Archives: Episode

February 17. Benjamin Carson. Ben grew up in Detroit (with a brief stint in Boston), and as risk-factors go, young Ben was rich with them. He was Black, in poverty, from a single-parent family, with a mother who couldn’t read and had to work multiple jobs to keep food on the table. But that hard-working woman made a habit of going to the Lord for wisdom. Under her direction, Ben overcame a ton of obstacles, became a world-famous neurosurgeon, and in 2017, became the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Here’s his story: 

The power to overcome sin begins with calling it what it is: sin. 

Since he was eight, Ben knew he wanted to be a doctor. And by the time he was fourteen, he had real hope for a successful career in medicine. He had pulled himself up from the bottom of the class in fifth grade and was making academic progress. 

But one day, when Ben and his friend Bob were listening to some tunes, Bob made fun of what Ben was listening to and switched the radio station. It bugged Ben, and he switched it back. Not to be outdone, of course, Bob was obligated to switch it again. 

Instead of laughing it off and rough-housing with his friend, Ben flew into a rage. A mind-numbing rage. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his pocket knife, snapped it open, and, with all his strength, thrust it into Bob’s belly. 

Bob’s mouth dropped open. He stared, as if appalled at Ben. He was obviously terrified. 

That look on his friend’s face seemed to bring Ben back to reality, and he looked at the knife. The blade had struck Bob’s thick metal belt buckle and snapped off. There it lay on the floor next to Bob’s shoe. 

Ben gaped. What had just happened? 

Staring at the broken blade on the floor, he decided he must be on the verge of madness. Only crazy people tried to kill their friends! He mumbled a weak apology without daring to look Bob in the eye. And then Ben ran. 

Ben ran all the way home, but he didn’t want his older brother Curtis or his mom to see him. He was glad nobody was home. 

He went straight to the bathroom, locked himself in, and flopped on the tile between the bathtub and the sink—to think. He had to think about what he had done. About what it meant—about him. 

He had gotten angry a few times, and he had known it was getting worse. This wasn’t the first time he had “lost it,” but it was the worst. He had thought he could handle it. He didn’t want to hide from God. But what he did want was answers. What was wrong with him? What was going on in his head? Most of all, how could he get rid of this murderous rage? 

As a boy, Ben had said he believed in Jesus, but now at fourteen he didn’t understand where all this anger was coming from. It was about to ruin his life, destroy his relationships, keep him from his dream of becoming a doctor, and even land him in jail. 

He prayed and pled with God for answers and deliverance from his rage. He rehearsed every angry outburst he had ever had, and tears flowed. A sense of his own sinfulness engulfed him. Deliverance seemed impossible. 

Then he remembered God’s Word. He knew God had something to tell him, so he left the room to get a Bible and found verses in Proverbs, God’s book of wisdom, that spoke directly to him. One verse in particular stood out: 

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32 NKJV). 

Ben always strove to be better at everything he did—in fact he made it a personal goal in life to excel at all times. Yet, since God said to be truly better than even “the mighty,” anger must be brought under control. Ben knew the only way to do that was to surrender his anger to God. Believing only God could change him, Ben prayed that God would—and he determined he would never give another human being the power to incite his rage. Finally, he felt peace wash over him. 

Is there some sin controlling you? Are you willing to own it and ask God for help? The power to overcome sin begins with calling it what it is: sin. 

Carson, Ben. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. 

Vaira, Douglas. “The good doctor: Dr. Benjamin Carson proves that with determination and confidence, anything is possible.” Association Management. October 1, 2003. The Free Library. https://​www.thefreelibrary.com/​The+good+doctor% 3A+Dr. +Benjamin+Carson+proves+that+with+determination … -a0108970281. 

Andrews, Jeff. “Ben Carson to leave HUD after 2020 Election.” Affordable Housing. March 5, 2019. Curbed. https://www.curbed.com/2019/3/5/18251531/ben-carson-hud-election-2020. 

