PROFILES OF FAMOUS CHRISTIANS
by
Pastor David W. Kuykendall
First Baptist Church of Searles Valley
84661 Trona Road
Trona, CA 93562
1994
TO
BARBARA, MY LOVING AND FAITHFUL HELPMEET
PREFACE
These brief biographies were originally written for use as columns in the newspaper, and then as part of a fifteen minute radio program entitled: On the Lord’s Side. The intent was to focus on accounts of salvation and how Christ makes a difference in lives. As one result of the programs, a Mormon man contacted us to say that he had trusted Christ while listening to the radio in his work shed.
The very nature of the subject limits originality, as these well-known people, with only one exception, have now gone to meet their Savior in Heaven. I am heavily indebted to the books listed in the bibliography, as well as to Dr. Ed Reese and Dr. Jim Vineyard who taught courses in Church History and Biographies of Great Christians while I attended Hyles-Anderson college, and dozens of biographies that I have read over the years.
I am thankful for Pastor W. W. "Bill" Scott, now in heaven, who loaned me a copy of Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret when I first started attending a fundamental church. I am also indebted to my parents who shared with me their love of reading, and particularly my mother who read stories to me every night. I can remember her reading Bible stories at my bedside, as well as many marvelous English and Australian children’s books.
This collection is by no means exhaustive, but is rather a sampling of stories of ordinary people who left an outstanding testimony because of the power of God. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would use this work to convict some of their need for salvation and encourage many others as they continue in their walk with Him.
With a fortune from silver mines in Colorado, Mr. and Mrs. Borden did their best to provide for their son. First a childhood at home, then a private boarding prep school, then on to college at Yale. Mr. Borden wanted his son to be a success in life. Mrs. Borden also had high dreams for her boy, for success in both this life and the next. Young William was taken to church even as a little child. When he was seven years old he surrendered his life to Christ and dedicated himself to do whatever God wanted.
Although his family was wealthy, William was taught to keep strict accounts of how he spent the money that was given to him. He learned to be a wise steward of both his finances and his time, never forgetting that he had dedicated his life to God. His father insisted that he attend Yale University. When he found few of the students at Yale living for God, he determined to be an example among them of what God could do in the life of a dedicated Christian. He helped start a rescue mission for sailors who gathered at the docks. Attending classes and studying during the day, he spent his evenings explaining the gospel to these hardened men. Hundreds came to know forgiveness for their sins as a result of this mission work. Graduating from Yale, William Borden went on to graduate from Princeton Seminary three years later. Then, within a year, he was dead.
Is that the end of the story? Certainly not! His father had passed away during William’s second year of college, and the care of the family fortune passed into William’s hands. He became a trustee of Moody Bible Institute, and a member of the council of the China Inland Mission. While attending seminary, he taught a Sunday School class in a black church and gave thousands of dollars to Christian causes. He was a delegate at both the Student Volunteer Movement conference and the Edinburgh Missionary Conference.
Having been strongly influenced by preachers such as G. Campbell Morgan and R. A. Torrey, and by travel around the world with missionaries, he determined to go as a missionary to some of the fifteen million Muslims in China who were without a single Christian witness. William Borden was ordained in 1912 by Dr. James M. Gray at the Moody Memorial Church and then traveled to Egypt to study with Dr. Samuel Zwemer, the outstanding missionary to the Muslims. When he contracted cerebral meningitis a few months later and died, it was found that he had willed his entire fortune to Christian work.
How do you count the value of William Borden’s life? Was it the dozens who became missionaries because of his challenge? Was it in the hundreds who were challenged to fully surrender their lives and fortunes to God? Or was it in the tender moments he spent teaching young children in Sunday School, and leading old, sin-soaked sailors to God? William Borden did not place a value on his life—he merely placed his future for eternity into the hands of God.
CAN A SHOEMAKER WIN THE WORLD?
In the 1700’s in England, many young men dreamed of exploration. One, a shoemaker’s apprentice named William, was particularly curious about geography and customs of foreign lands. He had a map on which he made notes about strange lands and peoples. He also had a leather globe that he used to share his knowledge with others. In the course of his studying, he read a sermon by Jeremy Taylor. It roused his interest in a new subject: being "born again."
When William asked an apprentice friend about this new birth, he was encouraged to go to church to get his answers. The young cobbler resisted, however, because the invitation was to a Dissenters Church, not to a Church of England. To William’s protests, the response was: "They may be called heretics, but they preach from the Bible. And that’s what counts!" For months, William Carey resisted the invitation to church. When he finally started attending, he had to admit that they did preach the Bible. One day, the preacher spoke of the reproach of following Christ. William said that during the message: "I felt ruined and helpless. I had a desire to follow Christ." He had finally come to the end of himself, and given up to Jesus.
From that morning onward, he both knew what the second birth was, and actively followed Christ. This cobbler’s apprentice began to study languages, and during his daily devotions he read from the Bible: English, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. When his master died, he took over the shoe shop, married and began a night school for the village children. Seven years after his new birth, William Carey was ordained a Baptist minister.
A few weeks later he asked at a minister’s meeting: "Whether or not the Great Commission is binding upon us today to go and teach all nations?" The response from the formal churchmen was: "When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine." William Carey was not content with this answer, and continued to seek God’s leading in the matter. Almost six years later, Carey formed a missionary society, and the next year became its first missionary, taking his family to India. It was not easy work, and there was much heartache. His wife became mentally deranged, and several missionaries died of local diseases. It was seven years before he baptized his first convert, but William was not one to give up. By the end of his ministry, William Carey had translated the entire Bible into the four leading languages of India, and established one hundred and twenty-six mission schools. This cobbler’s apprentice with an interest in the world had not only found the meaning of the new birth, but had become the father of the modern missionary movement.
"THE GRAND SECRET OF THE SUCCESS OF ALL PIONEER PREACHERS"
Rogues Harbor, Virginia in 1801 was an evil place for a boy to grow up. At the age of sixteen, Peter Cartwright was no stranger to sin. His own father had bought him a deck of cards to gamble with, and then given him a racehorse. At one point, after an evening of drinking and dancing, the young Cartwright fell under a sense of conviction of his own sinfulness, and he wrestled with it night and day for the next three months. In the sparsely settled, Indian-plagued wilderness, some twelve thousand people gathered for the Cane Ridge Meeting. One of the two thousand people who were saved by the end of those meetings, Peter was destined to do great things for God. The teenage convert could not keep his mouth shut about his salvation, and when his family moved farther west the next year, young Peter inquired of the Methodist-Episcopal church authorities who their new preacher would be? He was astounded to find himself being appointed to preach in the new country, with not as much as one day of seminary training!
Peter soon discovered that Holy Ghost fire in the heart and a good horse underneath you was the only seminary training a circuit-riding preacher needed. He also found the pay was not startling, officially being eighty dollars a year, but seldom actually going over fifty. For twenty-one years he traveled the circuits in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. The custom was to change circuits every two years, which meant many moves for a family that eventually came to have nine children. An example of his preaching was a camp meeting on the Roaring River circuit in 1822, where the altar call after his sermon continued for two days and nights, and resulted in two hundred people being saved. In 1823 Peter Cartwright moved his family to Illinois in order to "get entirely clear of the evil of slavery", and be in a place where he "could raise my children to work where work was not thought a degradation." He continued to preach with great results, and through the years saw the wilderness turned into great metropolitan areas.
Certainly the outstanding aspect of his life was his enduement with power from on high. He described it thus: "In this agency of the Holy Spirit of God I have been a firm believer for more than fifty-four years, and I do firmly believe that if the ministers of the present day had more of the unction or baptismal fire of the Holy Spirit prompting their ministerial efforts, we should succeed much better than we do, and be more successful in winning souls to Christ than we are … and I would humbly ask, is not this the grand secret of the success of all early pioneer preachers, from John Wesley down to the present day?"
Wesley Clark thought life was grand. His father was a storekeeper, and the family store was loaded with candy and fruit, as well as less interesting things. This little boy, however, couldn’t figure out why he had to sneak most of the candy he wanted to eat. With a whole store full, why didn’t his daddy just let Wesley eat all the candy he wanted? This was one of the many mysteries for which he would find answers in coming years. While Wesley was not trained by a father’s example to have a close relationship with God, his mother did pray for him, and together his parents paid to send him to a Christian school.
When he was twelve years old, he began to wonder about another of life’s mysteries. He became convicted of the weight of his sins, and wondered how he could find forgiveness and peace with God? He found forgiveness and peace one day by praying, asking the Lord to forgive him, and trusting the blood of Jesus Christ to pay for his sin. He had read in the Bible and heard through preaching that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," and that day he trusted God for His gift. From the moment that he turned his life over to God, he had assurance that he was saved.
