Bible Senders Blog... Keeping you up to date on the happenings at
Bible Senders
Nov 2010
I hope everyone had a Great Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving
started out as an American Holiday, the purpose was to give thanks
to God for his never ending and bountiful blessings. Thanksgiving
has been and remains the most important holiday that we share as a
family for over 35 years but that is another story.
Incredibly, we are still
receiving requests from around the world on a daily basis. It
is absolutely amazing how that happens. What I find most
intriguing is how the requests seem to come in waves, almost as if a
wave is passing over the earth. At first it was the
Philippines and then to Africa, then Asia, then Indonesia, Europe
back to Africa then India where the requests lingered for
approximately 3 months. Then it seemed to bounce around from
one end of Europe to the other. Requests came in from China to
the Middle East. For the last 2 months we have seen a sharp
increase in the number of requests coming in for bibles from here in
the United States. Amazingly this works out well for Bible
Senders as it is very expensive for us to send bibles overseas.
Since funds are a bit tight sending bibles to those here in the US
has allowed us to reach more people. I guess you can say we
get more bang for the buck when we ship here in the U.S. Also
due to tighter funding we have had to decrease the size of the
packages we were sending overseas. Where we once were sending
50 to 100 bibles we now try to limit the quantity we send overseas
from 1 to 5 as the lighter weight translates to a lot lower postal
fee which seems to more realistically fit the funds we have in our
purse. Thanks you for your continued prayers as Bible
Senders continues to grow regardless of how much money is available.
.
Sept 2010
Well, things around the world
certainly have devolved over the last few months. We are still getting
massive requests for bibles from around the world and requests from India
have been leading the pack. One of the more notable changes has been a
very sharp increase in the requests for bibles in native languages. As
you may be aware, 100% of the bibles we receive come from individual
Christians and
ChristianChurches
here in the U.S.
That being the case it makes sense that the vast majority are in English.
Surprisingly, we have also seen a sharp increase in requests for bibles from
groups and individuals here in the states. Six (6) months ago, that
was not the case. I'm thinking that the current economic crisis has
made many people hungry to find a solution. Isn’t it odd how pain
seems to get one's total attention. Whether in pain or not, Jesus is
the solution to all that ails you, be it in your pocket, in your body or in
your mind, which brings me to the first point of this post...
First:
For the last few months we have been giving priority to sending bibles to
the requests we have received from people in the U.S.
for 2 reasons.
1) The U.S.
has a real need to hear the Gospel. Not that the rest of the world
doesn't but the U.S is on the verge of a very serious economic decline
caused in my opinion, by many things but at the base root is the rejection of the Gospel. It is the
responsibility of Christians to be the Salt of the earth.This comment is not addressed to or at non-Christian people, who
while they may think that they do, really don't understand but only to those that consider themselves believers. I was
asked a question yesterday if I thought it was possible for a good man to earn
his way into
Heaven? My answer, "absolutely not!", as my
understanding of the Gospel is that it is by Grace through Faith that we are
saved and even
that Faith is not of ourselves but is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). I
was knocked over by what I found out. According to a recent poll of
6,242 people by the Barnett Research Group, of those who consider themselves
to be Christians, many believe that you can earn your way into Heaven. According to this poll the believers who say they can
do it were as follows; Assembly of God - 28%, Baptist - 38%, Presbyterian
- 52%, Lutheran - 54%, Episcopal - 68%, Methodist - 59% and Catholic -
82%. It is obvious that many of the believers who profess to be Christians are not reading their bibles
and apparently many Reverends, Pastors and Priests are not reading and/or
teaching from it either. If you are not a Christian believer, then
please, relax;
don't go gettin all twisted about something that doesn't concern you.
This message is not meant for you but for those of you who say that you are
Christians and that you can earn your own way and do it with perhaps a
little help from your friends. If you fall into this category then you
might want to do a little bit of reading. (Don't have a bible?
No problem, we know a non-profit group that will send you one for Free).
If a person who calls themselves a Christian doesn't know this fundamental
truth (read John 14:6 and chapter 17) then how can they know the other
truths in the bible? According to biblical principles "we reap what we
sow" a basic biological principal. It stands to reason that if you
plant corn you get corn, you sow pumpkin seeds you get pumpkins along with
the seeds and if you allow corruption in your heart (or any place else for
that matter) you reap corruption.Question; are you planting blessings or curses? This brings me to the
2nd point.
2) At the end of the day, due to the decrease in our own personal income
(yes, we work real jobs) and funding donated to Bible Senders, we believed it was
prudent and reasonable for Bible Senders to re-examine and compare income
with outcome. Since funds were tight we came to the conclusion that we
could be more productive in our mission and would reach more people by
sending bibles within the U.S as it costs only a few dollars to ship them
anywhere in the U.S as opposed to sending bibles overseas which can cost us
up to $20.00 per bible depending on the country and location We are just about through with our U.S request
list and expect to resume sending bibles overseas shortly.
