"It is true, and I must give myself up to the army authorities before
they get me and disgrace my belief in the Lord Jesus."
I proposed giving myself up the next day, but the doctor told me to be
in no haste and said he would ask several people of God to pray for me
to learn what the mind of God was before I took another step. After a
few days they came to the conclusion that they would send me to Canada,
where I should be out of the jurisdiction of the United States and
should be free. Thinking that this offer was of the Lord, I accepted it
and left for Toronto, Canada. Upon my arrival at Toronto I felt the Lord
speaking to me and saying, "The more you run away from my law, the more
miserable you will feel. Go back to the United States."
This was while I was in the hotel at night and could not sleep. I felt
very miserable to know that the step I had taken in coming to Toronto
was not God's will and in his order. I had only $3.10 in my possession.
In the morning I went to the ticket-office to inquire how much it cost
to go to Buffalo. They told me it would cost $3.10. I then purchased a
ticket for Buffalo. When I arrived I telegraphed to the doctor, stating
that I was glad that I had come back to the United States to give myself
up to the army authorities. The doctor replied by telegraph, stating
that I was out of God's will and order in coming back to the United
States to give myself up, and that therefore he could not have
fellowship with me any more. Bitterly weeping over the message, I said
to myself, "Now the only friend I have is gone." But this promise
encouraged me, that my God would never turn against me nor forsake me.
There I was, left without a friend and without money in my pockets to
procure a night's lodging.
As it was bitterly cold, I prayed to the Lord that he would send
somebody along that would take me home with him. As I was praying, a man
passed by, and I asked him if he knew whether there was any child of God
in the city. He said a woman who was his neighbor was a child of God,
and he took me to her home. It was true that she was a child of God and
her home a godly one.
Soon after this I went to Pittsburg, and the Lord opened up the hearts
of a few Jewish people, who sent me to Washington. As I walked up to
the barracks, fear came over me, and I decided to go to Baltimore,
where I remained with a Jewish missionary until the last of April.
Then I returned to Washington, went to the commanding officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel Langfitt, and told him why I was giving myself up.
He said: "Are you a Jew and a believer in Jesus? Are you willing to give
yourself up for his sake? Do you know what it means to give yourself up?
It means three or four years in the penitentiary and to be dishonorably
discharged."
I told him that I would gladly do anything to make this matter right
before man and before God.
"I am also a Jew," he replied, "and I do not know how you can believe
in Jesus and suffer these things for his sake."
Then he doubted my being a deserter. I begged him to put me in the
guard-house and to go and investigate the matter.
He said, "I wish that I had the power to set you free now; but you are
too honorable a man to call the guard to take you to the guard-house,
and so I will walk there with you myself."
Upon coming to the guard-house, he called the sergeant of the guard and
said, "Sergeant, do not search this boy, for I know that he will not
take in anything but that which is lawful."
He then asked me whether I wanted to stay in the big cell with the rest
of the prisoners or go into one small cell by myself. I asked him for
one by myself so that I might study the Bible.
When he was bidding me good-by, he said: "For the first time I shake
a prisoner's hand, and I must say that I do not look upon you as a
prisoner but as the most honorable man that we have in this post, and I
must confess that you have done a most honorable thing in the sight of
man and God, and I will help you with all that lies within my power to
make everything easy for you."
The next morning the lieutenant-colonel came into the guard-house asking
for me. When I came near the door, he reached out his hand and grasped
mine, saying, "Neither my wife nor I have slept during the night, and
I have decided to recommend you for a year's clemency, so that you will
have only two years to serve."
It did not sound very good to me, but I went into the guard-house and
prayed. The thought came to me, "Can you not trust the Lord to carry you
through all these difficulties?" I said to myself, "Yes, I leave all in
the hands of the Lord."
After a few weeks the court was detailed. The president of the court
was Captain Koester, who, I was informed, was an infidel. The next man
of his court, Captain Ottwell, was a Christian Scientist, and the rest
of the court, including eleven officers, were Roman Catholics. They
detailed Lieutenant Rockwell to be my counsel for defense. He came up
to the court-house and said:
"You are a Jew, are you not?"
