WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN FRANCE

WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN FRANCE WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN FRANCE
Maurice C. Hall

Picture of France
I wish that with words, I could paint you a picture of “outer spiritual darkness”; could bring utter blackness before your eyes; could cause the chains of re- legious ignorance to echo in that blackness; then you would know the spiritual condition of France. Then I wish I could crowd a mighty company of 50,000,000 souls into that picture, and have all these lost and depraved souls plead for help to remove the chains; beg for the key that would unlock their shackles; ask for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tennessee has one church of our Lord for every 2160 people; in Texas there is a New Testament church for every 3060 people, but the country which I come to describe to you and from which I report has one church and one preaching evangelist for every 25,000,000 people. France is a country near the size of Texas but with about four times the population of Texas. .

Brother Melvin Anderson and I went to France in 1949. We knew something of the problems that would confront us. The country was 98% Catholic, yet only 29 % of the Catholics were practicing; it was largely pagan and very immoral. As we approached France we felt greatly the task that was ours, and we recognized also that more workers were needed for France, for two workers could never sow that great land in gospel seeds. I wrote Brother Owen Aikin of the need and he came in February, 1951 to join us. There were some American embassy and army people there. I wish I had time to say all the personal things that I would like to. I want publicly to express appreciation for all of them.

Finding A Meeting Place A Problem
Our first problem was to find a place to hold public services. During several months we met in a room at 84 Rue de Grenelle, which we could rent for one hour on Sunday mornings. The management moved us from time to time to hold parties or dances in our room, but several valuable acquaintances and good people were met during this period, and before we left this address, three had been baptized into Christ. The change was made in June 1950, to 11 Rue des Martyrs, Paris 9, where we could have permanent quarters with the possibility of teaching classes any hour of the day or night.

Present Meeting Place
In some respects our present meeting place is very undesirable. It is located between two red light-districts, about three blocks from the “Folies Bergire,” notorious nudist show and center of lasciviousness, and only four blocks from “Pigalle” of World-wide infamy. An American sister, of French nationality, was shocked when she visited the services in Paris, to find the room in such a location. We could do no better with the funds available.

Immorality A Problem
France is notorious for its immorality. Unofficially it is estimated that 500,000 couples are residing in open, flagrant adultery in the city of Paris alone. Sometimes one sees fifteen to twenty fine appearing young women standing on the same street corner trying to entice men into wickedness. Oftentimes they chide and tease one who will not accept their propositions. We have had to deal with this problem within the church by withdrawal; seven cases have come up for disciplinary action.

Customs Extremely Difficult
We are hoping to find preachers to help us in the French work. I tell you of physical conditions there, not to discourage you, but to educate you to what may be expected. Upon arrival in France, we were disappointed to find that bathroom facilities were almost non-existent. During the past 16 months, we lived in a French house where there was no bath, and we shared the half-bath with a French family of three. We had only one bedroom for the four of us. These accommodations cost us nearly $75 monthly.

Food was an item of change for us, too. The French are known for their very excellent cuisine, but certain items were very different from that to which we had been accustomed. Practically no dry cereals were available, corn-meal was not obtainable, canned foods, to which one must resort in winter, were expensive and of little variety. Green beans cost $.85 per can, pineapple, $1.60 a can, and a can of sour-kraut and weiners cost $1. Bed sheets, of heavier quality than our American ones, were $21 each, and gasoline was $.65 per gallon. I am speaking in American dollars, not French francs. Yet someone has feared that the A-mericans in France were getting rich and living in luxury, on support ranging from $240 to $350 monthly-

One must learn in France to accommodate his diet to that of the Frenchman. I have learned to eat the plain, ordinary snails which the French love and serve in season as a delicacy. Paul teaches that we ought to eat such foods in silence. We did so, to the best of our ability, though we could not completely control the contortions of our stomachs. In the same meal in which I was introduced to snails, I engaged six live oysters in a battle to the death; yet the French people would not think of eating a dead oyster, for fear it would make them sick. After these six live oysters, I had a length of scaly, smoked eel, and a piece of a two pound roast beef that had been “heated”, not cooked, the entire amount of five minutes. All these “customs” were appreciated to our fullest ability, and then we tried to teach the people the love of God as expressed in the gift of his son.

