Audio Bible Nicaragua
The Growth of Hope
Nicaragua is the largest of the Central American Republics, and one of the poorest, plagued by massive unemployment and a debilitating history of dictatorships, civil wars, and natural calamities. The nation has been left deeply divided - among politicians, in communities and churches, even within families. Since 1990 when free elections began, the country has been slowly rebuilding but has suffered significant setbacks.
Nicaragua is a secular state with a growing population of evangelicals. Those who have suffered much “in an impoverished and dysfunctional society” are coming to churches that are poorly equipped to offer help.
In Nicaragua, Faith Comes By Hearing associates gather information and testimonies about what God is doing in and through Audio Bible listening programs.
Radio Preacher Goes to the Streets
¡Cristo vive!
That is the loving expression of the people when they see the old car show up in their neighborhood or in the marketplace with its loud speakers playing the Faith Comes By Hearing Audio Drama New Testament. In Nicaragua, a car with loudspeakers that goes around giving announcements or advertisements is called a barata.
Brother Rostran is a Bible teacher at his church, Jesús es mi Amparo, and has been spreading the Gospel for 32 years. He turned his car into a gospel barata with the sole purpose of reaching people who little or no access to the Bible in their language.
He was the assistant pastor to a preacher whose radio program, Christ Lives, aired for more than 30 years. After the preacher passed away, Brother Rostran took charge of the program but wanted to do something more dramatic; he decided to take the Word of God to the streets.
He painted the slogan Cristo Vive on his car, added some speakers, and began going to the markets, neighborhoods, towns, and local regions every day broadcasting the Word of God in the heart language of the people.
Brother Rostran says he came up with this idea when the Bible Society of Nicaragua presented the Faith Comes By Hearing listening program in a meeting. After he heard about the program, Brother Rostran proclaimed, "I have to preach in the streets."
He has taken the Gospel in audio to all the markets and the neighborhoods, and the communities outside the city because he feels a great joy in reaching the Nicaraguans. Brother Rostran shares what happens when he parks the barata and begins to play the Audio Drama New Testament:
My car is really old, but it takes me everywhere because God takes good care of it for me. One day I parked it on the corner of the East Market and began to play the Audio Drama New Testament. People passed by and greeted me saying, 'God bless you for the work that you are doing!' Then, in the middle of this, a guard came up close and began to listen intensely. He wasn't a Christian, but liked what he was hearing. People from all around the area poured out of their houses as they heard the Word in their language. Many people came around the car to listen to the Word of God; and I get really excited to see their responses. I felt the greatest satisfaction when my son came up to the car while the New Testament was playing. He is a Christian and wondered who was going around playing the Word of God everywhere. He was so surprised when he saw that it was me! He hugged me and kissed me and said, 'Father, may God bless you for the rest of your life for what you are doing.'
Brother Rostran wins the friendship of people everywhere he goes with the Audio Drama New Testament. Many people don't know his name, but they affectionately call him Cristo Vive since that is what is written on the side of his Gospel barata. Brother Rostran's life testifies that Christ truly lives and that His Word continues to captivate people and transform their lives.
Marcia’s Miracle
Marcia desperately needed to have a kidney stone removed or she would die. Though she wasn’t a Christian, she turned to God and promised to worship Him if her operation was successful.
Soon after, she attended a Faith Comes By Hearing listening session—she realized that Christ was her solution and she began to feel physically different. When she went in for surgery, the doctors tested her and found that her kidney had been restored. They didn’t need to operate, and told her, “Your God is great!”
Marcia called her family together and began worshipping and thanking God as she had promised. Her father, seeing this miracle, began seeking God and joined the FCBH listening group.
Reina's Testimony
Reina is a member of the Pentecostal Ministry Church in a very poor community of Somoto. The men spend time hunting iguanas and rattlesnakes, a very dangerous way to make a living.
Reina says, “I always said I was an evangelical, but I only went to church twice a month. I would say bad words, offend my husband, and fight with my neighbors. My life was empty and I wasn’t doing what God required of his children. Nothing in church was impacting me and I wasn’t being challenged to change anything in my life…until the Faith Comes By Hearing program arrived.
“The Pastor invited me to come listen to the Word of God on the Proclaimer. Since then I have changed the way I treat my neighbors and my husband has since received Jesus as his Savior. I am grateful to the program and to God for His love and mercy.”
The Lord is Everything
Vicente is only 26 years old, but he knew a decade of despair and drug addiction before he came to our Lord through an FCBH Audio New Testament listening program.
Vicente lives in the department of Masaya, 40 kilometers from Managua, Nicaragua. He spent ten years in the hellish world of drugs and alcohol, actively rejecting God. He even had a tattoo of the devil on his left arm.
The young man’s despair and pain deepened two years ago, when he lost his brother in a car accident. Vicente recalls, “I raised my voice to Heaven and said, ‘God, if you exist and you say you are love, why did you let this happen?’”
Pastor Jorge of King of Kings church was not put off by Vicente’s tough exterior and invited him to participate in a session of his church’s FCBH Audio New Testament listening program. Vicente told Pastor Jorge that the Word of God was false and useless.
“I had been invited to several churches before and never went,” Vicente explains. “To me, the Bible was just a book. I had one and I tore it apart in my madness.”
Despite his resistance, this invitation stirred something in Vicente’s soul.
“I remember that despite me saying that the Word of God did nothing, I said that I was going to see. The time came for the program to start and I sat there and as soon as I started to hear the Word of God, I burst out crying. Since that moment, my life has not been the same."
Vicente decided to attend the listening session, and God immediately went to work on the young addict’s heart:
“I have listened to the entire story of Jesus and it has impacted and changed me. Now the Lord is everything to me and I don’t lose the chance to tell people at any moment what the Lord is doing in me. Now I know that the Lord is waiting for me always because He says, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ That is true.”
The Hearts of the Humble in Nicaragua
Church of God pastor Carlos travels by horse more than 30 kilometers from his home to his church. Equally, all the members of the congregation walk long distances from their homes to the church.
On Wednesdays, they listen to the Faith Comes By Hearing New Testament, and no one stays home. All the members come to hear the Word of God.
Pastor Carlos said, "Having obtained the Audio New Testament has been an answer to prayer from God. I think this is the right time to equip God's church with His word. This program is a powerful tool. The fruits we are gaining from this have never been seen here before. It's personally affirming and challenges us to be better leaders."
The rural roads are still challenging, but no one misses the listening on Wednesday evenings. The night is even more surprising as they listen to the New Testament outdoors with only a little light. The building is very small for all the members and friends who come to listen through the amplified player, which itself is a miracle that it works.
They are all attentive to the Word of God, because Faith Comes By Hearing is completely new.
