Ken Terhoven's sermon 'Mau Mau 1957' recounts the harrowing experiences of Kikuyu Christians during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, emphasizing their unwavering faith amidst brutal persecution. He highlights the stark contrast between the darkness of the Mau Mau's violent oaths and the light of the gospel that transformed lives, showcasing the courage of believers like Chief Lucky and Chief Joseph who stood firm in their faith despite facing death. Terhoven urges listeners to reflect on the value of their own faith and the sacrifices made by these Christians, challenging the notion that Christianity is merely for the weak. The sermon serves as a powerful reminder of the cost of discipleship and the call to live boldly for Christ, even in the face of adversity.

This recording was made at a meeting in Norwich, England, in 1957, and, as you listen, please remember that it is the privilege of every person to change their mind or to repent. As one observes President Kenyatta today, it is evident that, for one reason or another, he has had a change of heart. Because of this, it might seem advisable to withdraw this recording, in case anyone should be offended. However, so many have written to us over the last two decades to say how their lives have been changed, and how they have been encouraged to live better lives for the Lord Jesus as a result of hearing the wonderful story of the courage of the Kikuyu Christians, and of the triumph of the Lord Jesus in his people there in Kenya. In the history of most nations, there are things of which their rulers, and indeed the people too, are ashamed, things which they would never do today. But attempting to erase the records of history so that we can pretend they didn't happen is not the practice of enlightened people. As you listen to this recording, you will be shocked and horrified, but we are sure that the overall impression you will have will be one of amazement and joy at the testimony of the Christians of that land, and that you will have real searching of heart concerning the value of the testimony of your own life for Christ. It was when I personally heard this wonderful story in 1959 that I began to collect recordings to form this library, and the story of Mau Mau was the first recording we used. Here now is Kenter Hoven. May I suggest that what I'm going to say tonight will not be a pretty story or something that anyone could enjoy. Most probably some of the things that are going to be said tonight are going to be shattering for some of you, things which you never expected and never realized that you'd hear. And yet we must face the truth, for the newspapers have told us so little regarding this matter that tonight I feel that it's vitally important that we get right down to the basis of Mau Mau and find out just what it's all about. For tonight we will first of all have to tell you something of the darkness, the darkness of satanic influence and satanic power. The evil one, our adversary, the devil, goeth about seeking whom he may destroy. He goeth about like a roaring lion. His works are works of darkness. As tonight we speak concerning Mau Mau and the awful atrocities of Mau Mau, the terrible oaths and many things regarding Mau Mau, it will be a picture of darkness which will shock many of us tonight. And yet I believe leave an indelible impression upon many of our hearts. But at the same time I want to bring you the glorious picture of the light, the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ shining in the hearts of his believing children. And the light shone in the darkness, and the darkness could not put it out. And that's the thrilling testimony and the thrilling story regarding the martyrdom of the Christian Church in Kenya. Now if there is some critic or cynic or sceptic in our midst tonight, somebody who says that this Christianity is a lot of soft sloppy stuff, it's only for old ladies and babies and children, it isn't for a real man, I trust that that person will go out of this meeting a different person and a changed person completely. For tonight I'm certain that not one of us can leave this meeting. The same people that we came in. Most probably in the minds of most of us, regarding Mau Mau, we think of it in terms of being some political organization raised up to wipe out and destroy the white man. Many of us feel that the, many people felt that the Mau Mau had legitimate complaints and their complaints against the government took the form of violence, physical violence and bloodshed. Now that was my impression and my opinion until in 1954 I was invited by the Keswick Association of East Africa to conduct large-scale evangelistic crusades in the land of Kenya. I remember flying up from Cape Town the 3,000 miles and coming up in a non-pressurized plane. I was very airsick. I arrived at Nairobi airport and they rushed me immediately into a meeting. The place was packed out with Africans, Asiatics and, and Europeans and after just about managing to get through with the meeting I was still feeling pretty groggy. I decided I'd have a word with some of the people who were standing around and choosing the likeliest person that I should speak to first of all. I saw an African tall man standing on that side of the wall and so I walked up towards him. I looked at his face and the black face was shining bright. The eyes were big and the white teeth shining out and I looked at that man's face and said to myself if ever I've seen a Christian in my life, that man is a Christian. Surely that man loves Jesus Christ. Before I could come up to him, he saw me coming and came rushing towards me. He said, you see Wallace, if he would continue to preach this gospel. Only three months ago, said this man, Wallace went on a weekend preaching appointment. While he was away on the Saturday evening and with wire in