The Gospel Tract That Touched China From America

"The best thing I can do is enjoy the pleasures of this world, for there's no hope for me beyond the grave." That is what a 16 year old boy named James thought to himself.  Although he had been raised in a devout Methodist home, he was frustrated by his growing feelings of doubt about God. He had tried acting like a Christian by doing the right things and associating with the right people, but he failed miserably. James though to himself, "For some reason I cannot be saved."

Then, one afternoon, James found a Gospel Tract on a bookshelf in his home. While reading through the tract the phrase "the finished work of Christ" stuck out to him. "What does that mean?" he questioned.

In a moment he remembered something from his religious training: "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

Then he thought to himself, "If the whole work was finished and the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to do?"

Years later James wrote these words about that moment when the truth finally hit him: "With this [thought] dawned the joyful conviction that there was nothing in the world to be done but [to]... accept this Savior and His salvation."

It was not long after this eternal decision that James, James Hudson Taylor that is, now called one of the pioneer missionaries of the 19th century, received his call from God to take this same Gospel of grace to China.

God's heart for the lost explains why He has so often used gospel tracts not only to carry the Gospel where men sometimes can't go, but also to motivate men and women to join Him in seeking to save that which is lost.

Gospel Tracts To Those Who Don't Want Them

A stranger stopped the 18-year-old young man named Thomas on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark and persistently offered him a Gospel Tract. "Why don't you bother other people with your religion!" Thomas yelled. "I'm quite able to take care of myself!"

Furiously, Thomas grabbed the Gospel Tract from the stranger's hand, tore it into pieces, and stuffed it into his pocket. "You attend to your business, and I'll attend to mine!" he said.

Instead of reacting to Thomas's anger, the stranger simply turned away to a nearby doorway, put his hands together, closed his eyes, and began to pray. To the amazement of Thomas, who was still watching, tears started to fall from the strangers eyes. While he was making his way back to his room, Thomas was overcome by curiosity to say the least. He got the ripped up Gospel Tract from his pocket and began to put the pieces of it back together on his desk. He was able to read the simple message that "while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8).

"As I read," Thomas said, "I came under conviction, and it seemed like the mighty hand of God was upon me. Before I had finished reading the tract, I was down on my knees asking God for the forgiveness of my sins. He was faithful, and then and there He brought me into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

Out of gratitude for what God had done for him, Thomas Johannes Bach served God for years as the General Director of The Evangelical Alliance Mission Team. He was a spiritual leader to the mission's eight hundred workers who labored to share that same Gospel he encountered around the world.

We need to learn from this Evangelistic encounter. When we find someone opposed to the Gospel, the least we can do is hand them a Gospel Tract and pray for them. With tracts they will still get the Gospel, for a tract will often speak to a person's heart after that person is alone, away from a face-to-face confrontation, when the Spirit of God can work in quiet conviction. Their pride can't work on them as hard because no one is around.

An Unsaved Husband And A Gospel Tract

Mrs. Rosen prayed for her husband every day, often weeping as she asked the Lord to show him the truth about her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She knew that she couldn't talk much about her newfound faith in Christ, because her husband didn't want to hear it.

However, she did leave a Gospel Tract about heaven on a table in their home, hoping he would pick it up. She knew that her husband was naturally inquisitive, and sure enough, he read it.

A few weeks later her husband blurted out, "Heaven's not like that guy says!" "What guy?" she asked. "The guy who wrote the pamphlet that you left lying around," replied Mr. Rosen.

But when he began to point out where the pamphlet was wrong, Mr. Rosen was forced to face his own thoughts about God honestly, and he recognized his thoughts were tainted what he wanted to think about Heaven. The Gospel Tract he had read caused him to examine Christianity in order to disprove his wife's new faith. But, contrary to his own desires, the information he had received through the tract had planted the seed of the Gospel in his own heart.

Both of them were surprised when Mr. Rosen eventually trusted Christ and was Born Again. The next morning they went to church together, where Mr. Rosen publicly proclaimed his faith.

Little did he know the plans God had for him. Moishe Rosen became the founder of Jews  for Jesus, now an international ministry dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel of forgiveness and eternal life offered through a Jew named Jesus Christ.

Sharing the Gospel with family members, especially an unsaved spouse, demands a special sensitivity. For unlike the stranger on the street or the next door neighbor, a rejection of the Gospel by a relative may cause division and strife in a family. Gospel Tracts help to provide the sensitivity needed to witness to a family member or close friend. Because even after family members or close friends are tired of talking about eternity, they might read the Gospel Tract in private when they are all alone in the quiet.

They Shall Be Led By A Child

Kaye was faced with a decision that no young person should have to face. She had just become a Christian; she had been born again and for the first time in her life she knew real forgiveness of sins.

So what was the problem then?  The problem was that Kaye's parents had raised her in a church that was part of a mainline denomination, and she had been taught to trust Christ plus tradition, not Christ alone, for her eternal salvation. Her parents decided to give her an ultimatum: Come back to the church and forget this born-again garbage, or leave home. Kaye was not willing to deny Christ, so she left home.

For years after she moved out, she had little communication with her parents, and she was very concerned for their salvation. And even after time went by and somewhat broke down the barriers between her and her parents, they still remained hardened against the
message of the True Gospel.

