A prison Chaplain offered to give a New Testament to one of the inmates but the man refused saying, “I must be honest Sir and tell you that I’d only roll tobacco in each page and make cigarettes!” The Chaplain was taken aback but he shot up a quick prayer for guidance and replied, “Yes, I’ll give you this New Testament on the condition that you read both sides of each page before you tear it out.” The man agreed and took the good book.

Years later a man approached the Chaplain after he’d been preaching in a church. “D’you remember me Sir! You offered me a New Testament but I told you I would roll cigarettes with the pages!” The Chaplain replied, “Yes I do remember, and you promised to read each page before you smoked it and I went away praying that God would speak to you through His Word.” “Well,” said the man, “I smoked my way through Matthew, Mark and Luke but when I got to John’s gospel chapter 3 and verse 16 it broke my heart to think that Jesus died for me. I asked Him for forgiveness and now I have a happy church going family and I don’t need to smoke anymore!”

In 1825 a young man aged 20 surrendered his life to Christ and lost his love of smoking. In 1879 he wrote, “Smoking is an evil habit, it is very injurious to health, as all disinterested physicians who do not themselves indulge in it, will fully allow. A robust constitution may for a good while resist its pernicious effects, but sooner or later, these effects will be manifested.”

These words were written by George Muller who founded a famous orphanage in Bristol. He never retired but worked until the day he died aged 92!