CHARLIE THE DRUMMER BOY
By DR MAX ROSSVALY
A
KEEPING GOD –
AMIDST HITLER’S REIGN OF TERROR
BY LISETTE ORCHER
MUTTON
IT IS TIME FOR Israel TO return
and seek YHWH TheIr God
BY DON STANTON
CHARLIE, THE DRUMMER BOY
BY DR MAX ROSSVALLY
“Doctor, I promise you that I
will not even groan while you cut off my leg and arm.”
The boy kept his promise, but that
night I could not sleep, for whichever way I turned, I saw those soft
blue eyes, and his words kept ringing in my ears.
DURING the American Civil War, I
was a surgeon in the Army, and after the Battle of Gettysburg there were
hundreds of wounded soldiers in the hospital, requiring my services.
One was a boy who required both
leg and arm amputated. He had been but three months in service, and
being too young for a soldier, had enlisted as a drummer.
When my assistant surgeon wished
to give chloroform before the operation, the boy turned his head and
refused. When he was told it was doctor’s orders, he replied, “Send the
doctor to me.”
When I came to his bedside I said,
“Young man, why do you refuse chloroform? When I found you on the
battlefield you were so far gone that I thought it hardly worth while to
pick you up, but when you opened those large blue eyes I thought you had
a mother somewhere who might be thinking of her boy. I did not want you
to die on the field, so ordered you to be brought here, but you have
lost so much blood that you are too weak to have an operation without
chloroform.”
He laid his hand in mine, and
looking me in the face said, “Doctor, one Sunday afternoon, when I was
nine years old, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I
learned to trust in Him then. I have been trusting Him ever since, and I
know I can trust Him now. He is my strength. He will support me while
you take off my arm and leg.”
I asked him if he would allow me
to give him a little brandy. Again he looked at me saying. “Doctor, when
I was about five years, my mother knelt by my side and said, ‘Charlie, I
am now praying to the Lord Jesus that you may never know the taste of
strong drink. Your father died a drunkard, and I promised God, if it was
His will, you should grow up, and warn young men about the bitter cup.’
I am now seventeen, but I have never tasted anything stronger than tea
or coffee, and as I may be about to go into the presence of my God,
would you send me there smelling of brandy?”
The look the boy gave me I shall
never forget. At that time I hated Jesus, but I respected that boy’s
loyalty to his Saviour, and when I saw how he loved and trusted Him to
the last, there was something that touched my heart. I asked him if he
wished to see the chaplain. “Oh, yes sir!” he answered.
When the chaplain came, he at once
knew the boy, having met him at the tent prayer meetings. Taking his
hand, he said, “Well, Charlie, I am sorry to see you in this sad
condition.1'
“Oh, I am alright sir,” he
answered. “If my Saviour calls me, I am ready, and can go to Him in my
right mind.”
“You may not die, Charlie,” said
the chaplain, “but if the Lord should call you away, is there anything I
can do for you after you are gone?”
“Chaplain, please put your hand
under my pillow and take my little Bible, in which you will find my
mother’s address. Please send it to her, and write a letter and tell her
that since the day I left home I have never let a day pass without
reading a portion of God’s Word, and daily praying that God would bless
my dear mother, no matter whether I was on the march, on the
battlefield, or in the hospital.”
Turning towards me he said; “Now,
doctor. I am ready, and I promise you that I will not even groan while
you take off my arm and leg, if you will not offer me chloroform.”
I promised but I had not the
courage to take the knife in my hand to perform the operation without
first going to the next room and taking a little stimulant to nerve
myself to perform my duty.
While cutting through the flesh,
Charlie never groaned, but when I took the saw to separate the bone the
lad took the corner of his pillow in his mouth and all that 1 could hear
him utter was, “O, Jesus, blessed Jesus, stand by me now!” He kept his
promise.
That night I could not sleep, for
whichever way I turned I saw those soft blue eyes, and the words,
“Blessed Jesus, stand by me now,” kept ringing in my ears. Between
twelve and one o’clock I left my bed and visited the hospital, a thing I
had never done before unless especially called, but such was my desire
to see that boy. Upon my arrival there I was informed that sixteen cases
had died.
“How is Charlie? Is he among the
dead?” I asked.
“No sir,” answered the steward “he
is sleeping as sweetly as a baby.”
A SONG IN PAIN
When I came to the
bed where he lay, one of the nurses told me that earlier two members of
the Young Men’s Christian Association came through the hospital to read
and sing a hymn. They were accompanied by the chaplain, who knelt by
Charlie’s bed and offered a fervent prayer, after which they sang, while
still on their knees, the hymn, “Jesus, Lover of my soul,” in which
Charlie joined. I could not understand how that boy, who had undergone
such great pain, could sing.
Five days after I had amputated
that boy’s leg and arm, he sent for me, and it was from him that I heard
my first Gospel sermon.
“Doctor,” he said, “my time has
come, I do not expect to see another sun rise, but thank God, I am ready
to go, and before I die, I desire to thank you with all my heart for
your kindness to me. Doctor, you are a Jew, you do not believe in
Jesus; will you please stand here and see me die, trusting my Saviour to
the last moment of my life?”
