Library MM 4 .65 go OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST UNION OF SOUTHEAST ASIA ‘4111r VOLUME FIFIEE January - February UMBER I taught them they were-gradua4fy softened to the Advent message. it Pays to Visit Voice of The whole family were baptized in August. the husband, wife, and four children. Prophecy Students "Yes, it pays to visit Voice of Prophecy students, and in this case "In areas where house numbers me: 'After completing three of the I would say it pays much." —Jan are irregular and the search is often Voice of Prophecy Bible courses, Hutauruk, Pastor, Penang Malay unsuccessful, along dusty or muddy I desire to become a Seventh-day Church. roads through the kampongs and Adventist, for I know that they "Recently I visited a Voice of rubber estates, on lonely jungle follow the truth of Christianity. Prophecy student in Pontian who footpaths leading to the villages, Please help me because I am desper- has taken three of the English or on busy city streets noisy with ate as my mother is against my courses and is now taking the distractions; it takes courage to wishes.' Daniel and Revelation course. She visit Voice of Prophecy students. "I was impressed by the sincerity had never been visited. Since my "And when we find the students of this fourteen year old girl. But visit she has been attending church often they are adult Muslims, Bud- I conversed more with the parents regularly. There is great potential dhists, Hindus, or Christians who as they were the obstacle to her in visiting these Voice of Prophecy have studied the lessons in hope desire to become a Seventh-day students." —Daniel Lee, Acting of getting something for nothing, Adventist. I arranged for Bible stud- Pastor, Pontian. jobless people who felt the Voice ies with the whole family and as (To page 6.) of Prophecy course might qualify them for a job. Then there are the teenagers who are attracted by a colourful diploma to hang on the wall as a room decoration. Hun- dreds of the Voice of Prophecy students I have visited are of this type. "In spite of these hundreds I still continue to visit the Voice of Prophecy students, for among these hundreds I find sincere seekers for truth. "One Sunday afternoon a few months ago I found myself in a big kampong searching for a particular house which I could not find. After a two hour search, the sun was setting, and I was about to give up. As I headed toward home I made one last inquiry and found the house just a few doors away. "Perhaps the long search was in the providence of God for I found the whole family at home, and the girl I was to visit was having diffi- culty with her family. My visit was in response to this letter the Voice Pastor Jan Hutuaruk (left) with Joshua Subbiah (center) and his family of Prophecy had forwarded on to at the time of their baptism. (See story on page 4). 2 THE MESSENGER January-February 1965 The WORD is in the Air VIETNAM RADIO WORK. At 6:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 27, 1954, the inaugural message of the Voice of Hope was broadcast over Saigon Radio. It was just a few days before the signing of the his- Pastor Le-Huu, VOI toric Geneva agreement which par- titioned Vietnam into two zones speaker, Vietnam. separated by the Ben-Hai River at the 17th parallel. The empire of Bao-Dai, the last king of the Ngu- yen Dynasty and the last king of Vietnam, crumbled. A tremendous exodus followed the signing of this decisive agree- ment. About one million northern- ers fled to the south and became refugees. Finally all normal rela- tions were disrupted and the bam- If all the religious leaders preached boo curtain came down between the government of Thailand and things a doctrine like this preacher does, are now becoming more favorable two zones. With the withdrawal then there would be no conflict, of Pastor Nguyen van Xuan and for us to get back on the air. When his family, our work in the north no turmoil at all! ". I had preached we contacted the manager of the closed. that morning on religious freedom largest station in Bangkok recently But the Word, going out over and the separation of church and to see if we could get back on the the airwaves, still penetrates beyond state. air he told us that it was not yet In addition to our Vietnamese the best time to get back on the the bamboo curtain. In the prov- broadcasts, we also have broadcasts idence of God the threefold mes- air, but things were getting better. sage is still reaching the people in English, Mandarin, and Canto- Then he added, "Your