Open the Floodgates: Bibles for Africa!

Speaking of hangry, we got something going on at the Truth Network that's going to help the world not be so hangry. Yeah, he's talking about just needing God's Word. He said, please help the Truth Network send Bibles to Africa.

And we know that they need God's Word. We have until the end of the month, just $5 gets a Bible in the hands of a poor, impoverished believer all over the African continent with the help of the Bible League. Just $5.

Just think about that, Robbie. Just $5. So please give. If you can give more than $5, man, we'd love for you to do it. And the number to call is 1-800-YES-WORD. 1-800-YES-WORD.

The 1-800-YES-WORD. This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. I'm so excited to have a guest on who is ambitious, intentional about getting God's Word, the Bible, into the hands of people all over the world, especially in sub-Saharan countries in Africa. People that have no access to the Bible, people who are embattled and attacked and beaten for their faith in Jesus, that the 10, 15, 20 Bibles, Michael Woolworth, that I have in my home, they would love just one of them. They would love just to have the Gospel of John in one of them. We have so much, Michael, but the Bible League, you guys are doing something about it.

Is that right? Well, Stu, let me say this. I appreciate your faithful witnesses, the Truth Network. It's great to be on with you, to put this before your listeners and invite them to be involved in what God is doing through the ministry of Bible League. This is our 83rd year of ministry, Stu.

I won't talk much about Bible League, but let me say this. We've been on the front lines, involved in the Great Commission, again, for more than eight decades. We do this all over the world, and we're focused right now, Stu, on the continent of Africa.

Here's why. This is where Christianity is growing in the greatest numbers around the world. The second region is Asia, number three is Latin America, but number one is Africa. And yet, would you know it, at Bible League, we have noticed a trend in the 12 sub-Saharan African countries that you just mentioned.

Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, we'll talk about those as we go along. We estimate that as many as 9 of 10 evangelical Christians have absolutely no access to the Bible. Now, listen, you talked about, you know, kind of the pure milk of the word. I mean, because I've been able to, you know, I've walked with the Lord for 40 years, I've had a Bible in my own language at a level that I understand. I mean, I know how deep, how wide, how long, how high is the love of Christ for me, right? And that fuels my walk with Him, and yet if you cannot access a Bible, one would ask, I mean, how do you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus? So, Stu, we've endeavored together as two ministries to do something about this. We know we can't solve this for every Bibleist Christian in Africa. There are billions that we could do this for, but we said, can we do it maybe for about 4,000 Bibleist believers at only $5 a Bible? So $5, you're saying $5 puts a Bible in the hand of someone who doesn't have one or may have never had one. Well, you know, long gone are the days where you put a carton of Bibles on a ship, pray it gets there in six months. I mean, we do this at $5 a Bible because of print-on-demand. We work with printers around the world to do where it's safe to print Bibles.

And when we meet financial goals, with the resources, we can say to them, hey, roll the presses. We need Bibles in Portuguese and Swahili and Amharic and all the languages of Africa. So our prayer today, listeners, is that you'll hear these stories, what Stu and I will talk about. Rejoice that the Gospel is going forth, even in the time of pandemic.

But please pray that the resources would be available to help meet the need again. We want to do this for 4,000 Bibleist believers in Africa. Wow, and that's the voice of Michael Woolworth with the Bible League. I'm Stu Epperson, host of Truth Talk, and once in a while we do a little bit of a give-back on this show. Heard all over the country, we love our friends, affiliates, AFR, Wilkins Radio Network, so many folks that carry Truth Talk. We're so grateful for all of our affiliates that are part of the Truth Network.

This is one of those give-back days. This is where we challenge you on this show. We interview amazing guests. We've got an interview with Greg Laurie coming up here soon. We've got all kinds of interviews, but once in a while we want to say, hey, you the listener can get involved. You the listener can give five bucks to give someone a Bible who doesn't have one.

You can give a hundred bucks to send 20 Bibles to Sub-Saharan African, where there are believers there who are being beaten for their faith. We're going to give you a little phone number to call, and the Truth Network website, I believe there's a link in there at truthnetwork.com, Michael, for people that want to learn more and click on that to learn more about the Bible League. Now, the Bible League, tell us a little bit about your background, your testimony, and how you got excited about the Bible League, and how this is a 501c3 ministry that's just helping advance the gospel. Years ago I worked in Christian Radio, so I knew about Bible League.

