Abraham Lincoln once met Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book had caused a furor across the North and South as it inflamed Northerners against the institution of slavery and angered Southerners because of its portrayal of slavery.
When Lincoln met Harriet B. Stowe, he said, "So this is the little lady that started this war." His point was well taken, because he knew the old saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Books can and do have tremendous influence on the minds of men.
One man reads The Turner Diaries and becomes the most deadly terrorist on American soil. They found a copy of the book in Timothy McVeigh’s car at the time of his arrest. In it, the author describes the makings of the bomb McVeigh used. Scholars of all kinds of disciplines read Charles Darwin’s book and the academic and scientific world shift.
Books have a residual power to influence long after we read the last page. Their descriptions and concepts stick in our minds like so many burrs in our mental saddles.
In an interview on the streets of Boston, passersby are asked their opinion of the Bible. The people aren’t believers in or followers of Christ, but are the typical and average non-Christians that ride the MTA’S and the MARTA’S of our cities. Their responses were, "a fascinating book," "very interesting," and "great stories."
Although they wouldn’t agree with us that the Bible is the Word of God, their answers come down in our favor because we have a beachhead to go on from there and request that they read just one book in that Book, the book of John.
The Bible has a power all its own. It truly is a self-authenticating book. As a person reads the gospel of John, it will authenticate itself to him that it is the Word of God. Jesus said in John 10, "My sheep hear My voice and they know Me and I know them." It will authenticate itself to the reader.
God had John write the book so that people would believe Jesus for eternal life. John said that is the reason he wrote it – "These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life through His name."
So here’s the thing: for anyone who wants to know who Jesus is and what He did, and that the gospel is true, the book of John is the book to read. Read it three times. The book has a power all its own. It’ll authenticate itself to the reader.
Unfortunately many believers feel that they just can’t "witness." But haven’t we all recommended a movie, a book, or a restaurant? Can we not recommend a very special book, the gospel of John to people? That’s not hard and is an approach free from pressuring someone. It’s simply recommending to them a book that’s changed your life and can change theirs.
There is power in reading. In the case of the gospel of John, it’s the unexplainable power of God.
Dr. Mike Halsey, Pastor
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