their hands, they tied up the door and then they set fire to this hut. His wife and children stood no chance. They were burned to death. Not satisfied with this, then they went to his few cows and goats and Wallace kneeling down and taken away from him. What kind of Christian are you? Just how much is your Christianity worth? If this man who comes is your Christian many men who have seen this, then we had a priest teaching this all together at a Christian church in Kenya. But immediately, it took one of the biggest blunders that Britain has ever made. Immediately children, one of the first things he did, he returned to Kenya. Children in these independent schools, many seditious things and the Kikuyu language. When Mau Mau was in his, he got hold of a hymn book and to his horror, what were they to do? They split up into various groups. But the Mau Mau leaders put their heads together and they decided that a certain kid and interrogated by the authorities, if they tell of the workings of Mau Mau, so there's only one thing that we need to do. We need unity in our ranks. Most of these leaders had been brought up on mission stations. They said, well, we've seen the Christians. The Christians have unity, don't they? Well, what is it that gives the Christians unity? Well, in the first place, they said, the Christians are joined together in love. Well, we shall go to the opposite extreme, they said. Instead of love, we will be bound together if he must obey us. If we tell a man he must murder his little child, he must obey us if he is loyal to us. If we tell a man he must kill his best friend, he must be loyal to the Mau Mau party. If he's not loyal, we will kill him and do the same to him. This caused such fear among them that every man was constantly watching his neighbor. And this, somehow or other, had such a psychological effect upon them that instead of splitting them, it drew them closer to one another and they lived all their lifetime. The Christians say, we must not kill. Well, we will go to the opposite extreme. In future, we will not kill. But we will kill a human being. Of a human being. Become a Mau Mau. The Christians say, to become a Christian, we must not... sexual perversions and orgies of filth and degradation that... His father is none more serious. The government by now was realizing that... And it was round about 1952 when this came out into the open. When a white man, one day, would find... One night while he was sleeping, would smell burning and see flames from his stable. He'd rush to the stable. And midway after breaking down the door, he'd find to his horror, his cows or his horses with wire tied around their forelegs. Forelegs tied to the stalls. And the poor animals bleeding to death, burning to death. I have a picture of a cow. The only crime it committed, it belonged to a white man. So Mau Mau got hold of it and chopped the hind legs off and left the poor thing to hobble to death. This was Mau Mau's idea of striking terror to the hearts of the white man so as to drive them out of the country. But it was during this time that the Mau Mau put their heads together and said, look, somehow we're not succeeding. There are our own people still preaching the gospel. There are the missionaries still preaching the gospel. And we've not achieved what we wanted to achieve. Drive these men out of the land. What should we do? And as they put their heads together, they came upon this decision. They said, in future we will forget about the white man. Now we will go in recruiting gangs to every town and village in the land. And wherever we find a black man, we will force that man to take the Mau Mau oath. If he refuses, he is our enemy and he must be put to death and his flesh eaten. We will make every black man in the nation a Mau Mau and then we will be able to drive the white man out of the land. It was here, of course, that Mau Mau made their biggest mistake. It was here, of course, that the devil overplayed his hand for this was the first time that they came into touch, real touch, with the Christians of their own people. Now these Christians had a Christian background of only something like 60, 65 years. These Christians had been praying for revival and while God was granting them revival, Mau Mau, in all its horror and terror, was taking place in the land. My wife and I were staying at a mission station, a place called Kijabi, up on a hill, out in the forests, about 40 miles from the city of Nairobi. And just three miles from this mission station, in the forest, was a little village by the name of Lari. In this village was a chief, Chief Lucky, a man who was a wonderful Christian who loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart. A real Christian, had prayer and Bible study with his people every night, every day. One day a gang of Mau Mau came to him, thinking that they could immediately persuade him. They said, We're coming into the forest tonight, Lucky, and we want you to bring all your people. We want them to become Mau Mau. Chief Lucky chased them away from his village with the words, My people are Christians. We will not have anything to do with Mau Mau. They cursed him, swore at him, and walked away from his village. That very same night as Chief Lucky was sleeping and his people were asleep in the dead of night, a gang of 250 Mau Mau crept to that village. Many of them with wire in their hands came to the straw and bamboo huts, tied up the doors of every single hut in that village. And then when they encircled these huts at a given signal, they set fire to these huts. Mothers with babies in their arms rushed to the doors but found the doors pinned from outside. Rushed to the little apertures that they call windows to push their children through these holes. But Mau Mau were waiting outside with their pungas and sumis and sharp knives and either decapitated