Common Sense Not Needed, by Corrie Ten Boom

COMMON SENSE NOT NEEDED:

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AN UNAPPRECIATED WORK

AMONG NEGLECTED PEOPLE

Corrie Ten Boom

no copyright

first published 1957

revised edition 1968

first American edition 1969

SBN 87508-020-0

[published in print-media by

Christian Literature Crusade

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania 19034]

"Comfort the feebleminded."

I Thes. 5:14

CONTENTS

Introduction

A waste of time?

The old, old story

Who is called?

The joy of bringing them the Gospel

Confession of guilt

Who is normal?

Hypnosis?

The Lord's Supper

Confession of Sin

Prophets and priests

Prayer

Church discipline

Another World War?

Pushing away

Behold, Thou art there

Mongoloids

The ocean of love

Joy in heaven

"Finally, brethren-----!""

Introduction

Before World War II I started a work to bring the

Gospel to feeble-minded people who were not in

institutions. They were not able to go to church: they

could not understand the sermon. But did they not need the

Lord Jesus, just like you and I? We learn from the Bible

that the Lord Jesus has a great love and concern for

everyone who is in need. For He said, "Come unto me

all..."

Everyone needs the Holy Spirit to understand spiritual

truths. I found that when we taught the Gospel in an

uncomplicated way the Holy Spirit did not need a high I.Q.

to reveal Himself.

The feeble-minded whom I taught in the Bible class we

had every Sunday afternoon called it their church. We

tried to make it as "churchy" as we could to please them!

In this booklet I tell something of what I learned and

experienced during the five years I carried on this small

work. It was perhaps unimportant in the eyes of the world,

but not worthless in God's eyes. No effort can be

valueless when it is in obedience to the command of Jesus,

"You must go out to the whole world and proclaim the gospel

to every creature" (Mark 16:15, Phillips).

I am sure that earthly values are different to

heavenly ones. I believe that the joy among the angels of

God is as great when a subnormal person is saved as when a

V.I.P. gives his heart and life to the Lord. Possibly

greater. One cannot tell.

A WASTE OF TIME?

Once, in a concentration camp, I was questioned by a Nazi

officer. He asked me much about my life, about my work in

the Underground, and about my spare time. I told him that

I had given Bible lessons to subnormal people.

"Don't you regard that as a waste of time?" he asked.

"Surely it is much better to convert a normal person than a

subnormal one."

This was fully in accord with his Nazi way of

thinking. So I told him about Jesus, who had always cared

for all who were weak and despised, adding that it might

well be possible that the officer and I were much less

important in the sight of the Lord Jesus than one of these

poor creatures. I was sent back to my cell.

The next morning the officer sent for me and said that

he had slept badly. He had thought much about what I had

said.

"You spoke about Jesus," he said, "I don't know

anything about Him. Tell me what you know of Him."

I then spoke of the Lord Jesus as the Light of the

World who can lighten our life, if we give ourselves to Him

and receive Him as Savior and Lord. Three days I was

questioned and three days I had the opportunity to speak

about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A conversation about the feeble-minded had changed a

most dangerous moment for a prisoner into a testimony to

the glory of God.

THE OLD, OLD STORY

"How do you explain the things of the Bible to the

feeble-minded?" I asked teachers at the American schools

where they really did their best to teach the Gospel.

"Oh, just as we do to normal children," they said,

"only simplified, and repeating as often as necessary."

Is an adolescent or an adult with a low I.Q. similar

to a young normal child? In the slums sometimes we find

subnormal persons in their own surroundings. Are their

problems the same as the problems of a child?

Yes, many have the same difficulties, but the

subnormal often have many more. They have also many

problems of normal adults. For instance, they are

interested in a strike.

They do not comprehend; they do not have the solution;

but at the same time they are called upon to share the

struggle for life. Who will bring them the answer? Who

will tell them that the One who can help them is Jesus, and

Jesus alone? He knows the answer to every situation.

