Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000008A
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00:21 Hello, and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and I have my husband, 00:26 Jon here with me on this show. 00:27 You know, many people, 00:28 when they hear our ministry name, 00:30 wonder why we limit ourselves to just Asia. 00:33 Well, we don't see it as a limit 00:35 because of the fact that more than half 00:36 of the world lives in Asia. 00:38 In fact, more people live in Asia 00:41 than all the other continents combined. 00:44 Honey, we have a little map 00:45 that illustrates this a little bit. 00:47 Can you share that with us now? 00:49 Yes, so here's a map of the world 00:50 and as you can see, more people live inside 00:53 that circle than live outside of the circle. 00:56 So, the majority of the world lives inside that circle, 01:01 just that circle and it includes 01:03 India and China, 01:05 which of course, is major population density. 01:07 North America is only eight percent 01:09 of the world's population. 01:10 South America is only eight percent. 01:12 Africa is like 15 percent of the world's population. 01:15 Europe is like 12 percent. 01:17 Asia is like 57 percent 01:20 and so that's one of the reasons 01:22 why there is so much to do. 01:24 There is so much to do there. 01:27 How can you say no when an opportunity opens? 01:29 When the Lord provides an opportunity, 01:30 how can you say no and walk away? 01:33 And so, that's one of the reasons 01:34 why Jesus for Asia, 01:36 we've got so many projects going on. 01:38 Right, we have over 40 projects in the last 11 years. 01:41 The Lord has started or brought us 01:44 into contact with over 40 projects now. 01:47 So, we want to share a little video 01:49 as an introduction to Jesus for Asia 01:50 and then we'll get a little more into Thailand 01:53 and the situation there. 01:54 Sounds good. All right. 02:58 So you can see, there's something for everyone. 03:00 If you love children, there are projects for you. 03:03 If you love adult evangelism, there's a project for you. 03:06 If you love jungle ministry, there are options. 03:09 A city ministry, there are so many options. 03:12 God gives us many options to build up 03:14 our eternal heavenly treasure. 03:16 These are the things we're doing, 03:18 but what about what we're not doing? 03:20 And that's the thing that really, 03:22 you know, weighs on the back of my mind. 03:23 It's something, as the voices that I don't hear 03:27 that scream the loudest. 03:28 The people that don't know that Jesus exists 03:30 and that those people that are willing to help them 03:32 and so they're not able to call 03:34 and say, "Hey, can you help us?" 03:36 It's the people that find out about Christ 03:37 that make some kind of connection that say, 03:41 "Can you come over and help? We need this, we need that." 03:43 But what about all the people that don't know 03:46 that they can even ask? 03:48 Right. 03:49 You know the gospel has been communicated 03:51 for centuries by the written page, 03:53 not just by being spoken 03:55 and that's what we want to talk about today, 03:57 the printed page, a little bit. 03:58 Right, I mean, can you imagine your life being a Christian, 04:02 being a believer without anything printed 04:05 that you could read. 04:06 Yeah. 04:07 In many places, not even any portion of the Scripture. 04:10 Right. Yeah. 04:11 So, it's painful, it's painful to think about that 04:15 because how do we learn more about God through His word, 04:18 His written word and through nature? 04:21 Right, and how do we introduce other people to the depths 04:24 of the knowledge of God 04:25 without something written, printed, 04:29 something that you can hand somebody? 04:31 Right. 04:32 And I know we talked about our media team 04:34 that's working on DVD's 04:35 and evangelism using the new media, 04:39 but there's still, you know, 04:41 that's really good in introducing 04:42 and broaching subjects to people 04:45 but the depth you know... 04:47 They need the written... 04:48 The printed word can go so much deeper 04:51 and you can watch it, you read it, watch it. 04:53 You can read the printed word at your own pace 04:56 and have it sink really in. 04:58 Right, so in 2008, share with us 05:00 what happened in 2008? 