or dismembered these children or else threw them back into the blazing inferno. Screams could be heard three miles away. The flames could be seen licking the sky three miles away. They got Chief Lucky and his entire family and lined them up outside of these huts. They said, Listen to the screams Lucky. It's because you're a fool of a Christian and now are you willing to become a Mau Mau? Chief Lucky's own words at a time like that was, I cannot become a Mau Mau because I belong to Jesus Christ. Why don't you kill me like you kill my people? They laughed at him and said, We want to see you suffer first. In the confusion, his wife ran away, hid behind a tree and afterwards told us the story. Her body still is marked with cuts all over her. Her arms and her face are scarred and marked with the cruel knives of Mau Mau cutting to her as she ran away that night. They got, as she looked from behind a tree, she saw them take Chief Lucky's little child, an 18-month-old baby, and hold the child by the legs and say to Lucky, Now are you going to become a Mau Mau? And when Chief Lucky shouted, I cannot become a Mau Mau because I belong to Jesus Christ, she saw her child cut into two and the two halves thrown at Chief Lucky. Then she saw them murder every one of her children before their eyes until finally they put Chief Lucky to death. When the authorities came on the scene the next morning they found something like 250 mutilated bodies either charred to ashes or else mutilated by the knives and the pungas. In all, something like 300 people died that night because one man loved the Lord Jesus Christ and because his people were Christian. We are just interrupting the recording for a moment because we believe that many listeners will be saying in their hearts that he ought to have agreed to become Mau Mau rather than let his children suffer in this way. In case any of you have such thoughts it seems good to refer you back to a part of what has already been said. Will you consider this and try to understand the dreadful situation of this dear man of God? And this somehow or other had such a psychological effect upon them that instead of splitting them it drew them closer to one another and they lived all their lifetimes subject to fear and there they were bound together by the spear. The second thing they said, the Christians say, we must not kill. Well, we will go to the opposite extreme. In future we will not kill a goat for taking a Mau Mau oath but we will kill a human being and we will drink of his blood and we will eat of his flesh. And so a real Mau Mau is one who has killed, has put his knife into the body of a human being, has drunk of the blood and has eaten of the flesh. Now continue with the original recording. I found myself asking myself the question, Kim, what kind of Christian are you? Just how much is your Christianity worth? You've got a little child. If somebody should take your little child by the feet and say, now what are you going to do? What would you do about it? And I found that I would need a special grace from God at a moment like that to be true to the Lord Jesus Christ. Chief Joseph was another Christian who just that day addressed 30,000 people of the Kikuyu tribe. He was a paramount chief and he had told them this Mau Mau is a thing of the devil. We belong to Jesus Christ. We will follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and have nothing to do with this terrible oath taking and this terrible thing called Mau Mau. And that very night just as he and his wife were preparing to go to bed, the door was broken down and before they could do anything the wife hid under the bed. Mau Mau came into the room, grabbed hold of Chief Joseph and said, Joseph we've waited long enough for you. We're sick and tired of your appeals to your people to have nothing to do with Mau Mau. You are disloyal to the Kikuyu people but tonight we'll make an example of you and you will become a Mau Mau. Lord Joseph could do is to calmly look them in the face and say, listen, I've tasted that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses from all sin. Do you think I could drink the blood of Mau Mau? No, the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient for me. Before the words were out of his mouth a noose slipped through the air and tightened around his neck. They threw the other end over a rafter and slowly they started to pull him up. They said we have means of making you take the Mau Mau oath and when he was just losing consciousness they dropped him with a thud to the ground, put a knife in his hand, started to kick him and beat him and revive him. They said kill, eat, become a Mau Mau. And all Joseph could say, gasping, was the blood of Jesus is sufficient for me. They yanked him up again while his wife helplessly under the bed watched everything that was going on. She said they started at nine o'clock that night and four o'clock the next morning they were still pulling him up and all he could say was the blood of Jesus is sufficient for me. Until finally at four o'clock in the morning that rope went, that body went limp and that soul went into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet another Christian had proved what it means to take up the cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. An African pastor belonging to the Anglican church who was a godly man, he and his wife were having their prayers and were on their knees one night when the door was broken down, finding them on, finding them on their knees. The Mau Mau was so incensed at this they stripped them of their clothes, they beat them and then with their arms pinned behind their backs they beat them and pummeled them again. They said we're going to make an example of you Christians when you as a Christian pastor can become a Mau Mau. That will be such an example to the other