Page 5 - Evidence of Things Unseen

Foreword

first encountered Joseph Herrin in the fall of 2000. I had read something that he had
Iwritten that someone had posted on a prophecy oriented website. The writing witnessed
to my spirit so I looked up the Heart4God website (http://www.heart4god.ws). There I
encountered the article entitled “The Lion, the Bear and Goliath.” We began correspondence
concerning faith in the Lord's provision, the difficulty this places on our families, etc.. I was
well into this walk, but did not understand it at the time. Joseph wrote back to me with
some greater details of his trials. I remember reading it out loud to my wife. One minute we
were weeping, the next we were laughing as we recognized ourselves in some of the Lord's
dealings with Joseph and his family.
I called Joseph on the telephone. The fact that he had just gone through some of what
I was entering into, and was still walking ahead of me in it, was an enormous
encouragement. Afterward my wife said, "How do we know they are not wackos?" I replied,
"They ARE wackos ....so are we!" Soon thereafter I put my 20 year old business (which was
every bit as much a son to me as Isaac was to Abraham, for I had no other children) on the
altar, and released it to God to send fire down to consume it if He desired. He did so, but
in a very merciful way, and He consumed my oxen with the wood from my plough.
I had read the accounts of George Muller at that time and had been blessed by a
mature Christian mentor, who had and was leading a life of faith, but I still had trouble
identifying with them. As many of you know, the enemy is always trying to cast doubt that
this life of faith is all our vain imagination. "Who are you that God should speak to you...
provide for you... care for you?" So I found Joseph's testimony to be enormously helpful,
as I know it will be to many of you who will read it.
I think perhaps the greatest value of Joseph’s testimony is that it is ongoing, with fear
and trembling. All who enter into this life do so with fear and trembling, Moses included.
Yet, when I read many of the books written about the saints, the authors tend to portray
them as fearless and heroic, different than ourselves. I think this reveals more of the
perspective of the biographer than the saint. Only the saint knows the inner struggle, and
few have written of it.
One reason so little has been written of the inner struggle of those who embark upon
a life of faith, is that after a time the remembrance of the struggle diminishes to the point
it does not seem so frightening. The child has been born and the labor of childbirth is
forgotten because of the joy for the fruit that is seen from it. For this reason, I find Joseph's
testimony to be of great value. It is written in real time. The experiences are fresh. They are
vivid, and they describe the experiences many others of us are also living in one form or
another.
I should not leave this without saying “Do not be put off by some of Joseph's teaching
which you may not agree with.” I do not agree with all of Joseph's teaching. In some of it
I think he may be in error. Others, I think he might be right, but I don't know. Much of it
I do agree with, but all of these things are matters which have been disputed for centuries.
There is much that I used to accept as truth that I have since learned was false. So I have
learned to give these questionable matters up to the Lord. What is not disputable is that
Joseph and his family love the Lord and are struggling to follow His lead into their
inheritance. These other matters I consider secondary, and I trust that our Father, Who
alone is our Teacher, will correct our understanding in His time.