A Changed Life
Missionary Gaylord Kambarami believed in the power of the Bible. In 1995 he was the general secretary of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe when he went to the rural area of Murewa to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
Not everyone, however, was receptive to his offer of inexpensive copies of the New Testament.
A village headman refused it because, he claimed, “It pollutes people.” The missionary then offered it to him for free. As the headman looked more closely at the book, he noticed the thin pages and thought they would be useful for rolling cigarettes. So, he said he would take it only if he could use it for smoking.
“Fine,” said the missionary, but he added a request: “Read each page before you smoke it.”
A couple of years later, Mr. Kambarami returned to the Murewa area where he hosted a gospel meeting under a big tent. As he preached to the crowd about the power of the Word of God to change lives, a man in a nice suit listened attentively. Toward the end of the service, the suited man stood and said, “Please let me say a few words.” He was invited to the platform to speak.
“This man doesn’t remember me,” he said, “because when I last saw him I was a drunkard. But he came to our village and persuaded me to take the Bible. I told him I would use the paper to roll cigarettes. But I promised to read each page before doing so, which I did. So I smoked my way through Matthew. And I smoked the whole of Mark too. Then I smoked Luke. I started smoking John, but when I came to John 3:16, a light shone in my face. And now I am a church going person. I saw the light.”
Reflecting on this experience, Kambarami said, “This is why we try to get people to read the Bible. Even reading it on your own, you can transform yourself.” He added, “The Bible reads people. It holds the answer.”
The best news of all in the Bible is that the wonderful life change can last forever:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
By Barry Kimbrough
Pastor, Cave Junction Seventh-day Adventist Church