05:02 Oh, my, well, I met Pastor Doug. 05:04 We were in Bangkok and we met him. 05:07 His wife is your good friend from high school days 05:11 and found out what he was doing 05:13 and we were just learning about Bangkok, 05:16 but Thailand was a country 05:18 where it was kind of like a vacation place. 05:20 Our ministry was in other countries 05:22 and we come there to relax, 05:23 but then when we started talking to Doug, 05:25 and seeing the state of the progress 05:30 of the gospel in Thailand, our hearts really moved, 05:34 and so, I was able to go and meet him in his office 05:38 and he started sharing with me the dearth of materials 05:42 that they had and he took me 05:44 into the office of, it's kind of like the office 05:47 where all the requests for literature, 05:51 requests for Bible studies come, 05:53 and so he took me and showed me 05:55 what material they have available to send to people 05:59 that are interested in the truth. 06:02 Okay, so let's run that video now. 06:27 God's work is languishing and one example of that, 06:29 here that I live with daily is, 06:33 what is there to communicate the hope 06:37 that we have as Seventh-day Adventist Christians? 06:40 What is it that communicates to the people around us? 06:45 What the Bible teaches about what will happen in His endings. 06:49 And obviously, if you go 06:51 to your local church literature rack, 06:52 you can find tracks on Sabbath, 06:55 and the Sanctuary, and the State of the Dead, 06:58 and the fact that Jesus is coming so soon, 07:00 but here in Thailand, we're here actually 07:03 in the office of the Adventist, The Voice of Prophecy, 07:07 but I want to just have you to take a look. 07:12 Here, we have photocopies of lessons 07:17 that are what I've been told they are over 60 years old 07:23 and you can see here that, 07:27 you know, the truth is there 07:31 but even at my second and third grade level of Thai, 07:35 some of these words I can't even read, 07:37 what letter this is. 07:39 You know, what is that? 07:40 What is that letter right there? 07:41 It it's a blob of ink and so how can the truth 07:45 be clearly communicated when it's... 07:48 We're dealing with a copy of a copy of a copy. 07:51 Here is another set of... That... 07:57 This is, you know, because here in Thailand, 08:00 we have Buddhists, 08:01 and their world view is completely different, 08:04 and so, here this is a set that looks out 08:09 what is good in Buddhism? 08:11 How has God used the truth there to, 08:15 then, make a bridge to the Bible 08:18 and so here this is a wonderful set of lessons, 08:22 but you look at the picture 08:24 and what do you see here? 08:29 Bunch of blobs. 08:30 It's just... it's not quite clear and... 08:32 Not very attractive. 08:34 Yeah, it's needless to say. 08:36 Then, we can look here that... 08:39 So when somebody calls interested in Adventism, 08:43 this is what we send them? 08:46 When someone calls or actually when they write, 08:49 they come, you know, the letter comes here to the mission 08:54 or an e-mail is sent 08:55 or you know churches ask for literature and... 09:04 This is what we have. 09:09 Even though we don't have the sharpest tools... 09:12 Help God. 09:16 He is still using them... 09:18 Look here on this picture. 09:21 You can see that here is actually, 09:24 these men are in prison and the seeds of hope 09:29 are still going through to them 09:30 and God is changing lives despite... 09:40 Despite our selfish greed. 09:47 We have... 09:49 There are some other literature... 09:52 I asked them and they said, 09:55 "Where did you get these printed? 09:57 We've got some new ones here," 10:01 and I must just show you these right here, 10:03 we got Steps to Christ, 10:04 and we've got these health lessons 10:06 and he said, "Jon, which means leader or teacher, boss... 10:11 Where did we get these?" 10:12 And goes, "The layman paid for these." 10:15 I said, "Well, where's your budget?" 10:17 She goes, "I don't have a budget." 10:18 And I said, "What? 10:20 Where do you get this stuff reprinted 10:23 when you run out?" 10:26 And she says, "We don't. 10:28 We just use what we have until it's all gone." 10:32 And it just... 10:33 It just breaks my heart 10:34 because, even at my former church, 10:40 in our district, 10:43 our local church literature rack 10:46 was bigger and was more, had more stock than what... 10:53 Than what we have here at the mission. 