|
How Do You Persuade
Someone Who Has Never Seen An Elephant? You
recall John Godfrey Saxe—he lived from 1816 to 1887, and is
most famously known for his poem about six men of Indostan, "to learning much inclined, who went to see the
Elephant (though all of them were blind), that each by
observation might satisfy his mind."
The first touched the elephant's broad side and
proclaimed, "the Elephant is very like a wall." The second
felt the tusk and declared, "the Elephant is very like a
spear." The third grabbed the squirming trunk and boldly
said, "the Elephant is very like a snake." Feeling about the
knee, the fourth said it was mighty plain, "the Elephant is
very like a tree." The fifth, rubbing the ear, said most
clear that even the blindest man could tell, "the Elephant is
very like a fan." Seizing the swinging tail, the sixth man
stated most emphatically, "the Elephant is like a rope."
Each was right in his perception of the Elephant, and yet
all were wrong. As Obi-wan Kenobi said, "Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our
point of view."
As Christians who are called to open the eyes of the
blind to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, sometimes
we have to get on their side of the Elephant and see their
viewpoint, and then lead them to the Truth from there. It's
not the reality of their perception that needs changing,
it's their point of view.
Who Was the Unknown
Author of The Kneeling Christian?
 For
over 80 years,
The
Kneeling Christian has inspired, encouraged, and
motivated hundreds-of-thousands to have a deeper prayer
life. Only eternity will be long enough to reveal the
miracles and salvations that resulted from the fervent
prevailing prayers that rose to God's throne because of this
book. And it will take eons of eternity for all the thanks
of countless souls to be expressed to the humble author of
this book who from the beginning identified himself only as
"An Unknown Christian."
But now, thanks to the British Library's Integrated
Catalog on the Internet, "An Unknown Christian" has been
identified as Albert Ernest Richardson, a British Anglican
clergyman and missionary. His date of birth is given as circa
1868, but no date is given for his death. Having read
The Kneeling Christian several times, and been
several times inspired and encouraged, I'm grateful to now
know the real name of the author.
When I recently edited the book for Bridge-Logos
Publishers'
Pure
Gold Classics, I coupled it with two other books on
prayer that I've also read several times: The Life of
Prayer by A. B. Simpson, and The True Vine: 31
Meditations by Andrew Murray. I then put in a Study
Guide for each chapter in the book, which makes it ideal for
study groups. And to all that we added photos of Simpson and
Murray, and a CD of excerpts from
The
Kneeling Christian.
My prayer is that multitudes of Christians will be blessed,
encouraged, and inspired by our expanded
Pure
Gold Classic version of Albert Ernest Richardson's
enduring book on prayer.
Harold J. Chadwick |
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Most of the critical things in life, which become
the starting points of human destiny, are little things.
Unknown
God breaks any of His children who are willing to be broken;
and afterwards, they are strong in the broken places.
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Unknown
Today is the day that you worried about yesterday—don't let
it be the day in which you worry about tomorrow, or your
worries about tomorrow will have an endless cycle.
"Do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt.
6:38) |