I know from experience, for I was in a concentration

camp, where there was a concentrated mass of problems and

misery--but Jesus gave the answer. In this dark place I

discovered that demons flee at the name of Jesus; He is

Victor. That is the message the world must know.

Kareltje was a little boy twelve years old. He had

blue eyes and curly hair. He was one of a large, poor

family, and his father was cruel to him because Kareltje

was feeble-minded. He listened as I told the story of the

disciples giving food to five thousand people. As the five

loaves and two fishes passed from Jesus' hand to theirs,

the bread and fish became sufficient to feed the multitude.

Suddenly Kareltje jumped up, and swinging his arms

around him, cried, "There is enough! There is plenty,

plenty for everyone! Just take, take as much as you like.

There is enough. There is plenty!"

I wished every child of God rejoiced as Kareltje did

about the plenty that we have, when taking all from Jesus'

hands and passing on to others.

WHO IS CALLED?

Who should bring the Gospel to the subnormal? I asked this

question in America of those who understood the need, and

always the answer was, "Of course, the ministers."

I do not think so. Ministers know the language of

grown-up people. We cannot expect them to speak the

language of the normal and subnormal at the same time.

There will be people with a special gift for speaking to

the feeble-minded. There are special difficulties and

needs and problems in this peculiar mission. Sometimes I

think I would prefer Kindergarten teachers. But they must

understand that a grown-up feeble-minded person is

different from a child of four. Once I heard a teacher

speak to them in the same way that she would have done to

her Kindergarten pupils. The women and men looked in my

direction and laughed as if to say, "How silly!"

Children like to hear a story. These people like

stories too, but after half an hour's talk about Jesus'

love they will still be listening. They are grown-ups and

they must be treated the same way as grown-ups. The

language must be plain and clear--no dogmatic talk, no

arguments, only the old, old story in plain language. The

best way to reach them is by love. Love means

understanding, and this love is available (Romans 5:5).

God must lead, for without the Holy Spirit no one can bring

the message to anybody, normal or abnormal. The human

spirit fails, except when the Holy Spirit fills.

THE JOY OF BRINGING THEM THE GOSPEL

The feeble-minded lack common sense, but they also lack

analytical criticism, which, like a brake, can be a

hindrance to some normal people. When they trust a teacher

(and they do that very soon) they believe everything told

them. They just accept what is said.

Once Jake, a tramp, told me that he had seen lightning

destroy a tree just in front of him. It was imagination,

but I did not argue. I just said, "Jake, if the lightning

had killed you, would you have been ready to die, ready to

come before God?"

"No," he answered.

I looked at the other boys and asked, "And which of

you boys would have been ready to die?"

Their heads went down, for feeble-minded people often

express their feelings through their attitude. One boy

said, "None of us is ready."

"Well, boys," said I, "we must seek the solution; for

we all know that some day the moment will come when we must

die."

Then I told a story, giving them examples, which is

far better than arguing.

"Once there was a boy who had to die. He was not at

all afraid, for he knew that Jesus loved him and had died

for him on the Cross. He loved Jesus for that reason, and

he knew that Jesus was preparing for him one of the many

mansions in heaven. I am sorry that you do not know what

that boy knew."

"But we do," protested one, and someone else added,

"We are all ready to die, for we all know that Jesus loves

us." The whole class was sitting upright at that moment

and their faces beamed.

Is it so simple? I doubted it myself for a moment,

and then the Holy Spirit said to me, "The jailer of St.Paul

received the same answer: `Believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'"

How simple is the Gospel!

CONFESSION OF GUILT

I had no experience when I started "church" for

feeble-minded adults. There they were sitting before me.

