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How having the New Testament in his language led Komlan from being an alcoholic outcast to village leader in Togo
Reading the Ifè New Testament changed Komlan’ s life
‘I was an alcoholic,’ admits Komlan. ‘I drank so much that I could not take part in any of the community activities. I had been rejected by the village.’ Friendless, Komlan would wander the streets, taking on odd farming jobs to survive in between bouts of drinking
Komlan lives in the village of Ìkɔ-Àtsàɖé, a place of mud-brick buildings and dusty dirt roads in a hilly region of central Togo. If you look up and shield your eyes against the sun, you will see luscious green trees on the slopes, sweeping down to the hard, red soil of the villagers’ farmland. Here, miles from the nearest major town, a single Bible verse changed Komlan’s life
A life transformed through the Bible
Komlan could not read or write in French, Togo’s official language, or in his native Ifè. But then he heard local Bible translators were running free Ifè literacy classes. ‘Everyone thought I would never get there’, he remembers. ‘But in my heart, I was resolved to follow the course, especially since I didn’t have to pay anything.’ Despite his neighbours’ expectations, Komlan became a regular attendee. ‘At the end of the first three months of the literacy course, I could read a little in Ifè.’
He still laboured in the fields. In Komlan’s village they grow vegetables like cassava and yams – hardy crops, heavy when harvested. After one sweltering session in the fields, the woman Komlan worked for that day paid him 1,000 Francs (£1.30). That day, for the first time, he didn’t spend his earnings on alcohol
‘I went and bought the Ifè New Testament,’ recounts Komlan. ‘I began to read it. One day I read Matthew 5:13-14, which says, “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world.” And I asked myself in what way could I be the salt and the light of my village? I was rejected by everyone, despised by all!’
Komlan tells the story of how reading the Bible in his language changed his life – ‘’I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what I was reading,’ he says
Encountering Jesus
But in that moment, Jesus’ gentle words changed Komlan’s heart – ‘I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what I was reading.’ Four months after he went to his first literacy class, Komlan came to know Jesus through the Bible
‘From the time of my conversion, I abandoned alcohol and my life changed radically’, Komlan recalls. But he was still an outcast alcoholic to his village. He carried on going to the literacy classes and gradually, step-by-step, won back the trust of his community. Three years after his own first class, Komlan became a teacher of a literacy class in his village
But God had even more amazing plans for Komlan. ‘I also became a teacher of a Sunday school class, taught in Ifè, in my church’, he explains. Today, Komlan has gone from being an outcast alcoholic to the leader of his village’s development committee, which provided the whole village with its first well. By a work of God, through a single Bible verse in his language, Komlan’s life has been transformed
‘What I read in Matthew 5:13-14 has been accomplished in my life’, rejoices Komlan. ‘I have become salt and light to my village! I weep with joy and I give infinite thanks.’
Komlan cannot yet read the Old Testament, as it hasn’t yet been translated into his language. But translators are hard at work, and soonKomlan will be able to hold in his hands a complete Ifè Bible. This life-transforming work is only possible because of the desire of people like you that more people can know Jesus through the Bible. ‘I want to express great thanks’, says Komlan. ‘May God cover you with his multiplied grace in Jesus Christ.’
1 in 5 people are still waiting for the Bible in their language
Be part of unlocking God’s word for every heart – find out more here: wycliffe.org.uk/premier
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