The Launch of Bible21
On April 9th over 400 people gathered in Bethlehem Chapel, where Jan Hus broke the current standards of the day and preached in Czech vernacular. They gathered for an event that again brought the Word of God to the Czech people in their everyday language, the release of the new Bible translation. Sasa Flek spoke and shared about his own journey to Christ and his calling to translate the Bible after the fall of communism, 17 years ago. The denominational leader of the Moravian Brethren also spoke teaching briefly from Deuteronomy 8:3 "...man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
The audience seemed soft-hearted towards all who spoke about God and this new translation of the Bible, but the most powerful experience of the evening was the Bible readings themselves. A number of well known Czech actors and public figures read a selection of scripture passages from Genesis to Revelation. It was beautiful to hear the story of God's love and redemption in modern Czech echo through the chapel.
Public Readings
The launch didn't end with the event in Bethlehem Chapel, it continued throughout the weekend with public readings of the Bible in over 80 Czech cities. These readings happened in small villages and large cities alike and the word of God was heard by many in a way that they may never have heard it before. There is really no way to know exactly the influence these public readings had on the hearts of people all over the Czech Republic, but we believe that God's spirit has and will continue to move through His word to call people towards himself.
Praise God for This...
Without us spending any money, the media continues to talk about and promote this new translation. There have been news articles and radio/tv interviews about it nearly every day. Most excitingly, the first printing of the Bible (over 50,000 copies) has completely sold out! More Bibles are already being printed. To help us cover the cost of this second printing, visit our donation page.
We are amazed at how quickly the Bibles have sold and feel so encouraged that the Word of God is spreading across the Czech Republic. In fact, since its publication, this new Bible translation has been the No. 1 bestseller in the Czech Republic. What an amazing work of God!
Please pray for this...
The Bible has not been released without criticism and there is a
spiritual war raging. The Bible has particularly received criticism
from some Catholic bishops in the Czech Republic. They have criticised
the new translation for not having more commentary and for not
including the books of the Apocrypha. There have also been some lies
spread about the translation and about Sasa. We ask you to please pray
that all lies would be short-lived and that we can be servants of the
Truth. We are grateful that so far these things have only added to the
media's coverage of the release and inadvertently promoted the new
translation.
Looking Ahead
Even with all of the blessings God is pouring out on the new translation we are reminded that the spiritual climate in the Czech Republic will not change overnight. This translation does provide a new opportunity for Czech people who are truly curious or hungering after God to hear from Him, but building God's kingdom in the Czech Republic will take time. There is still a battle being fought for the hearts of the Czech people.
As Sasa Flek said after the event "I don't think this is over at all... it's not enough just to translate the Bible and publish it; we would like to present the Bible to the Czech people, to open it for them and to help them read it, so there is a lot ahead." Pray for the coming work ahead for those who are called to minister to and journey beside their Czech brothers and sisters and join God in bringing His kingdom to earth.
