Communist Plot Backfires!
You yourself must be an example to them by doing good deeds of every kind (Titus 2:7, NLT).
Dear friends:
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), better known as just Hudson Taylor, was one of the greatest missionaries of all time.
Once at age 4, Hudson piped up, “When I am a man, I mean to be a missionary and go to China.”
He surely did!
However, as a teen, Hudson was influenced by his friends and became worldly for a period of time. But one afternoon when he was 17 years of age, in June 1849, he went into his father’s library in search of a book to read. Finally he picked up a gospel tract entitled, “It is Finished,” and decided to read the story in it. The Holy Spirit greatly used that tract, which soon led him to receive Christ as his Savior.
Taylor later founded the famous China Inland Mission, through which he established 20 mission stations, brought hundreds of missionaries to the field, trained some 700 Chinese workers, raised four million dollars by faith (which may be worth a billion or more in today’s money), and developed a Chinese church of 125,000.
It has been said that at least 35,000 were his own converts and that he baptized some 50,000. He had a great gift for inspiring people to give themselves and their possessions to Christ.
Some years ago the Communist, atheistic, anti-God government in China commissioned an author to write a biography of Hudson Taylor with the purpose of distorting the facts and presenting him in a bad light. They wanted to discredit the name of this consecrated missionary of the gospel, thus discrediting the gospel and our Lord.
But as the author was doing his research, he was increasingly impressed by Taylor’s saintly character and godly life, and he found it extremely difficult to carry out his assigned task with a clear conscience.
Eventually, at the risk of losing his life, he laid aside his pen, renounced his atheism, and received Jesus as his personal Savior.
Whether we realize it or not, our example leaves an impression on others. Let us ask God to help us make it one of love, faith, and purity of life.
Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, NIV).
Yours for helping to fulfill the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
About the Author
The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, “JESUS,” which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to “Touch, Teach and Train” a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.
Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