I've known about them forever, had great respect and admiration for what they do. And, Stu, when the invitation came to come to Bible League, to serve in this role, oversee all these wonderful radio campaigns, Stu, I thought back to a missions trip I took with my church, my local church, to Africa. Many, many years ago, I guess it was probably 15 years ago, we were in Ethiopia, Africa.

You know, that's the country that faced the great famine of 84 million people lost. And I met a man by the name of Caidman. You know, as I travel, you know, I traveled on that trip, you know, you see things that you'll never forget, you'll meet people that will never come out of your memory. One of the men I met was Caidman, 30 years of age, wife, two children. He had a diaconal role in that church, taking care of a lot of the widows. And I had gathered with these Christians for a three-hour outdoor service. It was quite long for this Westerner, but as you might imagine, the worship was vibrant, the preaching was solid.

And afterwards, I saw this man, Caidman, Stu. He was hunched over a table in the back where 800 people had worshiped, and he had an open Amharic language Bible. I don't think the whole thing was even there, but he had a lined piece of paper, a thick pencil, and he was handwriting scriptures in the Amharic language onto that lined piece of paper just to have something to take into his week to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

You see, I found out that in this congregation of 800 Christians, very solid in their faith, only a handful had the Bible, and I thought, this man loves the Lord, he leads his family, he's faithful in worship, but to think that he had never, ever read a single verse in his own Bible, because again, it just was not available in that part of Ethiopia. And so Stu, I've never forgotten this man, Caidman, that congregation, and when the call came to serve with Bible League, I certainly came here. Stu, our Genesis came a good Friday of 1938.

Our two founders were in the Chicago area. He was on his deathbed, the elder of his church came, prayed over him, said, God, restore his health, give him a ministry when that happens. And they didn't know what the ministry would look like, but they listened expectantly, waited, the health came, and these two people, William and Betty Chapman, began to engage people with the Word of God.

And Stu, we've never wavered from that original ministry charge from 83 years ago. We engage people in God's Word all over the world, and we never go into a village, Stu, and willy-nilly give a Bible. All of the Christians that we've talked about in our week together on the Truth Network, our time today, are people that we know by name in villages who have come through a simple Bible study, Christianity 101, the Gospel of John paired together. We call it Project Philip, who's Philip.

He's the evangelist in Acts 8 who leads the Ethiopian eunuch to faith in Christ. We help create Philip's all over the world who are uniquely positioned to share Christ where they're at. We're with them on the ground. So Stu, we have people that fund those studies. There's other studies that new Christians will go through. But what we're asking your listeners to do today is to help us make good on our promise to put God's Word into the hands and hearts of these believers. It'll be in their language, it'll be at a level they can understand, and again, we're praying that that comes together today for 4,000 Bible-less believers in Africa. Praise the Lord.

So this is really awesome. That story, wow! Just the thought that you've got 800 people in a church and many of them, most of them don't even have their own copy of God's Word. So the pastor says, turn to God's Word and you're looking over the shoulder of someone seven rows up. You know, there's one Bible. And so the Bible, you guys are doing something about it, Michael, and we're so encouraged by that. So friends, $5 can put a Bible in the hands of someone who doesn't have a copy of God's Word. And this is just a very important but time-sensitive little campaign we're doing to give back. And $100 will send 20 copies. Whatever you can give, whatever God puts on your heart, it's not our money anyway.

God gives to us in order to give through us. There's an 800 number. I love this 800 number. 800-YES-WORD. Did I get that right, Michael?

You got it. It's that simple. 800-YES-WORD. And spelled out, it's 800-937-9673. You can call that number anytime. It's a free call and pledge. Give your credit card number to the gracious person on the other end that's taking these incoming pledges and commitments to give a Bible through the Bible League to someone who needs one desperately.

TruthNetwork.com. There's a big link there. And we're so grateful for everyone. Michael, we've got to go to a break. I want to come back and hear a little bit more about your testimony and how you found the Lord and how the Bible has played a role in your life. And I want to just throw this out there to everyone listening. Everyone listening to this program right now, in some way, some form, some fashion, the Word of God has made a dent, has made an impact on you. Where would we be without God's Word? You know, Isaiah the prophet says it. He says, The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. It's also in 1 Peter 1.

So it's really, really important. So Michael, when we come back from our break, will you expand on that a little bit and also talk a little bit about your testimony, okay, and how you came to the Lord? And we want to challenge some folks some more, and wait till you hear another testimony of a pastor and some others who have been physically assaulted simply because they love Jesus and because they proclaim God's Word.

