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Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt

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Evangelistic campaignsBefore I started on outreach aga<strong>in</strong>, I conducted evangelistic campaignswith<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Assemblies of God. I used to have about sixmonths’ book<strong>in</strong>gs ahead and would go off for two or three weeksto conduct services. I would usually ask <strong>the</strong> pastor, “Are <strong>the</strong>re anyunsaved here tonight?”The pastor would look around and <strong>the</strong>n whisper to me, “Yes,<strong>the</strong>re is a woman <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> back row. I th<strong>in</strong>k she comes from <strong>the</strong>Presbyterian Church, and I don’t th<strong>in</strong>k she is saved.”Sometimes <strong>the</strong> pastor would respond, “These are mostly all ourpeople, but we have a couple of strangers <strong>in</strong>.”I used to th<strong>in</strong>k, “My God, here I am preach<strong>in</strong>g my guts out to alot of people who are all saved. The whole th<strong>in</strong>g is a farce — apantomime. What am I do<strong>in</strong>g? There are thousands and millionsout <strong>the</strong>re not saved, and here I am <strong>in</strong> this build<strong>in</strong>g with prettyleaflets <strong>in</strong>vit<strong>in</strong>g, ‘Come to church. Come to church. Jesus saves.’”“What is <strong>the</strong> matter with me? Why am I do<strong>in</strong>g this? I know whyI am do<strong>in</strong>g it — because at <strong>the</strong> end of three weeks, <strong>the</strong> treasurercomes up and gives me an envelope. What is <strong>in</strong> that envelope isrul<strong>in</strong>g my life. Because of my f<strong>in</strong>ancial provision, I am go<strong>in</strong>g aroundfrom town to town to different Assemblies where <strong>the</strong>re are maybetwo or three unsaved people, while out <strong>the</strong>re, <strong>the</strong>re are thousandswho don’t know Jesus!”I cont<strong>in</strong>ually felt, “This is a farce, preach<strong>in</strong>g salvation to two orthree people <strong>in</strong>side <strong>the</strong> conf<strong>in</strong>es of <strong>the</strong> Assemblies of God. I’mgo<strong>in</strong>g out on my own.”It was <strong>the</strong>n that I had what I thought was <strong>the</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d of God. I read<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bible that <strong>the</strong> good Samaritan saw <strong>the</strong> man wounded,broken and weep<strong>in</strong>g by <strong>the</strong> highway, and <strong>the</strong> good Samaritancame to where he was. That was it! I’ve got it! I’ve got it! This iswhat <strong>the</strong> church is miss<strong>in</strong>g. What is <strong>the</strong> good of advertis<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>meet<strong>in</strong>gs? Is it so all half-dead travelers who could still crawl wouldcome <strong>in</strong> and we’d fix <strong>the</strong>m up and heal <strong>the</strong>m? No! The goodSamaritan came to where <strong>the</strong> wounded man was. Without check<strong>in</strong>gwith <strong>the</strong> Lord for direction, I decided to do what <strong>the</strong> Samaritandid and it was one of <strong>the</strong> biggest mistakes of my life.39

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