SALVATION SELLER PUT IN THE SIEVE

NZ Truth, Issue 1195, 25 October 1928, Page 8

SALVATION SELLER PUT IN THE SIEVE

Silver-tongued Evangelist Wriggles Under the Lash ■...■O/v'#^

HEAVEN PROTECT US SINNERS FROM STEPHEN JEFFREYS!

, . (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.) WL ARL ALL SALESMEN, the sole difference between forms of salesmanship being that one method is sincere and frank, whilst the other is baneful and meretricious. The last-mentioned is sub-divicled into many sections, principal among which are the sanctimonious purveyors of piety, and those salvation evangelisksalesmen, who, with smooth, sibilant speech, treat one to well-woven visions of a blissful hereafter. The terrible part of their ministrations is the pitiful army of broken, twisted humans who wait at the feet of ' these exploitation faith-healers, their hearts and faces alight with the hope that is distressing to witness, their lips moving m a common prayer which all too rarely is answered m the degree they expect. "N.Z. Truth has every reason for uneasiness concerning the bona fides of a supposed healer named Stephen Jeffreys, who commences a Pentecostal healing ramp in 'Wellington this evening. ./

lington daily papers— "The Post and "The Dominion" — were equally forbearing m their method.s of accepting . business for their advertising columns!

Both these newspapers permitted displays that would have done sound justice to the best / travelling theatrical show which intended to tour the Dominion, and it is to be deplored that the advertising managers of both these papers did not see fit to carefully scrutinize the merits or shortcomings of men such a^ Jeffreys. However, to continue: "Stephen Jeffreys does not appeai\to be amember Of 'The Four- Square Gospel Churches of the British . Isles, Incorporated,' founded by his brothers, George and William, and is not recognized by them as a 'pastor.' .... "He is, nevertheless, just as big a mountebank as his* brothers, and has just as much right as they to pose as an ordained minister, which is none at all. ' , "At Newcastle, Stephen set to work to gull the public . thoroughly, for a number of his assistants were arrayed m clerical garb as well as he. "Tlie (Rev. Stanley Parker, a Wesleyan minister m Newcastle, warned his congregation against Jeffreys, and publicly challenged him m letters to the Press to prove his claims that all

Adams; 'carries the glory' that we see m the eyes of happy lovers!'

"The biography is likely to prove seriously embarrassing to Jeffreys, and the tall stories it contains are certain to be challenged wherever he goes. It is much harder to escape from the printed word than from the glibly spoken lie.

"This man is an impudent impostor. The sick and the afflicted are' his prey.

"He raises false hopes m the bi*easts of ..dying .men and women, , .only ' to plunge them into despair. .'

"We, hope he will be driven out of every place into which he ventures, as he was driven out of Newcastle."

„ The next the public heard of Jeffreys, was through a widely-ranging process of advertising — oh , numerous bill-, boards on the Wellington trams, triplecolumned reproductions of Jeffreys' likeness m. "The Evening Post", and "The Dominipni", calico signs on motorcars Whose owners, or drivers are members of the Assembly of God religious body, Which is. v ,an .. off shoot ,of the Pentecostal faith m- this country,' on scrap's of paper and -pieces of cardboard

. .The committer was challenged to arrange a meeting between its members, two representatives of "N.Z. Truth" and the "pastor" w*ho was coming to save everybody's sin s, with a view to asking Jeffreys' some extremely searching' questions relating to his activities and his alleged ex.posure m New-castle-on-Tyne. It was pointed out-' to the. three men that if they really were sincere they would immediately see tbe necessity .of probing the "record of Jeffreys, who was likely :to associate himself with many

thousands of people

—arid . net not a little coin from the procedure, too— and do incalculable damage to the minds and beliefs of New Zealanders if. his qualifications were spurious.

. They were urged to investigate Jeffreys' character, that many • innocent people, stricken -with some dread complaint or .malformation, might not suffer the sad disillusionment which trails the roadway trodden by men whose "faith-healing" insincerities :had previously beep condemned through. these columns. -

Further, that an English weekly

satisfied to leave the situation as

then stood,

When the "Makura" anchored m the stream at an early hour on Monday morning, two investigators stepped aboard and went down to, Jeffreys' cabin. ~-

"Come m, boys," said Jeffreys, his voice suavely intoned m the best manner of the salvation -monger.

He was shown a copy of "John Bull," dated % August 18, 1928, and asked Whether he had anything to say concerning- its veracity.

"It's wrong, all wrong," he said m a. shocked voice. "It Is a wicked untruth." .'•'".-'

"If those particulars are so. grossly libellous, so false, it seems extraordinary that you did not immediately commence an action for libel, Mr. Jeffreys!"

" "Oh, we never go to law. We are God's children, and I leave everything m the Lord's hands," smoothly replied Jeffreys,, his flushed face raised piously ceilingwards, his eyes bright, with the flame which takes its spark from the, fire at which, every fanatic and'bigot worships? •'"''.

"Of course, you are ordained, Mr. Jeffreys?"

"Well, er, oh, er,*yes," was the halting response, accompanied by a marked trembling of his hands,