The Story of Tom Brooks

Darrel Bird, Oregon

 

This is the story of Tom Brooks as I heard it told. Tom Brooks would be a nobody to many people; he was born into a rather poor Kentucky family, and could not read at 16 years old, but had accepted Christ.

One day he went to church and heard the Pastor preach a sermon on Mat 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

So Tom came home that night telling his mother that he was going to go into the woods with his Bible, and was not going to come out until he could read it.

His mother said “Now Tom, go down there to Berea Kentucky and they will teach you to read. You cain’t go off in them woods!”

But Tom would not hear it, and he took his Bible and walked the woods day after day, and held it open to that text by firelight at night, repeating that text. Until finally one evening he was sitting on a log staring at his Bible, and began to read, he ran through the community shouting “I can read, I can read!!”

He ended up in Berea Kentucky teaching at the Bible school, although he could read nothing else but the Bible, not even a Newspaper. Reading the Bible was all Tom asked for.

Then one evening he came home and announced to his mother that God told him to build a church. When his mother asked him where it would be built, Tom replied that he would build on the land his daddy had left for him.

His mother said, “Why Tom, have you looked at that land lately, it is so steep even a billy goat couldn’t climb that!”

But Tom said “Well, it’s the only land I got, and it says that if I believe, God will move a mountain. I aim to go to the woods and I ain’t coming out until he moves it.”

 His mother said “Now Tom you cain’t do that, you go off into them woods, you’ll starve!”

But Tom went, so his mother and Pastor decided all they could do was pray for God to move that mountain.

So Tom stayed gone for days on end, walking through those woods repeating that scripture and praying.

One day a man came knocking on Mrs. Brooks’s door; he told her he needed to get hold of a Mr. Tom Brooks.  The man told her he represented the strip mining company the other side of the mountain, and if they could just push that mountain over into that strip mine they would pay him for it, and that mountain would be just as level as that road out there.

Mrs. Brooks walked through the house to the back porch and yelled as loud as she could “Tom, Oh Tom, God just moved your mountain, you can come home now!!”

Tom Brooks built his church.

Do you have mountains in your life? I had been praying for my wayward Son for many years, and finally I cried out in desperation, “Oh God, will I ever live to see him saved?” God spoke to my heart and mind these four words “Have faith in God.” and a few years later my Son came to know our Lord.

   This is not just any leap of faith, it is a firm belief in Gods word, that He is able and willing to perform His word. Our “mountains” are many and of varied size and shapes.

Let us begin to have true faith in God. I don’t know about you, but I have had many “mountains” in my way, but over the years God has pushed one after another out of the way.

  If we can get the “fast food” mentality out of the way, and not be so easily discouraged, but set to run the race before us with patience, God hears and answers prayer.

Like Tom who carried his Bible around, longing to read it, we need to believe and long for what we pray for, and God will give us that desire according to His will. Let our desire be for things of Gods kingdom, for the Bible says it is Gods good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Darrel Bird