Recently, The Voice of the Martyrs publication,
which details the persecution of Christians around the world, featured the
amazing conversion story of a Vietnamese spinster named Xuan.
Every day,
Xuan would pick through the garbage and find things to recycle for cash to
support her family. Her husband had left her. She was paid by the gram for
paper. One day, Xuan saw some people worshiping in the area where she was going
through garbage. She kept going back to watch them as they sang and prayed. “I
found out that they worshiped God in heaven and I realized that they had a
different God than me,” she said.
Then, a
woman came by and handed her a Bible. She told Xuan, “Read this book.” Xuan
took it home and weighed it on her scale. It was 800 grams, not a large amount
to recycle, but she could get a little money for it. She thought, “How could
God be in this 800 gram book?” So she decided to read the book at the rate of 10
chapters a day. She finished in six months.
“The first
time I read it, I did not understand, so I was going to give it back to the
lady,” Xuan said. “Then I thought I heard someone say, “I will give you wisdom.”
She didn’t have electricity in her home, so she raised the candle she was using
to read and looked to see who had spoken to her. No one was there.
“The
second time I read the Bible, I still did not understand, then I heard the same
voice. I lit a whole newspaper to make light to see who spoke to me,” she said.
But there was no one.
The third
time she read the Bible through, Xuan heard the same voice saying again, “I
will give you wisdom.” Though again she saw no one, she finally began to
understand the Bible, and she turned her life over to Christ.
That was
nearly thirteen years ago, and today Xuan has read the Bible 21 times through. Today,
Xuan is sharing the gospel as a local worker through VOM. Every week she is
teaching the Bible to new converts in her church, sharing the gospel on the
streets, at work and in another village. One of the young boys she mentored
went on to Bible school and is now also in full-time ministry. She owes her new
life and the fruit of her ministry to a small, 800-gram God book.[1]
Isaiah
55:11 says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (KJV).” Eugene Peterson paraphrases Hebrews
4:12-13 like this, “God’s Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through
everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey.
Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no
matter what (MSG).”
The Word
of God never fails. When it is faithfully declared or read it will comfort or convict,
build up or break down, repel or compel. Because God is omnipotent He possesses the power to
communicate with us in any way that He desires—whether it’s through the written
word or a burning bush or a donkey’s mouth. Because God continually sustains
the universe by His word (Heb.1:3) then He can faithfully preserve His word
through epochs of time and the sword of persecution.
There is
no other book like it. Martin Luther said, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to
me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.” Charles
Spurgeon added, “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a
lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend
itself.”
[1] “Vietnam:
800 Grams,” The Voice of the Martyrs, 5 September 2014 <http://www.persecution.com/public/newsroom.aspx?story_ID==373034>
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