Originally Posted By: bkelly1
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Anyone ever heard of a Kerr Fruit Jar?
At the age of fourteen, Alexander Kerr was converted to Christ under the ministry of Evange-list Dwight L. Moody. Some years later, in 1902, Mr. Kerr read the story of Jacob and of his vow found in Genesis 28:22 which says, ??and of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth.? The Scriptures record that twenty years later, Jacob returned to his home with great numbers of servants and cattle. He had become one of the richest men in the East as a result of keeping his covenant of tithing.
Moved by the account, Alexander Kerr made a covenant himself to tithe as had Jacob before him. At that time, Kerr had a mortgage on his house, owed many obligations, and was burdened with a number of worries. However, he was determined to prove God as Jacob had done.
Mr. Kerr often remarked that if modern day skeptics wanted proof that there is a God, that the Bible is His Holy Word, and that its promises are true, all they needed to do is tithe for one year and God would prove to them, without a doubt, that He is, ?. . the same yesterday, today, and forever..? (Hebrews 13: 8 ).
Within three months of beginning to tithe, unexpected and unforeseen blessings started coming his way. With very little money on hand, Kerr organized the firm known as the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company. It became one of the largest firms selling fruit jars in the United States. His company was headquartered in San Francisco.
Mr. Kerr had put practically every cent he had into his fruit jar enterprise, and then came the 1906 earthquake and fire! His friends came to him and said, "Kerr, you are a ruined man." He replied, "I don't believe it; if I am, then the Bible is not true; I know God will not go back on His promises."
He wired to San Francisco, and received the following reply, "Your factory is in the heart of the fire and undoubtedly is destroyed. The heat is so intense we will be unable to find out anything for some days."
About a week after the earthquake and fire, a second telegram arrived saying, "Everything for a mile and a half on all sides of the factory burned; but your factory is miraculously saved."
Mr. Kerr immediately boarded a train for San Francisco. The factory was a two-story wooden building containing the huge tanks where the glass was melted. The tanks were kept at a temperature of 2500 degrees. Oil was used for fuel. The building was probably the most flammable in San Francisco!
The fire had raged on all sides of the factory, creeping up to the wooden fence surrounding the building and even scorching it; then the flames and fire leaped around and over and beyond the building, burning everything in its path. However, not even the wooden fence was burned, nor the building, and not a single glass jar was cracked by either the earthquake or the fire.
In 1912 Mr. Kerr wrote his first leaflet on the subject of tithing entitled, God's Cure for Poverty. This was followed by another tract entitled, God's Loving Money Rule For Your Financial Prosperity. Every case of fruit jars that left the factory contained one of these leaflets. From
1912 to the time of his death on February 9, 1924, he had freely distributed more than five
million of these
Talk about great marketing people! Have you seen what they’ve done with the bible? Don’t forget those huge churches popping up everywhere, man oh man. I better go pray for more business, god will help me if it’s his will…