Story read by Daniel Carpenter 

Story written by Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1 

February 16. Jonathan Goforth. Goforth was the first missionary from Canada to go to China with his wife. He became the most well-known missionary revivalist in the early twentieth century and changed the way missionary work was accomplished in China. 

In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out. A group called the “Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists” comprised huge numbers of violent villagers who turned on foreign Christian missionaries and diplomats. They slaughtered 32,000 Chinese Christians and 188 missionaries and their families. Goforth was struck with a sword, but he and Rosalind were able to flee to safety. 

They finally made it back to Canada. Sadly, once there, Goforth found that love of the world had invaded many churches, and few people there cared much about unsaved people in China. 

But when he returned to China, he met daily with other missionaries to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. He said, “Normal Christianity, as is planned by our Lord, was not supposed to begin in the Spirit and continue in the flesh. In the building of His temple it never was by might nor by power, but always by His Spirit.” On this date in 1910, Goforth led 900 people to seek God in prayer. 

Sometimes, the message transforms the messenger. 

In the late 1880s, Goforth and his missionary party traveled through the Chinese mountains to share the message of Jesus with every Chinese person they came across—many of whom had never heard the name of Jesus. 

But the road ahead of the missionaries was more than 200 miles long and dangerous. Hudson Taylor wrote to Goforth that where he was headed was “one of the most antiforeign provinces in China … Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.” 

Goforth did need help—a guide and animals to carry their belongings across the mountains. So they stopped off in a rundown village. 

In that village, Goforth hired Mr. Doong—an aging, uneducated farmer—and his yaks to guide the missionary party across the mountains. Doong had been part of a travelling theatrical company, “lived a low life,” and was addicted to opium. But he was happy to take on the work, as he had to feed: “five sons and their wives and children and some of their grandsons’ wives and their children.” 

Every day, Goforth and his party stopped at noon and at evening to preach to anyone they could find. Doong didn’t understand much of what these strange foreigners said, except for one thing: Goforth claimed that Doong’s gods were not gods at all. 

Doong was terrified. He began counting down the days until his goddess struck down the whole party for Goforth’s blasphemy. 

As soon as Doong saw Goforth and his team safely to their destination, he fled their company. 

But a few weeks later, when Doong visited another city, he happened to meet Goforth again, still preaching against the local gods. Nothing had happened to Goforth. Doong started to wonder if Goforth were telling the truth. What if Goforth’s God were the real God? 

After that, Doong took every opportunity to hear what Goforth had to say about Jesus and the Bible. For the first time, Doong felt peace and joy. Fear was gone. Love poured in. 

When Doong got back to his village, he destroyed his family’s idols. His family and neighbors were horrified, and they expected their gods to deliver a painful death to Doong. 

But it never came. Next, Doong prayed for freedom from opium, and Doong’s new God set him free, without the use of medicine. 

Hungry to know more about his new God, Doong went to the mission. Goforth doubted whether he could teach the very old, illiterate farmer how to read, but Doong was so eager to learn that, with God’s help, he read through the entire Chinese New Testament in just a few weeks and understood its meaning. A few months later, Doong had mastered all the characters in the Chinese New Testament. 

Three years later, Doong had profoundly impacted many missionaries and Chinese Christians with his love for Jesus. Although he lacked the education others possessed, “his beautiful spirit, so gentle, and so full of love to all with whom he came in contact” won over everyone he met. Goforth didn’t hesitate to appoint Doong as an evangelist in his organization, the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. For wherever Doong went, many believed in Jesus. 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NIV). 

Are you asking God to bring you divine appointments today? Sometimes, the message transforms the messenger. 

Bach, Thomas John. “Jonathan Goforth, Radiant Soul-Winner of North China.” Missionary Biographies. Accessed October 1, 2020. Wholesome Words Home. https://​www.wholesomewords.org/​missions/​bgoforth4. html. 

Goforth, Rosalind. Goforth of China. London & Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Ltd., 1937. 

Goforth, Rosalind. Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings. Toronto: Evangelical Publishers Incorporated, 1920. 

Goforth, Jonathon. “By My Spirit.” Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, June 7, 2015. 

