GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S 2,000 CHINESE CONVERTS! DFO 1265 16/8/80
--She Learned Cantonese!--So Can YOU!
1. MY MOTHER HAD JUST TWO BROTHERS, MY UNCLE JOHN & MY UNCLE MARK, & SHE WAS IN THE MIDDLE. Mark was the older brother & then John was the younger brother, both of them brilliant. Uncle Mark, her older brother, played the cornet & so did she, & they used to perform on the Chatauqua Stage. Chatauqua was a kind of a travelling road show in the early days before television & even before motion pictures!
2. THEY HAD BY THIS TIME "THE MAGIC LANTERN" WITH MY GRANDFATHER'S COLOUR-PAINTED SLIDES. He would be on stage & would show his pictures of his travels all over the World. He went around the World several times & took pictures in the days before cameras were very common, & he'd come back & my Grandmother who was a beautiful artist would colour these slides & show them in colour, it was beautiful! He would show them on his magic lantern stereopticon or slide projector, a great big thing!
3. GRANDMOTHER WOULD COLOUR THE SLIDES & THEN SHE WOULD RUN THE MACHINE & SHOW THEM FOR HIM WHILE HE GAVE HIS LECTURE. Then my Mother & my Uncle Mark would sing & play a cornet duo! They'd have a skit like we do nowadays & they put on a regular show! First music & jokes & the skit & recitations, & then introduce my Grandfather for his serious lecture on his World tour. They called them "The London Lectures!" And from this he wrote some of his 16 books! So I haven't caught up with him yet! (Maria: We've got a whole suitcase of unpublished ones!) Well, there's gonna be time when I'm gone, Honey.
4. BUT MY UNCLE MARK WAS ALSO A VERY AMAZING ARTIST, one of those quick artists, you know? It was a trick that I can remember they were still doing even when I was a boy. You'd have volunteers from the audience suggest a subject for the artist to sketch quickly, pencil sketch it, & he'd go to work right away, & while my grandfather was talking, in just a few minutes he'd have this picture drawn! Or somebody would volunteer to come up from the audience & he'd sketch their portrait.
5. OR SOMETIMES HE WOULD DO A FUNNY TRICK where he'd just sketch this picture rapidly & you couldn't figure out hide nor hair what it was! Then when he was done & everybody was looking at it, still wondering what in the World is it, he would suddenly take it & turn it over: He had drawn the whole thing upside-down! So he was very very smart!
6. HE WAS THE OFFICIAL POLITICAL CARTOONIST FOR THE ST. LOUIS GLOBE-DEMOCRAT! You've heard of that paper, I'm sure, the leading paper of St. Louis, one of the biggest cities in the Midwest United States where my Grandfather pastored the biggest Christian Church. And Uncle Mark was so good at it that he became the daily cartoonist who drew their political cartoons. Just like in the Herald Tribune every day they've got a political cartoon in there--he was the one that drew the political cartoons! (Maria: Think of having to put one out every day!)
7. HE WAS A GENIUS LIKE HIS FATHER! See, he was my Uncle because he was my Mother's brother. Well, he never did like my Grandfather because my Grandfather was very strict & stern. And besides, my Grandfather was quite fond of Nina Virginia, my Mother, & spoiled her, so Uncle Mark didn't like the favouritism, of course.
8. WHEN MY MOTHER WAS 17 MY GRANDMOTHER DIED, THAT'S MY MOTHER'S MOTHER, & HER NAME WAS NINA MARQUIS. She was a descendant of some French marquis, half-French & half-English, whereas my Grandfather was 100% German Jew! But there might have been a little bit of Jewish in her too because her mother's name was Lufberry. She was pretty much of the old Southern aristocracy & also claimed to be related to Robert E. Lee's brother, Lighthorse Harry Lee.
9. BUT ANYWAY, RIGHT BEFORE SHE DIED THEY WERE GOING TO GO ON A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD! It was my Grandfather's third trip & she'd always gone with him as he was gathering materials & pictures for his lectures etc., & they often took guided tours. He'd sell a group of people in either Britain or United States on taking a World tour, & of course in those days only the rich took World tours, very rich, like the daughter of Anhauser Busch of the Anhauser Busch breweries & all kinds of famous people or their rich brats & whatnot!
10. HE'D GET A GROUP OF ABOUT 20 OR 30 OF THEM TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS TOUR, & HE BOOKED THE WHOLE TOUR. See, he'd been around the World several times himself & he knew where to go, where to eat, where to stay & all this sort of thing. He worked with Cook, the original Cook of the famous Cook's Tours, & he guided some of the original Cook's Tours!