For some weeks we had had our weekly service. One Sunday

Joan was sitting near to Jake. In the midst of my message

I saw that Joan could not resist putting her arms around

the dirty neck of Jake. She held her face close to the

unshaven cheek of the tramp. What should I do? My

assistant saw the embarrassing situation. With a serious

face, she came to me and said, "I want to tell you

something. This morning I was in a church, and I saw all

the gentlemen sitting in their pews on one side and the

ladies on the other side. We have a real church here, but

why do ladies and gentlemen all sit together?" I answered

quite seriously, "I had forgotten, but indeed we are going

to have a real church service. Come, gentlemen and boys,

you sit on the right side, the girls and ladies on the

other side."

Everyone obeyed, and the love-sick couple were

separated, but the problem was only solved for the moment.

That week Jake and Joan went into the woods for mischief.

Fortunately the director of social work found them there

and told Jake that if he did this again he would be sent to

prison. Joan was sent to the institute, where she was

given daily work under good leadership.

The next Sunday, when I was preaching, Joan ran to me.

Her whole face was excited. She had been into mischief,

had been scolded for it, and was very upset. She broke

into my sermon, and laid her arms around me and sobbed: "I

have been so naughty. I went a walk with Jake and I will

never, never do it again."

A person often has a big ego. My first thought was

one of irritation at losing the thread of my message

through the interruption. But then I understood that this

demonstration was a very plain form of public confession of

guilt.

My assistant helped me again. She took the hands of

Joan, which I could not get loose, and said, "I'm glad,

Joan, that you told this to Miss ten Boom. Let's go into

the corridor and ask the Lord Jesus to forgive. Then we

can go and have a drink of water."

They left, and after a few moments I rediscovered the

thread of my sermon.

WHO IS NORMAL?

It was winter. Holland was occupied by the Germans. We

were sitting around the stove before the service began. A

girl entered and said, "I hate all Germans, and my father

does too."

"That is not right," said Herman.

"Why not?" she replied. "They are our enemies! They

have taken away our food! They have taken my brother to

Germany! They have..." and a list of crimes followed.

"Hate is not right," repeated Herman. "Jesus says,

`You must love your enemies.'"

"I can't," said the girl.

"Jesus does, and He can teach you," said the boy.

That same evening I was at a dinner-party with many

normal Christians, and the conversation was about the

Germans.

"We are not only allowed to hate," said the leader of

the dinner party. "We MUST hate."

Who is normal, and who subnormal?

HYPNOSIS?

"Your work among the feeble-minded is nothing more than

hypnosis," people told me. "They have no common sense, and

no criticism. They just believe whatever you tell them."

"I believe in the Holy Spirit," I answered.

During the war, bombs were falling on Haarlem. One

fell on a house, near where Jo was living. Jo was a girl

of thirty-two, a poor creature, nervous and fearful. The

next Sunday she came to church and told me what had

happened.

"The bomb fell and all the windows broke and there was

a terrible noise, and..."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I was so frightened, but I just thought of one

thing."

I understood what she meant by "one thing". "One

thing" meant prayer.

"What happened then?"

"Jesus took all my fear away!"

How many normal people thought at a moment when bombs

were falling, of praying? There was no one there to put

this idea into Jo's mind by suggestion, or hypnosis.

No human being, yes, but Jesus was there.

THE LORD'S SUPPER

Once the father of a backward girl spoke to me.

"Why can my daughter never partake of Communion? Is

the Lord's Supper only meant for strong-minded people?"

"Pray about it!" I answered. "I'll do the same."

That week I discussed the matter with a minister. God

showed us that it was His will for them to receive the

Lord's Supper as well as Baptism. About fifteen people I

knew who loved the Lord were baptized and received the

Lord's Supper. Never have I received such a blessing from

the Sacraments. There was earnestness and joy.

A boy continued to kneel and would not rise. I took

his hand and brought him back to his chair, but he kept his

eyes closed. In this way he wanted to preserve the

blessing and joy of that moment!

We in Holland have a long, imposing formulary for the

Holy Communion. Before we all went to the Lord's Supper, I

translated the dignified words into their language.

