Billy Graham tells of the story of a poor Chinese woman who went up the foothills of some mountains to cut grass. On her back was tied a baby, and beside her walked a little child. Just as she reached the top of the hill she heard a roar. Frightened almost speechless, she looked around to see a mother tigress springing at her, followed by two cubs.
This Chinese woman had never attended a church or even seen a Bible although a year or two earlier a missionary had told her about Jesus. As the claws of the tigress tore her arm and shoulder, the woman cried out in a frenzy, “O Jesus, help me!” The ferocious animal suddenly turned and ran away.
When Elizabeth Elliot’s father was a small boy he was climbing on an upper story of a house that was being built. He walked to the end of a board that was not nailed down at the other end, and slowly it began to tip. He knew that he was doomed, but inexplicably the board began to tip the other way, as though a hand had pushed it down again. He always wondered if it was an angel’s hand.
The Reverend John G. Paton was a pioneer missionary working in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission headquarters intent on burning his family out and killing them. John and his wife prayed all during that terrifying night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked god for delivering them.
A year later the chief of the tribe became a Christian. Rev. Patton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house that night and killing them.
The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had with you there?”
The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.”
The chief argued that they had seen men standing guard—hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Paton realise that God had sent his angels to protect them. The chief agreed there was no other explanation.
Psalm 91:11 reads, ‘For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all his ways.’
This Chinese woman had never attended a church or even seen a Bible although a year or two earlier a missionary had told her about Jesus. As the claws of the tigress tore her arm and shoulder, the woman cried out in a frenzy, “O Jesus, help me!” The ferocious animal suddenly turned and ran away.
When Elizabeth Elliot’s father was a small boy he was climbing on an upper story of a house that was being built. He walked to the end of a board that was not nailed down at the other end, and slowly it began to tip. He knew that he was doomed, but inexplicably the board began to tip the other way, as though a hand had pushed it down again. He always wondered if it was an angel’s hand.
The Reverend John G. Paton was a pioneer missionary working in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission headquarters intent on burning his family out and killing them. John and his wife prayed all during that terrifying night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked god for delivering them.
A year later the chief of the tribe became a Christian. Rev. Patton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house that night and killing them.
The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had with you there?”
The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.”
The chief argued that they had seen men standing guard—hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Paton realise that God had sent his angels to protect them. The chief agreed there was no other explanation.
Psalm 91:11 reads, ‘For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all his ways.’
Stories adapted from Billy Graham's 'Angels'
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