11. THAT WAS THEIR SPECIALITY, WAS FURNISHING A GUIDE & LECTURER WHO WOULD KIND OF SHEPHERD THE PEOPLE ALONG, you know, & get them onto their next boat & get them off the boat to their hotel, take them sight-seeing & back to the hotel & back to the boat & off to the next point on World tours clear around the World! It even cost thousands of dollars in those days! And he not only got his trip free, but he was paid a lot of money. That was one of the ways he started making his money when he was a young fellow.
12. WELL, BY THIS TIME HE'D GOTTEN RICH ENOUGH THAT HE DIDN'T NEED TO CONDUCT TOURS, but he still went on World tours just for the fun of it & to collect material & pictures & write etc. At this time my Mother was only 17 & my Grandmother was in her 40s, I think about 45, a fairly young woman. Forties may sound like old to you guys, but to me it sounds like pretty young!
13. SHE WAS TO UNDERGO JUST A VERY MINOR OPERATION OF SOME KIND BEFORE GOING, I don't think it was even as serious as an appendectomy, just some minor abdominal operation. The surgeon was a very famous well-known surgeon, but he'd gotten pretty old & his hand was a little shaky & the knife slipped & accidentally pierced the peritoneum, the muscle layer that encases the abdomen, & peritonitis set in. They didn't have all the stuff they've got nowadays & it got very infected & she bloated up almost as big as a barrel, & she was going to die.
14. BUT ACTUALLY HER DEATHBED SCENE WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL! She was radiant! She'd lived a wonderful, beautiful life of love for the Lord & love for souls. I think I've told you the story about how she won about 2,000 Chinese to the Lord in St. Louis. Some of you have heard that, haven't you? At that time it was the time of that tremendous Chinese immigration in the United States, before they had all those anti-immigration laws.
15. DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS A DAY BEFORE PASSPORTS OR IMMIGRATION LAWS & PEOPLE COULD MOVE AROUND FREELY & go anywhere they could afford to go & afford to live? Think of that! Even still when I was young! I can remember the days before cars had license plates & drivers had licenses! I was about 12 years of age & already driving before they started insisting that drivers had to have licenses.
16. IT USED TO BE A DAY OF FREEDOM, THINK OF THAT, WHERE YOU COULD TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD & you didn't have to worry about passports or visas or immigration. They were already hep on customs, always out for the money, but otherwise you were free to travel if you could afford it. Of course, only the rich could afford to travel, so they didn't have to worry too much about it then.
17. ANYHOW, GRANDMOTHER WAS DYING & IT WAS A VERY BEAUTIFUL DEATHBED SCENE. My Mother was there & her older brother Mark--Uncle Mark, the one I'm always talking about. He's the one in some of those stories I told David who came out & doused us with water when we were smoking cigars at six years of age in Miami!
18. WELL, BY THIS TIME MY GRANDFATHER WAS VERY VERY RICH, A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE. He used to own a hotel & he published 16 books & he invested in the Stock Market. He used to have a stock-ticker, which is an old-fashioned machine, the forerunner of the modern Telex. You probably never heard of the stock-ticker, but I can remember seeing it yet when visiting their home.
19. DID YOU EVER SEE ONE OF THOSE CLOCKS THAT'S IN A KIND OF A GLASS DOME about as high as this bottle, only about three times as wide, & this big clock inside? Well, that's what a stock-ticker looked like with this machinery inside. It was actually a telegraph machine which put out a little tiny piece of tape like the telex machines do now, only the paper was only about as wide as your finger.
20. SO HE HAD MANY INVESTMENTS & STOCKS & BONDS & HE WAS A GREAT GAMBLER! My Mother used to say he was a gambler at heart. She used to shock audiences by starting off telling her life story & saying, "My father was a gambler!"--because he really was! He had a stock ticker in his own office in his pastor's study! He was supposed to be a preacher, if you can imagine!
21. SO IN HIS SUMPTUOUS LUXURIOUS STUDY IN THE BACK OF THE CHURCH HE HAD A STOCK-TICKER which was continuously running off a little tape about as wide as your finger with the latest stock quotations on all the various stocks, abbreviated stock name & what it was selling at right then etc., & while he was studying, working & reading he could keep up with his stocks! So he was quite a gambler!
22. BUT THE LORD APPARENTLY BLESSED HIM & LED HIM & FIRST OF ALL THROUGH HIS PASTORATES HE GOT TO BE QUITE AN ORATOR! I told you the story of how he graduated from college at 19. And his son, John Jr. graduated from University at the age of 16, the youngest graduate they had ever had at the University of Ohio! Brilliant! But Grandfather was a self-made man, self-educated; he never went through college. He graduated from high school--what they called college, it was two years--at 19 & he went right away to teaching school.
