TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
17U
EVERYBODY USES TRACTS; WHY NOT YOU?
By Miriam E. Fackler
B H, so you do not think much of tracts? Have you doubts about this whole business of writing, printing, and distributing them? You would not be caught handling a tract to a bum? Of course, to distrib ute one to a well-dressed, well-educated and cultured person would be entirely out of the question! Well, here are some true stories for you, right out of the present, about two fellows and two girls, normal, average young people, in the thick of things', who are mighty glad someone with tracts came their way. In August, 1944, Esme Prenter was only 17, and her world was falling apart all around her. She had always had her doubts about God—about His being a loving Father. Now she was sure. How could He be kind or loving? Had He not allowed her boy friend to be killed? Esme is a young Irish nurse. She lives at “Win- brook," Doagh Road, Whitehouse, County Antrim, North Ireland. She works in a great hospital along with nearly five hundred other nurses. Among all of them so far as Esme knew last August, there were only two Christians. She herself was noted for scoffing at everything re ligious. Story of A Tract Then, on September 18, 1944, something happened. That day, among her father’s books, she spied a thin little leaflet. On the front, in deep blue, was an artist’s draw ing of a South Pacific palm-fringed atoll under a starry sky, and a small photograph of a soldier boy in overseas cap, a bright-faced, frank-looking boy. He had unusually fine eyes and the corners of his mouth turned up in a de lightful grin. “Under Pacific Stars" the tract was entitled, and it carried 22-year-old Marine Phil Welsher’s last letter to his mother and dad. Written more than a year before his death on November 22, 1943, somewhere in the South Pacific, it was found among his few possessions and mailed home to Chicago in accordance with his request written on the envelope. Esme read the letter. Phil wrote: “As I pass on, I wish to leave behind me a testimony to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God may be glorified in my death more than He was in my life. Today, knowing that I may very soon be called to give an account of my- sejf, I can say that I am trusting only in Jesus Christ, who died as a sacrifice for my sins that I might have eternal life. He paid the price with His own precious
blood, and by simple faith in Him I am cleansed from all unrighteousness. “I am now with Jesus, and all is well with my soul. Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die’ . (John 11:25, 26). “Dry your tears, Mom; a son has been called Home, where he waits to be joined by the dearest parents a boy could have. Perhaps consolation may be found in know ing that when we shall again be together, it shall be even as He hath promised: ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away’ (Rev. 21:4). “Now, for just a little while, I would say good-bye, and God be with you till we meet again." As Esme read, her heart was deeply touched. Here was another splendid young man, killed, as her friend had been, before he had had a chance to live. What faith the boy had! What hope and assurance! If only she, too, could be sure she would see her loved ones again! She picked up a Bible, found the references Phil had given, read the passages. They brought comfort to her heart. When she came to “I am the resurrection and the life . . .,” she knew that God was speaking to her. “I realized" she wrote to Phil’s parents, “ that the only way I could ever meet loved ones again was to come to the same Saviour. So this morning, sometime between nine and ten o'clock I came to Him. “From now on, I am going to live with God’s help ‘the life that wins.’ I hope to make some Christian friends and also to bring my former chums to the Saviour.” It is not surprising that as a result of this corre spondence, Esme was provided with one thousand copies of “Under Pacific Stars” for distribution. Australian Incident Away down under, in Sydney, Australia, a Chinese girl, named Esther Wong Yen, was given a copy of “Un der Pacific Stars." Although trained in the Christian faith by missionary parents now on furlough, when she was old enough to work, she had gone into the world for her pleasures. In November, 1943, however, she was brought back to the Lord, yielded her life for His service and entered Sydney Bible Training Institute to prepare for missionary service. Still she doubted; she did not have assurance of salvation.
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