Missionaries and Passports

 In Nehemiah 2:7-9 one of the earliest known references to what served as a passport is found. In about 450 BC,  Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia , asked leave to travel to Judea and the king granted leave and gave him a letter "to the governors beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he travelled through their lands.

We just renewed our U.S. Passports. It wasn't difficult. We just completed Form DS-82, attached our check, enclosed our soon to expire passports and mailed them to the U.S. passport office. Yesterday the new ones came in the mail. We are good for another ten years.

As I looked over our new U.S. Passports, it made me ask myself if I carry a Christian passport. Is it my Bible? Is it my walk? Is it my smile? Or is it my attitude? Is it my skin color? Am I without sin? Do I never hurt anyone else? Christian...? Christian....? Follower of Christ. Imitator of Jesus. Wow.... Grace. Thank you Father for Grace.

PBT Annual Retreat

Gerald Denny and William Fierbaugh enjoying a moment at the Pioneer Bible Translators' Annual Retreat. PBT - make your life special. Come help us share God's Word with the Bible-less.

Super Bowl Ad

     Tim Tebow, is the former Florida quarterback, who's known for writing Bible verses under his eyes.   There's no telling how many people who never, ever would have touched a Bible did so because they were curious what the athlete was trying to say.Tebow has been receiving criticism for starring in a planned Super Bowl Commercial. There have been literally hundreds of pro-abortion media "news" items about the so called Super Bowl controversy.

     Lost in the limelight is a wonderful fact. The fact is --- today's media reaches where the people are....  And it reaches them by the tens, hundreds, thousands and sometimes millions. The Jesus Film has been projected to illiterate people groups on the sides of huts from a projector furnished electricity by a gasoline powered  generator.  Bible Translation is not only about translation -- it is also about "getting the Word out to the entire world." This week, even as you read this, a gasoline powered generator runs tape recorders deep in Africa. The locals, many who cannot read, will soon be able to listen to the Bible in their own heart language. God has provided many methods to share the Word. Thank you, Father, for allowing us to learn....how to share..! 

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 NIV

Praises for Bible Recording Project

Just in from Africa: "Thank you for praying yesterday for increased progress.  We had our first day where we recorded 7 percent of the New Testament instead of four and a half.  However, we did it partly by recording from 8AM to nearly 10PM. It seems that the readers are gradually improving too. Pray for continued progress that God would bless the reading and dramatization of his word.  As we read through every word of the New Testament, we ourselves can’t help but discuss it and be impacted by it. I’ll explain something he says and one of the men will say, “I always wondered what that means.”  We say things like, “Paul really said something important there.” One man said, “Jesus is talking about xxxxxxx people there for sure!”  Sometimes one of us will say, “People here really need to hear this part right here.”  The beautiful thing about it is that they will --now that we are recording it.  Thank you for lifting us up in prayer.

There's Bible Translation and there's so-called Bible Translation

This is scary stuff.....

What if - The Bible were translated by general consensus instead of by scholars... 

Here is an interesting article at-

http://sjdahlman.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/memo-to-would-be-bible-translators-a-little-humility-please/

This flawed theory seems to be that a better version will appear via a "wiki" approach.

I DON'T THINK SO........!!!!

HERE IS THE TRUTH in John 3:16

Christmas because.....?

Celebrating Christmas has NOT always been an American tradition. In fact in the early days of America the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony so disdained Christmas that in 1659 they passed a law prohibiting the public celebration of the holiday, punishing "anybody who is found observing [it], by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way." The law was repealed 25 years later, but the prejudice against Christmas remained strong. Judge Samuel Sewall was delighted to be able to report in his diary in 1685 that he did not see a single person celebrating the holiday.

Following the American Civil War retailers began to see in Christmas the opportunity to market their merchandise. Until the retailers got involved the holiday attracted little of the attention it does now. It was retailers who made Christmas exciting. It was they who turned Santa Claus into a national icon. Montgomery Ward gave us Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer. Coca-Cola helped popularize the smiling Santa. Retailers discovered the commercial possibilities of Christmas after the Civil War. Only then did newspapers regularly begin to feature advertising sales associated with the holiday. (George Mason University's History News Network - http://hnn.us/articles/479.html)

Thus I process slowly my feelings against the ACLU and others for “trying to take Christ out of Christmas...!” After all, CHRISTIANITY grew, and still SEEMS TO GROW BEST,  when UNDER PERSECUTION. Witness the growth in New Testament times. Perhaps these much publicized “remove the Ten Commandments” and “no crèche scenes in our public square,” are actually beneficial for Christianity.

Alas, for me I still get upset... after all “Christ is the reason for the season.”

Blessings and Merry Christmas from Bill and Charliece

We have moved to Dallas, TX

Please come to visit. If we are "in country" we will keep a spare bed for visitors. Phone or email if you are flying through Dallas-Fort Worth airport and have a lay-over. Love you all. B and C