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The Power of the Word

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 29.

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The Power of the Word

By R. P. DAUPHIN

R. P. DAUPHIN
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” This silent working of the Holy Spirit as illustrated in this parable, was demonstrated among the Yorubas, one of the tribes of Southern Nigeria, thus adding another testimony to the power of the message to transform the life.
At Erunmu, in Southern Nigeria, where we began work a little over a year ago, a young Yoruba girl accepted Christ, and renounced the worship of idols; and this is how she came to accept Christ: Having heard of the judgments of God that are coming upon this world and of the destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire, she went home, took a piece of dry wood, and put it in the fire to see how the wicked will be burned. She watched the wood in the fire till it was wholly burned. Then she decided to give her heart to the Lord; and she has since been faithful. She was persecuted for refusing to eat food offered in sacrifice to idols, but she remained steadfast. It is the belief that the god will kill any one who ventures to eat the new yam at the time of yam harvest, unless he first presents some of the new yam to the god. This young believer in the message knows now that an idol is nothing, and she says it can do nothing. She was the first thus to eat of the new yam.
There is a young man here whose name is Isaiah Balogun. Balogun is a Yoruba word which means a captain. He wanted to know who we are. Some one told him we are the people keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath. Finally, with joy he heard the message; and without any outward demonstration, spread the gospel news among his countrymen many miles away, and as a result a large number of people accepted the message.
“Thou, whose almighty word Chaos and darkness heard, And took their flight, Hear us, we humbly pray; And where the gospel’s day Sheds not its glorious ray, Let there be light!”
Erunmu, Southern Nigeria.