The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 138

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138

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

people on earth, or just about two-thirds of human-
ity, are non-Christian.

Now let us look squarely at these figures
—1,200 million — 1,200,000,000. Does it mean
anything out of the ordinary to you? ‘Does this
number startle you in any way? I fear that we
have been letting big numbers flow over our lips so
frequently in recent years that their immensity no
longer impresses us to any appreciable extent.

Let us, by means of an illustration, give you an
idea of the immensity of the vast number of non-
Christian people on earth. Suppose you were a man
twenty-five years of age and all the non-Christians
on earth were to pass by you five abreast as you
stood at some certain point. How old, do you think,
you would be by the time that the last one of the
1,200 million non-Christians in the world would
have passed you marching every day of the week,
ten hours every day? — You would be SIXTY-FIVE
YEARS OLD.

This illustration will give you a faint idea of the
immensity of the non-Christian world, which is still,
1,900 years after the Savior’s death, in ignorance
of the Gospel of His atoning death, the death He
suffered for the sins of the world. Think of it, dear
reader — nineteen hundred years have gone since
Jesus bled on Calvary for the world’s sins; nineteen
hundred years have passed since Jesus’ glorious
resurrection from the dead as the Victor over sin,
death, and hell; nineteen hundred years have rolled
by since He told His disciples—and that includes
you and me —to preach the tidings of His redemp-
tion to the whole world, and still two-thirds of all
the people in the world sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death! After almost two thousand years
the missionary command which the Lord gave His
Church has been carried out only to this extent, that
one-third of humanity has heard the Gospel, which
is intended for all.

No doubt some of our readers, when they hear
this, will cry out in dismay, “Isn’t that awful!” and
then will probably in most cases turn to the next
article and forget the terrible truth. But, we pray
you, just stop a bit and consider the stupendous
significance of the fact here stated before you go on.
* If this fact is so awful, and it surely is, why should
we allow it to continue? Don’t you feel that you
should do something to remedy conditions? What
do you intend to do about it?

What can you do about it? You think that, be-
cause you are only one individual, you can do
‘nothing to convert two-thirds of the people on earth,

so many that it would take them forty years to pass
a given point? You say the task is too big for you
to attempt by yourself ?

But will you patiently listen to a few more facts?
I need not tell you that you are living in the richest
and most blessed country in the world. It is esti-
mated that the total wealth contained within the
bounds of our dear land amounts to more than
$350,000,000,000. This is probably equal to all the
wealth of the rest of the world. There is good reason
to think that a proportionate share of this wealth is
in the possession of our people, of whom there are no
fewer than 1,500,000 within the bounds of the Sy-
nodical Conference. Now, do you know what we did
last year to save the souls of these 1,800 million non-
Christian people in the world? Zach one of us gave
only about thirly-five cents. On the other hand, do
you know about how much we Lutherans of the
Synodical Conference spent for luxuries, for things
we could easily have done without, for things we
would have been better off without in many cases?
Just about ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS each.

Do you now begin to see what you as an in-
dividual, and every other Lutheran in the Synodical
Conference as an individual, could do to make
a little more reasonable a proportion between that
thirty-five cents for foreign missions and that one
hundred and fifty dollars for luxuries? Of course,
we know that many Lutherans in the Synodical
Conference have given much more than thirty-five
cents for foreign missions during the past year, but
we also know that this fact helps to make the worse
showing for many others among us, who have pos-
sibly given nothing at all.

Here is another thing we should like you to con-
sider. According to the law of averages the mem-
bers of the Synodical Conference annually earn
about $437,500,000, or an average of $350 per in-
dividual. Now, if only one per cent. of each income
were given to the cause of foreign missions, it would
mean that the contributions to these missions would
be increased tenfold — an increase from thirty-five
cents from each of us to $3.50. .In other words,
each one of us Lutherans of the Synodical Con-
ference at present is contributing only */» of one
per cent. a year to save the souls of the 1,200 million
non-Christians for whose salvation we claim to be
much concerned and for whom we daily pray with
our lips, “Thy kingdom come!” When we say this
prayer, do we also with true concern think of, and
pray for, all non-Christians? Does our contribution
of */ per cent. per annum for foreign missions in-