Could that persecution be coming to America? What do you do about the dozens of copies of the Bible that you own when there's churches with dozens of people and no Bible around the world? More with the Bible League right after this. Remember, five bucks will give a Bible to someone, $100, 20 Bibles, who are trying to help them raise money to send Bibles to sub-Saharan Africa, to countries that people have no access to the Word of God through the Bible League. The number is 800-YES-WORD, and there's a big link at truthnetwork.com.

You can click on that, and you can support and donate. All of this goes to helping get the Word of God out. More with Michael and the Bible League after this and how the Word of God has changed your life on Truth Talk.

Hang on. Hey, it's one thing for someone to take a shot at you on Facebook or on social media for your faith. It's one thing to be insulted. It's one thing to be attack-maligned socially at school or kicked out of the club because you love the Lord.

But it's another thing if someone takes a real shot with a real gun at you or attacks you with a club or a stick. And that's exactly what's happening to so many Christians around the world because they love God, they love His Word, they're proclaiming His Word. And you're going to meet some of those folks right here, right now, on Truth Talk. I'm Stu Epperson, honored to have my friend Michael Woolworth with me from the Bible League and honored to invite all of you.

You're like, what can I do about this, Stu? I'm not going to go to this dangerous place. I'm a grandparent, or I can't travel very well. And with COVID and all this, well, can you spare five bucks? Can you miss one latte or 20 bucks or 100 bucks or 1,000 bucks or whatever God puts on your heart to give? Because every five dollars to the Bible League is giving a Bible to someone in Africa that doesn't have a Bible. They have no access to God's Word. Michael, this is the best-selling book in history. It's the most stolen book in history.

It is the best, most read book in all of history. And yet people still don't have it. How can that be, Michael Woolworth? Explain that to me. Well, I mean, it's hard for us to understand, Ron. I mean, Bibles are so plentiful here in America.

I mean, you can't hardly relate. I almost think I'm exaggerating the truth, where we say there's someplace the pastor has a Bible, and sometimes that's not even complete. But Stu, we're doing something about it. So grateful that our two ministries are addressing the other pandemic.

What is that? The severe shortage of Bibles and training available to Christians on the continent of Africa. I said this earlier, this is where Christianity is growing in the greatest numbers in the world, and yet we estimate that most evangelical Christians in the 12 countries where we serve have absolutely no access to the Bible. But we're doing something about it, and Stu, I'd love to take your listeners to Zambia. Can we do that now? Please, take us there. Everyone hop up, grab your passports, let's head to the airport, and just all you gotta do is listen to Michael. It takes us to Zambia. This is a real snapshot of something that's going on in the life of a real believer right now, and also he's gonna tell us how we can help.

Michael? Well, you know, Zambia, this is in Central and South Africa. This is the country where the famous missionary David Livingstone carried out years of ministry. I'm sure the success that we enjoy as a global ministry is in part due in part because of David Livingstone's ministry in the country of Zambia. Let me tell you about a man by the name of Shadrach. He is an elder in a shanty church there in Zambia, not far from the capital city. But he had word, Stu, that there was an attack coming from Islamic extremists, and sure enough, one week that attack came.

About 20 people showed up. They had the intent of killing every single Christian that was at that worship service, and the man had a handgun. Shadrach had his handgun attempting to defend the congregation, and in self-defense, he shot a man, one of the extremists, a man by the name of Ishmael. He didn't kill the man, but nursed him back to health in great Christian love.

He was a livestock farmer, so he helped take care of his animals. The guy had a daughter, Stu, that could not read, could not write because of her standing in that Islamic community. So through a program from Bible League, he gave her the gift of literacy, and I can tell you the result of his great Christian love on display is that the entire family has come to embrace Christ, but it does not end there.

There were 80 extremists. Some of those at that attack that morning saw this great Christian love displayed. They have come through Bible League's Project Philip Bible study.

He just talked about that in our last segment. And they have come to profess the name of Jesus. They've left Islam, Stu, very simply. They were seeking a law.

Who did they find? Jesus. And there is tremendous pressure on these new Christians to revert back to Islam.

It comes from their families, it comes from their communities. I can tell you, when I asked Shadrach, how could we pray for you? Not once did he say, Michael, get on the Truth Network and ask the listeners to pray for an abrupt end to our suffering because they know that God is working through it. The prayer was what? To be able to endure and persevere. And you can do that when you have a Bible.

