Blessings from The Bible League

This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. What a treat we have for you today on Kingdom Pursuits as we have our friend Michael Woolworth back with Bible League. And you know, the Truth Network has been partnering again with Bible League as we have this wonderful, just amazing opportunity. Like if there was ever a time where people needed God's Word, we have to be in that time.

I guess there always is time, but you know what? For such a time as this, we have this opportunity to share. We've got amazing stories, Michael. So good to have you back with us.

Chicago area where Bible League is situated. I hope that's true for you. Yeah, unfortunately, he didn't get it potted up just quite. Could you say that sentence again? Do you mind? Yeah, Robbie, can you hear me okay now? I do. I do now.

Okay. Listen, brother, you're sounding great. What a joy to be with you. I'm calling you from the Chicago area where Bible League has our home base. It's a beautiful day in the Chicago area, and I hope that's true for wherever you're at today, Robbie. So having lived in Naperville and Elmhurst, where in Chicago land do you live? So Bible League is in the southernmost part of Chicago land. The town is called Crete. Remember Crete in the Bible? So our office is in Crete. I'm just over the Indiana line, so I'm in God's country in northwest Indiana, Robbie. Not terribly far from Gary, Indiana.

Exactly. That's a town that knew me when. That's spectacular. So yeah, we have an amazing, amazing show on tap for you today with the Bible League, getting into these stories, opportunities, again, for us to send Bibles, because $5 sends one Bible, $50 sends 10, $100 sends 20, and $500 sends 100 Bibles. And again, that number, we're going to give it out a lot, but it's 1-800-937-9673, or you can either go to Truth Network or Kingdom Pursuits if you feel led to give those Bibles. We're going to be talking about all the fruits of where that happens. But you may know that the name of Bible League is Bible League, so Christian, as you might imagine, speaking of league. So speaking of league, you know, I wanted to start a hide-and-seek league. Oh, here it comes. We're actually going to get the shenanigans in.

All right, he hit the wrong button. Now I feel better because we're actually going to play shenanigans before we get into the Bible League. So speaking of league, as I talked out, you know, I wanted to start a hide-and-seek league.

Do you know—it's a difficult thing, Christian. You know why? Why? Why was that?

To start a hide-and-seek league, you know, it's hard to find good players. If you think about that, yeah. So, you know, my girl really loves orange soda. I don't know if you knew that.

Tammy just loves orange soda. In fact, you know, sort of way out of my league. Do you think that's a crush or just fantasy? Yes. Yes.

All right. And we'll see for those Wonder Woman lovers out there. So I don't know if you ever wondered it, but you know how Wonder Woman got her new sword? You know how she got her new sword? I don't know. I don't have any idea. Yeah. Amazon Prime. Perfect.

That helps if you're down there. You know what I'm saying? So I felt betrayed when my girlfriend joined a softball league under—I just can't believe I destroyed that. Anyway, I felt betrayed when my girlfriend joined a softball league without telling me.

You know why, Christian? I bet you can guess. Joined a softball league without telling you.

Yeah, it was underhanded. That makes total sense. And my personal favorite on this league list of league jokes that I've struggled with this morning because I guess I've played too many shenanigans, but I do love this joke.

I hope I don't destroy it. It's absolutely hilarious. Did you hear, Christian, about the new Snail Racing League? Snail Racing League. No, I didn't hear about that, Robbie. Have you heard about it, Michael? It's the Snail Racing League. You know, I guess I missed that one, Robbie.

That's called the NASCAR Go. A lot of French people in the stands for that one. Yeah, oui. Oui. So anyway.

Good stuff. Yeah, we actually have a Bible riddle that you can call in and win today, if you can guess this. So in what chapter of the Bible, excuse me, in what chapter of the book of Joshua did he make a major league decision with a minor team? In what chapter of the book of Joshua? This is actually a pretty hard one.

In what book of Joshua did he make a major league decision, I'm just not reading well today, with a minor team? 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. And if you can guess that, Christian, tell them what they'll win. What they're going to win is a fabulous prize from the King of Pursuit.

Oh my goodness, we're all having trouble today. The King of Pursuit prize vault. There you go. We got it all said. 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH.

All you got to tell us is which book of Joshua did he make a major league decision with a minor team? So getting back to Michael and the Bible league, so since the last time we talked, you know, things are just increasingly like, we need the Bible worse than ever, don't we? Well, I'll tell you what we're doing today. We are addressing what is arguably the number one issue facing the global church.

