The White Hunter

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by Gilbert, Morris


  Annie sat down and Jeanine got up. Her face was glowing, and she began quite shockingly by saying, “I was saved in a beer barrel!”

  She laughed aloud at the facial expressions she saw in the congregation. “That is not just shock tactics. It is literally true. Miss Rogers and I were on board the Titanic.”

  At this point everyone sat up and looked eagerly toward the flamboyant young woman. Her face was radiant as she added, “Up until the Titanic started sinking, I lived my life entirely for myself. . . .”

  The crew, the officers, and the passengers listened, entranced, as Jeanine gave her testimony. It was a dramatic testimony, and she did not spare herself, speaking freely of the sinful life she had led. When she retold the story of how she had been saved from the Titanic, her voice grew husky. “I will never forget the unselfish love that Clive Winters showed for me. He could have gotten in that barrel and saved himself, but he died that I might have life. That was the first time I ever knew that love could be like that.”

  A silence had fallen over the room, and Annie thought, She has a wonderful way of speaking. She can tell a story so well, and she’s won their confidence.

  Jeanine continued by saying, “My sermon this morning will be that you must be born again. I will read now from the third chapter of John’s Gospel.” She began to read, and then after she had read the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus and being told by the Lord, “You must be born again,” she began speaking from her heart.

  “What is it to be born again? How can you be born again? And finally, what will happen if you are not born again?”

  And it was a good sermon. She spoke of the first two points so well that she had her congregation in the palm of her hand. They listened carefully as she spoke of how Jesus Christ had to come inside the heart and used her own life as an example. It was apparent she had spent her time well at the Bible school, for she quoted Scripture easily, both from the Old and New Testament. The second part of her message, how to be born again, was abundantly clear. She quoted from the Book of Romans. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” She quoted from Luke, “Except ye repent ye will all likewise perish.” She picked scriptures from the Gospels, from the letters of Paul, even from Revelation, and wove a net that caught the attention of her hearers.

  But when she came to the third part of her sermon, what will happen if you are not born again, Annie’s heart grew heavy. Jeanine began by saying, “You will go to hell. That’s what will happen to you—and you will deserve it.”

  Her voice grew harsh and the ground she had gained was rapidly lost. Annie was praying, Oh, Lord, don’t let her do this! But it was useless.

  Jeanine reached the end saying, “Now, surely you must see the reason for this. You are sinners, and you must give up your sin so that God can come into your life. We’re going to ask Miss Annie to sing, and as she sings I want you to come, you that are not saved, and I will pray with you. No one wants to go to hell. So I’m asking you to turn from your wicked ways this day.”

  It was a bad ending to what had been a good service. Her harsh words alienated the congregation. No one would meet her eyes, and after Annie had sung two verses, she said quietly, “We thank you for coming to the service. As Miss Quintana has said, if you want to speak to either of us, we will be available.” She bowed her head and said, “Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for the very life that you give us. Help us turn our thoughts to thee, for soon we must meet you face to face. And we ask in the name of Jesus that you will speak to every heart. Amen.”

  Annie saw with regret that most of the congregation was leaving quickly and that Jeanine was following them out. Her voice carried as she said to a middle-aged sailor, “I saw that you were nervous during the sermon. Are you saved?”

  “No, ma’am, and I’ve got to be back at my station,” the sailor said, pulling away from Jeanine’s grasp.

  Captain Sheraton came up to say quietly, “I enjoyed your testimony very much, Miss Rogers. It was a blessing to me—and also your singing.”

  “Why, thank you, Captain. And I want to thank you again for allowing us to have services.”

  Captain Sheraton shifted his feet rather uncomfortably. “Miss Quintana’s quite . . . direct, isn’t she?”

  “She’s a new Christian, Captain. Sometimes new Christians get overenthusiastic.” She smiled, saying, “I heard one preacher say once that a new Christian thinks the world’s on fire and that he’s got the only bucket of water.”

