Letter to Franklin Young

Reverend John Amos Westbrook

Dear Franklin,

Forgive my late response to your letter due to my many health issues.  There are days that I find it possible to grasp at a writing implement for any period of time.  I hope you find my poor penmanship legible.  I am amused at each shaky letter and line I produce.  I seem to ache all the time. My hands grow less steady with each passing year.  I am however still and forever steadfast in the Lord.

Murdock now lives with his daughter's family, any letter received from him will have been transcribed by Louise because of his failed eyesight.  I could no longer care for him properly because now I can barely care for myself.  Murdock lives just only a few miles from here.  I only see him on Sundays at the chapel.  We share the family pew and still have lots to tell each other even after all the years we've spent together.

I have not read nor heard of the book you mentioned in your letter.  I never heard of anyone using a cross to ward off or defeat the nosferatu.  It isn't the crucifix that saves, but rather the product of the crucifix, the blood of Christ in us where we all find salvation.  A cross to a man who is not reborn is as useless as a twig against a bear attack.  Learn to separate what is scripturally sound from that which is conjured writings from the imaginative folly of man.

Your grandfather Murdock and I were not hunters of familiar spirits, but rather fishers of men.  We spent most of our service building up the body over the heart breaking task of burning corpses.  We faithfully executed each task at hand no matter how delightful or distasteful the chore.  Our mission was the sharing of God's perfect love and his cleansing salvation, always encouraging holiness unto the Lord!

It is unfortunate that our lives have been misrepresented.  The story lends itself to fables being interjected into what actually happened.  Our works have been misunderstood, but what is most important is that we heard the call and went forth.  Your grandfather and I did what we did and are not accountable to those who read from a distance.  Our pursuit was always The Kingdom.  Each soul is of eternal being, the body only temporal.  To consider us "ministers obsessed only with the possessed" simply isn't writing the truth.  The author of that article you shared is not an authority on the subject.

I am a little hesitant sharing our experience because so much has been sensationalized about Murdock's and my long journey together.  It is good to seek knowledge about such things, but not healthy to dwell on them.  We must know our enemies yet not give them more credit than necessary.  Lucifer isn't the almighty God's equal.  The darkness in this world does not equal the brilliance of who God is.  Darkness in this world, the darkness present in man is merely a void where there is no light.  Walk in the light dear young Franklin. 

John Wesley once wrote, "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."

God bless and keep you,
JW

 Letter dated 22/04/1886