We send our love and prayers to you and your family this Christmas. And I’d like to ask for your help in winning one million additional people to the Lord and discipling two million additional new believers. I believe it can be done. Here’s why.
I have never seen such urgent requests from Christian people around the world asking us to send them more Audio Bibles.
They are asking for more Bibles because the funds you and our other viewers have already provided are reaching 7,895,225 people who are now in listening groups. These people are learning and growing in Christ as a result of the Audio Bibles you gave. That’s amazing!
And God has blessed your efforts. Morgan Jackson, Director of Faith Comes By Hearing, tells me that half of those, or 3,947,613 people, have come to faith in Christ as a result of listening to these Audio Bibles in different nations. And the number of people being saved is still climbing each week.
And please remember, we are now reaching people in 45 different nations who are listening in 251 different languages. Many of these people live in countries that are closed to missionaries. You and I cannot go. But God’s Word penetrates closed borders, and hearts are touched and changed for eternity as people listen.
So, how can we reach one million additional people and disciple two million more? It is because the very people who have gotten saved in these 45 different nations have also heard Jesus say, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Further, almost all of these people have had a great change in their life as a result of accepting Christ as their Savior.
You don’t know how much freedom Christ has given people that have grown up worshiping idols and been controlled by demons. The demons have terrified them and ordered them to do evil things. Many of these people have also been healed of diseases.
Others have been drunkards or into drugs. They may be sleeping with different men and women. But as a result of their newfound life in Christ, they go back to their husband or wife; families are put back together. And they want to share the joy, freedom, and power that Christ has given to them with family members, relatives, or friends in other villages. But in order to do that, they request that we send them more Audio Bibles. Christians in South India alone have requested we send them 30,000 more Audio Bibles.
Now, during the month of December, we are going to tell you how God has changed millions of lives through the Audio Bibles that you have provided in the following countries:
Peru, Sudan, Uganda and the Bidi-Bidi Refugee Camp, six nations in East Africa, 20 nations in the Middle East and North Africa, 11 Southeast Asian countries, Mexico, the Philippine Islands, and eight South Asian nations.
Now why are we doing this? Let me answer this by asking you a question. What was God’s motive for saving you?
John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.” The whole idea of Christmas stemmed from this idea of giving gifts. But God gave the most expensive and greatest gift of all when He gave His Son to die for you and me. God’s motive for saving you was that He loved you.
Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And finishing John 3:16 we learn, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
This loving God who gave His Son wants us to tell all the people on earth in every nation about the great salvation that’s available to them through Jesus. Jesus Himself said after He died for us on the cross and rose from the dead:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus also said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
There are 7,140 languages in the world. Approximately 4,000 languages have no Bible in their language, or at most 2,000 of these have only one New Testament book translated. But, even if you gave a printed Bible in their own language to the majority of these people, about 90 percent could not read their own language. They are illiterate. They need an Audio Bible in their own language to hear the good news that God loves them and sent Jesus to die for their sins. And that is the gift we want to give to them this Christmas.
My wife Darlene, my daughter Michelle, and I appreciate your standing with us, supporting us, and praying for us in this television ministry. We couldn’t do it without you. Further, it is amazing to see how God has stepped in and used your gifts through these Audio Bibles to save and disciple people who have never heard about Jesus before.
My prayer is that we will be able to win one million more people to the Lord in the coming months. We hope to see 10 million people in listening groups very soon. I’m so glad that you realize God gives you the credit for these people coming to know Christ when you’re the one that gives the money for us to send these Audio Bibles to them.
In Romans 10:14-15, Paul asks “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?”
Remember that we have a generous donor who has promised to match any device you give, device for device. So if you give to fund one Proclaimer, he will fund an additional one, and two will be sent. If you give to fund one micro-SD card or BibleStick, he will match your device, and two will be sent. The impact of your gift will be doubled.
As God leads, you can tell us what you want to do. When we receive your gift, we will send you a receipt and a personal thank you.
Thank you for all that you’ve done. We look forward to a great year of winning people to Christ.
Sharing the good news with those still waiting to hear,
John, Darlene and Michelle