TWO BROTHERS - AND SO FAR APART

Isaac D. Samuels was born to Jewish Parents in Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana). His mother died when he was two years old, and when he was eleven he was taken by his father to Holland. Here he grew up "alone without anyone to guide me", he relates. As a lad he developed a great love for music and became a master of his favorite instrument, the cello. By the time he was twelve, he was playing music in the taverns.

From age twelve to thirty the life of Isaac Samuels was dominated by a love for wine. He became a drunkard. In 1923 he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in North Africa. Details are not clear, but his drunkenness had something to do with this involvement. It was not uncommon for the Legion to highjack drunks and when they came to their senses they were on a ship bound for Africa, and conscripted into the Foreign Legion.

In 1930, Samuels was in Paris, France, going from one cafe to another in search of more and better French wine. Suddenly he was arrested by the sound of music. Music was his other love, and he went in search of its source. It was the Salvation Army conducting a street service, but as he arrived the service was closing. but the ones gathered there invited to the Hall where the service would be continued.

The wine was too much for him, and when he settled down comfortably in the meetinghouse, Isaac fell asleep. However, he had been awake long enough to be attracted by the leader's message about Peter who "went out and wept bitterly." When the meeting was over, the Salvation Army officer awakened the sleeper and asked him why he had come. He didn't seem to know, but did want to know more about the story of Peter and why he wept. The officer knew that his questioner was under the influence of alcohol, and the hour was late, but he said, "Dear friend, it is too late to explain to you the story of Peter, but I will give you a little book, and there you will find his story." Isaac took the New Testament and went home.

On the first page of his new book, he came to the name of Jesus. Who was he? As a boy at school his schoolmates had told him, "You Jews, you have killed Jesus Christ." When Isaac asked his father, "Who is Jesus Christ?" he received no answer. So it was all still strange to him, but that Name, he testified, "Brought my whole being under condemnation" and an uncontrolled weeping. Tears made reading difficult and after a time he fell asleep.

Here is further testimony. "The next morning I was not any more the same. I had only one desire, to finish the book and to know more of Him who had done something in me. It was very strange. I had no desire to smoke, no desire to drink, I felt only one desire - namely to read the New Testament. God spoke to me the evening before when I was reading with tears running from my eyes because I saw myself as a very bad man. I had not the courage to lift up the head. I was ashamed of myself. The next morning that was all gone. My heart was full of joy and peace. It was no more I, but it was another PERSON who was living in me." Isaac Samuels had found the Messiah, the Savior.

Samuels became an avid Bible reader and a missionary to the Jewish people, especially n Algeria, North Africa and in Paris. He gave away thousands of Bibles in the French language to Jews in North Africa, and after 1946, continued his ministry in Paris where he walked the streets with a large sign declaring, "The Bible says prepare to meet thy God."

All of the above I learned later from the testomony of Samuels himself.

For some years prior to 1951, I was a reader of a magazine called, "The Jewish Hope." It was the official publication of a Jewish ministry conducted by Dr. A,U. Michaelson. This man had been a successful Jewish lawyer in Germany, and was converted to Christianity. Sometime before World War II, he had come to America to carry on a ministry to the Jews in this country. Each issue of the Jewish Hope carried a picture of Isaac Samuels on the back page along with his Paris address and a statement about his ministry there. In this way I became familiar with his picture. At one time while I was pastoring in Kansas City we had Dr. Michaelson in our church for a service.

In January 1951, I was privileged to go with a tour group to the Holy Land and several other places. This was less than three years after the founding of the State of Israel. One day in Israel our party went by tour bus to Mt. Carmel. During that trip I managed to have a conversation with our tour guide. This Jewish man, because of his job, needed to know a lot about the Bible to explain things to a group of Christian ministers. It concerned me that a man who knew a lot about the Bible and was a guide in the Holy Land did not know Jesus Christ. When I had an opportunity to speak to him in private, I urged him to give his heart and life to Jesus, the promised Messiah.

"But it's awfully hard for a Jew to become a Christian," he replied. "But I have a brother who is a Christian." This man's name was Alexander Samuels.

"Is your brother Isaac Samuels in Paris, France?" I asked.

He almost shouted his reply, "Do you know my brother?"

"No, I have never met him," I replied, "but I expect to be in Paris next week, and I want to find him if I can." It is my understanding that these brothers had been separated from the time they were quite young.

A few days later I was In Paris, but was not able to contact Isaac Samuels. I later learned that he was in Algiers in North Africa at that time.

Some months after my return from the trip I learned that Dr. Paul Rees was to speak to a church in Kansas City. I had met him a few times and always enjoyed hearing him preach. When We reached the church it was already crowded and we were seated near the back of the church. Sometime during the service my attention was drawn to a large bearded man on the far side of the house and a few seats ahead of us. Occasionally I looked his way and wondered where I had seen him, or if, indeed, I had seen him. The only view I had was a side view and at an angle behind him. The service was over and the crowd flowed out and down the steps.Just as I reached the sidewalk, it came to me. I know that fellow! Working my way back up the steps against the crowd and into the building, I found my man.

"Are you Isaac Samuels?"

The curt reply was, "I am."

After a few explanatory remarks, I said to him, "Recently, I saw your brother Alexander in Israel."

Now it was his turn to be surprised, and he cried excitedly, "Do you know my brother?"

I told him how I had become acquainted with his picture, how I had come to meet Alexander, and how I had tried to find him in Paris, We arranged to have him in our home and in our church for a service. Yes, he had his cello and played it for us at church and later at Kansas City College and Bible School where I took him for a service in chapel. He told us how he hoped it would be possible for him to make a trip to Israel and meet his brother whom he had not seen for so very long.

I had secured Alexander's address while in Israel and wrote him a letter urging him to seek Jesus as Savior and assured him of our prayers.

I never did hear any more from or about the Samuels brothers. One can only hope and pray and leave the rest to God.