TO SECURE converts who will remain in the church is the aim of every pastor, evangelist, and church administrator.
Let me emphasize that nothing has ever been devised that will produce more lasting results than the ideas employed in the early days of the Advent Movement — the preaching of the three angels' messages by illustrating the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
Personal experience has taught me an important lesson. The use of slides focused on a screen are good, but the best results are obtained by using visual aids that re main constantly before the people. The symbols of beasts and images portrayed in the Scripture are loaded with meaning, but for the most part these prophetic illustrations are entirely foreign to the average listener.
The Use of Symbols
The eye is unable to catch the full significance unless the listener can constantly compare the illustration with the Scripture and the explanation. Furthermore, in order to grasp the importance of where we are in the stream of time as related to closing events, the entire prophetic vision of all these symbols needs to be represented in its fullness. This of course is possible as you continually add symbol after symbol from night to night in your presentation. Consider the impact of such an illustration when suddenly the listener sees for the first time, as well as hears it from the Bible, that the beast of Revelation 13 is made up of parts of all the other beasts before it.
For example, God took the head of the lion, the feet of the bear, the body of the leopard, the horns of the ten-horned beast, thus creating the symbolic beast of Revelation 13, and to this He adds that the dragon gave to this creature his power and his authority. If the religious significance of each beast has been thoroughly presented, need one say more to drive home the importance of the beast of Revelation 13? Can words adequately describe what we hope the listener will envision in the discussion of the beast of Revelation 17?
Gripping the Interest
To make things more fascinating, dates can be so arranged to carry one through the stream of time, beginning at Creation, after which the dragon entered the Garden of Eden to deceive, following on through to Babylon in 605, Medo-Persia in 538, Greece in 331, Rome in 168; and here can be placed the cross, showing that every thing preceding was B.C. and everything thereafter is A.D. Then follow the ten kingdoms in 476, the Papacy in 538, the deadly wound in 1798, which is also the date of the coming up of the new power represented by the two - horned beast as the United States. The date 1929 follows, when the deadly wound began to heal, taking us down to the present moment of this year as we see the developments making possible the fulfillment of Revelation 17.
Daniel 2 takes on an entirely new significance after it has been thoroughly studied, and the illustration is left before the eye to make possible constant comparison of the prophet's view with the beasts representing kingdoms. Audience attendance grows nightly as the word is spread about that for the first time prophecies of the Bible are really being made to live for the listener.
Visual Aids Available
The Missionary Volunteer Department has prepared these new visual aids, as mentioned in this article, not only for the youth of the church in Voice of Youth meetings but also to help our pastors, evangelists, educational institutions, and lay men in presenting the three angels' messages in the full power of the Holy Spirit and with such clearness that people are compelled to make a decision.
These evangelistic visual aids are large enough to hold the attention of an audience up to one thousand. They are printed in full color by the Review and Herald on top-quality paper suitable for mounting on plywood or aluminum sheets. They can be sprayed with clear plastic that will make them last for years.
Please place your order with the MV department of your conference. The supply is limited. Order at once. The price is only $8 for a complete set, postpaid, in a durable mailing tube to any place in the world. Sets available to anyone.