What is that? The loss of religious freedom around the world. Robbie, that means that people who follow Jesus pay a heavy price simply because they believe he is the way, the truth, and the life. Let me give you a few statistics. A group that keeps an eye on religious persecution around the world is Pew Research. What do they tell us?

Three things. The year 2021 is the most violent year on record in modern history for religious persecution. They'll tell us there's no other religious group persecuted more around the world than evangelical Christians. And then thirdly, they'll tell us that every five minutes outside of the US, a Christian is martyred simply because of his or her faith.

Now listen, let me give you some perspective on that. We'll worship tomorrow, right? So by the end of the average long worship service, average hour-long worship service in America, that statistic I just shared means that 12 believers will die by the end of that service in other parts of the world. While we worship within the confines of pretty much safety, we don't worry about if we're going to get beaten or jailed because we follow Christ.

It's an altogether different level around the world. Now I'm not saying that death is associated with every case of persecution, but I can tell you that at Bible week, now in our 84th year of ministry, we know Christians by name in specific villages in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America who are singled out, targeted, monitored, they've been beaten, jailed, threatened with death. Many have died simply because of their Christian faith. But listen, we want to share some stories today of specific groups of Christians in places like China and on the continent of Africa and in Latin America. We'll take you to the Middle East and share specific stories of Christians who are characterized by two things, Robbie. They love their enemies.

They don't see people around them that persecute them as people to hate. They see them as the mission field. They know the Jesus. And then secondly, Robbie, this is profound, they counted all joy.

They counted all joy to suffer for the Lord Jesus. And so we want to come alongside these believers. It's tempting when you hear those statistics and you hear the stories that we'll share this hour to have empathy.

That's a natural reaction. But our prayer is to take that a step further and send these Christians exactly what they're praying for, not an end to their suffering, but for the word of God in their own language to be able to endure and persevere. We'll tell you how Bible League does that as we go along today. Again, God's uniquely positioned us in the work of the Great Commission all over the world.

And we'll kind of flesh that out as we go along. But our goal, Robbie, is to bless 3,500 persecuted believers, again, that we know by name at Bible League, at $5 a Bible. We want to do that at $5 a Bible.

So simple math tells you $50 will send $10. $100 puts God's word into the hands and hearts of 20 persecuted believers. These are members of our spiritual family. And again, they're not praying for an end to their suffering. They're praying that we'll respond and send in the Bible. Yeah, that's so wonderful.

And I know it's been my experience as we talk to the folks that have really been under the worst persecution, that they always have this amazing spirit of that they've been comforted and that they're honoring God through that. So I can hardly wait for these stories. So you stay tuned.

And if you've got an answer to the question, you call us, 866-348-7884. Looking forward to being right back. We'll come back to Kingdom Pursuits where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom. We're so blessed to have with us Michael Woolworth with Bible League today as we are hearing these amazing stories of how God is working around the world in providing Bibles and the people that are needing them the most. Like what a time to be able to provide this. And so Michael, I know our listeners are anxious to hear.

Give us a story. Yeah, you know, again, we're addressing today what is arguably the number one issue facing the global church, the loss of religious freedom. It means that Christians are paid a very, very heavy price to follow the Lord Jesus. And today, Robbie, we get to step into their story. And I want to tell you about a couple of specific groups right now—we'll do this throughout the entire hour—that really could benefit from your prayers and financial support today. Let me take you to the Middle East and tell you about a man by the name of Ephraim. Who is he? Well, he's a bivocational pastor just outside of Cairo, Egypt. That means that he pastors a very small evangelical church. In his former life, before he became a believer, he was a radical. He hated Christians. In fact, he would destroy churches and assault people that called on the name of Jesus.

God had a different plan for him, Robbie, brought him to save in faith. He became a pastor, received some theological training, and so he pastors a small congregation. He also owns a convenience store. And one day, radicals showed up. They burned that store down.