Story read by Nathan Walker 

February 15. Pat Boone. In the 1950s and 60s, Boone was a popular singing star—slash—heart throb, second only to Elvis Presley. On this date in 1970, Boone portrayed evangelist-to-the-gangs David Wilkerson in the movie: The Cross and the Switchblade. 

At the time this introduction is being written in 2020, Boone is still going strong. He created his own record company: The Gold Label, which features stars “‘of a certain age.’ 

“‘It’s a senior tour for singers,’ Boone says. ‘But there is a qualification: they have to be able to sell records.’” 

Featured stars include Glen Campbell, Jack Jones, Roger Williams, Patti Page, Cleo Laine, Sha Na Na, and Boone himself. So far, they’ve released more than thirty Gold Record albums. 

Boone also has personal projects, such as: “For My Country,” a musical tribute to the National Guard, which builds on his sixty-first hit record: “Under God.” 

Putting his beliefs out there “stirred up debate as well as sales.” Boone said, “It’s not just liberals who can stir things up through recordings.” Today’s story is about a time God did the stirring. 

Destructive living can cripple a guy, but surrendering to Jesus can heal him. 

It was 1968, and Boone was out. The Beatles, Dean Martin, Steve McQueen—they were in. To succeed in his career, Boone had to become the bad boy that Hollywood wanted. Or so he thought. 

This new path fed his growing doubts in the God he had once trusted. “I felt my lifelong faith in the inspiration of the Bible, in miracles, in God-man relationships begin to crack,” he said. 

Boone went to church. He wrote books on parenting that painted a perfect picture of his family life. But the noble path he had once walked soon became a “twisting, bumpy, downhill road.” 

Drinking, smoking, gambling in Las Vegas—he couldn’t give them up. His wife no longer loved him as she once had, and their home had become a battlefield. He didn’t want to be there. And she didn’t want him to be there. 

To ease her own pain and keep an eye on her husband, Boone’s wife Shirley decided to embrace his new lifestyle: drinking and partying with him. They walked “hand in hand into the darkness.” 

And their marriage, already teetering on the edge of destruction, reached a new low. Suspicion crept in; accusations flew. Criticism became their everyday language. 

And then one day, a glimmer of light burst through the dark cloud. It came in the form of Clint Davidson—a man who had once been hailed as “the world’s worst insurance salesman.” 

In a very short time, Clint had miraculously become the very opposite—a man with a shocking secret for success. 

Clint had read the Bible and committed himself to the Lord. And he had read how the Apostle Paul had confronted obstacles greater than his and had overcome them with faith. So he surrendered his work to God, and in a very short period of time he became the chairman of three corporations, and even got his ideas for taxation bills enacted by Congress. 

But that wasn’t the most impressive thing about Clint Davidson: “When he prayed, it was the most intimate, personal conversation with Jesus I had ever heard,” Boone said. 

Clint radiated the love of Jesus to Boone and his family, and he brought much-needed joy to their family. This joy seemed even more profound when Boone discovered that, as a result of an accident, Clint’s wife Flora lived every day with agonizing hip pain. 

Clint mentioned that he believed in God’s power to heal the sick, and he acted on this faith by bringing Flora to a prayer meeting held by Oral Roberts, a man who moved in the healing power of God. 

Flora returned home without any pain, and after mystified doctors confirmed what she knew to be true, the Boones were undone. A great hunger to know Jesus swept in. To know him in the same way Clint and Flora did. 

A few months later, Boone prayed a prayer that changed him forever: “Oh Father, I yield my life to you. Take it Lord and make of it whatever You want. Forgive me of every sin, wash me clean; and Jesus, oh precious Jesus, baptize me in Your Spirit, the Spirit of the living God.” 

From that moment on, in every business decision, every family decision, they sought to put Jesus first. If it didn’t please him, it wasn’t an option. They read the Bible with new eyes, prayed with new passion. And nothing about their lives was ever the same again. 

“The one who loves his life [eventually] loses it [through death], but the one who hates his life in this world [and is concerned with pleasing God] will keep it for life eternal” (John 12:25 AMP). 

