Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Welcome back to Hackberry House, a podcast devoted to the Word of God and the persecuted church in North Korea. My name is Bob. This is podcast number 300. It is October 16, 2015. Well, let's do one more chapter in Jonathan Goforth's By My Spirit. Hold on to your seats on this one. This is Chapter 8 in his very classic book. I was asked to hold meetings at Kaifeng on two different occasions. The first time, I was faced with some unaccountable hindrance right up till the last day of the services. Different ones were brought under conviction, but there was nothing like the free movement of the Spirit which I had seen in Manchuria and at Changte. During the final meeting, though, one of the medical assistants, Mr. Cao, cried out to a colleague, God is being held up here because of us. We are at enmity with each other, and everyone knows it. Let's get rid of this hindrance." The other immediately stood up and confessed his part in the quarrel, whereupon the whole audience broke down. There were a large number of outsiders present that evening, and they especially seemed to be affected. I ran around amongst them and heard many yielding outright and crying for mercy. On the occasion of my second visit to Kaifeng, the meetings were conducted especially for the students of Mr. Saleh's school. There were about 140 students in the school, of whom perhaps 20% were Christians. During the eight days that I was with the boys, no real movement became evident. Japan had just brought in her 21 demands, and naturally everyone was wrought up to the highest pitch. The day on which our meetings opened, a big public gathering was held in the city, the students, as usual, being very much in evidence. Speakers were chosen who denounced the Japanese in the most violent terms and insisted that steps should be taken to wipe out this national disgrace. A number of students from the government schools, both male and female, let out their own blood and inscribed vows of undying hatred against Japan. On the fourth day of the meetings, a note was sent to Mr. Saleh's students from the girls of one of the government schools in the city. The note ran something like this. We thought you were men and that you would naturally take the lead in the defense of your country, but we see now that we were mistaken. You're just a bunch of sissies. were so disgusted with you that we've decided to send you some girls' clothes to put on." The boys were so aroused that they stationed guards at the gate to ward off any who would approach with suspicious-looking bundles. One can understand, therefore, how the boys were not exactly in a receptive mood for the message which I had come to deliver to them. In fact, Mr. Salais had the greatest difficulty in even keeping the school together at all. I had to leave Kaifeng. Directly the meetings were over. Mr. Saleh accompanied me to the station. Just before saying good-bye, I strongly urged him to continue the meetings, and he promised that he would. He told me afterwards that on his way back to the school he was very much depressed. He kept thinking, he said, if that man, who has had so much experience, can't do anything, what can I do? Still, he had promised to go on with the meetings, and he had no intention of going back on his word. On arriving back at the school, he called the boys together and gave a short address. When he had finished, the head Chinese teacher came up on the platform. For several minutes, the man could do nothing but weep. When he was finally able to control himself, he said, I was smoking cigarettes with some of the students. Mrs. Salé, on hearing about it, called me in and charged me with it. I protested my innocence. You know, Mrs. Salé, I said to her, before I became a Christian I was a smoker, but since my conversion I've given it up, and surely you don't suppose that I, a Christian and a teacher, would go and smoke cigarettes with the students? Mrs. Salé seemed to be satisfied with my explanation, but I wasn't. That was a year ago. And since then, every time I've tried to pray that that lie has come back and stopped me." A powerful effect, it seems, was produced by this confession. Convictions swept over the students, the non-Christians as well as the Christians. One of the non-Christian students, a boy who had been the ringleader in every insubordination and devilry, was terribly broken up and was the first to confess his sins. Many of the boys followed his example. By the following afternoon, as many as 55 of the non-Christian students had gone to Mr. Saleh's study and professed Christ as their Savior. Here are two clear instances, in one city, of how God was held up by the sins of His own professed followers. In both cases, as soon as the sin had been brought to light and the stone of hindrance removed, The Holy Spirit broke through in all the fullness of His convicting power. May we not say that this is a law of God's Kingdom? Without the 120 first being filled with the Holy Spirit, it would have been impossible for those 3,000 on the day of Pentecost to have been brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The work at Quang Chau had been started in the 90s by Mr. Argento, an Italian. Upon becoming a Christian, Mr. Argento had been turned out of his home. He joined the China Inland Mission and was sent to Guangzhou, where, in a few years, he had gathered a little band of Christians around him. Their practice was to get up before daylight to study the scriptures together. In 1900, the boxers bound Mr. Argento, poured kerosene over him, and set him on fire. Some of his friends, however, came to the rescue and managed to save his life, but his sight was lost and other parts of his body were badly burnt. The mission urged him to go back to Europe, but he would not think of it. If I can't see, he said, I can at least stay here and pray for the salvation of my people. But after a few years, his health became so wretched that he was obliged to leave China for good. He made his home with his wife's people in Norway. A neighbor of Mr. Argento's in Norway told me how the spirit of prayer was constantly upon him. Often he would be up till long after