/
V.
"?r
' Arnold Vander Muelen, who will
deliver a special message at l^ew
Bern’s Tabernacle Baptist church
Monday night, was a criminal at
14. Today, at the age of 35, he
travels some 50,000 miles a year
in prison evangelism, and has help
ed others to establish rescue mis
sions in many parts of the country.
Recalling his early lawlessness,
Muelen says, “For spending money,
in my home town of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, we rolled drunks, mug
ged old people or robbed business
establishments. We even robbed
several churches. For recreation
we roamed the streets looking for
fights, and always finding one.”
After two felony convictions in
that town, he moved on to De
troit. “By this time,” he admits, “a
doctor had confirmed my own sus
picion that I i'as a hopeless drunk
ard. I could go without food for
days at a time, but couldn’t do
without a drink for more than an
hour.”
In Detroit he managed to make
some “important” underworld and
political connectibns, and worked
himself into a high-paying position
in the numbers racket. He made
really big money, and spent it as
fast as he could lay his hands on
it.
S’ '
W-
'M.
#T’
a:;
■i
S;'
“I was sentenced to Southern
liichigan Prison before I was 16
years old,” he recollects. “I climb-
• ed to the very top of the under
world, enjoying the very best the
. world, had to . through
drunkenness and later oh dope ad
diction; I slipped to the very
depths of sin and despair.”
Muelen’s trail of crime wasn’t
confined to the state of Michigan.
“I was in and out of jails all over
America on charges ranging from
drunkenness and disorderliness to
armed robbery and assault with a
deadly v/eapon.”
It is eommonly known that brok
en homes incubate juvenile delin
quency, but this didn’t hold true
for him. “I was raised around an
old-fashioned family altar,” Arnold
says. “I attended Sunday school
regularly, and submitted myself to
every demand of the church. This
Bible training in the home and in
the church ma(}e a deep and last
ing impression on me, and it was
" this early training that followed
me all over the country as I drift-
_ed far away from God.”
'■ Fourteen years ago, on ifew
Year’s eve, he found himself in
front of the Pacific Garden Mis
sion, while wandering along State
street in Chicago. “I went inside,'”
he remembers, “and was welcomed
with open arms. I was permitted to
stay for five weeks to regain my
strength and grow strong in the
grace and knowledge of my new
found Savior, Jesus Christ.”
And, says, Muelen, “It was in
the Pacific Garden Mission too that
I learned if I was to be used of
God and blessed of Him in winning
others to Christ, I would have to
make restitution for the past.
When FBI agents came for me, I
surrendered meekly. I waived ex
tradition to the state of Michigan,
and there pled guilty to counter
feiting and forgery and was given
a long prison sentence.”
Describing events that followed,
he says, “I went to prison with
. Christ, God going with me to pave
the way. I was enabled by ^1^’s
grace to direct the Prison Bible
school; which grew to some 700
' sjtudents. Although I . was wanted
by law enforcement officials in
other states and by the Federal
government on various felony
charges. God undertook In my be
half and one miracle followed an
other. In 23 months I was a free
man.”
^ Almost intniediately after his re-
The NEW BERN
Iftr. A Hr*.A. ». lixrphT
2000 Arondai St.
VSrghoaS City, ». C.
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
Sf Per Copy
VOLUME 3
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1961
NUMBER 51
BE PREPARED—iLiving up to their motto,. Boy Scouts of
XT , . ...
the Neuse Basin District polish up'their know-how in this
scene at Havelock. They want to be ready for the huge
Cgmporee that is soon to be hel'd in New Bern,, with thous
ands of youngsters attending.—^Photo by Billy Benners.
Church Pews Never Empty
When Easter Comes Around
Thousands of New Bernians who
don’t ordinarily attend religious
services will be crowded into local
church pews Sunday morning. It
was that way last year, when East
er rolled around, and all the other
years. And it will continue to be
the pattern of behavior in years to
come.
Their glad rags and corsages
notwithstanding, most of the folks
who make it a point to show up on
Easter morning are'spiritually sin
cere. Good or bad, saint or sinner,
they want to be in a place of wor
ship on the day of the Resurrec
tion.
Look at their faces—tlm young
and the old alike—and yWll see
in the expressions worn a common
bond of gratitude. To every pro
fessing Christian, Easter’s glad tid
ings give life its meaning and
faith its hope.
Christ, the devout believe implicit
ly, is risen from the dead, and thus
His own words have been justified.
lease he entered into an unusual
ministry, that of prison evangelism.
