Untitled article by F. C. GILBERT

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 8, 1913

The Work Among the Jews — No. 3

By F. C. GILBERT

In a testimony given at the General Conference in Takoma Park, with reference to the Jewish work, we find the following:—

“The time has come when the Jews are to be given light. The Lord wants us to encourage and sustain men who will labor in right lines for this people; for there are a multitude to be convinced of the truth who will take their position for God. The time is coming when there will be as many converted in a day as there were on the day of Pentecost after the disciples had received the Holy Spirit. The Jews are to be a power to labor for the Jews, and we are to see the salvation of God.”

We certainly can see that God is beginning to fulfil this testimony. The seed which has been sown for some years has been slow in maturing, but the work has been surely going forward. During the past fall and winter eight or ten Jews have accepted the truth, as far as we have been able to learn.

One girl who heard the truth more than a year ago was baptized in the early fall in the Brooklyn church. It is remarkable how this girl of sixteen has held to her faith. She first came in contact with Christianity through a sister who is especially interested in the Jews. One night she attended the service in the Brooklyn Church No. 1. At the close of the service she came to the writer and told him that the Lord had opened her eyes that evening, and that she saw that Jesus was her Messiah and her Christ. She began to live for him, and soon told her people what she believed. Although this meant persecution for her, she held fast. The sister who had had much to do in influencing her toward the gospel, did what she could to encourage her in the way of the Lord, and the girl followed on to know the Lord. It meant much to her to live in such an environment as that surrounding her, and still believe. She finally began to be influenced by the Holy Spirit to be baptized. She wrote to me about this, fearing somewhat to take the step, as she thought it might cause the death of her mother should she hear of it.

She prayed much over the matter, and finally was baptized by Elder A. V. Cotton in the fall. She seems very devoted, and we believe that the Lord will yet use her in his work.

That the reader may see how hard it is for a conscientious Jew who really has accepted the Saviour and truly loves the Lord Jesus to overcome certain prejudices which have been so long inbred in his heart, we quote part of a letter from this young woman to the writer:—

“Satan tempts me to wish that my Saviour’s name were not Christ. I know that it is a sin to wish so, because if the Lord wished it, that is enough to show me that it is right; but why was not Jesus called Immanuel, as it is said in the Old Testament that he would be called? Will you please tell me why? I’ve been taught so to hate the word Christ, that it is very hard for me to get used to it. The Lord knows I dearly love the bearer of that name, but I can not say the same about the name itself. You know how the Jews are taught to hate that name. You never felt as if you wished your Saviour to have any other name, neither do I want to wish so. But I sometimes do. Will you please tell me what to do about it?”

As a people we need to have much sympathy for the Jews who accept the truth, as well as a great deal of pity and forbearance for those who know not the truth. The people of God have very little conception of what a Jew really has to endure when he fully accepts Christ and takes his stand for the Lord Jesus.

The first Sabbath in January of this year there were several Jews baptized in one of our New York churches, and one of them is in the canvassing work. Some years ago, when we started our work in Boston, the Lord gave us a young man who gave evidence of developing into a good worker. He was an earnest young man and seemed truly converted. He was with us for three months at the Good Tidings Home, at Concord, Mass., and was doing well. His people kept working with him, and finally he was led away by them. We felt sad, for he seemed to be a young man of much promise. But we did not give him up; we constantly presented his case before the Lord. A few weeks ago, to our surprise, he came to inquire for us, and told us all about his experience since leaving us. He told me that Jesus had never left his heart, but he felt that he had not done the right thing in going away.

We had some earnest talks with him, and told him what he must do to return

to the Lord. He had been through it once, and he realized what it would mean to start again, especially since he is now married and has two children to support. One day when I was at the sanitarium at Melrose he came to see me, and we knelt together while he pleaded with the Lord to accept him and take him back. I wish that the reader could have been there and heard that young man’s prayer in the Yiddish language to the Lord Jesus. He would be convinced that the young man wanted to find his Saviour again. After we arose from prayer, I told him that he ought now to go home and tell his wife all about his faith, let the consequences be what they would.

A few days later I received a letter from him, and give it for the benefit of the readers:—

“DEAR BROTHER: I received your letter and was glad to hear from you. I thank you for sending me the New Testament. I had a long talk with my wife. We talked until almost two o’clock at night. I had told her what a great man Jesus was, and that all the prophets had spoken about him. I talked with her about the Sabbath, and she agrees with me a little. She listened with such great interest to what I had spoken, and I felt so good. I told her that he died for us, that the high priest put him to death, that he was buried, that they put a watch so his followers would not steal his body, and that the third day he arose from death. My dear brother, I feel that the Lord has heard our prayers and will soften her heart. I am going to send for the New Testament and get the Old Testament for her, too, and take lessons with her and show her the truth. And the Lord will help me; and you, my brother, will pray for me.

“Your brother in Christ, “BENJAMIN GOODMAN.”

I have received other letters from this young man, and he tells me that he is doing his own missionary work, and he thinks that the Holy Spirit is working on the heart of his wife, and that she will soon give her heart to the Lord. Surely the Lord is at work among these people.

About two months ago, in Boston, a Jewish young man who is a high-school graduate and a good Hebrew scholar, took his stand for the truth. At the present time he is at the Good Tidings Home and seems very earnest, although but eighteen years of age. He is receiving many curses from his relatives and friends, but is growing stronger in the truth day by day, and now desires baptism.

Within two months several Jews have taken their stand in Chicago. Among them is a young woman who would have been graduated as a lawyer this spring from the University of Chicago, but she left all for the Saviour and for his truth. There are others whom I might mention, but I felt that these experiences would be an encouragement to the people of God, showing them that the Lord is at work among these people, and that we need to keep on praying for the poor lost sheep.

I am glad to say that the Good Tidings Home at Concord is being blessed of God, and the longer we have the place the more we realize the wisdom in having secured it. It is truly a haven to help these poor Jewish brethren who are cast out from their friends and from their people, and have no other place to which they can go. We are now planning to start a small training-school there, to give some of these Jewish brethren and sisters a training in the Scriptures, that they may become workers in the vineyard for their brethren. We need to start one or two missionary industries at the home, that these people may be able to support themselves while they are studying the message. We hope that the readers will pray for the work among the Jews, and especially pray for the home at Concord, that the way may be opened so that we can establish these industries, and do the work which needs to be done to help these Jewish brethren. Let the prayer of the apostle Paul be the prayer of the heart of every believer in present truth: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” Rom. 10: 1. F. C. GILBERT.