I did not have the courage to
stand by and see a Christian boy die rejoicing in the love of that Jesus
whom I had been taught to hate, so I hurriedly left the room. Later a
steward found me sitting in my office covering my face with my hands and
said, “Doctor, Charlie wishes to see you.” “I have just seen him,” I
answered, “and I cannot see him again.”
“But Doctor, he says he must see
you once more before he dies.” I decided to see him, but was determined
that no word of his should influence me so far as his Jesus was
concerned. When I entered the hospital I saw that he was dying fast, so
I sat down by his bed. Asking me to take his hand, he said, “Doctor, I
love you because you are a Jew; the best friend I have found in this
world was a Jew.”
I asked, “Who was that?”
He answered, “Jesus Christ, to
whom I want to introduce you before I die, and will you promise me,
Doctor, that what I am about to say to you, you will never forget?”
I promised, and he said, “Five
days ago, while you amputated my arm and leg, I prayed to the Lord
Jesus Christ to save your soul.”
CONCERN FOR MY
UNCONVERTED STATE
These words went
deep into my heart. I could not understand how, when I was causing him
the most intense pain, he could forget all about himself, and think of
nothing but his Saviour and my unconverted state. All I could say to him
was, “Well, my dear boy, you will soon be alright.” With these words I
left him, and twelve minutes later he died.
Hundreds of soldiers died in my
hospital during the war, but I only followed one to the grave -- that
one was Charlie the drummer boy.
That boy’s dying words made a deep
impression upon me. For several months after Charlie’s death, I could
not get rid of the words. They kept ringing in my ears, but being in the
company of officers, I gradually forgot the sermon Charlie preached in
his dying hour, but I never could forget his wonderful patience under
acute suffering, and his simple trust in that Jesus whose name to me at
that time was a by-word and a reproach.
For ten long years I fought
against Christ with all the hatred of an orthodox Jew, until God in His
mercy brought me in contact with a Christian barber, who was a second
instrument in my conversion to God.
One day on my way to Washington I
stopped to rest a few hours at New York. After dinner I stepped
downstairs to the barber’s shop.
No sooner had the barber put the
brush to my face than he began to talk to me about Jesus. He spoke in
such an attractive and loving manner that I listened with growing
attention. All the time he was talking, Charlie the drummer boy came
swelling up in my mind, although he had been dead ten years.
I was so pleased with the words
and manner of the barber that when he had finished shaving me, I told
him next to cut my hair. All the while he kept preaching to me, and
telling me that although not a Jew himself, he was at one time as far
away from Christ as I was then.
I listened attentively, my
interest increasing with every word. When he finished cutting my hair I
said, “Barber, you may now give me a shampoo,” in fact I allowed him to
do all that one in his profession could do at one sitting.
There is, however, an end to all
things, and I prepared to leave. I paid my bill, thanked the barber for
his remarks, and said, “I must catch the next train.” It was a bitter
cold day, and ice on the ground made it dangerous to walk on the
streets. It was only two minutes’ walk to the station from the hotel,
and the kind barber at once offered to walk to the station with me. When
we got to the station he said, “Stranger, perhaps you do understand why
I chose to talk to you upon a subject so dear to me. When you entered my
shop I saw by your face that you were a Jew.”
He still continued to talk to me
about his “dear Saviour,” and said he felt it his duty, whenever he came
in contact with a Jew, to try and introduce him to One whom he felt was
his best Friend, both for this world and for the world to come.
On looking into his face, I saw
tears trickling down his cheeks, and he was evidently under deep
emotion. I could not understand how it was that this man, a total
stranger to me, should take such a deep interest in my welfare, and also
shed tears while talking to me.
I reached out my hand to bid him
good-bye. He took it in both of his and gently pressed it, the tears
still continuing to run down his face, and said, “Stranger, if you will
give me your card or name, I promise you, that during the next three
months I will not retire to rest at night without making mention of you
by name in my prayers. And now may my Saviour follow you, trouble you,
and give you no rest until you find Him, what I have found Him to be, a
precious Saviour, and the Messiah you are looking for.”
I thanked him for his attention
and after handing him my card, said rather sneeringly, “There is not
much danger of my ever becoming a Christian.”
He then handed me his card saying,
“Will you please drop me a letter if God should answer my prayers on
your behalf?” I smiled and said, “Certainly, I will” not thinking that
within the next 48 hours God in His mercy would answer that
barber’s prayer. I shook his hand heartily and said, “Good-bye,” but in
spite of outward appearance of unconcern, he had made a deep impression
on my mind.
The carriage of the train I had
entered was not more than half filled; and, without being conscious of
the fact, in less than 15 minutes I had occupied every empty seat in the
compartment.
The passengers began to look at me
suspiciously as they saw me change my seat so frequently in so short a
time without any reason.
The moment I closed my eyes, I
felt myself between two fires. On one side was the Christian barber, on
the other side, there was the drummer boy, both talking to me about that
Jesus whose Name I hated. I felt it impossible either to go to sleep or
to shake off the impression made upon my mind by those two faithful
Christians.
On my arrival at Washington I
purchased a morning newspaper, and one of the first things that caught
my eye was a notice of a Christian meeting in Washington. No sooner had
I seen the notice then an inner voice seemed to say to me, “Go to that
church!” I had never been inside a Christian church during a meeting,
and at any other time I would have regarded such a thought as from the
devil.
