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I was OFFERED big financial support--teaming up with a
noted evangelist--IF I would quit preaching the TRUTH of the BIBLE,
and preach what those who today persecute and call me names do
preach. But Christ didn't let me do it. He kept me FAITHFUL with
His Word!
Now I said, some distance back in this letter, that if
these people who WONDER "what makes this Work tick" would begin all
over, and do as I did, they also could succeed and grow, and grow
and GROW.
But you see, they can't believe that. They simply can't
BELIEVE that teaching the HARDEST, MOST DIFFICULT way of life that
runs counter to the beliefs and ways of this world, could ever
succeed. They can't believe anyone would support them, if they
forsook these popular teachings and customs of this world.
They are like the man who said to me, in 1933 right after
I had thrown away that salary: "Mister, YOU WON'T GO FAR. You're
preaching the truth of the Bible--FULL STRENGTH. But I tell you,
it's too strong for people. Don't you know the Bible itself says
it is like a two-edged sword, cutting people both ways? I tell
you, PEOPLE WON'T SUPPORT IT."
But I was relying on JESUS CHRIST not "people." I knew, of
course, that He was not going to just rain down thousand-dollar
bills from the sky. But if He had drafted ME--if He had laid it on
my heart to yield to Him--to follow HIM instead of the world--He
could lay it on the hearts of others also to become Co-Workers with
Him.
But there is MORE!
The living Christ led me to see that neither He, nor the
apostles, nor even Moses of old, ever begged or solicited support
from THE PUBLIC. He led me to see that God caused Moses to send
out a proclamation for contributions to GOD'S OWN PEOPLE--that God
established TITHING, 'way before Moses, in the days of Abraham,
and that Jesus taught tithing, and so did Paul--and that Paul asked
GOD'S people for special contributions. But NEVER THE PUBLIC!
Only God's people--only those whose hearts were in it.
The living Jesus also caused me to see that we must not PUT
a PRICE on the Gospel--whether preached, or published in
literature. "Freely," said Jesus, "ye have received, freely GIVE."
So CHRIST, who heads this Work, saw to it that we would
never SELL the Gospel. God's teaching is: "BUY the Truth, and SELL
IT NOT." (Proverbs 23:23.)
Now did it take COURAGE to start putting out The PLAIN
TRUTH, and other literature, and to OBEY and "SELL IT NOT?" Well,
no, as I remember, I don't think it seemed that way to me. When I
had first thought of publishing a magazine to be called The PLAIN
TRUTH, back in 1927, I had planned, then, to try to get it on the
news stands, with a price on it. But Christ didn't let me start it