When he shared with the pastor at the Christian school that he had been saved, the pastor tried to talk him out of it! The minister insisted that no one could be saved without being baptized, and that Wesley must be baptized before he could know for sure that he was going to heaven. Although he was only twelve, the child knew through his Bible reading and through the witness of the Holy Spirit in his heart that he had received full salvation. Although he did get baptized, it was in obedience to his Lord, and as a witness that he had already trusted Christ for salvation.
During World War II, Wesley joined the navy. While others were having "fun" by getting drunk and being immoral, Wesley was seeing the sights, studying his Bible and witnessing to others of the joy there is in Christ. He never had a day marred by a hangover, or regrets about the activities of the past. Wesley had a sense of humor that never left him. A drill instructor who was particularly tough on the men, constantly needled Wesley for being from Kentucky. Although Wesley had been raised in the city, the man insisted on calling him a "hillbilly." On the rifle range, Wesley purposely missed the target on his first few tries. When the drill instructor asked why a "hillbilly" didn’t know how to shoot, Wesley replied loudly that it was because he had always shot barefoot before. When the instructor allowed him to take off his boots, every shot hit the center!
After graduating from college and seminary, Wesley began to pastor small churches in Kentucky and Tennessee. He combined a keen sense of humor with a bold witness and fearless preaching of the Word of God. Each church he pastored led the county in baptisms and growth. After some years, he felt God leading him to come to California to pastor. He moved out on faith, and soon became pastor of a church in Oceanside. He not only was successful in his pastorate, but was also elected head of his denominational group for Southern California. Disgusted with the liberal drift in the denominational schools and camps, he eventually left the denomination, giving up the retirement plan that he had contributed to for years.
Pastor Clark began a church by meeting in a restaurant in Carlsbad, California. He sold his house, and used the proceeds to pay the down payment on a nine-acre citrus orchard with a house, at the end of a winding road. Some years later, Dr. Elmer Towns described it as "the hardest church in America to find." During the next sixteen years, Dr. Clark saw over twelve thousand people profess faith in Christ in the main services of the church. Thousands of marines based at Camp Pendleton were saved as a result of the aggressive outreach program of the church. Over one hundred people are in full-time Christian service as a result of the West Coast Baptist Church, and the ministry of Dr. Wesley Clark, a man who found the secret to one of life’s mysteries.
In the month of May, in the year 1820, a mother took her six-month old child to the doctor. It seemed she had a minor eye infection that needed to be treated. The doctor was careless in his treatment, and the precious little girl went blind. To compound the difficulty, throughout her life she constantly battled health problems. How could a blind woman with fragile health during the 1800’s accomplish anything for God?
It seems that for one person, being blind meant that she could see and understand a great deal about God. Little Fanny Crosby turned out to be an amazing child in several ways. She held no bitterness about her blindness. At the age of eight she wrote her first poem:
Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t!
So weep or sigh because I’m blind,
I cannot, nor I won’t!
The biggest influences in Fanny’s life were her grandmother, her mother, and a godly neighbor. With these folks working with her, by the time she was ten years old she could recite the first four books of the Old Testament, the four Gospels and a very large number of poems. When she was fifteen she began formal education in New York City. She quickly became an excellent student in every subject except mathematics.
She published her first book of poems at the age of twenty-four, including her first hymn. Although her family and one of her teachers were great spiritual influences, Fanny herself did not receive the assurance of her salvation until she was thirty years old. While attending revival meetings at the Broadway Tabernacle Methodist Church in New York, she had gone to the altar on two different evenings, without settling the matter. Finally, while the people were singing: "Alas, and Did My Saviour Bleed?" God showed her the solution to her need. She later said: "My very soul was flooded with celestial light. For the first time I realized that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand and the Lord in the other."
Fanny found great joy in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ had forgiven her and given her abundant new life. Eight years later she married a gifted musician who, like her, had been a student and an instructor at the blind school.
In 1864 she began to write gospel songs, producing over eight thousand songs during the next fifty-one years. Many of these songs are still popular today, such as: "To God Be the Glory," "Blessed Assurance," "Praise Him! Praise Him!," "Redeemed," "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross," "Rescue the Perishing," and "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me."
Often she mentioned sight in her songs. She had a great faith, and sweet assurance that heaven was her home. In her song: "Saved by Grace," she writes:
Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story – Saved by grace.
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story – Saved by grace.
Jonathan’s grandpa was a preacher, and Jonathan seemed to be born with a love for God also. In a family of eleven children, he was the only boy. His parents home-schooled him, and in his early years he showed a real intellectual genius. He studied not just English and numbers, but also included Latin, Greek and Hebrew. His two great interests in his early years were science and religion. He not only watched spiders, he wrote a brilliant essay about them. He saw God in the world, and sought to know more about God by studying His creation. As a youth, he prayed five times a day. When he built a fort in the swamp, it was so he and his friends could pray and talk together about spiritual matters. He enrolled in Yale when he was thirteen years old. At seventeen, he began studying for a master’s degree in theology.
It was at the age of seventeen that he settled the matter of his personal relationship with God. Although he had read and studied much about God, he had a hard time accepting the fact that God was sovereign. This reflected the fact that although he was interested in prayer, he was unwilling to accept God as the Lord of his life. In studying a particular verse of the Bible, I Timothy 1:17, he finally resolved all of his former struggle: "As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the divine Being; a new sense, quite different from anything I ever experienced before. From about that time, I began to have a new kind of apprehensions and ideas of Christ, and the work of redemption, and the glorious way of salvation by Him."
At the age of twenty-four, Jonathan Edwards became assistant pastor to his grandfather. Within two years, his grandfather passed away and he found himself called to pastor this influential church. He married, and eventually became the father of eleven children. While an intense student all of his life, he devoted specific time each day to his children.
This was a time of revival called the Great Awakening. Pastor Edwards received some criticism for his support of this revival, but it was nothing compared to the criticism that he would receive as his ministry progressed. He began to challenge the members of his church to accept Christ as their Saviour. Although they had been baptized into the church as children, many of the members had never had a personal time of asking the Lord to forgive and save them. Salvation was not necessary in that church for either membership or participating in the Lord’s Supper. The concerned pastor challenged his people with the fact that church membership and attendance were not enough. Rather than just know of God, he challenged them to truly know God by admitting their sinfulness, acknowledging God’s rule over their lives, and accepting His wonderful gift of grace. The reaction of many was that they did not want to be stirred out of their comfortable ways.
The sermon that Jonathan Edwards is best known for is one entitled: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," in which he stirs people to realize their accountability before God. Eventually, although three hundred people were saved in his church in one year alone, the church leadership voted him out of the pastorate. Edwards became a missionary to the Indians in New England, and finally accepted the post of President of Princeton. The testimony of the life of this brilliant theologian with an evangelist’s heart was that he loved God, and he loved his fellow man. Although many of the churches in New England continued on into dead religion, Jonathan Edward’s life became a challenge to generations of Christians, and a prime influence in the development of the modern missionary movement.
Who is the most likely candidate to become a spiritual giant? If we were to choose, there is one man who would probably be among the last to be picked. Born on December 25, 1766, in Wales, his parents named him Christmas Evans. His father died when he was a child. As a result of her poverty, his mother asked the boy’s uncle to raise him. Christmas’ upbringing was certainly less than desirable. A cruel man and a drunkard, his uncle did not give him any education in scholarship, morality or religion. As a teenager, Christmas could neither read nor write, but was certainly an experienced fighter, and had several brushes with death. At seventeen, he left his uncle’s farm and went to work for a Presbyterian minister. There was a revival in the church, and he was one of those who gave their hearts and lives to Christ. He began to learn to read and write, and went along with others to cottage meetings held for the poor. He was occasionally called upon to lead in prayer or to preach, several times memorizing sermons and prayers that he found in books. As his skill in reading grew, he studied the Bible diligently.
Three years after his conversion, he joined a Baptist church as a result of this study. He went on to master Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and four years later was ordained to preach. God blessed in his first pastorate, and soon the tall, bony, ill-dressed, one-eyed farm youth came to the attention of thousands of people as one who had the power of God upon his preaching and ministry. Two years later they moved to Anglesea, where he rode his horse around the island to regular preaching engagements, developing twenty assemblies and seeing more than six hundred people trust Christ in just a few years. He gave advice to young pastors to live "a blameless life," and remember that "reading, prayer and temptation are necessary to strengthen and to purify the talents of a minister." He is remembered as a man of pulpit eloquence in both English and Welsh, of evangelistic zeal and of prayer.
In this modern day, people make excuses for a child raised in poverty, subjected to brutality, deprived of formal education and lacking social graces. One who has suffered all of this, in addition to having been disfigured by losing an eye in a fight, may be tempted to despair of ever accomplishing anything great. We can look to the example of Christmas Evans, a young man who gave himself to Jesus Christ and was miraculously transformed. "Life," he said, "is the only cure for death. Not the prescriptions of duty, not the threats of punishment and damnation, not the arts and refinements of education, but new, spiritual, Divine life." Christmas Evans was a man who knew the Saviour, shared Him with others, and had confidence in his eternal home. His last words, on July 20, 1838, were: "Goodbye! Drive on!"