MY BOYHOOD PROMISE
It was my father’s
intention when I was a boy that I should become a rabbi, and so I
promised him that I would never enter a place where “Jesus, the
impostor” was worshipped as God, and that I would never attempt to read
a book containing that Name; and I had faithfully kept my word up to
that moment.
In connection with the meeting
just referred to, it was stated that there would be a united choir from
the various churches in the city, who would sing at each of the
services. Being a lover of music, I made it my excuse for seeking to
visit the church during the service that night.
When I entered the building, one
of the ushers led me up to a front seat, right in front of the preacher.
I was charmed with the beautiful singing, but the preacher had not been
speaking five minutes before I thought he pointed his finger at me. He
kept watching me, and every now and then appeared to be shaking his fist
at me, however, I felt deeply interested in what he said.
But this was not all, for still
ringing in my ears were the words of two former preachers -- the
Christian barber and the drummer boy. Growing more and more interested
in the words of the preacher, I felt tears trickling down my face. This
startled me, and I began to feel ashamed that, I, an orthodox Jew
should be childish enough to shed tears in a Christian Church.
Not wishing to make myself
conspicuous, I made up my mind not to take out my handkerchief to wipe
off the tears -they must dry up themselves; but I could not keep them
back, for they came flowing faster and faster.
OPPORTUNITY TO
ESCAPE
After a while the
preacher finished his address, and I was surprised to hear him announce
an after meeting, and invite all who could do so, to remain. I did not
accept the invitation, being only too glad of the opportunity to leave
the church. I got up from my seat and had reached the door, when I felt
that someone held me by the edge of my coat. Turning around I saw an
elderly-looking lady.
Addressing me, she said: “Pardon
me, stranger. I have been watching you all this evening, and I beg of
you not to leave this house, for I think you are under conviction of
sin. I believe you came here to seek the Saviour, and you have not found
Him yet. Do come back; and if you will permit me, I will pray for you.”
“Madam,” I answered. “I am a Jew.”
She replied: “I do not care if you
are a Jew; Jesus Christ died for Jew as well as non-Jew.”
The persuasive manner which she
said these words, was not without its effect. I followed her back to the
very spot that I had just left, and when we came up to the front, she
said: “If you will kneel I will pray for you.”
“Madam, that is something I have
never done, and will never do.” The lady looked me calmly in the face
and said:
“Dear stranger, I have found such
a dear, loving and forgiving Saviour in the Lord Jesus that I firmly
believe in my heart He can convert a Jew standing on his feet, and I
will go on my knees and pray for that.”
She fell on her knees and began to
pray, talking to her Saviour in such a simple, childlike manner that
completely unnerved me. I felt so ashamed of myself to see that old
lady kneeling near me while I was standing, and praying so fervently on
my behalf. When she arose from her knees, she extended her hand and with
a motherly sympathy said: “Will you pray to Jesus before you sleep
to-night?”
“Madam” I replied, “I will pray to
my God, the God of Abraham, but not to Jesus.”
“Bless you!” she said, “Your God
of Abraham is my Christ, and your Messiah.”
“Good night, madam, and thank you
for your kindness,” I said as I left the church.
On my way home, I began to reason
with myself: “Why is it that these Christians take such interest in
perfect strangers? It is possible that all these millions of men and
women who during the last 1900 years have lived and died trusting in
Christ are mistaken, and a little handful of Jews, scattered all over
the world, are right ?
“Why should that dying drummer boy
think only of my unsaved soul? And why, also, should that Christian
barber manifest such a deep interest in me? Why should the preacher
tonight single me out and point his finger at me, or that dear woman
follow me to the door and hold me back? It must be all for the love they
have for their Jesus, whom I despise so much!”
A NEW DESIRE WITHIN
The more I thought
of this, the worse I felt. On the other band, I agreed: “Is it possible
that my father and mother, who loved me so dearly, should teach me
anything that is wrong? In my childhood they taught me to hate Jesus;
that there was but one God and that He had no son.”
I now felt a desire springing up
in my heart to become acquainted with that Jesus whom the Christians so
much loved and worshipped. I started to walk faster, fully determined
that if there was a reality in the religion of Jesus Christ I would know
something of it before I slept.
When I arrived home, my wife (who
was a very strict orthodox Jewess) asked where I had been. I said,
“Wife, please do not ask me any questions. I wish to go to my study,
where I can be alone.”
I went at once to my study, locked
the door and began to pray. The more I prayed the worse I felt. I could
not account for the feeling that had come over me. I was greatly puzzled
as to the meaning of many prophecies in the Old Testament, which deeply
interested me. My prayer gave me no satisfaction.
My Jewish texts were hanging on
the wall, and I caught sight of them. I loved them dearly. I took them
in my hand and while looking at them, Isaiah 7:14 came flashing across
my mind. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His Name Emmanuel
(God with us).”
I cried out; “O Lord God of
Abraham, You know I am sincere in this thing. If Jesus Christ is the Son
of God reveal Him to me this night, and I will accept Him as my Messiah
(King).”