Let me tell you what his crime was. He simply displayed Christian tracts in Arabic on the counter of that store. These radicals would have nothing to do with that, so they destroyed the store. And rather than retaliate—the man has no money, by the way, to rebuild—rather than retaliate with violence, you know what he's done? He's retaliated with the gospel, and he began to seek out those, even those that persecuted him, and he invited them to learn about Jesus using a Bible study program from Bible League. And so, week after week, as these people would come and they would learn about who Jesus Christ is, I can tell you that about 88 people, almost 100, associated with the story that I just mentioned, this man persecuted simply because he follows Christ there outside of Cairo, Egypt. A hundred people have come to Christ, but I can tell you it's a terrible place to try to find a Bible, and that's what these people are praying for. I tell you, when you come to faith having left radical Islam, your family puts tremendous pressure on you.

They see you as disgracing the family. They want you to renounce Christ. But I can tell you, these new believers, Robby, they're focused on Jesus. They're praying for 100 Bibles right now in Cairo, Egypt. And then let me just tell you another quick story from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A man by the name of Ruses, he's a pastor there, and one day his sons went missing, three sons, Gabriel, Titus, and Ian, and there was a terrorist cell within the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They're in the news right now. They hate Christians. They're wreaking havoc on various parts of that country, but they killed these boys. And again, rather than retaliate with violence, Pastor Ruses and his congregation would go to these neighboring villages. They had a sense of where these people came from, and they began to invite them to learn about Jesus, to learn about forgiveness and grace. And again, in that story alone, about 150 people have come to Christ.

They're in the remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And so I can tell you, these are a couple of stories of Christians that are willing to suffer. They love their enemies, Robby, and they count it all joy to suffer for the Lord Jesus. And so I know it's tempting just to feel some empathy for these believers. There's two pastors whose sons were killed.

Their store was burned down, again, for no other reason than being a Christian. And yet we can step into the story and send them exactly what they're praying for at only $5 a Bible. And I can tell you together, the Bible League and Truth Network have said, we want to put the Bible, in the language of the receiver, into the hands and the hearts of 3500 Bibleist believers. We need to do that by July 4th, so this campaign won't go on forever, but it's an opportunity for us as you wake up wherever you are today, and you say, Lord, I want to be a blessing. How do I bless the persecuted church from half a world away? Today's your opportunity. And I can tell you, Bible League is just simply honored. And the Past Truth listeners, you've been amazing in your giving. We're simply asking, will you do it again? And this time on behalf of the persecuted church, $5 sins of the Bible.

How many can you send today? Darrell Bock So I'm really curious about you had said in the case of the man outside of, was it Cairo? Robert Chisholm Cairo, Egypt, yeah. Darrell Bock And I'm guessing also in the Congo, those were Bible League Bible studies.

Could you explain how that works? Robert Chisholm Yeah, let me tell you how this works, Robbie. There's not a place on earth where we've ministered for 84 years, where we are not connected to the local evangelical church. That's that's God's blueprint, right? For the gospel to go forth, where you invite people into kingdom life. So we're not we're not lone wolves out there.

We're connected. Or this what we call under resourced churches. Let me tell you what doesn't characterize those. It doesn't mean they don't love God doesn't mean they're lacking in love for others. It means God has them planted where it's difficult to live out your Christian faith.

They don't have the resources that you and I do here in the United States. And so we have created a Bible study in all the languages of the world that local churches can use to invite people to come learn about Jesus, even those that would persecute them. And Robbie, at the end of that eight to 12 weeks studies, people learn who Jesus is, and how do you die to self?

And how do you put on Christ? And when Jesus says, Do you want to be great in this kingdom, you learn to serve. And so about eight to 12 weeks into that study, people begin to press profess faith in Christ, they're connected to a local evangelical church. And we at Bible league promised them a Bible, you know, what is so elementary to Christian faith, so easy to find here in the US, is so difficult, especially where Christians are persecuted. And so they can't find Bibles, they can't afford them. And Robbie, that's where you and I, as followers of Christ get to ask your listeners, would you step into the stories of people like Pastor Ruses, and this pastor Ephraim there in the Middle East, who suffer on a daily basis, but again, they don't complain. Again, they count it all joy to suffer for the Lord Jesus.

And they simply want to endure and persevere. And you do that when you can open a Bible and be reminded of God's precious promises. And today, listeners, you can send that at only $5 a Bible.

Right, and all you got to do is either go to Truth Network or KingdomPursuits.com or dial 1-800-937-9673. So, like, you guys have these Bible studies, that's all the numbers, like, they're spectacular. How many of these things do you guys have going on around the world? Well, you know, when I start sharing numbers and it gets into the millions, our eyes can gloss over. So let me say this, we have the opportunity to bless about 240 people every single hour of the day.

