Cows For Korea
Here are some quotations from the Christian Chronicle of March 15, 1963:
"Sid Allen, a young veterinarian and Christian worker, plans to leave in late March or early April as a missionary to Korea.
"The Church of Christ in Campbell, California, has recently undertaken the oversight of Allen and plans eventually to assume most of his support. Much of his support is now coming from his private veterinary practice and from funds for travel and work from the Vermont Avenue Church of Christ in Los Angeles.
"Allen is spearheading a drive in the United States termed 'Cows for Korea!' A shortage of protein in the average Korean's diet causes a high tuberculosis rate in this country. The persons behind this project hope that the milk will help this situation.
"The Korean Government has offered to pay shipping charges on any cattle shipped from the west coast to Korea for which these brethren raise the money. The cattle will be the property of the Korean Government but the brethren will have the milking rights and will own the first offspring of the cattle. The church in Merced, California, has agreed to coordinate efforts to raise funds to see 200 bred heifers in Korea by the end of 1963.
"The Palm Avenue Church of Christ in Fresno, California, is raising $6,000.00 to ship a load of 20 animals which will not belong to the Korean Government."
During my debate with Brother W. L. Totty in Meridian a few weeks ago, Totty told a joke about a boy who could not talk because "he had been kicked in the mouth by a calf!" It would be one of the greatest blessings that could ever come to the body of Christ if everybody connected with this hare-brained "roundup" could get kicked in the mouth by a big fat cow!! That's right.... kicked so hard they could never speak again until they were ready to repent and come back to the word of God, or else sever all outward connection with the church of Christ.
But you'll have to hand it to our brilliant brethren! They have really put one over on those poor ignorant Koreans. The Koreans own the front end of the cows — they will have to FEED the brutes. But the Church of Christ owns the milking end!!
But hold everything! Our brethren may have made a strategic blunder. According to the report in the Christian Chronicle, the Church of Christ is to get the "first offspring" of the cattle. They should have specified the first HEIFER calf from each cow! Suppose all those two hundred cows have bull calves the first time? Then the Church of Christ is stuck with 200 bulls!!
Who knows? Maybe by the time some of our astronauts are ready to land over the moon, the Church of Christ will already have produced a strain of cattle that will jump over it.
Who says we are not making progress? In the apostolic days the churches took care of their mission work by sending a preacher ('or sending to a preacher). But in this modern day our brethren forget about the preacher and send bred heifers — and a veterinarian!