Our family cherished a very precious Bible written in traditional Chinese characters. This Bible has a mottled leather cover and yellowed pages. It has witnessed the vicissitudes of the years and become a family heirloom because it is a testimony of grandfather's service in the church. On the title page was written, "A Memorial to Pastor Liang Yongquan's Calling", signed by the Bamiancheng church, which was located in Changtu County, Tieling City, Liaoning, and dated September 17, 1933.
My grandfather studied at the North China Theological Seminary, a well-known fundamentalist seminary in the first half of the twentieth century then was sent to many places to preach the gospel. Though there is no data to verify the specific places, this Bible, preserved by my uncle and my aunt, has become the best evidence of grandfather’s service.
This Bible is marked in teeny lower letters, which are my grandfather’s reading notes, recording his spiritual journey. To explore my grandfather’s life, I wrote to the Bamiancheng Church, but I did not get a reply. Later, I published the story of this ancestral Bible in the Gospel Times. Pastor Li Shizheng from Shaanxi contacted me, saying that grandfather’s story mentioned in the article reminded him of when he was a child in his hometown of Jiaxian County, Shaanxi. He had heard a pastor who was preaching in a similar situation, and he was able to confirm that this pastor was my grandfather. I would like to continue to explore my grandfather’s footprints.
Bible reading guides my ministry path
My mother also became a Christian. During the Cultural Revolution, Bibles were prohibited and burned. Several believers in my village could only gather secretly, and they were very satisfied to be able to listen to a senior believer (later ordained elder) who read from a hand-copied Bible. After the church activity was resumed, believers were very happy to have the first New Testament with Psalms attached. They passed the Bible to each other and took turns reading it during the weekly service. Later, believers had Bibles in traditional Chinese characters. The senior elder was over seventy years old, and he could even memorize passages from the Bible by heart. Bibles at that time were arranged vertically, regardless of paragraphs, and each paragraph was separated by just a circle. When the elder read the scriptures, he remembered it by heart and even knew where there was a circle. He wrote Bible verses and many poems on white paper with a Chinese brush. People were very fervent in their beliefs at that time. I started to go to church at that time, and I didn't understand anything about the Christian faith and the Bible. But I felt that the words in the Proverbs were very well written and had enlightened my life.
At the age of 17, I underwent two corrective surgeries on my legs. During the recuperation period, I sat quietly on the bed every day and had the opportunity to read the entire Old and New Testaments. After that, I was encouraged by the senior servant of God to study ministry and lead small worship services. In order to prepare for sharing, I continued to read the Bible. Later, I read the church periodicals Tianfeng and Jiaocai, and some books on Bible interpretation. In this way, I started my thirty years of evangelical work. I read the Bible again and again, trying to understand its true meaning.
Since then, I have subscribed to Tianfeng or the Heavenly Wind, the magazine of TSPM church in China, and Jiaocai, a brochure compiled by the Jinling Union Theological Seminary for local Chinese churches for more than 20 consecutive years. I have also purchased various versions of the Bible, which have equipped me well for my preaching ministry. In recent years, I'm engaged in a writing ministry in response to God’s calling, which required me to benefit myself with God's words. Following the spiritual reading manual compiled by the Jinling Seminary, I read the Bible every morning, just like doing compulsory homework.
Hand copying the Bible brings joy
Some scripture copying has become popular in recent years, mostly copying some other religious classics such as the Heart Sutra. I thought about hand copying the Bible. Beginning in 2017, I started copying the Bible at our meeting point. At that time, more than a dozen believers started to handwrite the Bible. We started from Psalms, one chapter a day. Believers gathered together during the service, exchanged their feeling and understanding, and memorized a lot of God's words through copying the Bible. In 2018, when the Linfen Church held an exhibition commemorating the 140th anniversary of the introduction of the gospel to Linfen, some hand-copied Bible works were exhibited and attracted people's attention.
During the COVID-19 pandemic period this year, I had some free time to start hand copying the Bible again. I have persisted until now. Copying the Bible makes people gradually love God's words, exercise their will to be still, comprehend God's words, and develop perseverance. Sometimes my hands were tired and my eyes were fuzzy, but I still feel like to insist on copying. Sometimes when there are mistakes, missing words, or repetitions in copying, I can't help but feel guilty for my carelessness. However, I find great pleasure in copying scriptures. Some scriptures that I have read in a hurry in the past bring me new inspiration through hand copying.
Cherish the Bible and pursue it in our lives
In recent years, I visited some waste collection stations where I often see precious Bibles being sold among the piles of old books and newspapers. Some of them are still very new. This fills me with regret and makes me sad. Most of these Bibles belonged to senior believers. After them being taken to the Lord, the younger generations who do not believe in God sold the Bibles. So I often bought them back and found many treasures, such as the Bible for foreign students and the English version of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I know another believer from Linfen church who also goes to the waste collection station and often buys these discarded Bibles. We should not let this most precious wealth fall into trash and turn it into pulp.
