Stealing Her Idols by J. P. Anderson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, Nos. 39, 40, Harvest Ingathering Number

Stealing Her Idols

By J. P. Anderson

BY J. P. ANDERSON

Not long ago, a woman who has been attending services here in Swatow asked us to go to her home and “steal” her idols, as she did not dare to dispose of them herself.

Accompanied by several brethren, we went. After offering prayer for her and the other members of her family, we began to remove the idols, some of which had been worshiped for several generations. Some occupied prominent places in her living room, others “lived” in small niches in the kitchen wall, while others upstairs were only sheets of paper with characters or pictures on them. The paper idols were pasted on the walls. The incense urns were suspended from the ceiling in front of the idols.

The removal also included what is very dear to the heathen—the ancestral tablets. These are small slabs of wood, each with the name of a deceased ancestor written upon it. At certain times of the year these are worshiped. This woman showed us about the house where all the gods were kept. In all we gathered up about two bushel baskets full. This woman attends all the services, and gives every promise of becoming an earnest follower of the true God.

Swatow.