The twenty-nine year old lawyer was one of the most popular men in Adams, New York. Not only was he busy as a lawyer, but because of his musical talents he was the choir leader of the Adams Presbyterian Church. Although he helped out at the church, it was well known that he was a skeptic. He felt that nothing he had seen in Christianity showed any power of reality. Although he knew people who said they were Christians, he saw so many inconsistencies in their lives that he dismissed their faith. As a lawyer, Charles Finney often had to consult Blackstone's law books. About the time that a group of Christians began to pray for his conversion, Finney began to notice references in the law books to the Bible as the highest authority. He purchased a Bible and began to study it, partly to try to outwit the pastor of the church.
He became convicted of the weight of his sin, and began to wonder if he could find a way to have forgiveness and real peace. After studying the Bible, he came to the realization that the Bible was true, even though Christians might be inconsistent. Finally, he set aside a day to read the Bible for the answers to his spiritual needs. Each time he began to read, there would be a knock on his door, and he would hide the Bible. Before he began to pray, he plugged the keyhole of the office door, so that no one would hear him. He wanted to learn more about God, but was embarrassed for anyone to find out, since he was known as being a scoffer. That night, he tossed and turned, finding no peace. In the morning, after he entered his office, he said an inner voice seemed to whisper: "What are you waiting for? Are you trying to become righteous on your own?" He then understood that: "Christ's work was a finished work ... and that all I must do was consent to give up my sins and accept Him." Charles Finney left the office that morning to find a place alone in the woods. There, he kneeled down and gave up to God. As he prayed, he asked for forgiveness and turned his life over to the Lord. When he arose, he was a new man.
He could not keep silent about his newfound Savior. In the coming days and years, his testimony spread as he talked to individuals and then preached wherever he could. Almost the entire population of the town of Adams received Christ as a result, and the churches were revitalized. The revival swept to surrounding towns and then throughout the northeast. Hundreds of thousands of people, including dozens of ministers, were saved as a result of the Holy Spirit using the preaching and writings of Charles Finney. This skeptical lawyer not only found victory over the law, but also spent a lifetime sharing that victory with others.
"TO WHOM DOES THE PROPHET REFER?"
One hundred years ago, Poland was a center of Jewish intellectual activity. Rabbi Ginsburg had the duty of leading the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, assisted by other learned rabbis. As the men discussed spiritual questions, thirteen-year-old Solomon Ginsburg, the rabbi's son, glanced through an old copy of the Prophets. In the margin next to a portion of Isaiah was written the question: "To whom does the prophet refer?" As Solomon read the scripture, he, too, had the same question in his mind. He asked his father the question, but did not receive an answer. Thinking his father had not heard, he asked him again: "To whom does the prophet refer?" In reply, his father reached out and slapped his face, and closed the book.
Two years passed, and Solomon's question remained unanswered. As a young man of fifteen, Solomon was approached one day in the streets of London and invited to hear a sermon that was to be preached by a Jewish missionary. The topic was to be Isaiah chapter 53, the same passage that had raised the question. Solomon agreed to attend, and that evening he heard the wonderful account of Jesus, the Lamb of God prophesied in Isaiah. Solomon was encouraged to read the New Testament. Through reading the Bible, Solomon came to know that Jesus was the Messiah, but he was hesitant to trust Him as his savior. He knew that if a Jew trusted in Jesus, his entire family would disown him and treat him as if he were dead.
After three months of struggle, Solomon listened to a sermon on Matthew 10:37: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." That day, he knew he must decide. When the preacher asked for testimonies at the end of the service, Solomon rose to say: "I want to be worthy of Jesus." Solomon had gone from questions to belief and finally to trust. In that moment of trusting, the Bible says he was spiritually born into God's family. The next day, his uncle wanted to know what caused young Solomon to have such a big smile on his face. When he told his uncle his joy came from trusting Jesus as the Messiah, his family immediately took steps to cut all ties with him.
What happened to this teenager who trusted Christ? He went on to attend and graduate from Bible college and become a missionary in Brazil. From 1890 to 1920, Solomon Ginsburg engaged in pioneer mission work and introduced hundreds of people to the family of God through trusting faith in Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God who died to pay for our sins.
Francis Ridley Havergal wrote songs. More specifically, out of a heart of love for her Lord Jesus Christ, flowed a wellspring of poetry. Francis' father was a pastor, and wrote and published church music. When she was three she began to read, and at four she was reading the Bible. By the age of seven she began to keep a notebook of poetry she had written. Although she was recognized as having a remarkable intellect, life was not easy for her. Her mother died when Francis was only eleven. Although she attended church from her childhood, she struggled with the concept of salvation for three years, and finally received the assurance of her salvation at the age of fifteen.
Francis believed in God, even as a child. She was deeply moved by the truth of Christ's death on the cross to pay for our sin. Every time she saw the Lord's Supper, she was reminded of the great love that was shown us by Christ's sacrifice. She was also troubled by the fact of sin, and the judgment that she knew was the result of sin. She wanted to have peace with God, but felt that the weight of her sin kept her from it. Finally, through the counsel of a committed Christian lady and the testimony of peace that a girlfriend found when she accepted Christ, Francis was persuaded to put all of her hope and trust in Jesus Christ's payment for her sin and in His gift of eternal life. When she finally and fully accepted God's love and trusted Christ's payment for her sins, she found the wonderful peace that a new life in Christ brings.
Francis Ridley Havergal was an unusual person. She learned Greek, Hebrew, Latin, German, French and Italian. She memorized the contents of most of the books of the New Testament, as well as Psalms, Isaiah and the Minor Prophets. Francis taught a children's Sunday School class, visited those who were poor and ill, and had a ministry of writing books and corresponding with those in need of counsel and comfort. She suffered poor health much of her life, and yet always found cause to praise her Lord and challenge others to serve Him. Today many of her songs are still popular, such as: "Like a River Glorious", "I Gave My Life for Thee", and "Who Is on the Lord's Side?" Toward the end of her life she wrote a song that could well sum up her life's prayer:
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days: let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart; it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
The fourth child of a family that had been touched with hardship and tragedy, Jack was painfully shy. His father had been active in the Methodist church early in his marriage, but by the time Jack was born, any church involvement had long been replaced by a love of the bottle. The poverty stricken family moved to a small house in Dallas, where Jack and his mother attended a Baptist church two doors away.
By the age of eight, Jack realized he was lost without the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He considered asking Jesus for forgiveness and the gift of eternal life, but he did not want to get baptized. At the age of ten, Jack became heavily burdened about his lost condition. At the same time, his pastor and the church members spent a week in prayer for his salvation. On Saturday night, his father's return home from a night of drinking greatly disturbed Jack. When Sunday came, Jack couldn't feel at peace with God or with others around him. He sat through Sunday School and the morning church service, and a great heaviness enveloped him. That evening, in the break time between Training Union and the evening service, in the hallway of the Fernwood Baptist Church, young Jack Hyles knelt and asked God for forgiveness for his sins. He told Him that he believed that Jesus Christ was the Saviour, and he was trusting the Lord Jesus to save him. When he rose from his knees he had received forgiveness for sin, and God's gift of eternal life. What a happy boy he was! That night, he made his profession of faith at the evening service and was baptized.
When he was thirteen, Jack's father left the home. Jack's mother was a godly woman, willing to work long hours to support the family. In spite of her grinding schedule, she made time to teach her child Biblical principles to guide his life. When he graduated from high school, Jack went to work for the railroad. He had an idea of becoming a publicist or maybe a newspaper writer, or possibly an announcer.
That first year after high school, as he sat in church one night, he realized very definitely that God wanted him to surrender to preach. How could "Little Jackie Boy" be a preacher? At eighteen years of age, he still sucked his thumb. How could this introvert ever speak to others? Yet, that night he surrendered to God's call to preach. At the end of the service Joe Boyd, the famous football player, walked down the aisle to tell the pastor that he had surrendered to be a preacher. Then, when the preacher announced that "Little Jackie Boy" Hyles had also come to be a preacher, a hush fell over the congregation. The pastor said: "Folks ... let's pray for Jackie!" Jack's first sermon was three minutes of stammering, stuttering, a false start and a tearful exit. It was not a very auspicious beginning! He enrolled in college, taking some classes in speech, then attended Bible college interspersed with a stint as a paratrooper during World War II. After graduation, he pastored a church while working forty hours a week and attending seminary.
One night Jack's father came to hear him preach. After the service, he begged his father to get saved, and his father promised that he would soon, but there wasn't enough time. Shortly thereafter, he died of a heart attack. He was a drunkard, and as far as is known he never did trust the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness. His son spent hours on his father's grave, praying and crying and calling out to God for His power to reach men. He begged for God's Spirit to so touch men's hearts that they would turn to God. After this time, when he preached, God's power began to fall. He would call on five hundred homes each month to try to win souls and build the church. One church went from ten up to six hundred in attendance. He built another church of a hundred up to four thousand, and then was called to pastor the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.
