The Elders of Neuwied Reject Barbara.
Jacob Mörschel remained convinced of the godliness of the Reawakening, but he now wanted to return home to Neuwied, about 150 miles (240 km) west of Ronneburg. He asked Barbara to join his party. She agreed. The last part of the journey was by sailboat on the Rhine. Jacob estimated that they would arrive in Neuwied at nightfall. Barbara thought that an arrival at nightfall would please Jacob, because he did not want to be seen in the company of Barbara and other believers in the Reawakening. Barbara experienced a spiritual disclosure: they would not arrive that evening, but rather at noon the next day. A strong unfavorable wind then arose and drove the ship aground, where it remained overnight. The next day they arrived at Neuwied at noon, the time that had been revealed to her. Jacob acknowledged that the delay had occurred because of his intellectual pride.
Jacob Mörschel had reason to fear arrival in broad daylight; the Neuwied Inspirationists were skeptical about the Reawakening.
Soon after the arrival of Barbara and the others, the Neuwied Elders met privately to discuss whether they should admit Barbara to their worship service. During their meeting, Barbara, in another house, fell into a trance and had a vision. In this vision, she saw the Elders reaching a decision to reject her. When she came out of her trance, she told Jacob Mörschel and the others in the room what she had seen. Early the next day a messenger brought Jacob a letter from the Elders. The man started to prepare Jacob with a long explanation, but Jacob cut him off, saying he already knew what was in the letter. The messenger was amazed when Jacob told him how he knew. The messenger felt kindly toward the visitors and warned them to leave before the Elders asked the local government to take action against them. They left two days later.
Jacob Mörschel accompanied them for awhile. When he was about to leave them, Barbara delivered a testimony of encouragement.
With her remaining companions, Barbara journeyed to other congregations, which welcomed them. There Barbara delivered further testimonies. They made their way back to Bergzabern, where Barbara had delivered her first Aussprache. From Bergzabern, Barbara went to Anweiler in order to rest.
Read more about this topic: Barbara Heinemann Landmann
Famous quotes containing the words elders and/or reject:
“...I am who I am because I’m a black female.... When I was health director in Arkansas ... I could talk about teen-age pregnancy, about poverty, ignorance and enslavement and how the white power structure had imposed it—only because I was a black female. I mean, black people would have eaten up a white male who said what I did.”
—Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933)
“Simply because our times are complex, does it follow that our parenting must also be? Must we reject the common sense that what worked so well in the past just because our times are high-tech? We live in such fear of being called “old-fashioned” that we are cutting ourselves off from that which is proven.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)