<TITLE>09. Par 83-90</TITLE>L-83   It must have been little John who wanted to give one. He raised up in the boat and said, "Well, I want to testify first, and say this while we're resting. I'm perfectly satisfied and assure, my brethren. Today settled it in my mind that we're not following some kind of a fanatic, as the rest of the world wants to make us believe we are. We are following Him Who the Scripture spoke of. It settled it today. I want to give my testimony."

L-84 "I was born and raised over by the Jordan. I can remember, many years ago, when I lived on the banks of the Jordan, just close to the ford where Israel crossed with a mighty warrior, Joshua. He took the ark of the covenant, and the Holy Ghost opened up the sea, the... or the Jordan, and they crossed across, all of our people, on dry land, when we come to this land.

L-85 "I remember, in the springtime, how I used to go out and pick little flowers along the--the bank of the Jordan. And along, the afternoon, I can hear my mother call me, yet, and say, 'Now, come on in, John. And you--you must go to bed. You got to take your nap. Little boys must take their little nap in the afternoon.' And she would set out upon the front porch, and rock me in her arms. And I can see her pretty face, yet, as her big, pretty, Jewish brown eyes looked down at me. And she would tell me Bible stories."

L-86   And, you know, it's too bad that our mothers can't keep out of the tavern long enough, today, and out of places they ought not to be, and rock their children again and tell them some Bible stories. That's the trouble with our nation today. They, any, nearly, any kid on the street can tell you more about Davey Crockett than they can about Jesus Christ. That's right. And how the commercial world takes that up! And, my! "Bring up a child in the way it should go." It's true.

L-87   Now, "And she," said, "used to tell me stories. And one of the main stories I liked the best, was... Besides, the little boy that the--the great prophet Elijah raised up from the dead, I used to like that story, and wonder what kind of a man Elijah must have been. And she would say to me, 'You know what, John? That same great Elijah and Elisha, both, walked right down that street there, arm in arm, going down to the river. Just think, not long ago they did that. Them two great prophets walked down to the river, and the river opened up. They passed right by Jericho.'"

L-88 Now, "But the main story that always stuck with me, that she told me, I want her to tell it to me each day, that how that God brought our people out of bondage in Egypt where they were slaves, and brought them into the wilderness, and kept them out there forty years, and fed them out of the Heaven. Why, she told me that, every night, that they'd go out of a morning after Israel got all tucked in bed and was asleep, like she was fixing to put me to bed. You know what? Said Jehovah God came down, and the next morning there was bread laying all over the ground. That would take care of them through the day.

L-89   "And I used to say to Mama, 'Mama, has God got a special chorus of Angels up there, that works at night time; and got a big bunch of ovens all through the Heavens, and He would, "Now, hurry up now, these children are hungry; and bake all this bread"? Then another group of Angels take it down and lay it all over the ground'?

L-90 "She would look at me, and say, 'No, John, honey. You're just a little boy. You don't understand. Our great Jehovah is a Creator. He don't have to have special Angels to bake bread. He doesn't need any ovens in Heaven. He just speaks the Word, and the bread falls all over the ground. He's the Creator.' And I couldn't understand how that was. But the story always stuck to me, somehow.


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