meeting one of the “ boys” from those early years when we had a Sunday school in our home here. Our water heater needed repairing and when the repair man came, he recognized me! A tall man, now in his thirties, but still resembling the boy I had known, he recalled the times he had come to our home as a boy for Bible study. “ I don’t get now what you used to give us,” he added. “ Y o u c am e straight out with the gospel.” He said he was going on with the Lord and I hope I can keep in touch with him for the rest of the time left me. Not long ago I heard of another, a business man in the city, who is bearing a consis tent Christian witness. This brings much joy as evidence of the fruit of a witness those many years back, and encourages the heart to continue in prayer and service. Nine years ago the Lord gave me another companion in Clara, my wife. Clara was led to the Lord, twenty-six years ago by my sister, Carrie, and I have known her many years. Togeth er we served in every way the Lord indicated. By telephone, by letters, and by personal visits in our home here we were privileged to touch many lives and we daily thanked God for the strength He gave for this min istry. Then on February 1, 1958, a great sorrow came into my life when after a serious illness that lasted a number of months, my dear wife and sweet companion in my Messiah went to be with her Saviour whom she loved so dearly. I praise God that often I am able to be present at the afternoon meetings each Sunday at the Church of the Open Door where hundreds meet to pray for the Jewish work and where we are privileged to hear the testi monies from time to time of those who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Messiah. If it pleases God, I shall continue to be active until He takes me home. I have failed my Lord often through the years, but He has never failed me. Since I have found Jesus Christ to be the Messiah and High Priest, the Saviour who saves His people from their sins, I have had a deep abiding peace which the world cannot give, a joy which cannot be equaled and which nothing can take from me. And I know that when I am called from this earth, I will spend eternity with Him who gave His life that I might have eternal life with Him. Not long before the death of my wife my faithful assistant in the Jew ish Department, Mr. David Sanders, suffered a severe heart attack and on July 4, 1956 he too went into the pres ence of his Lord and Messiah Jesus (Concluded on Page 53)
had brought into my own heart and life, and I assured them that I would pray night and day that they would have no rest or peace until they found rest and peace in accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Rather to my amazement, they, have not resented my writing. In sending out these let ters, I have always enclosed a little tract that closes with a decision blank. Next to this blank I placed a cross mark and wrote in the margin: “ If you accept Christ, put your name here.” Two weeks after I had sent a letter to a niece of mine in the South, this tract came back in the air-mail return envelope I also had enclosed, and the decision blank had been signed. In an accompanying let ter, my niece (who is eighty years old) thanked me for sending her the New Testament and added: “ I know Jesus will help me.” A little later, a nephew, seventy-seven years of age, accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and my joy knew no bounds. I had written also to a cousin of my wife’s whom we had known in Cleveland when we were all in our twenties. We used to play cards with her and her husband. When Selina and I were first converted, this cousin was quite upset and wrote: “You may do as you please, of course, but it is not for me. I am a Jew and will re main a Jew.” But her reply to my letter sent to her so many years after my first witnessing, indicated an amazing change in attitude. She wrote: “ Dan, at my age how could I do that?” She is eighty-three. I have not yet heard of any real decision on her part but the wording of her letter gave me hope. I believe the Lord is dealing with her heart and I have been praying more earnestly than ever. Out of sixteen letters sent out in one month recently (for I keep in touch with some twenty of my relatives now and give them no rest), I had eight returns thanking me for letters and material sent. Whenever I go to look for the mail I first look for those fa miliar return-addressed envelopes I have enclosed in their letters. Every chance I have, I pray for these of my own family. At night when I cannot sleep, I ask the'Lord to disturb them and to give them no rest or peace until they have found it in Him. I firmly believe I will receive yet more letters telling me others have believed. On February 17, 1959, I observed my ninetieth birthday. This year marks also my fifty-seventh birthday in the Lord and I would not exchange one day for one that had gone before. Each day brings a new thrill as I walk it with Him. Just the other day, for instance, He gave me the joy of
good to me. I could not have carried on as we have without him. About this time I was led to publish my testimony, together with a mes sage and a plea to Jews to consider the claims of Christ. I sent copies of this tract, entitled: A Jew and the Name of Jesus, to all the names I could ob tain of people I thought to be Jewish. It caused a furor and for a time I had to have my phone disconnected in order to get any rest at all. People would call me in the middle of the night or early morning hours to berate me for sending such a thing to them. But I had some wonderful re plies, too. Some of the names I had ob tained sounded Jewish but the bearers were Christians and many of these wrote to me to express their appreci ation of the booklet. The Lord had one more big burden to place on my heart. Several years ago I began to write to members of our families about the Lord Jesus
Here, Jewish Department Superintendent Norman Allensworth shares a time of re laxation with Director Rose. Christ. There were nieces and neph ews— children of a half-brother and sisters—whom I had never seen. Some were as old as I and I did not even know the addresses of most of them. I wrote first to a niece of mine, daugh ter of my half-sister, whom I knew had kept in touch with the family and knew their whereabouts. My method of contact, once I had secured names and addresses, was to have my father’s picture enlarged and sufficient prints made. I then wrote asking my nieces and nephews if they would like to have a photograph of their grandfa ther. Response was immediate. At Christmas I sent boxes of dates to each, and then followed up with letters, tracts, and Testaments. I told the story of my own conversion and witnessed to the joy and peace Christ
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