23. DO YOU WANT TO HEAR THIS? (FAMILY: YES!) It's kind of an interesting family! And you are involved with probably the last of the lot, including me & David & Techi, a long line of rather famous & infamous people! My Grandfather used to say he came from a long line of relatives--famous & infamous, in-laws & out-laws!
24. AMEN, LORD, BLESS THESE DEAR FOLKS! We don't want to just tickle their ears, but they've all worked hard all day, Lord, & maybe something in these stories will at least relax'm & entertain'm. Is that the video right there? Maybe I should have asked you to show a video instead. Well, you can get videos anytime, but you know, there's coming a time when you won't have me anymore! Ha! (Alf: Oh, we don't want to watch a video!) Are you sure? You mean you'd rather listen to these old stories? (Family: Yes! Of course!) At least this is the real thing!
25. WELL, GRANDFATHER HAD GOTTEN QUITE RICH, FIRST OF ALL FROM HIS PASTORATES. You've heard his story about how first he was a school teacher & then he went on stage & how he got saved by almost getting killed one night on stage when he had this sword duel & the other guy was drunk & nearly killed him! He just missed him, so Grandfather decided it was time to get prepared to go, & went shopping around the preachers trying to find out how he could get saved!
26. ONLY THE DEAR OLD-FASHIONED METHODIST PREACHER TOLD HIM HOW HE COULD GET SAVED: "Just get right down on your knees, Son, tell God you're a sinner, ask Him to forgive you & you believe in Jesus & take Him in your heart," etc.--And he did! And he got wonderfully saved!
27. THE PRESBYTERIAN PREACHER HAD TOLD HIM, "WELL, SON, I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW! I haven't been at this very long myself & I can't really tell you. Really, you've got to go back to college." And Grandfather said, "Well, I've never been to college. It'll take about four years!" And the Presbyterian preacher said, "Then after that you've got to take some post-grad courses, & then after that you've got to go to three years of seminary, & maybe in about seven to nine years you might know enough about God to maybe understand how to be saved!"
28. GRANDFATHER SAID, "LISTEN PREACHER! I HAVEN'T GOT THAT MUCH TIME! I've got to go on stage with this nut tomorrow night & he may kill me! I want to know how to get saved tonight!"--Ha! So he finally found this Methodist preacher who led him to the Lord. He & his wife, my Grandmother, were both on stage, & that's where he met her. She was an actress & he was an actor. Well, after that he quit the stage & he went into the ministry.
29. SO FIRST OF ALL BEING A TEACHER, THAT'S ONE THING A PREACHER NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO DO, RIGHT? And then he became an orator, a lecturer after that, & that's pretty good to know if you're a preacher too! You have to be a teacher & a lecturer, an orator, & finally an actor, because there's an awful lot of dramatics in preaching, really illustrating & dramatising & giving it action & putting it across! So he was all three: Teacher, lecturer-orator & actor!
30. SO WHEN HE WENT INTO THE MINISTRY HE WAS VERY DRAMATIC & BRILLIANT & A GOOD ORATOR & HE MADE AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS! He went from church to better church to better church to better church, until finally he was the pastor of the largest Protestant Church in all Missouri, the First Christian Church of St. Louis, with a congregation of four to six thousand people every Sunday!
31. AND THAT'S WHERE HE REALLY BEGAN TO BECOME RICH THROUGH HIS LECTURES & HIS BOOKS & HIS PASTORATE where there was an offering of $2000 every Sunday! That would be the equivalent today of, I'd say, 15 or 20 times that much! That's an offering of about $30-40,000, way back in your late '80's a hundred years ago! And that's when he started fighting the Catholics & they tried to kill him & everything else, a long story!
32. BUT HE INVESTED HIS MONEY WISELY, most of it, gambled on the Stock Market, made money on his books, royalties, & between his lectures & his churches & his gambling he became a multi-millionaire! He became worth several million dollars in a day when a million dollars was more like a billion nowadays!
33. SO HE WAS PRETTY RICH & HE WAS TAKING ALL THESE TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD. He'd take a few months off in the Summer from his church, & churches of that kind usually almost close down in the Summer. They weren't all that religious that they wanted to stay home for church instead of going on vacation! I'd say most of them are still that way! Well, so they were going to go on their third trip around the World, my grandfather & his beautiful young wife, when she had this minor operation & suddenly was dying.
