Fort Wayne Bible College - Vine / Light Tower Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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H .. Y WTHELIGHTTDWER Dean Bible, Missions The Concern Tor The Harvest There are Three elemenTs in concern Tor The l-larvesT. The TirsT is spirifual vision. This is To see men as They are-losT. wiThouT God, dead in Trespasses and sins. This is The realism ThaT Taces Trankly The TesTering sore oT The world's simculness and accepTs iT as a TacT. l.iTT up your eyes, and look on The Tields, were The challenging words oT ChrisT To l-lis disciples. T-le wanTed Them To see whaT l-le saw-The mulTiTudes shepherd- less and perishing. l-le saw below The superTicial exTerior oT social dressing and culTure To The desperaTe need wiThin. Alexander R. l-lay expressed The essenTial need oT heaThendom Thus: Some see in heaThen lands The smiles, The sunshine brighT, The colors gay: 'Tis buT The world's surTace show, A mask To hide disease and deaTh. The nexT elernenT is sympaTheTic inTeresT. IT is The response oT love To need. When our Lord saw The mulTiTudes, He was moved wiTh compassion on Them. WiTh pene- TraTing vision, ChrisT perceived Their need, buT iT was much more Than cold scienTiTic insighT oT human misery, iT was undersTanding coupled wiTh compassion. Vision uniTed wiTh love To produce sympaThy. An evangelisT who Traveled widely made This observaTion of The church, There is no burden! WhaT a Tragedy in The presence oT appalling world need! Our peril is noT ignorance, buT lack oT compassion. The sufferings oT an enTire world pour upon us Through radio and press. The calls upon our sympaThies become greaTer Than our capaciTy To respond. We seek reTuge in a proTecTive covering oT a convenTional smile and a Tormal condolence. To preserve The naTuralness and sponTaneiT oT love we would pray. More love To Thee, O ChrisT, more love To Thee. Then wiTh a Tuller measure oT His love inTusing us, we may have The sympaThy oT bleeding hearTs. The Third elemenT is a sense oT urgency. ChrisT said, Say noT ye, There are yeT Tour rnonlhz, and Then comeTh The harvesT? Behold, l say unTo you, l.iTT up your eyes, and look on The Tields: Tor They are whiTe already unTo harvesT. Ripeness will noT always lasT: unless The harvesT is garnered iT will be irreTrievably losT. Time moves on and The presenT opporTuniTy waiTs Tor no rnan's inacTion. Reapers are needed NOW! I4 REV. SAFARA A. WITMER, A.B., M A

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THE LIGHT TDWER JOSEPH E. RAMSEYER Presidenf Bible Lecfures The Challenge for The Harvest ln Maffhew nine, we read: When he saw fhe mulfifudes . . . fainfed and scaf- feredf'-He said unfo His disciples, The harvesf fruly is plenfeousf' Luke has if: The harvesf fruly is greaff' I wanf fo menfion fhree of fhe greaf fhings in fhis significanf ufferance of our Lord Jesus Chrisf: Firsf: The Greafness of fhe l.ord's harvesf field. No land, no race, no individual is oufside of fhe scope of His field. ln fhe house of Cornelius, fhe aposfle Pefer voiced fhis greaf frufh in fhe following language: Cf a frufh I perceive fhaf God is no re- specfer of persons: buf in every nafion he fhaf fearefh Him, and workefh righfeousness is accepfed of Him. Second: The Greafness of fhe need-or fhe presenf sfafus of fhe harvesf. Alfhough considerable has been done in fhe pasf cenfury by many missionary sociefies, and precious fruif has been gafhered, much more golden grain has perished fhan has been garnered during fhe same period. Moreover, fhe populafion in unevangelized lands has sfeadily increased so fhaf fhere are more heafhen foday fhan ever before in human hisfory. Third: The Greafness of our l.ord's compassion. He says: For fhe Son of man is come fo seek and fo save fhaf which was losf. And, again we hear Him say, Ofher sheep I have . . . fhem also l musf bring. His greaf hearf of undying love is reaching ouf for fhe millions in fhe hearf of Africa, in fhe inferior of India, China, Soufh America, and fhe ofher secfions of His field as much foday as if did for fhe mulfifudes fhaf were before Him when He said, Truly fhe harvesf is greaff' His mafchless love for fhe perishing has nof abafed. The appeal for help will grip us all fhe more when we consider fhe awful facf fhaf fhe heafhen living now musf hear fhe message in fheir day, or fheir opporfunify is forever gone. O how much golden grain is losf every day! Truly fhe harvesf is plenfeousf' I 3

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THE LIGHT 'rciwzn The Commission Tor The Harvest . . . ThaT he will send TorTh laborers inTo his harvesT. Go Ye ThereTore and Teach all naTions. TvlaTThew 28:I9. The greaT commission should bear direcTly upon The liTe purpose oT every disciple oT The Lord. The command oT ChrisT, Go and Teach all naTions, iT iT means anyThing To us Today, spells duTy, noT only To Those called To be leaders buT To every ChrisTian. WiTh l-lis commission To go we may go TorTh Tearlessly. ln ACTS l:8 we are deTiniTely commissioned To a world-wide TesTimony, even unTo The uTTermosT parT oT The earTh. The early ChrisTians undersTood Their MasTer's mean- ing. When They were scaTTered abroad, They carried ouT The insTrucTions oT Their risen Lord. When ChrisT says Go , every one musT move. Go ye unTo all The world, and preach The Gospel To every creaTure. Mark 26:I5. This is our direcT responsibiliTy and obligaTion To The individual. IT is l-lis will Ton every ChrisTian. And were l-le here Today in The Tace oT The millions who have never heard l-lis name, l-lis mosT urgenT plea To you and To me would be This: Go and Tell oThers. The lasT greaT command oT The One whom we love and serve was NGO . And yeT nineTeen cenTuries have passed by, and The world is s+iII unevangelized. They perish, perish Tor wanT oT The gospel lighT. Shall we go and Tell oThers? WiTh God The com- mission has in iT all The glory oT The impossible, The advenTure oT leading a Torlorn hope To cerTain vicToryg The glory oT apparenT deTeaT and The real vicTory aT The end. lT we would gloriTy God, leT us do The work l-le has given us To do. LeT us say wiTh lgnaTieu Loyola, who had a passion Tor ChrisT: Teach us, good Lord, To serve Thee as Thou deservesTg To give and noT To counT The cosT3 To TighT and noT To ask Tor any reward save ThaT oT knowing ThaT we do Thy will. T! MARTHA W. AMSTUTZ Dean oT Women l-losTess, FirsT Aid Deaconefs Course I 5