That's what the average comes out to. And we've seen, golly, millions and millions reach in our eight decades of ministry. We're on track to give out our one billionth Bible or biblical resource relatively soon, but probably we could not do it without listeners like yours that hear these pleas, that hear these calls to action, and they get involved.

And let me just mention three people praying for Bibles right now, just to take this a step further. Ahmad is in Malaysia, he's a civil engineer. He was beaten by radicals when he came to Christ, but he's praying for a Bible. Adesh is in Nepal, he's a tour guide near the Himalayan mountains. He was beaten when he came to Christ, but he's praying for a Bible.

And then Einar is in Zimbabwe, Africa. She's a widowed mother of three. Her husband was killed by the Boko Haram regime, but she has three children. She wants to raise them to know and love Jesus, and she's praying for a Bible. And all of those people, Robbie, every Christian we're talking about today are people that we know at Bible league.

The soil's been worked. They're members of our spiritual family. They've come through that Bible study we just talked about, and that we promised them a Bible. They're waiting for that, and I can tell you as the eyes and ears of Bible league, somebody who gets to travel around the world and meet so many of these heroes in their faith, it's a joy for me to let them know, hey, those Bibles you're praying for, they're coming, they're coming. And the spectacular thing, you know, it kind of blows my mind, is they get them in their native language. How many languages do you guys have again that you have Bibles for? You know, it's hundreds. It's in the thousands.

You know, here's what happens when we do these type of wonderful radiator reviews. People won't hear this in great need. They'll say, oh, you know what, we got a box of Bibles in the basement that got replaced at church years ago, right?

They'll rush down to a station. They'll say, hey, here's Bibles, send them, get them on their way. The problem is, if you are in Zimbabwe, Africa, and you speak Bemba, if you're in China, you speak Mandarin, you're in the Middle East, you speak Arabic, an English Bible does you no good, and so the intentions are great there. We always recommend the stations give them to like a local rescue mission, but again, that's where Bible league has been uniquely positioned for eight decades, to be on the front lines, to be able to work with trusted Bible society. We have our own translation team that works to translate in modern, contemporary language where it's needed, and so again, you can trust that Bible league will follow through with everything we're promising, and that's to get the Bibles in the languages of the receiver, and so Robbie, that's the unique opportunity we have today, again, at five dollars a Bible, and again, Truth Network and Bible league have said by July 4th, when we celebrate our independence, can we also meet this important goal of putting the Bible into the hands of 3,500 persecuted believers?

We're getting there, I think we're about 10 to 15 percent there, and so your listeners are responding, there's no question about that, but a long way to go, and if there's a group that can get it done, it's the Truth Network listening family, brother. Yeah, and I, you know, I'm blessed in my neighborhood we have a Bible study that, you know, is in actually on Saturday afternoons, and we had one family that was bringing in exchange students, and so we had a girl from Africa, and we had a girl from Japan, and the girl from, they were both teenagers, and, or they are teenagers, they're not gone, and fascinatingly, the girl from Africa was born Christian, and actually when she came to America, she was afraid she wouldn't meet any Christians. That was funny, and so she was so delighted that we not only were Christians, but, you know, had a study there, but her friend that came from Japan, you know, she really, really struggled with English, and she was not a Christian, as she came into this Bible study, and, you know, we've been studying with her for, I guess, almost a year, and the language barrier is really, you know, you think about the advantage of having somebody in their culture speaks their language, and then they have a Bible in their language, because as we've been, you know, trying to witness to this young lady and whatever, the challenges of the language barrier are significant.

It's just huge. Yeah, we recently, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, yeah. Robby, we recently completed a Bible in Japanese, and people there that are coming to know Christ said, I didn't know God spoke Japanese, so yeah.

That's so wonderful. We're going to be back in just a minute with Michael from the Bible League. In the meantime, just go to TruthNetwork.com or KingdomPursuits.com. You'll see the Bible League banner. Like you said, five dollars, one Bible, and fifty cents, ten. What? Five hundred?

Sends a hundred. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom, and we're having a lot of fun today with Michael in the Bible League, hearing how God is, you know, taking his word all around the world, and I know those of you listening to the Truth Network are so blessed, like I am, to hear amazing Bible teaching, you know, every single day, and hopefully you've been blessed by just, you know, a word or two or ten or fifteen this morning that you heard out of the Word of God that spoke to your heart in exactly the place that you needed it. Can you imagine being under the pressure that these people are and not having that available? Like, we'll meet these people in heaven someday, and they're going to go, oh man, you don't have any idea what that Bible meant to me, that five dollars that you spent.

