Converting to Christ 14 years ago, a male believer in China’s northeastern Liaoning Province spent eight years making three copies of the Old and New Testaments and transcribing the “Streams in the Desert”.
Besides attending services and gatherings, a believer named Bai Dianfu of Ark Church in Datun Town, Anshan City, used his fragmented time to copy the Bible every day with a fountain pen and a Chinese brush pen.
On October 2, 2022, after the Sunday service at the church, he was interviewed at home by the Gospel Times, a Chinese online Christian newspaper.
First believing in the Lord, his wife, Liu Xuezhi, could not recognize some words in the Bible with a low level of literacy, having difficulty praying and singing. Having graduated from a senior high school before the Cultural Revolution, Bai helped his wife to understand the Bible, pray, and praise. With affirmation for him, a pastor and a female believer told him that his help might have its origin in the will of humans without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They advised him to believe in Christ and led him in attending church services. After making a prayer of confession, he withdrew and destroyed all idols in the family. He participated in church activities with his wife, becoming a "Christian couple".
Getting up at five o'clock to pray, read the Bible, and praise, he began to copy and read the Bible following physical activities after breakfast. For eight years, more than 2920 days, he spent four or five hours a day transcribing the scriptures, having finished three copies of the Bible (about 28 million words) and one copy of “Streams in the Desert” which has 513,000 words, sometimes with a Chinese calligraphy brush pen. On the contrary, more than 10 years ago, half of 40 believers at a conference said they hadn’t read through the Bible, though some had believed in Jesus for a long time.
In addition to practicing spiritual disciplines, Bai saw the salvation of the Lord and accepted biblical truth while copying and reading the Bible, with no typos, smears, or corrections in the paper.
Besides buying several thick blank notebooks for him, Bai’s daughter, a teacher at a university in the provincial capital, spent 200 yuan to bind his first copy of the Bible into a hardcover edition which can be retained by future generations to be a “family heirloom”.
Bai used to be very sick and always went to the hospital for consecutive years after retirement. He said he began to copy the Bible after the baptism, with myopia cured unexpectedly when copying it for the third time. He stated, "My most serious diseases are cardiac arrhythmias and mitral regurgitation, for which doctors said I needed surgery But I’m just engaged in taking medicine, praying, taking exercise, reading and copying the Bible without surgery. I can play Bawu (a Chinese wind reed instrument) and Hulusi (a cucurbit flute) and once presented the hymn "A Fellow Traveler" on the latter instrument in Laohutun Church, Anshan City, which held an autumn harvest celebration on October 8.
(The article was originally published by the Gospel Times and was written in Anshan, Liaoning Province)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
中国东北辽宁省的一个教会的信徒8年的时间抄写圣经旧约、新约三遍，《荒漠甘泉》一遍，
白殿福弟兄，是辽宁省鞍山市千山区大屯方舟基督教会的信徒，信主十四年。十四年，对于老信徒来说时间不算长，但是他却不仅仅是到教堂去参加礼拜和聚会活动，而且每天坚持、利用碎片化的时间，抄写圣经。
2022年10月2日在方舟教会主日礼拜结束后，福音时报采访了白弟兄。
他妻子刘雪芝姊妹先信主的。她的文化程度不是很高，当时她对圣经里面的字有的认不下来，理解上也有困难，加之圣经有些疑难字，在祷告、唱诗方面也是困扰了她。而白殿福弟兄可是文革前高中毕业生，看到这种情况，白弟兄就帮助妻子读经、祷告、赞美。后来教会的牧者和教会的一位姊妹与白弟兄交流，告诉他：帮助刘雪芝姊妹是对的，但是你没有圣灵的引导，理解也是出于人意，等于是“白帮”，只有归主，才会起作用。教会的牧者和弟兄姊妹带领白弟兄参加赞美、祷告的聚会活动，传讲基督福音的真谛。于是老弟兄决志信主，并撤出、销毁家中的偶像等一切供品，和老伴儿，一起参加教会的活动，成为了“基督徒夫妻”。
