low_delta | Poverty-Stricken Africans Receive Desperately Needed Bibles

March 13, 2006 | Issue 42•11

MARADI, NIGER—More than 60,000 urgently needed Bibles arrived to allay suffering throughout the famine-stricken nation of Niger Friday, in one of the largest humanitarian-relief operations ever attempted by a Christian ministry.

"Come rejoice, and feast upon the word of Our Lord, Jesus Christ," said Christina Clarkson, executive director of the Living Light Ministries of Lubbock, TX. "Those who were hungry, hunger no more, for the Word brings life."

An exuberant Clarkson said the Bible drop was the culmination of one of the largest and most aggressive grassroots fundraising drives ever undertaken by the organization, which was able to fund the mission largely through local charitable events, such as bake-offs, barbecues, and pie-eating contests.

"We absolutely would not be here today if it were not for the amazing generosity of the people back home," Clarkson said. "People everywhere opened up their hearts and checkbooks to us and said, 'Dig in.'"

Niger, ranked as the second-poorest nation on Earth, is experiencing its worst famine in more than 20 years, as a brutal drought last year was followed by a plague of crop-destroying locusts. An estimated 3.5 million of Niger's 12 million people are currently at risk of starvation.

"That's why it was so important for this mission to happen right now," said Clarkson. "So many people here are suffering. Disease, starvation, and lack of shelter are day-to-day realities in Niger. But once they hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior—once they really take Him into their hearts—then they will see what poor comforts are the things of this world."

Due to the tireless efforts of Clarkson and other members of the congregation, the ministry was able to provide the needy with Bibles superior to the ones they use in their own church services.

"Handcrafted, genuine leather—best money can buy," said 61-year-old missionary Don Kostic as he ran his hand along the book's ornately embossed spine. "It's like my wife back home says: Nothing is too good for people who are ready to receive the Living Word of Christ."

Although the fundraising efforts were unprecedented, congregation members said Living Light would never have succeeded had they not obtained the generous support of an array of corporate sponsors, including Applebee's and Church's Fried Chicken.

"We spent so much money just to get here," Kostic continued. "After we had all the Bibles engraved, we still had to charter the plane. When we landed in Niamey, we could barely even afford ground transportation."

Undaunted, the missionaries purchased the best vehicle they could find, which turned out to be a used bread truck. "That old thing!" recalled Kostic, laughing. "We must've scrubbed it down a hundred times. You couldn't get the smell of freshly baked, vitamin-fortified bread out of it if your life depended on it."

Reaction among Niger residents has been mixed.

Moussa Yaouli, a 35-year-old farmer, was particularly interested to learn more about the doctrine of transubstantiation, which Living Light personnel told him involved the eating of wafers. "It is said to be a big wafer. I am sure it will feed many of my children."

Though "spiritually gratified" by their work, many of the missionaries spoke about the difficulties of working in an impoverished country.

"It can be so hard being away from the comfort of our homes and our loving families," Clarkson confided. "I will admit, there have been times when I prayed, 'Lord, just help me get through this mission and get me back to Texas!' But when we rolled into town and people started running after the truck with those big smiles on their faces, I couldn't help but smile back."

Clarkson added: "And when we opened up the back of the truck and they saw that it was full of Bibles... Grown men and women wept in front of their children. That's how moved they were by the Holy Spirit. That's how I know it's all been worth it."

Clarkson said her mission will succeed in bringing the people of Niger "the spiritual sustenance they've been deprived of," despite such obstacles as the nation's 18 percent literacy rate.

"You say you're suffering. I say, let the good Lord do the suffering for you," she said. "You say you're exhibiting the deleterious effects of severe dehydration and chronic malnutrition. And I say that no matter what ails you, the Holy Bible is the best medicine there is."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I have to admit, I skimmed the article since I'm trying to get myself off of the computer, but my reaction is basically: why don't we just send them . . . Oh, I don't know . . . FOOD?! Money for food?!!

Somebody needs a good *thwacking*. Sheesh!!

Yeah. I skimmed and thought, "What's this self-congratulatory crap?" It's triple insensitive, to not address core needs, and to go on-&-on about how pleased God is with the gesture... There is a hierarchy of needs...

