1851
On this day, August 9, 1851, Karl Gutzlaff died in disgrace. In large measure, he had himself to blame, which was a pity, because he had applied genuinely original methods to the problem of evangelizing China. He was one of the first Protestant missionaries to dress like a Chinese. Wherever he went, he made scripture translations.
Karl was a true mission pioneer. For instance, when he arrived in Bangkok, Thailand in 1828, the twenty-five-year-old Lutheran was the first Protestant missionary to reach Thailand. Under the Netherlands Missionary Society, he had already worked for three years among Chinese expatriates who were living in Indonesia and Singapore.
In Thailand, his first effort was to begin translation of the New Testament into Siamese. In 1829, he married Miss Newell, a self-supporting missionary, and the two completed the project together. In the second year of their marriage, his wife and baby daughter died. Karl wandered up the coast of China, handing out Chinese language tracts which had been prepared by another pioneer missionary, Robert Morrison.
At that time, China allowed westerners only into certain port cities. Although Christianity had been introduced into China as early as A.D. 60 and reintroduced in the seventh century, and again by Jesuits in the sixteenth century, almost no Chinese were Christians. Karl looked at the huge land with longing. How could he get the gospel to its people?
Working a secular job by day, he conceived a solution that would enable him to evangelize in his spare time. He would send native Chinese to convert others. They would sell and distribute Chinese New Testaments, too. In 1844, he founded an institute to train Chinese Christian workers. It was a great idea, and if Karl had found some way of overseeing the 300 Chinese he sent out as missionaries, it might have succeeded.
The evangelists came back with glowing reports and wonderful statistics. Sometime in the late 1840s Karl enthusiastically reported 2,781 converts and a thousand Testaments distributed. His success made traditional missionaries look bad. But touring Europe in 1848, Karl had a guilty secret. Almost certainly he knew that he was being hoaxed by some of his evangelists. Afraid of losing funding, he kept quiet. But missionaries in Hong Kong had had enough. They sent a report of their investigations to Europe.
Although some of Karl’s missionaries were genuine converts, the majority proved to be opium addicts who never traveled to the places they claimed. Eager for easy money, they simply made up their reports and sold the Testaments back to the printer who resold them to Karl. Some even used the mission as cover for opium sales. This and Karl’s participation in the Opium Wars and the treaty which forced China to give up Hong Kong made his name loathed in China.
Shattered by exposure, Karl returned to China where he died shortly afterward in 1851. However, the Chinese Evangelization Society which he formed lived on to send out Hudson Taylor who founded the successful China Inland Mission. Hudson Taylor called Karl the grandfather of the China Inland Mission.
1921
“She was a very attractive young lady, the most attractive young lady I had ever met.” That is how Jacob “Jake” DeShazer remembered his early acquaintance with Florence Matheny.
Jake was one of the Doolittle Raiders in World War II who bombed Japan. When he parachuted from his plane over occupied China, the Japanese captured him. For forty months he was held in captivity, often tortured and usually isolated in solitary confinement. He hated his captors. After his release, he was a hero. His picture made the news. But now he had a goal.
While in prison, Jake became a Christian. Although raised in the Free Methodist Church, he had never put his life under the command of Jesus. Near the end of the war, the Japanese relaxed prison conditions a little and brought the prisoners a Bible. Jake read it through three times in three weeks and memorized whole chapters. Because he believed its promises, his life was changed. He was determined to get his theological education and come back to tell the Japanese about Christ.
Florence, who was born in Marion, Iowa, on this day, August 9, 1921, also wanted to go into full time work for the Lord. She chose Seattle Pacific College for her training. About that time, she read that Jake planned to attend school and return to Japan with the gospel. “What a coincidence it would be if he should choose the same college I have chosen,” she thought. “I might even get to shake his hand!”
As it turned out, Seattle Pacific College was indeed the school Jake attended. Early in 1946, Florence and Jake both attended a Youth for Christ service. “We both felt a oneness of purpose,” said Jake. “When I asked Miss Matheny if she would marry me, she said she would. When we prayed to Jesus, we felt that he would be pleased to give us a life together.”
Florence did more than shake Jake’s hand; she became his wife. Between Jake’s speaking engagements, they had family devotions together twice a day. This helped lay the foundation for their long and productive ministry.
Jake, Florence and their children sailed for Japan in 1948. “My brave little wife was ready for the fight,” he wrote. Jake’s testimony had been printed in Japanese and over a million leaflets distributed throughout the islands. Thousands of Japanese turned out to see him when he landed at Yokohama. Over the years, many turned to Christ through seeing how the love of Jesus could make a man love even those who had tortured him.
Florence held Bible lessons in their home and also led Japanese to Christ. And she gave lessons on a flannel graph, illustrating Bible themes.
One of the most rewarding results of their ministry was when Mitsuo Fuchida, lead pilot of the planes that bombed Pearl Harbor, gave his life to Christ as a result of reading Jake’s tract and studying the Bible. The two worked together to win souls.
After years of love, trust and hard work, Florence and Jake retired to Salem, Oregon.