No sooner had I said this than I
flung my texts into a corner of the room, and I was on my knees
praying. To throw the texts on the floor as I had done was for a Jew an
act of blasphemy. I was now on my knees praying for the first time in
my life, and my mind was troubled and in doubt as to the wisdom of my
actions.
BARGAINING WITH GOD
My first prayer to
Jesus I shall never forget. It was as follows:
“O Lord Jesus Christ, if You are the Son of God; if You are the Saviour
of the world, if You are the Jews’ Messiah for whom we Jews are still
looking; and if You can convert me, for I am a sinner, I will promise to
serve You all the days of my life.”
This prayer of mine, however, went
no higher than my head. I had tried to bargain with Jesus, and if He
would do what I asked of him, I, on my part, would do what I had
promised. I remained on my knees for about half an hour. Drops of sweat
came running down my face. My head was hot. I was in agony, but I was
not converted. I arose and paced to and fro in my room.
Then the thought came to me that I
had gone too far already, and I vowed I would never go on my knees
again. I began to reason with myself; “Why should I go on my knees?
Cannot the God of Abraham, whom I have loved, served and worshipped
all the days of my life, do for me what Christ is said to do for the
Gentiles?” I went on reasoning; “Why should I go to the Son? Is not the
Father above the Son?”
The more I reasoned the worse I
felt, and became increasingly puzzled. In one corner of the room lay my
texts. I instinctively turned towards them and fell on my knees again,
but could not utter any words. My heart ached, for I had a sincere
desire to know Christ, if He was the Messiah. I changed my position time
after time, kneeling and then walking about the room from about 10
o’clock until two o’clock.
At that time light began to dawn
on my mind, and I began to feel and believe in my soul that Jesus Christ
was really the true Messiah. No sooner had I realised this than, for the
last time that night, I fell on my knees; but this time my doubts were
gone, and I began to praise God, for a joy and happiness had entered my
soul such as I had never known before. I had found the true Ruler of
Israel. Emmanuel -- “God with us” -- I believed in the true Messiah --
Jesus -- who was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief,” who was “wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah
53:5)
I had looked on Him whom they had
pierced, and I knew that I was converted, and that God for Christ’s sake
had pardoned my sin.
I arose from my knees and, in my
new-found happiness, thought that my dear wife would at once share my
joy. I rushed into the bedroom and threw my arms around her, and began
to kiss her excitedly, saying “Wife, I have found the Messiah.” She
looked at me annoyed, and pushing me from her, coldly asked. “Found
who?” “Jesus Christ, my Messiah and Saviour,” was my reply.
She spoke not another word, but in
less than 15 minutes was dressed and had left the house, and went across
the street to the house of her parents, who lived opposite. I did not
follow her, but dropped on my knees asking my newly-found Saviour that
my wife might believe as I had.
On the following morning my poor
wife was told by her parents that if she ever called me husband again,
she would be disowned and put out of the synagogue, and cursed. At the
same time my two children were sent for by their grand- parents, and
told that they must never call me father again; and that I, in
worshipping Jesus, the “Imposter,” was fully as bad as He was.
Five days later I received orders
to proceed west on Government business. I tried all the means in my
power to speak with my wife and to say good-bye, but she would neither
see me nor write to me. She however, sent me a message by a neighbour to
the effect that so long as I called Jesus Christ my Saviour I should not
call her my wife. I did not expect to receive such a message from my
wife, for I loved her and my children dearly and it was with a sad heart
therefore that I left home that morning to travel to my sphere of duty.
For 54 days my wife would not
answer any of my letters although I wrote one daily, and with every
letter I prayed that God would incline her heart to read at least one of
them. I felt that if she would read one of my letters (for in each one,
I told of Christ and the joy I was experiencing in my soul), she would
reconsider what she had said and done before I left home.
DAUGHTER’S
DISOBEDIENCE
It was finally
through disobedience of my daughter that my wife was converted. My
daughter was the younger of our children. After my conversion to Christ,
a sense of duty to her mother on the one hand, and her love to her
father on the other kept her mind troubled.
One night she dreamed she saw her
father die. A fear came over her, and she made up her mind that, come
what may, she would not destroy the next letter in her father’s
handwriting. The following morning she waited for the postman at the
door.
As he handed the letters to her,
she took her father’s letter, quickly slipped it into her dress, ran
upstairs into her room, locked the door, and opened the letter. She
began to read it, and then read it three times before she laid it down.
That letter made her sad at heart to such an extent that when she went
downstairs her mother saw she had been crying, and asked her why.
“Mother, if I tell you, you will
be offended; but if you promise me not to be grieved, I will tell you
all about it.”
“What is it, my child?” said her
mother.
Taking out my letter from under
her dress, she told her dream of the previous night, and added, “I have
opened papa’s letter this morning, and now I cannot and will not believe
what my grandpa or grandma or anybody else says about papa being a bad
man. I beg of you to read this, mother,” she added, as she handed to her
the letter.
THE TRUTH BREAKS
THROUGH
My wife took the
letter, locked herself in her room, and began to read it. The more she
read the worse she felt. She read it through five times before she
finally laid it down. After the last reading of the letter my wife
returned it to desk and went back to the room she had just left.
