‘Dear Sir,--My friend, Jessie Strachan, called to see me this afternoon and was saying how pleased she is that her brother, Claude, is attending the evening services. She asked me, as I know you, to write begging you to speak to him about his soul. She has for a long time desired to do so herself, but doesn’t like to. She thinks that a word from you would do good.’

Every minister of any experience has received scores of such letters. They represent the first clumsy efforts of well-meaning but immature young wirepullers. When Jessie Strachan gets a little older, she will discover that the secret of successful wirepulling lies in the direct pull. As yet, she has not learned that lesson. She wants to influence her brother, so she runs her wire round my lady friend, and then round me, and she gets it entangled with the Church en route. I have seen a good deal of this kind of wirepulling, but I have never yet seen it achieve success. Let Jessie Strachan make the direct pull upon her brother! Let her show him by her ready sympathy, her sisterly affection, and her sweet helpfulness, what a lovely thing religion is. And then, her gentle yet noble behavior having won his confidence and admiration, and given her a queenly authority over him, let her carefully select her time and modestly unfold to him the wonderful secret of her own deep peace and joy! And she will be astonished at his readiness to share her radiant experience with her. The more direct the pull, the more effective it must of necessity be.   

The Crystal Pointers - F.W. Boreham