The Gideon’s annual Pastor’s Appreciation was Saturday night and Linda and I made our pilgrimage!
We always enjoy the banquet; the food, seeing our pastoral friends, and hearing the testimonies of the work of the Gideons.
Listening to the testimonies always encourages me.
There was one in particular about a jihadist who was chosen to bomb and kill other religious worship centers.
It didn’t matter if they were Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, or Hindu.
He found out that a group of pastors were taking a bus to a ministerial conference.
He planted a bomb on the bus but the bus broke down and the pastors had to transfer to another bus.
They made it to the conference without incident.
The original bus was repaired and a group of Muslims boarded it and were all killed by their own jihadist’s bomb.
Meanwhile there’s a man in prison who read a Gideon Bible and accepts Jesus as Savior.
The Islamic jihadist was sentence to prison and was placed in the cell with the new Christian, who shared his faith.
They did not get along too well.
One day the jihadist, a smoker, noticed how thin the pages of the Gideon Bible were and would tear them out and roll them into cigarettes.
As he was smoking the New Testament, he began to cough and choke and he called on the Christian to pray for him, which he did.
The jihadist calmed down and was instantly better.
He unrolled the half-smoked cigarette and read what was left of the scripture; Mark 1:15, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent , and believe in the gospel.”
That man is now preaching the Gospel in churches in Indonesia.
That is the power of God’s word.

Isa 55:11 My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.