The rest of the story…
Last fall I was at a small church in Northern Wisconsin telling the folks there that I looked forward to being in Germany and being able to tell Bible stories to people who have not already heard them. “For example I can tell them about David and Goliath and they won’t already know who won the fight,” I said. In the congregation, there was a young teen girl who was a German exchange student recently come to the states. After class was over the German girl asked her friend, “So, who’s Goliath?” While I expected that many a German child would not know these things, I was still surprised to meet a teen with no knowledge of the Word of God. I knew I would get the opportunity to find out if this was just an anomaly for soon we would be at another church where there was a teen boy from Germany, also an exchange student. After torturing this young man for a while with my poor attempt at speaking auf Deutsch, I asked him, “Have you ever heard of Goliath? How about Noah? Jonah?” All were answered with a kind of bewildered, “No.” Certainly the problem is not with these young people. They have no more reason to know these things than my kids would have to know about characters in the Baghvada Gida (do they have characters?) As parents we saw no reason to learn and teach these things to our kids, nor did our grandparents. Sadly this is now the norm in Germany as well as much of Europe. While the Christian heritage is rich, it took only a couple of generations for Biblical illiteracy to set in. I have told this story in many churches around the country, but last week I heard “the rest of the story.”
The young German fellow that we met was hosted by a pastor’s family. During his year in America he heard the gospel many times. With the school year ended and a return to Germany in the near future, his host parents told him they were praying that before he returned he would be sure of his eternal destiny. In June he went with a friend to Bible camp. While there the Spirit of God touched his heart and he trusted Christ as his Savior. Soon this young man will return to Germany. Pray for him as he will face many difficulties. We look forward to spending time in Deutschland with or new brother in Christ. Praise God who gives life to the dead!
