If I Could Speak in Tongues

To date we have translated, published, and distributed our 320-page graphic novel, Good and Evil, in 42 languages. The text and illustrations make God’s story, from Genesis to Revelation, easy to read and understand. For them to know God’s story someone has to tell them. There are millions of people that still have never even heard the name of Jesus. God’s glorious story will never, never come to them through a preacher because there are not enough resources, time, or manpower to make it happen. But we can send God’s wonderful story to them through the use of the printed media. Our children first learned the Bible stories through illustrated Bible story books. It made them “wise unto salvation.”

We continue to translate and print in additional languages, reaching people groups in remote places where we have never gone. Foreign publishers pay us (a very small amount) to print and sell our books in their countries. We are being paid so they can do our work of distribution. We continue to print and distribute through missionaries, but we welcome the additional help. To have our Bible story books sold at secular book stores in China is more than we ever dreamed, but it is happening right now.

But what of those who cannot read? We have gone to significant expense to render the Good and Evil book into an animated graphic novel, a media especially popular in the East. The first team is now on the ground in Asia working with the local Hmong people to record their audio dramatization of Good and Evil into their language. Most remote village people have access to DVD players, but very few movies are in their language, which means they will gladly watch and re-watch the entire seven and a half hours. If I could speak in tongues and had a captive audience in an Asian country, my first words would be, “Watch this DVD and you will learn God’s story.” I would then sit quietly for the next eight hours while they learned all they need to know to be born again.

Soon preachers speaking in the Hmong language will play this DVD and the people will hear that God sent his son to die in payment for their sins. They will be shocked and ask, “Is this a true story? Is God really benevolent? Does he really love us? Did he really send his precious son to die to pay for our sins? How is it that we have never known? Can I bring my sister, my mother, everyone to see and hear this message from God?”

All mission-minded churches and ministries together do not have the resources to send a million preachers to learn the languages and take the message, but modern technology provides the next best thing. We make the Good and Evil book and animated DVD available to all worthy missionaries everywhere at no cost.

At this time, we are sending technical teams into central areas where bare-bones recording studios can be set up. We are working with missionaries to find readers in different native tongues and we hope that many languages can be recorded this year.

How shall they hear???

“And the gospel must first be published among all nations” (Mark 13:10).