Second:
Not of any less importance, is the continual need for Hope for All Christians in every
country as we are all eye witnesses to the daily unfolding of scripture
prophecy. Reading the newspapers most days is like reading verses
right out of the bible. While it seems like uncertainty may lie ahead,
there is no greater time to be alive then right now as The God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob is our certain Hope. With this in mind, I found the
following video online and wanted to share it with you. I am a big fan
of Andrew Wommack. I understand that Bible Senders
is supported by many different denominations ranging from Pentecostal to
Catholic and some may not be as fond of Wommack's teaching as I am.
I hope you are not offended but I am of the belief
that if you are a believer in Christ, then you and I share the same Hope
of His calling so even if we disagree on the out pouring of the Holy Spirit or the Gifts of
the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, is our common thread.
With that said, Andrew's
particular message on Hope and the power of "Our" Hope is so uplifting that
I believe regardless if you believe in the active impartation of the gifts of the
Holy Sprit or not, as a
Christian, each one of us needs to be assured that this Jesus that we call
Lord, is "the" solution to all of our
problems. We will never be perfect enough, we can't ever give enough
and we most certainly can't earn our way into Heaven by good works.
However, if
you really read the bible, than you know there is only One Way, One Hope of our
calling and His name is Jesus. Andrew, I hope you don't mind me
sharing your video....
Part 1:
Part 2:
May 2010:
This is a bit different then
what I normally write about, but people have asked me about my thoughts on
the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and if this is
God’s Judgment being poured out, this is how I read it…
God didn’t cause it.God is a
good God and he tempts no one.
James
1:13 - Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God
cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
James
1:16-17 - Do not be deceived, my beloved
brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes
down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning.
God is not full of wrath and
judgment standing ready to condemn and strike down the wicked.Heresies you say.Sorry,
but the way I read it, Jesus was a game changer. He died and covered the
sins of the WHOLE world.
1John
2:2 - And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only
but also for the whole world.
There is a difference
between the Old Testament and the New. John the Baptist was the last
of the Old Testament Prophets. When Jesus was born the Angels came and
brought "Glad Tidings" saying, "Peace on Earth, Good Will towards men".
This is unprecedented as up to this point God had wagged war against sin.
When Jesus was crucified for "our" sins, that day was a game changer.
Now, with all that said, whether or not you accept or reject Jesus is a
different story.There are only
two (2) choices; either you do or you don’t and that my dear brothers and
sisters is the true judgment.
Acts
13:46 - Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold
and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you
first; but since you rejectit, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we
turn to the Gentiles.
Now wait a second and stop
the bus.We judge ourselves to be
unworthy of everlasting life, now that’s brutal!
Math
10:33 - But whoever denies Me before
men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Num
14:11 - Then the LORD said to Moses:
"How long will these people rejectMe? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs
which I have performed among them?
There are many more
scriptures backing this up (Mark 7:9, 1Thes 4:8, 2John 1:9) to name a few.So the question, why the oil spill?Why did God let it happen?Well, we do live in a fallen world and at this moment (though not for
ever) this world system is under another authority.
John
18:36 - Jesus answered, "My kingdom is
not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would
fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but
now (at this particular time) My kingdom is not from here."
Eph 2:2
- in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons
of disobedience,
Eph 2:3
- among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others.
So I guess the question is
really this… Is it God’s wrath or the evil of men that brought this about.I’ll leave you with a few more scriptures and you can answer that for
yourself.
Mat 24:3
- Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these
things be? And what [will be] the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the
age?"
Mat 24:4
- And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
Mat 24:5
- For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive
many.
Mat 24:6
- And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not
troubled; for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7
- For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And
there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
Mat 24:8
- All these [are] the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9
- "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will
be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Mat
24:10 - And then many (who call themselves Christians) will be offended,
will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Mat
24:11 - Then many false prophets (with a false message) will rise up and
deceive many (who call themselves Christians).
Mat
24:12 - And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many (who call
themselves Christians) will grow cold.
Mat
24:13 - But he (the believer) who endures to the end shall be saved.
Mat
24:14 - And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as
a witness to all the nations (this is every Christian’s mission), and then
the end will come.
The scripture goes on to
further prove the point (Mat 24:14-25).However, to put it in a nut-shell, you were born in this time in
history, you are not a mistake, your birth, the country you were born in and
the current times you live in didn’t catch God by surprise.You need to know this.
