PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE
By: Ron Woodrum
Adolf Hitler certainly knew the power of words. His book Mein Kampf, (My Struggle), written during his imprisonment in 1921 has rivaled Pilgrim’s Progress for the second-best selling book in history, second only to the Bible. That book laid the foundation for the rise of the Nazi regime that plunged the entire world into war. Warren Wiersbe, in his book Be Skillful, says that for every word in Mein Kampf 125 people lost their lives in WWII. Karl Marx boasted “give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world”. He was referring to the alphabet. He took their soldiers (the letters of the alphabet) and put his evil philosophy into the words of his Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, and nearly succeeded at his goal! I doubt if either of those two evil dictators realized that they were bearing witness to the truth of Holy Scripture.
The Bible says, “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21); “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov. 12:18); “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Prov. 15:1); “A word fitly spoken are like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Prov. 25:11); “From the wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive” (Prov. 16:23); “Kind words are sweet like honey-sweet to soul and healthy for the body” (Prov. 16:24); “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, perverse words break the spirit” (Prov. 15:4); “The good person out of the goodness of his heart produces good; the evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45); “The gospel is a savor of death unto death for those who reject it, and a savor of life unto life to those who welcome it” (II Cor. 2:15-16); What is true of human words is infinitely more true of Divine words. That is why the writer of the book of Hebrews said, “The Word of God is alive, and sharper than a two-edged sword” and has the power to transform! (Heb. 4:12).
Let me share a real life example of that with you. One Sunday morning Charles Spurgeon was getting ready to enter the pulpit of the great Metropolitan Chapel. He was discouraged. He felt like he had nothing to speak to his people.
This is what he said, in his own words- “Upon this day,” he was in his study, seated at his desk, he said, “I was sick and discouraged.” And he said, “I sat down at the desk and I thought, ‘Oh, how can I preach? I am sick and I am discouraged. How can I preach?’” And as he sat there at the desk, sick and discouraged, he said, “I noticed on the desk a mission report.” He said, “I picked it up and it was a missionary who was reporting on his year’s work in the Dominican Republic.”
And he said he looked through the report and the missionary reported, said, “We had a hard year. We had very few souls. And I don’t have much to report.” But he said, “There was one glorious conversion.” He said, “There was a man who came from a long distance, from Haiti on the other side of the island, there was a man who came from Haiti, and he said, ‘I’ve been saved, and I want to be baptized.’”
And the missionary said, “You’ve been saved? Where and when and how?” And the man replied, “I came upon, I found a sermon by the London preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, translated into French,” which is the language they speak in Haiti, “translated into French.” And he said, “I read that sermon, and I was saved. And I have come all the way over here to the Dominican Republic, I heard of you, wanting you to baptize me.” And the missionary said, “That is the bright place in my report for the year.” Spurgeon said, “I read that,” and he said, “when I did, the Holy Spirit of encouragement and strength came upon me, and I prepared the sermon that I am preaching today.” That’s the way Spurgeon began that message. You never know. You never ever know. There is power in words. Power for good. Power for evil. But the Word of God is the epitome of power! As Isaiah 55 promises “it will not return…void”. Please welcome Bro. Herb Curtis as he shares more testimony of the Power of the Living Word.