Knowing that her father had always been sensitive about keeping out of debt , Kaye thought a Gospel Tract entitled "Paid in Full" would work well. The tract discussed the biblical phrase "It is finished!" (John 19:30). It declared that "Jesus Christ ended the agony of bearing the punishment for the debt of the world, your sins and mine, on a Roman execution cross." Kaye's selection of this tract was appropriate not only because it would appeal to her father's sensitivity to debt, but also because of he was trusting in Christ plus tradition to make him acceptable before God. The tract she gave had given him emphasized that "God is satisfied that Christ's payment covered the debt you have with Him. Now all He asks is that you acknowledge the debt and accept the payment. The Bible calls that 'believing in Christ' for salvation (Acts 16:30-31)."

After much prayer, Kaye gave copy of the tract "Paid in Full" to her father, and she kept praying as her father considered the claims of the Gospel that the tract spoke of. Weeks after she gave her father the Tract, Kaye's father trusted in Christ alone for his salvation.

The barrier between Kaye and her dad was finally gone, and so was the barrier of sin between her dad and God. For those who want to witness to someone who they respect or who is older then them, the Gospel Tract will do.

Leaving A Tract For A Waitress

Sumner Wemp is a widely known Baptist evangelist who has been a steady advocate for the use of Gospel Tracts for decades. During one of his trips, Sumner had stopped in a restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah for lunch. As was his habit, after the waitress took his order he shared a Gospel tract with her and politely asked her to read it when she had the time. A short time later she brought his lunch and then left to wait on a few other tables.

Later she came by to check on Sumner, and she said, "I read your little paper." Sumner said, "Great!" "I did not know that," she said. "You did not know what?" Sumner asked. "I did not know that Christ suffered for my sins," she said with her eyes full of tears.

Sumner's heart leaped for joy, and he quickly said, "Christ really did suffer and die for your sins. He took the punishment and paid the debt for all we have ever done wrong and then rose again from the grave. He is alive today, and we can know Him personally." Then he carefully explained the Gospel and how we are not saved by our works but by what Christ did on the cross.

When Sumner asked if the waitress understood what he had told her, she said, "Yes, I see that now." He asked her if she wanted to trust Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Almost crying now, she decided to Trust in Christ for eternal life. She had assurance that now she was truly saved. She had served Sumner a meal that would feed him for a few hours, but he had introduced her to the Bread of Life (John 6:35) that would save her for eternity - all because he shared a simple Gospel Tract.

When we Truly care about seeking to save that which is lost, we will do ALL that we can to get the Gospel Truth into the hands of the lost. This includes doing things as simple as leaving a Gospel Tract with a waitress (along with a generous tip of course).

A Japanese Man Finds Peace

It was still early on the morning of December 7, 1941, when 183 Japanese planes left American warships burning in Pearl Harbor. In the skies above, the air commander of the Japanese strike force was safely flying back to his ship to revel in the overwhelming victory. The commander's name was Mitsuo Fuchida.After the war, Mitsuo was so troubled by the strife that had led to the bombing of Pearl
Harbor that he wrote a book entitled No More Pearl Harbors. It was a warning and a plea to pursue peace. But although he preached peace, Mitsuo had no clue to the source of power that could generate such peace.

On a trip to Tokyo, Mitsuo was handed a pamphlet entitled "I Was a Prisoner of Japan," written by former prisoner of war Jacob DeShazer. Locked in a Japanese prison for 40 months, DeShazer almost went insane because of the brutality of the guards. But he  happened to get a copy of the Bible in solitary confinement and after reading it became a Christian. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, DeShazer found that his hate for the Japanese had turned to love. After the war he returned to Japan to tell the people there
about the love of Jesus Christ, and part of his witness included distributing tracts that told of his miraculous rebirth.

From that tract Mitsuo discovered the source of power that could turn hatred into peace - power that he was looking for. He bought a copy of the New Testament in Japanese. By the time he had read about Jesus' crucifixion in Luke 23, Mitsuo had trusted Jesus Christ
as his Lord and Savior. A simple gospel tract had played a vital role in leading to Christ the commander of the Japanese planes that attacked Pearl Harbor.

An Angry Lawyer

Mary was in trouble. For years she had left gospel tracts on her desk for the students in the algebra class she taught. A lawyer on the school board had vowed to have her fired because of her overt Christian witness, and when he was elected president of the school
board, he made good on his threat.

Fighting her dismissal, Mary finally got her job back after six months. In a strange turn of events, she discovered that the board members who had lobbied for her dismissal were themselves guilty of certain misdeeds, and they were in turn dismissed from the board-
including the hostile lawyer. Again he vowed that he would one day ruin her and that his children would never be allowed in her classes.

Months later Mary attended the funeral of a student at her school. She arrived late and was seated next to the irate lawyer! Though uncomfortable, Mary felt compelled to hand the lawyer one of the tracts she always had in her purse. The only one she had happened
to be written by a Christian lawyer.

Time passed, and at the beginning of a new semester the lawyer's daughter was assigned to Mary's algebra class. Mary told the lawyer's daughter that she should be assigned to another teacher, in keeping with her father's wishes. Smiling broadly, the lawyer's daughter said that would not be necessary, for her father had trusted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior because of Mary's faithful witness and because of the tract that she had handed him that day at the funeral!

Mary's story like that of so many others, is that God is still honoring the distribution of gospel literature today, just has He has done for centuries. If God is using Gospel Tracts, then so should we! We must do whatever it takes to win the lost!