"Little Jackie Boy", the thumb sucking, insecure introvert, who stood to preach for three minutes and sat down in tears, pastored the largest church in the world for 41 years. The Sunday School attendance averaged twenty thousand weekly, and for many years they baptized over eight thousand each year. A soulwinning lighthouse, the church was known for dynamic preaching, and tapes of Dr. Hyles' messages went to thousands throughout the world every week. He also traveled across America, preaching over a thousand times a year. Today many rejoice that, years ago, God cared enough to save "Little Jackie Boy".
OR
OUR WONDERFUL GOD
"He's a boy wonder" they said, and indeed he was! He read through the Bible completely at the age of eight, and read through it twice the next year. By the time he was fourteen, Harry had read the entire Bible fourteen times! At the age of eleven, Harry and his widowed mother moved to Los Angeles and there was no Sunday School in the neighborhood. Would that stop this "boy wonder"? He organized boys to collect burlap bags, and organized girls to sew them together. Within days, a tent was created that could cover one hundred people. No teacher? Harry became the teacher, and averaged sixty in attendance the first year. At the age of twelve, Harry went to hear Dwight L. Moody preach the first night of the 1888 Los Angeles Crusade. He prayed to someday be able to preach to immense crowds like that.
At fourteen, Harry came home to find a familiar visitor. Donald Munro was an evangelist, and every time he had come to visit them in Canada, he had always asked Harry the same question: "Lad, are you born again?" The boy would answer that he memorized scripture, gave out tracts and attended Sunday School. Mr. Munro would always warn him: "Oh, laddie, you can do all that and still spend eternity in hell."
"My, how you've grown after four years, Harry, lad. Now tell me, are you born again, yet, laddie?" Harry's uncle responded to Mr. Munro that Harry was preaching in his own Sunday School. "You mean you're preaching and not yet born again! Get your Bible, lad. We've some things to talk about." Mr. Munro had him read Romans 3:19, to teach him of his own sinfulness before God, and his need of salvation. How important it is for one to be born again before he preaches God's Word to others! A few weeks later, fourteen-year-old Harry gave up his Sunday School. For the next six months he lived like a part of the world, paying little heed to God. One night while attending a party, a Bible passage that he had committed to memory came back very powerfully to him. He became very concerned for his eternal salvation, and went home to be by himself. Arriving after midnight, he read from the Bible in Romans chapter three and John chapter three, especially verses 16 and 18. In prayer he said to God: "Lord, I rest on Thy promise. I do now take Christ as my Saviour, and because Thy Word says so, I know I have eternal life."
At last, Harry had the proper order. The "boy wonder" might have gone to hell, but instead he gave up to Christ. As he began to study and preach, God's power was upon his ministry. He became well known for his clear Bible teaching. He wrote over twenty commentaries on books of the Bible, and wrote dozens of other books and tracts. For many years Dr. Harry Ironside pastored the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, founded by the famous evangelist. Throughout his ministry, people pointed not to the "boy wonder", but to the wonderful God who could save even such a one as he.
IS THIS ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THE GREAT SAM JONES?
Sam's life was one of great potential. The son of godly parents, he received a good education. When he determined to become a lawyer, he seemed one of the most likely to succeed. Upon passing the examination to become a lawyer in Georgia in 1868, a judge described him as "the brightest boy ever admitted to our state's bar." This bright boy became a brilliant lawyer. He married a beautiful woman and had a career that many would envy, except for one problem.
It seems that Sam had been sickly before entering college, and had decided to treat his weakness with a few doses of stiff liquor. Upon regaining his strength, he found that he still felt stronger when he had braced himself with a drink or two. This habit of preparing himself with alcohol led to great inconsistencies in his life. When he argued a case in court, it was hailed as outstanding, but too many times he was so drunk he could not stand up to defend anyone. When Sam was still a lad, his mother had said to him on her deathbed: "Sam, I will never be able to return to you, but you can come to me." These words haunted him. He would remember them sometimes when he had been engaged in a drinking bout, bringing shame upon his preacher father and upon his godly mother's memory.
One day Sam found himself in a bar, during a particularly long drinking bout. He had just begged from the bartender a glass of "bar-slop", the spills of alcohol found in the gutter of the bar counter. As he lifted that glass of gutter slop to his lips, he gazed at the sotted, beaten, soiled and tattered image reflected in the mirror before him. As he looked he cried out in horror and despair: "Is this all that is left of the great Sam Jones?" At his dying father's bedside, Sam tried to hide his whiskey breath as his father called for him. "My poor, wayward boy. You have broken the heart of your wife and have brought me in sorrow to my grave. Promise me you'll meet me in heaven." Broken, Sam shouted to his father: "I promise! I'll quit drinking and set things straight. I'll meet you and Mother in heaven." Sam Jones never took another drink after he left his dying father.
The following Sunday he went to hear his grandfather preach, and asked for prayer at the close of the service. Continuing to attend church, a few weeks later he walked the aisle in the church again, this time to surrender his entire life to God. One week later he preached his first sermon, and went on to become a well-known, faithful evangelist. Across the country, leaders and common folk alike came to hear him preach. Thousands were saved through his ministry, and thousands more challenged to put their priorities right by determining to follow the Bible command to: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
As Adoniram Judson graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, his parents reveled in his presentation of the valedictory address. He was a bright boy and his father, a pastor, welcomed his son back home to start a school. By the following year, he was both a successful schoolteacher and an accomplished author.
This seemingly stable young man, who faithfully attended church with his family, suddenly announced one day that he was leaving teaching to become a playwright in New York. His parents were astounded. Upon questioning him, they found that Adoniram had been deeply influenced by a fellow student at Brown University named Jacob Eames. Eames had convinced Adoniram that there was nothing of substance to Christianity, and since Adoniram had never been born again, Jacob's arguments seemed to fit what he knew. Jacob Eames had succeeded in turning Adoniram into a man without earthly or eternal hope. Adoniram determined to follow his friend's philosophy of living only for the moment.
After a few unsuccessful weeks in New York, Adoniram Judson decided to go west to seek his fortune. When he stopped at an inn to spend the night, he was told the only available room was next to one of a man who was dying. Adoniram lay awake most of the night, listening to the sounds from the next room and thinking about where he himself would go when he died. As he checked out the next morning, he was told that the man had died, and that his name had been Jacob Eames! That day, he decided to search for the truth back in his hometown. At home, Adoniram talked to his father and some other Christians about the possibility of a real relationship with God. Finally, he himself confessed to God his sin, and placed his complete faith and trust in the price that Jesus Christ had paid on the cross. He at last found peace with himself and God, through accepting God's gift of eternal life.
Adoniram Judson eventually married and traveled to Burma as a missionary, laboring for six years before having his first convert. By the time of his death, he had translated the entire Bible into Burmese, and on the one-hundredth anniversary of his death it was estimated there were two hundred thousand Christians in Burma. Yes, Adoniram Judson died, and Jacob Eames died, but Judson's life work lives on and his spirit rests eternally with the Lord.
If ever a religious man would get to heaven by his good works, Martin was determined to be that man. If ever a religious man were to be forgiven for the sins he had committed, Martin was also determined to be that man. In attempting to be religious and to receive forgiveness, Martin entered the Augustinian order of monks. He fasted for days at a time. He dressed simply and lived even more simply. He prayed for hours, doing penance in such a way that he was in physical danger because of the stresses upon his body. He sought direction from those in authority over him, and following their teachings made lists of his sins in order to seek Christ's forgiveness.
He was faithful in his duties as a monk, and studied hard from a Latin Bible. As he read, one day a verse seemed to leap from the page: "The just shall live by faith." Not works? Not devotions? How could this be? He continued to strive to serve God faithfully and to find the peace he so desperately sought. He traveled to Rome and visited every shrine that he could. He studied the Bible books of Romans, Psalms and Galatians. The University of Wittenberg granted him a Doctor of Theology degree, entitling him to teach theology, yet this teacher still did not know how to find God's peace. While teaching the book of Romans, he wrestled with the idea of justification by faith. He could not see how to resolve the righteousness of God with the sins of man. As he continued to study the scriptures, God finally showed him the light. "I saw that the righteousness of God is received from God by faith as a gift. I saw that this was the means by which the merciful God declares the believers righteous. I felt myself newborn. All the scriptures appeared different to me. Instead of hating, now I intensely loved God's righteousness."
And so, the teacher who had been a seeker now became the teacher who had received the greatest of gifts: the forgiveness of all of his sin and an eternal life communing with Christ. At last he could share real truths with others. This powerful biblical idea of justification by faith became such a mighty force, that Martin Luther's name came to stand for a person who was wholly resting upon Christ's sacrifice as payment for his sins.