midnight, interceding for the people of Guangzhou. Sometimes his wife would say, you can't stand this, you're too weak, you must go to bed. And to this he would reply, how can I sleep when so many thousands of there in Guangzhou are dying without Jesus? When I arrived at Guangzhou in December 1915, I saw the last tile being put in its place on the roof of a fine church. The church was pointed out to me as an example of the fruit of Mr. Argento's sacrificial ministry. It possessed seating capacity for 1,400 people and had been built entirely out of funds contributed by Chinese Christians. At that time, there were 2,000 Christians in the city of Guangzhou and throughout the surrounding country. There were, besides, 21 outstations, and of all the workers, only two were being paid out of foreign funds. Shortly after my arrival, I was introduced to Elder Wen. In accordance with Chinese custom, I asked the elder how old he was. With a twinkle in his eye, he replied, I'm just 18 years old. Now he had grey hair, and I guessed that he must be at least sixty. It's true, he went on to explain, I'm eighteen years old. Before that I was dead in trespasses and sins. I was an opium sot, a drunkard, and a gambler. I had become so weakened by my debauchery that one day a friend of mine, meeting me on the street, looked absolutely aghast at my appearance. Look here, Wen, he said, you can't last much longer at the rate you're going. You'd better go right over to that Jesus Church and have the missionary pray for you." In alarm, I decided to follow his advice. I went straight to Mr. Gargento and told him of my plight. He prayed for me, and that day the craving for opium and drink left me. I became literally a new man in Christ, and I've been living for him now for 18 years. On the Sunday morning that the meetings began, it was found that the new church was not large enough to hold the crowd. Many hung around the doors and windows all through the service. It was evident from the very first meeting that the Holy Spirit had come in unusual power. Sometimes there would be hundreds of people weeping at the same time. As I remember, the sin confessed appeared to be mainly along the line of neglected duty in prayer and Bible study and care for souls. I came in contact with two demon-possessed people during the Kwongchow meetings. One was the wife of a prominent evangelist. The evangelist was asked one day to take charge of the early morning prayer meeting. Just after he'd got the meeting nicely started, his wife cried out, you're a pretty one to be leading a prayer meeting after the way you've sinned. She then proceeded to rake up all his past sins, including those which he had committed before his conversion, and in fact, before he had even met her. Yes, replied the evangelist, addressing that evil spirit, while I was your slave, I did these things, but I am your slave no longer. The Lord Jesus has changed my heart. On another occasion, right in the middle of a meeting, this woman began to shout all manner of blasphemous things and generally to make a great ado. A Bible woman who was sitting behind her pulled her down and told her to stop. With that, she turned around and spat all over the Bible woman. A lady missionary, sitting nearby, took out her handkerchief and wiped the saliva off the Bible woman's clothes. This so affected the demon-possessed that she put her head on the missionary's shoulder and wept bitterly. The other demon-possessed person was a heathen who'd been brought into the meetings by his Christian friends in the hope that he might be cured. While nothing out of the ordinary was going on in a meeting, this man was silent, save for a slight whimpering. But whenever the Spirit of God began to move in convicting power and people started to weep and confess their sins, he was roused into a great fury. The filth that then proceeded from his lips was frightful. After one meeting, in which he had been more than usually disturbing, the demon-possessed man was led into a room where another missionary and myself, together with most of the Chinese leaders, had gathered. Mr. M. led in prayer. For some time, the demon-possessed man merely went on whimpering. Then the missionary happened to use the expression, Jesus of Nazareth, and immediately the man seemed to fall into the most excruciating agony. The same was true when Elder Wen prayed for him. Whenever the words, Jesus of Nazareth, were used, he seemed to pass beyond all control. Finally, Elder Chang Putting his hand on the man's head, cried, Foul fiend, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, come out of him! And with that the man flung himself on the floor and wallowed there, foaming at the mouth. There was a circle around him, and on account of the long Chinese clothes I could not see him closely, but suddenly I distinctly heard a sound as if he had vomited. Later on I looked carefully, but there was no evidence they had done so. Yet something apparently had gone out of him. He got up from the floor, assisted by several of the evangelists. He was limp, pale, and trembling, but he was in his right mind. There was no doubt about that. The evangelist's wife was also prayed for in the same way, and the demon cast out of her. The report a year later was that both of these people were living as ordinary Christians. During the eight days that the meetings lasted, 154 people were baptized, and some hundreds had already been baptized that year. One day some prominent businessmen from the city, who had been attending the Church for years but had not had sufficient courage to take a definite stand, came to the missionary and asked that the rules of the church which provided that a man should have made public confession for at least six months before being allowed to receive baptism should be set aside in their case. We've been a little uncertain about the gospel up till now, they said, but these days all our doubts have been removed. We truly believe that we have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and we can't bear to have to wait six months before being received into the church. Won't you receive us now? They were accepted and baptized. Four years later, the 2,000 Christians had increased