  Captain Sheraton smiled. He liked this young woman very much, but he was troubled by Jeanine Quintana’s method. “I wish you’d have a word with her. I realize that she’s not a polished preacher yet, but she needs to learn. She did very well for most of the sermon, but then she grew, I thought, too demanding.”

  Annie could not say much, but she said, “I’m sure if we pray for her she will learn, Captain Sheraton.”

  After the service the two women walked around the deck. A feeble, pale sun shone through the clouds from time to time. As they braved the cold weather, finally Jeanine said impatiently, “Why did you end the service so soon? We could have talked to several of the men. I saw some of them were under conviction.”

  “Well, Jeanine, I felt like it was time.” Hesitating for a moment, Annie knew now would be the best time to confront Jeanine. As tactfully as she could, she said, “Your testimony’s so dramatic, and you did so well with most of your sermon.”

  “Most of my sermon!” Jeanine said. She turned to stare at Annie and demanded, “I take it you didn’t enjoy all of it?”

  “Doctrinally you were totally right. You had, I thought, the whole congregation right where we both wanted them to be. But the latter part of it was too harsh, Jeanine.”

  “Hell is harsh!” she said defensively.

  “Well, of course it is, and people need to be told about the dangers of it. But you can’t drive people, Jeanine.”

  “I won’t water the Gospel down,” Jeanine said firmly. She stared moodily out over the sea and said, “You’re too soft, Annie. This is a tough world where people are dying and going to hell. I think it was Dwight L. Moody who said he was a brand snatched from the burning. That’s what men and women are. They’re like brands and already half on fire, and we’ve got to snatch them out and win them to Jesus.”

  Annie could not argue with this, but she knew deep in her heart that somewhere down the line Jeanine was going to have to learn to show more love and less aggressiveness.

  ****

  Annie arose early the next morning and, shivering in the cold, dressed. Jeanine kept covered up in a cocoon of blankets and blinked at her. “Where are you going?” she muttered.

  “I can’t sleep. I think I’ll just take a walk around the deck.” She left the cabin and began to pace the deck. She passed by the bridge up on a higher level and saw the first officer, whose eyes took her in. He did not smile, but nodded, and she waved at him cheerfully. He didn’t like what Jeanine said to him. I hope she gets a chance to show him a different side.

  She stood there thinking about the life that lay before her in Africa. She wondered how long it would be before she would get to see Jeb Winslow again. He was already working with the Masai people. She had gotten only one letter, a very brief one, but it was full of excitement, and he ended by saying, “I know I, perhaps, said too much about how I feel about you, but I could not help it, Annie. Please forgive me. But don’t forget.”

  “Poor Jeb,” Annie murmured as the wind whipped at her coat and blew her hair around her face. “I wish it were different, but I don’t see how I can do what God’s called me to do unless I’m free.”

  “Miss Annie, might I speak to you?”

  Annie turned to see a tall, raw-boned young sailor standing there to her right. “Why, of course. I don’t believe I know your name.”

  “Howie Satterfield, ma’am. Glad to meet you.”

  “Where are you from, Howie?”

  “From Alabama, ma�
�am.”

  “I noticed you in the service yesterday.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I was there. And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Annie’s heart suddenly warmed and she said, “Why, of course, Howie. Can we go inside or are you on duty?”

  “Oh, I’m off duty, ma’am. We could go into the dining room. Nobody’s there at this time of the morning. We might even get a cup of coffee from Cookie if you’d like.”

  “I’d like it very much, Mr. Satterfield.”

  “Oh no, ma’am. No mister. Just Howie is fine.”

  The two walked down the deck that tilted slowly with the roll of the Carrie Bell and entered the dining area. “I’ll get you some coffee, miss,” Howie said eagerly. “Would you care for an early breakfast?”

  “No. Coffee will be fine.”

  “Sugar and cream?”

  “Yes, please. Both.”

  Howie disappeared into the galley, and Annie sat down and prayed for guidance. He came back carrying two enormous white mugs, one with a spoon, which he handed to her. “That’s got your sugar and cream, ma’am. I drink mine black.”