34. BUT SHE HAD A BEAUTIFUL DEATH, REALLY A GRADUATION! She turned to my Grandfather, slipped off her rings & she put them in his hand like this, as though she didn't want anything that tied her to this World anymore, just like that. Everyone was weeping & she said, "Why are you crying? Don't cry! This is my graduation day! Earth recedes, Heaven opens! This is my Coronation Day!" Hallelujah! PYL! (Tongues & weeping:) "So shall I kiss your father in his day!" TYJ! Hallelujah! TYL!
35. SO DON'T BE SORRY FOR ME WHEN I GO, I'LL BE SORRY FOR YOU! Weep for yourselves!--That's who most people are weeping for at funerals. Not for the one who's gone, they're better off, but they are really sorry for themselves, & I don't blame them. They miss you & you're gone & it's a little difficult to get along without you sometimes. She said, "Earth recedes, Heaven opens! This is my Coronation Day!" Beautiful!
36. WELL, SHE CERTAINLY MUST HAVE HAD A CORONATION, because like I told you, here he was a multi-millionaire, the greatest orator & preacher probably not only in St. Louis but all Missouri. In fact, he'd held several big pastorates, biggest Christian Church, Protestant Church in Indianapolis, Indiana & then St. Louis, Missouri; then, of all places, he pastored the largest Protestant church in all Australia for some years, Melbourne, Australia! He built 50 churches in his lifetime & sent about 400 men into the ministry--which is not a bad record for a preacher!
37. HE WAS REALLY AN ARDENT, FAITHFUL, SINCERE WORKER FOR THE LORD! He really preached the Gospel! He really won souls! He really persuaded men to go into the ministry & serve the Lord. Many famous men graduated under him & went into the ministry & I don't have time to tell you all of them. But he really did love the Lord.
38. BUT AT THIS TIME HE'D BECOME QUITE RICH & FAMOUS. He hobnobbed with famous people like William Jennings Bryan, you've heard of him probably, of the famous Monkey Trial, who also ran for President. He helped campaign for President for William Jennings Bryan & Teddy Roosevelt. He got into politics & he helped to orate & campaign for these guys, sat on the same platform. Also Buffalo Bill & some of those guys.
39. THEY HAD THESE CHATAUQUA LECTURES WHERE THEY'D HAVE ONE SPEAKER AFTER ANOTHER & DIFFERENT KINDS OF ENTERTAINMENT & MUSIC. It was really a road show, only it was supposed to be a better road show, more educational. They had fine speakers & politicians & good music & good plays & they travelled around.
40. THAT'S WHEN MY MOTHER GOT TO KNOW A LOT OF THOSE FAMOUS MEN, including that famous children's poet, James Whitcomb Riley. She used to sit on his lap & he'd tell her these stories that he always told, these famous poems. Anyhow, she was reared in that sort of an atmosphere. But then her father got so rich that I think he sort of got a little bit away from the Lord, you know! I think that's probably why the Lord took my Grandmother.
41. ALL THAT WEALTH DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING TO GRANDMOTHER THOUGH, SHE REALLY LOVED THE LORD & REALLY WON SOULS! In St. Louis there was a tremendous Chinese quarter, like San Francisco's Chinatown, with tens of thousands of Chinese that had poured in there during the immigration before they had all these anti-immigration laws. This is, by the way, what started some of the immigration restrictions: the tremendous influx of Chinese into California & the United States then.
42. DURING THE DAYS OF SOME OF THE WARS THE CHINESE HAD OVER THERE, LIKE THE BOXER REBELLION & WARS LIKE THAT, THEY CAME TO THE U.S. Then some of them got ahold there & ran Chinese laundries & Chinese restaurants & began to get rich & send for their relatives, so that they began to come in by the thousands & thousands!
43. THEY WERE WORKING IN CALIFORNIA ON THE RAILROADS & THE MINES & AGRICULTURE, EVERYWHERE AS CHEAP LABOUR, & the rich people who owned these things wanted them to come in. But then they began to come in by such numbers & worked so cheaply that they were running native Americans out of jobs & they began to complain that these Chinese were taking away their jobs etc., which was true. So they began to pass anti-immigration laws & that's how it's been ever since.
44. SO THERE WERE, I THINK, SOMETHING LIKE 50,000 CHINESE WHO WERE LIVING IN ST. LOUIS AT THE TIME, & one Sunday my Mother & Grandmother were on their way to pass out flowers to the people in the hospital. My Grandmother was always trying to do something to help & witness & talk to people about the Lord. But of course going to a hospital with a big beautiful bouquet & passing out flowers to people had a lot more glamour & glory to it than standing down in a little dirty Chinese laundry shop!--So my teenage Mother thought!