Every boy's father is a role model for that child. Jerry's father was a counterfeiter, so it is not surprising that by the age of thirteen, Jerry was already beginning a life of crime. At nineteen, Jeremiah McAuley was a thief and the terror of the New York waterfront. While still a young man, he was sentenced to serve fifteen years of hard labor in Sing-Sing prison, framed by some of his underworld "friends." Jerry spent years in prison, filled with bitterness toward the men who had falsely accused him, and plotting his escape.
One morning, something happened that changed his life. As the prisoners sat in chapel, Jerry saw his old friend Awful Gardiner sitting on the platform. "I was wearing stripes like you only a few months ago," Awful Gardiner explained. "Then I found Christ as my Saviour..." After leading in prayer, Awful Gardiner, amid tears, told how he had come to find salvation through knowing Jesus Christ. Jerry was intrigued. For the next few weeks he studied a Bible that was in his cell. He fought a long battle with his own pride until he finally gave up to Christ, not caring what anyone thought. Getting down on the stone floor of his cell, Jerry McAuley turned his life over to the Saviour. As soon as he did so, he found the joy of his sins forgiven and faith in Christ. Jerry could not be silent now. He told guards and prisoners of his newfound faith, and won several prisoners to the Lord.
When the governor granted a pardon, Jerry McAuley was free to roam the streets again. After personally experiencing the difficulty of adjusting to freedom, Jerry turned his house into a base that he called the Helping Hand Mission. This criminal had found new life through receiving the Saviour, and wanted to do everything he could to point others to Jesus Christ. As a result of his zeal in reaching the lost and helping Christians to live for God, hundreds of rescue missions were established across the nation. Today, many rescue missions continue to do a great work, all because Jerry McAuley found new power and a positive role model in his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Among the most striking examples of those whose lives have counted for God, are those whose ministries have been comparatively short. Thousands of Christians have been inspired by the example of David Brainerd, missionary to the American Indians, who died at the age of thirty-two. Likewise, many have been challenged by the life of Henry Martyn, who also died at the age of thirty-two. The testimonies of these two men played a part in inspiring Robert Murray McCheyne to live his life for God, but there was another lesser-known man who inspired him also.
When Robert McCheyne passed away at the age of thirty, the Christian world mourned his loss. In his short ministry he had become the most popular preacher in Scotland. Some seven thousand people attended his funeral, shutting down business in the city of Dundee. McCheyne had been known for his holiness, and his challenge to others to live a life devoted to God. Jesus Christ had forgiven him for his sin, and he had never gotten over it. He wrote to a friend: "I feel there are two things it is impossible to desire with sufficient ardour -- personal holiness, and the honour of Christ in the salvation of souls."
Robert McCheyne was known for his carefully prepared and earnest Bible messages, but he felt that a Christian's life needed to be rooted in a consistent devotional life. He always read at least three chapters of the Bible before breakfast, as well as singing hymns and praying. A saying of Jeremy Taylor had inspired him: "If thou meanest to enlarge thy religion, do it rather by enlarging thine ordinary devotions than thy extraordinary." This man of God struggled with health problems during much of his seven-year ministry. He often had to lie still for hours to still his palpitating heart, and eventually succumbed to a consumptive lung condition.
During his ministry he was referred to as the holiest man in Scotland, but it was not always so. When Andrew Bonar gathered material to write his biography, he found that the biggest human influence in Robert's life had been his older brother, David. David was a quiet lad who himself had poor health, but had an intense devotion to the Lord. While Robert was attending university, David became so burdened for his brother's salvation that he would weep for hours for him. Robert tried to put David off by telling him not to pray so hard for him. Robert felt that with his natural talents, he did not have a need for salvation and the power of God in his life. Still, David continued to claim Robert for God.
At last, something came to stop Robert in his tracks and cause him to consider the Saviour. When Robert was eighteen, his brother David died. With lips stilled in death, memories of David's life now spoke volumes. A man who had a simple, sincere faith in a God Who will never fail, truly had the answer to life. Through David's death, and hope of life in heaven, Robert was pointed to Christ's death and gift of eternal life. In a moment of sincere repentance and faith, Robert received forgiveness of sin and eternal, abundant new life. Yes, David was missed, but his life went on speaking!
Usually when a man comes to a shoe store, he is looking to buy something. One of the greatest transactions that was ever made in a shoe store occurred on day when a man came to make sure the clerk had the opportunity to receive a gift. Edward Kimball was a faithful Sunday School teacher who was somewhat timid. For a year a young man had attended his class each Sunday morning. Most of the class members were students at Harvard, but this boy was fresh off the farm and was not an accomplished student. Now at the age of eighteen, Dwight was beginning to get interested in the Bible.
Mr. Kimball felt that God wanted him to present the gospel to Dwight, but as he approached the store, he decided to wait for another opportunity. He was halfway down the block before he was able to build up his courage to go back to the shoe store and talk to the young star-salesman. As he found him in the back, wrapping shoes, Mr. Kimball said: "I want to tell you how much Christ loved you." Unbeknownst to Mr. Kimball, Dwight had recently become earnest in a desire to improve himself, even signing this resolution in blood. Thus, God brought the Sunday School teacher to talk to him at just the right time. God used the testimony of the gospel contained in His Holy Word. Dwight listened to the good news of God's love that was so great that Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross to pay for Dwight's sins, and then rose again from the dead to offer him the gift of eternal life. Dwight bowed his head and said yes to God. He later told of his feelings that day: "I was in a new world. The birds sang sweeter. The sun shone brighter. I'd never known such peace."
Later, after moving to Chicago to be a salesman, young Dwight became a Sunday School teacher himself. He organized a Sunday School, recruiting both the students and the teachers. God so blessed his efforts that Dwight Moody left the business world to work full time for the Lord. By the time his life work was over, he had made such an impact on both America and England that he was described as: "the greatest evangelist of the nineteenth century." All this because God chose to reach a shoe salesman through the witness of a timid Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimball.
As a boy growing up in Germany, George Mueller was a thief. Even on the day of his confirmation in the Lutheran church, he kept most of the offering for himself. Although his father tried to teach him to be honest and upstanding, he found that he loved worldly pleasures and other people's money. At the age of fifteen, George had determined to study for the ministry. By sixteen he had spent time in jail for fraud, and by twenty-one he had become an expert at drinking, thievery and sinful activities. Although he had wanted to have a career in the church, he found he was only able to trust himself.
One night, a friend from the university invited George to a cottage prayer meeting. After singing hymns, a chapter of the Bible was read. Afterwards, another hymn was sung. This was the first time George had ever seen anyone kneel to pray. While the host prayed, George said he felt an inward joy and peace springing up within him. He had decided to completely surrender his sinful life to God, asking for forgiveness through the blood of Christ and trusting God to take over. On the way home he told his friend: "All our former pleasures are as nothing compared to what we experienced tonight."
From that time on, George's life was changed. He began to learn practical lessons in trusting God for His direction and obeying His leading. He later moved to England, and founded a total of five orphanages, capable of sheltering two thousand children. He became known for his faith. George Mueller determined to ask only God to supply his needs, and saw his Father continually do so. Through the years he received one and one-half million dollars to meet the needs of 9,975 orphans, and estimated that he had received fifty thousand specific answers to prayer. His books on prayer and faith are still an inspiration today, because God could truly save even a thief.
John Newton, an English seaman, rose to become the captain of a slave ship operating out of Africa. A proud man, he felt no need or desire to trust in the God that his parents had taught him of. His life had brought him from the lowliest sailor's position all the way up to that of captain, and then all the way down to becoming a slave himself, held captive on an island off the coast of Africa.
In March of 1748, as an assistant to the captain of the ship Greyhound, which was transporting him back to Britain from his captivity, Newton found himself in the most desperate situation of his life. During the voyage the crew had repeatedly heard his bitter boastings of being a freethinker who did not believe in God. He had even lashed himself to a mast during a storm and dared God to strike him dead, in order to prove Himself real. Now Newton found the ship leaking badly, in danger of being overwhelmed beneath one of the mountainous waves of a powerful Atlantic storm. In a moment of weakness and terror, he uttered the words: "Lord, have mercy on us." This was the first time he had prayed since childhood, and it shook him to think that he had stooped to ask for help from God.
By the time the storm ended, most of the rigging had been blown away, making navigation almost impossible. After seven days of drifting with no land in sight, the crew was practically without hope. One man had already died when the captain came to challenge John Newton. The captain was of the opinion that Newton was somewhat like Jonah: 'a curse to the ship.' The crew had discussed throwing him overboard, but decided not to. "We'll wait," said the captain, "but ye'd better join us in prayer if ye value your hide." As Newton returned to work, he recalled a Bible verse that he had learned as a child. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13) Finally brought to the end of himself, Newton prayed: "God, if You're true, You'll make good your Word. Cleanse Thou my vile heart."