After two years of travel in this
work, back and forth across Amer
ica, he founded a Rescue Mission
in his home town of Grand Rapids.
Since then he has been instru
mental in founding missions at
Battle Creek, Mich., and Bristol,
Va. It is worth mentioning that,
like Muelen, a world-famous evang
elist of the .past generation—^Billy
Sunday—^turned to religion in the
Pacific Garden Mission.
Hearing Arnold Monday night
here shbuld be an inspiring ex
perience.
Christ is risen from the dead, and
thus God has given Him the sign
of His mission. The final and abso
lute seal of genuiness has been put
on all His claims, and the indelible
stamp of a divine auothority upon
all His teachings.
In writing of Easter, Spurgeon
makes this observation: “The fact
of resun’ection is not extraordi
nary; it is in accord with what we
who believe at all believe to be the
uniform law of life—that death
does not touch it. The witnesses
to the resurrection of Christ were
unprejudiced, unexpectant, incred
ulous,^ and their honesty is not
doubted even by skeptical criti-
cisfti.”
p J fc r 4. I
Warfield pehned this thought:
“From the empty grave of Jesus
the enemies of the cross turn away
in unconcealed, dismay. Those
whom the force of no logic can
convince, and whose hearts are
steeled against the appeal of al
mighty love from the cross itself,
quail before the irresistible power
of this simple fact. Christ has risen
from the dead. After two thousand
years of the most determined as
sault upon the evidence which
demonstrates it, that fact stands.”
Mitchell, describing the Resur
rection, wrote these lines; “Over all
earth’s scarred and grave-ridged
surface it kindled the light of this
great hope: These smoldering ashes
may live again in human form. By
the testimony of the senses, Jesus
is alive from the dead, and by
the emptiness of Joseph’s sepul
cher, by Mary’s risen Son, the res-
surection is not incredible. Bereav
ed hearts^ piay ^ wrap themselves
around with its sweet hope; human
graves may be made vocal with its
promise; the dying race of man
come unto victory through faith.”
Talmage views Easter thusly: “It
was for the glory that was set be
fore Him that Christ endured the
humiliation and suffering of the
cross. Let us keep our eyes fixed
steadily on the crown immortal,
and then our sacrifices and serv
ices, and sufferings .for Christ’s
cause, will seem light and trivial
in comparison.”
And, quoting Mitchell again;
For forty centuries, in one unbrok
en column, the race of man had
been marching into the shadows.
And of all the millions who had
descended into the shadowed val
ley, not one had ever returned. No
dead human form through all the
centuries had risen up into a post
mortem life. There was in all
Earth’s area not one empty grave.
“No human heart believed, no
human voice declared that there
was such a grave—a grave robbed
by the power of a victor stronger
than man’s great enemy, death. It
was therefore a new and wonder
ful message which the Apostles
communicated, when unto the dy
ing race of man he lifted up his
voice in the words: ‘One human
form has risen from the dead; one
grave of death is empty; the man
Christ Jesus who was dead is alive
again.’ ”
Napoleon had this to say about
the Man of Galilee: “Alexander,
Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself
have founded empires; but on what
do these creations of ours depend?
Upon force, Jesus alone founded
His empire upon loVe,-and to this
very day millions would die for
him.”
Benjamin Franklin made this
comment: “As to Jesus of Nazareth,
my opinion of whom you particu
larly desire, I think the system of
morals and His religion as He left
them to us, is the best the world
ever saw, or is likely to see.”
Even the millions of mortals in
the world who don’t profess the
Christian faith are keenly aware of
the impact that Christ’s birth,
death and resurrection had on all
mankind. And they concede that
His teachings have exerted a whole
some influence on peoples of all
faiths.
Although the Carpenter’s Son
never traveled further from His
birthplace that two hundred miles, .
His impact on literature, music
and art has extended to ^e four
corners of the earth. In every field
of endeavor it is apparent.
Certainly the ideals that Christ
held up to mankind are firmly
embedded in our American way of
life. And the world’s hope for
peace and brotherhood depends
largely on acceptance of what He
advocated.
Aside from the religious signifi
cance of Good Friday, countless
people in New Bern and Craven
county insist that Good Friday is
the time to plant and none other.
This despite the fact that it isn’t a
fixed date from year to year, but
comes in March as well as AprU.
A lot of our citizens swear by the
almanac, and wouldn’t think ot
sticking a seed into the ground Hit-
■f -i'
'I
i:
■j.
i)
-H
f-