45. BECAUSE ON THE WAY THEY WENT TO THIS CHINESE LAUNDRY TO ASK ABOUT THE LAUNDRY OR SOMETHING, & my Grandmother found the poor Chinaman who ran it sitting behind the counter there weeping. It turned out he was a gambler & he'd lost all of his money & he was crying. So she talked to him about the Lord & won him to the Lord right there! In the meantime my Mother had gotten very mad & impatient because she was just a young teenage girl & she wanted to go to the hospital & go around & see all the people & pass out flowers!
46. INSTEAD OF THAT THEY SPENT ABOUT THREE HOURS TALKING TO THIS--AS MY MOTHER CALLED HIM--"CHINK!" Oh, she was so mad, she said she just really ranted & raved at her mother when they got home: "We were going to the hospital to cheer up all those poor sick people & you stood there for three hours talking to this common Chink!" Grandmother said, "Nina Virginia, you don't understand now, but some day you will!"
47. SO THE SAVED CHINAMAN BEGGED HER TO COME BACK & TALK TO HIS BROTHER, & she went back later & talked to him & won him to the Lord too! And they begged her to come back to talk to their friend, & she went back & won him to the Lord! And pretty soon she had about a dozen of these "Chinks" saved & trying to read the Bible & wanting to know the Lord better & the Word!
48. WELL, SHE HAD A SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS OF 700 YOUNG LADIES IN MY GRANDFATHER'S CHURCH, the largest Sunday School class in his church, which occupied the main central auditorium every Sunday morning before church. So she went to my Grandfather on a mid-week day & said, "Lincoln, I want to turn my class over to somebody else." He said, "What do you mean, turn your class over to somebody else? You have the biggest class in the Sunday school, the most popular! 700 young women! What an opportunity! How could you think of giving your class over to somebody else?!"
49. SHE SAID, "WELL, I HAVE A GREATER OPPORTUNITY, MORE IMPORTANT, MORE URGENT!" He said, "What in the World could it be?!" She said, "Well, I have these boys who want to know the Bible better I've just won to the Lord." He said, "How many are there?!" She said, "Well, they're about a dozen." "A dozen? You want to give up 700 young women for a dozen boys? Well, who are they? What are they?" She said, "Well, they're these Chinese."
50. HE SAID, "CHINESE! YOU WANT TO GIVE UP 700 FASHIONABLE YOUNG WOMEN FROM SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WEALTHY FAMILIES OF THE CITY TO TEACH A DOZEN LITTLE DIRTY CHINKS!"--The Chinese were not in very good standing in those days--& she said, "Yes, I do, & they're not dirty! They're saved & they're clean & they love the Lord & they want to study the Bible & I want to teach them!" He said, "Alright, alright, alright!" She said, "Anybody'd be glad to have my class." He said, "Yes, of course. Okay. Alright, I'll give you a Sunday School room."
51. SO SHE STARTED OUT WITH A DOZEN BOYS IN HER CLASS--ACTUALLY FROM THIS ONE CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN SHE'D SAVED--& that class grew until she had to have the auditorium back & there were two thousand Chinese every Sunday morning in her Sunday School class! Think of that! And it was about this time that the church nearly closed up for the Summer & they were going to go on this World tour, & that's when she died.
52. AND MY UNCLE MARK, HE JUST WORSHIPPED HIS MOTHER. He knew she was a Saint, he knew she was real! He had his doubts about my Grandfather because he'd gotten into money & business & a lot of other things. He was a great orator & he did love the Lord & he did win souls & he was sincere, but at the same time Uncle Mark, like a typical teenager didn't have too much confidence in his father.
53. THEN WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED, MARK HAD NO MORE HOME TIES AS FAR AS HE WAS CONCERNED & HE RAN AWAY--he was about 19, I think--& they never heard from him again till about 30 years later! He just completely disappeared. He got bitter against God, & my Mother also got very bitter against God--you've read the story--when her mother died. She couldn't understand why God would take her, & she became very bitter against God as a result.
54. SHE BECAME EVEN MORE BITTER WHEN MY GRANDFATHER RE-MARRIED ONLY A YEAR LATER THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG HALF-MEXICAN, HALF-GERMAN WOMAN who was reared in Mexico & spoke Spanish fluently & wore those fancy old-fashioned gorgeous Spanish dresses & gowns & combs in her hair--long gorgeous black hair! That's Auntie Grace. She played the piano & sang beautifully in Spanish. I have an idea my dear Grandfather--knowing him as I do--figured that she'd not only make a nice wife to have but a real good show-woman on stage, you know? But my Mother was just furious, & my Uncle Mark, her brother, ran away from home, & she almost ran away from home. She wanted to go someplace else to get away, & you've read the story in her book.
