Page 82 - Living Epistles

Maurice Reuben told how he belonged to a wealthy family and had the best
the world could give him, and how he lived to make money. He was a
manager of Solomon and Reuben, one of the largest stores in Pittsburgh. But
the life of one of his buyers used to put him under deep conviction, until one
day he said to him, “You must have been born happy.” “Yes,” replied the
buyer, “in my second birth. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and was born of
God. In my first birth I was no happier than you!”

Reuben was so moved by the testimony that he bought a New Testament, and
there he was impressed with the fact that all those who followed Jesus were
Jews: John the Baptist pointing Him out as the Lamb of God; Peter, James
and John, the chief disciples... Then he came to the story of the rich young
ruler. It was a dramatic moment - a rich Jew of the twentieth century and
under conviction, reading of the Savior’s dealings with a rich Jew of the first
century! The way that Reuben saw it was that if Jesus had told that young
man to sell all to inherit eternal life, how could he, Reuben, inherit the same
gift, unless on the same condition? It was his supreme test. It was his
supreme test. If he became a disciple, he knew that he stood to lose all. But it
was too late to go back; he had seen it, and he must follow. As Reuben said
those words, Rees echoed them in his own heart; it was too late also for him
to go back.

Reuben faced it fairly and squarely and counted the cost. His wife might
leave him, his brother might put him out of the business, and not a single Jew
follow him, but he had made up his mind; if he lost everything, he meant to
do it.

Then one day on the way to the store, Reuben heard a voice repeating to him
the words of John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father but by Me.” The truth flashed upon him - he accepted Christ
and entered into life at that moment. He then told his brother and others.
According to his father’s will he was to forfeit every penny of he changed his
religion, but his brother offered to give him 70,000 pounds - his share of the
business - if he would cross the U.S.A. and retire in Montana. But Reuben
replied, “I have had the light in Pittsburgh, and I am going to witness in
Pittsburgh.”

Late that Saturday night detectives came and took him to the police station.
On Monday two doctors visited his cell and asked him about the voice he had
heard. “Do they question my sanity?” he tought.