people that your flock will follow you as well. The man smiled in the face of danger and looking into the face of the Mau Mau leader he said you may kill me if you wish but my Jesus is in my heart and you cannot remove my Jesus from my heart. If I die I shall go to be with him and I'm not afraid of death. They laughed at him and they said we'll show you. They took this woman while her arms were pinned behind her back and the leader pulled out a sharp knife from his belt. He put the knife to her face and he said and now will you become a Mau Mau? The woman screamed no matter what they do to me we stay Christians. They pulled the knife down her face through her breast down her side until she fell on the ground. Kicking her on one side they said you fool but now we'll get that Jesus out of your heart. While two men stood on either side of this man each one with a sharp scimmy a sword in their hands slowly they started to press the swords into his body. As it penetrated the flesh the man screamed out and then he lifted up his face to heaven and said oh father forgive me for being a coward. Forgive me for being a coward. By some wonderful miracle those swords penetrated that man's body and came out the other side. Thinking him to be dead they withdrew their swords. Not knowing that it had not touched the vulnerable spot within the body the man fell to the ground Mau Mau ran away from the house. Immediately suffering excruciating pain the man picked himself up and crawled to where his wife was lying. Found that there was still life in her body. Afterwards interviewed by the Archbishop of Canterbury this man, the Archbishop said to him tell me what were your feelings at a time like that? He said oh your grace my feelings were just my heart was so full of love for these men. And what did you do? I prayed. What did you pray? He said well the first thing I did was I praised the Lord very greatly. These are his own words. I praised the Lord very greatly that he had given us the courage to suffer just a little bit for him who had suffered so much for us on Calvary's tree. And then what did you do? I prayed for these men that Jesus would come into their hearts and that they would learn to love him like we love Jesus. And then, and then I prayed for help and fainted. And then another miracle happened. The Bishop was coming to visit this man that night and finding their door broken down he rushed in and found this man and woman lying over their beds in that praying position in a fainted condition put them in his motor car rushed them to hospital they were operated on and today both that man and his wife are alive. But you know with Paul they can say I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ. What marks do you bear for Jesus Christ? I tell you that there are some of you here tonight who haven't started to live for Jesus Christ yet while people are dying for him. I tell you that there are some of you that just haven't got the courage to live for Jesus Christ and you think it's all a lot of sloppy nonsense but I tell you tonight that God will change that viewpoint of yours as you realize that Christianity is not a cushion but it's a cross. And Jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me. Some of you young people are saying well how does this affect me? A young 17 year old boy was coming from the city of Nairobi with his older companion both of them Christians they were singing hymns and choruses they were so happy they just bought themselves new clothes new jackets and new suits and as they came through the forest singing they came upon a clearing and here was a gang of Mau Mau resting before they could run out of the way the Mau Mau had grabbed hold of them we heard you singing hymns you're Christians we're going to kill you tonight unless you become a Mau Mau. The older man or two took a step forward put his hand in the air and said you may kill me if you wish I'm not afraid to die I shall go to my father's house. Once again before the words were out of his mouth a punga whizzed through the air they chopped the man's hand off in the air and then they flung him to the ground and while the young boy was standing by helplessly he watched them murder his friend slowly torture this man to death it took them nearly an hour to put him to death when they'd finished they turned to him and they said it's your turn now unless you become a Mau Mau and to their amazement the boy looked them in the face and then took a step forward and did exactly the same thing as his older friend had done raised his hand and said I too will go to my father's house and waited for the blow and then suddenly he opened his eyes he looked into the eyes of the Mau Mau leader and testifying afterwards this boy said suddenly, strangely something happened something happened at that moment and all I can say is the answer to this is perfect love casteth out all fear this boy suddenly felt, he said such a feeling of overwhelming at the door shouting in the top well even the Mau Mau knew that there were such things as real Christians but they'd made a big mistake here because this was a prayer meeting and you say well why didn't they come in and give a greeting but we dare not go in because the evil spirits wouldn't allow us to go he walked down into the aisle he nodded and suddenly whether it was the triumph in their voices or their determined step that the ranks of the Mau Mau took a step backward the pastor flung open the door and coming straight to the Mau Mau leader he pointed a finger in his face and said in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ had received that day while we were there in the land we saw many wonderful, wonderful conversions we saw many wonderful things happen we were invited one day to go to a large church at a place called Kikuyu this was the capital of the Kikuyu Reserve it