"He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and

drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's

body."

I explained the text in the following story:

"Once there was a lady who went to the Lord's Supper.

But she did not believe that Jesus had suffered on the

Cross for her, and she did not love Him at all. What do

you think about that?"

"That is terrible," they responded.

"Yes, I think so too," said I, "and the most serious

thing is that God also thinks it is terrible, and He says:

`It is far better NOT TO GO AT ALL than to take the bread

and wine without loving Christ. For if one does so, I must

punish him.' If you don't believe, don't go."

They understood.

CONFESSION OF SIN

We were together in our church room and I spoke about

the meaning of "sin".

"Do you all know what the word `sin' means?"

They told me they surely knew. It was disobedience,

bad words, and ugly thoughts. It was lying, killing,

beating, swearing, unbelief in Jesus Christ.

"Have you ever sinned?" I asked.

"Never," was the unexpected answer from Marie, a poor

imbecile woman.

Her whole face was radiant with pride. I tried to

argue, but could not convince her. Then I spoke of the

love of Christ and she told me:

"I know that Jesus loves me so, that He died on the

Cross for me. I love Jesus and tell Him everything." Her

whole face was beaming with joy.

I knew that Marie had only some months to live. She

had cancer. I was not afraid that she was not ready to

appear before God's throne. Why Jesus died on the Cross

she did not understand, but she was thankful for His

love--perhaps more thankful and glad than many good, normal

Christians, who have a sound theology but whose eyes do not

sparkle as do Marie's eyes, when one speaks of Jesus' love.

PROPHETS AND PRIESTS

Some subnormals can understand at times more than one would

expect. For the sake of experiment, I taught them the star

constellations. After some practice, they were able to lay

white beans on the table to represent Orion and the Big

Dipper. Later, I took them for a walk in the evening and

showed them the real Orion. In excitement, they shouted,

"Look, it is just like our white beans."

I found that they had not understood at all what I had

meant by the white beans.

To teach them spiritual truths was far more

successful, for here we experienced the Holy Spirit working

with their spirits. Common sense was not needed.

I had told them about the difference between priests

and prophets. I asked Marie if she had understood it.

"Oh yes; that is very easy. Both are messengers

between God and men. A priest stands with his face to God.

A prophet has his back to God and his face toward men."

It was a rather good answer, but I was not sure that

she had really understood, so I asked:

"What was I today when I gave you the Bible lesson?"

"A prophet," she replied, "for you brought God's

message to us. But you were also a priest when you prayed

together with us and asked the Lord to make our hearts

ready for His love."

PRAYER

What is prayer? Normal people understand and know, but how

may we make the feeble-minded understand?

A class of children was sitting before me. Their ages

ranged from sixteen to forty-seven. Children? Yes: the

woman in the first seat had the mentality of an

eight-year-old, although she was born in 1906.

That evening when I stopped explaining, I knew that I

had failed. Nobody understood what praying meant. The

next week the girls came to the class, quite excited. They

had heard over the radio how our little Princess was

baptized. They had a lot of questions to ask.

"Why did the Princess cry?" "Does baptizing hurt?"

Some described the Princess lying on a beautiful

pillow which the Queen had embroidered, for the

feeble-minded have great imaginations.

I tried always to combine my lessons with the subject

that occupied them, so I let them tell all they knew and

then I asked:

"What do you think about Prince Bernhard? When the

little Princess learns to talk and tries to tell her papa

about her experiences as a little child, will the Prince

take time to listen?"

"Yes, of course," they answered.

"Surely not. Would such a great Prince listen to a

conversation about broken dolls and gathering flowers?"

"Oh yes, he will," they shouted.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he loves his baby-Princess!"

"Yes, I believe that too," I said. "And you know,

that is why Jesus will listen when people tell Him

everything. It is because He loves you and me."

"Me too?" asked a poor woman, with a new light in her

eyes.