In this case, in the Shona language, you can open that and you can be reminded where Jesus says, look, in this world you'll have trials and tribulations, but take heart, I've overcome the world. And the other thing that stands out, Stu, before I toss it back to you, is that these Christians don't look at those around them, the Islamists, the paganists. They don't look at them as the enemy. They look at them as what?

The mission field. They know that they need to be introduced to Jesus. And so there is a price to pay. I mean, we have a social persecution, as you say.

You can kind of be ripped to shreds on Facebook. But in Africa, it's an entirely different level. And again, the prayer today is for the Word of God. And to thank your listeners can send that for only $5 a Bible. There's a need in that very congregation I just mentioned, in remote Zambia, for about 100 Bibles. We round that up, it's about 100 Bibles. Do the math, it's $5 a Bible. We could take care of that with one $500 gift, maybe five of you at $100, 20 Bibles each. You know, there's millions of people right now in Africa, and we're doing something about it, but what a joy for me at Bible League, Stu, to be able to tell these Christians, look, your Bibles, they're coming, they're coming.

Praise the Lord. And they're coming because of generous, gracious people that listen to this program, listen to these awesome stations. You know what I love about all of our affiliates of The Truth Network, is they have listeners that are giving and givers, and there's so much more, and God wants to give so much to us, but you have your brothers and sisters in Christ, they need a, you ready for this? They need a Bible. Imagine someone holding a sign up on the side of the road at a busy intersection, and the sign didn't say, we'll work for food, the sign didn't say, I need, you know, I'm homeless, I need $5. The sign didn't say, you know, need money. What if the sign said, I need a Bible? And there's like these people all over Africa holding these signs up that say, need the Bible, I need God's word, I want to grow closer to Christ, I want to study to show myself approved, 2 Timothy 2.15, I want to hunger and thirst after righteousness, Matthew 5, and I want God's word, and they don't have it.

But you, my friends, can give a part of it. So Michael, how does it work? Listeners call the number, pledge the money, tell us where the money goes, it goes to the Bible league, the Bible league does what? Take us through the circuitry of kind of how Bible gets from here to the right language to the right people group, say in Zambia where that dear pastor who's been beaten for his faith in Christ, how does it happen? Take us through the chain. Yeah, Stu, great. And you know, whether you give online, that's about a two-minute transaction, safe, quick, right?

You get it done quickly, you call one of our operators, available 24 hours a day, it's about a two-minute transaction. But oh, an eternity of benefits for those on the receiving end of the Bibles. And Stu, one of the great things about this campaign, when a listener sometimes hears this, they'll run down to a local radio station with a box of Bibles that were in the basement or the attic, right? I mean, they hear the need, they want to do something, right?

That's who these people are. But the problem is, if you speak Portuguese or Swahili or Bemba on the continent of Africa, English Bibles do you no good. So God has allowed Bible league for 83 years of ministry to kind of do some of that heavy lifting. But make no mistake about it, the evangelistic efforts I just talked about of that church in Zambia, I mean, that's impressive, right?

I mean, praise God that 100 former extremists now embrace Christ. But Stu, what we're asking your listeners to do today, what we're inviting them to become a part of, is no less important. It's being involved in the Great Commission by writing that check, praying for these people that you've just heard about. And you know, if you're defined as a Christian who's kind of outnumbered, like in a place like Zambia, I mean, you need to be able to open the Bible. Psalm 139 means a lot to me, Stu.

Let me just read this real quick. Lord, you know all about me. You know when I sit down, when I get up, you know my thoughts from far away, you know where I go, you know where I lie down, you know everything about me. And Lord, it brings me great peace. Can you imagine being able to open the Bible in a place where you're outnumbered and you're reminded that God knows us intimately, He's involved with us, He loves us, and the person that sent you the Bible is half a world away here in America.

But that's okay. We're all part of God's family, and that's how it gets done. And Stu, let me say this before I toss it back. You had a quick call with one of your listeners, John and Gail, and sometimes when I have some downtime, I'll call and say, Hey, thanks for your gift.

Why'd you give? And you know what Gail said? She said, John and I were talking, we were listening to the stories on the Truth Network, and it dawned on us, it ought to be intolerable in our minds, in our hearts, in our checkbooks, that there are Christians, even half a world away, who are going without God's word when we have the opportunity to do something. And Stu, just like you said, finding somebody with a sign saying, I need a Bible, she said if that was a relative, an old college roommate, I mean, you'd do anything to get them a Bible so they can get on with their new relationship with Jesus Christ. And she said, we have that opportunity right now. I thank her for a gift.

