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Wednesday, May 26, 2004

HOW ROCKET ENGINEER WERNHER VON BRAUN BECAME A CHRISTIAN
A “Gideon” Handed a Bible to the Pioneer of Space Travel

By Wolfgang Polzer
Special to ASSIST News Service

SCHWERIN  (ANS) -- Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), world famous rocket engineer and pioneer of space travel, became a Christian through the ministry of a “Gideon”. This was revealed at the annual convention of the German Gideon association in Schwerin, North Germany, May 20 – 23.

W. Albert Wilson, 85-year-old former NASA employee and Gideon from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, recalled how in 1962 he presented the Gideons’ ministry at a church in Morgan County, Alabama. A week later von Braun’s secretary invited him to see the German born scientist in his office.

Wernher von Braun – mastermind of NASA’s rocket and space program – looked worried, when Wilson met him. He urged him to seek God’s guidance. Eventually, von Braun asked Jesus into his heart, as Wilson recalled.

“When I left the office, I knew that he had become a Christian,” said Wilson. Subsequently Wernher von Braun often attended a Lutheran church and kept the Gideon bible that Wilson had given him in his office. Wilson: “When I met him later I noticed that his Bible was worn.”

Wernher von Braun first developed the V2 rocket for Nazi Germany. But before the allies captured the secret research complex on the Baltic coast, von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists to the Americans. He worked with the US army after the war and later developed rockets for NASA, which would take the first astronauts to the moon in 1969.

The Gideons, founded in 1899, are Christian laymen engaged in distributing the Bible with the aim of winning others for Christ. They are best known for placing Bibles in hotel rooms. The association has 236,000 members in 179 countries. They distribute more than 59 million Scriptures each year.

In 2003 the German Gideons had their most successful year so far. They distributed 695,903 Scriptures, nearly twelve per cent more than in the previous year. According to General Secretary Johannes Wendel the “Year of the Bible” 2003 helped promote the distribution.

The central Gideon office in Wetzlar receives about four enquiries each day from people who have received a Bible and want to get in touch with a local church.
Wolfgang Polzer (54), is senior news editor of the Evangelical News Agency idea, Wetzlar (Germany), which he joined in 1981. His previous work included four years in the editorial department of the Salvation Army in Germany. In all, he has spent 27 years in Christian media. Wolfgang can be contacted by e-mail at: Wolfgang.Polzer@idea.de.
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