1904 and a Premature Russian Invasion

The hard times in Queensland caused Dad’s two brothers, Harry and Frank, to migrate to New Zealand, from whence they sent back such favourable reports that Dad decided to follow them, which he did at the end of 1904. Just about this time there had been a great Russian scare in Australia, it being feared that an invasion was imminent. A Chinese market gardener used to hawk his products in our area in a couple of baskets swinging from a cane which he carried on one shoulder. We were always delighted to see his baskets bobbing up and down as he trotted along the street. He took a fancy to Arthur and me as he always got a good reception at our place and reciprocated at Christmas time by presenting us with a packet of crackers each. Since Mother thought that we were too young to appreciate such things, she put them away till we should be older. It was a Thursday afternoon and Dad was making a clearance preparatory to packing up, when he came across the four packets of crackers. In his opinion at least we were now old enough to enjoy some fireworks, so he planned something really worthwhile. In order to assure the maximum effect he placed them in a four gallon kerosene tin, tied the fuses together and applied a match . He had no sooner retreated into the house that the cannonade commenced. The din was terrific and in a trice threw the quiet street into confusion. The general impression was that the Russians had landed and taken the town by surprise. A horse broke out of his stable across the street and came prancing down to the front gate. The dog next door broke his chain and, dragging it behind him bolted from his kennel as if he had seen the devil himself. The neighbour's white cockatoo went out of its mind and set up a terrific sqwark as he endeavoured vainly to break its chain. The fowls escaped from their pen and went tearing about in all directions and pandemonium reigned as long as the cannonade lasted. The neighbours came rushing out of their houses to discover the cause of the commotion but it was nowhere to be seen. Not having foreseen such a rumpas Dad deemed discretion to be the better part of valour , and he discreetly kept out of sight, contenting himself with peering through the curtains at the commotion in the street.

Queensland Childhood Memories

At the commencement of this century times were hard in Queensland. A severe depression had hit the country accompanied by a prolonged drought which extended over a period of seven years. Water was so scarce that had to buy our household supply and be careful not to waste it. Mother taught us when saying our prayers to tack on a petition for rain, which we duly did. Then suddenly the drought broke. It was a Thursday afternoon shortly after lunch. Thursday afternoon was special to us because Dad did not have to go back to work on account of the mid-week half holiday. Black clouds had gathered overhead, the lightening flashed and loud peals of thunder rent the air. Then with a deafening roar the storm burst upon us. The din of the rain on the corrugated roof was deafening. We stood on the covered porch between the kitchen and the living room and watched the deluge. Great drops of rain splashed into the puddles which quickly formed and in a matter of minutes the back yard was flooded. I was terrified for I had never seen anything like it before. Mother did her best to comfort me and allay my fears by explaining that this was God’s answer to our prayers for rain. I remember thinking that He might at least have turned the tap on more gently.

With Dad at home we had some memorable Thursday afternoons. One that I shall never forget was when he made is a cart. He worked in a wholesale grocer at the time so was able to help himself to discarded crates and cases. His tools were limited, however for he had only an axe, a saw, a hammer and a poker. He made the wheels from the hardwood of the boxes in which plug tobacco was packed. He marked out the circles with a dinner plate and formed the wheels with the aid of the saw. The holes were made for the axles by the use of the red hot poker. Arthur and I stood by watching as the wonderful cart took shape and when it was finished, weren’t we proud of it!!

Our next acquisition was rather more elaborate. It was a rocking chair, the sides of which were dapple grey horses in full gallop. My uncle Herbert was a coach builder and painter and so had access to all the tools of the trade. In our eyes this contraption was a masterpiece, and nothing could have delighted us more. We kept it on the front verandah and could be depended on to rock it at length as we made our imaginary journeys to Gladstone to see a certain Miss Nellie Gilmore, who was destined to be my aunty.

Interview with Dr Herbert Money (7)

Emilio Castro, Chairman of the recent Conference held in Melbourne is represented as the spokesmen for Liberation Theology in Latin America. To what extent does he represent the evangelical movement in the continent?

Emilio Castro is the authentic spokesman for Liberation Theology in Latin America but he certainly does not represent the evangelical movement as a whole. It may be true to say that he speaks for the main line denominations but these constitute an insignificant minority. He may even speak for a few nominal evangelicals but those who read and study the Scriptures for themselves know that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. Those who know the voice of the true Shepherd do not pay attention to other voices and this is the strength of the evangelical movement in South America.

