I Had Lunch with Corrie ten Boom

My cousin Sukie once asked me who I’d choose to have lunch with if I could have lunch with anyone. I said I couldn’t think of anyone, whereupon Sukie said that she would like to have lunch with Corrie ten Boom. I felt really bad about telling her I’d already had lunch with Corrie ten Boom.

Back in the early seventies my mother and I attended Pittsburgh Church of the Brethren. Its pastor, Russ Bixler, was one of the pastors involved in putting together the annual Greater Pittsburgh Charismatic Conference. He asked for volunteers. My mother and I raised our hands. Our assignment—and we did choose to accept it—was to pick up a speaker named Corrie ten Boom at the airport, take her and her nurse to their hotel, and provide whatever transportation they needed. We were happy to do it, and we were also thrilled to be able to buy them lunch.

Our assignment didn’t last long—several bigwigs were eager to help us with our “chore.” But I can tell you two things that were on Corrie ten Boom’s mind:

(1) Corrie ten Boom did not believe in the Rapture. She had just come back from Africa. While she was there, some Christians were murdered. Within a week after she spoke, half the Christians in that African church were murdered. She felt that Christians in America were too busy singing “I’ll Fly Away” and eren’t being prepared to stand on verses like James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

(2) Corrie ten Boom also said Christians needed to stay away from the occult, especially from secret societies like the Masons. I can’t remember much about what she said on this one, but in my own defense, it was over half a century ago.

Margot Armer