Soup, Soap, and Salvation!

The Legacy of Eleven Verses that Changed a Lumberjack’s Life!

 Oregon Historical Society

Frontier Work!

            It is truly remarkable - a lumberjack's life transformed by the Gospel of John! This little-known story, reported by the American Bible Society in 1913 from a field report by Rev. Fred W. Davis, an evangelist among Oregon loggers, testifies to the far-reaching power of God’s Gospel. It reminds us that the Gospel is 'in the whole world,” 'bearing fruit and increasing' (Colossians 1:6), even in the most unexpected places.

Four months ago I was in one of Mr. Smith’s lumber camps. I met a lumberjack that was down and out. He had been drinking and begged me for the price of a meal. I sized the man up and saw that he was in need of the three S's — soup, soap, and salvation.  Soup to fill him up, soap to clean him up, and salvation to keep him up.  I tried to have him supplied with all three.  On leaving him, I gave him a little Gospel of John and marked eleven verses in it.  I did not see him again until four months after.  One Sunday morning in one of the lumber camps, I was rounding up my congregation from the shacks.  I found this man in one of the shacks reading the very same Gospel that I had given him four months ago.  He seemed changed and told me that he had memorized every one of the eleven verses that I had marked in the Gospel.

            He went to the service with me, and at the close, he got up and said, ‘Say.  Parson, I would like to say a word.'  He came forward and said:  Boys, you know what I was four months ago — a drunken bum, down and out.  This man met me and gave me a meal, but best of all, he gave me a little Gospel of John.  He marked some verses in these, which I memorized, and through the little book, I have found light.  And this is what it has done for me.'  And he drew out of his pocket a bank book and showed the boys his account of $165 in the bank, his savings for the past four months. At the close of that service, thirty-eight lumberjacks came forward for Gospels of St. John.1 [Original Online]

            This story reminds me of truths that we know but need to hear again and again. Here is what challenged me when I discovered this story. Perhaps my reflections will encourage you as well.

1. The Power of Faith!

          By faith, Rev. Fred W. Davis saw that God could save this drunken lumberjack. Like

Jesus pursued Zacchaeus (Luke 19:5), even though the crowd grumbled about Jesus’ choice for fellowship that day (v. 7), this evangelist believed by faith that anyone could be saved and become a child of Abraham (v. 9). He was following the model of his Savior who came “to seek and to save the lost” (v. 10).

2. The Power of God’s Word!

            As a traveling evangelist, Rev. Davis did

not stop for long but preached and

left behind his marked copies of the Gospel of John. He trusted that God’s Word alone

would save souls. Davis customarily handed out marked Bibles (and soup and soap) to anyone, which is why he was writing this letter to the American Bible Society requesting “another thousand Gospels to be used in his work.” He wrote to the agency not to boast but to ask for more Bibles to replace the thousand (likely thousands) he had already personally marked up and handed out – by faith!

3. The Power of a Personal Testimony!

It was not just the great preaching of Rev. Davis that moved the hearts of thirty-eight other lumberjacks to humbly and publicly ask for a copy of the Gospel of John. It was the lumberjack’s testimony of finding the light: “You know what I was four months ago — a drunken bum, down and out…This man gave me a little Gospel of John…. through the little book, I have found light.” In the same way, the Samaritan woman brought many to the Messiah (John 4:25-26), calling her whole town out to meet him: “Come, see a man…” (v. 29). She introduced them to Jesus, and that changed their eternal destinies: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony” (v. 39)                                                   

4. The Power of Meditative Memorization!

By memorizing God’s word, that lumberjack, likely uneducated by modern standards, proved God can give any person the ability to meditate on his Word (Psalm 1:2) and memorize it! The lumberjack, who had a name unknown to us, but now known in heaven, God transformed with just eleven verses! Consider this era when many Christians do not even have eleven verses of their Bible memorized and struggle to commit to meditating on God’s word. Then, imagine how God could glorify himself so much more when we became so enthralled with the Bible that we memorize it and so impassioned by that we share it with others!

Memorize to Meditate!

Memorize God’s word so that you meditate on it! New Testament Professor Kenneth Berding connects the power of memorization and meditation: “I find myself more motivated to memorize Scripture because of this practice. Every new passage of Scripture committed to memory—and upon which I can draw in the night—increases my delight in meditating on Scripture in the night. Discovering that I was more motivated to memorize additional Scripture than before was an unanticipated benefit of quoting Scripture in the night.”2

Have you felt the joy of memorizing God’s Word? Have you experienced the spiritual revolution and healing prompted by meditating on God’s word? Take to heart the evidence of the Oregon lumberjack, of Kenneth Berding, and of multitudes of other Christians that whether you are already a believer or need salvation, memorizing and meditating on God’s Words can unleash God’s transformative power in your life! 

In Other Words

Here is the link to the cited article by Kenneth Berding.

"Quoting Scripture in the Night"

                [1]“Lumberjacks in Oregon,” in Ninety-Seventh Annual Report of The American Bible Society (New York:  American Bible Society, 1913, 170-71. https://ia801607.us.archive.org/11/items/annualreportame20unkngoog/annualreportame20unkngoog.pdf

                [2]Kenneth  Berding, “Quoting Scripture at Night,” 20 Jun., 2020, https://kennethberding.com/2020/06/20/quoting-scripture-in-the-night/