10:55 It was more well stocked than what we had here 10:59 at the headquarters to serve an entire nation 11:02 and there we were just trying to serve one or two cities 11:06 of 50,000 11:07 and seven nations of 65 million. 11:09 We have prisoners who don't know the hope 11:12 because we don't have the lessons. 11:14 We have this entire city here in Bangkok of 13 million who... 11:19 They have not heard it 11:21 and are compelling in creative ways 11:24 because we don't have the tools 11:26 or finances to publish it in vast amounts. 11:34 So, yeah, I live with that... 11:38 I live with the languishing every day. 11:44 That's really sobering and very heartbreaking 11:47 and as we can see 11:49 it was a heavy burden on Doug's heart. 11:51 Yeah. He is whole time there. 11:54 Yeah. 11:55 So there are many needs for literature, 11:58 not just in Thailand. 12:00 Not just a program either. 12:01 It's not just literature program. 12:04 You know, this affects real people 12:06 and it can open or close the door 12:10 for some people for eternal life 12:13 which is really important to God, 12:16 and I think if as the Lord places His love 12:20 for others in our hearts, it affects us too. 12:23 Yeah. 12:24 Right, and this is he's talking about the Thai language. 12:26 Right. 12:28 Now, there are other languages spoken in Thailand. 12:31 Yes, you have Akha, Karen, Mien, on and on and on. 12:35 I've read once were there're 78 different languages. 12:38 I even counted them myself, but 78 different languages, 12:42 just in Thailand. 12:43 All the different tribes 12:45 and because of the displaced people 12:46 that are living in Thailand now. 12:48 There are many languages represented in Thailand. 12:50 That's right. 12:51 Yeah, that was looking at Bible study lessons 12:54 and small literature, you know, and they were talking about 12:57 Steps to Christ there. 12:58 So what about Ellen White? 13:01 Well, this is the challenge, this is the thing 13:03 that really surprised me 13:04 because I was out in Bangkok by myself 13:08 and I had dinner and the waitress ended up... 13:12 She was interested in Christianity. 13:14 She considered herself at some level, 13:16 a believer and so I got excited, 13:19 I'm like would you be interested in a book 13:21 that I have and she's like, 13:23 "Yeah" because she couldn't tell the difference, 13:25 she didn't know the difference between denominations. 13:27 She had very, you know, limited knowledge about 13:30 what it means to be a Christian. 13:32 And so, I was gonna give her Steps to Christ. 13:34 So I went back to the headquarters 13:36 of our church in Thailand 13:39 and I was just going to pick up the Steps of Christ. 13:41 There was an ABC there. 13:43 And I looked all over the headquarters 13:45 and I couldn't find a single Steps to Christ, 13:49 these little books, just a little book 13:52 and if you don't have a Steps to Christ... 13:57 I mean, it's one thing to be a believer 14:00 in the Seventh-day Adventist 14:01 and not have the Steps to Christ in your home. 14:04 I mean, that would be really surprising actually 14:08 but to not have one 14:09 in the headquarters of our church. 14:13 For the whole country. For the whole country. 14:15 They had some when Doug was there, 14:17 but he said in the video the layman printed those. 14:20 Yeah, every once in a while... So they must have been... 14:21 Between printings when you were looking for them. 14:24 Yeah, like, like somebody will donate some. 14:26 They'll print a batch and then they will run out 14:31 and they'll go for a certain amount of time, 14:33 who knows how long without Steps to Christ, 14:38 and so, you know, you wonder, well, can do they really... 14:43 Do they appreciate those books even when they have them? 14:44 Doesn't make a difference. Yeah. 14:46 I've got a little testimony 14:48 by a literature evangelist interviewing somebody 14:50 that had read Steps to Christ 14:52 and this is from a Thai person that read Steps to Christ 14:54 and this is a video of her talking about 14:57 what she thinks about Steps to Christ. 15:00 Okay. 15:01 I'm very happy to know that you have found peace, 15:05 joy and happiness of this book. 15:07 Yes! Very, very good book! 15:09 In Thai, what is this? 15:15 Secret of Happiness. 15:17 Yes! 15:18 Okay, can you tell me because one day you told me 15:21 that this book is a different book 15:28 from other books that says also about happiness. 