was here that Jomo Kenyatta who now was captured had his headquarters it was here that Mau Mau had sprung from it was here that Mau Mau was organized from and many knew that this was the place where most murders were committed this large church seating 2000 people every one of the elders in that church had a price put on their heads I wonder the elders who are here tonight if you had a price put on your head if you would still come along to the assembly Sunday by Sunday if you knew that your life was threatened these men had a price put on their head to try and frighten them away from the church Sunday by Sunday and only the week before we were due to go there one of the elders had been captured by Mau Mau as he came from church and had been murdered at a cross when they found him they found a cross cut into his forehead with a note upon him threatening the same thing to happen to all those who preach the gospel it was in fear and trembling that my wife and I drove through the forest the 18 miles from Nairobi through the winding twisting forest roads to go to this church that Sunday morning just a week after this incident we wondered what would happen we were afraid ourselves we were not feeling very brave I can assure you at that time when we got to this church we wondered how many people would be there you can imagine our surprise when we got there to find 2000 people jamming the church and outside listening to the loudspeakers were another 1000 people around the doors and around the windows Mau Mau gangs were operating in the forests all over this was right on the fringe of the forest but 3000 people had turned up that day to hear the gospel being preached that Sunday morning I turned to the missionary and I said tell me do these people come from all in this vicinity he smiled at me and said no brother many of these people have walked 15 to 20 miles to be at this meeting this morning I got up into the pulpit and I turned to the interpreter and I said what can I give to this people these people have suffered more than more than I ever know anything about suffering what can I give to them what can I tell them the missionary had told me that there would be Mau Mau spies in that meeting and if anybody became a Christian that day these spies would take the names and immediately the lives of these people would be threatened and I turned to this man and said what can we give to these people they've suffered so much he turned to me and with a big smile he said brother these people want Jesus you just preach to them Jesus that's all they want you preach to them Jesus and so we preached to them the Lord Jesus Christ in all his fullness and in all his power until people hung on to the words and listened hungrily to the power of Jesus Christ to transform and change lives we got to the end and turned to the mission to this interpreter again and said look brother we can't make an appeal here this morning what if some of these people come forward and what if they get saved and these Mau Mau spies take their names must we have the blood of these people upon our hands forever that it's because we call them forward that those were going to get murdered he said brother you've preached Jesus now give them Jesus give them Jesus so what could we do but offer them Jesus Christ and say come then come forward those of you who want to get saved no sooner was the words out of our mouth before about 35 men and women were in front among them was the adult niece of Jomo Kenyatta coming to receive Jesus Christ as Savior many were broken down as they stood in front there I left the elders to deal with these people and I went with a missionary up to his house we saw the people dispersed from the church and just as we got up onto the hill at the missionary's house we looked down to the church and the people were all rushing back into the church again wondering what was happening we came rushing back ourselves and here were these 35 who had just been saved one by one they were forming a queue and on the platform and one by one they were giving a testimony just five minutes after getting saved telling what the Lord Jesus had done for them and no sooner had the first one finished before the whole audience came to the loudspeaker the mic and said alright friends come to me speaking about the Holy Spirit and he started dealing they started dealing with these souls halfway through this lot of testimonies there were other shots and suddenly the Spirit of God seemed to descend upon that meeting in such a wonderful way that the stream of people coming from the coming from that the body of that church was endless no sooner was one appearing on the giving the testimony when somebody else was in front being dealt with that stream was endless it started at 10 o'clock that morning and at 6 o'clock that night that stream was still continuing until people from all the surrounding areas were coming into the church and were getting saved there was a secondary high school for girls a finishing school for girls just across the road 36 of these girls came into the meeting and got saved and after giving their testimony walked back to the dormitories and led 108 other girls to the Lord Jesus Christ it was only the next day that I heard the full story because I had to go back for a big meeting in Nairobi when I got back the next day the missionary came to see me and he said Mr. Terhoven this is the greatest thing that has ever happened anywhere in this land as far as I know this is God this is the revival and it's only when the curfew sounded that these people had to move off and it's only for that reason that they moved out of the church and they went away singing as they walked through the forest onward Christian soldiers marching as to war but I've got sad news for you Mr. Terhoven he said many of those people never reached home last night