Her eyes were full of tears, and
it was my daughter’s turn to ask, “Mother, why are you crying?” “Child,
my heart aches,” was the reply; “I wish to lie down on the lounge.”
After a while my wife’s mother
came across the street to our house. Thinking my wife to be very ill,
she gave simple medicine. This failed, so in the evening the doctor was
called. He came at once and prescribed for her, but his medicine
likewise failed to remove the heart ache. My mother-in-law stayed at
our house that night until eleven o’clock.
My wife said later, that her
desire was that her mother should leave the room, for she had fully made
up her mind to go onto her knees as soon as her mother had gone. No
sooner therefore, had she left our house, than my wife locked the door
and fell on her knees by the side of her bed, and in less than two
minutes Christ, the Great Physician met her, healed her, and saved her.
Like myself, the moment she came
to an end of human effort, worldly wisdom, and vain tradition, and
surrendered herself, body, soul and spirit to God, she found the Holy
Spirit ready to open her blind eyes, to turn her from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan to God.
On the following day I received a
telegram worded as follows, “Dear Husband, Come home at once. I thought
you were wrong and I was right; but I have found that you were right and
I wrong. Your Christ is my Messiah, your Jesus, my Saviour. Last night,
while on my knees for the first time in my life, the Lord Jesus saved my
soul.”
When I arrived home I saw my wife
standing at the open door expecting me, her face beamed with joy. She
ran to meet me and threw her arms round my neck and kissed me. Her
father and mother were also standing at their open door across the
street, and when they saw us in each other’s arms they began to curse
us both.
Ten days after my wife had
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour, my daughter was
converted. My son was promised by his grandparents that if he would
never again call me ‘father’ or his mother ‘mother,’ they would leave
all their property to him.
MY SON’S REFUSAL
A year and nine
months after her conversion my wife died. The desire of her heart
previous to her death was to see her son who lived about seven minutes
walk from our house. I sent again and again to him, begging of him to
come and see his dying mother. One of the ministers of the city
personally saw my son, and tried to persuade him to grant his dying
mother’s request, but his only reply was, “Curse her; let her die, she
is no mother of mine.”
On Thursday morning (the day of
her death) my wife asked me to send for as many members of the church as
could come to be with her in her dying hour.
At my wife’s request, we formed a
circle, about 38 of us, and we sang:
Jesus Lover of
my soul.
Let me to Thy
bosom fly.
Thou, O Christ,
art all I want.
More than all in
Thee I find.
As we sang, my wife in a feeble,
though clear voice said, “Yes, it is all I want; it is all I have. Come,
Lord Jesus, take me home,” and fell asleep (died).
She who from infancy had been
taught to hate the Name of Jesus had by grace learned the value of the
“Name above every name.” He was the One who had so recently saved her
precious soul, made and kept her happy during the last trying months.
My son would not attend the
funeral, but later was converted. He deeply regretted that he had
refused to see his mother before her death.
One day he visited her grave and
while there God in mercy, for Christ’s sake, pardoned his sins and
converted his soul. He went home, told his sister the good news, and
then wrote to me that same night.
A PARENT’S CURSE
I wrote to my
mother, who lived in Germany, immediately after my conversion, telling
her how I had found the true Messiah. I could not keep the good news
from her, and in my heart thought she would believe me.
The desire of my heart after my
conversion was that all my friends, Jew as well as Gentile, should share
with me in my newfound joy. This hope so far as my mother was
concerned, was destined to be bitterly disappointed, for she wrote me
but one letter.
There was no heading to it, no
date, no “My dear son,” as in all her former letters, but it read as
follows.
“Max, you are no longer my son. We
have buried you in effigy; we mourn you as one dead. And now may the God
of Abraham strike you blind, deaf and dumb, and damn your soul for ever.
You have left your father’s religion and the synagogue, for that Jesus
“the Imposter,” and now take your mother’s curse. Clara.”
Although I had by this time fully
counted what it would cost me in embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and knew what I had to expect from my relatives because I had turned my
back on the synagogue, I confess I was hardly prepared for such a letter
from my mother.
It was not all sadness, however,
for never before did I experience the words of Scriptures so full of
meaning and encouragement both to my wife and myself — “When my father
and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”
Let not anyone think that it is an
easy thing for a person to become a Christian. He must be prepared to
forsake father, mother and wife for Christ’s sake.
About 18 months after my
conversion, I was at a prayer meeting where an old lady spoke to the
folk gathered; “Dear friends, this may be my last time to speak to you.
My lungs are very nearly gone, so at best I have a short time to be with
you. Oh! It is a great joy to know that I shall soon meet my boy with
Jesus in Heaven.
My son was not only a soldier for
his country, but a soldier for Christ. He was wounded in battle, and
fell into the hands of a Jewish doctor. I had a letter later which
informed me that my Charlie in his dying hour sent for the doctor and
said to him ‘Doctor, before I die, I wish to tell you that five
days ago when you amputated my arm and leg, I prayed to the Lord Jesus
Christ to save your soul.”
When I heard that lady’s words I
crossed the room and said to her. “God bless you, your boy’s prayer has
been heard and answered. I am that Jewish doctor for whom your Charlie
prayed, and his Saviour is now my Saviour.”
