“The King James Bible fell from the shelf and hit me on the head. That’s when I decided I should go to church.”
Meet Moss, a regular visitor to our church for the past several months. He shares a dormitory room with Gabriel, an Adventist pharmacology student at Khon Kaen University. He knew that Gabriel went to church most Saturdays, but he hadn’t really considered going until one day Gabriel’s Bible fell from the shelf and hit him on the head.
At our potluck that Sabbath, Moss stretched out his hand, American style, and introduced himself in very deliberate English. When I misunderstood his name to be Boss, he corrected me by explaining, “Moss, like green stuff on rock.” Later, he called himself a seeker. His English had a strong Thai accent, but he used American slang with stunning familiarity (he had learned English by watching American media). When I asked him what he thought of the teaching that morning (the story of Lucifer and how sin came into the world), he said he liked it, but he thought that Lucifer should have been better than God because the student should surpass the teacher. He later added that in Thai history there have been villagers who have risen up, killed the king, and gone on to be great rulers. So even though Lucifer was evil, Moss thought that the principle of going against the leader wasn’t bad.
Moss enjoys spending time with our team at church and on Sabbath-afternoon hikes. He recently said that he still thinks Buddhism is superior to the religions he has looked into—Islam, Sikhism and Christianity—but he is attentive and open to learn.
Moss is one of many Thais who is helping us deepen our study of Buddhist worldview. Why would a falling Bible send someone to church? Was it significant that it was a KJV Bible? How can a Thai Buddhist understand that there is a personal God who is above everyone and everything else?
We are grateful for the opportunity to help Moss experience Jesus through Christian fellowship, and we are even more motivated to continue our study of Thai language and culture as we seek to understand the Buddhist worldview so we can effectively communicate the Gospel.

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