Are you ready to totally surrender your life to Jesus? Destructive living can cripple a guy, but surrendering to Jesus can heal him. 

“Boone, Pat.” Updated September 22, 2020. Encyclopedia.com. https://​www.encyclopedia.com/​people/​literature-and-arts/​music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/​pat-boone. 

Boone, Charles Eugene. A New Song. Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1971. 

“About Pat Boone.” Accessed October 1, 2020. Pat Boone. https://​patboone.com/​about-pat/. 

Story read by Chuck Stecker 

February 13. Alexander Duff. Just when Duff was finishing his education, the Church of Scotland was preparing its first mission, which would be based on education, and they appointed him superintendent of a new mission school at Calcutta. 

Writing about whether he ought to go India or stay in Scotland, Duff said: “with the Bible in my hands, I cannot see how her soul in Scotland can be intrinsically more precious to the Savior than a soul in Greenland … or in Hindostan.…” 

On this date in 1830, Duff was shipwrecked on the way to India. He did finally arrive in Calcutta that year—after he had been shipwrecked—twice. 

His plan was to produce a group of thinking people who—having Christian thought patterns and value systems—would influence Hindu society as a whole. Duff created a complete education in English with Christian philosophy and constant use of the Bible. To reach more people, Duff published a magazine, debated scholars, and wrote books. The only times he went back to Scotland were to recuperate from illness or to work to strengthen the mission’s funding. 

Today’s story takes place on yet another ship. Here’s what happened. 

Stay or turn back. The choice demands a decision. 

Stay or turn back. Stay or turn back. By ten o’clock, the ship’s captain would have to decide. Could he safely stop for the night on the sandbank, or should he turn back to sea? Minutes ticked by. 

Finally, the bells announced the turn of the hour, and the captain got up to order the crew to turn back, but the ship lurched violently. 

The words never left the captain’s mouth. 

The ship crashed on the rocks, and her frame splintered. Water gushed in. 

Passengers in various states of undress rushed from their beds toward the commotion, and missionary Duff arrived on deck just in time to hear the captain cry out, “Oh, she’s gone, she’s gone!” 

The ship was going down. 

The crew scrambled to salvage a means of escape, and the passengers congregated in one of the cabins, their faces hardly masking their fear and distress. 

They each dealt with the sudden shock in a different way, but Duff suggested they gather together in prayer. 

They agreed, and in all the noise and turmoil, Duff lifted his voice to God. Each member of the group clung to anything that would steady him in the violent rocking as the ship pitched one way, then another. 

For three hours, the ship jerked like a bull trying to toss its rider. And the waves pounded angrily at the deck. 

A small group of sailors, who had gone out in small gig boats to scout for land, returned with reports of a small shore not too far away. Driven by desperation, the crew struggled to secure the longboat and started ferrying passengers to shore. 

But the boat could only carry about a third of the group at a time. At the insistence of the single women, married women and their spouses went first. 

No one knew if the longboat would be able to make three trips in time. However, just before daybreak, the last boatful of passengers made it safely to shore. Exhausted. Wet. Frightened. 

But there was no time to rest. Everyone had to turn his attention to survival. One sailor, who had attended each of Duff’s meetings and paid rapt attention to his words, strode off along the beach. As he walked, he noticed something had washed up on shore, and when he got closer, he found that there were two books wrapped in chamois leather: a copy of the Bible and a Scotch Psalm book, both with Duff’s name still visible on the tattered covers. 

Suddenly overjoyed, the sailor snatched up the books, which had been stored along with hundreds of others that were nowhere to be found. 

Glowing, he brought them back to Duff, who gathered the people once again, their souls full of hope this time. He turned to Psalm 107 and read: 

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters; they have seen the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; their soul melted away in their misery. 

“They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men!” (Psalm 107:23–31 NASB). 

Everyone lifted his face upward and gave thanks to God. Duff challenged them to hope in the middle of chaos and to be thankful in the middle of favor. Though he couldn’t save his fellow voyagers from the storm, he could turn their attention toward the One who is able, and that was enough to restore their faith. 

