Plans for a Great Missionary Campaign
By A. G. Daniells
THE officers of the General Conference Committee are planning for a general missionary campaign during the coming fall and winter. These plans will be carefully considered by the committee during the Washington council, October 7-21, and published immediately at the close of the council. We are anxious that this missionary effort shall be general. It ought to be enthusiastically pushed by every union and State conference in the world. Every church should join in the movement. In short, it should be entered into with the whole heart by every believer in the third angel’s message.6 Why not? The one sole purpose of the movement is to make known to lost, perishing humanity the great threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-14. That message is the everlasting gospel presented by the Spirit of God in just the setting required to meet the tremendous issues of this hour. That message is the hope of the world to-day. Its scope covers the whole ground. Its details meet every issue. There is no perplexing feature in the tremendous problems before the human family at this moment that is not solved by this message. It is the way, the truth, and the life. It is the light and the hope of the world. Is this saying too much for this message? Is it overstating the facts? The third angel’s message is all this, or it is nothing. Being God’s message for this generation, it must cover the whole ground. It must meet every issue. If not, it would be incomplete. If there was a single feature in any of the varied forms of the great controversy of this hour not fully met by the message God has given to this generation, then another message would be required. That would be a strange situation. That is not God’s way. His wisdom foresaw and his love provided all that is required to meet this crisis of the ages. And the threefold message of Revelation 14 is that provision. The truth of this great message is the dearest thing in the world. It is the pearl of great price, the treasure hid in a field. Having found it, we should rejoice in it, and, like the woman who found her piece of silver that was lost, we should ask our friends to rejoice with us. But no one can rejoice with us in this truth without coming to know it as we have. This means missionary work on the part of those who know the truth. And this is the meaning of the campaign under consideration. We feel that the effort we are now planning to make this coming winter must be a great one; it must be effective; it must make an impression; it must reach hearts; it must awaken minds; it must lead precious souls to accept this message, and thus prepare them to meet God. To this end we shall do all in our power to prepare materials, and give assistance in the way of friendly counsel. Last winter we prepared some special tracts on the coming of the Lord. In addition to these, fresh matter will be prepared to meet the present situation. One of the most serious questions agitating the minds of the American people at this hour is the terrible struggle between capital and labor. This question now has the floor, and will undoubtedly hold it until after the next presidential election. It looks as if the recent stand taken by the president of the United States against the demands of the labor unions would intensify the bitterness of the present struggle. The situation is truly alarming. What the coming year will bring to this country no one can tell. The Word of God tells of the awful results that will finally come. This bitter and unholy war between capital and labor is clearly set forth in the Word of God as a last-day event. It is an ominous sign of the swiftly approaching end. The presentation of the Bible truth regarding this terrible evil is a part of the great threefold message for this time. We can not give the whole message in all its application to the world to-day without proclaiming what God says to both the employer and the laborer. He foresaw this time, and revealed to his prophets the true remedy for this serious evil. None of the leaders on either side of the conflict have found the remedy. Each party has right on its side, but both have wrongs. Both take extreme positions, and both are missing the way. God’s Word shows the way, and we who have that Word and know that way must make it plain to the mistaken millions about us. When could there be a better time for us to deliver this phase of our message to the world than just now, when the conflict is so hot that it is engaging the earnest attention of every thoughtful citizen? Now is our time to speak and work. In another column will be found a further statement of plans and opportunities for service.