God always had His special servants at all times through whom He worked. There were the prophets in the Old Testament, and the apostles in the New Testament. The history of the church shows us that always again the Lord raised up men and women by whom He worked in a special way.

     We think of the great men of the reformation, or of the pioneer missionaries in different countries. It seems to me that we are very poor today in this respect.

     Do you think that the time for the servants of the Lord, set apart for a special work, is past?

     This is a very serious question which reminds us of the time after the last prophet Malachi, when the Lord was silent for 400 years. Also, in the history of the church there have been times when the word of God was hidden, and there were no messengers of Jesus Christ.

     But I think that we have entered into a new time of church history, and that the Lord is preparing a new generation with a special task and a special message for our time.

     During the time of the reformation, the message of justification by faith was renewed: Jesus Christ died for us.

     In the time of the great revivals, beginning with Moody, the special message of the indwelling of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit was preached with great power. It was the message which produced the great missionaries of that time.

     And today the special message for our generation is: the Lord Jesus Christ will come back, in all His glory, to set up His kingdom on this earth. The prophetic truth of the Bible is revealed today by the Holy Spirit.

     When Jesus came upon this earth, there was John the Baptist, the voice in the wilderness, who announced His coming. Today the Lord wants to prepare His messengers, who will announce to all the nations: the King Jesus Christ is coming back! Prepare His way!

     We know that we have entered into a new time, also for the church and her work in this world. Many churches, conscious of this fact, try to bring the world into the church to make it more interesting, especially for the young people.

     But we absolutely refuse to do this. We are called out of the world, but we certainly must see what the changes in our time mean for the church and especially for the servants of the Lord.

     You are active in training young people for the service of the Lord. What important lines would you emphasize in your efforts to train young people to serve the Lord today?

     We must make it clear that to be a servant of the Lord is not a profession which brings money and honor and not a task which everyone can choose. There must be a call of the Lord into His service. I am afraid that many study for the ministry without having received this call of the Lord. They will be a failure.

     The prophets of the Old Testament were called by name, and also the apostles of Jesus Christ were called personally. The first missionaries Barnabas and Saul were also called by the Holy Spirit, and they knew it.

     If this is so, we must show to the young people, who feel called by the Lord, that there are conditions to fulfill. The Lord Jesus says: deny yourself; take up your cross and follow me!

     That means that the servant of the Lord depends entirely from his Master. He has no rights of his own. He cannot do according to his own will. He has laid his life upon the altar as a burnt offering for the Lord, never to take it back again. I am afraid that not all those who want to be in the service of the Lord have signed these conditions with their name.

     And, finally, we must see that the servant of the Lord must have a special message for his time. Of course, the message of salvation never changes. It is: Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the cross, and is risen from the dead as the Lord of all.

     However, the Lord has a special message for every generation. The servants of the Lord today need a new vision given to them by the Holy Spirit, who enlightens their understanding of the Bible, so that they can say: "Thus saith the Lord."

     This was the secret of the great Bible teachers America produced in the beginning of our century. Where are they now?

     Let us be aware of the Word of God: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Prov. 29:18)

     Then the dead in Christ will rise first in the body of glory, and all the believers, who will be in that day on this earth, will be transformed in less than a second, and we all will be united with our Beloved Lord. He will take His church home for the great feast of the marriage of the Lamb. This is the greatest coming event in world history

     If He would come today, are you ready to meet Him?: Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Have you gathered in a precious harvest of souls for the Lamb? You do not want to stand before Him with empty hands?

     The Holy Spirit wants to fill our hearts today with a burning love for Jesus Christ, the coming Bridegroom of His church. Allow Him to do His work in you. Jesus Christ will be coming soon—perhaps today!

     We see in Acts that from the beginning the Holy Spirit had the greatest part in preparing the messengers of the Lord. I have the impression that we have put more weight on the intellectual education of the servants of the Lord than on the spiritual equipment.

     You have been for many years in this great work of training young people for the ministry. What is your opinion about the intellectual tendency in most of our seminaries?

     Our time offers opportunities for education as no other time before. Science is a great power today and has almost become an idol of our generation. We certainly must require the best training possible for our young people who have decided for the ministry.

     They must be able to understand the great questions and problems of our time. They have to preach the gospel also to the intellectuals in our churches, or to those who are still far from Christ, bound by unbiblical religions or cults. They must know how to meet them.

     However, we must put first things, first. We need today a deep spiritual training if we want spiritual leadership. We need men and women who are truly born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. We must give them a real deep knowledge of the Bible; how to go deeper into the riches of God's Word; and how to pass them on.

     Prayer must be the center of all education for the ministry. Prayer will be a vital part of their service. How we need prayer today to prevail against the power of the devil.

     It seems strange that we have produced today one general type of servants for the ministry. They all must have the same amount of knowledge and the same degrees, if they want to be acceptable. Of course, this education is necessary and good, but do we leave any opportunity to the Holy Spirit to call whom He wants, also those without a higher education?

     God called very different people with different education to be His prophets, and Jesus Christ appointed uneducated men to be His apostles. Peter and John surely did not even finish high school, and yet what a tremendous work they did.

     We must be open for the call of the Lord, and for His special training for His workers. His way may differ widely from our ways of education, but we must accept them. Only if we do this the Lord can answer our prayer to give more workers into His harvest.

     The New Testament teaches us that the servant of the Lord needs the strong support of the believers. In fact the Holy Spirit addressed the church in Antioch and asked her to send out the messengers of the gospel. We see that even Paul needed the strong background of the believers to fulfill his task.

     What is really the responsibility of the church today for the servants of the Lord?

     We touch here one of the greatest needs in our churches. The work of the Lord rests upon the shoulders of very few Christians. The majority of Christians are not concerned about His affairs, for they are too much occupied with themselves.

     At first it is very important that our Bible-believing churches produce servants of the Lord; young people, who answer the call of the Lord, and are ready to give their lives for the Lord's work. We need conversions and decisions in our churches.

     Then the church must feel responsible for those who are called. We read of the church in Antioch, where Barnabas and Saul were called by the Holy Spirit, that the church was one with them: "They fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them and sent them away." (Acts 13:3)

     If the church of today would take over the responsibility for the missionaries sent out by them, how much more could we do. Why have we always to ask for money in the Lord's work?

     I think the reason is that we failed to follow the commandment of the Lord saying: "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in mine house, and test me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

     We cannot experience this blessing if we do not fulfill the conditions.

     But, the responsibility of the church for the servants of the Lord consists not only in financial support but in spiritual help. In our day all the servants of the Lord are in great danger.

     They are the target of the enemy, who wants to discourage them, to weaken them, to tempt them, and to persecute them. The church, which sends out the messengers, must be like a wall of prayer around them. Without prayer-support they are not able to do their work.

     Did we fail the Lord in our responsibility — for His servants? Are we guilty that the gospel did not yet reach the ends of the world? Will the Lord ask from us the souls of so many who perish in their sin because there is no helper?

     These are serious questions. Let us answer them in the light of Golgotha. There Jesus Christ says to everyone of us: "This I did for you. What do you do for me?"