I wanted to thank you for the Personal Glimpses book for my birthday. It was very special to me. And it was even more moving to me about the book because my birthday is Christmas Eve. It really was wondrous to see those personal pictures of the prophet and his family. And when I see him in blue jeans or a bow-tie I thought, wow, how much God must have loved him to pick him from before the world even existed. I think how many miles of space and men did He have travel through in His mind’s eye to find the one man that would do the one job He needed him to do without fail. The man who would preach the last Message and bring time to its end: The closer. You couldn't have picked a better present for me.
But this is the part I wanted to tell you. It is an unintended, but exciting, consequence of your gift.
I took the book with me to work. And in my office, I have a conference table where I meet with people from the Governor's office, staff, other government officials, media, and the public. I put the book as the centerpiece of the table, primarily to bring me comfort in my workday. It's such a beautiful book and looks beautiful against the cherry wood. But something else is happening with it that I wanted you to know and share with your colleagues.
When people are shown to my office and they go to the table, they naturally pick up the book and start leafing through. It has turned into a witnessing tool. Amen! Sometimes, I even delay coming to the table to give them a minute to look. Inevitably, they will ask about who the man is or what the book is, and I am able to tell them about our Lord, the Message, and the Prophet. The reactions have been wonderful; some funny, but all make me so happy to even be able to say one thing to one person about the Message.
One person commented on how well Brother Branham was dressed, remarking that he had on a bow-tie at the construction site. Some will remark about the cars, some will say simply, "That's interesting."
One remark particularly struck me. A lawyer came to my office and was leafing through the book, and asked "What's this?" as she opened the book. I said it is the life of a minister who was a missionary, who preached from the 30s to the 60s around the world, praying for sick people. These are pictures of his life, some that have never been released before. He is a very important person to my family and my sister gave it to me for my birthday. I went on to say that Brother Branham never solicited an offering - that he believed if God wanted him to preach around the world or around the corner, God would make a way, but he never begged for funds or donned people for money.
She kept going through the pages and then said, "Now that's Genuine. That's the real thing," and she kept flipping. Then she said, "That's genuine belief in what you do."
There's such an excitement for me in this. I look forward in my day to when people are going to ask me about the book or the prophet. I'm not in the jungles of Africa, or the poorest villages in South America, or the back alleys of France risking my life to spread the Word; but I have to say I have the thrill and excitement of feeling like a missionary in my own office! I feel lazy because Voice Of God did the hard work, put the tool in my hand, and I simply have the privilege to talk about a book on my desk that is so much more.
I want to say thanks to Brother Joseph for having the perfect vision (as always) to create this book, the workers for their hard work at producing it and making it available, and of course you Donna, for having the generosity of heart to give me a copy for my birthday!
TM