老弟兄生活很有规律，早晨五点多钟起床，祷告、读经、赞美；早餐后出去做一下健身，然后在家里开始抄写圣经、读圣经，每天抄写四、五个小时，坚持八年，2920多天。抄写三遍圣经是什么概念？大约2800万字。考门夫人创作的散文集《荒漠甘泉》大约51.3万字，而且有的是用毛笔抄写。笔者10多年前在一次会议上曾经问过40多位教会的骨干信徒的读经情况，其中有一半以上的人没有把圣经从创世记到启示录全文通读过，而他们信主的时间也不短了。
他抄写圣经的过程也是在灵修的过程。他透过抄写圣经和读圣经看到了主耶稣基督的救恩并接受圣经真理。里面基本没有抄错字和涂抹、修改的地方。
白弟兄抄写圣经的空白本有厚厚的几本，也是他在省城某大学任教的女儿给买的。他抄写第一遍圣经后，女儿到专业的店里，花了200元钱装订成为“精装本”，以备珍藏。他抄写的圣经也成为了“家传宝物”，为后人留存。
他原来身体也是多病，刚从单位退休后，连续两年总是跑医院。白弟兄说：他信主之后开始抄写圣经，抄写到第三遍的时候，竟然摘掉了多年的近视眼镜。他告诉我：“最重的疾病是心脏病心律失常、二尖瓣狭窄返流症，医生说需要手术。但是没做，服药、祷告、读经、抄经，也适当的锻炼，会吹奏巴乌、葫芦丝等乐器，10月8日他在老虎屯教会秋收感恩节登台演奏了葫芦丝《同路人》。
（福音时报特约撰稿人于辽宁省鞍山市）
记八年抄写多遍圣经的白殿福弟兄
Converting to Christ 14 years ago, a male believer in China’s northeastern Liaoning Province spent eight years making three copies of the Old and New Testaments and transcribing the “Streams in the Desert”.
Besides attending services and gatherings, a believer named Bai Dianfu of Ark Church in Datun Town, Anshan City, used his fragmented time to copy the Bible every day with a fountain pen and a Chinese brush pen.
On October 2, 2022, after the Sunday service at the church, he was interviewed at home by the Gospel Times, a Chinese online Christian newspaper.
First believing in the Lord, his wife, Liu Xuezhi, could not recognize some words in the Bible with a low level of literacy, having difficulty praying and singing. Having graduated from a senior high school before the Cultural Revolution, Bai helped his wife to understand the Bible, pray, and praise. With affirmation for him, a pastor and a female believer told him that his help might have its origin in the will of humans without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They advised him to believe in Christ and led him in attending church services. After making a prayer of confession, he withdrew and destroyed all idols in the family. He participated in church activities with his wife, becoming a "Christian couple".
Getting up at five o'clock to pray, read the Bible, and praise, he began to copy and read the Bible following physical activities after breakfast. For eight years, more than 2920 days, he spent four or five hours a day transcribing the scriptures, having finished three copies of the Bible (about 28 million words) and one copy of “Streams in the Desert” which has 513,000 words, sometimes with a Chinese calligraphy brush pen. On the contrary, more than 10 years ago, half of 40 believers at a conference said they hadn’t read through the Bible, though some had believed in Jesus for a long time.
In addition to practicing spiritual disciplines, Bai saw the salvation of the Lord and accepted biblical truth while copying and reading the Bible, with no typos, smears, or corrections in the paper.
Besides buying several thick blank notebooks for him, Bai’s daughter, a teacher at a university in the provincial capital, spent 200 yuan to bind his first copy of the Bible into a hardcover edition which can be retained by future generations to be a “family heirloom”.
Bai used to be very sick and always went to the hospital for consecutive years after retirement. He said he began to copy the Bible after the baptism, with myopia cured unexpectedly when copying it for the third time. He stated, "My most serious diseases are cardiac arrhythmias and mitral regurgitation, for which doctors said I needed surgery But I’m just engaged in taking medicine, praying, taking exercise, reading and copying the Bible without surgery. I can play Bawu (a Chinese wind reed instrument) and Hulusi (a cucurbit flute) and once presented the hymn "A Fellow Traveler" on the latter instrument in Laohutun Church, Anshan City, which held an autumn harvest celebration on October 8.
(The article was originally published by the Gospel Times and was written in Anshan, Liaoning Province)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Liaoning Believer Transcribes the Whole Bible 3 Times in 8 Years