"Yes."
"And you believe in Jesus Christ, do you not?"
"Yes."
"I have no use for Jews, especially for a turncoat, and I will see that
you get the limit of the court."
This broke me all up, and I said, "Lieutenant, if you can, God will let
you go ahead."
I then walked into my cell and knelt down to pray, broken-hearted. The
scripture came to me, "Fear them not; for I the Lord thy God shall fight
for you." I rejoiced to know that the Lord was fighting my battles and
that he would do it well. Thirteen days afterwards I was tried.
When I came to the court, the lieutenant came to me with a piece of
paper in his hand and said: "I am sorry for the words which I spoke to
you, but I have suffered for them, and with God's help I will recommend
you to clemency. The same Lord that saved you has also saved me."
The judge of the court asked me what I would plead to the charge.
"I plead guilty to the charge of desertion and violation of the
forty-seventh article of war."
He asked me again if I knew what it meant to plead guilty. I answered
that I knew.
He then asked me what my plea on the specification of the forty-seventh
article of war was.
"Guilty," I answered.
He said to the court, "I want to make plain to this boy the solemnity of
these charges, that he may know the consequences thereof." He then asked
me if I had any pleas to make.
I told him no, and repeated the scripture that the Lord had given me:
"Fear them not; for I the Lord thy God shall fight for you." I said,
"I fear you not, for my Lord will fight for me and will deliver me."
Then the counsel for the defense arose and made this statement:
"Fellow Officers: You all know what a bitter man I was against the Jews.
You know that I was not going to make any plea, but to let this boy get
all that the court could give him, and be sorry afterwards that the
court could not give him more. But the same God that he serves troubled
me and made me sick, as you know, until I realized that the same God
must be my God and the same Savior my Savior; and furthermore, the same
Jesus that saved this Jewish boy has saved me also."
The court was greatly surprized, but my counsel went on further and
handed the court a paper and explained verbally the different reasons
for his pleas until tears came to the eyes of Captain Koester, Captain
Ottwell, and the different members of the court. Four of the worst
officers arose and recommended me for eighteen months' clemency and
thirteen dollars a month fine and reinstatement to duty.
The recommendation of the court was sent to the Department Commander of
the East, Major-General Leonard A. Woods, who earnestly considered the
case, according to his statement, for several hours, not knowing what to
do. He also expressed himself by saying that if he had full power to
release me, he would gladly do so, without any punishment. Also, through
prayer and petitions to the Lord the case reached President Taft, the
Adjutant-General of the army, and then it reached Brigadier-General
Davis, who was the Judge-Advocate General of the United States Army.
They also had notified the Department Commander to be as lenient as he
could before the case had reached the War Department in Washington.
In fifteen days after my trial, the sentence came back approved by the
Department Commander for eighteen months' clemency and thirteen dollars'
fine a month and reinstatement to duty to serve out my enlistment.
While I was in the guard-house in Washington Barracks, District of
Columbia, serving the sentence imposed upon me for the charge heretofore
mentioned, I was sawing wood one day, when a fellow prisoner hit me with
a piece of wood behind my ear and knocked me down. About two months
later this prisoner was saved, and the other prisoners became bitter
against me, for they believed that I was the cause of the conversion of
one of the worst men in the guard-house. I learned later that a number
of the officers were converted.
After I left the Washington Barracks, I went to Ft. Slocum, New York.
From there I was sent to Ft. Sheridan, where I was assigned to Battery
F, Fifth Field Artillery. After I had been there two days, I asked
permission of Lieutenant Osborn to hold religious services in front of
the battery. On account of its being so cold, he told me to go into the
pool-room and hold services if I thought my God was living.
I went into the pool-room, where they were playing pool, and began to
preach the gospel. Two balls were thrown at me, and I was also hit
across the back with the thick end of a cue. They took me to the
hospital and after a short time came back and said that the Jew would
not preach Jesus Christ any more. After another week I felt impressed
to preach the gospel again. While I was preaching, the cook came out
of the kitchen with a pail of hot lard and threw it on me. I was burned
on both of my hands and arms.