"He loves you too! And what if the little Princess

would never talk to her father? The Prince would be very

unhappy. The same way Jesus is unhappy when you do not

talk to Him. He is happy when you tell Him about your

needs, your joy, your hunger, your pain, your fears. He

will listen, just as the Prince will listen to Princess

Beatrix when she wants to tell about a new pair of shoes, a

sore little finger, a piece of chocolate, or being scared

of a big dog. Telling Jesus everything, that's prayer."

CHURCH DISCIPLINE

Before a dignified assembly of theologians and other

important people, I told about bringing the Gospel to

subnormal people and the possibility of giving them the

blessing of the Sacraments.

"But what about church discipline?" they asked.

We had the Lord's Supper in the magnificent cathedral

of Haarlem. About a hundred normal Christians joined us in

order to let our people know that there was a congregation

accepting them. When communicants went to the Table,

Jantje left the pew and wanted to join them. I stopped him

and said, "No, Jantje, you are not permitted to go; you

know that." Then Jantje took his hat and left the church.

His eyes were dark with anger.

Next week I asked: "Jantje, do you know why Willem was

allowed to go to the Lord's Supper? He had told me that he

loved Jesus! Do you love Jesus too, Jantje?"

"No, I don't." was his answer.

"Do you know," I asked, "why Annie was allowed to

partake? She prays every day and tells Jesus all she needs

and all she enjoys. Do you pray, Jantje?"

"No, I never do."

"You see, Jantje, that is why you were not allowed to

go to the Lord's Supper. But from now on you too must pray

and love Jesus, then the next time you may join us. Won't

you ask Jesus to come into your heart?"

Jantje did. And from that moment he began to pray,

and when we talked about Jesus' love, his eyes sparkled

with joy.

Yes, we had church discipline, but of a special order.

ANOTHER WORLD WAR?

Although their minds have not developed, often physically

the feeble-minded can be just as strong as normal people.

Jan and Henk were fighting before the church service.

It took rather a strong effort to separate the wrestling

men. I got Jan outside the building. Henk was allowed to

join the church service. But I was not surprised when

after church I found Jan outside the door, and he told me

that he had made up his mind to break a chair on the guilty

head of Henk.

I prayed for wisdom and the Lord gave it.

"Listen, boys," I said; "do you know that this is the

way the war started? Two men quarrelled, and some took the

side of one and some the side of the other. This grew and

grew till two countries were fighting a war. Then other

countries joined in, and now we have a World War."

Jan and Henk looked very worried. They knew perfectly

well what a World War meant. We were in the very midst of

one. The faces of all the feeble-minded people around

looked anxious. What were they to do? One World War was

bad enough, and now Jan and Henk had perhaps started

another.

"I wish I knew someone who could help us," I said with

a deep sigh.

Henk suddenly got an idea.

"I know someone," he shouted. "The Lord Jesus."

"Sure He can help us. Let us ask Him!"

We closed our eyes, and I asked the Lord Jesus to

forgive Henk and Jan and to give them love instead of

hatred in their hearts. All went home satisfied.

That same evening, while I was pulling the curtains to

prepare for the black-out, I saw Henk and Jan walking

before the house arm-in-arm. Both smiled at me and seemed

to say, "All is well now. There won't be another World

War!"

PUSHING AWAY

I had spoken to our boys about prayer. Jake, the tramp,

accompanied me home. (My friends often said, "Such

dignified friends you walk around with!") First he had

told me how he had set up in business. He had taken the

door off his room and chopped it up into small pieces to

make firewood. He had sold the wood, going from door to

door. This was good business in Holland during the war.

Cost: not one cent. Profit: enough money for many weeks.

It was not easy to persuade Jake that what he did meant

stealing.

"Jake, do you know what prayer is?" I asked.

At first he was silent.

"Do you mean like this?" Jake asked hesitatingly.

"Often I feel something I can't push away."