It's just huge, isn't it, Michael? It really is, Robbie, and you know, as I travel the world and I meet these end users, pastors, evangelists, you know, just men and women who make up the kingdom of God, and I ask them, you know, what keeps you going in light of all that you face, all that you've gone through, all that you face on a daily basis? I mean, persecution never takes a day off. It's always there, and they say, you know, it's versus like Romans 8, the sufferings of this present time. They're not worthy to be compared with the glory to come. I mean, when you can open your Bible in the midst of being singled out, monitored, tortured, beaten, jailed, threatened with death, I mean, that means everything to know that God knows you intimately, because a lot of these believers, again in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, Robbie, they're in places where Christianity, evangelical Christianity, makes up maybe one percent of the population, you know, to know that Christians in America know your plight, they're responding, they're sending you God's word.

I mean, to be able to open it every day, that's a true blessing, and that's what we're doing today. You know, if you throw in the words Christian persecution in the news, you know, here's what you'll find. In Nigeria, a college student, a Christian woman, was accused, falsely accused, of blasphemy by radicals. You know what they did?

They beat her with planks, set her on fire, did the same thing to a man 74 years of age in another part of that country. We know the pastor that uses Bibles that we've said in previous campaigns, Robbie, in the country of India, there was a group that tied him to a fence post one day, 150 radicals, lots of these were kids in school uniforms, if you can imagine that they teach them to hate Christianity at such an early age there, they beat this man, nearly killed him, and yet today with conviction, Robbie, he can say, it is a joy to suffer for the Lord Jesus, and so at five dollars a Bible, we're sending these persecuted believers that we know by name at Bible League, all over those regions I just mentioned, and we'll make sure that we get them what they need in their own language. Christians who have come to saving faith, sometimes only in the last few months, most of these stories are fresh, these are new believers, they need something that's so elementary to Christian faith and yet so hard to find as they are persecuted for the name of the Lord Jesus. So Robbie, great to be with you today, you've been a great advocate for us, you've asked your listeners without reservation to support the campaigns we've worked with, listen, truth listeners, you've hit it out of the park if I can use baseball speak, and we're simply asking will you do it again this time on behalf of the persecuted church? Yeah, it's such an honor, it really is, and such a neat thing, as we enjoy the word the way that we do, and I know that, you know, that's the beauty of the truth listeners, is they, you know, if you'd listened to Christian Car Guys show last hour, you know how many people called in with just delighting, delighting in his law, and so you think about, you know, one of my favorite passages is in Mark where he talks about, you know, those who leave lands, mothers, sisters, brothers, for my sake and the sake of the gospel, not fail to receive 100 times as many, and 100 times as many, you know, mothers, sisters, brothers, lands, all those things, and persecutions? Now, and it's been my experience, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but it's really fun to count your 100 mothers, and count your 100 brothers, and count your 100 sisters, because I really, since I came to Christ, I've added like unbelievable numbers of mothers, fathers, sisters, it's well over 100, but the interesting thing about that, all those blessings, one of those blessings that you get 100 times, is persecutions, and how is that a blessing? Well, these people that are in that situation, when they read their Bibles, they can begin to count their 100 mothers and put their persecutions in there with that, right, Michael? Michael McRae Yeah, amen.

I mean, it gives him perspective. Robbie, let me tell you, I was in the Middle East a couple of years ago. We were near the Syria, Jordan, Iraq border. There's a big refugee camp there. If you remember, after the Assad regime, a lot of these people were forced out. And they were in this camp of about 90,000, a small evangelical church that we partner with began to offer some services to these families. Many of these women were widowed.

In fact, the family that I'm talking about, he had died fighting for ISIS, this woman's husband, she had eight kids, she was a radicalized person, she wore the full burka, only the rectangle cut out for the eyes. She encountered a program, she couldn't reach, couldn't write, she was denied an education because of her social standing in that part of the world. But she found this program from Bible League. Robbie, one of the things we do is you encounter people, engage them in God's Word, you find out they can't read, you've got another problem.