All of Gods Promises are true (to the Christians).You need to live your life to the fullest potential and work to live
and walk in the Spirit and His Promises and while the time of the end is not
yet, as much needs to happen, we are definitely pregnant.
April 2010 NNow that Easter and Passover for that matter are behind us,
we are moving forward on all fronts. We have set up a
Facebook,
Twitter and MySpacepages as well as
Word Press.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, Bible Senders.org has blown up with over
260,00 requests so far and this is just the 4th month of the year.
When we first started Bible Senders I was asked how many bibles I thought we
would do in a year. At first I said, 100,000 and then I said
1,000,000. Praise God, we blew the doors off of 100,000 by the end of
our first year. The need for the Word is staggering. We have
sent bibles to people in 27 countries and in every continent (except
Antarctica - some day there too). Ask and you shall receive:
Many times, God blesses people through people. What we are in need of
are more bibles and the funds to ship them. All of the donations we
receive goes towards the operation of Bible Senders. We work day jobs
to support ourselves and Bible Senders. We would appreciate your
Partnership either with bibles, the funds to ship
them and most important, your prayers of support. Feel free to
contact us with any questions you may
have regarding the Bible Senders ministry.
March 2010
Recent conversation came up regarding the Bible and the authenticity of the
scriptures. Here is what my research has uncovered...
>There are over 3000 promises in the Bible and ALLLLL of the
promises of God are true. Many of the promises are made to you (your name
here) personally and when you come across such a promise you insert your
name. God is speaking directly to you. However, if you are one of those who
believes that the bible can't possibly be accurate after years and years of
translation from one generation to the next then I guess these promises
won't apply to you. I mean, how could you depend on anything the bible says
if you are not sure if the translation is accurate or not. So, first things
first, ya need to do your homework. How could you believe in a heaven and
all of Jesus' promises about you going there if you can fully trust every
word that is in the bible. I'm not talking about blind faith or taking it at
face value as many people believe things that are not true and as the Paul
mentions, you can believe in vain (I Corinthians 15:2 & 12-17). Did you know
that after 3314 years that every version of the Torah (1st five books of the
bible) are identical except for one version in Yemen which has 9 letters
different and none of those 9 letters changes the meaning only the spelling.
I would say that is pretty accurate wouldn't you. Jesus taught mainly from
the Torah (specifically Leviticus and Deuteronomy) and also from Daniel and
the prophets. If He quotes from them then I would take a wild guess here and
venture to say that He thought they were true. May I suggest that to be a
Christian one must dare to believe and as Christians, we need to know what
we believe and believe what we know.
February 2010 It is now just under 2 years since we started and we have
had just over 220,000 requests for bibles. We are excited to see
requests coming in from Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand,
Italy, Sweden and many parts of the old and new Russian Union.
Requests for bibles far exceeds our inventory as we get 50 requests for
every bible we receive. Many times we get requests asking for multiple
bibles. Out of necessity we usually try to limit to ten (10) the
amount of bibles we send to one person or group but we have sent up to one
hundred and fifty (150) bibles to the same group. So how do we
determine who gets bibles and how many we send out... we pray.
June 2009
Overwhelmed but not crushed With-in less than a years time since we began, Bible
Senders has received over 60,000 requests for bibles from over 27 countries
and every continent. Every bible we send is donated as we use our
funds solely for shipping. If anyone knows of a less expensive way to
send bibles to other countries, please let me know. I am surprised to see
that we rarely receive any requests from Europe although we do get a fair
amount from the United Kingdom. Just an observation from the requests that
we receive.
December 2008
Bible Senders is Now In Every Continent... Again for the 7th month in row, we continue to grow! For the month of November, we sent out over 100
bibles. At the beginning of November, we had sent bibles to countries
throughout Asia, Africa, North America and South America but not one bible
to Europe or Australia. During the last few days of the month of
November, we received a request for bibles to England and a day later to
Australia. All that is left is Antarctica. There must be someone
out there who needs one. What else is there to do on those long winter
nights.
November 2008
Bible Senders Grass-Roots becomes a Non-Profit Company...
Up until now, Bible Senders has been successful relying on the donations of
your bibles and our own finances to pay for shipping, labels, envelopes and
day to day administration. In October we sent out 88 Bibles!
Each bible we sent out of the country costs $11.95. Sometimes if the
bible is small enough we can fit two (2) in the envelope for the same price.
The last time we sent five (5) bibles out of the country, it cost us $49.37.
When we ship bibles here in the U.S. it is much more affordable and
still varies depending on how many are sent. To date, costs for U.S.
mailings have ranged from $2.35 to $29.85. We are learning the system
and looking for the most economical ways to get Free bibles out across the
world. No complaints from us as our lives have been incredibly
blessed! However, if you are a Christian Missionary traveling to
another country, contact us and we will try to send you with a few bibles.