55. BUT UNCLE MARK, MAYBE YOU HEARD ABOUT HIM, HE JUST COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED! About 20 years later somebody sent my Grandfather an item that said a man by this name had been killed in a railroad accident, Mark Brandt. And Grandfather said to Mother, "Well, I guess he's gone, Nina." By this time my Mother had been saved & wonderfully healed & everything changed. She said, "I don't believe it! Mother claimed him & his salvation before she died!"
56. THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS GRANDMOTHER DID AT THE DEATHBED SCENE: SHE GRIPPED MY MOTHER'S HAND & SAID, "NINA VIRGINIA, DON'T COME WITHOUT MARK!" Apparently John was the younger one, a little good boy & stayed home but that's another story. She said, "Don't let go of Mark. Never stop praying for him. I've claimed his salvation for the Lord, I know he's going to come in! I haven't seen it but I know He's gonna come in!" He had always been rebellious & very wilful & very bad, but she was claiming his salvation even while she was dying--& he immediately ran away! Thirty years they never saw him again.
57. BUT TWENTY YEARS LATER SHE GOT THIS NOTICE & SHE SAID, "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! Mother claimed his salvation, so if this was he, he was saved before it happened." But 30 years later when we were in Miami & Mother had the Tabernacle there & was a great famous preacher with four or five thousand people coming out every night to meetings & he turned up one night! He read about her in the paper & turned up, got saved & came & identified himself!
58. AT THAT TIME HE WAS THE CHEF AT THE COCONUT GROVE NIGHTCLUB. I'll never forget it! I can remember that as a little boy. We went out there to see him on the job & she persuaded him to get out of there because it was a very bad wicked Worldly crowd & he was drinking too much & gambling, so she persuaded him to leave & come home & stay with us & be our chef because we had about 25 people living at our home!--So I'm used to this!--Ha!
59. I CAN'T REMEMBER & FIGURE OUT ALL THOSE DATES & YEARS & TIMES, BUT I REMEMBER IT WAS ABOUT 30 YEARS FROM THE TIME HE DISAPPEARED TO THE TIME HE RE-APPEARED. That would've made him about 49. I remember Mother saying that it was nearly 30 years after he'd disappeared that he finally showed up & got saved in her meeting & came to live with us & work with us, still a rascal, in a way!
60. HE TOLD ME THE FIRST THINGS I THINK I EVER HEARD ABOUT SEX! Ha! (Dora: Oh, he was the one who saw you with the girl!) Yes, yes! He thought that was great! He thought it was really funny! (Maria: It must run in the family!--Genius & sexiness!) Men of force are men of sex! I have a lot of drive!
61. WELL, I THINK THAT'S A TESTIMONY, THAT MY GRANDMOTHER WAS REALLY A SAINT, & MY MOTHER KNEW IT. She really believed in my Grandmother's faith. Grandfather was so hard & forceful & a little dictator in some ways & tough on'm, you know, he ran a tough ship, & he was such a gambler & out for money that it was easy to criticise & say, "Well, he's in it for the money!" But they also remembered earlier days when he was really putting the Lord first.
62. BUT IT OBVIOUSLY WAS THE LORD THAT HE LOST THIS SAINTLY WIFE. The Lord was no doubt dealing with him, trying to humble him & bring him back, & he was really broken-hearted at first because he really loved her. But a year later he remarried. I mean, a guy with that kind of dynamic drive isn't going to get along without sex too long! And this beautiful young woman came along & won his heart. And my Mother hated her!
63. SO THAT'S A LITTLE BIT OF THE STORY OF HOW GRANDMOTHER WON THOSE 2,000 CHINESE TO THE LORD. She won'm to the Lord & really started winning'm, & then they began winning their own friends & relatives themselves. This occurred just not long before her death & I'm sure she really had a crown! (Maria: It must have caused quite a stir in that swanky church!) Oh, yes! And when he remarried! I think that's when he changed churches. It was kind of a scandal & he went off to Melbourne, Australia.
64. AND MY MOTHER WAS LIKE THE PRODIGAL SON! She demanded her share & took off. She inherited quite a bit of money from my Grandmother so she took off for Europe & went wild! You've read her book, I presume. She says she spent three weeks in Paris & never saw daylight, just went from one music hall to one gambling Casino after another! She loved to gamble! I guess she had her father's spirit of gambling! But amazingly enough, she usually won. TTL! I guess the Lord was protecting her.
