tails. I had dates with as many married men as single ones. Perhaps some of these really were wrong. Anyway, I knew I felt Wrong inside and so I said, “ I’ve done things that I shouldn’t. Will God forgive me?” He stared at me for a moment. My make-up, no doubt, had worn off by this time. My clothes, if stagy in taste, were expensive. And my face was round and young. I don’t know what he thought. I have forgotten his name; I am confident he was a fundamental min ister. Perhaps he had even included the way of salvation in his message. But a minister becomes so used to the mes sage and the unsaved are so ignorant. Apparently, he either thought I was young and thus over-wrought about my •spiritual state. Or else, because he knew the way, he thought I knew it. At any rate, he said “ Yes.” And he walked away. I stood there, numb for a moment. Then I walked out of a side door of the church and leaned against it. Tears came to my eyes and I prayed, “ I guess I’m just a fool, God. There really isn’t any thing to this silly business of wrong or right. I’m as good as the next person. I must get over taking it all so serious.” But of one thing I was certain—I was through with church. It was years before I ever went near a church again. Dark, bitter years. Years of worldly living. Years of sorrow. Years that the locusts have eaten. But what do you do when a stranger comes to your church? Are you alert, thinking she might have a hungry heart? Or do you allow her smug appearance to fool you? Many people do not wear their hearts on their sleeves for all to see. If you know the way of salvation, do you make it plain? Or are you so familiar with the message that you as sume that every one else knows it? Since I have been a Christian, I have heard many sermons on Jesus Christ and sal vation that would only be bewildering to the lost because in them the deity of Christ was not made plain. Remember the term Son of God means nothing to a person who has been taught that we are all sons of God. It must be made plain that Christ is the unique Son of God, and the only Saviour. “ The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). If we are to reach men and women for Him, out of a heart of com passion, we must seek the lost, and make the Way clear. (CONTINUED NEXT MONTH) Editor’ s note: This series of articles has attracted much attention and several have asked the question: “Is this really a true story of Mrs. Haskin’s experience in Hollywood?” Every word of it is absolutely true as the names of actual places and people w ill attest. T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
people assembled. They were mostly older men and women. At least, they seemed so to me. Being a small group, they noticed me and were very friendly. The meeting began and turned out to to be a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This denomination was not so well known then and I knew nothing against them. Even if I had, I would gladly have believed if they had anything to offer. I was hungry-hearted. But a man read a lot of dry material out of a book which explained that Jesus had returned to earth sometime during the eighteen hundreds, only we could not see Him. Again I thought, no doubt about it, Jesus was a wonderful Man, but some one who had returned to earth whom you could not see was no help to me. I left the meeting the same disconso late girl that I had come. I ate another sandwich. I phoned mother. Some friends had dropped in and she was content for me to stay away. I drove around until I found an other church, a large white frame build ing, in downtown Los Angeles. Outside was a large sign announcing the speak er’s topic “ The Virgin Birth of Christ.” Those were the days when the Virgin Birth was widely discussed. I went in and sat down in the front row of the balcony. I remember parts of the minister’s sermon to this day. He told that God created Adam without the aid of woman; then of the many and varied means used to reproduce the dif ferent forms of life and that, as God could create life in so many different ways, it was entirely possible for Him to create a body for Jesus Christ with out the aid of a man. Most interesting. I hung onto his every word and I never again doubted the possibility of Christ’s being born of a virgin. But still, I had not found an answer to my hungry heart. When the meeting was over, it was late and I was desperate. I had been to four services that day. I had never attended so many before. I decided I must speak to the minister and see if he could help me. I walked downstairs and up to the front of the church. A group was clus tered around the minister. I know now they were all telling him how wonder ful his sermon was. And no one spoke to the stylishly-dressed girl who stood alone, waiting. The people left, and he and I were alone in the large auditorium. He started to walk away. I hurried up to him and he said, “May I speak to you?” “Yes.” He turned to« me, polite but weary. He had preached at least three times that day, perhaps four. The word sinner was not in my vocab ulary so when I spoke to him, I know I did not use that word. But I do know there were many things which troubled me. From the time I was fifteen, I had been “high” from champagne or cock
Dorothy Clark Haskin as an acrobatic dancer at the age of seventeen risen from the dead, He had gone off into Heaven. What did it matter how many wonderful things He had done then? What I needed was someone to help me now. After the service, I went outside and stood on the church steps, hoping some one would speak to me. Maybe, if one of the friendly, older women did, I could ask her about some other service to attend. I stared at the big CE sign and wondered what “ CE” meant. Who went? Young or older people? Or was it a spe cial service to which anyone could go? I stood there as long as I had the nerve, but one cannot linger forever on the steps of a church, and so I wandered off to my Nash. Two services and no answer. But I was not going to give up that soon. Surely there was something which would satisfy my heart. I drove to downtown Los Angeles, parked and went into a drug store. I ordered a sandwich and then, because I knew no one else to ask, I said to the clerk, “ Do you know some religion which has a meeting Sunday afternoon?” The young clerk wrinkled his nose, thought a moment and then remembered, “Yes, down the street, in ‘such and such' a building, there is a group which meets on Sunday afternoon.” “ Thank you.” After I finished eating, I walked down the street, quite elated. Perhaps here I would find what I was seeking. As near as I can remember, the building was near Grand and Ninth. I don’t believe the building is there any more but at that time there was a building with auditoriums of different sizes which was a popular place to hold meetings. The elevator man knew of the meeting for which I was looking, took me up, and directed me to a small auditorium. I was early and had to wait some time before the rather small group of
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