Posted 12:45pm CT Jan 11, 2008 in Minneapolis, USA
LONDON 6:45pm – JO’BURG 8:45pm – MANILA 2:45am 12/1 – SYDNEY 5:45am 12/1

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written:
‘Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
(Matthew 4:4 NIV)

By Gloriscope staff

National Bible Month in the Philippines

Christians in Asia and the rest of the world can rejoice about the news of a wide range of Bible-promoting activities held throughout the Philippines. January 2008 has been declared the National Bible Month by the Philippine National Council of Churches and the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches.

Philippine nationwide radio and television broadcast passages from the Bible, Bible translation seminars and Bible quiz competitions are being held, a Bible caravan was organized, copies of the Bible for the police and the military are being funded through a charity concert, and booksellers are offering discounts for Bible purchases.

A special “National Bible Week” is celebrated at the Philippine Bible Society in Manila. This event on the theme “God’s Word: Source of Justice, Reconciliation and Peace” is led by Reynato S. Puno, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court. Justice Puno is an alumnus of the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Illinois.

Indian Catholics start a Bible-promotion campaign

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church has started a campaign among its 500,000 members to promote the Bible both among the Christians and non-Christians. Major Archbishop Baselios Mar Cleemis has issued a pastoral letter calling Syro-Malankara Catholics to read the Bible and lead a godly way of living.

The archdiocese in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), the capital of the State of Kerala in southwestern India, plans to see all of its 250,000 Catholics have their individual copies of the Bible by the end of this year. The church will also distribute copies of the Bible to every visitor as a sign of a welcome.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an autonomous Eastern Catholic church using the Antiochian Rite and other Syrian church traditions. It traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle and has been in full union with the Roman Catholic Church in Rome since 1930.

Americans donate 100,000 Bibles to Greece

Last year, arsonists in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, started monstrous fires that have devastated half a million acres of farmland and forest, a tragedy of national proportions. In response, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America decided to support the spiritual well-being of the population in the disaster area and supply free copies of the New Ttestament in the Greek language to victims of the fires.

In a joint action by the Greek Bible Society, American Bible Society, and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Americans will finance the donation of 10,000 copies of the New Testament directly to the affected local units of the Orthodox church in Greece, so that they will be able to find consolation in the Word of God in this tragic situation.

Evangelism versions of the New Testament to be published in the U.S.

Authentic Publishing, a division of the International Bible Society and Send the Light (IBS-STL), and Zondervan publishing house have joined their forces to publish four editions of the New Testament specifically designed for evangelism and priced under $5.00 per copy. The new editions will make it easier for Christians to share their faith with non-Christians.

The first edition, titled Finding God, will be released in February 2008. It will contain the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible along with many notes in the text.

After this general-purpose evangelistic edition, the two publishing houses will release three editions tailored to specific demographics: Finding God for Men, Finding God for Women, and Finding God for Young Adults.

In 2008, the NIV translation will celebrate its 30th anniversary. This very popular translation has so far sold over 300 million copies of the Bible all over the world.

Zondervan, a subsidiary of the HarperCollins publishing house (which belongs to News Corporation), is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On January 2, 2008, Zondervan got a new President and CEO, Maureen “Moe” Girkins, replacing Interim CEO Bruce Ryskamp. Maureen Girkins was working many years in the tech industry, notably at Dell, Motorola, AT&T and Bell Laboratories. She has completed half of her Masters degree in Divinity at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

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TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!

Published in the U.S.A. Copyright © 4T4C News Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.