(Final question and answer in this interview)

Interview with Dr Herbert Money (6)

To what Extent has Liberation Theology affected the evangelical movement in Latin America?

While the great majority of evangelicals reject Liberation Theologyas anti-Biblical and do not wish to see the evangelical churches hitched up to any political chariot whatever, they are certainly not unmindful of the social implications of the Gospel. However there is a definite polarization taking place in Latin America. The Evangelical Seminary of San Jose de Costa Rica, which was originally Biblically based, has changed its stance by admitting to its staff teachers sympathetic to Liberation Theology. This change is serious threat to the Biblical solidarity of the evangelical community, owing to the prestige enjoyed by this institution as a bastion of Biblical truth. The offer by agencies of the WCC of subventions to libraries of Bible Institutes and scholarships to their brightest students for further study in liberal seminaries and colleges in the States, prove very tempting. I think however , that it is fair to say that up to the present the WCC has been disappointed at the slight progress it has made in ushering the evangelical movement into its fold.

Interview with Dr Herbert Money (5)

It would appear that you are of the opinion that Liberation Theology is strongly influenced by Marxist Theology. Is this so?

Yes, that is so. The official organ of Church and Society in Latin America is “Christianismo y Sociedad”, in its issue No 13 of 1966 bears this out. This publication which is octavo in size and about ¼” thick makes no mention of any Bible basis for its doctrine and does not mention God or Christ but quotes Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Marx as its authorities. Che Guevarra is quoted as advocating Agrarian Reform by violence, condemned all United States aid to Latin America is pernicious and had nothing but praise for Cuba and Russia. This is characteristic of WCC sponsored agencies in Latin America.

Interview with Dr Herbert Money (4)

Could you outline your experience with the advocates of Liberation Theology in South America?

As Secretary of the National Evangelical Council of Peru I read all the news releases of the Information Service of the WCC and took note of the development of its revolutionary theology. I also kept myself informed of the activities of the Student Christian Movement, Church and Society, and the Committee for Evangelical Laity in Latin America. By 1966 it was abundantly clear that these bodies were decidedly leftist in tendency and their ideology fundamentally different from what the National Evangelical Council represented. I therefore kept a file of all this information and at the Annual Assembly of the Council in January 1966 presented a report on the Communistic infiltration in the Evangelical movement of Latin America. This caused quite a stir and met with a hostile reception from the Methodists. However with the single contrary vote of this body it was decided to pursue the matter further and appoint a committee to investigate the charges. At the following Assembly these were amply sustained and the situation found to have grown worse in the meantime.

At the same assembly in 1967 the council was invited to send a delegate to take part in the arrangements for the Third Latin American Evangelical Conference. I was unanimously elected to represent Peru at this meeting, which was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Chairman was Emilio Castro, coordinator of the Committee for Evangelical Unity. He outlined the programme, which was to be focused on social action, his slogan being “Doctrine divides, Social Action unites”. I immediately challenged this and was amply supported by the Chileans and Brazilians. When it became evident that the representative bodies of these countries were not prepared to follow the WCC line, the Committee for Unity did nothing but hinder plans for a genuinely evangelical conference. The final upshot was the Castro’s committee held a relatively small conference in Buenos Aires while the Conference on Evangelism held in Bogata later the same year drew three times as many delegates. It is alleged that the Bogata conference was the result of North American engineering. In part this is true but it was the result of a definite appeal from Latin America. As for the WCC engineered conference in Buenos Aires, the WCC butted in without any invitation from Latin America and gratuitously thrust itself upon the evangelical movement through the intermediary of the Committee for Evangelical Unity which it had itself spawned. It was through the National Evangelical Council of Peru that the National Association of Evangelicals was appealed to and I personally carried the request to the States.

I should add that in the mid 60’s Peru was subjected to guerrilla attacks under the leadership of Che Guevara and with the tacit approval of “Church and Society”. Much bloodshed and damage resulted till the movement was eventually put down by the armed forces. As for the Indians on whose behalf the invasion was launched, they failed to rally around the banner of their pretended “liberator”.

Interview With Dr Herbert Money (3)

You mentioned the Evangelical Union of South America. Does this represent the whole evangelical movement in Latin America?