"That's it, Jake! Praying is asking Jesus to push

away what you cannot push yourself. Jesus can do

everything, and He loves you so much that He wants to push

away the bad things in your life."

Next day _I_ had something _I_ could not "push away".

I was down-hearted and the spirit of worry was in my heart.

Then I remembered the conversation with Jake and I asked,

"Lord Jesus, will You push away the worry?"

And He did.

BEHOLD THOU ART THERE

Apart from running a church for the feeble-minded, I had

clubs and classes for them. One of the most faithful

members was a man named Roel.

Roel had a strong inferiority complex and tried to

compensate for it by boasting of all his abilities. He was

a broad-shouldered man of twenty-eight years.

"My, the police were happy that I was so active," he

told me. "A very bad man went into a bush with a little

girl. I told a policeman, `Go into that bush; there is a

job for you to do.' Later he said, `Thank you, Roel, for

having warned me just in time.'"

I knew Roel long enough to understand what that story

meant. Roel himself had committed the crime and was found

by the police. The feeble-minded often told of a sin that

burdened their heart but attributed it to someone else.

They were always the imaginary hero who had discovered the

crime!

"Roel," I said, "don't you know that God is angry when

you do such things?"

I spoke about God's judgment of sins that evening.

When next I had a talk with Roel, a minister who visited

the class was present. I could see that Roel was afraid.

"Is God here?" he asked.

"Sure He is."

"Then I will go home as quickly as I can."

"But He is everywhere. At your home too."

The minister tried to explain God's omnipresence.

"Roel," he said, "the sun shines here, the sun shines

at home too. It is the same sun. There is air here and

air at home. It is the same air. God is everywhere at the

same time!"

Roel had always shown little respect for logical

talking, a safe attitude to cover his absolute lack of

common sense. He smiled and said, "The sun is not God.

The air is not God. I am going home, for God is here."

"Roel, listen," I said, "Whether you like it or not,

God IS in your home and He sees everything, even what you

did in the bushes. Roel, God is angry with you, and there

is no escape. The only thing is to tell Him that you are

sorry and ask His forgiveness in Jesus' name. And then ask

Jesus to come into your heart again. He will make you

strong and good."

And Roel did.

MONGOLOIDS

I like Mongoloids. Often they are such loveable people.

Why does God allow them to be born to quite healthy

parents, who neither drank nor committed those sins which

so often cause the birth of subnormal children? I don't

know. Mongoloids are sometimes as sweet as very little

children. Their I.Q. is exceedingly low.

Anton was a Mongoloid. He could neither speak nor

walk along. He was for a very short time in my class. He

listened to my Bible stories, but when I spoke too long to

suit him, he yawned like a monkey. I did not know how much

Anton understood really.

Once I took his hand and touched his five fingers one

after another and said, "Jesus loves Anton so much." The

next week, immediately Anton saw me, he took my hand and

with his fingers outspread he just looked at me with a face

full of longing. "Jesus loves Anton so much," I repeated,

touching a finger at every word. Then I taught him to do

it himself. After that, every week, Anton showed me with

his fingers how much Jesus loved him. The last time I saw

him, I told him while he touched his left fingers with his

right hand, "Jesus loves Anton so much. How thankful I am

for that! You too, Anton?"

"Yes," said Anton, as his face lit up.

It was the only word I ever heard from Anton. It is

the most worthwhile word that any normal or subnormal

person can speak to the Lord Jesus.

THE OCEAN OF LOVE

I shall never forget what a minister told me about a

feeble-minded boy, Toontje by name, who attended his church

services regularly and was always seated in the first pew.

"I wonder if Toontje understands one word of what I

say," he sometimes said to his wife.

Once he preached about the abundant love of God that

passes all understanding. Suddenly he saw a look of great

joy upon Toontje's face. The minister almost forgot the

rest of the congregation, and spoke as if to the poor boy

alone about the ocean of God's love in Jesus Christ.

