Our Missionary Campaign
By I. H. Evans
SEVENTY years ago the third angel’s message had its first believer. From the very beginning of this work, the people who believed the message have been looking for the coming of the Lord, when the work of God will be finished. Great and important national and international events have been looked for, and the trend of current events has been carefully studied by God’s people from the beginning of this movement to the present time. Again and again conditions giving evidence that the end was very near, have developed. Then all would quiet down, peace would reign, and the opportunity for extending our work would be renewed. The last few months have been thrilling beyond anything that has taken place since the message started. The world is utterly confounded by the events that are taking place. Those who have been prophesying peace, saying that there was to be no more war and that all international events would be settled by arbitration, find that they have only been uttering vain prophecies; and many who have been misled by their teachings, are now inquiring, “What do these things mean?” The last few years have been very favorable for the prosecution of our denominational work. Every barrier against preaching the message has apparently been cast down. The doors of many nations have been thrown wide open, and opportunities for preaching the gospel have been granted to our people, such as had never been known since the days of Christ. Today the whole world is throwing open its doors and giving the missionary opportunity to enter and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our work has steadily grown, and the last few years have been most encouraging in the results obtained. The last quarterly statistical report of the North American Division Conference brings to us the encouraging news of the baptism of 2,435 believers, making the total number of baptisms to Sept. 30, 1914, in the North American Division, 4,976. While this is encouraging, surely we ought to undertake to double this number next year. The last quarter of this year, we hope, will bring the number baptized up to more than six thousand. Our churches are now engaging in an extended missionary campaign. Never since our work started has there been such an opportunity for personal effort. God has opened the way and given this people favor, and many are anxious to know the truth. Our literature is laden with the third angel’s message, and it has proved a mighty factor in bringing many souls to Christ. An extended distribution of our literature cannot but bring to souls the knowledge of a sin-pardoning Saviour. Our periodicals—the Signs of the Times (weekly and monthly), the Watchman, Liberty, the Protestant, and Life and Health—are being widely distributed. The scattered condition of our people, a family here and there, makes it possible for us to reach a multitude of people and place in their hands literature bearing on the third angel’s message. The wise man spoke very definitely concerning missionary work when he wrote these beautiful words: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” How much longer these golden opportunities for service will be open to us we cannot say. The whole trend of events shows the imminence of the end. Every day accentuates the necessity of greater zeal and earnestness if we would finish the Lord’s work. We hope that in all our churches throughout the entire field, every individual church member will feel the call of God pressing upon his heart, to give the message to his neighbors and friends. The time is at hand when men must be pressed into the kingdom of God. Let us not forget to pray that the God of the harvest will by the Holy Spirit so water the seed sown that many honest hearts will accept the message and be prepared for Christ’s coming.