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Mysteries Revealed
(Contínued from page 6)
stand the precious knowledge of
the TRUTH? Certainly not on my
own, or because I sought it or
because of any virtues of my own.
But Jesus Christ struck me down in
a manner quite different from the
apostle Paul's experience, yet none–
theless painfully and effectively.
Such basic TRUTHS are
revealed,
not thought out in any human
mind. They come from God, not
man! And in all biblically recorded
cases the initiative was God's!
Jeremiah protested that he was
too young. But God said: "Do not
say,
'1
am only a youth'; for to all to
whom
1
send you you shall go, and
whatever
1
command you you shall
speak" (Jer. 1:7, Revised Standard
Version). Isaiah protested that he
was aman of unclean lips, but God
caused him to accept the appointed
mission. Jonah t ried to run away on
a ship but God compelled him to
deliver his commanded message.
Peter and Andrew wanted to be
fishermen but Jesus called on them
to forsake all and to follow him.
Similarly, I wanted to be an
·advertising man, but God brought
me py circumstances not to my
choosing to the mission he had in
store for me.
1
repeat, at this point, this is the
crux of the whole matter: the initia–
tive is God's. His purpose sball
stand. The world is full of religions
that originated in the imagination,
reasoning and speculating of cer–
tain humans. But they had no true
basis to reason from. The TRUTH is
REVEALED from Goo!
But, does not everybody have
access to bíblica! truth? Yes,
people
suppose
the
churches
teach
what is revealed in the Bible.
So I give you, now, a brief
synopsis of the experience by which
Jesus Christ struck me down, so to
speak, and revealed ASTOUNDING
TRUTHS! Biblical truths
not
be–
lieved or taught by the churches!
The Awakening-Spark of
Ambition lgnited
1
was born of ordinary but stable
and upright parents, with an ances–
try in the Quaker faith.
1
have my
genealogy all the way back to
Edward the First of England and a
16
line extending back to King David
of ancient Israel.
1
have been aston–
ished to discover this genealogy and
the fact that
1
am actually of "the
house of David." My forebears
emigrated from England to Penn–
sylvania with William Penn, a
hundred years before the United
States became a nation.
1
had been reared from earliest
childhood in the Quaker faith, but
religious interest in those formatíve
years was passive.
At age 18
1
virtually dropped all
interest in religion, and ceased
attending church.
1
had, at 18, put
myself through an intensive self–
analysis, coupled with a survey of
the occupations and professions to
determine where
1
belonged- to
avoid being the proverbial square
peg in the round hole.
Even at that age
1
had observed
tbat most people were simply vic–
tims of circumstance. Few had ever
planned intelligently thei r future
lives. Many or most had stumbled
into whatever job they found open..
They did not choose where, in what
part of the country or the world,
they should live. They had been
buffeted about by circumstance.
Those who went to college chose
whatever course or profession that
appealed to them at the time.
But when
1
was yet only 16, a
summer-vacation employer had, by
praise for work well done and gen–
eral encouragement, aroused the
burning fire of ambition within me.
Ambition is not only the desire for
accomplishment, it includes the
will and the drive to
pay
t
he
príce!
This self-analysis at age 18 led
me into the advertising profession
and a business life.
1
studied dili–
gently, "burning the midnight oil,"
instead of seeking youthful plea–
sures.
1
became unusually successful. I
worked hard, had a reputation as a
"hustler."
1
studied diligently,
worked toward self-improvement.
All this, of course, developed great
self-confidence, which was later to
be replaced by a different kind of
confidence- FAITH in Christ.
I selected the jobs where
1
would
learn, and "sold myself to my
erriployers," choosing fields that
threw me into contact with success-
ful men.
·
In 1915
1
established my own
business as a publishers' represen–
tative in Chicago, lllinois.
1
man–
aged to represent the nine leading
bank journals of the United
States-journals read by chief offi–
cers of banks.
1
did business with
the presidents of many of the
nation's largest industrial corpora–
tions in the Middle West.
1
attended state and national bank–
ers' conventions, got to know many
of the leading bankers of South La–
Salle Street, Chicago, and Wall
Street, New York.
1
was making an
income, by age 28, equivalent to
approximately $375,000 per year
measured by today's dollar value.
lt
was at this height of my early
business success that God began
dealing with me. 1 had been recent–
ly married.
The Unrecognized Call
In a matter of days after our mar–
riage, while living in Chicago, my
wife had a dream so vivid and
impressive it overwhelmed and
shook her tremendously. It was so
realistic it seemed more like a
vision. For two or three days after–
ward everything else seemed
unreal-as if in a daze-and only
this extraordinary dream seemed
real.
In her dream she and I were
crossing the wide intersection, only
a block or two from our apartment ,
where Broadway diagonally crosses
Sheridan Road. Suddenly there
appeared an awesome sight in the
sky above.
lt
was a dazzling specta–
cle-the sky filled with a gigantic
solid mass of brilliant stars, shaped
like a huge banner. The stars began
to quiver and separate, finally van–
ishing. In her dream, she called my
attention to the vanishing stars,
when another huge grouping of
flashing stars appeared, then quiv–
ering, separating and vanishing like
the first.
As sbe and
l .
in ber dream,
looked upward at the vanishing
stars, three large white birds sud–
denly appeared in the sky between
us and the vanishing stars. These
great white birds flew directly
toward us. As they descended near–
er, she perceived that tbey were
angels.
"Then," my wife wrote a day or
two after the dream, in a letter to
Th8
PLAIN TRUTH