My husband and I are AirBNB Super Hosts … have been for about five years. A standard practice I started from the onset is to place a Bible beside the bed. I figure if it was good enough for the Gideons, it’s good enough for my guests. I have had a lot of compliments about this practice. However, there seems to be one in every crowd that remarked, “I won’t waste my time with the Bible, it never did anything for me.” Hmmm; that statement reminded me of a story about a famous agnostic who gave speeches mocking Christianity.
On September 19, 1876, this agnostic was on a train traveling to a meeting through the Midwestern countryside. Seated next to him on the same train was a man who had been his commander during the Civil War, who also happened to be a skeptic of Christianity. The agnostic said, “It won’t be long before all the little white churches dotting the countryside will only be a faint memory.” Then he added, “But it’s strange to me that many people are still enamored of Christianity and this man Jesus. Why don’t you write a book exposing Jesus for the fraud that he is?”
The man who made the suggestion was Col. Robert Ingersoll. His companion was Civil War General Lew Wallace. Wallace accepted the challenge and embarked on researching his book to expose Jesus. But to do that he first had to read the Bible. Second, he did some background reading. Third, he went to the Holy Land and searched out places associated with the life of Jesus. Then for the first time in his life he began to talk to people of great faith. Before beginning his research, Wallace had only spoken to the university elites of his time. At the end of his research, Wallace abandoned his skepticism and became a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote the novel, “Ben Hur,” not to ridicule Christianity, but to declare Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The book was published on November 12, 1880, and became one of the most influential Christian books of the nineteenth century, later being made into one of the most popular movies of all time. The power of God’s Word can certainly wear out many a critic’s sharp tongue.
Gideons International has countless testimonies where the presence of God’s Word has literally saved the life of the reader. Men and women check into hotels despondent, hopeless, filled with depression, thinking they have no place to turn, considering suicide. They pick up the “Book” at their bedside and read about a Creator who loves them enough to send His only Son to die for them. That “Book” changes lives.
That’s the power of the Living Word!
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdministries@gmail.com.
Tagged: American history, Jesus