many of those people had Mau Mau gangs waiting for them as they walked through the forest and were cruelly butchered and put to death I don't know the number of people slain but many of them never reached home that night because they loved Jesus Christ oh dear friends if only I had more time tonight I could keep you here another hour with story after story of the bravery and heroism of real Christianity but let me say this in closing we found out that there were 85,000 Mau Mau prisoners behind barbed wire one of the converts of our campaign during that time was the administrator of prisons for the whole of East Africa this man immediately flung open the prisons to preachers of the gospel you know what happened he said there's only one answer to Mau Mau and that is the preaching of the gospel and he appealed to the missionary societies in the land to come and send missionaries into these Mau Mau prison camps where these Mau Mau were imprisoned do you know what happened immediately 19 Roman Catholic priests rushed into these camps do you know how many protestant missionaries rushed in only one you say why on earth why didn't they send more missionaries why didn't more missionaries go into these camps I'll tell you why it's because some of you young men and some of you young lady are sitting in this very meeting tonight it's because some of you are listening to my voice tonight are not on the mission fields that's why only one protestant missionary could go many people are starving for want of the word of God this one man Ken Phillips Ken Phillips immediately found the door was wide open he started seeing something like 120 to 150 converts every week in the Mau Mau prison camps I was invited at that time to go into the camp where the Mau Mau leaders were in prison of the leaders the generals General Ken Yatta's committee we were invited to go we got an old African course of men speaking to them about the lost sheep telling them that the sheep had not wanted to get lost and as it had wandered away bleeding and torn and bleeding himself he had found the sheep which was lost and I said to them do you know who the sheep is you're the lost sheep do you know who the shepherd is the Lord Jesus is the shepherd and though you've wandered far off he wants to save your soul I saw the word taking effect upon these men who just a few moments ago were looking at me defiantly and spitting on the ground but now I saw tears running down the eyes of many of these men and they had to stand to their feet something like thirty of these men immediately stood to their feet I told you just now that a Mau Mau when he takes an oath his oath is binding nothing can break that oath these men had taken an oath and one of the oaths said if I ever denounce Mau Mau may this oath kill me another one said if I ever become a Christian may this oath smash every bone in my body and kill me in the third place the commander of that the commandant of that camp had made this ruling that if anybody became a Christian the first he would have to say the five big leaders these are the five going to be deported not knowing not knowing what I was letting myself they took me into a little room and the soldiers came marching these five men into the room the soldiers walked out the door closed the key turned in the lock and I looked around and I was alone in the room with these five murderers and just to add to my consternation just before I walked in the commandant of the camp of these men was fifty people five men they turned around to me and the first thing I said was I hope they give me an interpreter and I hope that he would be a great big man as well we regret that there are places in the next part of the recording where it was damaged before it came into our possession we trust however that you will be able to get the sense of what is said one of these men who happened to be the one who had murdered Chief Loogie at the Lorry Massacre pulled himself up to his proper height and said in the most impeccable English I beg your pardon sir I happen to be a graduate of Oxford University my friend here is a graduate of London University my friend here is the headmaster every one of those men closed their eyes and every one of those men said an amen when I'd finished the soldiers lined them up to march the night and as they went marching out of the door this man from Oxford University left his place and came rushing towards me I saw the teardrops running down he looked at me with awe as the soldier plodded away and went into and now it's up to you from that moment onward that whenever I tell you tonight young man and young lady if you're ever going to go to the mission field you'd better go now I believe in five years time the doors will be closed already two thirds just about two thirds of Africa is closed to the preaching of the gospel and doors are closing so fast that if ever you're going to preach the gospel you'd better go now and I tell you some of you older people if ever you're going to give and when I speak about giving I don't mean giving your pounds or your five pounds or your checks I mean giving until you feel it on the table giving until you feel it in the wardrobe giving until it hurts you so much if ever you're going to give you'd better start giving now many of us in this country have so much to give and we pat ourselves on the back and if ever you're going to go to the mission field you'd better go now and if ever you're going to help others go you'd better do that now and let me say if ever you're going to pray you'd better start praying now I don't mean the kind of prayer that says Lord bless the dear missionaries Lord bless this dear station but I mean the kind of prayer that takes a missionary upon your heart Lord bless station station Lord bless station Lord bless this station Lord Lord bless this station Lord bless