65. THAT'S WHEN SHE HAD THAT INCIDENT WITH JOHN CHARLES THOMAS & ATE THE ABSINTH CHERRIES & HE HAD TO CARRY HER HOME! She went to Europe with this group of high society young people, a bunch of spoiled little rich brats! She loved the Cote d'Azur. She loved Monte Carlo. She loved Scotland & she travelled all over Europe at the age of 18, if you can imagine!
66. SHE TRAVELLED AROUND EUROPE FOR ABOUT TWO OR THREE YEARS & THEN GOT SICK & FED UP WITH IT ALL, went back to the States & wanted to do something a little more fruitful, something more than just playing around like she'd been for so long, so my father got her a job. She said she wanted a job, she wanted to work, & the only thing he could think of--because she was quite a clever artist--he got her a job with the Texas Cattlemen's Association, TCA, who needed somebody to keep their book of cattle brands & paint in colour the diagrams of the cattle brands! My Grandfather knew some of these rich guys & suggested his daughter, as she wanted to do something, could maybe play around with keeping these cattle brands!--Ha!
67. THAT'S WHEN SHE FINALLY GOT FED UP, IN THE HOME OF GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT. They've got a presidio in San Francisco still called the Gen. Winfield C. Scott Presidio. He was a hero of the Mexican War, & if you read your American History, even ran for president once. (Maria: What's a presidio?) That's nothing but an Army base, only out in California they call'm presidios. It's the big San Francisco Army base. That's when she got so fed up with everything & so sick of it all that she was even thinking about killing herself!
68. AT ONE BIG WEEKEND PARTY SHE GOT FED UP & WALKED OUT & SAID SHE WAS WALKING THROUGH THE GARDEN WONDERING HOW SHE COULD JUST END IT ALL! And that was when she remembered the words of her father. He said, "If you want to throw your life away, why not give it away!" So she decided to enter some kind of welfare work or social service & so went back to college to finish her degree & was chosen to take Charles Crittendon's place, & the rest of the story you know! So, PTL!
69. AMEN, LORD, THANK YOU FOR THESE PRECIOUS DEAR LOVED ONES, Lord, who love us so much to sit here so long & listen to these old stories, but they are stories, Lord, of Your Work & Your wondrous love, Lord, & patience, & sometimes it took years to answer prayers, Lord. My Grandmother's prayers were answered 30 years after she was gone. We thank You, Lord, for Thy faithfulness. You never fail! And how You blessed, Lord, in so many ways.
70. GRANDMOTHER WAS A LITTLE WOMAN, QUIET, SHY, VERY UNOBTRUSIVE & YET WON SO MANY SOULS, ALL THOSE CHINESE TO YOU, LORD, learned the language in order to be able to teach them! Learned Cantonese & spoke it fluently so she could love them even more & teach them even better. TYJ! So, Lord, it's wonderful what we can do with Thy help & if we'll really follow You, even if we're just nobody & a little shy person like my Grandmother or a funny little character like my Mother, or a real crazy guy like me! If you can use us, Lord, You can use anybody!
71. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR HOW YOU BLESSED, LORD, & GAVE EACH ONE A MINISTRY BECAUSE THEY LOVED YOU & LOVED SOULS, Lord, & they won thousands to You. Her Mother won thousands, & my Mother won tens of thousands, Lord. And, Lord, according to the records, we've now literally won millions! TYL! You multiplied the seed & multiplied the harvest!
72. HERE WE SIT TONIGHT WITH A HANDFUL OF FAITHFUL DISCIPLES, LORD, meeting in quiet & silence & darkness & obscurity, & yet from here has gone out the Word to literally millions & millions of people, & You've won many through them, Lord. Bless them all, all Thy children throughout the World, Lord, precious precious children & their children, their little ones. Thank You for how You have.
73. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL WONDERFUL REPORTS WE READ, so thrilling & exciting, Lord, the miracles You're doing throughout the World--keeping & providing & making fruitful, helping us reach multitudes for You, Lord, with Thy Love. TYJ! Thank You for the little handful here that helps make it all possible by helping me feed them, Lord, Thy sheep.
74. THANK YOU FOR THAT WONDERFUL SCRIPTURE YOU GAVE US YESTERDAY, LORD. What was it again, Maria? Can you quote it? You're better. (Maria: "So He fed them according to the integrity of His heart, & guided them by the skillfulness of His hands.") (Ps.78:72) Isn't that beautiful? That's a verse she obviously got for me, but for her too, she does it too! (Maria: You got it for you, don't you remember?) I got it myself? Oh! What a beautiful verse! We've been busy working on the Magazine & that sure is fitting, amen? PTL!
