A Lawyer involved in the Watergate scandal became friendly with a man called Tom Phillips. Tom read to him a passage from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. “As he read I could feel a flush coming into my face and a curious burn- ing sensation … Lewis’s words seemed to pound straight at me.”
He took the book on vacation with him and read it through. He was challenged by it and by the end of that week he had made a commitment to Christ which sustained him through what was to come. The lawyer was Chuck Colson. His story can he found in Born Again.
The printed page is a visitor who gets inside the home and stays there; it always catches a man in the right mood, for it speaks to him only when he is reading it.
-Anon
No agency can penetrate so deeply, witness so daringly, abide so persistently and influence so daringly as the printed page.
-Samuel Zwerner
Although I am constantly involved in preaching and teaching I have been encouraged more through the response to the printed word than by any other means. No-one anywhere on this planet would have a higher regard for the power of Christian literature than I. With me it is one of the highest priorities - for prayer and action.
-Selwyn Hughes
John Collins, a clergyman in Oxford, used the booklet Becoming a Christian by John Stott to explain the message of Christ to a young man.
He found the book “compelling with its simplicity and clear in its log- ical reasoning”. It was part of the process which led him to accept Christ as his personal Saviour. The young man? - David Watson.
The smallest tract may he the stone in David’s sling. In the hands of Christ it may bring down a giant soul.
-Robert Murray McCheyne
In prison in Thailand for the possession of heroin Rita Nightingale was on the edge of despair. Alone in her cell, looking for a handkerchief she found a booklet left by a visitor. The book was called The Reason Why by Norman Laidlaw. In her own words: “I began to read. As I read, it seemed as if every word in the booklet had been written with me in mind …” She committed her life to Christ as a result.
Extract from:Freed for Life.
For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12.
“Follow ME and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 1:7. Like a sharp arrow well aimed, these words leapt out from the pages of my text-book and pierced my heart.
“As I read, I became aware of a strange Presence and the whole atmosphere changed. The classroom became a holy place. It was as though JESUS stood there gazing down at me. Something different was happening to me. His eyes, gentle, loving eyes which went right through me, left me feeling exposed and naked. It was as though time stopped … I could hear a soft yet authoritative voice deep inside me saying ‘FOLLOW ME …’ It was gentle yet irresistible.” Philip Mohabirin Building Bridges.
Books may preach when the author cannot, when the author may not, when the author dares not, yea, and which is more, when the author is not.
-Thomas Brookes
Brian Greenaway, a member of’ a Hells Angel Chapter was in prison. Each week one of the prison visitors brought in a copy of the Methodist Recorder: Brian read it because it was free. He was intrigued by a regular advertise- ment for a new Bible - The Living Bible. Eventually he asked the visitor for a copy, and was given one along with another book Run Baby Run. He started the book first: “It was the true story of a New York gang leader. But it was as though I was reading my story. The places were different but the violence, sex and drugs and crime were the same.” He kept on read- ing and committed his life there in his cell.
Extract from: Hell’s Angel.
“That’s it! That’s it! I’m a son of God!” - It was like a great flash of light. Something I had been searching for had suddenly been discovered. “I’m a son of God!” That truth transformed my life and ministry.
I was reading a book, The Normal Christian Life, written by a Chinese layman with the unlikely name of Watchman Nee. This made me realise that nearly everything I had known and experienced about the Christian life was “sub-normal”. Colin Urquhart in When, the Spirit Comes.
The function of a good book is to stand like a signpost directing the reader toward the Truth and the Life … the work of a good book is to incite the reader to moral action, to turn his eyes toward God and urge him forward. -A W Tozer