Stu, that's who your listeners are. And the update is what? Our goal, 4,000 Bibles. We're about halfway to that point. I mean, that's our first time working together. We're elated to be at the point.

But we need to wrap up in the coming days. And again, your listeners can do this at only $5 a Bible. The great gift level is $100. That's Bibles to 20. Bibleist believers in Africa, Stu. But again, we appreciate your faithful witness and helping us get it done in this campaign that we're calling Open the Floodgates, Bibles for Africa.

Well, and I was at lunch with a couple about two weeks ago, and she was a new believer but didn't have a good Bible. And literally, I made it the obsession of my day, Michael, the obsession of my day to find her a good Bible. And I called the radio station, I said, Rachel, I said, Jamie, I said, hey, go and scour and find that Bible. And I called, and we found one. And she was tickled to death. And she was about to go away for a few weeks.

And that was the only book she took on her trip. Isn't that cool? And so when Bible League came to us at Truth Network, and we have so many amazing affiliates that carry this program, Truth Talk, and they said, look, we just want to do a partnership campaign with you. And we're like, what's your agenda? And Michael's like, we want to get Bibles to people that don't have them in Africa in their native tongue. And we said, okay, well, that's what we're about.

This is a no-brainer. So, friends, I'm appealing to you right now to give. Don't take away from what you're giving to your local church or what you're donating to the local Christian stations that carry this program. But above and beyond, as God has blessed you, some of you can write a check for ten grand.

It's nothing. That's going to give, oh, my soul, that's going to give hundreds of Bibles. They're five bucks a pop. These are good Bibles too, right, Michael? They're New Testament, Old Testament, right? Yeah, right. Not cutting out the inconvenient parts, but the whole deal, right?

Yeah, yeah. So please donate ten bucks, ten thousand bucks. Whatever God's given you, God's given it to you to give it through you. The Bible League is partnering with us, and we're so thankful for Michael Woolworth and his amazing team. Go to truthnetwork.com. There's a big fat link there that says Bible League.

Click here. You can donate. It'll take two minutes to send whatever God tells you to send. It's not yours anyway. It's not ours.

It's not even theirs. You're not given to Bible. It says the word of God is going to go out. And we know when the word of God, we know the one thing that doesn't return void is the word of God.

Isn't that cool? The two things you can see with your eyes that last forever are God's word and people. And here with the Bible League, we're able to give God's word to people with your little gift, your big gift, whatever you want. Every gift is big, by the way.

Five bucks is huge. It gives a Bible to someone. That's someone you'll see in heaven one day. They won't look like you. They won't have your accent. They won't talk like you.

But they'll know Jesus, and they'll give you a big fat hug because you introduced them to God's word, which took them right to Jesus Christ. Michael, give the number one more time, will you please, and say goodbye to our listeners. You've been wonderful. Yeah. Yeah, Stu, thanks. You've been great as well. Here's the number to call.

It's 800-YES-WORD, 800-Y-E-S-W-O-R-D, 800-YES-WORD. To think a $5 bill could put God's word into the hearts and hands of these believers half a world away. We look forward. We're praying expectantly and wanting to finish strong in this campaign, Stu. And I really appreciate the time today. I know God will use this to make much of himself and to help build the church in Africa. Awesome. For folks that are like rapid dialers on their phone, give the 800 number one more time and then give the link that people that want to donate whatever amount the Lord leads them to give a Bible to someone who doesn't have one in Africa, please give us the number one more time. Thanks. Yeah, 800-YES-WORD. You can spell that out. 800-937-9673.

Or Stu says just go to truthnetwork.com. There's a Bible League banner that says, Open the Floodgates, Bibles for Africa. Just click that. Again, gifts of all sizes. Greatly appreciated. We want to finish strong. And again, it's a joy for me as kind of the eyes and ears of Bible League to circle back to groups like the one I just mentioned in Zambia and let them know, hey, the Bibles you're praying for, they're coming, they're coming. Amen. God bless you. Thanks for all you do at the Bible League, Michael. Thanks for your love for Jesus and for getting God's Word out. Thank you to all the listeners for supporting this, all the awesome listeners of Truth Talk and all of our wonderful affiliates that make this program possible because you are all a part of getting God's eternal, life-changing Word out to people. Be blessed and follow me on Instagram, Facebook. I'll do some stuff on there about Bible League 2 and Twitter. We're all on there under Stu Epperson. God bless. This is the Truth Network.