Next morning he said to his wife, "I cannot forget

Toontje's happy face; I am sure that he has grasped

something of the joy of God's love. I am going to visit

him this morning."

When he arrived at the home, the door was opened by

Toontje's mother. "This morning," she told him, "we found

that Toontje had died in his sleep."

The minister saw on the face of the dead boy a look of

heavenly joy as he grasped so much of the love of God.

Do we not all need the Holy Spirit to enlarge our

hearts to contain only a little more of the joy unspeakable

and full of glory, God's abundant love in us, otherwise our

hearts would burst with happiness?

JOY IN HEAVEN

Bringing the Gospel to subnormal people is not popular work

in the eyes of the world. To convert a "big shot" is more

important than to change a subnormal person who cannot

organize a mission, cannot start a drive to collect money,

cannot write books, and cannot do what splendid, gifted

Christians can.

Does heaven have the same standards as on earth? I do

not think so.

I know that the last words of Jesus, before going to

heaven, were, "Go ye--and preach the Gospel to EVERY

creature." And I think that the subnormal have received a

special grace to enable them to understand the Gospel.

I believe that the joy before the angels of God when a

subnormal person is converted is as great as when a "big

shot" gives his heart and life to Jesus. It is possible

that the joy is greater; heaven is different from earth.

One can never tell.

"FINALLY, BRETHREN----!"

My experiences in four years' work in Haarlem brought me

into contact with only a handful of the many subnormal

people of the world. I reached only a few of the

feeble-minded in one town in one small country. Besides

this, there are all the psychopaths, the shell-shocked and

the insane. What difficult problems are these that I have

not touched upon!

The woman with the seven demons was a difficult

problem? And did not Jesus succeed?

Bringing the Gospel is not OUR work. It is God's

work. He will use us who are ready to obey.

God's kingdom will come. It is great to fight in a

war knowing beforehand that your King is the Victor.

CORRIE TEN BOOM PAPERBACKS

(FROM SPIRE BOOKS:)

THE HIDING PLACE

Miss ten Boom's experiences of God's faithfulness in

German-occupied Holland during World War II while hiding

Jews in her family's home, and while imprisoned in a German

concentration camp.

(FROM CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CRUSADE:)

COMMON SENSE NOT NEEDED

A very helpful book for those who work among mentally

retarded people.

A PRISONER AND YET

This book is another footnote to the Acts of the

Apostles. Miracles were the norm during the dark days in

the concentration camp where the author's father and sister

died while they were imprisoned there. Here Miss ten Boom

shows how the power and grace of God are sufficient to

surmount every adverse circumstance.

AMAZING LOVE

Despite the horrors even of the concentration camp, it

is possible to find victory in Christ. Corrie ten Boom

paints vivid word-pictures of her first-hand experiences in

camps and jails, with actresses and students, the

sophisticated and the illiterate.

DEFEATED ENEMIES

Christians ought to realize that the victory has

already been won and the enemy of our souls has been

defeated in God's timeless eternity. Out of the depth of

her own spiritual experiences, the author shares with her

readers how God works.

MARCHING ORDERS FOR THE END BATTLE

Everything is heading towards the great and final

battle which John describes in the Book of Revelation, and

that battle has started already. But we know:

Jesus was victor. Jesus is victor. Jesus will be

victor. --From the Preface

NOT GOOD IF DETACHED

Fruit grows in profusion on the branch that has known

much training and pruning. Dependence on God, produced by

the fires of affliction, coupled with a daily walk with the

Lord Jesus, is the explanation of that which seems just "to

happen." This book reveals the secret of abiding in Him.

PLENTY FOR EVERYONE

Well known for her prison experiences in Germany

during World War III, this worldwide traveler relates some

very interesting accounts of those whose lives have been

transformed by Christ. You will enjoy this readable book.

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CRUSADE

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania 19034