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A Single Page of 1st John... Or No Bible At All - Jan. 2009 |
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By Judy Smith
 Several years ago my friend Johan Erasmus told me the story of taking Bibles to Pastors in Mozambique, Africa. The Pastors had no Bibles. They also had no clothes. When the Bible distribution team arrived at the designated location, the pastors refused to step out of the forest because they were without clothes and females were among those bringing them Bibles.
Realizing the situation, the men on the team began to shed any extra clothing which they then distributed to the Pastors so they could emerge from the jungle and receive their Bibles. Prior to this none of the Pastors had owned a Bible. They had only on copy of 1 John which they had divided page by page among themselves and with those few verses they each planted a church. Imagine the incredible joy they experienced as they were given their own complete Bible.
A few days ago during an SBS discussion group, I asked the Montana SBS students why they thought Christians did not read their Bibles. Various helpful explanations surfaced but I was deeply challenged when Uan from Thailand shared. She said that she had lived with several Vietnamese DTS staff and these women read the entire Bible through at least three times a month! Intrigued by their Bible reading habits, Uan asked them why they read the Bible so much. Their reply was,
"so that if it is ever taken away from us we will have it in our hearts."
These two stories speak for themselves. We have been given a great treasure.
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