p. 17 | Kassel, Germany by John Wolfgangarten

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1902

Kassel, Germany

By John Wolfgangarten

IN October, 1901, we began our work in the city of Kassel, which has about one hundred and ten thousand inhabitants. Meetings were held in one of the best halls in the center of the city, and were well attended. On a Sunday evening a former priest of the Catholic Church of Paris delivered a speech on the “away-from-Rome” movement in France. His statistical returns were that in the last four years about five hundred priests resigned their pretended faith, and exchanged their garments for those of a cab driver, doctor, compositor, or teacher, etc. At the close of the meeting I explained to him the reason why I had left the Catholic Church. The consequence of this lecture was a stir among the citizens, and many discussions took place.

I advertised a meeting with the same title. Several hundred people gathered at the meeting house. Some Catholics also attended, and reported to the police office. Luke 11: 54; 20: 20. After several weeks I was called to the police station, where I had to explain the details of our faith. Some time later I was called before the judge, who stated that I was accused of speaking insultingly of the Catholic Church. The judge himself was a Catholic. He said: “How dare you, as layman, speak publicly of such things? You are not a learned man!” I answered with Acts 4: 13. The Lord Jesus gave grace to speak of his precious truth without fear. Luke 21: 13, 15. I began with Daniel 2, and attempted to convince him of the harmony of history and the Bible, then took Daniel 7. Up to this point he admitted that my position was correct. But that the little horn represented Rome he would not admit, because the details (Dan. 7: 25) were too bad to be applied to such a grand institution. Every word I spoke was put on paper. The public prosecutor (a Protestant) did not see any offense in my explanation of Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 and 13, etc.; to be Rome, and wrote to me that the prosecution had been stopped.

I am thankful to our Heavenly Father for the wonderful experiences I have had. He knew that this truth must come before a class of people who never would attend our meetings, and “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and . . . the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” He will fulfill his promises in Isa. 55: 8-11.

JOHN WOLFGARTEN.