by Susie Rain, posted Monday, September 09, 2013 (11 years ago)
EAST ASIA (BP) -- The middle-aged man smiles and makes a quick bow of greeting to the small audience. He reaches into his left coat pocket and pulls out some cards.
Photo courtesy of Ben Lim*
Ben Lim's* eyes twinkle as he shuffles the cards. He fans them out in his hands and tells a random person in the crowd to "Pick a card ... Pick any card!"
A hush falls over the audience as a young Chinese man pulls one of the cards from Ben's hands. Ben instructs him to look at it but not to show anyone. Then, Ben asks him to act out the picture on the card. The young man gets down on all fours, puffs out his chest and roars.
"LION!" the group screams in unison.
Ben smiles and grabs the card. He flips it over for everyone to see. It's the ace of clubs -- but with a picture of three lions surrounding a man at the bottom of a den.
"Anyone know a story about a lion?" the Christian worker in East Asia asks. "No? Then, let me tell you the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den."
That's when God's Word falls on ears that are hearing for the first time. Ben, a master storyteller, takes the audience through the trials of walking by faith and not sight.
The rise and fall of his voice depicts emotions and fears when confronted with problems (like hungry lions waiting to devour). His peaceful cadence and soft, confident tone assures that God is always present when we have problems and call on Him.
The story ends and everyone looks at Ben, waiting for another. He smiles and fans the cards out again. In his hands are 51 more pictures depicting the Old Testament. Another set of cards in his pocket has 52 stories from the New Testament.
The collection is a unique pictorial Bible covering everything from creation to Christ. The uniqueness isn't simply because this wordless Bible is found on a pack of cards but by the fact that Ben's teenage daughters Jasmine* and Jamie* (plus one of their friends) drew the pictures.
"I can't begin to describe what it is like to use an evangelism tool developed by your own kids.... It's beyond our imagination because only God can do this," the church planter from Oklahoma said. "All over the world, people are using these cards as part of evangelism and discipleship training." Read More