A spirit of praise spread over the
meeting, as the people realised Christ’s wonderful power in enabling the
dying drummer boy to show the Spirit of his Master in praying for an
enemy of Christ.
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A
KEEPING GOD
AMIDST HITLER’S REIGN OF TERROR
A YOUNG JEWISH
MOTHER EXPERIENCES
THE MIGHTY LOVE OF
MESSIAH, JESUS.
BY LISETTE ORCHER MUTTON
“Yea they shall sing of the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of
the Lord.” (Psalm 138:5)
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, because His mercies endure
forever.” (Psalm 118:1)
My purpose in this testimony is
not to call attention to myself, for I am just a sinner saved by the
grace of God -- just a plain, simple believer in Y’shua, Jesus, as the
Messiah. Rather I want to show forth the mercies of God and His
wonderful ways -- ways which we often do not understand -- ways where we
often have a heavy cross to bear, but ways in which we get so many
blessings.
My family and I have worked in
Belgium as cabinet makers, also doing reproductions of antiques. Of
course, we also repaired many pieces of antique furniture. The Lord
Jesus was a carpenter. He was a mender of broken hearts, broken minds
and broken bodies. That is what He wants us to be: menders of broken
hearts, broken bodies and broken minds -- happiness makers -- a loving
heart is what we need to manifest these days. No matter if we are from
different countries or if we speak different languages, in the Bible we
all speak the same language. As Christians we all belong to the same
family; we must love each other. This is the message for our day.
I was brought up in a Jewish
family. My parents had a very large house because there were five
children, and because our parents welcomed immigrants, Jewish refugees,
lonely people who came out of Poland, Russia and elsewhere in Eastern
Europe.
On account of that big household
my parents had many servants, and among those servants was a Protestant
Christian girl. She was a plain country girl without education. But she
had a wonderful treasure -- she loved the Lord Jesus and she loved the
Jews.
Her love for the Jews was amazing.
We could not understand how she, a Gentile, could love the Jews in such
a wonderful way. I was then a little girl and I loved God.
My mother taught me to say my
prayers in Hebrew. But I liked to listen to this servant girl, who told
me all the stories of the Old Testament. She told me everything about my
nation and about the Old Testament.
I lost my mother when I was very
young, but this girl stayed on with us and was very faithful to our
family. She was not a talker but she had a loving heart.
A WEDDING PRESENT – THE
BIBLE
When I got married, among my
wedding presents I found a Bible, the Old and the New Testament in
French. It was this servant who gave it to me. We spent our honeymoon in
England because my husband had a large business there.
At the beginning I felt a bit
lonely because I was very young and my husband often had to leave me
alone in London and go off to Scotland, Ireland, and many parts of the
British Isles on account of his business. All the time when I was
feeling lonely I turned to the Bible - but only to the Old Testament. I
never read the New Testament; I was not interested. I was even afraid to
read the New Testament because I was a Jewess.
We frequently returned to Belgium
to visit our family. On one such occasion we were invited to a Jewish
wedding and among the guests I met a young Jewish girl by the name of
Mary, whom I had known as a little girl. She was the same age as myself,
so I was pleased to meet her again after so many years.
Mary had a very sad face. You see,
Mary was an orphan. Her widowed mother had remarried and she suffered a
great deal at the hands of her stepfather. I took pity on her and I told
her, “Mary, I have something for you that will help you. You will not
feel so lonely.” I gave her my Bible and I bought myself another one and
went back to England. From England I kept up correspondence with her.
As the weeks went by I could sense
a great change in Mary’s writing, but I did not know what it was. On our
next trip to Brussels I went to visit Mary. I could hardly recognize
her. She was no longer the sad girl I had met at the wedding. She had a
happy face. She told me everything. She said, “I did not follow your
advice.”
When I gave her my Bible I had
told her; “Don’t read the New Testament. This doesn’t belong to us. You
are a Jewess and this is not for you. The only thing you are to read is
the Old Testament. The New Testament belongs to the Gentiles.” Well,
Mary did not follow my advice, praise the Lord! She read the New
Testament first, and then the Old. And she told me that without going to
any meeting, any preacher, only by the grace of God, she found the Lord
Jesus in the Bible -- her Messiah.
I can tell you this now with a
smile and great happiness, but at that time it was such a shock to me
that I nearly collapsed. I felt it was my fault that Mary believed in
Christ. I said, “You are on the wrong way, Mary. You are living too
lonely. You are not meeting people. Keep away from these things, for
they are not your business.” Mary just smiled quietly and said; “No, I
know that My Redeemer is alive. He has saved my soul. He is my Messiah.”
And she begged me to start reading the New Testament.
Going back to England with my
husband, I cannot tell you what a state of mind I was in. I was very
sad. My heart was literally broken because I thought I had done a very
wrong thing. The day after we got back to England my husband had to
leave for Scotland for three weeks.
Alone in London I started praying
to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I explained to Him that I
was frightened, fearing I had made a mistake, that I wanted to read the
New Testament but I was afraid lest I should go the wrong way. And I
asked Him to reveal the truth to me.
I FOUND THE MESSIAH
I then started reading the New
Testament and, praise the Lord, everything became clear to me. I sensed
that I was a sinner, and not only a sinner, but a sinner exactly like my
nation, like the Jewish people. I felt my need of salvation. I got down
on my knees and I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus. I can’t tell you the
joy that filled my soul.
