322 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aprii, 15. 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



For there shall arise false Christs and false proph- 

 ets, and shall show great signs and wonders: inso- 

 much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the 

 very elect. — Matt. -A :'_'). 



In one sense Christian people ought to feel 

 encouraged just at this present age from the 

 fact that so many are holding, or at least 

 claiming to hold, Christ Jesus as Lord of all. 

 I can very well remember when the idea that 

 Jesus could heal or would heal now as he did 

 in olden time would have been ridiculed, not 

 only by unbelievers but perhaps, also, by a 

 large part of Christian people and church- 

 members. Now not only Christian Science 

 people but even patent-medicine men and 

 venders of humbug apparatus for healing dis- 

 ease claim that they are in line with Bible 

 teaching and divine healing as in olden times. 

 I have called attention to the fact that bad, 

 vicious, evil men succeed in getting money 

 from sick people by making believe they can 

 heal in answer to prayer or similar ways. The 

 world is now flooded with so many claims in 

 this diiection that it has brought to my mind 

 vividly the text I have quoted at the head of 

 this talk. " False Christs " and " false proph- 

 ets " — why, one is literally bewildered by the 

 multitude of them ; and the most perplexing 

 feature of the whole business to me is that it 

 seems as if there were gradations all along, 

 bridging the way between genuine faith and 

 downright hypocrisy. Our text tells us they 

 shall show " great signs and wonders," and 

 that they shall, if possible, " deceive the very 

 elect." Well, if this is true then I need not 

 feel greatly worried if they do perplex and 

 bewilder my poor self. But, dear friends, I 

 do believe that we may sift the chaff from the 

 wheat, especially if we are standing close by 

 and holding fast to the dear Savior's strong 

 arm. It is with a hope and a prayer that I 

 may pilot some pr or soul out of the darkness 

 and into the light that I undertake to talk with 

 you this morning. Let me first submit a letter 

 from a bee-keeper : 



Friend Root:—\ happen to know something about 

 the case of Henry W. Imler, mentioned in the item 

 on page 237 of Gleanings. I was ai Zion Home the 

 week he was healed It was Christmas week, 1897. I 

 heard him say twice, publicly, the following, once on 

 Saturday before the guests in the assembly room of 

 Zion Home, and once on Sunday before the congrega- 

 tion in Zion Tabernacle : 



" I came to Zion Home Monday morning with 

 smoker's cancer, located on the back part of my jaw, 

 and extending downward into the throat. It was as 

 large around, and as long, as my thumb. I heard the 

 teaching the same day. Dr. Dowie laid hands upon 

 me in the afternoon. In the night I awoke strangling. 

 There was something in my throat. I could not 

 raise it, so I swallowed it. I felt for my cancer. It 

 was gone. It had dropped out while I was sleeping, 

 and I swallowed it. 1 am also healed of the tobacco 

 habit of 56 years' standing, and of the morphine habit 

 of 35 years' standing. I have no further desire to use 

 them." 



Mr. Imler was a merchant in Fremont, ( hio, and 

 appeared to be a bright, resolute man, and appeared 

 to know what he was talking about. Dr. Dowie 

 makes no charges for his services. Mr. Imler was 

 there only one week. He would pay $10 for his board 



and room. If he paid any thing more he did it of his 

 own free will; so i think Dr. Dowie did not " line his 

 pockets " very deeply. 



I think Mr. Fletcher's estimate of not one in ten 

 being healed is very low, when you consider that from 

 SOO to 10<X) will arise in an audience in Zion Tabernacle 

 and testify to their healing. 



You seem to be under the impression that Dr. Dowie 

 prohibits the use of meats. He does not. You will 

 find meat on his tables every day in the week. He 

 draws the line on swine's flesh. If you read all the 

 reports about him you will not know what to believe. 

 If you want to know the truth about him I would ad- 

 vise you to go to Zion Home and see and hear for 

 yourself. 



May the Holy Spirit take away all prejudice, and 

 lead you into all the truth. D. I. Wagar. 



Flat Rock, Mich., March 22. 



Amen to your concluding sentence, friend 

 W. Permit me to say to our readers that the 

 above testimony comes from a bee-keeper, 

 and without doubt he is an unbiased witness. 

 It gives us light on the subject in many ways. 

 First, Mr. Imler was a victim, not only of the 

 tobacco habit,* but of the morphine habit also ; 

 and if the work at Zion's Tabernacle was the 

 means of delivering him from the power of 

 Satan on these two lines we may all rejoice 

 and praise God for it, even if he did die soon 

 after his return home. It is a thousand times 

 better to die with faith in God than to live in 

 bondage to such evil habits. A man in our 

 town, who had reformed so man}' times that 

 everybody had lost faith in him, finally took 

 a decided stand and held to his religion. A 

 year or more afterward he was at the point of 

 death, and his friends hesitated to tell him; 

 but instead of being frightened or even dis- 

 turbed, he said in substance, "May the Lord 

 be praised ! If I die now I shall die an honest 

 and temperate man, trusting in Christ Jesus ; 

 while if I were permitted to live longer I might 

 after all fill a drunkard's grave." I have 

 been informed from another source that Mr. 

 Imler died the death of a Christian over a year 

 after the healing. 



Now, in indorsing the above please bear in 

 mind, dear friends, that I do not mean to say 

 Dr. Dowie makes no mistakes. He is human ; 

 and I presume that, if we were to undertake 

 to show him up on his worst side, we might 

 make quite a charge against him. But would 

 either you or I stand such a test? If some- 

 body should undertake to write up all of my 

 mistakes anel inconsistencies, and ingeniously 

 arrange it, even if he confined himself to facts, 

 it might make a very sad showing. Dr. Dowie 

 has certainly been instrumental in delivering 

 thousands from the dominion of stimulants, 

 evil habits, drugs, and the foolish and useless 

 dosing with stuff that does no good, even if it 



* Mr. Imler not only stopped the use of tobacco, but, 

 instead of disposing of the stock on hand, so that 

 somebody else might use it, he made a public bonfire 

 of it. See the following, which I clip from a recent 

 number of Leaves of Healing, written by the Presby- 

 terian minister of Fremont, O.: 



Dr. John Alex Dowie. Chicapro, 111. 



Dear Sir:— Mr. Henry W. Imler, of our city, desires me to 

 write you, ami ■ ay that on yesterday he burned all the tobacco 

 he had on band in his store, of which fact I was a witness. 



He lias thus tull'illed his word of promise to you and to God. 



Tims far he stands as a free man. not having touched tobac- 

 co or morphine since his return from Chicago. 



He says he lias no de-ire for either 



He attributes his deliverance to the Lord Jesus Christ, to 

 whom lie ascribes the praise. 



I have perfect confidence in Bro. Imler, and believe he is 

 finally and forever done with tobacco and morphine, after a 

 bondage of more than forty years. Yours truly, 



Fremont, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1898. (Rev.) A. 6. Lane. 