15:33 Yeah. 15:35 I read two books and I like two books very much. 15:38 It's a best seller, million of book. 15:43 International best seller. Yeah. Yeah. 15:46 But when I found this book it's very, very old book, 15:52 not attractive, but when I read I... 15:58 Exciting! 15:59 It's a deep spirit of happiness. 16:05 I read and read and read... 16:07 Very, very happy. 16:09 It's a deep truth for people to become happiness life. 16:16 I think, we should give to Thai people. 16:21 That's right. 16:23 So you can see how powerful that book is to her, 16:27 and you can see also that they're true honest people, 16:31 lovely people and seeking for happiness, 16:35 and my goodness, you know, Christ, God is the sort... 16:38 He is happy God. 16:39 He is the source of all happiness and light 16:41 and truth and joy 16:43 and His children, He has many children, 16:45 still in other countries like Thailand 16:49 and are we holding that light back from his kids? 16:55 I mean, that's our job is to give... 16:56 Are we helping it to go out? 16:57 Yeah, exactly. 16:59 So going back to Pastor Doug 17:00 because of what he showed me there 17:03 I said, "People don't know this. 17:05 People in America do not know the effect of the decline 17:09 of giving in foreign missions on the frontline." 17:11 So I'm gonna go back and we shot an entire series. 17:16 A 13-part series. 17:17 Following Pastor Doug around 17:18 as a church planting pastor in Bangkok 17:22 and part of that was to highlight 17:25 what's happening with our literature. 17:26 I mean, that's just one little book. 17:28 What about the other books? What about Desire of Ages? 17:31 So then, when we had the director 17:33 of Adventist mission come and visit us, 17:35 we set up this little challenge for him. 17:38 Can you find Desire of Ages on campus? 17:42 And so we'll roll that clip now. 17:44 Okay. 17:45 And, Gary, I've got a challenge for you today. 17:47 Have you ever been blessed 17:48 by the book Steps to Christ or Desire of Ages? 17:51 I have indeed. 17:52 Okay, so your challenge today is 17:55 we're going to try to go onto this campus here 17:58 and see if you can find that book. 18:00 Well, this is the Adventist Book Center, 18:01 good place to find, right? 18:03 Right. Let's see... Let's start here. 18:04 Do you have a copy of the Desire of Ages, please? 18:07 Oh, we don't have. I'm sorry. 18:09 Okay. Steps to Christ? 18:11 Steps to Christ? I think we have only one. 18:15 Okay. Oh, sorry. 18:16 Thai, isn't? 18:19 Steps to Christ. 18:20 As for Desire of Ages, 18:21 we are out of stock for a long time already. 18:24 Right. Yeah. 18:25 Here is Steps to Christ. Right. 18:27 So we have it in English 18:29 and how many copies of these do you have? 18:30 Sorry, we are out of stock also. 18:32 We're out of stock of English Steps to Christ. 18:35 Is it an accident that it's upside down? 18:38 Probably that's why, Gary, 18:40 that's the last copy is because... 18:42 It's a misprint. It's a misprint. 18:43 Yeah, which Ellen White's books 18:45 do we have in the Thailand languages, 18:47 do you have like Patriarchs and Prophets? 18:50 Yeah, we have Patriarchs and Prophets. 18:51 Yeah, you have some of that. 18:52 What about Acts of the Apostles? 18:54 We don't. No. 18:55 Great Controversy? Great Controversy? 18:57 We have just... Do you have a copy? 18:59 Used up. 19:01 So that just kills me that the ABC 19:05 in a country of 67 million people 19:08 does not have a Desire of Ages. 19:11 Yeah. They don't have Desire of Ages. 19:13 Acts of the Apostles is not even available in Thai. 19:15 Never been translated. Yeah. 19:17 Great Controversy? 19:19 Nothing available. They used them up. 19:20 They're gone. Yeah. 19:22 That's just... So that, that's just like... 19:25 It just... Yeah, it's killing me. 19:27 So you took this information 19:29 that there weren't any available in the ABC 19:31 and you went looking for the director 19:32 of The Voice of Prophecy office. 19:33 Yes. 19:35 This is Dr. Sirachet Insom. 19:36 He is a director for the Spirit of Prophecy 19:40 and Gray Krause is on the challenge today. 