Eating the Bible in Egypt

Mozafar, a devout Muslim in Egypt, had been commanded by his Islamic leader to read the Bible so he could write an argument to expose and defeat the Christians. He trusted Mozafar whose zeal had led him to attack churches and to persecute and burn the property of Christians. But when Mozafar opened the Bible, he was stunned by the mercy and grace Jesus offered in the gospel of Matthew. He was so drawn by the gospel that he rented a hotel room so he could read the Bible without interruption.

Mozafar’s brothers, angered by the changes they saw in him, took him to a mental institution where he received shock treatments to rid his brain of radical ideas like “loving your enemies.” But once Mozafar had been exposed to the gospel, he was desperate to learn more about Jesus.

“I would go into the bathroom of our home and lock the door,” Mozafar explained. “Then I would take the Scriptures, memorize them and eat them so that my family could not find them.”

Tom White told Mozafar’s story in Voice of the Martyrs and then added, “Unlike Mozafar, we don’t have to read Scripture behind a locked door and eat the pages. We have this potential feast lying out in the open in our living rooms and bedrooms. The necessary food for our spiritually malnourished world is right in front of us. Please pray for our workers who risk their lives to feed those hungry for the gospel … then pass the Bread.”

Dear Lord, help us to remember that Your Word can revolutionize those who hear it.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).