Fed-up with empty pews, a British pastor discovered that when he held services in a movie theater - where he discussed whatever Christian content was encapsulated within the story, he attracted a far larger crowd. The numbers were so impressive he continued this practice and even began producing Christian films in the subsequent decades. A brief Quick Magazine report on the Christians who made their 1951 pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal. In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, it said that the Virgin Mary appeared before three children and interacted with them. Among other remarks, the Virgin is said to have made this warning:
"Russia will spread her errors throughout the world and many nations will be annihilated".
Ever since America established the car culture, there came a need for all-night retail establishments: hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, pharmaceuticals - you get the picture. During the late Thirties this became apparent to the Reverend John Welles as he "drove aimlessly through the West" - he saw that it was quite possible to acquire meatloaf at all hours of the night, but if you wanted to speak with a minister of the Gospel, you were just plain out of luck. It was then that Welles swore to himself:
"If ever I have another church, it will be open day and night. The soul doesn't come alive on Sunday mornings only, and some day I'll build a church where people can pray whenever they wish." The Moody Bible Institute has not graduated many cartoonists but they did give their sheepskin to Jack Hamm (1916 – 1996), a terrific cartoonist who used his talent to advance the Gospel in Godlier America. |