19:42 I've given him an assignment to try to find 19:45 Steps to Christ in Thai and he was able to find 19:48 the last copy of Steps to Christ, 19:51 but you can see that it's being printed, 19:54 it's upside down and it's not quite perfect, 19:57 but at least he found one, 19:59 but the other part of his challenge 20:01 was to find a Desire of Ages. 20:04 So can you guide... Help Gary. 20:08 You know, find out 20:09 why the Adventist book center downstairs 20:12 does not have Desire of Ages? 20:14 As far as I know right now 20:17 that there is no Ellen G. White book available in our ABC. 20:22 My first book, in my Christian life, 20:25 is the Desire of Ages. 20:26 Because previously you were Buddhist. 20:28 Yeah, you came from a Buddhist family. 20:30 I came from a Buddhist family, and when I came to join 20:34 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 20:36 the church pastor conducted 20:39 what we have midweek prayer every Wednesday night 20:43 and he used that book, the Desire of Ages. 20:46 We don't have that book. 20:48 I have one copy at home 20:50 and I keep that for more that 20 years. 20:52 I never give to anyone. 20:55 I never bring it to my office even. 20:57 I keep it at home 20:59 because I don't want to lose it. 21:01 Can you believe this? 21:02 Okay, here's a man, here's the pastor, 21:04 he's the director of the Spirit of Prophecy 21:06 and he's holding on to his Desire of Ages 21:08 because he doesn't want to loan it out 21:09 because that's the last copy. 21:11 And it's not even there where he's living in Bangkok 21:14 at the mission office. 21:16 It's at his house and he's not bringing it. 21:19 And it's been out of print for almost 20 years. 21:23 It was translated 60 years ago. 21:25 This was shot five years ago. It's still not in print. 21:28 So, we're talking over 20 years where the Desire of Ages 21:31 has not been in print in Thai. 21:34 So all of the church members that have come into the church, 21:36 all the kids that have been born, never... 21:38 That don't speak English, 21:40 very few of them actually speak English. 21:43 All of those kids, all of those people, 21:44 have not had the understanding 21:46 and the insight that the Desire of Ages, 21:49 the life of Christ gives. 21:55 We can stand by and do nothing. 21:59 So we had to do something. 22:01 We have to do something. 22:02 This is just like they're not acceptable. 22:04 Right. 22:05 So we have to do something, had to do something. 22:07 Okay. 22:08 So, it's been 60 years since it was translated. 22:14 Now, what about the Thai language? 22:15 Has the Thai language stayed the same in that last 60 years? 22:18 The Thai language is actually more fluid 22:20 than the English language, 22:21 so a lot has changed over 60 years. 22:24 So people that I've asked that read the Desire of Ages 22:27 in the old printing, 22:29 they can't really understand it. 22:31 Wow. Yeah. 22:32 So in order to do a reprinting, you really had to update 22:37 the language and then it's all in, 22:39 you know, this is before computers. 22:41 This was all done before computers 22:42 and so we have to like retype it into the computer 22:45 and then do the layout, 22:47 so that it's all nicely 22:48 designed and designed the book 22:50 and the book cover and all that kind of stuff, 22:51 that's what had to happen and so we as Jesus for Asia, 22:55 we approached the leaders and says, "Can we help?" 23:00 And they said, "Yes, we would love." 23:02 And they made the action, they voted that, 23:05 that Jesus for Asia would help them 23:07 in making this happen, 23:08 and one of the biggest challenges 23:10 that they had in redesigning and putting this book together 23:13 was getting people that could update the language 23:16 and that could do the editing work, 23:19 you know, editing and making sure everything 23:21 was grammatically proper and... 23:24 And read properly and didn't change any meaning. 23:28 Exactly. 23:29 Because, you know, often when you translate something, 23:31 you can translate the words and you lose the meaning 23:35 and so that's one thing I know that they've mentioned 23:38 that they have to watch for. 23:40 So what happened is the president, 23:42 executive secretary, and the president secretary 23:45 have been in their spare time going through the whole thing 23:50 and making it readable, correcting any mistakes, 23:53 bringing it into the computer 23:55 and we're very close to reprinting... 23:58 It's being ready to print. This thing... 