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PASTOR'S REPORT, June 18, 1979
Page 4
But, even though snide remarks and character assassination statements
have been freely spued out, I still have to ask, "�.:£." HAVE SO MANY IN
Goo•s CHURCH BEEN WILLING TO BELIEVE THE WORST against Stan Rader? I want
to answer that, and once for all set the record straight.
I have to go back fifty years or more, to explain, becaus� there is
a resemblance to this unfortunate situation in my early experience with the
Sardis people in Oregon.
Jesus Christ called His people "sheep" who seriously need leadership
and protection :rom competent and honest shepherds.
Jesus said, "the children of this world are in their generation wiser
than the child::::-en of light" (Luke
16: 8).
Those of this world know better
how to deal with others of this world than God's sheep.
In the autuITU"j of
1926,
when my life-changing challenge came,
I
was one
of the "wise of this world." I had been in business. From age 18 to age
34 I had no interest in religion. I think I was upright and honest and
sincere--yet very much a part of this world. I had not neglected education
and did possess the equivalent of post graduate degrees.
The brethren in Oregon began immediately to look to me for leadership
--especially in giving the Gospel Message to the world. The ministers worked
against me every way they could. They were jealous. Wherever God used me
in speaking
I
FRUIT WAS BORN--THERE WERE CONVERSIONS
I
newly b,aptized members
brought in. Yet, of the Sardis ministers of that time there was not one
single conversion brought about that I could find, and I specifically asked
at lC:>ast two of their oldest and most loyal members if they knew of any con
versions brought about by their church ministers.
The brethren knew that I was newly converted out of the world. I KNEW
THIS WORLD'.
I KNEW HOW TO APPROACH A..1\JD REACH THIS WORLD. The Sardis min-
isters c:id not.
the world.
They appeared as just so much "ignoramus foolishness" to
�he ::'�'�,rch NEEDED the leadership of one who had the "know how" to reach
the \vcr�C
Wh�n I was completely converted, spring of 1927, I did not try to
,::,.,,a,<J'--' :"Y personality. I, with my wife, ABHORED any "put on" mannerism
,-::na -::. cJ,_;J d have made me APPEAR "religious."
I
remember once when one or both of my sons brought to our house a
neighbc:--
boy. He later said to them, "Why your Dad does not seem like a
preacher."
l seemed just like any business man. I did cha!)ge my attitude
anc'.
b.:L,ic
interests and concerns with values--I did eradicate all slang
wcrds s,_ch c1s "darn," but I did not "PUT ON" any new sanctimonious appear
ance,
_r:
was j ·,;st NATURAL--myself--although Jesus Christ was CHANGING that
self.
Just as, in order to get God's Work moving, in GOING TO THE WORLD, the
�ork then nee�ed one who could effectively reach the world, so in the early
sixties, I came to realize God's Work needed the services of one who had
expertise in finance, banking, borrowing and legal matters.
We had started
using �r. Rader to a limited extent, on a professional fee basis, in certain