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Charles E. Cowman

Charles Elmer Cowman (1868 - 1924). American missionary and co-founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (now One Mission Society), born in Toulon, Illinois. Raised Methodist, he worked as a telegraph operator from age 15, rising to a high-paying role in Chicago by 19. Converted in 1894 after hearing A.B. Simpson at Moody Church, he married childhood friend Lettie Burd in 1889. In 1901, they moved to Japan, co-founding the society with Juji Nakada and Ernest Kilbourne, establishing Bible training institutes in Tokyo by 1903. Cowman led the Great Village Campaign (1913-1918), distributing Gospels to 10 million Japanese homes across 161,000 square miles. Known for holiness preaching and organizational zeal, he authored no books but inspired Streams in the Desert by Lettie. They had no children. Health issues forced his return to Los Angeles in 1917, where he continued guiding the mission. His work sparked revivals and trained thousands of native evangelists.
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Charles E. Cowman preaches about the powerful concept of commanding God's work with faith and confidence, drawing examples from biblical figures like Joshua, Elijah, Luther, and Jesus Himself, who invited people to command Him. This shift in relationship with God is a call to bold and unwavering faith in prayer, contrasting with hesitant and unbelieving prayers. God lovingly offers His resources to His children, encouraging them to command Him in faith and claim His promises.
Challenge Thy Mountain in the Lord
"Concerning the work of my hands command ye me" (Isa. 45:11). Our Lord spoke in this tone when He said, "Father, I will." Joshua used it when, in the supreme moment of triumph, he lifted up his spear toward the setting sun, and cried, "Sun, stand thou still!" Elijah used it when he shut the heavens for three years and six months, and again opened them. Luther used it when, kneeling by the dying Melanchthon, he forbade death to take his prey. It is a marvelous relationship into which God bids us enter. We are familiar with words like those which follow in this paragraph: "I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." But that God should invite us to command Him, this is a change in relationship which is altogether startling! What a difference there is between this attitude and the hesitating, halting, unbelieving prayers to which we are accustomed, and which by their perpetual repetition lose edge and point! How often during His earthly life did Jesus put men into a position to command Him! When entering Jericho, He stood still, and said to the blind beggars: "What will ye that I shall do unto you?" It was as though He said, "I am yours to command." Can we ever forget how He yielded to the Syrophenician woman the key to His resources and told her to help herself even as she would? What mortal mind can realize the full significance of the position to which our God lovingly raises His little children? He seems to say, "All my resources are at your command." "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." --F. B. Meyer Say to this mountain, "Go, Be cast into the sea"; And doubt not in thine heart That it shall be to thee. It shall be done, doubt not His Word, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! Claim thy redemption right, Purchased by precious blood; The Trinity unite To make it true and good. It shall be done, obey the Word, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! Self, sickness, sorrow, sin, The Lord did meet that day On His beloved One, And thou art "loosed away." It has been done, rest on His Word, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! Compass the frowning wall With silent prayer, then raise-- Before its ramparts fall-- The victor's shout of praise. It shall be done, faith rests assured, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! The two-leaved gates of brass, The bars of iron yield, To let the faithful pass, Conquerors in every field. It shall be done, the foe ignored, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! Take then the faith of God, Free from the taint of doubt; The miracle-working rod That casts all reasoning' out. It shall be done, stand on the Word, Challenge thy mountain in the Lord! --Selected
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Charles Elmer Cowman (1868 - 1924). American missionary and co-founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (now One Mission Society), born in Toulon, Illinois. Raised Methodist, he worked as a telegraph operator from age 15, rising to a high-paying role in Chicago by 19. Converted in 1894 after hearing A.B. Simpson at Moody Church, he married childhood friend Lettie Burd in 1889. In 1901, they moved to Japan, co-founding the society with Juji Nakada and Ernest Kilbourne, establishing Bible training institutes in Tokyo by 1903. Cowman led the Great Village Campaign (1913-1918), distributing Gospels to 10 million Japanese homes across 161,000 square miles. Known for holiness preaching and organizational zeal, he authored no books but inspired Streams in the Desert by Lettie. They had no children. Health issues forced his return to Los Angeles in 1917, where he continued guiding the mission. His work sparked revivals and trained thousands of native evangelists.