23:59 But the thing is that 24:01 if we can have a larger volume of print, 24:04 then the per book cost goes down. 24:07 Okay. And so we've... 24:08 The Lord has brought people 24:10 in with the same burden that we have 24:13 and we have enough to print 5000 copies, 24:16 but we're really wanting and what they requested 24:19 is 10,000 copies and so we're still looking 24:21 and it only cost 10,000 copies, 24:24 a hardbound nice Desire of Ages book in Thai 24:27 which is gonna be thicker than in English 24:30 because it takes more words to get the same concept, 24:34 it's gonna be about $5 per book. 24:37 If we can do 10,000 copies? 24:38 If we can do 10,000 copies, so $5 per hardbound... 24:40 That's really a good investment. 24:41 Yeah. That's fantastic. 24:43 And then we can send these books. 24:45 These 10,000 books, 24:46 there's about 12,000 Thai SDAs in Thailand. 24:50 So, not enough for everybody, 24:52 but definitely enough for every family 24:54 and then some for the literature 24:56 evangelists to take out 24:57 and sell as well as to provide 24:59 as gifts to government officials, 25:02 leaders in villages, and start being able 25:05 to share these books as well. 25:07 And then once we've printed it the first time, 25:10 then it's easier to continue printing. 25:12 Right, because you don't have 25:13 to go through all the layout, the upgrading. 25:15 It's ready to reprint, 25:17 and so, I'm really, really, really excited about this. 25:20 This really has to happen 25:22 and it really has to get out there 25:23 because in Buddhism they value respect of life, 25:29 being able to give without any personal hope 25:32 of return of gain and peace 25:36 and getting along well with your neighbors. 25:38 Those are the things they value. 25:41 Sounds familiar, doesn't it? 25:42 Sounds kind of like... It sounds like Christ. 25:44 Christ. 25:45 So when they can get behind the cultural barriers 25:50 to Christianity as a foreign religion. 25:53 It's a foreign religion. It's a Western religion. 25:55 It's the religion that Hollywood, 25:58 you know, just cusses. 26:00 If we can get behind that 26:01 and show them this is who Christ is. 26:03 This is His values. This is what He... 26:06 This is how He treated people. This is how He lived His life. 26:10 It's powerful as it was for Pastor Sirachet 26:14 when he started seeing the life of Christ, 26:15 and this is why I'm so excited about 26:17 the Desire of Ages in a lot of ways, 26:19 even more important than in my mind, 26:22 the Great Controversy. 26:24 Now, there is a place for the Great Controversy, 26:27 but to start with, I think, it's more important 26:29 to fall in love with Jesus Christ who He is, 26:33 then there's a place for the Great Controversy. 26:36 So that's on the way to... Christ first. 26:38 Yeah. 26:40 There are people working on translating... 26:42 The Great Controversy also. Yeah, but there's needs. 26:44 There's so much needs for other books as well. 26:46 You've got The Acts of the Apostles, 26:48 Pastor Sirachet is by himself translating 26:50 The Acts of the Apostles into Thai with the hope 26:54 that someday it'll get funded to be printed. 26:59 You know, what I mean, he is... 27:00 Here he is translating this big old thick book 27:04 and other books have not been printed for 20 years. 27:08 I mean, for me it's an active phase. 27:10 And other books have never been... 27:12 Never been printed, never been translated. 27:15 Yeah, never been translated, never been printed. 27:17 This is an ongoing project, 27:18 but I believe that this is a project 27:21 that will bring souls into the kingdom 27:24 and not just souls, 27:25 but souls with the depths and those that are... 27:28 A deeper understanding of who Christ is. 27:30 Yeah, and those that are already in the faith, 27:34 this deepens their faith. 27:36 Deepens their connection with Christ 27:38 as their knowledge of God grows so does their happiness and joy 27:43 and what better gift to give? 27:45 Yeah. Give the gift of Christ. 27:48 Yes. The life of Christ. 27:49 Yeah. 27:51 If you would like to help with the printing 27:52 of the Desire of Ages to make this available 27:55 to churches and pastors and for the up building 27:57 of the church in Thailand as well as introducing 27:59 others to the life of Christ, 28:01 you can send your tax deductible love gift 28:03 to Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221, 28:06 Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 28:09 Call us at (423) 413-7321 28:12 or check out our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:16 God bless you until we see you again. |
Revised 2016-07-05