向毒品宣戰勇士 一 席勝魔 (1835 - 1896)

席勝魔，原名席子直。出生在山西省臨汾縣西莊村一個書香富家，父母皆行醫。他從小就受到了良好的教育，長大後不僅繼承了父母的醫術，還在十六歲結婚前就中了秀才。靠著行醫和包攬詞訟，他過著非常優裕的生活。由於髮妻早死，又無兒女，使他在哀痛之餘，感到人生的虛空，開始尋求人生真諦。雖然鑽研了儒、釋、道三教經典，卻仍然找不到生死的答案。孔夫子的教訓雖好，卻止不住他靈魂的飢渴，照不亮墳墓的黑暗，更無法使傷心者得到安慰。而佛教除了使他感覺一切皆空之外，再無其它幫助。道教更使他身受其害，因爲修煉道教的長生術，弄得他體羸氣衰，意志消沉，最後竟至染上鴉片煙癮，淪為煙鬼，不僅無法繼續行醫，連父母傳給他的田産也無心管理，以致自己的家業與前途皆被鴉片煙所吞噬，陷入悲慘、貧賤之境地而不能自拔，他就這樣做了十年鴉片煙的奴隸。

席子直機玄巧合下認識李修善牧師，欣然應李氏之邀，成為他的中文教師。他教李修善讀四書五經的同時，他也在李修善的指導下，開始閱讀聖經。慢慢地，這位驕傲的士大夫被聖經上的話語強烈地吸引住了。一個秋夜，席子直跪倒在地，把聖經恭敬地放在面前。當他讀到耶穌在客西馬尼園中獨自憂傷悲痛向天父禱告時，他那關閉已久的心門被打開了。剎那間，聖靈感動他，使他從心裡相信："耶穌愛我，耶穌是為我捨命"。至此他完全降服，接受耶穌基督作他的救主。受洗後的第一件事就是戒毒，但過程中一點也不容易，他認識到這是屬靈的爭戰，他再三懇求聖靈降臨搭救他，使他脫離魔鬼的一切轄制。戰勝惡魔後，他將家裡的偶像全部焚毀，此擧在村引起極大的轟動。此後，他改名爲"勝魔"。1886年，席勝魔由戴德生（Hudson Taylor）率領的牧師團按立爲牧師。他把自己所有的一切，包括時間、金錢、家庭、朋友和自己的生命，全都放在祭壇上面。他兼具秀才和牧師兩種身份，有豐富的中國傳統文化知識，也有豐富的基督教知識，在兩者的融合上他作出獨到的貢獻。他還寫了很多膾炙人口的白話詩，清新典雅，配上樂曲，唱起來琅琅上口，深受信徒們喜愛。

A Warrior declared war on drugs — Xi Sheng Mo was born in 1835 - 1896

Xi Sheng Mo, whose birth name was Xi Zi Zhi, was born in a literary class family located in Western Zhang village near Lin Fen County, Shanxi Province. His parents were both practising medical doctors. Young Xi received excellent education which helped to inherit his parents’ medical skills. He became a scholar when he was 16 years of age prior to his marriage. He was making a comfortable living as a medical doctor and litigation mediator. Due to his early death of his wife and without children, he was deeply bereaved and felt emptiness in life. He began to seek the true meaning of life. Though he researched into the classic books of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, he was still unable to find the answer to life and death. The teaching of Confucius though was good, it could not quench the thirst in his soul. Nor lighten the darkness of the grave or bring comfort to the broken hearted. Buddhism only made him feel vanity and offered nothing else. Taoism was even causing harm to his body because of practicing Taoist longevity. The practice instigated deficiency syndrome inside his body leading him to suffer from depression, and finally he was addicted to opium and became a heavy smoker. He could not continue practicing medicine and became so self-occupied that he neglected the land assets as inherited from his parents. In the end, Xi’s family business and his future were swallowed by opium. He was unable to pull himself up but felt into total misery and destitution as an opium addict for a decade.

It was a total coincidence that Xi came to know Pastor David Hill and accepted his invitation to have become his Chinese teacher. While teaching on The Four Books and Five Classics, he started to read bible under the instruction of Hill. Gradually this proud doctor was intensely attracted by the word in the Bible. One night in the Autumn, Xi knelt down on the floor with his Bible before him. He was reading the passage when Jesus was so grieved alone in Gethsemane praying to heavenly Father, his long-closed heart was once again opened. All of a sudden, he was touched by the Holy Spirit to believe in his heart that “Jesus loves him and died for him.” He was in total submission and received Jesus Christ to be his Saviour. The first thing he did after water baptism was to go through detoxification which was not easy. He recognised the reality of spiritual warfare and pleaded with Holy Spirit to rescue him from the claws of satan. After his victory, he burned up all the idols in his house which caused quite a sensation in the village. Thereafter he renamed himself as “Sheng Mo” meaning victory over the devils. In 1886, he was ordained as pastor by Hudson Taylor. He gave everything, including time, money, family, friends, and his own life on the altar. Xi was both a scholar and pastor and with his rich combination of Chinese traditional culture and knowledge along with deep knowledge of Christianity, he made unique contribution. Xi wrote many popular vernacular poetry, fresh and elegant, accompanied by catchy music and singing. This made him popular among believers.

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