Audio Bibles for the People of Zambia

A Special, Helpful Gift

Proclaimers® were first demonstrated to Pastor Percy the day before he preached. He listened intently as the voice spoke in his native Lozi language. He genuinely seemed excited and expressed that the Lozi that was being spoken was excellent. This gift proved how special and helpful it would be the next day during their worship service.

The next day at the worship service, Pastor Percy demonstrated the Proclaimer® to the whole congregation. When he turned it on there was an instant settling over all those present... a hush... a quieting of the soul and body as each person leaned a little forward to hear the Word of God, in Lozi, coming from this strange looking device. The transformation was remarkable in its speed and its stillness. After worship the Pastor said dozens of members had expressed their appreciation and excitement over the Proclaimer®.

Bernard's Testimony

Bernard said he was one of the worst sinners. He used to be a thief and a drug addict. He and his group were called ‘aggravated robbers’ and used to break into homes with machetes. The group spent time in prison, but after they were released, they went right back to robbing homes. Bernard said, “Every time police released me, I decided that I will not steal again but it was more like I didn’t have the power to overcome the crime.”

Bernard said he was invited to church but didn’t go because he found it boring. After refusing a second invitation from the pastor, the pastor asked him if he could at least attend a weekly Bible study where they listened to the Bemba Bible. Bernard thought this was new and different and worth trying so he attended the listening session.

As they listened to Romans, Bernard thought the voice of Paul was interesting and one he could at least relate to. He says,

I am so happy about the listening program because God used the listening program to save me.”

The next week Bernard was impacted by Romans 6:23 - “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He started to think about people he knew who were dead because of the crimes they committed and realized that that kind of life really just ends up in death one way or another.

During the discussion time, he asked how one can get the free gift of God as is stated in that Scripture. After the listening and discussion were over, the Pastor and the church leaders counseled Bernard and prayed with him. Since that day, Bernard no longer steals and is committed at church. Bernard concluded by saying that he has continued to study Paul and his writings which strengthen and build him up, especially verses like Ephesians 5:23.

Bernard never misses any listening sessions and is now one of the children’s class teachers at church.

Well-known Dramatist Appreciates Bible

Davy, a well-known community dramatist, is part of the Maloza drama group of Chipata Compound of Lusaka. The group gives community open air dramas, sketches, dance performances, etc. to  teach about the importance of sending children to school, the evils of using or trafficking in drugs, and the HIV/AIDS problem. Because of their performances, the members of the group are well known in the communities of Lusaka  and other provinces.

Davy is, however, the only member of the group who is a Christian, but because he is uneducated it is hard for him to share the Gospel with the other people in the group, and other people in the surrounding communities. He testified that not knowing how to read and write made him a timid and ineffective Christian.

But when his church started listening to the  Audio Drama Bible in Chichewa, his mother tongue, he began to understand and appreciate the Gospel. He says that now he shares the Word of God during their community performances and with his group members and his fans.

“I have learned the Word of God in a very short time because of the Audio Bible. I have even started a Bible study group at my house with 18 neighbors and people who don’t even go to church,” Davy said excitedly. “I have even developed a passion for school and have now enrolled in an adult literacy school where I am doing very well and already can write and read a bit.”

A Former Criminal Finds Redemption

Hedrick, Faith Comes By Hearing program manager with Bible Society of Zambia, reports:

"I have just come back from visiting Faith Comes By Hearing programs in Northern Province that is some 1000 km from Lusaka.  What is happening there is so great. I found a man that was a criminal for a long time and was on the police’s most-wanted list for over six years.

"The police would find him, but mysteriously he would escape from them. A number of times they would shoot at him, but the guns and bullets would not do anything to him. This man had gone to an African medicine spiritualist so that he could evade the police.
 
"Instead, the spiritualist got him so deep into what I would call witchcraft.  The spiritualist took the man to a river where together they went under the water and stayed there for seven days. The man told me that in those seven days he was fed by a mermaid, and a crocodile would bring them big fish. After those seven days they came out of the water with a small powder-like thing wrapped in a cloth (fetish). The mermaid gave him the fetish and  told him to tie it under his groin. With it, he became a very notorious criminal and the police had no power over him.
 
"With time the fetish started to tell him to sacrifice specific people to the mermaid by putting the fetish under them as they slept. The problem was the mermaid asked only for members of his family.

"Because of all of the unexplained deaths in his family, another spiritualist was consulted.  This spiritualist said it was because of the man that the people were dying. The family resolved to kill the man when they found him.
 
"They found him a number of times and beat him so badly, leaving him for dead; but as soon as they left he got up and went on his way. One day people called the police, and they found him beaten and left for dead. One of the onlookers was a nurse, who even confirmed that he was dead. But while they were trying to get a hold of a transport to take the corpse to the mortuary, the man woke up and ran away.
 
"The man told me that as long as he wore the little wrapped cloth under his groin no man could kill him. He also testified that it started to dictate a lot of things to him and he never had any peace. He actually wanted to get rid of it. He tried to throw it away, but he would find it under his groin again.

"After the fetish caused the man so much trouble and dictated to him whose house he should break into or whose property he should steal, he sought help from pastors. The problem was that after hearing his story no pastor wanted to be near him or associate with him. They wouldn't help him in any way.

"One day he came across a group of people listening to what seemed like a play of Jesus. He sat down to listen with them and in the end asked to see the pastor. People that knew him were so afraid and surprised that he came and sat to listen with them. The pastor of the church was called and, surprising the people, he asked this man to go home with him. At the pastor’s home the man explained everything about himself and the pastor did not ask him to leave as was the case with other pastors he had talked to before.

"Instead the pastor prayed with him, leading him to Jesus and asked him to stay with him for a few days. During those days they continued to pray for his deliverance from the satanism he got into through black medicine. Every day he would listen to the Bemba Faith Comes By Hearing Audio Bible with the pastor, pray, and so on. With much prayer and fasting, the pastor burned the fetish and it did not appear again like it used to when the man tried to just throw it away.
 
"The man was therefore delivered and the pastor continued to use the Bemba Audio Bible to teach the man the Word of God.  With time he grew in faith and even started sharing Jesus with people. People that knew him were surprised every time they saw him sharing about Jesus Christ.  All this time he was staying at the pastor’s house.
 
"The man concludes, 'Because of your tapes, sir, and my pastor, I am now a deacon in my church.'

"Still many people don't believe him although his family, with the help of his pastor, has started to accept him. Let us continue to pray for this man that God will continue to use him in his vineyard."