And so we've been able to develop a program that gives the gift of literacy if the Bible is the source of the reading assignments. And so there's Christian men, Christian women that teach these programs all over the world, this woman was delighted to finally learn to read and write in the Arabic language, she had a big family, she had eight kids, and out of grateful response, she came to saving faith, led seven of her eight kids to Christ, who was number eight that didn't come to Jesus, that was Achmed, he was 14 at the time, he was a suicide bomber, he'd sold out to violent Islam, they picked a time, picked a place where he was going to blow himself up and kill others in the process. His mom knew this, she prayed not stop for salvation. And when it came, he was beaten nearly to death by the radicals, they said, we're going to find you, we're going to finish the job at some point, we caught up with them several villages over from where all that happened. And when I sat down with him, Robbie, through a translator, speaking English to Arabic, I said, Achmed, what's your Bible mean to you?

And I can tell you at 14 years of age, I was blown away by this boy's maturity in Christ. He said, Michael, he said, I can go here where Jesus says, they'll hate you because they hated me first. He said, I can go here where it says, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. He said, I can go to the Great Commission where Jesus says, I'm with you always.

And I've got tears in my eyes at that point. He did too, because I had a great burden to see other young men 10 to 20 years of age who have been singled out to become suicide bombers, do something awful in the name of radicalized religion. And yet he wants to reach them. And I can tell you, the pastors around us, the elders in that church, they said, he's the real deal. There's 100 that have already come to Christ. Now listen, that was a couple of years ago, there's 200 more, Robbie that have come to Christ. But anyway, my point is, he had a perspective, he had his Arabic Bible, and he learned very quickly in his walk with Christ, with a bounty on his head. I still wonder if we're going to find him and finish him off. But with a bounty on his head, he has taken the gospel there in the Middle East to people who need it most.

He doesn't see these people as the enemies, he sees them as a mission field. And at $5 a Bible today, we can give these Christians new to the faith, members of our spiritual family, a perspective. And I can tell you, to see the precious promises of God played out in some of the most difficult places of the world, Robbie, it's an honor for me to hop on here and let your listeners know about this. Darrell Bock Yeah, you just go to TruthNetwork.com or KingdomPursuits.com. The phone number, again, if you want it, is 800-937-9673.

800-937-9673. There's so many aspects to that story that like, first, that there was this mom that couldn't even read. And like, what a blessing to actually give her the dignity and the honor of coming to know God and read about him.

And then her praying and all for this poor young man that was so deceived. And then, oh my goodness, how is he, you know, like my friend Bob, my Christian junkyard guy says, what I thought made me disqualified made me uniquely qualified. Well, this guy is uniquely qualified to speak to these other young men that are so deceived, as only he can.

And they can see his love in his eyes as they're beating him, I'm sure. Robert Chisholm Well, you know what, listeners, it's so tempting to say, okay, I'll send a Bible, but what's it going to do? I mean, come on. I mean, they're the world.

It's a big problem, right? There's a big need here. That story came down to one Bible. It came down to one person willing to share what's in that Bible, the person that led young Achmed to Christ. And I can tell you one gracious God willing to bring people from the grips of spiritual darkness. God's making good on his promise to redeem the world, and we get to be a part of it today, Robbie.

Robert Chisholm Oh, so beautiful. Again, truthnetwork.com or kingdombursuits.com, as well as 800-937-9673. We got one more short segment with Michael. So looking forward to it. It's so awesome to be able to share your time with you, Michael.

800-937-9673. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion. I hope your passion like mine is for the Word of God and for the people of God, right?

Like, he's given us this opportunity, what amazing times we live in when you think about it, that to love the nations, that God has blessed us in so many different ways to live in this country, to have the freedoms that we have to make the money that we make, and all that stuff may not seem—you know, I know it's hard times right now with gas, all this other stuff, but it's interesting to me. And I can tell you, this is one of the ones that not only the Truth Network supports, Robbie Dilmore personally supports this one. And I'm going to jump in as soon as this show is over and take part in this blessing, and I'm going to guess that I'll never even think about the money that got gone, because, I mean, this need is so much bigger than any need, really, that I have it to think about, you know, women that can't read, people that are being persecuted, all these things, Michael, what a blessing it is to take part in this, really. Well, Robbie, thanks for being a great friend of Bible League. Your listeners, they've been incredibly kind to us over the years that we've worked together.