When my husband came back home I
told him everything -- about Mary, about the Bible, about what had
happened to me. He was a Jewish man, brought up in the Jewish way,
and he answered me, “Well, I don’t understand anything you are
talking about, but if this makes you happy, by all means go on.”
But this was not enough for me. I
wanted him to find the Lord Jesus, too. I wanted him to have the same
experience. I wanted him to be saved. I am a great believer in prayer
and I started praying for my husband day and night.
My husband was a man of great
ambition. He was a businessman. He was doing very well in England and
was a proud man so he had to be brought very low. The Lord had to
humiliate him.
In 1939 he received, as a Belgium
subject, his mobilization papers and he was called to join the Belgium
regiment in Brussels within 24 hours.
At that moment all his ambitions
crashed to the ground. He had to leave everything in London behind, and
during that year of mobilization in Belgium he went through great
humiliation. Whereas in England he had been a big business man, in
Belgium he was just a plain, simple soldier sometimes sleeping in a
stable. I gave him a Bible and I kept on praying for him day and night.
THE GERMAN INVASION
When the Germans invaded Belgium
in 1940 my husband was with his regiment at the front line on the German
frontier. His regiment was virtually wiped out during that terrific
bombing.
Seeing all those soldiers lying
dead around him he felt that he was not ready to meet God; that he was a
sinner. And there among those dead people, and in the midst of that
terrific bombing, he fell on his knees and gave his heart to the Lord
Jesus. He made a promise that if the Lord Jesus would keep him alive he
would dedicate his life to His service.
Only a few came out of that
terrible bombing and my husband was among them. The joy for me was very
great. I don’t need to tell you that I praised the Lord with all my
heart and soul.
We were baptized in the Plymouth
Brethren Assembly in Brussels, and we suffered a great deal from our own
family. Of course they were all Jews, and we had “turned away from the
faith.” Among my worst enemies was my mother-in-law. She said it was my
fault that my husband gave his life to the Lord Jesus.
In 1942 the Germans, who had in
the meantime occupied Belgium, started a terrific persecution against
the Jewish people and at that time our family turned to us and asked us
if we could not even save ourselves from the Germans, but we were calm
and peaceful because we knew that the Germans could only kill our
bodies, not our souls. Our souls belonged to the Lord Jesus, so we were
not afraid.
We felt that then was the moment
to be a true testimony to our family, to help them any way we could. We
felt ready to give even our own lives for them if necessary to show them
the love of God, to show them a loving heart.
It would take too long to tell you
all about our suffering that we went through. It is impossible to tell
it. Fifteen persons of my own family were killed by the Germans in
concentration camps -- fifteen persons of my family and my husband’s
family.
DEATH IN A
CONCENTRATION CAMP
Then in May 1944, my husband was
taken away to a concentration camp. A few months before this happened I
felt that the Lord was preparing him for a very hard task. I did not
know what task, but I felt it very deeply. He died in March, 1945, in
that terrible camp at Dachau, but not before he had been a tremendous
blessing among those prisoners in Auschwitz and in Dachau.
From the moment he was converted,
the Lord blessed him in a wonderful way with a great gift as an
evangelist. For him the war did not matter. He had only one purpose, to
serve and glorify His Lord and Saviour.
No need to tell you how I came out
of this war. I came out all broken. We lost everything. In Belgium, in
England, all our business everywhere, everything. And I had no home. I
was a widow at 27.
The Lord had blessed us during the
war in 1943 with a little girl whom we called Cecile; we also gave her
the name of Mary, after the young woman who gave me the Bible and who
was such a great blessing to me. My baby was one year old. My father was
an old man and I had my mother-in-law who was all brokenhearted. She
lost her only two sons and grandchild, and brother and sister and
brother-in-law and sister-in-law and nephew. She felt that I would
become a stranger to her.
I got down on my knees and just
said to the Lord, “You are my Father. Give me the strength to make a
home for my parents, my mother-in-law, my father, and for my baby.” And
I said, “If I should ever have a home again, that home is going to be
dedicated to You.”
I have the joy to tell you that
the Lord Jesus is the Husband of the widow and the Father of the orphan.
Today I do not have a luxurious home. It is just a plain home, but for
everything in my home I say, “Thank you, God. Thank you, my Lord,”
because the Lord gave me everything I needed. He helped me to build
again on ashes.
I suffered a great deal, but I
would not have missed it, because the Lord has not sent me happy
people, but rather unhappy people. I can see why I had to go through
all that suffering, because now I am able to understand the suffering
people who come to me.
There is a lot to mend among the
Gentiles, I quite agree, but there is a lot more to mend among the
Jewish people. And that is where I ask you to pray. Please don’t forget
the Jewish nation. They gave you the Bible, they gave you the prophets,
they gave you the apostles, and above all, they gave you Jesus. Don’t
forget the Jewish people. Pray for them, even if you don’t understand
them. They need your love.
MARY’S SACRIFICE
Just a few words about Mary before
coming to a close, Mary suffered twice over; she suffered doubly. When
she became a Christian she suffered terribly at home, and had to be
hidden all the time from her stepfather.
