For There Is Hope

Willie Pollock (deceased) - For There Is Hope:- Sharon, Ohio Convention, 2000

Job 14:7 “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant”.

These verses I read started with “For there is hope” God is a God of hope. Man looks at the fallen tree, but God looks at the stump. Man looks at what is lost, but God looks at what is left. What do you have in your house? Just a cruse of oil? Let us start there. What do you have in your life? I have a little faith, not very much, but let us start there. God is not thinking about what is lost, but if the root is still there. I thought of God’s work being like a tree in the world, and being like a tree in the lives of individuals. I don’t want to throw a bombshell and scare anybody, but Friends, there hasn’t always been conventions; there hasn’t always been a Ministry; there hasn’t always been an open worship; there hasn’t always been a tree. But my faith is enough to believe that in times, even in the scripture when there was no tree, I believe that somewhere, somehow, there was a root of truth in this world. It says that the root will grow old and will not die. There were times when there were no workers, no conventions, but my faith is enough to believe that somewhere – and I cannot explain it but that is where faith comes in – there was a root of truth. In the days of the captivity, the temple was closed. They didn’t know where the Book of the Law was. They were not keeping the Sabbath; there was no daily sacrifice; there was no song unto the Lord; there was no open worship; there was no active Ministry. But in captivity Daniel was praying. There WAS a root! Ezra and Nehemiah were praying. Daniel was praying three times a day towards Jerusalem, praying for the day when again there would be a tree, when there would be worship as God wanted. It eventually came. Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem and we pray toward Jesus and for His coming again. Our pray is “Come, Lord Jesus, come”, and the sooner the better!

In the opening of the New Testament there was no true Ministry, there was no true worship, and the Temple had become a den of thieves. But there was Zacharias and Elisabeth. There was a ROOT. John the Baptist sprung from that root. There was Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna. There was a root, and Jesus came forth. Jesus came and preached in Galilee and the disciples accepted and followed Him. Some people ask, “Where did this Ministry start?” Jesus sent them forth two and two, leaving everything, having nothing, without a home, without possessions. That was the Ministry. My mother wanted me to be a Presbyterian minister because she was a Presbyterian when I was born. Then she met God’s servants and she professed and changed her prayer. She didn’t want me to be a salaried minister and told me that many times – you know how mothers get anxious, and I got tired of listening to it. But at 22, I felt the tug of God. My mother got me involved, but God got me convicted. It was a conviction from God.

I just want to say this: I would not give my life for any other doctrine or ministry. I have given the best years of my life to this Ministry that began in Galilee. When Jesus came, He began in Galilee, sent forth His disciples, and people professed and churches were formed, and letters were written. There was a tree again, but for years there was no tree. I am not concerned about the years when there was no tree, but I am so thankful that in our day of His Mercy, there are conventions, young people going forth into the work, and the gospel is being preached in almost every country in the world and people are accepting and churches are being formed. I’m so thankful that in our day there IS a tree and we have evidence of it right here.

In Cuba, for years there was no tree. During the revolution, a circus was moving around, and the same people that were in the circus came to our mission. The clown and his wife professed, and some people who watched them professed. The church was in the clown’s home and he was the elder of that church. There were two girls that went into the work from that little church. But when Communism came, they were arrested, their Bibles and hymn books were taken away. They were arrested one day and released the next day. They told our friends, “We will find a way for two people to meet together and talk about the Bible”. This shows us the importance of fellowship. It shows us that if two people can come together, they can encourage each other. They found a way and for 30 years there were no meetings, no conventions, and no workers. During the dark years of the early 1960s, two girls offered for the work but there was no work. We had asked them before on an earlier visit, in a little talk around the table, because we couldn’t meet together, so we asked them, “Why do you go on? There are no meetings, no workers, and no conventions”. Magdalia answered, “We go on because we haven’t come to the end yet”, and Emaylda said, “We go on so we won’t miss what is yet ahead.” If we don’t go on, we lose the past; we miss the future, and the best is yet ahead. The man of the home said that those that often encouraged him were those that simply went on, and if I just go on, maybe I can encourage another. Friends, we do not know the impact of just going on, just being in our place. Those girls asked, what can we do?” We said there is no hope right now. You could develop the heart of a worker and live as a saint and go the extra mile, and if someday you can be in the Work, you will have the heart of a sister worker. For 30 years they did just that. The anchor of hope is used not only in the storm but during the waiting time. There in Panama during the day, ships anchor waiting to go through the canal. The anchor of hope will keep us in the waiting time, waiting for a decision, waiting in the secret place, waiting in inactivity and waiting in old age for the final call. This anchor of hope will hold us to the end.

During the years when there was no tree, the elders asked if we could make up a study list for them. They said, “We can’t meet together to study, but it would draw us into fellowship and meditation knowing that all the workers and friends in Mexico, Central America and Panama are studying this chapter”, and so we did that. Those were the difficult years. One of the two girls who offered for the work, Emaylda, felt she was too old to go into the work after 30 years, but said “I will go with Magdalia as a saint, and just fill in”. She went with a heart problem, but said, “I will look after that next week when I come back. It is more important to go with Magdalia and have visits and make rounds and have meetings”. After one very busy day, she sat down and died. She wasn’t in the work but her heart was. Today there is a tree in Cuba.