Today do you need to call on God? Can you lead others to do this, as well? Stay or turn back. The choice demands a decision. 

Paton, William. Alexander Duff: Pioneer of Missionary Education. London: Student Christian Movement, 1923. 

Smith, George. The Life of Alexander Duff, D.D., LL.D. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son, 1879. Internet Archive, https://​archive.org/​details/​lifeofalexanderd01smit/​page/​n8. 

Story read by Nathan Walker 

February 11. John Clough. On this date in 1858, Clough was baptized into the family of Christ. He grew up to be an American scholar and farmer and then a missionary to South India. 

In 1877 and 1878 Clough worked tirelessly in famine-relief work and with the Ongole mass movement—a welcoming into the body of Christ of people who have been outrageously oppressed by the religious, social, economic, and·moral standards and customs of India. These are outcasts, who are not allowed to enter the village, nor to worship in the village temple, nor to send their children to the village school. They are not even allowed to drink from the village well. 

During one six-week period in 1878, Clough and his assistants baptized nearly 9,000 members of the Madiga community. He focused on villages and encouraged people ready to convert to Christianity to wait until some friends or a family member were ready to come too, that they might go through life as Christians in a community of Christians, though small. The churches he planted were served by pastors from among the native people, and Clough did all he could to provide ongoing support for the many, many new believers. 

When God wants to free a people, a famine may be the way out. 

In 1865, Clough and his family arrived in Nellore, South India. Clough—charismatic and friendly—soon befriended the Brahmin, the highest-ranking members of Telegu society. 

The Brahmin included priests and scholars of their religious texts, and they had vowed never to kill a living thing. Soon one priest was baptized a Christian, and Clough hoped to lead many more to Jesus. 

In the area lived another group of people: the Madiga—poor, aboriginal outcasts of Telegu society and leather workers by trade. The Brahmins despised them. 

But now the Madiga were coming to Clough, and they too wanted to be baptized as followers of Jesus. But the Brahmin gave Clough an ultimatum. If he baptized the despicable Madiga, the Brahmins would no longer associate with him. 

Clough didn’t want to offend the Brahmins, nor could he turn away the Madiga. He prayed about the dilemma for a long time. 

The Lord spoke to him from 1 Corinthians 1:27: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (NIV). 

Clough recognized that the Madiga were those “foolish things” and that God had chosen them for his own purposes. So he baptized the Madiga. 

Deeply offended, the Brahmins wanted nothing to do with the God Clough preached. 

Over the next ten years, Clough devoted himself to telling the Madiga about Jesus. He planted churches, built schools, and raised up Madiga believers as preachers and evangelists. Through Clough’s labors, several thousand Madiga believed in Jesus. The work was going well—until 1876, when the Great Famine struck. 

A severe drought in the Deccan Plateau ruined most of the crops that fed South India, and now millions of Indians were starving. To get food supplies across South India faster, the British government decided to extend the Buckingham Canal by another five miles. A huge workforce was needed, and their salaries would be paid in food rations. 

At this point, Clough could have given up and gone home to America. But instead, he accepted a contract from the British government to build a three-mile section of the canal. To accomplish this, Clough recruited thousands of starving Madiga. In return for their hard labor, he paid them in grain, ensuring their survival. 

Clough employed thirty of his Madiga preachers as overseers for the canal workforce, each man responsible for a hundred workers. Whenever the Madiga laborers sat down for a break, the Madiga overseer preachers shared about Jesus with them. 

As a result, the gospel of Jesus quickly spread through the worker groups, and in a short time, hundreds of Madiga were asking to be baptized. Clough told them to wait. He didn’t want fear of starvation or cholera to be their motivation for surrendering their lives to Jesus. 

Two years later, when the famine ended, Clough summoned his workforce to meet him at a rest house in Vellumpilly, so he might reorganize them for their next task. But when he arrived, he found a vast number of Madiga who still wanted to be baptized. This time he could not refuse them. 

On July 2, 1978, 3,536 Madiga were baptized. That year, Clough and his companions baptized 9,666 Madiga. 

