Rev Hendrik du Plessis D’Kar
In Romans 10:17 Paul said: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Through the Lord’s grace and through His providence in this time, the technology at our disposal has made it possible for us to hear His Word like never before. I believe we can read into it the urgency before the return of our Lord Jesus, so that one day no one will have an excuse before God. Something of the Lord’s urgency we see in the technology explosion we have been experiencing in the last fifty years. As an athlete begins to pick up speed as the final lap approaches, one wants to read into the signs of the times and how the pace is now beginning to accelerate into the fact that it may well be the last lap.
In Africa and in particular in this part of Botswana, reading has never been a priority. Very few people can read, and those who can read, read very poorly and prefer not to read. What would be the motivation to read if it takes you half an hour to read a paragraph. If you do have a written Bible that soothes the conscience, but you read with the greatest effort, it will be a tendency not to read it at all. It was here in Africa and still today the breeding ground of all these false religions, because someone else did the reading on your behalf under the name “baruti”, bishops, apostles, you name it. False preachers thrive on these members who cannot read, and if you rely on your bishop, apostle or whoever to hear what the Lord is saying, you are in a very dangerous area, and if he is not a born-again child of God, he will of course exploit it to his own advantage.
How important the truth and the knowledge of the truth can be clearly seen in the words of Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Isaiah 5:13 states: “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”
I once gave Abdul, who occasionally helps us here in the garden, a printed Tswana Bible before the audio Bibles came. When his daughter is at home, he asks her to read him from the Scripture. Weeks or even months could pass before she comes again. I do not think we realize how little these people of Africa were and are exposed to the Word of God, and then we wonder why there is no resurgence on the mission field.
The wonderful thing about audio Bibles is that anyone who can hear can listen to the word of God in their own language. You do not have to be educated. While you are busy with chores, the Bible could be heard in the background. Anyone who walks past can hear what is being said, and the Holy Spirit works through the Word. Once I visited people to whom I had given such an audio bible. One of the children turned on the Bible. The child could recite the specific chapter word for word because she memorised the chapter she heard so often. It just made me realize again, these people have a culture of hearing and not a culture of reading, and yet is Biblical, because faith is from the hearing and the hearing from the Word of God. I am convinced, the more knowledge of the Word you have, the less susceptible you will be to false doctrines.
This afternoon old Cgara came to my house to ask for an audio bible with him was his three grandchildren. He only has one eye. He was overwhelmed with joy over the Bible. When he walked away, I heard him say to his grandchildren: “Come, now we can listen to His word” The question then came to my mind: “What is the possibility for such a person to hear the Word otherwise, if there is no one to read to him?” The only way he will come into contact with the Word of the Lord is if he gets it in a very twisted form from some false preacher, and then what will be his defense against the lie?
Old Simon is 90 years old and virtually blind. I saw him sitting there at his corrigated hut all by himself. He is a Herero but fluent in Naro and Tswana. He used to attended our worship services in D’kar, but since he can no longer see, he doesn’t attend services anymore. The chances for such a person to come under the sound of the Word of the Lord are extremely slim if you only have to rely on the written Bible.
So does this young man who will be bedridden for the rest of his life. The government built this little building for him. His father, who had cared for him until recently, old Cao, died suddenly.
Old Zoo was on his way to take a bath. He has been completely blind for years. His son usually bathes him in the little building right behind them. Afterwards, I gave them each an audio bible. Now he can sit and listen to the Word of the Lord during his dark and boring hours. Again, with whom else will he be able to listen to the Word of the Lord, because apart from the fact that his children are very busy during the day, they can hardly read.
Not everyone receives the audio bibles the way they supposed to but that they are desperate to obtain such a bible, there is no doubt about it.” My colleague, emeritus reverend Gaobolelwe Ngakayaja, showed me last Sunday where they stole his audio bible. At his bedroom window at the bottom left, someone carefully broke the glass and stole his audio bible. At the windowsill he always left the Bible to be charged by the sun. We have wholeheartedly expressed our hope that the theft will contribute to his eternal salvation for the thief.
To conclude: It would be much easier for our missionaries to do missionary work among people who already have a basic knowledge of the Bible and you only have to draw the Gospel lines for them. When Philip got into the chariot with the court servant of Ethiopia, he was reading from the book of Isaiah. He did not have to explain everything to him, because he already had a basic knowledge of the Bible. So did the two men on their way to Emmaus – the Lord Jesus was able to draw for them the lines of Moses and the prophets and everything that pertained to Him, because they had a basic knowledge. The question would be: Doesn’t the state of mission and syncretism in Africa have to do to a large extent with people who rarely or never read or hear the Word? I am convinced that it played a big role and today we are reaping the rewards. Hence all these false churches and groupings which are not based on the Word of God, but preach the opinions of men, and who are you who seldom hear the Word to dispute it.
In short, we would like to thank you for your contribution to these audio Bibles. I am convinced that this will address the African problem to a great extent, because now they can hear for themselves the Word of the Lord in its purest form.
Your brother in Christ, Hendrik du Plessis.
Should you wish to donate towards 1 audio bible (or more) at a cost of R495.00 each ,please go to the donate page which will show our bank detail and mark each payment ………Audio bible…..
Thank you for helping every one to hear the word of God.