Four weeks later, the crippled ship made port in Ireland, and there he went to a church and made public his profession of faith. He became a powerful preacher, seeking to reach those who did not or would not trust in Someone mightier than themselves. He wrote a number of poems that have been put to music, but none more well-known nor more expressive of his gratitude to God than this:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
As John's mother lay dying, this godly woman made a passionate plea for each of her children to meet her in heaven. These last memories of his mother so impressed the five-year-old boy that he never forgot them. John's family always attended church, even before his mother's death. Four years later, after listening to a sermon on "The Prodigal Son", nine-year-old John R. Rice went forward in the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Texas to claim Christ as his Saviour.
When he asked his father if he could be baptized, his father replied: "When you are old enough to really repent of your sins and be regenerated, then will be time enough to join the church." John wondered what was wrong. He knew he had repented and trusted Christ, but maybe, as his father said, he was too young to be truly saved. Finally, at the age of twelve, he read in John 5:24 the promise of salvation, and knew that he had received God's gift that day when he was nine.
John was a hard worker on his father's ranch, and also a good student in school. At twenty, between studying and ranching, John R. Rice knelt under a chaparral bush one day and committed his future to the Lord, to follow God's leading whatever it might be. He graduated from Baylor University in 1920. After this, he married and began graduate studies at Chicago University.
During his adult years he had been faithful in church attendance, often leading singing for special revival services. He had also preached in jails and on street corners, and been actively engaged in winning souls wherever he went. One night, kneeling to pray with a drunk at the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission in Chicago, John R. Rice decided that there was no greater joy than to lead a person to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He abandoned his plans of teaching and politics and surrendered to preach, based on Romans 12:1-2.
After seminary training Brother Rice became an assistant pastor, then a pastor, then an evangelist. Out of one of his crusades, a church was organized and he pastored it for seven years. During that time they had seven thousand saved and seventeen hundred baptized. He began the Sword of the Lord newspaper during that pastorate, then re-entered the field of evangelism. During World War II Dr. Rice pioneered citywide evangelistic crusades, laying the foundation for the highly effective crusades of the 1950's. Then, in 1948, he left the citywide revival work to concentrate on the newspaper and area-wide meetings, with a new emphasis: to stir preachers to reach the people.
Dr. Rice was a prolific writer. At his death in 1980, he had over two hundred titles in print, with a circulation of sixty million copies. Twenty-five thousand people had written to tell him they had been saved through his publications. Today his hymnbooks are used in fundamental churches across the nation. The Sword of the Lord newspaper and Sword publications continue to carry on the crusade to win this world for Christ. Yet, even with all of his success in preaching and writing, he considered soulwinning "the most important business in the world." He stated that personal contact and personal invitation had a part in winning nine out of ten of the multiplied thousands he had seen come to Christ.
"The Twentieth Century's Mightiest Pen", "the Titan of Soulwinning", yes, but it might not have happened if not for a mother who was burdened for her children's salvation.
THE LORD HATH SUFFERED SO MUCH FOR ME
The third of seven children in an Italian family, Girolamo Savonarola was comfortable. In the 1400's, Italy was made up of many city-states. Most people were very poor or else quite wealthy. Savonarola's family had only moderate wealth, but held great influence in the court of the Duke of Ferrara. Girolamo studied with his grandfather, who was personal physician to the Duke. He was a bright boy, and it was expected that he would one day succeed his grandfather as the court physician.
Being an eager student, Savonarola studied the classics and Greek philosophy, but they left him feeling empty. Then, as he studied the writings of Thomas Aquinas, God showed him his need for saving faith. While he was still a student, Savonarola asked God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life through the saving blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross. He began to study the Bible and gave his life fully to God. Along with his studies, he became quite serious about prayer and fasting. He also became sensitive to the awful sin and hypocrisy of Italian society, particularly the political and church leaders.
When he finished his schooling, he entered a Dominican monastery to get away from the worldliness and be able to spend a great deal of time in prayer, Bible study and hard physical work. He began to commit passages of scripture to memory and was asked to teach classics at the monastery. Soon he was called on to preach at small churches. His preaching was a combination of explanation of scripture and open denunciation of sin. This was not a very popular message!
Girolamo Savonarola was a sensitive man who wrote poetry and loved little children. His love for the Bible and hatred for sin never changed. When he was sent to preach in Florence, the center of the growing Renaissance, he found himself preaching to small groups. Meanwhile a polished, inoffensive priest preached to the large crowds in the largest church building.
The De Medici family, the prime financiers of the Renaissance, encouraged the artistic beauty that filled Florence, but the morals of these people were in the gutter. Savonarola openly denounced the cesspool of city and church politics. His honest preaching led to a wide reception by the people and the eventual downfall of the De Medici rule, but not without making enemies. Thousands flocked to hear him preach, and made great bonfires of the obscene and worldly items they had formerly treasured, but the church leaders excommunicated him. Alexander VI, one of the vilest, most corrupt men to ever sit as Pope, ordered Savonarols' arrest and execution. One of the greatest reformers, politicians and preachers in Italian history was burned to death in the public square of Florence. He died, as he lived, trusting Christ and delighting in His Word. Girolamo Savonarola had written that "the Lord hath suffered so much for me." Upon his entrance to heaven we can imagine the greeting: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Wealth, power and position do not buy a place in heaven. Young Charles Simeon's father was a wealthy lawyer, able to afford to send Charles to the best school. When Charles enrolled at King's College, Cambridge, he was dressed and mannered to fit the part of a young aristocrat. He had always managed to do well in school and to get along with others. His years at Cambridge should have been equally comfortable, except that something happened to set him apart from the other students.
In the year 1779, most of the students and faculty at King’s College had little use for talk of God, except for religious formalities. In the spring the students were expected to observe the Lenten season, leading up to Easter, even though they were about as close to God as the devil himself. Charles could have gone on with the charade, just like his classmates, pretending to care about God. However, he found himself questioning the significance of this worship. Charles became very much aware of his sinfulness in the sight of God, and began to wonder if there was a way to find peace and forgiveness. He began to fast and pray and read what he could find, trying to discover how to have a relationship with God. He was very much struck by his own sinfulness, and his unworthiness to approach our holy God.
In the week before Easter, Charles read: "The Jews knew what they did when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering." This explanation of the meaning of the Old Testament sacrifices, pointing toward the blood of Jesus Christ as full payment for sins, struck home with Charles. As he considered the claims of Christ that week, he began to understand the significance of Christ's death for his own sins. When he awoke early on Easter morning and thought of what the resurrection meant, for the first time he realized that it was personally for him! That Resurrection Day anniversary, Charles Simeon fully trusted Christ's substitutionary payment, and joyfully received the gift of God which is eternal life.
While Charles could not find Christian fellowship among fellow students or instructors, he did grow spiritually through his reading and study of God's Word. His excitement about his conversion was not shared by his wealthy family, but their lack of enthusiasm did not diminish his. He continued to attempt to witness, and after graduation became successful in his preaching. As an evangelical, he was miles apart from the mainstream of the Anglican church. His first sermon in his first pastorate was preached to visitors, because the church members boycotted the service. When crowds began to attend, the church members locked the doors of the pews. When Pastor Simeon put benches in the aisles, the church officers threw them outside. When the pastor started a Sunday evening service to reach lost sinners, the church members locked the church doors to try to keep them out!
Pastor Simeon stayed on, in spite of opposition. Out of fifty-four years of service in Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, he was opposed by the members for the first thirty. Since formal education for the ministry at that time did not include instruction in Bible study or sermon preparation, he made a personal committment to help train young men for the ministry. He also published 2,536 sermon outlines, and used his inherited wealth to endow a Patronage Trust to ensure that evangelical preachers would be able to occupy pulpits in the Anglican church. He started a tradition of summer "house parties" for pastors as a time of relaxation, instruction, fellowship and encouragement that became a forerunner of modern-day short-term pastor's schools.
Concerned for missions throughout his life, Charles Simeon helped found the Church Missionary Society and also made special efforts to reach the Jews. He was a passionate preacher whose desire was to preach the Bible "so plainly and simply that all may understand." The day of his funeral, every shop in Cambridge closed and all college classes were cancelled. Some two thousand people came to pay their respects to a man who was willing to take a stand for God to reach people with the Gospel, and who would not quit.
A PRIEST GOES ONLY BY SCRIPTURE
In the 1500's, a village priest in Holland became upset with a group of people known as the hedge preachers. These preachers encouraged people to order their lives "only by Scripture." When he tried to confront them about their reasons for baptizing believers or having their own services, he was continually met with their excuse that they go "only by Scripture." As a village priest, Menno Simons knew that the Scriptures only played a small part in the reasons for his religious activities. He looked to the Pope and higher ecclesiastical authorities, and to the writings and traditions of the "church fathers" for many of his practices.