No. The EUSA as it is popularly called in Latin America is not a union of evangelicals as a whole but refers only to a mission of that name. During the last decade of last century and the first of this one, the Regions Beyond Missionary Union began work in several countries of South America including Peru. However in 1912 this mission withdrew from the continent and the Evangelical Union of South America was organised to take over and develop the work thus started. The EUSA has been the parent body of the Iglesia Evangelica Peruana, the Peruvian Evangelical Church, which is the principal indigenous evangelical church in the Republic and of which I was an elder.

Interview with Dr Herbert Money (2)

In what shape did you find the evangelical movement upon your arrival in Peru and what significant changes have you witnessed in the attitude of the Western World towards missionary work in Latin America?

When I arrived in Peru in 1927 the evangelical cause was only 36 years old and many of the earliest converts and workers were still active. Prior to my arrival comity arrangements had been arrived at whereby the Evangelical Union of South America occupied the southern part of Peru, the Methodist Episcopal Church of America the central highland region, the Free Church of Scotland Cajamarca and the territory to the east, and the Church of the Nazarene and the Holiness Church of California the northern coastal region. The recently arrived Assemblies of God were allotted the Callejon de Huaylas which is a large valley between the Black Range and the White Range which includes the highest peak in Peru, Mt Huascaran, which is 22,200 feet high. The capital city of Lima was regarded as free for all.

As for the changes I have witnessed in the attitude of the countries of the Western world toward missionary work in Latin America I think the most notable would be the increasing liberalism in theology of the Methodists and Presbyterians of North America, the adoption by these churches of the recommendations of the Jerusalem International Missionary Conference of 1928, the proliferation of small denominational and faith missiones (sic) since that time, and finally the attempts of the World Council of Churches to infiltrate the evangelical churches, especially during the 60s.

Following the Jerusalem Conference of 1928, which was a victory for Humanism, a commission of laymen visited the principal mission fields and published its findings and recommendations in a book entitled “Rethinking Missions”. Its principal recommendations were: 1) Emphasize the Social Gospel; 2) Remove Evangelism from Schools and Hospitals; 3) Recruit only liberal candidates; 4) Regard non-Christian religions as fellow seekers; and 5) Form one central Board of Foreign Missions in the U.S.A to ensure the carrying out of this policy.

In the missions which subscribed to this policy the result was stagnation. On the other hand the proliferation of conservative missions resulted in the spread of Biblical evangelism throughout the continent so that it would not be far wrong to estimate the present strength of his segment at 90% of the whole Protestant population.

Especially during the 60’s the WCC has endeavored to infiltrate these groups through agencies such as the Student Christian Movement, Church and Society and the Committee for Evangelical Unity in Latin America. These agencies have been welcomed by the mainstream denominations, which constitute an insignificant minority but so far they have made little headway among Biblical evangelicals.

Interview With Dr Herbert Money (1)

This interview, caught up in some of Dr Money's papers is undated and unsourced. Not good academic credentials if we are concerned about such things (which we are not right now) but an interesting insight into the heart of his work in Latin America and some of the missional issues of the day. I will post them up as a series.

Dr Money, although you were born in Australia you have spent many years in Latin America. How long were you there, in what capacity did you work and in which country?

I went to South America in 1927 and left in 1968, so that my period of service extended over 41 years.

I went to Peru as a teacher on the Anglo Peruvian College in Lima, a boys college which functions under the auspices of the Free Church of Scotland and is one of the most prestigious colleges in Peru. I was a full-time teacher there for 12 years and a part-time teacher till my retirement in 1968. From 1934 onwards I was a lecturer in the Peruvian Bible Institute and became General Secretary to the National Evangelical Council of Peru upon the formation of this body in 1940 and continued to serve in this capacity till my retirement. I also founded a Bible Institute for the lowland Indians of Peruvian Amazonia in 1957. This now functions under the auspices of the Swiss Indian Mission. I took part in the founding of the Lima Evangelical Seminary in 1962. I was Vice Rector and taught Church History and Systematic Theology. In 1968 I was decorated by the Peruvian Government and made a Knight Commander of the Order of Magisterial Palms for distinguished services to education. Although always based in Lima, I travelled extensively both in Peru and the rest of the continent.