The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 47

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

47

famine this district suffers more than any other.
The ground is poor. In time of drought the crops
fail, and many have to leave their homes and go
begging. It was so in 1921. It is the same this
year. Being a mountainous district, it is also a good
hiding-place for robbers, and the people there have
suffered untold hardships at the hands of robbers
during the last year.

In the small village mentioned above lives a man
by the name of Dju. He is not a rich man according
to our way of thinking, but he is fortunate enough
to have a little land and has enough to eat. He had
been an opium-fiend for some time, but he has given
up opium since he became interested in the Gospel,
a little over a year ago. A few months ago he had
an experience which proved to him that the Word
of God has not only power to deliver man from the
awful opium-habit, but also power over hardened
robbers.

One night a band of robbers entered his village.
Before he realized it, he, together with others of his
village, was carried off towards the south. Some
escaped, but he and a neighbor of his were carried
about two hundred miles to the south, where they
were kept for some time.

One night, as Mr. Dju was sitting in the hut
where they were kept prisoners, he pulled out a little
pocket Testament, which he happened to have with
him. As he was reading it, one of the robbers saw
it and asked him, “What is that you are reading?”
He answered that it was the New Testament. “Are
you a Christian?” “No, but I am learning the doc-
trine.” ‘You are false and trying to deceive us,”
said the robber. “I might be false,” said Mr. Dju,
“but the Book is not.” “Preach to us then,” said
the robber. “I cannot preach.” “Read to us then,
that we may hear what it says.” The Spirit of the
Lord must have helped the man to find the place, for
he began to read: — :

“Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for the
miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their
rust shall be for a testimony against you and shall
eat your flesh as fire. Ye had laid up your treasures
in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers
who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back
by fraud, crieth out; and the cries of them that
reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of
Sabaoth. You have lived delicately on the earth
and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your
hearts in the days of slaughter. Ye have condemned,

ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist
you.” Jas. 5, 1—6.

The man had not read very far befor he began
to weep, and so did the robbers. They were over-
come by the power of the Word. From then on he
received better treatment at their hands, and after
a short time he was released. Having told his story,
he said, “God had to let me be carried off by robbers
in order to awaken me and bring His Word to them.”

“The Word of God is living, and active, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing
even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints
and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and
intents of the heart.” Heb. 4. 12.

J.J. LINDELL, in the Augustana Foreign Missionary.

What Men Can Do.

“Tell us what men do in other churches,” is
a very common request. It expresses both a lack of
information and a longing to be useful in the church
enterprise, which is a very hopeful sign. A great
variety of activities is reported annually.

Men have done all the work mentioned below.
Men of many churches have carried on some of these
activities, while others have been done by men in
only a few churches. The important fact is that
every one of them has been done somewhere.

Personal evangelism — men winning men.

Building up attendance at church services.

Bible study with other men.

Visiting all men in the community not in church.

Providing for a vacation Bible school.

Maintaining a camp for the youth of the church.

Purchasing and equipping building for Boys’
Club.

Giving a playground to the city.

Helping a ministerial student in school.

Supporting a missionary in home or foreign field.

‘Supporting a week-day school of religion.

Giving poor children a Christmas.

Furnishing transportation to the church services
for children, old people, and others who have no
conveyances.

Distributing portions of the Scriptures.

Sponsoring courses of entertainment for the
community. :

Maintaining a men’s chorus for Sunday evening
services.

Presenting a car to the pastor.

Sending the pastor to Palestine.

Supplementing the pastor’s salary.