Reaching out in Arabic

Have you ever thought of AiG as a “reservoir?” Actually, it is—although perhaps not in the sense you may be thinking!

By sharing some recent thrilling events with you, I will explain the reservoir comment. Frankly, telling you about these special events sends tingles down my spine!

Who would have thought that a burden to reach millions of Arabic-speaking people in the Middle East with the message of creation-apologetics, biblical authority, and the gospel, would also even end up being used thousands of miles away by a missionary? But I first need to give you some background . . . .

Through some special ministry friends, AiG has helped produce the first (to our knowledge) creation-apologetics books in Arabic, and have translated and printed a number of AiG resources to distribute in the Middle East.

These friends have also been involved in translating many articles from our main website into Arabic. These Bible-upholding articles are now being accessed by countless Muslims (and others) in the Arabic-speaking world.

Right after the AiG/Arabic website was launched, we received a wonderful email (in broken English) from someone in the Asian country of the Philippines who speaks Arabic:

“We are a group of believers. God put in our heart to make a meeting for Arab families here in the Philippines because we don’t have an Arabic [speaking] church to take care for them, so we open our house and make a big place inside it to teach the Bible and the amazing plan of Him in our lives.

“Since our youth and students in college face questions [of the Bible’s reliability in Genesis] and some of their teachers and [fellow] students laugh at their faith, I was—as a teacher of them—searching to find logical answers about . . . the first 5 chapters of Genesis.

“I was searching the Internet until I was to find this site [the Arabic-language version of AnswersInGenesis.org]. When I was looking, I find many books to teach me how I [should] answer their questions.”

What thrills me is this: AiG can’t reach everyone in the world. AiG can’t spread its resources so thinly and start offices in every country. We just don’t have the finances and personnel to translate our books/DVDs/websites into numerous languages around the world.

Recognizing this, I have always looked on AiG as a “reservoir” of resources. From this reservoir many pipes are connected, and they lead to places all around the globe so our life-changing resources can be used by God. Just as Middle Eastern pipelines bring us oil to the West, we are creating our own special pipelines to that part of the world (and elsewhere) with excellent Bible-honoring and evangelistic resources.

It’s possible because of some dedicated Arabic-speaking Christians who have helped AiG spearhead an effort to see the AiG website and other resources translated into Arabic. They are using various pipelines to take this message to the Arabic-speaking world, and I thank the Lord for raising up such faithful Christians.

Breaking Through in Egypt

To help kick-start this Arabic outreach, we sent AiG speaker Dr. Terry Mortenson to Egypt recently to speak at what apparently was the first biblical creation seminar ever to be held in that nation (maybe even in the whole Middle East).

As you will recall, Egypt went through a revolution earlier this year, and each day we monitored the safety conditions in Egypt before we sent Terry over.

We rejoice that these lectures and many AiG resources are now available to the 221 million Arabic-speaking people all over the world.

With an excellent translator and with dozens of PowerPoint slides carefully translated into Arabic, Terry spoke seven times in the largest evangelical church in the Middle East. As it is with Christians around the world, most Egyptian Christians don’t know what to do with evolution and the idea of millions of years. Many of them just decide to compromise, having never really thought through the issues. Some Christians are theistic evolutionists and some are old-earthers (e.g., holding to the day-age or gap theory).

Terry spoke to about 2,700 people in Egypt—with some Muslims in attendance. The lectures were streamed live on the Internet and we were told that over 5,000 people watched at least one lecture right on their computer screens.

After the Cairo conference, the church edited the videos and PowerPoint slides and has now posted them on the church website. Thousands of people have already accessed the Arabic site to view Terry’s videos.

We rejoice that these lectures and many AiG resources are now available to the millions of Arabic-speaking people spread over the globe.

An Arabic Harvest

Besides the lectures, Terry also participated in several private meetings with key Christian leaders in Egypt. One man is working with several hundred church leaders in at least six nearby Muslim countries. He wants to help us get this teaching on Genesis and biblical authority into those churches.

Another Christian produces Arabic programs for two U.S.-based satellite TV stations and will encourage them to use the new Arabic AiG DVDs. A third man is a leader in the Egyptian Bible Society and has connections to get these books and DVDs into lending libraries in hundreds of rural churches (representing several denominations).

Please pray for these efforts. Since Egypt’s revolution, we are hoping the country will remain peaceful and that the gospel can be preached without interference in a Muslim country.

By the way, after each of his lectures, Terry was surrounded by several people. Many of them said something like: “We’ve never heard these things before.” He dealt with questions about the gap theory (widely held in Egyptian churches), the day-age view, carbon-14, and dinosaurs. Actually, they are the same questions and objections encountered in the U.S. and the other 20 countries where Terry has lectured.

One college student told Terry that his Christian faith had been badly shaken by an evolutionist professor. This young man had been praying for a long time for answers—which he finally heard at the seminar.

Also, a Korean woman—who is a covert missionary to Muslims in Egypt—attended all the lectures. She sent Terry a thank-you letter after the last talk. The woman said that about 15 years ago her life had been changed after attending a creation seminar in Korea that was conducted by the Institute for Creation Research.

Before coming to Egypt, this lady had served the Lord in Tunisia (west of Egypt). She has such a burden for Muslims, and she had been praying for two years for a creation conference to come to Egypt. She was very excited by Terry’s lectures.

Yes, AiG is a “reservoir,” and the Lord is “piping” the Bible-affirming contents of this vast reservoir throughout the world. Oh, how the Arabic-speaking world (mostly Muslim) needs to be reached with the truth of God’s Word. It really does excite me to think how the Lord is using AiG to reach souls all over the globe.

I hope you’re as excited as I am to know that God is using AiG's faith-building and evangelistic resources to reach Muslims (and other non-Christians) around the world. As our Creation Museum, DVDs, website, etc. are reaching millions of people here in America, what a blessing that God’s Word is penetrating the hearts of people abroad who are caught up in hopeless religions (Islam, atheism, etc.).

I hope this special look at our “Middle East pipelines” has blessed you. We could not do such a unique ministry without your help. Your investment financially, prayerfully, and in other ways is touching millions of people in the Middle East and beyond. And the return on your investment is priceless!