We're coming back today. We're just sharing a few stories here and there of the persecuted church. These are people that are paying a heavy price simply for believing that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. I want to finish up in the country of India, but as I do that, five dollars sends a Bible. We've said, can we do this for 3,500 persecuted believers?

We want to do that by July 4th. 800 yes word, 800 Y-E-S-W-O-R-D. Robbie, you've been doing a great job giving out that number. And of course, Truth Network or the Kingdom's Pursuits website, just click the Bible League banner, make your most generous gift.

I know we'll hit that goal, we'll sing the Hallelujah Chorus, it'll be gifts of all sizes. But one of the groups, Robbie, that can benefit from your health today is the country of India. And this is the land of Gandhi.

I can tell you long gone are the days when Gandhi promoted a non-violent Hinduism. This is a place where it's a crime pretty much to be a Christian. If you share your faith and somebody is unhappy about that, you can go to jail. And a lot of times when that happens, you're beaten, you're mistreated, your family loses touch with you.

I mean, it's an incredible price to pay. What of my colleagues there would hop in the car with his wife, he would go from village to village, he said, Michael, I'm filming this, let me tell you in the different languages. And Tom, this says, no Christians allowed. Over here it says, it's a crime to carry a Bible, no evangelism allowed. He said, that's the environment we live right now. We know a pastor not too long ago that he and his family were taken out to a reservoir, falsely accused of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.

Robbie, they drowned the entire family to make a point. There's no room for Christianity within the walls of India. And yet, I can tell you in unprecedented numbers, people are coming to say, I'm forsaking the world, and I'm going to follow Jesus. One of the most humbling things I've heard outside of Karnataka, India, is a seminary that we support at Bible League. We provide them with Bibles that new pastors can use. They will take these men, when they graduate from seminary, out to the edge of the town, they take them in a van, they've got shovels, they will dig their own grave. Now this will be the grave they'll be buried in, but it's a symbol to say, we're going to have to suffer. We may have to die to see the gospel to go forth.

Are we willing to do that? I can tell you, Bible League, now in our 84th year of ministry, we've been able to see that people are serious about Jesus, they're willing to suffer, and that's why we're asking your listeners to step into the story of these Christians. Let me tell you real quick, in one minute time, the story of Jayanth. Who was he? At one time, a radicalized Hindu. He would burn churches, he would assault Christians, but God gripped his heart, he became a pastor, received some theological training, went through church planter training from Bible League, where there's emerging communities of believers and yet no church.

We help kind of provide that training for that type of environment. And so he went through that, he said, God, where should I plant a church? Gets on a bicycle, goes into a village where as far as he knew, never a Christian, never a church, and I can tell you, long story short, today in that village of 1,000, Robby, more than a half of that village follows the Lord Jesus.

Now, lest you think it came easy, let me tell you what happened. Jayanth's house was burned down not once but twice, his wife was assaulted, she was raped, many in the congregation have been beaten, some have died, but with true conviction today, that man Jayanth can say we counted all joy to suffer for the Lord Jesus and we love our enemies, we want to see them come to the saving faith of Jesus Christ. They need about 500 Bibles right now, they're outside of Karnataka, India, and that's why we're doing this kingdom business today. Darrell Bock Yeah, I want an opportunity and, you know, we can't even think about all that's involved with that, but the cool thing is, from my perspective, is God is right there with them and then they not only have Bibles, they have Bibles in that language, right?

Which is, I can't even imagine trying to, you know, witness to somebody like that, but you have people in the culture that have the Bible in their language and able to minister with people that, you know, that understand what it's like to live there and know what's going on there. I mean, it's really spectacular, the resource that God has given the Bible league, and so we're going to tell you again that $5 sends a Bible and $50 sends $10, $100 sends $20, and $500 sends 100 Bibles. Again, it's TruthNetwork.com, KingdomPursuits.com, or 1-800-Yes-Word, if you're good at, I'm not digitally gifted. I can't print all that out, so I just go with 800-937-9673.

800-937-9673. Thank you so much, Michael. What a spectacular show, opportunity to hear all that the Bible league's doing. Excited to be part of it. I'm glad to be with you, Robbie. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now, stay tuned. You got so much truth coming at you, encouraging prayer, followed by the masculine journey starts here now. Then Nikita Kolov, it's time to man up at 1230 with a Russian nightmare. How fun is that? So much truth coming at you on the Truth Network. This is the Truth Network.