Where could so many people be going? The road leading to the Assembly Hall was crowded with all sorts and conditions of men and women. On inquiry we were told that there was a "Thought-Reader" at the hall. His fame had spread throughout the town; and now a full half-hour before the time of service, everyone was hurrying to make sure of getting a seat.
We were even more puzzled. This was Sunday evening, and our informant had spoken of a service. We had always heard of thought-reading as a seance, or a performance, suitable, perhaps, for a week-day but not for a Sunday.
Soon we learned the facts. A young man was conducting a series of evangelistic meetings in this place. During the afternoon service he had noticed two young ladies sitting at some distance from the platform and engaged in a whispered conversation with each other. The young preacher had acquired the art of reading the movements of the lips. He easily read in this way what those ladies were saying and he took occasion in the course of his address to remark about it.
"My dear friends," he said, "a curious little incident has occurred since I commenced this service. It has impressed me very much. There are two persons in this building—I shall not say whether men or women, neither shall I look in their direction at all, or otherwise betray them—who have been holding a whispered conversation with each other. And this is what they have been saying:—Here the speaker quoted a few criticisms that had passed between the two in reference to himself and the friend who was assisting him in conducting the services.
"How do I know all this?" he continued. "I read their lips! They know that I have read them correctly. Now I have been thinking: if I can read their lips, how much more surely has God been reading their hearts, your hearts, my heart!”
With this thought in view he proceeded to put before his audience the need of personal salvation. The incident made a profound impression upon them, and the Word of God came home with power to many souls. At the close of the afternoon service, they went to their homes in every part of town, speaking of the preacher with wonder as being a "Thought-Reader." Hence the excitement in anticipation of the evening's meeting.
What are your thoughts, my reader, about God, your soul and its safety, about heaven—hell— eternity?
Are you saved—converted? God says in Matt. 18:33And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3), "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Whatever you may think, God knows your thoughts and your heart. Of the one He says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isa. 55:8, 98For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8‑9).
As to your heart, God says: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jer. 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).
The only cleansing is through faith in the shed blood of Christ. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). Come now! For Jesus waits to save you and God says, "I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil.”