This month by the 10th we had over sixty (60) requests and 53 bibles and by
the 12th we had 80 requests and 62 bibles. In everything there is a
season, we believe this is a season to grow. Bible Senders should be
an official Non-Profit group by the end of the month!
September 2008:
Exponential Growth of Bible Senders...
Since the time Bible Senders went live online, we have about doubled every
single month. The first month we were given four (4) bibles and within
days of receiving the bibles, we had 4 requests. One (1) from Uganda,
two (2) from the Philippines and one (1) from Atlanta, Georgia, here in the
U.S.
The next month we received 8 requests for bibles and within a few days after
the requests came in we received 10 bibles one of which was a children's
bible. Again, as in the previous month, the majority of the requests
were from outside the United States and as in the previous month, off they
went leaving us with 2 bibles in our inventory. Before the end of the
month, we received a request for 2 bibles, requesting one for a small child
which we just happened to have. Bible Senders has functioned in this
manner every month since! Either requests come in while we have no
bibles and then the bibles come in or the bibles come in first and the
requests follow. Usually by the end of the month we have a zero
inventory. While this in itself is amazing, it is the people, the
lives that are touched worldwide that is the most incredible.
As the requests for bibles and the donations of bibles has come into Bible
Senders, we have tried to include a letter with each out going bible and a
letter back to each donor. We haven't been 100% but the goal is to let
people know that the bibles they receive, didn't just magically pop out of
the air. They came from the efforts and sacrificial giving of another
Brother or Sister somewhere else in the world. We would like all those
who donate bibles to know that likewise, there is a Christian Brother and
Sister somewhere in the world whose life you may have changed, forever, by
your efforts! Whether you give a bible or receive a bible there is a
blessing!
A few months ago, I was handed two (2) brand new bibles that came in a very
pretty hand carrying bag obviously designed for a teenage girl or young
woman. Within a few weeks, I received a request from a Christian
Birthing Center here in the U.S. The email from the Director, went on
to say that there were to older teenage girls that had come into her office
and she wanted to know if we had a few bibles to send her that she could
give to them. It just so happened that we did and off went those 2
brand new bibles along with the stylish carrying case! A few
weeks later, I had the opportunity to speak with the couple that gave me
those specific bibles. I relayed back to them where their donated
bibles went. The woman swelled up with tears and said in effect, "When
we gave those bibles, we never connected the dots and considered that there
was a real person who would be on the receiving end. We never really
thought about the impact we would make on another by our actions!"
But they did, that's amazing, that's God!
May 2008:
How and Why did Bible Senders happen...
We were told to do it as it's listed in the manual - Mark
16:15. I have read that passage countless times but never
understood it as I do now. So, the beginning story of Bible Senders
is this...
When the thought of Bible Senders came to us, we sat down at the computer, went to Google and typed in Bible
Senders. Up popped a website called BibleSenders.com.
It was an online bible service offering the King James version of
the bible and a few commentaries. We clicked on "Contact Us" and
inquired if the domain name was for sale. This is the reply that was
sent back.
Dear sir,
I registered this and other domain names but I ended up
getting sick with a major health issue and was not able to complete
the task. As for purchasing my domain names, I would like to
give them to you free of charge.
Sincerely
XXX XXXXXX
To our surprise, attached at the bottom of the email was the hosting
account address, the user name and password. There were six
domain names, five of which were offered to us. What I
believed at the time to be a legitimate concern over the cost of
maintaining all of the domain names, I later came to realize was a
lack of faith on our part, we took only two of them and left the rest.
The remaining names we did not take have since expired and are now
for sale online. Over the last few months, other variations of the Bible
Senders name are being used by various Christian groups to do a similar
work. However, if it were not for the donations of the domain names, Bible
Senders.org might not exist.
From there on in and right up to the present, it has been almost
effortless. We made a website and we launched Bible Senders.org
earlier in 2008 as a part-time, whenever endeavor. Whenever we
got a few bibles, whenever we received requests, we mailed them out,
pretty much whenever. Then, week by week, the requests came in
from all over the world. First from the Philippines, the a
prison in Georgia here in the U.S and before we knew it, China,
different parts of Africa, the Middle East, again the Philippines,
Central America, South America and from all over the United States,
Prison Ministries, those held in jails, Street Ministries to the
Homeless, Birth Clinics and Inner City Half-Way Houses! It is
absolutely amazing, exciting and much different than we had ever
imagined. We have met people and made friends all over the
world and would like to encourage you to get involved. Either
start your own ministry or help support ours but what ever you do,
for your sake, don't just sit and watch
the parade go by!
If you have a question
a href="mailto:info@biblesenders.org?subject=Questions from blog">drop us a
line
