Unwanted Gospel Tract

Is God A Policeman?

Bob, give me the paper,” said Bill Lawson, an engineer, to the newsboy at a train station. Bob, the newsboy, had been recently converted to God. In his new-found happiness he was anxious to share his joy with others. “I’ll give you a paper,” was his answer, “if you promise to read this tract.”

“Tract! I don’t want any such rubbish,” and Bill walked away.

At their next meeting the engineer made the same request, and got the same reply. A third time Bill asked for a paper, and when he heard the same answer he said to Bob, “You really want me to read it?”

“I sure do, Mr. Lawson.”

Taking the tract, Bill finally said, “Well, then, I’ll try it.”

When they next met Bob’s first question was, “Did you read that tract?”

“I did―and I never read anything like it before! I always thought God was like a policeman with a club in His hand trying to arrest me and beat me up. Now I see that He loves me! If He is such a loving God, then I want to know and love Him!”

Many, like Bill Lawson, imagine that God is like a policeman pursuing them to shut them up in the prison of hell. What a perversion of the true character of God!

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Adapted from His Riches.

A Letter

A Letter

Dear Sister:

In one of your letters you write, “Father was asking about your conversion.” Abounding grace is connected with that conversion. As early as twelve or thirteen years of age, God exercised my conscience about my sins, but I loved the world and would not give it up, so in spirit I said, “Go Thy way for this time.” Many other times in His grace He came to me, but always got the same answer.

Coming west from Massachusetts I listened to atheist sentiments and quite accepted them. In August I went back to visit Mother, and she spoke to me about eternal things. I combated her with my atheist reasonings, and fairly closed her mouth. After this she said, “William, do you read your Bible and pray every day?”

“No!” I replied.

She said, “If you do this, my boy, you will get light,” and she left the room with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Left alone in the room, the Lord made me feel how I had grieved my mother, whom I loved, and He led me to realize there was one thing I had not done, that was to read my Bible and pray every day. I made up my mind to try it, partly because I knew it would please Mother and partly to test my atheist position.

I left the room and got a Testament that I had owned when a boy, and put it into my pocket. Going to bed that night, I read the first chapter of Matthew and knelt down beside the bed to pray. I had no interest in what I read, only I remember my thought on my knees: “I would hate to have anyone catch me in this position!” However, I had taken up the matter as a test and would not be diverted from it.

This went on until about the end of the year. Then the Lord began working in my soul, making me realize I was not as good as I thought I was. I sought to make myself better, but the more I tried to make myself better, the worse I became, until I saw myself only fit for hell. Then the Lord came and showed me that trying to make myself better was the wrong principle—that faith is the principle on which peace with God is secured. Giving up doing, and resting now on God’s Word, I was brought into peace that first Lord’s Day in the new year. To Him be glory!

Your brother,

Will

A Peculiar Poster

A Peculiar Poster

The walls of the community hall were nearly covered with posters of all sizes. But, strange to say, one poster alone drew the attention and anger of the custodian. It was a large piece of cardboard on whose white surface the simple, black printed message “stood out like a sore thumb,” as he described it. And what were the words which made him so angry?

“He that believeth on the Son

hath everlasting life:

and he that believeth not the Son

shall not see life; but the wrath of god

abideth on him.” John 3:16.

Glancing around, he saw among a group of young people a pleasant-faced young man who, he decided, was the culprit who had placed it there. “Hey, Sam,” he called out, “you are one of the religious type that would do this. Why do your kind of people put up these posters on the walls? Why don’t they keep these things to themselves?”

“Why? They have as much right, if it comes to a question of that sort, to do so as others have to put up their notices or advertise their wares.”

“Yes, yes, of course; but what does this thing mean?”

“Just what it says, sir. Read it the same as you would read anything else. Use the same thought in reading it as you would in reading another poster and it will be clear enough.”

“But will you just explain it a bit to me?”

“It needs very little explanation,” said Sam. “It is from the Bible, and thank God, the Bible is plain enough to those who want to understand. It is difficult only to those who won’t.

“These words tell us that everlasting life belongs to those who believe in the Son of God―that is, to those who take Him to be their Saviour, their Redeemer, their Lord―to those who accept Him as the divine Substitute for them, bearing their sins and taking their punishment on Calvary’s cross.”

“But what if a man does not believe that?”

“Then there is the other thing: he shall not see life. If you will have Christ as your Saviour from sin, you will have everlasting life. That is God’s way. It is ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’

“It does not matter what you are; unless you are `born again,’ become a new creature in Christ, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Scripture says: `Ye must be born again’ (John 3:7).

“Now be clear on this point―no new birth now means no entry into heaven later. Take Jesus Christ into your heart now, and be ready for a blessed eternity with Him in glory.”

It was a very subdued and thoughtful custodian that walked away thinking about those solemn words.