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Xiaodan Zeng
家里珍藏着一本最为宝贵的繁体字圣经，是外公禾场服侍的见证，已成为传家宝。斑驳的皮面，发黄的纸张，见证着岁月的沧桑。扉页赫然写着“梁涌泉牧师新任纪念”，落款是辽宁铁岭市昌图县八面城教会全体，时间为主历一九三三年九月十七日。以前知道外公曾就读山东藤县神学院（华北圣学院），后奉差遣前往多地传扬福音，具体在什么地方，没有资料考证。这本圣经经过舅舅和姨母珍藏保存，成为最好的佐证。
圣经上标注着蝇头小楷，是外公的读经心得笔记，记录着他的灵程脚踪心路历程。后来我曾写信给八面城教会，但杳无音信。
后来我又把这本祖传圣经的故事在福音时报发表，陕西的李世峥牧师致电，说文章提到的我外公的经历与他在家乡陕西佳县幼年时，曾听闻老人们传说的一位在当地传教的牧师情况相近，经确认就是我外公。今后我还想继续寻访外公的足迹。
阅读圣经，引领侍奉道路
母亲也成为基督徒，在文革时期“破四旧”时圣经被查抄烧毁，村里的几个信徒只能秘密聚会，隔一段时间听一位老信徒（后被按立长老）诵读抄写的一段圣经，大家心里非常满足。后来教会恢复，才有了第一本新约附诗篇的圣经，大家心里非常喜悦。每逢礼拜，互相传阅。再后来有了繁体字圣经，老长老已经七十多岁，圣经背的滚瓜烂熟。当时圣经竖排版，不分段落，每段相隔只是一个圆圈。他每次读经，都熟记在心，甚至知道到了哪儿有一个圈，都十分清楚。他用毛笔在白纸上书写了圣经经文和许多诗歌，那时人们心里非常渴慕。我就是在那个时候走进了教会，当时什么也不懂，圣经也看不明白。但觉得箴言诗篇里的话写的非常好，对我的人生有了极大启蒙。
17岁时，腿部做了两次儿麻矫治手术，养病期间，每天静坐床上，有机会把新旧约全书完整地读了一遍。此后被神的老仆人鼓励，开始学习事工，带领小礼拜，为了预备分享，又不断读圣经，以后又读了天风和教材，读了一些解经的资料。就这样，开始了三十年福传事工，圣经读了又读，逐渐发现亮光。
此后我连续二十多年订阅教材和天风，也购买了各种版本的圣经，对于传道做工更加得心应手。近年来蒙神恩召，又开始了文字事工，更需要不断用神的话语装备自己。按照金陵神学院编写的灵修读经手册，每天早晨读经，成为必修的功课。
抄写圣经，享受无尽乐趣
一些近年来盛行抄经热，大多是抄写《心经》等一些其他宗教经典。我就思想能否进行圣经的抄写。自2017年开始，我就在我们的聚会点上开始了圣经抄写活动，当时有十几个人全部抄写，开始本子没有统一，各自准备了不同的本子，后来点上统一购买了一些本子，每天抄写一篇，从诗篇开始，每日抄写一篇，大家礼拜时聚在一起，相互交流感受，通过抄写记住了不少神的话语。2018年，临汾教会举办福音传入临汾140周年纪念展览时，还展出了一部分信徒抄写圣经的一些作品，吸引了人们的关注。只不过后来一些人没有坚持下来。
今年新冠疫情时期，有了赋闲的日子，我又开始了圣经的抄写，一直坚持到现在，已有十几本，现已开始《创世记》的抄写。 抄写圣经使人渐渐越发喜爱神的话，锻炼了静坐领悟神话语的意志，也养成了持之以恒的耐力，有时手累眼花，也一直要坚持抄完。在抄写中难免有错谬、掉字、重复等错误，不由得为自己的粗心而愧疚。在抄写经文中，找到了极大的乐趣。以往匆忙读过的经文，有了注重的焦点，悟出了新的亮光。
珍爱圣经，此生不懈追求
近年来，我经常走访一些废旧物品收购站，经常见到一些宝贵的圣经被卖故纸堆中，有的品相还很新，令人十分痛心，据了解，这些圣经大多是一些老信徒生前信主，被主接去后后辈们不信，就随意卖掉。于是我就经常收购回来，其中不乏一些珍品，比如赠与外国留学生的圣经，也有2008北京奥运的英文版本的圣经。据了解，临汾也有一位信徒经常到废品收购站收购圣经。这类书的特点是价格优惠，论斤卖，不需花费大量资金。所以我们不应让这最宝贵的财富沦落垃圾中，化为纸浆。
（本文作者为福音时报特约撰稿人。）
三代圣经情缘 主恩永远相伴
Our family cherished a very precious Bible written in traditional Chinese characters. This Bible has a mottled leather cover and yellowed pages. It has witnessed the vicissitudes of the years and become a family heirloom because it is a testimony of grandfather's service in the church. On the title page was written, "A Memorial to Pastor Liang Yongquan's Calling", signed by the Bamiancheng church, which was located in Changtu County, Tieling City, Liaoning, and dated September 17, 1933.
