W. C. And Sarah Foulkes Moore: Heralding The Message Of Christ’s Return
In 1937 W. C. and Sarah Foulkes Moore, both in their late 40’s, were united in marriage one evening in the home of a minister friend. Brother Moore had a ministry as a traveling evangelist and Bible teacher, and Sister Moore accompanied him, giving herself to prayer and both of them leading prayer groups for revival. All their earthly possessions were packed into their car, a 1929 Packard, as they traveled from place to place across the country.
In 1941 they were in Los Angeles vitally engaged in a prayer ministry at a church, in which they had use of a very humble, rent-free room for living. Through the meetings at the church, they became acquainted with a Christian printer who, seeing the intense burden on the hearts of the Moores to the call to prayer and revival, offered to print a paper for them for the cost of the newsprint. They had been given funds by another friend to print tracts which Brother Moore had written. The friend graciously agreed they might use the funds instead to publish the paper. And so they accepted the challenge and poured out the message burning in their hearts in an 8-page paper, which they titled Herald of His Advent, expecting it to be the only issue. The response was good, however, and encouraged them to print a second issue and then a third. Soon they realized God was calling them to publish monthly.
Though they had neither training and experience in publishing, nor funds, they cast themselves on the Lord for His enabling. Their faith had been exercised through years of depending on the Lord for supply of their personal needs. They had tried the promises of God and found them good. They had believed the Lord and found Him faithful. This new challenge demanded far more faith, more praying and more fasting, but because they wanted to follow the Lord wholly, they were willing for it.
In 1944 Sister Moore wrote in Herald of His Coming: “Less than three years ago the Lord called us from our knees where for years we had been interceding for revival worldwide, church-wide, nation-wide. He asked us to be laborers together with Him in heralding the message of His returning. Not knowing how to edit a paper I am afraid we were unwilling. But He made us willing by going before and leading us on. Moreover, He asked us to send it forth by faith that it might be sent of God. We were told that this could not be done. But what hath God wrought!”
God made the Moores to know Herald of His Coming was to be undenominational. It was to be kept unworldly and unadorned and printed economically on newsprint that it might be sent without charge, that no one be denied the Gospel because they could not afford to pay for it.
Early Challenges
In the beginning Brother and Sister Moore did practically all the clerical and mailing work from the single room in which they lived. The world was in the crisis of World War II. Costs rose. There were shortages of housing, paper supply and other items, even shortage of labor at the shop which printed the Herald, so that at times two issues had to be combined.
In 1945 the paper supply had been a serious problem. The War Production Board had notified them of drastic reductions, and the amount of paper allotted to them was so low as to make it impractical to print the Herald. The local Board told them it was useless to appeal, but the Moores felt led to write directly to Washington, D.C. “Then followed weeks of prayer and fasting,” wrote Sister Moore, “while the matter was pending. Others’ appeals had been turned down, but word was received that the allotment of paper for Herald of His Coming…was not to be curtailed. This was the Lord’s doing, and we speak of it rejoicingly to His glory!”
There were faith, fasting and prayer battles for finances, for example, when $25 and $50 a day was needed for expenses, and only $3 or $5 was received. In early days there was only volunteer help because there were not funds for salaries. These were “wonderful folk who pitched in with all their might” laboring in love side by side with Brother and Sister Moore. But there was the need for regular workers who could be on the job more steadily than volunteers who had other responsibilities. In the Lord’s time and with His provision, workers were added to the staff who labored whole-heartedly and sacrificially alongside the Moores.
A New Home
After the church in which they were working and living closed, God led the Moores through a series of moves, to a large second-floor room in a former mortuary in downtown Los Angeles. They were living and working here when the building was put up for sale. Through the sacrificial giving of friends, they were able to purchase the building and here the ministry was housed for about 25 years.
Earlier in the ministry Brother Moore wrote: “We want our many friends to share with us the blessing of the Lord. Starting out in August 1941 with a few names, and with Mrs. Moore and myself doing practically all the clerical work, mailing, etc., God has seen fit to wonderfully bless Herald of His Coming – for which we praise and thank Him. ‘The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it’ (Prov. 10:22).
“As tears come to my eyes while I read letters from many, many friends, far and near, I want to share the blessings with all who have a part in this gospel work. We are all working together, and we are all laborers together with God. To HIM be the praise and glory forever!
“Now, instead of one room, God for Jesus’ sake has bountifully given us an office, desks, equipment, a faithful band of willing, eager workers – here in Los Angeles – and so very many precious friends all over this country and abroad, friends who pray for us and for God’s continued and increasing blessing on the work, that God may be glorified – friends who give and give sacrificially, gladly, joyfully to the support of the paper with its last-hour trumpet-call message – friends who write in from grateful hearts and tell of inspiration, help, blessings, encouragement received as they read the paper – friends who write and tell us how they are passing on the paper to others, that they, too, may share the blessing of the Lord.
“We have a heartfelt appreciation to all who are joining in this work for the Lord – and oh, how we praise the Lord for His great mercy and goodness to us – and His blessing on the work!”
Prayer – The Heartbeat of the Work
From the beginning, prayer was the heartbeat of the work. Lone prayer vigils in early morning or late night, twos and threes agreeing together throughout the day, prayerful hearts at the work desk, and especially the gathering of the staff in the old mortuary chapel, where prayer times were sparked by the fiery, faith-filled prayers of Brother and Sister Moore – all told that God’s blessing on the ministry was dependent on and the result of prayer.
Brother and Sister Moore sometimes wished they could do nothing but shut themselves away and pour out their lives in prayer. But God had placed on their shoulders the responsibilities of the worldwide work of Herald of His Coming and they were faithful workers, giving themselves from early morning until late at night – their breaks being mostly prayer breaks, or for necessities such as sleeping and eating and short walks. They lived in the simplest of rooms alongside the staff. Personal comforts and conveniences were all but forgotten in their zeal to finish the work God had given them to do and in their loving concern for their co-workers.
For the Glory of God
The Moores would not want to be extolled. They were aware that at times they made mistakes. They had shortcomings. There were failures. But there was also wholehearted devotion to God and a sincere desire to do always the will of God. How often upon the lips of Brother Moore were the words: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Sister Moore encouraged herself by recalling the little stone in David’s sling that brought down mighty Goliath. Who would have guessed God would give the victory through an insignificant stone, unnoticed until God chose to use it?
A particular challenge which came to Herald of His Coming occurred in 1973 when the Lord called Sister Moore to her eternal home. From the very beginning, the Moores had labored together in the Herald ministry. The Lord had commissioned them as a team. They spoke of each issue as being like a child travailed to birth. One can only imagine the loss Brother Moore felt the evening God gathered Sister Moore to her home above. In that difficult hour, the Lord quietly said to him, “Thank Me for taking her,” and Brother Moore did, no matter how his heart was rent. Peace came to him and he was strengthened to carry on with the ministry. His home-going was in December 1980.