Articles
Sewage Conversion
Ravi Zacharias, a prominent Christian apologist, tells the story of a former Vietnamese interpreter of his who was arrested after the fall of South Vietnam. Of course, when communists take over they attempt to destroy every vestige of spirituality they can find.
The interpreter was placed on latrine duty in prison, and while emptying buckets of sewage he saw a scrap of paper that appeared to have a Bible verse on it. He fished it out, cleaned it as best he could, and read it. It was a page from a Bible, and it reminded him of what he had interpreted for Ravi years before. The Bible pages were actually being used as toilet paper by the prison commandant. The inmate shocked everyone by afterward volunteering for regular latrine duty, but it gave him access to Scripture – gross as it may have been – that changed his heart and his life.
While anectodal, there are several points to ponder in this story:
1) Some hate God and His word so much that they will smear it with excrement. How depraved we can become when we reject God for our own vain ideas!
2) You can rip pages from the Bible and use them as Charmin, but you cannot destroy the truth and hope and love they convey.
3) If one is truly searching for God, His providence will make a way to be found. He may even use an atheist who has utter disgust for Scripture to disseminate His truth.
4) Are we as diligent about finding truth as was this Vietnamese man? Access to God’s word is so easy for us, maybe too easy. Let us not take it for granted lest He take it away.
