Wow! At our last Legacy Moms meeting, we had Scott Wilder, host of "The Scott Wilder Show" on KWRD 100.7 FM visit with us and share with us some amazing stories about his adventures taking Bibles to countries where it is illegal to do so. The feedback on his time with us has been amazing! People have told me that the things he shared "changed them" and that they would never forget what they learned that night. What a blessing it was for all who came. This is what being a Legacy Mom really is: getting outside ourselves and our little bubble and caring about what God cares about!
Here is just one of the stories he shared with us:
While those who bring Bibles into the country face some risk, the real risk is faced by those inside the country who work as couriers taking Bibles to the house churches and to the villages. While those from outside are not treated so poorly, those inside the country who do this work often face prison sentences to work hard labor. The charges are so vague as to be impossible to defend oneself against.
We heard many stories of people who are right now working in re-education camps in the People's Republic of China. Here is just one:Three people were transporting scriptures from one village to another and they were stopped by the authorities. Of course, they were detained and arrested and the scriptures were confiscated.
They were put in prison and for the first several days they were really beaten very severely. They were given only water to drink, nothing to eat. After about four days of that, they took these three people, all men, out into the village square.
The Police chief said, 'We're going to have a great celebration and you people are going to be the center of it all.' He said that very sarcastically so these three people knew that this was not going to be anything good.
They got out to the village square and there was a huge crowd of people that the authorities had gathered to observe this event. In the middle of all these people was a table. Remember that these men hadn't eaten in four days. They'd had a bit to drink, but nothing to eat.
On this table were three piles of food: some rice, some rice cakes, and some sweet foods. Quite a bit of food in three piles. Each man was asked to stand behind a pile of food at the table.
Then the officer said to them, "All you have to do to get your freedom is to simply indicate that you will stop witnessing, that you'll stop transporting these Bibles, by stepping forward and eating the food. You don't have to say anything. Just step forward and eat the food. That will be the indication that you're going to quit."And he said, "And there's nothing you can do to save these books!" and he pointed to the end of the table where all the Bibles that had been confiscated were piled on the ground.
"Ah," he said, "but there is something you can do to save these books."
And from under the table, he took three rice bowls filled with sewer water. (We saw these open sewers along the side of the road...what they call a benjo ditch. This sewer water is thick black sludge...human waste. That is what was in these bowls.)
The officer said, "If you drink these bowls of sewer water, you can have these books."
After he had said that, the three men, without a moment of hesitation, stepped forward and each of them drank the bowls of sewer water.
Of course, the authorities didn't know what to do because they had promised that they could keep the books. The crowd understood that the authorities would lose face if the they'd kept the books. There were many Christians in the crowd looking, so some in the crowd came forward and took the books for their use.
The three men were put back in prison. They suffered for another seven days. They were beaten some more, but finally they were released.
The amazing thing is that none of the men got sick. Normally, if you were to drink that sewer water, you'd probably die. In some miraculous way, God protected these three people.
Everything the authorities try to do in a sense backfires and that was a tremendous witness to the people of that village. Seven months after this event, there were 800 baptisms in the village where this had taken place.
Now the need for Bibles was greater than ever.
We heard many stories of people who are right now working in re-education camps in the People's Republic of China. Here is just one:Three people were transporting scriptures from one village to another and they were stopped by the authorities. Of course, they were detained and arrested and the scriptures were confiscated.
They were put in prison and for the first several days they were really beaten very severely. They were given only water to drink, nothing to eat. After about four days of that, they took these three people, all men, out into the village square.
The Police chief said, 'We're going to have a great celebration and you people are going to be the center of it all.' He said that very sarcastically so these three people knew that this was not going to be anything good.
They got out to the village square and there was a huge crowd of people that the authorities had gathered to observe this event. In the middle of all these people was a table. Remember that these men hadn't eaten in four days. They'd had a bit to drink, but nothing to eat.
On this table were three piles of food: some rice, some rice cakes, and some sweet foods. Quite a bit of food in three piles. Each man was asked to stand behind a pile of food at the table.
Then the officer said to them, "All you have to do to get your freedom is to simply indicate that you will stop witnessing, that you'll stop transporting these Bibles, by stepping forward and eating the food. You don't have to say anything. Just step forward and eat the food. That will be the indication that you're going to quit."And he said, "And there's nothing you can do to save these books!" and he pointed to the end of the table where all the Bibles that had been confiscated were piled on the ground.
"Ah," he said, "but there is something you can do to save these books."
And from under the table, he took three rice bowls filled with sewer water. (We saw these open sewers along the side of the road...what they call a benjo ditch. This sewer water is thick black sludge...human waste. That is what was in these bowls.)
The officer said, "If you drink these bowls of sewer water, you can have these books."
After he had said that, the three men, without a moment of hesitation, stepped forward and each of them drank the bowls of sewer water.
Of course, the authorities didn't know what to do because they had promised that they could keep the books. The crowd understood that the authorities would lose face if the they'd kept the books. There were many Christians in the crowd looking, so some in the crowd came forward and took the books for their use.
The three men were put back in prison. They suffered for another seven days. They were beaten some more, but finally they were released.
The amazing thing is that none of the men got sick. Normally, if you were to drink that sewer water, you'd probably die. In some miraculous way, God protected these three people.
Everything the authorities try to do in a sense backfires and that was a tremendous witness to the people of that village. Seven months after this event, there were 800 baptisms in the village where this had taken place.
Now the need for Bibles was greater than ever.
Thank you all who came and shared a wonderful evening with us! Hopefully during this time with so much uncertainty about our country, we can all be reassured that our God is sovereign and that His hand in on his children.
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