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A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education
attention. And today, in the person of His children, He visits the poor
and needy, relieving woe and alleviating suffering.
Take away suffering and need, and we should have no way of
understanding the mercy and love of God, no way of knowing the
compassionate, sympathetic heavenly Father. Never does the gospel
put on an aspect of greater loveliness than when it is brought to the
most needy and destitute regions. Then it is that its light shines forth
with the clearest radiance and the greatest power. Truth from the
Word of God enters the hovel of the peasant; rays from the Sun of
Righteousness light up the rude cottage of the poor, bringing gladness
[24]
to the sick and suffering. Angels of God are there, and the simple
faith shown makes the crust of bread and the cup of water a banquet.
The sin-pardoning Saviour welcomes the poor and ignorant, and gives
them to eat of the bread that comes down from heaven. They drink
of the water of life. Those who have been loathed and abandoned are
through faith and pardon raised to the dignity of sons and daughters
of God. Lifted above the world, they sit in heavenly places in Christ.
They may have no earthly treasure, but they have found the Pearl of
great price.—
Testimonies for the Church 7:226, 227
.
Helping the Helpless
The work of gathering in the needy, the oppressed, the suffering,
the destitute, is the very work which every church that believes the
truth for this time should long since have been doing. We are to show
the tender sympathy of the Samaritan, ... feeding the hungry, bringing
the poor that are cast out to our homes, gathering from God every day
grace and strength that will enable us to reach to the very depths of
human misery and help those who cannot possibly help themselves.
In doing this work we have a favorable opportunity to set forth Christ
the Crucified One.
Every church member should feel it his special duty of labor for
those living in his neighborhood. Study how you can best help those
who take no interest in religious things. As you visit your friends
and neighbors, show an interest in their spiritual as well as in their
temporal welfare. Present Christ as a sin-pardoning Saviour. Invite
your neighbors to your home, and read with them from the precious
Bible and from books that explain its truths. This, united with simple