Dear
Mr. Paul:
We
recently received an application from you for consideration
of mission works under our charge. It is our policy to be frank
and open-minded with all our applicants. We have made an exhaustive
survey of your case. To be plain, we are surprised that you
have been able to “pass” as a bona fide missionary.
We
are told that you are afflicted with a severe eye problem. This
is certain to be a handicap to an effective ministry. We require
2020 vision. Do you think it seemly for a missionary to do part-time
secular work? We heard that you are making tents on the side.
In a letter to the Church at Philippi you admitted that they
were the only church supporting you. We wonder Why? Is it true
that you have a jail record? Certain brethren report that you
did two years’ time at Caesarea and was imprisoned at Rome.
You made so much trouble for the businessmen at Ephesus that
they refer to you as ‘the man who turned the world upside
down.” Sensationalism has no place in missions! We also
deplore the lurid over-the-wall episode at Damascus. We are
appalled at your obvious lack of conciliatory behavior. Diplomatic
men are not dragged out of the city gate, or assaulted by famous
mobs. Have you ever though that gentler words might gain you
more friends?
In one of your letters you refer to yourself as “Paul the
Aged.” Our new missions policies does not anticipate a
surplus of elderly recipients. We understand, too, that you
are given to fantasies and dreams. At Troas, you saw “a
man of Macedonia” and at another time you were “caught
up into the third heaven” and even claimed that “the
Lord stood by” you. We reckon that more realistic and practical
minds are needed in the task of world evangelism.
You have written many letter to churches where you have formerly
visited and worked. In one of these letters, you accused a church
member of living with his father’s wife, and you caused
the whole church to feel badly and the poor fellow was withdrawn
from. Your ministry has been far too flighty to be successful.
First, Asia Minor, then to Macedonia, then Greece, then Italy,
and now you are talking about a wild goose chase to Spain. Concentration
is more important than dissipation of one’s powers. You
cannot win the whole world by yourself! You are just one little
man.
In
a recent sermon you said, “God forbid that I should glory
in anything save the cross of Christ.” It seems to us that
you also ought to glory in our heritage as well. Your sermons
are much too long for the time. At one place you talked too
long for the time. At one place you talked until midnight and
a young man was so sleepy that he fell out of the window and
broke his neck. Nobody is saved after the first 20 minutes.
Dr. Luke reports that you are a thin little man, bald, frequently
sick and always so agitated over the churches that you sleep
very poorly. He reports that you pad around the house, praying
half the night. A healthy mind in a robust body is our ideal
for all applicants. A good nights sleep will give you zeal and
zip so that you wake up full of zing! You wrote recently to
Timothy that you had “fought a good fight.” Fighting
is hardly a recommendation for a missionary. No fight is a good
fight. Jesus came not to bring a sword, but peace. You boast
that “I fought with wild beasts of Ephesus.” What
on earth do you mean?
It hurts me to tell you this, brother Paul, but in all of the
25 years of my experience, I have never met a man so opposite
the requirements of our Foreign Missions Committee. If we accepted
you, we would break every rule of current missionary committee
thinking.
Most sincerely yours,
Foreign Missions Committee