  Annie sipped the coffee and her eyes opened wide. “Oh, that’s strong!”

  “Yes, ma’am. Strong enough to float a horseshoe,” Howie said somewhat proudly. “Takes a real man to drink coffee like this.”

  “Well, it’s good all the same. Tell me a little about yourself, Howie.”

  Flattered by Annie’s interest, the young man began speaking. He was not eloquent, but it was soon obvious that something was troubling him. Finally he said haltingly, “I’ve been . . . well . . . you know, thinking about the service yesterday.”

  Seeing the young man had come to some sort of a mental barrier and could not speak, Annie said with encouragement, “Was it something about the sermon?”

  “Well, yes, ma’am, it was. About a man’s got to be born again. I didn’t rightly understand that.”

  Annie began speaking quietly and slowly, explaining the Gospel. Howie sat there forgetting his coffee and listened intently. When she had spoken for ten minutes, he shook his head and sadness came into his light blue eyes. “I don’t reckon that’s for me, ma’am.”

  “What’s not for you, Howie?”

  “Gettin’ saved.”

  “Why, of course it is. It’s for everybody. The Bible says, ‘Whosoever will may come.’ That includes you.”

  “Well, I’ll tell you the truth, Miss Annie. I don’t reckon the Lord would have nothin’ to do with the likes of me. Not after what I’ve done.”

  Immediately Annie understood that something in Howie Satterfield’s past was a tremendous barrier to him. She had encountered this before and now said gently, “It doesn’t matter how bad a thing you’ve done. We haven’t all sinned alike, but we’ve all alike sinned. The blood of Jesus washes us from all sin. There’s a wonderful passage in Isaiah that says, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’ Isn’t that a wonderful promise? And it’s for you.”

  “Oh, you just don’t know, ma’am, what I did.”

  Seeing the anguish on the young man’s face, Annie said, “It’s not necessary to tell me about it. I don’t have to know what you’ve done.”

  Gratefully Howie said, “I think that’s good, Miss Annie. Because I wouldn’t want to say what I did to a lady, but it was bad.” He hesitated and chewed his lower lip. “You really think God would forgive me no matter what I did?”

  “I know He will, Howie. God wants one thing, a broken and a contrite heart for the wrong we’ve done.”

  “Well, that’s me, I guess. I’ve been worried about it a long time, and while Miss Quintana was preaching yesterday, it just seemed like the Lord put a burden on me. But I didn’t know what to do.”

  Annie talked with him some more and saw that there was an openness in his heart. “Howie, why don’t we just pray, and you can be saved just like I was when I was a girl. It was a long time ago, but the Lord’s been with me ever since. Would you do that?”

  “Oh yes, ma’am. I would.”

  “Fine. I’ll pray for you, and you tell God you’ve sinned against Him. He already knows about it, but He wants you to tell Him. Then you just ask for Him to come into your heart and give you a new life.”

  Annie bowed her head and began to pray. She had not prayed for long before she heard a muffled sound of sobbing, and she reached out and took Howie’s hands and prayed fervently. When she had finished, she whispered, “Howie, will you ask Jesus into your heart?”

  Right there in that galley, Howie Satterfield invited Jesus Christ to come in. As soon as he had done so, he looked at Annie and said, “I’ve done it, miss. Am I saved now?”

  “Yes, you are, Howie. I truly believe you are.”

  “I don’t feel too different,” he said doubtfully. “Are you sure about it?”

  “I’m sure that if you are honest with God, God will do exactly what He says. But it’s important for you to do several things. First, you need to get a Bible. Do you have one?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I do.”

  “Good. You begin to read it and I’ll help you. And it’s important that you talk to the Lord every day. More than once. And as soon as possible, you need to follow the Lord in baptism.”

  “I’ll do all that, ma’am. You see if I don’t.” Howie Satterfield’s eyes were bright as he dashed the tears away. “I thank you for talking to me, Miss Annie. I don’t know what I’da done. I couldn’t go on like I was.”