to 8,000. During the meetings, my attention was repeatedly drawn to a splendid-looking specimen of manhood, a Mr. Yang. I inquired about him and learned that he had been a prizefighter in his unconverted days. It had been his proud and undisputed boast that no man in all the surrounding countries could knock him out. He had naturally had many enemies, who, however, had taken good care to keep out of his way. Then he became a Christian, and his enemies decided that the time had come to wipe out old scores. One day, while Yang was at market, a group of them surrounded him, beat him almost to death, and left him. He was found by some of his friends and carried back to his home. The missionaries wished to have the perpetrators of the outrage arrested and brought before the magistrate, but Mr. Yang refused to bring any charge against them. What he did was to pray for them. In a few months he was well enough to go around again. His enemies were furious. They thought that that had done for him. This time they decided that they would go right to his home and finish him off. The poor fellow was so terribly beaten up this second time that for months his family despaired of his life. Yet he was firmly insistent that no action should be taken against his assailants. As soon as he was recovered, he went around the country preaching the gospel. He died a few years after I met him, but it was not before he had led many of his old enemies to Christ. He left a church of 600 members in his own village and 10 other churches scattered throughout the surrounding country. I was asked to lead a series of meetings at Sinyangidho, extending over 12 days. In a few days, the Holy Spirit seemed to be deeply convicting the schoolgirls and adult church members. On the sixth day, an unusually intense movement took place among the girls. From their confessions it seemed as if they felt that they were indeed before the judge. The schoolboys, however, remained as cold as stone. There were about a hundred of them in the high school, the majority of whom were from heathen families. They keenly resented, I was informed, my talking about their own peculiar sins and shortcomings, as if there were no others to be mentioned. As a matter of fact, I had really no idea what their sins were. I just spoke, day by day, along whatever line I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit without referring to any one sin in particular. Still, whatever I said seemed to rub the boys the wrong way, and as the days went by it became evident that they had determined, as far as possible, not to listen to me. As soon as I would start to speak, they would look at each other with the most bored expressions on their faces, or close their eyes as if in sleep, or gaze up at the ceiling as if to say, well, no matter what he says, he can't make us listen to him. It usually happened, though, that presently a boy here and there would come under conviction, much to the annoyance, needless to say, of the more hardened. After every service the boys would return to their dormitory and hold an indignation meeting. The impudence, they would say, of this man to come here and publish our sins abroad. Some, I learned, expressed a most intense desire to knife me. Each of these conclaves, of course, ended with a unanimous decision not to listen to me, and with the passing of resolutions inflicting all manner of penalties upon any who should yield. I was sorry for the boys. I knew it was simply a contest between the Lord and the devil, and though I was hearing about the indignation meetings, I thought it best not to make any reference to them. I had confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to make these boys yield, no matter how firmly they had resolved to oppose Him. One thing that gave me hope was that each succeeding day a larger number of the boys seemed to become uneasy. This naturally maddened the boys who were as yet unmoved, and after each service they would do their utmost to bring the wavering ones back to their senses. The break came suddenly and unexpectedly. On the tenth afternoon, after the boys had gone back to their dormitory, the Holy Spirit came down amongst them with resistless power. Teachers and pupils alike were broken as by judgment. Boys in agony would plead with their teachers to pray for them. Teachers, weeping, would reply, we're too full of sin ourselves to open our mouths before God. Fortunately, my evangelist, Mr. Sue, was living right in the same dormitory and knew just how to handle such a situation. He went from boy to boy, doing what he could to help and comfort. The movement lasted for six hours. Mr. Hsu told me afterwards that he had never witnessed such a mighty manifestation of the controlling power of God over men. It was a pretty subdued lot of boys that I came before on the 11th forenoon. After I had finished my address, the boys vied with each other in their eagerness to give their testimonies. One after another confessed in tears how I had so cut them to the quick that they had wished they could only get close enough to me to stab me to death. And for well over an hour, the stream of testimony and confession continued. Truly, had the Lord triumphed gloriously. During those last few days, the students clung to me as to a father. They repeatedly declared their willingness to give their lives for Mr. Soo or myself. Oh my, doesn't it make you hungry? to have something like that happen in your church, in your town, in your school, in your job, on your street, does me. May God give us grace to follow through, to keep praying, to keep listening, to gather people together to pray, and to see what He's going to do in our world, in our day, 2015, today. Well, we won't have a podcast tomorrow, but on Sunday we'll talk about the persecuted church in North Korea. And hopefully by Monday I'll have finished a work that I'm doing on suffering, Christians suffering. I'm going to bring out some of the scriptures about that for you. Working on that right now. If it's not done yet, we have a whole lot of men of God lined up on my stack of books to talk to you. Please don't forget Acts 2.21 where we began today, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.