In trying to bring the simple people back to the fold, he was forced to go to the scriptures for his arguments. This was the first time in his life that he seriously studied the Bible, and he found that the more he studied it, the more his eyes were opened to God's teachings. Menno was quite upset when he discovered that his own brother had become one of the hedge preachers. As his church applied pressure, the persecution of the "Anabaptists", as the hedge preachers were called, became more intense. One day word came to the priest that hundreds of the believers had taken refuge in an abandoned monastery, and there three hundred men had been killed by the civil soldiers. Among those killed was Menno Simons' own brother.
After a great deal of prayer and consideration of the claims of the Bible, the priest personally trusted Christ and resigned his position. As soon as he began boldly preaching his new-found, Bible-based faith, he himself became the focus of great persecution. He was forced to flee to another section of Holland, where he was baptized as a believer and ordained as an elder. As his efforts to spread the faith increased, so did his fame. In 1542, Emporer Charles V himself decreed: "On penalty of death, no one is to receive Menno Simons into his house or on his property. No one is to speak with him, give him shelter, provision, or read his books." As a result of the persecution, Menno Simons fled to Cologne, Germany.
Menno Simons preached and wrote in freedom for the next seventeen years. Although he died in 1561, his writings have pointed people to the truths of the principle of religious liberty, and led to the organization of a group of people who are known today as Mennonites. It is hoped that what he lived and taught will continue to be a focus for people today: to go "only by Scripture."
As a young Canadian from a Scottish Presbyterian family, Albert Simpson was raised to respect God. In his education, God's justice and hatred for sin was emphasized but the love of God did not come across. When he was fourteen, young Albert became very sick and suffered what appeared to be a nervous breakdown. He was an average child in both obedience and scholarship, but the strain of studying so hard seemed to have taken a toll on him. His doctor told him not to look at a book for another year. How many teenagers today would love to hear that prescription!
Following his collapse, Albert called for his father. "Pray for me," he begged. "I'm dying, and I'm afraid to face God." Later, Albert Simpson wrote about this experience: "I had no personal hope in Christ. My whole religious training had left me without any conception of the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. The God I knew was a being of great severity." Following his father's prayer, Albert tried to pray, but he did not have the faith or encouragement to simply ask for salvation. That night he feared to go to sleep, lest he should lose a moment in his search for God.
He kept trying to find the peace of God as his health slowly returned. Endeavoring to be religious, at one point he decided to become a minister, as perhaps that would please God. Young Albert was desperate to have the peace of God, and yet he knew that his sins separated him from God. Finally Albert found an old volume in his pastor's library, entitled: Marshall's Gospel Mystery of Sanctification. In that book was an amazing statement: "The first god work you will ever perform is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Until you do this, all your works, prayers, tears and good resolutions are in vain." This went along with the Bible book of Ephesians chapter two and verse eight: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
He finally realized his need was not to work for salvation, but merely to accept the work that Jesus Christ had already done. Albert fell to his knees, crying, "Lord, I dare to believe that Thou wilt receive me and save me because I have taken Thee at Thy Word." Albert Simpson's whole life changed from that point. A few days later he wrote: The Dedication of Myself to God. In this document he said: "Thou hast subdued my rebellious heart by Thy love. Take it now and use it for Thy glory." Although before his conversion he felt he must enter the ministry to make God happy, now he wanted to preach the gospel because of the joy that filled his own heart.
In 1865 A. B. Simpson graduated from college in Canada and was called to pastor large churches in Hamilton, Ontario and then Louisville, Kentucky. In both cities, God filled church auditoriums and public halls as A. B. Simpson proclaimed to thousands the availability of a new life through accepting God's love. In New York City he pastored the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church for two years and then resigned, telling his congregation: "You want a conventional church for respectable Christians. I want a multitude of publicans and sinners."
He rented a hall in a poor part of the city, and from a beginning congregation of seven, built the church that would be the foundation of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. From its beginning with a heart for taking the gospel to the souls of men, the CMA went on to become the most actively missions-minded evangelical denomination in America, reaching out with missionaries around the globe proclaiming that the peace of God and a new life is available to anyone as a free gift through the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
One hundred years ago in England, it was common to find colorful wagon loads of gypsies traveling through the countryside. Often these folks would get in trouble with the law for camping illegally, or allowing their animals to graze without permission. Mothers would gather their children in when the gypsies came to town. They were viewed with suspicion because of their strange clothing and customs.
Cornelius Smith was one of these who traveled without ever settling down in one place. He was often arrested and spent many nights in local jails. One day his wife became extremely ill and troubled. As she lay on her deathbed, she could find no peace, because of the weight of her sins. As she pleaded with her husband to tell her the answer to finding peace with God, he told her what he had heard one time from a preacher who had visited him in jail. She listened to what he remembered of the gospel story, and then smiled. "I believe," she said. That night she passed away in peaceful contentment.
Now Cornelius had the burden of caring for his six children, including sixteen year old Rodney. In his grief, Cornelius was visited by his two brothers. He told them of the awful weight of his own sin that he could not get rid of. They said they felt the same way, and the three of them determined to travel to London to find a church with the answer. On the way, they stopped at an inn, and asked the keeper if she could tell them how to have forgiveness for their sins. She said she had been troubled about the same thing, and brought a copy of Pilgrim's Progress to read to them. When they reached the place where Pilgrim's burden dropped off as he gazed at the cross, one brother cried, "That's what I long for!"
A few days later, Cornelius asked a road worker where they could find a church, and the worker promised to take them to one that evening. As the people sang: "I do believe, I will believe, that Jesus died for me," Cornelius sank down in prayer, and a few moments later rose up shouting: "I'm converted! I'm converted!" When that happened, Rodney ran out of the church, supposing his father had gone crazy.
That same night, one of Cornelius' brothers also trusted in Christ, and they went back to their wagons singing: "I do believe, I will believe, that Jesus died for me." In a short time the third brother had accepted Christ. The three brothers were so overjoyed at their forgiveness that they formed a gypsy evangelistic team to preach and sing the gospel. A few years later, Cornelius' son Rodney accepted the Lord also, taught himself to read, and eventually became a well-loved and marvelously used evangelist in both England and America. God showed once again that He cared, and that even gypsies can sing that "Jesus died for me."
Where can a troubled teenager go to find peace? One fifteen-year-old boy decided that he would try to find a relationship with God. Although he came from a line of ministers, he felt that the load of his sins was greater than that of others. In trying to find God, he finally determined to attend every church in town. After months of visiting different churches, one cold winter day he decided to try one some distance from his home. On his way, he was caught in a howling snow storm. He noticed the little place called the Artillery Street Primitive Methodist Church. This English boy had not been eager to attend it, because he had heard that the people sang so loud that it caused headaches! With the storm so bad he felt he had little choice, so he entered.
After several minutes of waiting, a tall, thin man made an embarrassed announcement: "Looks as if our minister was held up by the weather. Reckon you'll have to put up with me." Charles listened as this awkward man, unused to preaching, did his best to communicate a Bible truth. He chose as his text the verse: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 45:22). Charles felt that this was a most unlikely man to be able to help him in his search for God, but he listened as the man spoke. "The text says 'Look!" Now some of ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use lookin' there. Ye may say, "Wait for the Spirit's workin'.' But I say, 'Look to Christ!" As the preacher continued, he began shouting: "Look unto Me!" I'm sweatin' great drops of blood! I'm hangin' on the cross!" Then the unlikely preacher looked down at Charles and said: "Young man, you look miserable." As he lifted up his hands, the preacher shouted: "Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look!" Charles Spurgeon later said: "I saw at once the way of salvation. I looked until I could have almost looked my eyes away. The darkness rolled away, and I saw the sun. I felt I could spring from my seat and shout with the wildest of these Methodist brethren: "I am forgiven!"
The teen decided to start doing something for Christ. He began to give out tracts, and when these ran out he wrote gospel messages on slips of paper, then dropped them on the streets, hoping someone would find them. The next year he began to teach a Sunday School class, and at the age of seventeen was called to pastor the Waterbeach Chapel. A short time later he was called to London to pastor the New Park Street Baptist Church. Before he was twenty-one, Charles Spurgeon was being called "the boy wonder of England." When he was twenty-three, he preached one day to a crowd of 23,645 people in one service. For dozens of years Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached to 5,500 people each Sunday, while thousands had to be turned away. He founded an orphanage, a Bible college and became a prolific writer. Today his sermons are still widely read, and he is known as "The Prince of Preachers." All of this, because one unknown man was willing to encourage a teenage boy to: "Look to Jesus."
Edward Studd loved sporting fun. A wealthy man, he owned a string of racehorses including one which had won the Grand National. He raised his three sons to love sport and adventure as much as he did. At Eton all three played cricket, but the middle son, C. T., excelled at it.