  “We’ve got several days. I’ve got a book or two that might be of some help to you, Howie, and we’re going to have other services.”

  “I’ll read anything you give me, Miss Annie,” Howie said, then stood up and left.

  Annie leaned back. She felt tired and drained but happy. Somehow this sort of work was exhausting. It must be because, she thought, so much depends on it. I always get emotionally drained when talking to someone about their soul. It’s so good to see a young man come to Jesus.

  Later that afternoon, Annie had another experience that pleased her greatly. Satterfield brought a friend of his to talk, Larry Dillon, a short, muscular man with fair hair and dark blue eyes. “I’ve been talking to my friend, Larry. He thinks he might like to know about Jesus, too. So I brought him for you to tell him.”

  “Why, I’m so happy that you’re interested in your soul, Larry,” Annie said quickly. The three of them went again to the dining area, for it was between meals, and in half an hour Larry Dillon had given his heart to the Lord. The two of them thanked Annie profusely, and as they left, Annie stared after them. “It’s so easy when the Holy Spirit does it—and so hard when you try to do it yourself.”

  ****

  The second service was not as well attended as the first, and although Annie did not speak it, she knew it was because some felt that Jeanine would be too harsh and would embarrass them in public. This time she had said, “Jeanine, let me speak this time. I feel the Lord’s given me something.”

  “All right,” Jeanine said, “but you’ll have to do the singing, too. I just can’t do that.”

  Annie had done the singing and then asked Jeanine to give a brief testimony. Jeanine seemed somewhat depressed. At least she did not enter enthusiastically into the service. The thought crossed Annie’s mind, Why, she’s jealous! But she pushed aside that thought immediately. No. That can’t be.

  Standing up, she said, “I’m no preacher and I don’t need to tell you that. You will find it out immediately. But I have been studying my Bible lately, and there is a passage of Scripture that God has put into my heart. It’s very simple. It’s simply a phrase about Jesus. It says in the Scripture ‘He must go up to Jerusalem.’ That’s not much of a text, but let me explain the lesson we can learn from that. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a perfect and sinless life for thirty-three years. He fulfilled every law that God ever gave without sinning one time, but there was one more thing for Jesus to do. He had to go to Jerusalem.”
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  She looked out over the congregation and saw that they were watching her curiously but silently. “Why did He have to go to Jerusalem?” she continued. “He had only one purpose—and that was to die. He had told His disciples this repeatedly, but for some reason they had deaf ears and did not believe it. Perhaps they didn’t want to. We often don’t want to believe the things we don’t like. But it was true enough. You’ve all read the story, but I want to read again for you what happened in Jerusalem.”

  At this point Annie opened her Bible and read the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. She read it slowly, without great drama or flair, but simply. And even as she read it, tears came to her eyes as they frequently did when she read of the death and suffering of the Lord.

  When she had finished reading, she said, “I’m going to talk to you about why Jesus died. Why he had to go to Jerusalem. . . .” For the next half hour Annie spoke without eloquence but out of a full heart. She spoke not only of the physical details of agony but how He had suffered in His heart when God’s wrath was poured out upon Him. She explained why He had to hang there as the representative of sinful man. The room grew absolutely silent, and when she came to the end, she said, “Jesus had to go to Jerusalem. That is why He came to this earth. To die. I must go to Jerusalem, too—that is, in this life I must do whatever it is that God puts on my heart. And I think that each of us must somehow go to Jerusalem. Not the physical country, of course, where the Temple is, but to some point where God is leading us. I wonder this morning if some of you are not ready to begin your journey to Jerusalem. You may have done terrible things. You may have led a life that was not at all what God intended for you. But Jesus says, ‘Come unto me all ye that labor and I will give you rest.’ I’m going to ask you to stand. We’re all going to bow our heads. And if during this time of prayer, any of you want to begin your journey to Jerusalem, it begins by taking Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.”

 

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