While I was at the hospital, black poison set in, and the doctor
said my arm must be cut off. I told him that I would not submit to any
operation; that as I suffered this for the gospel's sake, the Lord would
heal my arm. Five weeks later he looked at my arm, as the poison was
getting worse in my system, and he said, "If I do not cut off this arm,
you are going to die from the effects of blood-poisoning." I said that
I still had faith in God that he would heal this arm for his glory.
"What church do you belong to?" he inquired.
"I belong to the church of God," I answered.
"Your arm can not heal," he replied and began to laugh.
Several days afterward the poison had come up to my shoulder. When the
doctor saw it, he said, "The only thing to do is to cut your arm off at
the shoulder."
I told him that I had more faith than ever in God that he would heal my
arm, even after my whole body should be poisoned. I believed that the
Lord would heal me for his glory.
That night my fever was 104, and the doctor was called. He gave orders
to put me into a bathtub full of ice-water, but after I came out I was
much worse, and they said I could not live through the night. At five
o'clock the next morning a sudden change came and my arm turned a
yellowish color and the discharge ceased little by little. When the
doctor came, he said, "I had thought that the arm must be cut off, but
now it will get well." In two weeks I was able to use my arm as well as
ever and was again assigned to duty.
After coming out of the hospital I preached much more the unsearchable
riches of Christ, for which at different times I was cast into prison.
The post-commander of Ft. Sheridan told me that I might just as well
use the gymnasium-hall to preach the gospel six nights in the week.
While I preached there, a number of souls were brought to the Lord.
While I was at Ft. Sheridan, a letter came to me from my mother stating
that if I wanted to save her life I should turn back to Judaism and
forsake the impostor Jesus, and that if I would do this they would
receive me back again with full honor, as I was defiled before them
and the only means to save her life was for me to turn back from this
heathen belief. I wrote her as follows:
"My Dear Mother: I have received your letter and thank you very much for
it. I do really love you, but my love for you now is much different than
before. I love you because the Lord Jesus loved you and died for you.
Yet if my accepting Jesus will not and can not save you from dying, then
my rejecting him will not save you either, and I can not forsake the
Lord Jesus."
About two months later I received a cable-message saying that the last
words of my mother were, "My only son is the cause of my death." After
that period they made a burial service, took all my little belongings,
put them in a casket and buried it, and put a stone on the grave,
signifying that I died on October 29, 1908. After this they mourned for
me for eight days. Now though I am supposed to be dead to my family
and to my nation, yet I am glad that I am alive for Christ and still
preaching the unsearchable riches of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
to my own people as well as to the other nations. The Lord has enabled
me to preach free of charge to any and every one and to give unto them
freely even as I have freely received. This scripture has been very real
to me since that time: "All things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
In 1912 my father died, leaving me of his large estate five dollars to
buy a rope and soap to hang myself if I did not come back to Judaism.
The foregoing account of my conversion has been written after nearly
seven years of experience and preaching the unsearchable riches of
Christ to my own people as well as to Gentile people in this country,
in the Islands of the Azores, in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Syria,
Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and Austria.
The most bitter people against the gospel I have found are my own
people. The gospel has been misrepresented to them, and they have not
been made to realize the heart experience. There are over 12,000,000
Jewish people in this world, yet there are very few faithful and tried
missionaries amongst them to explain to them the way of salvation.
However, the comparatively little work that has been done amongst them
has met with large results despite the bitter persecution. I am deeply
encouraged and comforted to see how open and receptive they are,
although they bitterly persecute the one who comes in the name of the
Lord. Saul of Tarsus was a great persecutor of Christianity, but finally
yielded and became a true follower of Jesus Christ.
May God help us as Christians to see our great privilege in giving the
Jews the gospel and praying for them that their blindness may depart and
that they may see that the Lord Jesus is the only way, the truth, and
the light.