The Madiga community was turned upside down. They abandoned their old gods. And before he knew it, Clough’s church had 21,000 Madiga members. 

Take a look at the hard things you’re facing right now. Could there be an assignment from God for you? When God wants to free a people, a famine may be the way out. 

Carr, Floyd L., and Herbert Waldo Hines. John E. Clough: Kingdom Builder in South India. New York: Baptist Board of Education, 1929. 

Rauschenbusch-Clough, Emma. John E. Clough, Missionary to the Telegus of South India: a Sketch. Boston: American Baptist Missionary Union, 1902. 

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/ 

February 9. Olaudah Equiano. As a child, Equiano was sold into slavery to a captain in the British Empire’s Royal Navy. Later, a Quaker trader bought him. Equiano became the man’s clerk, and he learned about Jesus. On this date in 1759, Equiano was converted to Christianity and was baptized. 

Eventually, in 1766, by skillful trading and saving all he earned, he purchased his own freedom. In time he partnered with the same man who had once owned him. 

He wrote and published his autobiography: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, and during his life, it went through one American and eight British editions. This gave him a platform from which to fight for the abolition of slave trading. Today’s story gives us a glimpse into the way Equiano thought. 

When terror grips your soul, trust in the God who will not let you go. 

In his memoirs, Equiano wrote that he considered himself “a particular favorite of heaven.” That revealed a lot about the character of the man. He was born in Africa and “had never heard of white men or Europeans, nor of the sea.” 

But when Equiano was eleven, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Of the many jobs he learned, he became skilled on a ship. He bought his freedom more than once, and became a businessman in his own right. 

At the end of one business trip in the West Indies, Equiano was ready to return to England. But Robert King, his business partner, begged Equiano to make another trade voyage to Atlanta, Georgia in the New World. He agreed and boarded the King’s ship, the Nancy. 

Soon after the ship departed, Equiano had a dream. The same dream haunted him again the following night. And the next. “I dreamt the ship was wrecked amidst the rocks, and that I was the means of saving everyone on board.” 

That third night, Equiano took the midnight watch on deck, and the helmsman immediately alerted him to a large fish swimming close to the bow. Equiano saw at once it was no fish. He was horrified. It was an enormous rock. Desperate to save the ship, he woke the slumbering captain and advised him to change direction, but by the time the captain arrived on deck, it was too late. 

The vessel struck the rock. 

Wave after wave slammed the ship against the rock and gashed the hull. 

The terrified crew “abandoned all care of the ship, fell to drinking and lay about like pigs.” But Equiano thought about the Lord. He called to mind the many mercies the Lord had shown him in times past. 

He sprang into action and devised an ingenious way to repair the boat: “We had no materials to mend our boat. I took some pump leather and nailed it over the hole and plastered it over with tallow-grease.” 

His repairs held, and the next morning, Equiano and the four members of the crew who had remained sober spotted an island about six miles away—the perfect place to repair their ship. But the ship couldn’t cross the shallow reef that surrounded the island. 

Equiano, an African who had suffered much at the hands of white men, could have chosen to abandon the white, drunken, unconscious sailors. But he could not help thinking that if any of those people had been lost, God would charge him with their lives. 

So Equiano and his skeleton crew of four loaded the twenty-eight other survivors into a rowboat, a few at a time, and rowed them to the island. It took them six trips to deliver everyone to the island, lifting the boat over the reef each time, and by the end of their labor, their legs were cut and torn, and the skin was stripped entirely from their hands. 

It was another eleven days before they managed to repair the boat, and Equiano became the leader of all the survivors. 

Just like the Apostle Paul on his voyage to Rome, God spoke to Equiano and reassured him that not one person would be lost. And just like the Apostle Paul, Equiano refused to let fear paralyze him. 

“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19 NIV). 

Which fear do you need to conquer with God’s help today? When terror grips your soul, trust in the God who will not let you go. 

Walvin, James. An African’s Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745–1797. London: A & C Black, 2000. 

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1789. 

Story read by Daniel Carpenter