Mortada’s wife needed an operation, and the best place for her to do that was Iran. So, on the journey there, Mortada, an ICR partner, packed the car with secret Bibles.
Bibles are not allowed to be produced inside Iran, and if Mortada was caught by the border control, he faced expulsion, imprisonment, or possibly worse.
But thankfully, on this trip, the guards noticed nothing, and the couple arrived safely in Iran.
One day, when Mortada stopped in a shop, he struck up a conversation with the Muslim shopkeeper. Out of nowhere, the man said, “I am very interested in Isa [Jesus]. I’ve heard good things about him.”
Mortada asked him, “Would you like to read the New Testament if you had one?”
“Yes of course I would read it,” the shopkeeper replied.
“I just happen to have one in the car,” Mortada told him. “I’ll get it for you quickly.”
Bible Smuggling
These are the kinds of interactions that happen all over the country. Iranians are open to other faiths in their search for truth. And Christians are carefully supplying them with Bibles. Though the people are open, it is dangerous work, because if the wrong person finds out what you are doing, anyone caught distributing Bibles can be sent straight to prison. These Bibles are smuggled across the border, sometimes in vehicles or sometimes they are carried by a donkey across the mountains.
As evangelicals, we highly value the Word of God. Can you imagine your life without God’s Word to turn to for guidance and assurance? Many of our brothers and sisters around the world lack access to Scripture, either because governments try to keep it out, or because it is unavailable due to cost. ICR is working to change that in many of the places where we serve.
One way ICR helps get the Bible into difficult places is through translation. Sometimes you must start from the very beginning, because there are people groups who still do not have access to the Bible. Translation projects are costly and require a large team of people who are skilled in languages. But the effort is worth it when people who have never experienced God’s Truth for themselves come to know it.
ICR is partnering with a translation project in the North Caucasus region (above Iran, geographically). The project coordinator, Lyuda, came to faith through a missionary. Lyuda never hid her new faith from anyone in her Muslim village. “She is an absolutely fearless person, very devoted to Christ,” the ICR partner said.
She began to translate Scripture into the language of her people, but for a long time, she was the only local team member on the project. She desperately wanted others to join her, and Lyuda prayed frequently for more people on the team.
One day, Lyuda was talking with her neighbor, a devout Muslim woman. Her neighbor suddenly asked her, “You are working on a translation project, aren’t you? Do you have a job for me?”
Lyuda was surprised, because though she knew her neighbor had an excellent command of the language, she had not considered her because of her Muslim faith. This woman was the answer to her prayers, and as a team member, she has brought greater excellence to the project.
“I was very encouraged when my neighbor told me she felt that the spirit of the translated text was very different from ordinary texts,” Lyuda said. She felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in those translated words, and told Lyuda that more than once.
The project has blessed Lyuda, too. “I feel very close to God. I feel His closeness, His care, His warmth, and His heart because it pleases Him. It’s His Word.”
We pray this Bible translation will be a blessing to the people who read it someday, too.
Illiterate Bible Expert
In eastern Africa, a woman named Tekle, who is part of a nomadic tribe that has historically been resistant to Christianity, came to faith. Tekle started coming to prayer meetings led by an ICR partner even though no one had invited her. She was just curious, and the more she heard, the more interested she became. She accepted Christ in 2019!
Even though she leads a difficult life and has to support her children, from the moment she came to faith, she was committed to sharing the gospel with others. She started a women’s Bible study in her community, and somewhere, they got a copy of the Bible. However, none of them could read, so for their Bible study time, they opened up the Bible, set a stone on top so the pages wouldn’t turn in the breeze, and prayed for God’s Word to enter their hearts.
When the ICR partner heard this, Tekle was among the first people he gave an audio Bible to in 2023. Now, when the women meet, they listen to Scripture. Tekle knows God’s Word so well that when the leader comes to teach them, she sometimes corrects him.
“She knows the Word so well and knows exactly how it is written,” the ICR partner said. “She is very motivated in the Bible group, answers questions, and actively participates in discussions.”
Tekle practices what she tells others by resting on the seventh day from her work caring for her animals. She says her favorite Bible story is about Abraham because she relates to Abraham’s nomadic life. She likes that God kept His promises to Abraham, and he was able to have a son in old age. “What is not possible became possible through God’s promise,” she said.
Now that she has an audio Bible, she understands the message better. “When I hear the Word of God, it speaks directly to my life, and I can then apply it directly to my everyday life the next day,” Tekle said.
“The audio Bible helps me to remember the Word so that I don’t forget anything. And I can listen to the Word anytime, and it really encourages me a lot. When I hear God’s Word, it helps me stay on His path. I hear it and can think about it. It helps me not to fall into temptation and stay away from evil. With the audio Bible, I can hear God’s Word and pass it on; it has taken away all my fear.”
“This woman proves that you don’t need to study theology to be well-versed in the Bible,” an ICR field worker said.
