STIMULATOR message for the week of November 9, 1971
Message from President Eugene C. Ludwig, dated November 9, 1971.
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!” “600” in 1971 (The mission goal of 600 baptisms was reached this very week.)
Dear Fellow Missionaries,
I acknowledge with deep gratitude the blessings of the Lord and the diligence, loyalty, and faith of you fine missionaries in reaching our goal of 600 baptisms in 1971. It is truly a joy and a rich blessing to be associated with you in the work of the Lord. Let’s give thanks unto the Lord and show our appreciation to HIM for His many blessings to us, by keeping up our pace and unitedly trying to bring many more souls into His Kingdom in these last two months of 1971. Our faith must be concentrated in one great work — the building up of the Kingdom of God in the New Zealand South Mission. I can feel and appreciate the great power that can exist in this mission if we are ‘one’.
Some 2500 years ago at Platea, an obscure Greek made one of the greatest discoveries of all time. He perfected the process of marching men in step. When it was found that large groups of people with different backgrounds, goals and motives could be organized and coordinated to function as ‘one’, that was the day civilization began. Our beloved Savior, when he was engaged in humble prayer to His Father in behalf of his disciples and all believers, offered one of the greatest pleas for unity in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, when He said, “…as thou Father , art in me, and I in thee, that they, also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” So, too are we to be ‘one’ as missionaries in our missionary work. Paul, in the 4th chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians, verses 1 through 6, speaks of means of obtaining the other principles of unity: “I therefore…beseech of you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Each of us came to this earth with our free agency. No two are alike in physical, intellectual, or spiritual qualities and should not be forced into a pattern by someone else, but there can be a oneness, a feeling of unity which can unite us as a mission, that we may be completely dedicated to the service of God, keeping an eye single to His glory. In God’s plan there is unity — oneness– May we all be ‘one’ in this great mission. God bless you in your efforts.
Faithfully your companion,
President Eugene C. Ludwig
“When a man can leave himself to enter the lives of others, he leaves his own heart open so that God my enter and dwell within.” Fulton Oursler.
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