My grandfather studied at the North China Theological Seminary, a well-known fundamentalist seminary in the first half of the twentieth century then was sent to many places to preach the gospel. Though there is no data to verify the specific places, this Bible, preserved by my uncle and my aunt, has become the best evidence of grandfather’s service.
This Bible is marked in teeny lower letters, which are my grandfather’s reading notes, recording his spiritual journey. To explore my grandfather’s life, I wrote to the Bamiancheng Church, but I did not get a reply. Later, I published the story of this ancestral Bible in the Gospel Times. Pastor Li Shizheng from Shaanxi contacted me, saying that grandfather’s story mentioned in the article reminded him of when he was a child in his hometown of Jiaxian County, Shaanxi. He had heard a pastor who was preaching in a similar situation, and he was able to confirm that this pastor was my grandfather. I would like to continue to explore my grandfather’s footprints.
Bible reading guides my ministry path
My mother also became a Christian. During the Cultural Revolution, Bibles were prohibited and burned. Several believers in my village could only gather secretly, and they were very satisfied to be able to listen to a senior believer (later ordained elder) who read from a hand-copied Bible. After the church activity was resumed, believers were very happy to have the first New Testament with Psalms attached. They passed the Bible to each other and took turns reading it during the weekly service. Later, believers had Bibles in traditional Chinese characters. The senior elder was over seventy years old, and he could even memorize passages from the Bible by heart. Bibles at that time were arranged vertically, regardless of paragraphs, and each paragraph was separated by just a circle. When the elder read the scriptures, he remembered it by heart and even knew where there was a circle. He wrote Bible verses and many poems on white paper with a Chinese brush. People were very fervent in their beliefs at that time. I started to go to church at that time, and I didn't understand anything about the Christian faith and the Bible. But I felt that the words in the Proverbs were very well written and had enlightened my life.
At the age of 17, I underwent two corrective surgeries on my legs. During the recuperation period, I sat quietly on the bed every day and had the opportunity to read the entire Old and New Testaments. After that, I was encouraged by the senior servant of God to study ministry and lead small worship services. In order to prepare for sharing, I continued to read the Bible. Later, I read the church periodicals Tianfeng and Jiaocai, and some books on Bible interpretation. In this way, I started my thirty years of evangelical work. I read the Bible again and again, trying to understand its true meaning.
Since then, I have subscribed to Tianfeng or the Heavenly Wind, the magazine of TSPM church in China, and Jiaocai, a brochure compiled by the Jinling Union Theological Seminary for local Chinese churches for more than 20 consecutive years. I have also purchased various versions of the Bible, which have equipped me well for my preaching ministry. In recent years, I'm engaged in a writing ministry in response to God’s calling, which required me to benefit myself with God's words. Following the spiritual reading manual compiled by the Jinling Seminary, I read the Bible every morning, just like doing compulsory homework.
Hand copying the Bible brings joy
Some scripture copying has become popular in recent years, mostly copying some other religious classics such as the Heart Sutra. I thought about hand copying the Bible. Beginning in 2017, I started copying the Bible at our meeting point. At that time, more than a dozen believers started to handwrite the Bible. We started from Psalms, one chapter a day. Believers gathered together during the service, exchanged their feeling and understanding, and memorized a lot of God's words through copying the Bible. In 2018, when the Linfen Church held an exhibition commemorating the 140th anniversary of the introduction of the gospel to Linfen, some hand-copied Bible works were exhibited and attracted people's attention.
During the COVID-19 pandemic period this year, I had some free time to start hand copying the Bible again. I have persisted until now. Copying the Bible makes people gradually love God's words, exercise their will to be still, comprehend God's words, and develop perseverance. Sometimes my hands were tired and my eyes were fuzzy, but I still feel like to insist on copying. Sometimes when there are mistakes, missing words, or repetitions in copying, I can't help but feel guilty for my carelessness. However, I find great pleasure in copying scriptures. Some scriptures that I have read in a hurry in the past bring me new inspiration through hand copying.
Cherish the Bible and pursue it in our lives
In recent years, I visited some waste collection stations where I often see precious Bibles being sold among the piles of old books and newspapers. Some of them are still very new. This fills me with regret and makes me sad. Most of these Bibles belonged to senior believers. After them being taken to the Lord, the younger generations who do not believe in God sold the Bibles. So I often bought them back and found many treasures, such as the Bible for foreign students and the English version of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I know another believer from Linfen church who also goes to the waste collection station and often buys these discarded Bibles. We should not let this most precious wealth fall into trash and turn it into pulp.
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Xiaodan Zeng
Three Generations’ Bible Stories
