Lest we become discouraged, three stories remind us of Jesus’ promise, “Seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). The first took place during Communist domination of Eastern Europe. Generations grew up under atheism. Ivan Martos, a Hungarian banker, was on a train when Communist guards boarded to check each passenger. Ivan’s documents were in order, but his personal Bible was discovered. Waving it, one guard shouted, “What is a man in your position doing with a Bible?” Then the guard tossed the Bible out the window of the moving train. About two years later, Ivan received a postal package in Budapest. It contained his Bible! An apologetic note explained:
Our children were playing one day along the railroad tracks. They found your Bible. Not knowing what it was, one of them took it to his grandmother, who immediately recognized it as a Bible. Word spread quickly through our little village. Some of our older people had possessed Bibles before they were banned and remembered the significance and power of the Word of God. We decided to conceal the discovery while those who so desired would make handwritten copies. That joyful task lasted two years. Please forgive our keeping your Bible so long. But you might like to know that we are now a secret band of about 30 who have baptized each other and seek to follow Jesus in our daily lives.
The second story involves a renowned Italian priest, Fausto Salvoni. As a professor trained at Roman Catholic universities in Rome and Milan, Fausto excelled in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Egyptian hieroglyphics and five modern languages. He taught at Italy’s largest seminary, but was demoted for focusing on the Scriptures instead of traditional interpretations. When Fausto’s Bible study led him to renounce his Roman Catholic priesthood, family and friends disowned him. He met Harold Paden, a former American soldier who had returned to help Italians recover from World War 2. Fausto had Harold baptize him into Christ. Despite death threats, Fausto became an influential and scholarly advocate for New Testament Christianity.
The third story is of a Nigerian, C.A.O. Essien. He had a dream in which God judged him for his corruption and abuse of power. In repentance, he resigned from the police, and began to read the Bible and to visit churches. Comparing his Bible with practices he observed, he sadly concluded that the Christianity of the Bible no longer existed. While taking business lessons by correspondence from Germany, he asked about Bible study. The German secretary referred him to Christians in Nashville, Tennessee. Their Bible course—a precursor to World Bible School— matched what Essien read in his Bible. Essien regained hope, obeyed the Gospel, and helped some 10,000 to do the same, launching a West African movement that flourishes to this day.