75. SO I'M SORT OF THE END OF THE LINE OF GREAT, GREAT ANCESTORS & PROBABLY THE LEAST & THE LOWLIEST OF ALL! I'm no great orator like my Grandfather, I'm not a multi-millionaire like he. I'm no great preacher like my Mother, no great teacher like my Father. (Maria: You're just a combination of them all!) I was a little nobody!--A skinny, scrawny, little pusillanimous puny weakling that couldn't do anything!
76. MY BROTHER OUTSHONE ME IN EVERY WAY! He was an athlete, tumbler, singer, handsome, college graduate with a string of degrees, college vice-president of three different colleges, rich, made lots of money, but he couldn't hang onto anything, not even his own family! He went bankrupt, lost his family, his home, his car, everything, & I now practically almost have to support him, poor fellow. But at least he appreciates it, TTL!--And he admires our ministry too!
77. IT'S THE PAY-OFF WHEN MY BROTHER WHO USED TO BE ONE OF MY GREATEST CRITICS has now been sold on our ministry for years! PTL! Even before I began to have to help support him! So GBH, he was an old degenerate sinner, so he appreciates the man who loves sinners!
78. MY DEAR SISTER WAS A SELF-RIGHTEOUS CHURCHY CHRISTIAN, SO SHE DIDN'T EXACTLY APPRECIATE US! "Those dirty stinking filthy Commie hippies!" Ooh, she couldn't hate'm enough! And of course she considered I was a dirty stinking Commie lecherous sexual reprobate! But they're both coming around now, TTL!
79. THEY'RE BOTH BEGINNING TO THANK ME & RECOGNISE THAT THE LORD HAS USED US, WHICH OF COURSE MEANS YOU, BECAUSE I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT YOU. I couldn't even live here in this camp without you. I couldn't do anything without you. You're the ones who make it all possible, PTL! You cook my meals, empty my potty & take care of my body & my children & take all these loads off of us so we can feed the sheep, so you have a hand in everything that happens. You'll have a share in all the souls won & all the dividends & all the results! PTL! You helped it to happen by helping us to do it! TTL! PYJ! TYJ!
80. BLESS THEM FOR IT, LORD, & WE KNOW YOU HAVE & WE KNOW YOU WILL! We thank You for keeping us safely, for giving us a wonderful place to stay & the good rest we had last night & the good rest we hope to have tonight, Lord. Continue to bless & keep us & give us a good night's rest, safe-keeping, Lord, close to You. Keep us close to You in mind & heart & body, Lord, to think of Thee. Give us good sweet dreams, Lord. Rebuke the Devil & his attacks that he tries to lay on us in the middle of the night! TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah! In Jesus' name. Bless the children & keep them, give them good sleep & sweet dreams.
81. THANK YOU FOR HOW MARVELLOUSLY YOU'VE KEPT US FROM ACCIDENTS, SICKNESS & TROUBLES OF ALMOST ANY KIND, LORD. Kept us from man, Lord. TYJ! "We shall not fear what man shall do unto us." (He.13:6) Thank You for that verse You gave us the other day. What was that, Honey? It was such a sweet verse. (Maria: "The men whom thou fearest shall not be.") "Shall not be able to harm thee" or something like that. (Jer 39:17) It was a beautiful verse. Because I'm always wondering & worrying about our enemies, you know?
82. THANK YOU FOR THIS LITTLE TIME OF FELLOWSHIP, LORD, WE HOPE IT WAS PROFITABLE.--Stories of by-gone days, Lord, but here we are today a result of those people who went before us. We're a result, Lord, of the ministry of my Grandfather & my Grandmother, my Mother & my Father & the generations that have gone before. We're their fruit, Lord, & their product. Our ministry, Lord, is a result of their ministry. They're going to get a share in some of the reaping that we've done because they prepared us for it, Lord. They went before us, Lord! TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah!
83. AND LORD, AFTER I'M GONE THESE WILL CONTINUE ON & CONTINUE TO REAP, & greater things than I have done, Lord, shall they do. Even greater, Lord, we know it, because it's the Last Day, the last hours of this World before You have to take it over & make it a new World. So this is our last chance to reach the lost, as many as we can, Lord, in Jesus' name.
84. THAT'S WHY WE BELIEVE, LORD, YOU'RE RAISING UP OUR CHILDREN, our little ones to be such amazing witnesses & so brilliant & so steeped in Thy Word, Lord, & so guided by Thy Spirit! So marvellous, Lord! We believe they're going to be really flaming witnesses for Thee to reach the World to come! TYJ! PYL! Bless them all, keep them all around the World, Lord, as they're going mobile & hitting the road & going into all the World to preach the Gospel!--HAL! TYJ! PTL! GBAKYAMYAB!--In Jesus' name, amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family