Page 4 - Bridges For Peace Continuing Ed Module 1

Back in Philadelphia, Douglas accepted the pastorate of a small church. In
addition to preaching and caring for the flock, this new position was a training
ground for a life of total dependence on God. The Lord showed Himself strong
and faithful in caring for the young couple in even the smallest of details, such as
the time Doug found, after a Sunday service, that the seat of his pants was torn,
and was too worn to be repaired. He and his wife prayed concerning the need,
and the next day in the mail they received two checks totaling $15.00 which was
just enough to buy a new suit before the next Sunday!

After four years of the pastorate, Doug was called to become Principal of a
Christian Academy back in Canada in 1942, where he learned administration and
gained more teaching experience. Two years later he was called to teach at
Faith Seminary in the U.S.

While teaching, he continued his Doctoral studies in the Hebrew and Semitic
languages program, which demanded studying Egyptian, Akkadian, Sumerian,
and Arabic as well as Hebrew. Not only did he complete his doctoral studies in
three years, but did it while preparing lessons and teaching at the same time, as
well as seeing something of his wife and little son! He received his Ph.D. in l948.

His ability in languages was confirmed when he published “A Grammar of the
Hebrew Language” in 1951, and an Ugaritic Concordance, published in Rome in
l956.

Information concerning the Nazi atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish people
during the war was now coming to light. Witnesses told of naked Jewish bodies
being pushed into gas chambers by German officers whose belt buckles
proclaimed “Gott mitt uns”, ie (God with us). Doug’s study of the Hebrew
language had given him a special love for God’s chosen people, and his heart
was deeply grieved as he learned of their suffering. A wave of horror swept over
him as he realized that in the Jewish mind the Gott of the belt buckle was the
Christian God – his God!

Thus began the foundation on which Doug would build for the rest of his life,
speaking out against anti-Semitism and calling the church to a sincere and
rightful relationship with the Jewish people.

In 1953 the Youngs moved to Minneapolis where he had accepted the position of
Dean at Northwestern Seminary and Professor of Old Testament. From here he
led people on his first tour to Israel – another turning point in his life. He quickly
saw how tremendous it would be to have on-site classrooms for the study of the
bible – in the land of the Bible. He never dreamed, however, that the Jewish
leaders he met on his tour would, within a short time, be helping him establish
that school.