Page 3489 - 1970S

(Continued from page

1)

chosen advertising and journalism

as a life profession.

My first employer, when 1 was 16

and in a job away from home, filled

me with a vigorous, energetic AMBI–

TION- a buming DEStRE to become

successful- plus the will ingness to

pay the price in STUDY, HARD WORK,

PERSEVERANCE and ORIVE. J had not

yet chosen my life goal, but by 18 1

had. And

l

WORKED at it. 1 worked

hard by day, studied hard by night.

1 put myself where

1

would be in

constant contact with so-ca lled big

and successful men. My dealings

were with presidents and board

chairmen of America's great indus–

trial , banking and commercial cor–

porations. 1 was filled with

AM IHTION, SELF-CONFIDENCE, DESIRE

TO ORIVE MYSELF TO THE TOP.

Are not these all GOOD qualities?

Yes?

No! Satan has deceived thi s

world into thinking they are. But

they are all based on Satan's "GET"

principie of life. In my conversion

l

learned that God's principie of life

is the OPPOSITE-GIVE instead Of

GET- LOVE instead of competition.

strife. resentment. rebellion.

Conversion meant getting RID of

egotistíc SELF-coofidence, and re–

placing ít with the confidence that ís

FAITH-confidence in CHRIST. No

longer were things to be accom–

plished through my own vaunted

and vain SELF-power, but through

the POWER OF THE LIVING CHRIST!

lt

meant complete reliance on HIM.

1 had to get rid of VANITY and a

feeling of superiority to other

humans, and replace vanity with

humility, exal ting CHRIST instead of

myself. 1 could be His INSTRUMENT,

if

1

placed myself fully in His hands

in faith and obedience-but when

anything was accomplished, it was

HE, not 1, who did it. At first , as is

human, 1 went overboard-to the

opposite extreme-and took MEEK–

NESS lO mean WEAKNESS. 1 let Others

run all over me. Finally, however,

Christ guided me into achieving

BALANCE.

42

No, Christ didn' t visit me IN PER–

SON. but He did IN SPIRIT. 1 did not

wANT to be a minister. 1 wanted to

be an advertising man. But

J

did

become so wrapped up in the

THRILLING and EXCITING discovery

of new gold nuggets of TRUTH that,

as a writer, 1 began to write articles

about the wonders of TRUTH being

revealed to me. A few people 1 knew

personally began urging me to

speak out publicly. 1 resisted for a

few years. Finally God opened my

eyes to a truth 1 knew a certain

Conversion meant

getting rid of egotistic

self-confidence, and

replacing it with

the confidence that is

faith-confldence in

Christ. No longer were

things to

be

accomplished

through my own vaunted

and vain self-power,

but through the power of

the living Christ! lt meant

complete rellance on Him.

humble group of BELIEVERS in a

rural area had never seen nor dis–

covered, and God gave me such an

urge to SHARE this knowledge with

them that 1 agreed to talk before

them. My wife said she would

hardly have called that first preach–

ing a sermon. But the hearers were

enthralled-excited-and wanted me

to come and preach again.

In preaching. 1 did not choose

God, HE CHOSE ME- just as He chose

His original apostles. The Church of

God had existed sin ce Christ

founded it in A.D. 31. But by A.D.

70 Christ's gospel- which was an–

nouncing the KINGDOM OF Goo–

had been SUPPRESSED and replaced

with ANOTHER GOSPEL. The true

Church of God was forced to go

underground as a great false church

rose to power. Thousands-mil–

lions- were tortured, martyred. The

true gospel was no longer preached

to THE woRLD- but secretly to the

very few, UNDERGROUND.

Christ's GOSPEL was the an–

nouncement of the coming KING–

DOM OF G o o - in c luding the

restoration of THE GOVERNMENT OF

Goo to govern all the earth. By the

time God committed to me His

great commission. we had reached

the beginning of the END TIME- the

END of THIS AGE- and had reached

the generation in which THE KING–

DOM OF Goo was to be established

to rule ALL NATIONS and usher in

WORLD PEACE.

My first broadcast was in October

1933. on a small 100-watt radio sta–

tion.

It

proclaimed TRUTH listeners

had never heard before.

lt

was the

:rRUE GOSPEL. Listeners were SUR–

PRISED- shocked. Yet they saw with

their own eyes in their own Bibles

what J proclaimed. Letters rolled in .

Th e radio station manager was sur–

prised at the mail response. He in–

vited me to put together a regular

radio program.

The first issue of

The Plain Trurh

appeared February 1, 1934. The

regular broadcast. then weekly.

started the first Sunday in

1934.

Actually. God committed to me

the GREAT COMMISSION- tOcarry His

true gospel ofthe KINGDOM OF Goo

to ALL THE WORLD- after much tria!

and test and províng.

No, Chríst díd not visit me in per–

son. He has not been doing it that

way since He visited the apostle

Paul in Arabia.

Then HOW DO 1KNow?

How may vou know?

Christ Himself gave one answer:

" BY THE IR FRUITS YOU SHALL

KNOW."

The discíples of John, after he

was in prison, carne to Jesus to ask a