When the Germans started their
persecution against the Jews, in an endeavor to save her mother and
stepfather, she gave herself up to the Germans. I cannot take time to
explain it all here.
There was a place outside
Brussels, a military barracks where the Germans gathered all the Jews
they could put their hands on. They caught them and in groups sent them
out to Germany to concentration camps. Mary was put there, but on
account of her speaking and writing German so well they told her that
she could remain there -- as a prisoner -- and do secretarial work. She
had to fill in all the lists of the Jews going to Germany.
She could actually have saved
herself up to the time of the liberation, but one day as she was filling
out names, she saw among the prisoners her cruel stepfather, her enemy,
all swollen and broken. She scarcely recognized him. She had to put his
name for the next convoy to Auschwitz. Mary got up and went to
the German officer and asked if she could put down her name next to
his. She wanted to be on the same convoy to nurse him, to look after
him.
The German officer looked at her
and said, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know that that convoy is going to a
concentration camp?” She said, “Yes, I do know. But for the love of my
Lord Jesus, I want to go with that man. I want to help him and to show
him the love of God.”
She wrote down her own name next
to her stepfather’s for the next convoy and she went out to Auschwitz at
his side. I cannot tell you what happened on that journey. All I can say
is that she died in Auschwitz at the age of 23. She died as she had
lived, loving her Saviour and revealing His love to others.
A loving heart is what the Lord
Jesus needs in this day.
As I look in retrospect over the
years, I praise the Lord for mercies in caring for me through
every trial, especially through the Nazi era. I know it was because of
the loving heart of a merciful God that I have been spared in order to
help others find peace for their troubled hearts.
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IT IS TIME FOR Israel TO return
and seek YHWH TheIr God
BY DON STANTON
Above are two moving testimonies
of some children of Israel coming to faith in Y’shua the Messiah, long
ago. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, there have been several
hundred thousand Jews who have embraced Y’shua as their Saviour, in many
parts of the world. But the apostle Paul said:
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the people of
Israel is that they might be saved.” (Romans 10:1)
“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brethren, lest you be
wise in your own estimation; a temporary hardening has
happened to a part of Israel which will continue until the
full number of Gentiles has come in. And so
all Israel will be saved;
just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, He will remove
ungodliness from Jacob. [Isaiah 59:20]. And this is My covenant with
them, when I take away their sins. [Isaiah 27:9]
“As far as the Gospel is concerned, they are enemies (of God) for
your sake, but as far as God’s Choice is concerned, they are
still the beloved for the sake of the Patriarchs; for the gifts and
calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:25-29)
This is a national restoration of
Israel in the first half of the Tribulation – after the church has been
completed.
The prophet Hosea declared:
“For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or
prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or
household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel
will return and seek YHWH their God and David their king; and
they will come trembling to YHWH and to His goodness in the last days.”
(Hosea 3:4-5)
Today Israel is living in days
when gathering dark clouds are reminiscent of the perilous times that
followed the rise of the Nazi regime in the 1930s.
The animosity of many nations
against Israel increases, and the even the traditional American support
of the Jewish state is expected to change with the new administration.
Jeremiah warned of the holocaust
ahead for Israel in the endtimes – the Great Tribulation:
“Ahh! for that day is great, there is none like it; it is the
time of Jacob’s distress, but he will
be saved out of it.” (Jeremiah 30:7)
Paul quotes Isaiah, speaking of
the remnant of Jacob who will return to God:
“A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For
though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the seas, only a
remnant within them will return; a destruction is determined,
overflowing with righteousness.” (Isaiah 10:21-22)
“Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it
is the remnant that will be saved.” (Romans 9:27)
Zechariah prophesied:
“In the whole land, declares YHWH, two thirds will be struck down and
perish; but one third will be left in it. And I will bring this third
through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as
gold is tested. They will call on My Name, and I will answer them; I
will say, ‘They are My people.’ And they will say, ‘YHWH is my God’.”
(Zechariah 13:8-9)
The days are coming when the Holy
Spirit will be poured out very powerfully on Israel, and “the remnant” -
the third – will be both saved and refined during the time of Jacob’s
distress. That means there will be some millions of believing Jews.
The prophet Hosea continues to cry
out to Israel:
“Return, O Israel,
RETURN
to YHWH your God.”
(Hosea
14:1)
“It is time to seek YHWH until He comes
and rains righteousness on you.”
(Hosea
10:12)
Isaiah also calls on Israel to
return to Almighty God, and encourages them concerning the compassion
and salvation of YHWH.
“Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant. I
have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten
by Me. I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your
sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah
44:21-22)
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will
gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My Face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting loving-kindness I will have compassion on you,’
says YHWH your Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:7-8)
“Israel will be saved by YHWH with an everlasting salvation. You will
never be put to shame or humiliated for ever and ever.” (Isaiah 45:17)
“Therefore YHWH who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of
Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
but when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they
will sanctify My Name; indeed they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and stand in awe of the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 29:22-23)
LET US CONTINUE TO
PRAY
FOR THE JEWISH
PEOPLE,
THAT THEY WILL
RETURN TO YAHWEH
THROUGH HIS ANOINTED
ONE,
Y’SHUA THE MESSIAH,
AND BE SAVED!
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