THE BIBLE CAN MAKE YOU BETTER
Two hundred years ago, Norway was one of the poorest countries in Europe. She was ruled by her Danish neighbors and most people were poor fishermen or subsistence farmers. Every time there was a famine, people starved to death. Today it is one of the wealthiest. It had one of the highest illiteracy rates. Now it has 100% literacy.
How did this happen? Hans Hauge ("HOW-GAH") brought the Bible to Norway, and the Bible made it better.
In 1796, Hans Hauge became a Christian and started reading the Bible. The Bib le taught him that God wanted him to love his neighbor as himself. So he started distributing Bibles and he started 1,000 home Bible study groups. He was censured by the government for preaching without a license, but Hauge read in the Bible that believers should build each other up, so he just kept doing what the Bible told him to do.
He learned how to print books and started a publishing business. As people learned to read, they read the Bible, and the Bible made them better. So, over the next several decades, the nation rose to prosperity.
The Danish government didn’t like what Hauge was doing, so in 1804, they put him in prison. Hauge’s followers pursued independence for Norway. They helped draft a new constitution in 1814, making Norway one of the freest nations on earth.
Can the Bible make you better? The Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit can make an entire nation better!