Progress
In November, 1949, when Brother Melvin Anderson and I arrived in France, there was no church among the French people. When I left, in July 1952, 72 had been converted to Christ. These people are from all walks of life. Some are day laborers, some are foremen in industries, some are home owners, some rather “well-off” from French standards, some very poor. Of the total of 72 converted since June, 1950, I would like to mention four by name. Mr. Messager, was 86 years old when we met him in Paris. For 86 years he had been a Roman Catholic, but when he heard the truth and we asked him, “What are you going to do about it?” He replied with simple, childlike faith, “There’s only one thing to do, I must obey it.” The second person that I mention is Julian Enqui- dinos, who has a brother here in A. C. C. Julian studied for 16 years to be a Catholic priest. During a short trip to Spain, I got the address of a man who knew Julian. I wrote him, inviting Julian to come to Paris. He stayed in Paris a short time, went to Germany and studied with our brethren there, came back to Paris, and shortly afterwards was baptized. He attended A. C. C., graduated at the head of his class, then went to California where he 'is studying for a Master’s degree, and helping with the Mexican work in Los Angeles. As a result of his coming to America, Brother Treet and others here arranged for Enriquo to come to A. C. C. He, too, is now a Christian. Perhaps these two are the first two Spanish people that have been converted to the Lord in modern times. They can go back to Spain, one day, and teach the gospel to their people.

Let me mention now, Tao Chen Hsia—a native Chinese. He holds an Economic Degree from the Uni-versity in Chunking, a B. A. degree in Economics from the University of Missouri, and a Master’s degree from Columbia. Wanting to hear English spoken, he came to the church services in Paris, and now hopes to go to China as a missionary.

Lastly, I tell you of Epi Bilok. Epi was born in that part of Russia known as the Ukraine. As a child he learned Ukrainian at home and Russian at school. He speaks these languages fluently. When the fear of revolt came in the Ukraine, Epi’s father took him and fled to Poland. They were there several years, and Epi learned Polish, too. When the war came, they were put in a Displaced Person’s camp in Germany. Then his father found work in France. Epi, now 24 years old, will be awarded a B. D. degree from a Protestant school in France this June. He preaches each Sunday in French and teaches the Bible to his Russian and Ukrainian friends in weekly classes. He speaks and even preaches to some Polish people whom we know in the North of France and he speaks excellent German. He reads his New Testament in Greek. You sent the gospel to France, now France is ready to send the gospel to Russia, Spain, and China.

Why Did We Choose France
“Since the world is our field, why did you choose France”, some have asked. I have but one answer. They were the sickest, spiritually, of all the people of the earth that I knew about. Jesus said, “It is not the well, but the sick who have need of a physician.” France surely was the sickest nation in Europe to which we had not gone with the gospel. No one had gone there. We felt we had to go, or face God with these people’s blood on our hands.
In spite of almost unsurmountable difficulties, God has blessed us. We found the people to be very re-ceptive. Never have I been refused entrance to the home of a French person to whom I would go with the Bible. There are people in awful spiritual ignorance. Brother Anderson and Brother Owen Aikin tried unsuccessfully to buy new Testaments in the Roman Catholic University City of Lille, France, a city of 600,000 people.

Description of Present Meeting Place
The meeting place of the church in Paris is at 11 Rue des Martyrs, Paris 9. People, recently visiting Paris, have great difficulty finding the place of worship. As you approach this address, you look back into a long dark corridor. Now my wife tells me that there are rats in that corridor “A foot long.” She’s exaggerating. I’ve never seen one that I thought measured more than 11 inches. This long corridor leads about 60 feet to a small courtyard. There 'is a choice to be made now. A stairway leads up to the right into an apartment building facing the street, or there is a plate glass window in front of you on which two figures are painted in position of fighters, grappling with each other. A yellow streamer announces this to be the room where one learns the art of attack and defense. By going through this room, one comes into the entrance to the Jui Jitsu Club. He approaches a narrow stairway, and then turns up the staircase to the left, back up another to the right, a third to the left, and a fourth to the right, and he comes to a doorway with a sign on it announcing that this is “L’Eglin dee Christ.” On going inside, he turns to the right, passes a skylight on the right, comes to another doorway and enters it, finding a neat room of 21 by 24 feet. This is where the saints gather in France. Needless to say, a building is needed.

