Good and Evil Global

God Gives the Increase

Mike and I are busy writing and teaching, so we really don’t keep up with the details of the Good and Evil translation project. That’s Mel’s job—one of his jobs.

Over in Thailand, Tom Gaudet, our translation coordinator, has stretched the funds available to him to the max. He has asked missionaries to fund the printing for their language group. This taxes the missionaries’ limited funds. Some just do not have the $5,000.00 it takes to print 10,000 or so. This slows the publishing of the gospel. At the moment we have about 12 languages ready to print—waiting on the funds. Among them is Arabic. This is exciting beyond comprehension. Think of distributing these books to residents in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraqi, Iran, Turkey and more! Pray.

Three years ago Mel read that many publishers from all over the world were interested in comic formats. He took our books to some international book shows. It was slow going at first but God has given the increase. This week Mel called me into his office to sit in on a conference call with a global coordinator for publishers in other countries. He wanted to show me just how effectively the gospel was going forth. As I listen to Mel talk with his contact, all this information was forcefully brought to my attention. They were discussing five African languages that will soon be in print. I remember one was Afrikaans and one was Zulu. These five languages are not part of our translation project. The publishers are handling the entire process. This means that the gospel distribution now has feet of its own. And this kind of translation and printing fire is igniting in every part of the world. Secular publishers are doing our job for us and paying us a very small sum for the privilege. WOW! That’s good gospel business.

There are some people groups…even nations that until now have been unreached. The Bible tells us that before the second coming of Christ, “the gospel must first be published among all nations” (Mark 13:10).

With your help we have been publishing and will continue to do so as the Lord gives us strength and life. We have planted; you have watered; God is giving the increase. “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his labour” (I Corinthians 3:8).

Read Mel’s partial update on the Good and Evil project.

Thank you.

—Michael and Debi

History

Our initial printing of English Language Good and Evil took place in May 2006. The print run was 20,000 books. We have had three other English printings for a grand total of 80,000 books. In February 2007 we printed 20,000 in Spanish. All of these books were printed in Nashville, TN.

Of these 100,000 books we have given away about 10,000 to over 1,000 prisons, missionaries and church workers. Additionally over 5,000 have been sold at reduced costs for distribution to prisons, schools, missionaries and church workers. About 85,000 have been sold to individuals, churches and bookstores. The sales of Good and Evil make the printing and distribution in other languages possible. The 5,000 remaining books of the 100,000 remain in our inventory for future distribution.

About two years ago, we started an aggressive plan to translate Good and Evil into 100 languages. NGJ funds all of the costs along the way: translation, proofing, editing, prepress, printing and finally the shipping and distribution of the books. Counting the books we have printed and the books we have authorized other Ministries to print and distribute, over 20 languages have been printed and distributed worldwide. We estimate over 75,000 books have been distributed in this manner.

Adding the totals to the books printed and sold in English and Spanish along with the 20-plus other languages, over 150,000 books have been used to share or present the Gospel. Each person that has purchased books or contributed to the translation work has been a part of this. Without a constant stream of income from sales and donations, the other language outreach would not be possible and would have to grind to a screeching halt.

To have an outreach to an even younger audience we decided to print Good and Evil in color comic book format. We have completed this in English and Spanish (see Good and Evil Comic Book, Part 1, in English and in Spanish). To date we have printed 240,000 comics covering the first 6 chapters of English and the first 5 chapters of Spanish. We have sold about 60,000 of the comics in less than a year and a half. The comics are used for evangelism, teaching children to be bilingual, Sunday School study and fun reading.

Future

NGJ is committed to seeing Good and Evil translated into a minimum of 100 languages. We are also working on several sales, rights and licensing agreements to put Good and Evil into more languages for commercial sales. We are now generating more sales to Latin America than at any other time in our history. Within 6 months we expect to have another 60,000 color Good and Evil books throughout the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe alone. Many of these books have been sold to secular bookstores in Singapore and Malaysia that are frequented by tourists from many nations. The Lord has opened up opportunities for us to generate income while spreading the Gospel. We have already ordered 20,000 color Good and Evil in English and 10,000 in Spanish for U.S. distribution. We expect a mid-November delivery for English and mid-December for Spanish. All of this is in addition to continuing on with our translation, publishing and free distribution through missionaries in other languages.

When you add up where we’ve been and where we are going, we expect to have printed over 500,000 either full book, comic or partial printings.

The missionary that is working with us to oversee the foreign translation project has received the color files. He will make the decision of printing future languages in color or black and white depending on the language and the cost.

How to Become Part of the Publishing Ministry

The drawback to getting more books printed in more languages and reprinting the languages that have been fully distributed is the funding. As more funds come in, more books in more languages will be printed. Continue to pray with us about the Lord providing funding for His work. Check off one or more blocks where you can help. Whether it is a one time gift or consideration of a specific monthly amount, we greatly appreciate your sacrificial giving.

We can provide you with any additional information you desire on this monumental project. Contact Mel Cohen, CFP, RFC, our General Manager,  for more information. Mel can be reached at [email protected] or call 931-593-2484. All gifts to No Greater Joy are qualified gifts, and may be Tax Deductible if you itemize your deductions.

If you desire to fund a specific language, we can do that. Languages that are ready to print are being held up by a lack of available funds. You can designate any amount you desire to fund a specific language. You can do it alone or have a church or other organizations help you fund the language of your desire. Upon completion we can provide you with copies in the language you have funded.

There are no overhead or administration fees deducted; all designated donations go 100% to the designated request.