God will north of the 17th ptifallel. nese going out over Radio Saigon. surely honor, your faith because Since 1954, stations 'sending out So God is sending the Word out you are so perseverant and you the "Voice of Hope" have grown over the air to reach souls living surely will get back on the air from two to nine. We are now on in remote places with the gospel soon." all but three of the government of salvation who-are unaccessable We are endeavoring to get on stations. Though located in the to our preachers. —Pastor Le-Huu, smaller stations around the country. south, these stations penetrate to Radio-TV Secretary. It has become a matter of prayer the far reaches of the north. While THAILAND RADIO WORK. for our members all over Thailand the government utilizes these sta- Sometime ago our Bangkok Voice that God will touch the hearts of tions as a means of propaganda, of Prophecy broadcast was cut off those responsible for the radio information, education, and indoc- the air. But in the past year there broadcasting that they will grant us trination, God is using them to have been many changes in the (To page 6.) preach the gospel to the Vietnamese people living on both sides of the Ben-Hai River. The government is selling transis- tor radios at a very low price to peasants in remote rural areas. Plans are under way to add 12 new stations and to distribute 100,000 additional radios to the rural areas. Sopon Jaigur, VOP These radios are the main means speaker, Thailand, of entertainment and information with HMS Richards and they are turned on virtually all the time. The brethren in the prov- Sr. and Jr. inces are very proud of our radio programs which are heard by most of the people living in these rural areas. After the recent coup in Saigon, the watchman of the Phuhuan church reported very excitedly, "Pastor, this morning all my neigh- bors listened to your radio sermon. You know what they said? They said, 'The message is wonderful. January-February 1965 THE MESSENGER 3 The WORD By Mail THAILAND BIBLE SCHOOL. 1964 has been a banner year for the Voice of Prophecy correspon- dence school in Thailand. During the first nine months of this year 116 VOP students have been bap- tized. This is more than the total number of baptisms for the whole mission just two years ago! We expect between 20 and 30 more baptisms from our VOP students by the end of the year. Most of the new "Why of Life" lessons, prepared for our union has now been translated a•nd will be printed in 1965. This course is much more simple and more easily under- stood by non-Christians. Our pre- sent course will be used an an ad- vanced course for those who wish to study further. Last year an application for our course was filled in by an inmate in the federal correctional institute in Bangkok. As this man studied the VOP course, he told his friends about it. We now have 87 students from this correctional institution and 43 graduates! One of our work- Singapore VOP Staff. Back row: (left to right) D. R. Guild, ers is visiting these prisoners and Director; Edmund Ho, Jimmy Kng, Djamaan Soelainman, many of them are now very in- head of the Malay section. Front row: Miss Wong Siew terested in the gospel of Jesus Fong, Miss Miriam Tan, Miss Janet Arulpragasam, head of Christ. These Bible lessons are an the Tamil section; Mrs. Lillian Guild, head of the English entering wedge to places our work- section; Miss Jue Man Hint' head of the Chinese section. ers cannot ordinarily go and hun- dreds of souls are being reached SONG—Way of Life course—es- SINGAPORE BIBLE SCHOOL. by this method. —Palmer Wick, pecially prepared for Southeast The Singapore school, serving all director. Asians. This will mark the begin- of Malaysia, sends out more than VIETNAM BIBLE SCHOOL. ning of a new era for the Vietnam 200,000 lessons each year in four Before the end of 1964, we hope VOP, for our present course is in- languages. Each year more than to release the new CONG DUONG adequate. —Le-Huu, director 5,000 of our students graduate from CAMBODIA BIBLE SCHOOL. one of our twelve courses. Our Cambodian Bible School is Perhaps the best way to report using three Chinese courses and on the progress of the Word going one Cambodian course which was out through the mail from our translated from Chinese. Singapore school is to share a letter The Cambodian lessons, although from one of our pastors that came approved by the Department of In- in the morning mail: formation, have encountered police "Dear Pastor Guild, I came in suspicion in one area.