People oftentimes ask, “When will the church in France be self supporting?” The church in Paris, es-tablished in June, 1950, thus only two and a half years old, now pays all its expenses. It pays the rent on the meeting place, pays for its utilities, its communion supplies, and in addition to that has put aside $1900 during the past year for its own building fund. This is a lot of money for these French people, and this shows their interest in establishing the cause firmly in France. We can build a small building, large enough to seat 250 people and with two apartments for our American brethren to live in for about $16,000 We need help to do this. This is one of our greatest needs, but not the greatest.

Greatest Need
The greatest need in France today is for gospel preachers. When people are converted to Christ, they will meet anywhere to worship him who has redeemed them from all “ungodliness.” But, the need is great to go, and reach lost, dying people, whole nations, where no preacher has gone.
Oh, that we, as preachers, would but open our eyes to the need of “place making” instead of “place seeking.” I heard of a small church in Texas that a young man was leavmg where more than 15 letters were received from preachers, looking for the “place.” Paul never had troubles finding- a place to preach; he preached where there was a need. No Visa or Persecution Problem
During the past three years, I have been able to obtain visas from the French government without difficulty. This visa is stamped officially with the French seal, permitting me to carry on the work of an evangelist in France for a three year period. Brethren Anderson and Aikin have incurred no difficulty. Two other young men, Donald Daugherty, supported by the church at Danville, Illinois, and Floyd Davis, sent by the Westside Church of Cleburne, Texas, have recently sailed for France. I expect no difficulty for them obtaining proper visas. The lady who issues visas occasionally comes to the home of one of the workers and has dinner there. We are on the best of terms with these people.

Conclusion
We have sought excuse to keep from helping with this kind of work. We have heard it said—“We’re building a building and therefore cannot help”. Will we cease to preach the gospel to lost souls that we might worship in comfort? We’ve said, “We’re doing all we cany Brethren, you know this is not so. Have you given up one meal, that the gospel might be preached in France? Have you sacrificed one package of cigarettes, one package of gum, one piece of candy, or one Coca-Cola? Have you given up a new automobile or one new television set? Have you gone hungry that the gospel might be preached?

Now, a story and I’m finished. “Back during the days before the second World War, a missionary to China had taken passage on a river boat to go up the river above Canton to see about some families there. As they prepared to cast off anchor, the boat hit the dock, and from his point of vantage of an upper deck, the missionary saw a “Coolie”, stumbling against the ropes and falling into the river. He expected the people to call out “man overboard” but no such sound came.

Looking across on the other side of the boat, he saw a Chinese fishing boat, with its nets attached to long poles. He cried out to these fishermen, “Sweep out your nets and catch the man before he drowns.” They looked back with blank expressions. Then one said, “How much will you give us?” “I’ll give you all I have in my pockets,” replied the brother. “How much 'is that,” the Chinese demanded. Hurriedly examining the contents of his pockets, he found he had two or three dollars in his pocket. He told them in Cantonese how much it was. They immediately went into action for that represented a lot of money to them. They swept out their nets, and the very first time they brought out the man. They laid him on the deck, but the man was dead. This is what the missionary said: “While we argued about money, a man died.” And brethren, while we argue about money, tell ourselves that we can’t do anything more, men and women are dying all over the world. In Germany, Japan, Italy, Islands of the Sea, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, South and Central America, Africa, England, India, Russia, and France, men are dying.

There may be individuals in this audience who would like to help in some of the needs of this work. If so, I’ll be down here, and you can see me.
Thank you. May God bless you. Pray for us, especially.