It came as quite a shock to the boys when their father introduced his newest interest by taking them to a revival meeting conducted by D. L. Moody, the American evangelist. The boys were unmoved by the preacher's message, and back home they remained unmoved as their father shared his new faith with them. They soon found, however, that this was not just a passing fancy. Their father sold his racehorses and began to earnestly share the gospel message with them at every opportunity. C. T. responded by feigning sleep when his father would come into his room at night to talk.
One day his father brought two preachers to the estate while his sons were home for a visit. The boys decided to play a trick, causing a horse to run out of control with one of the preachers. That afternoon, the same preacher found C. T. on his way to the cricket field. He asked him if he was a Christian, and C. T. answered that he believed in Christ and the church. The preacher shared John 3:16 with the young man and asked him if he believed that Jesus had died for him. When he indicated that he did believe that, the preacher asked if he believed the last half of the verse: that the believer has everlasting life. When C. T. answered that he did not think that he could believe that, the question came back: "Do you think that God is not telling the truth?" The preacher challenged C. T. not to be inconsistent. "I should be consistent. Yes, I will be." As the preacher pressed the point, C. T. sank to his knees there in the grass and thankfully accepted God's gift of eternal life. From that moment, his heart was filled with joy and peace. The same weekend his two brothers also received Christ.
Later, as a student at Cambridge, C. T. Studd became known as the greatest cricket player that England had ever produced. As the best known athlete of his day, the country was stunned when he announced that he was responding to God's call upon his life to be a missionary. He gave away his personal fortune and spent ten years in China. He then toured American college campuses, enlisting hundreds as missionaries in what came to be known as the Student Volunteer Movement. In 1910 he went to Africa and started the Africa Inland Mission and the World Wide Evangelization Crusade. He indeed lived a life full of adventure, and upon his death in 1931 he was declared by some to be the greatest Christian missionary of modern times.
SHINES AS A STAR OF HEAVEN
The crowd roared as "the fastest man in the leagues" stole another base. Fans knew that if they wanted to see him stealing the bases, they better not come on a Sunday. On the Lord's day, they knew that Billy Sunday would be speaking to YMCA youngsters instead of playing the scheduled games. Why did one of the greatest athletes of his day insist on putting God first in his life?
Only a few years prior, this baseball legend had come staggering out of a tavern with five of his teammates, to be greeted by the sound of a rag-tag band of musicians playing gospel songs. The six ball players sitting on the curb enjoyed the music, but it especially brought to Billy memories of his mother's singing in the cabin where he grew up. When the band moved on, Billy alone followed them to the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission. That night, and on several more evenings, he heard stories of how Christ had changed the lives of young and old, rich and poor. Finally one night, Billy Sunday called on God for His forgiveness. That night became a turning point for the entire nation.
Five years after his conversion, Billy left the Chicago White Stockings to work full time for God, beginning in the YMCA. He eventually became an evangelist, and preached to more than one hundred million people during his ministry. He preached a sermon, Get On The Water Wagon, that resulted in many towns and counties voting to go dry and was instrumental in the passage of the national prohibition of liquor sales. Most popular as a preacher to men, Billy Sunday won over one million people to the Lord and was used of God to change entire towns. One of baseball's superstars? The book of Daniel says: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."
The country of China is the most populous on earth. During the eighteen hundreds, God burdened the heart of a five-year-old boy to reach that country with the gospel of Christ. The problem was this boy, while knowing about the gospel, had never personally received Jesus Christ as Saviour. During his childhood he tried his hardest to live a Christian life, but could not find contentment. At the age of eleven he read a tract about a lad who found peace with God through focusing on only one spiritual truth: that Jesus' job was to save sinners. The lad in the tract was mentally handicapped, but was able to understand how to have peace with God. Upon reading the tract, Hudson bowed his head and prayed about his spiritual condition, but did not find peace with God until four years later.
At the age of fifteen, young Hudson Taylor found himself bored and decided to read a pamphlet in his father's library. Five words in the pamphlet so arrested his attention that he could not escape them: "the finished work of Christ." Finally realizing there was nothing he could do to earn his salvation, he turned in prayer to the Lord and accepted His forgiveness for sin. Now this boy, who was so burdened for China, had himself tasted of the gospel that is so mighty to save.
As Hudson Taylor began to learn about trusting God, he viewed the promises of the Bible as literal and personal. God not only sent him to China as a missionary, but also led Hudson Taylor to start the China Inland Mission. Having directly inspired thousands of men and women to reach others for Christ in foreign lands, today his example of the faith-life is a pattern for missionaries around the world. All of this because a boy learned to trust: "the finished work of Christ."
CAN GOD SAVE A HOPELESS DRUNK?
With a father who was a saloon keeper and drunkard, it is not surprising that the son would follow the same path. He grew up learning how to tend bar, often working for his father. By the age of nineteen he was having trouble because of his own drinking and gambling. Mel finally lost his job, but as a prospective bridegroom he knew that he needed steady work. He promised his new wife that he would never drink again. It was a good promise, but one night when he was about to walk into the house he suddenly turned and went out to find some alcohol. After that terrible drunken spree he managed to stay sober for three months.
When he did start drinking again, he sold his horse in order to get the money. Mel and his wife moved to Chicago, but his drinking spurts continued with shorter sober periods in between. He made many promises to himself and his wife, but the liquor kept winning out. He was finally hospitalized in order to be treated for his alcoholism. Upon his release he was given a medical kit. Within fifteen minutes he had traded the kit for more whiskey.
Mel's wife gave birth to a baby, but in his drunken state Mel paid very little attention to his family. One day, returning home from a ten-day drinking spree, he found that his baby had died. He was so sorry over the mess that he had made of his life, and the way he had failed to provide for his family, that he decided to commit suicide. Only his wife's urgent prayers and tearful pleadings turned him from that course. As he wept, he promised never to take another drink. Two hours after the baby's funeral, Mel came home drunk again. It seemed that there was no way he could beat his drinking problem.
On a cold January night, he decided to end it all by drowning himself. As he walked the streets heading toward Lake Michigan, he was stopped by someone who insisted that he come sit in a service being conducted at the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission. Harry Monroe, the superintendant, told the gathering how God had saved him from a life of drunkeness and counterfeiting. At the close of the service he said to the people: "Jesus loves you. Make room in your heart for Him tonight." Mel stood up and went to the front. There Mr. Monroe led him in prayer, asking forgiveness for sin and turning his life over to God.
From that night in 1897, Mel Trotter began to serve Christ. He spent many evenings at the mission, playing guitar and singing gospel songs. He would often visit churches with Harry Monroe and talk about the work of the rescue mission. Three years later he was named superintendent of the mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For the next forty years he soberly headed that mission, which had an auditorium that could seat fifteen hundred people. He helped start sixty-six rescue missions around America, seeking to reach the down-and-out with the life-changing message of the gospel. Mel Trotter discovered what many others have found: that Jesus is the answer!
"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH"
The last thing John wanted to do was to attend church. Each time his cousin invited him, he would turn him down. Finally, he even cursed as he refused the invitation. Nothing could interest John in going to church, except ... "Would you go if I gave you this gold coin?" Well, church still held no appeal, but gold certainly did. If it was important enough to cause his cousin to offer money, John was willing to cooperate. That night, having listened to the sermon, John walked home with more than he had counted on. Not only did he have a gold coin, he also had a conviction from God's Word of his own need for salvation.
For the next several days as he worked at the brewery, John Vassar tried to live a better life. Try as he would, he could find no peace. He woke his wife one evening shouting: "How can you rest when your husband is going to hell?" He now began to attend every church service he could, without being begged or paid. In his desperation to find forgiveness of sin and peace with God, one night he asked some of the church members to stay and pray with him. The pastor said to him: "John, look to Christ. It's faith that saves you, man, not feeling." That night John Vassar did place his complete faith in the work that Jesus Christ finished for him on the cross. The change in his life was evident the next day. His face took on a new glow. He began to sing hymns with friends and to talk about Jesus to all who would hear.
John Vassar had a new life in Christ, and the world began to hear about it. When his wife and children caught an illness and died, John Vassar became a traveling messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. With a small salary paid to him for distributing books and tracts, he began to travel from church to church, spreading the good news of new life in Christ. During the Civil War, he witnessed to Union soldiers in the front lines. Many of the soldiers found their peace with God through his unofficial chaplain's work. When he was captured by the Confederates and tried as a spy, his bold witnessing to the General who was examining him led to his immediate release.
After thirty-seven years of witnessing for his Lord, he died in the year of 1878. At his passing, John Vassar was proclaimed the most skillful personal soul-winner in America. This man who had only agreed to come to church in order to receive a piece of gold, has now gone to walk the golden streets of heaven, spending eternity with those whom he won in life.
Although a missionary of the Church of England, John Wesley found himself terrified during the fierce Atlantic gale. He thought the Moravians on the ship must be "heavy-minded and dull-witted," since they were able to calmly sing a psalm during the height of the storm. Afterward, he asked their leader why the did not seem to fear death,
