And Thy Neighbor… SAM SHOEMAKER talks about creative living

And Thy Neighbor:

SAM SHOEMAKER talks about creative living

Arranged By

Cecile Cox Offill

FOREWORD BY

The Right Reverend Bishop Cuthbert Bardsley, Lord Bishop of Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, England

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This is a first printing published by Word Books in Waco, TX in 1967. This book cones with the original dust jacket.

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Foreword

DOCTOR SAMUEL SHOEMAKER was a great prophet, a great lover, a great man of God.

He was a great prophet, and there are not many in any one generation. I first heard Doctor Shoemaker speak in the year 1929. It was an inspiring but terrifying experience. It had upon me the impact which all true prophecy should have; it made me glad and sad. It made me cry out "Thanks be to God," and it made me exclaim "Woe is me."

Doctor Shoemaker spoke like a machine gun! The words poured forth in a torrent. He gave one the feeling that he had much to say and very little time in which to say it. He was ablaze with a passionate conviction, filled with a deep concern-unlike some preachers he was convinced about the reality and the love of God and overflowing with a deep concern-unlike some preachers he was convinced about the crack of a rifle. At that time I was a young theological stu-dent, immature, uncertain of myself, of my vocation and of the future. Dr. Shoemaker filled me with a great hope-he made me believe that life under God's control was a thrilling adventure and that Jesus Christ was a completely reliable Saviour who would never let one down, never let one off but never let one go. Since that moment, over 30 years ago, I have heard him preach on many occasions.

Always, and increasingly, I have realized that I was in the presence of one of the great prophetic voices of the world.

He was also a great lover. He seemed to wrap his arms around mankind. He made each person feel that he was the one person in the world who really mattered. For, in addition to being a quite outstanding preacher, he was one of the few really great evangelists. Men and women by the thousands came into his study defeated, hopeless and help-less. They left an hour later, having made their peace with God. He brought us face to face with ourselves and with Jesus Christ. Sam Shoemaker was no sentimentalist. Не loved the sinner, but he hated sin.

And he would wrestle and work and plead and pray until the sinner had gone beneath layer after layer of unreality and make-believe to the real person. Then, and only then, did he introduce us to the real Saviour.

At the back of all this prophecy and evangelism lay his holiness. He was a man of God who said his prayers. Indeed, his life was a prayer. This is not to say that he was dour or off-putting-far from it-he was one of the most humorous men I have ever met, with a fund of amusing stories second to none. But underneath all his gay humor and true worldliness lay this unmistakable holiness. He was a man of God, who knew God and who lived in the Presence of God.

Such men are rare. In any one generation there are only a few men of the stature of Doctor Shoemaker. Just because of this, one must be grateful to Mrs. Offll for bringing together these sermons so that "he who is dead may yet speak." I hope that this book will have a world-wide circulation and that many may find through this book an experience of the saving and transforming love of Jesus Christ. Such miracles of rebirth will be the best memorial to a great prophet, a great lover and a great man of God.

CUTHBERT BARDSLEY

COVENTRY