday, but could not work between sunset Friday and Saturday sunset. Miraculously, his request was granted.
Pastor Henry Charles was asked by his members whether they should attend the meetings at Periyar Thidal. He said, "By all means. If the gospel is being preached, you should go to hear it and support it." His members came. They learned the message for these days. They requested baptism. Eleven of these persons were in the first baptismal group. Then they went to the pastor and said, "You encouraged us to go to the meetings. We have learned the truth and have now been baptized. Now you must come and be baptized and join God's church." He made it a matter of fasting and prayer that God would guide and lead him. The week before the meetings closed, he appeared at Periyar Thidal and in formed us that he had decided to cast his lot with the people of God. He was bap tized and is now working for the other members of his flock.
Sabbaths Off
Mr. Smith is working in an air-conditioning plant. Saturday is the day that he must stand by to service the air-conditioners in the large cinema theaters, which are thronged to capacity on that day. Other days he may be free, but not on Saturdays. Mr. Smith determined by the grace of God that he would not work on another Sabbath regardless of what his employer might say, even if he were to lose his good-paying position. He went to his employer and explained his position. All the other men in the office laughed at him and said it would be impossible for him to get exemption on Sabbath. But when his boss returned three days later after a business trip, the Sabbath exemption was granted and all were amazed.
Mr. Simon lives thirty miles from Madras. He was unemployed, and his family was living in extreme poverty. The day the meetings began at Periyar Thidal, he secured a job nearby, with the employer paying the price of his railway ticket each day. The same evening at five o'clock, as he came from his work, he saw the poster advertising the meetings. He decided perhaps this was for him. He attended every night, getting home only after eleven o'clock in the evening, and waking up to catch the train at five o'clock in the morning again. Each night when he came home he woke his family and told them the wonderful things he had heard. He gladly accepted the message, and testifies that it has made him a completely new man. When the meetings closed, his work also closed. But he believes that God gave him that job so that he could learn of the message. He has decided to dedicate his children to the service of God.
Catholic Prays and Accepts
A Catholic man named Lawrence at tended the meetings every night and noted down all the Scriptures. When the visiting team came to his home they were told that he was praying in the Catholic chapel next door. When they went to see him, there he was with the notes he had taken, comparing these with the Bible. Before they left he told them that he had decided to be come a Seventh-day Adventist and follow God's Word instead of the traditions of men.
A teen-age boy named Martin Luther heard God's message for the first time and decided that he must become a modern Martin Luther to bring about a reformation in Christianity. Now he is a member of God's church.
Some of our ministers were visiting Mr. and Mrs. Henry just at the time their daughter-in-law tried to commit suicide. This experience was used of God to make them feel their great need in this last hour. They and their family have now been baptized. Brother Henry has already donated one third of an acre of his valuable paddy land in his native village for the erection of a church so that God's Word may be preached there.
A large number of those who have been baptized are young men in their early twenties. The members of a Tamil Baptist church are holding meetings of fasting and prayer every Friday evening and asking the Lord to open the way so that they can keep the Sabbath.
Ministers See Revival
Many have testified that the whole Christian population of the city has been stirred by these meetings. Many are attending church on Sundays now who did not bother before. Recently, representatives of a ministerial association came to John Willmott's home and invited him to address a meeting of the ministers who wanted to meet the person who brought this great revival to this city. Hundreds of others are still considering what they will do with these truths, and many are making the necessary adjustments so that they can join God's people and prepare for the soon coming of the Saviour.
These experiences and many more like them indicate that the time has come to work in a mighty way for the large cities of India. There are thirty-one cities in South India with one hundred thousand to 4 million people in each of them. Some of these cities have not yet heard the public proclamation of our message. Men and means must be channeled into these cities now that God has given us this day of opportunity. We do not know how long this day will last. We invite the prayers of our workers throughout the world that somehow men and means may be provided to reach these cities now.
