During Lent this year, believers across 22 countries have been tuning in to listen to the Word of God in over 1,400 languages.  

The ONE campaign, a Bible listening plan launched on February 17, is now at its halfway mark. 

The plan covers the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John with each day’s passage lasting between six and 14 minutes. Recordings are also in dialects for the elderly; youth and children’s plans are also available.  

The campaign aims to help believers cultivate the habit of a daily intake of God’s Word and unify the Church by functioning as a platform for churches and pastors to interact with each other. 

The power of the Word

First launched during Lent 2019 in Hong Kong, ONE was a collaboration between the English-speaking evangelical churches in Hong Kong and Faith Comes By Hearing Asia (FCBH Asia), an organisation which specialises in producing recordings of new Bible translations and audio Bibles. 

Just how powerful is God’s word in transforming us and the lives we live? 

According to a 2009 study done by the Centre for Bible Engagement which polled 40,000 people in the US from 8 to 80 years old, it found that reading the Bible three days a week or less barely affects behaviour at all.  

Its data showed that reading the Bible one time a week had negligible effect on key areas of one’s life. When it came to two times a week, there was also negligible effect. For three times a week, there was a blip, a heartbeat, on the map. However, the study revealed that when one reads the Bible four times a week and more, its impact becomes exponential and spikes off the chart.  

The odds of believers having loneliness and anger issues drop by 30%, the likelihood of them being bitter in relationships dives by 40%. The odds of alcoholism also plunge by 57% and viewing pornography plummets by 61%.   

Real-life transformations 

Over and above research data, Salt&Light gathered stories of lives transformed by regular reading of and listening to the Word.   

“I wrote to my brother and asked for his forgiveness”: Jonathan Lek, Singapore  

Jonathan, who works in his family business, with his mother, who accepted Jesus after reading Jonathan’s Bible study notes.

About three years ago, depression, anxiety, and fear hit me out of the blue when everything was going very well in my life. There was no explanation to what happened to me. I had this unexplainable fear. Nothing specific at all, but just a fear that I could not explain.

I tried everything to get myself better – psychiatrist, counselling, yoga, meditation, hypnotherapy, lots of different medication and even electroconvulsive therapy – but nothing worked.  

When I was at my lowest point, my best friends, Francine and Reto, encouraged me to reach out to Pastor Sam Kim who had prayed for their Aunty when she had lung cancer. She recovered.

Pastor Sam as well as the Inner Healing team at Solomon’s Porch prayed for me. All of them,  together with my wife, Fran, who had supported me through everything, helped me find hope for the first time.  

In June last year, I prayed to God and rededicated my life to Him. I became determined that day on to walk with Him all the days of my life and study His Word. 

I have tried reading the Bible in the past but had thought the Bible is like a story book that you read from cover to cover. I would give up after a while as I found that the Old Testament – with the genealogy of our ancient ancestors and the complicated rituals required – was not particularly relevant to modern day life.

I sought guidance on how to start reading the Bible for new believers, and was given the suggestion of starting with a chapter from the New Testament and a chapter from the Old Testament beginning with Genesis as well as adding a chapter from Psalms or Proverbs every other day.

That helped me make sense of the Bible and its relevance to modern day life. Since my rebirth in Christ, I have studied God’s Word every day.  

My daily Bible study involves me writing down what God is speaking to me so that I am better able to focus my mind on it as well as share it with others.     

When God speaks to us through sermons, visions, fellowship with other Christians, dreams and even audibly for some people, we are truly blessed … but it is not a daily occurrence.

I have found that God can speak to me daily through His Word recorded in the Bible. I cannot think of any other more practical and accessible way where He can speak to me on a daily basis. Just as I do not like beginning the day without breakfast, I cannot begin the day without spiritual food. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4: “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”   

I know for a fact that God is speaking to me through His Word because almost on a daily basis, He speaks to me about something that has happened to me the previous day.

The following is an example of what I mean: I had recently finished the Growing in Christ course through Solomon’s Porch and during one of our weekly Zoom meetings, one of my course mates had asked us to pray for her brother who was in trouble with the law. That made me think of my younger brother who also had a troubled life and I had warned him about it many times before but he did not listen. I never forgave him and I had not spoken to him for more than 12 years.  

The next morning, as I was reading God’s Word, Jesus said in Matthew 5: 23-24: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” 

So I wrote to my brother and asked for his forgiveness and forgave him myself. I have been sending him my daily Bible study since then even though he is not a believer. Unbeknownst to me, he also forwarded to my mother, also not a believer, the Bible study notes that I sent him every day. My mother contacted me out of the blue in December last year to ask how she can get to know God. I prayed with her and she accepted Jesus into her life.  

When I look back at what I had to endure for the past three years, I would not change a thing because it brought me to God. 

If I have not been reborn in Christ, I would not have started studying the Bible and if I would not have started studying the Bible, I would not have forgiven my brother and also asked for his forgiveness. I would not have sent him my Bible study notes and he would not have sent it to my mother and she would not have been saved.

This demonstrates the miracles in which God works when we listen to Him through His Word in the Bible.  

The Bible is the most popular, powerful and precious book in the world!

“I was set free from drug addiction“: Truong, Hanoi, Vietnam 

Former gang leader Brother Truong found peace after a tumultuous life as he listened to the audio Bible.

I was a former gang leader and I became HIV positive from drug abuse.

I was also imprisoned for some terrible offences. As I was dying, the prison agreed to release me.

When I returned home, a local pastor took me to a Christian drug rehabilitation centre. At first, I thought that the people are crazy for praying over me. Nevertheless, God began to heal my body.

As I listened to the audio Bible, peace began to fill my heart and it was something I had never experienced before.

I surrendered my life to Jesus and after 18 months, I was set free from drug addiction.

Incredibly, I was able to stop taking my HIV medication and my last medical checkup revealed that my HIV has disappeared altogether.   

“I play the audio Bible in the rice field”: Cho, Hmong Village, Vietnam 

Brother Cho and his wife. His pregnant wife played the audio Bible to her baby even before birth.

My wife was pregnant and each day when I go out farming, I would ask her to play the audio Bible for herself and the baby in her womb.

I heard from the audio Bible that, when John the Baptist was in the womb of Elizabeth, he recognised and was excited about the visit of Mary and baby Jesus who was in Mary’s womb. 

I believe if my wife listened to the audio Bible, our child will also listen to it.

I play the audio Bible wherever I go, even when I am feeding buffalos. When I play it in the rice field, other groups of farmers like it and borrow it from me.

When I know of other people who also like to listen to the Bible, it makes me very happy.  

ONE 2021 runs from February 17 to April 4, 2021. Download the Bible.is app to join. For more information or general enquiries, go to  www.onesg.bible or email [email protected]. 

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