Even when skimming, always check source.

The sad part is that I could really believe some Christian Right group doing this. Some of them are just so out there, that yes, honestly, I could believe it.

Big Ooops for me, HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Yeah, I've fallen for some things like this.

Clarkson is an idiot:

When they saw that the truck was full of Bibles, Grown men and women wept in front of their children. That's how moved they were by the Holy Spirit. That's how I know it's all been worth it."

Ummmm, they wept because they saw it WASN'T food, Clarkson-YOU-IDIOT!!! Gah, what is WRONG with these people?!!

Well... it was The Onion.

Well then, that serves me right. HAHAHA!!!

please tell me this is the onion *snort*
yyyeah. and stop posting these before we get our copy on thursday!
sheesh. ;)

Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood.

What is this all about?!

That story runs in the print version all the time. They use it to fill in empty column space.

Oh. I've never seen that before.

i don't remember ever seeing it, either. ew. it's freakin' me out.
thanks, kev. blech.

Really?

??

i'm sure james will recognize it. i see the "pattern" of the writing and it's likely that i skip over it if it's there. that's how my brain works sometimes. then again, i pretty much hone in on onion articles, not reading page by page. could be that.

No, I can understand why you might never have seen that. It's usually a little space near the bottom of a page. (It starts with "continued from page 4" or something like that.)

It's that I never would have guessed that would bother anyone.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Quisque sit amet pede. Quisque ligula orci, posuere a, fermentum aliquet, nonummy nec, nisi. Nunc at neque bibendum odio pretium pretium. Mauris mauris. Nullam hendrerit, ipsum ut fringilla accumsan, lorem arcu dictum dolor, at placerat nisl ipsum sed magna. Cras id nisl. Donec id metus. Donec congue, eros congue rutrum vulputate, lacus pede tempor velit, et consectetuer nisi metus id nisl. Curabitur vestibulum convallis erat. Proin nulla. Praesent dolor neque, sollicitudin sed, ultrices nec, condimentum sed, justo. Pellentesque ullamcorper cursus nisi. Suspendisse pulvinar nonummy turpis. Praesent bibendum vehicula sapien.

Woh! Times have moved on :)

Okay, now that, I don't get.

me too either.

I love that icon!

well of course you do, don't be ridiculous.
::you're stealing it now, aren't you?::
;)

I would never do a thing like that! Would I?

please see rdsc's comments here, as they were meant for you.

see also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_Ipsum

the pain may love my god. to hang the disgrace...i can't read this! it's latin! *giggle* doy.

It's an ancient convention from type-setting, used to test the layout of a page of text without the "distraction" of being meaningful. There's a lorem generator here, where I get my lorem when I need it :) Curious history, courtesy of the above site, which I didn't know is that although it's been used since the 1500's it is believed to be based on a passage from Cicero (45 BC).

Oops - meant to post this under Freekees response and tell you how impressed I was with your latin :)

Okay, now that you mention it, I've heard that before. Must have been the last time you told me. I wonder if you posted it in response to a mention of passersby and blood?

Yep that was the one - I appear to have forgotten how threads work!

it didn't bother me-- i was kiddin' with the "ew"s, honest!
look at my icon, for heaven's sake-- it's screwed-up-buffy-face! ;)
it's all good~ ...ew. *snort*

But I *did* look at the icon. It seemed to match the comment, like you really were bleched out. And Cyn *was* freaked out by it, so that didn't help matters.

aw, it's okay! you sound, i dunno, frus-ta-ma-cated?
i guess i don't know what icon i'd use
if i was really grossed out or concerned.
maybe i'd email ya instead of commenting.
nah, it was all good by me, really, and i'm sorry
if you got, you know, frustrated or upset because of me.
*love*

Naw, I'm not frustamacated. It's okay, I was just explaining why I thought that.

I was a bit.. something, though, because I really don't know what will upset other people, and I thought this was just one more example of it happening.

No big deal. :-)

you know, i bet at least that many bibles have been delivered there, and "god" knows how many to africa as a whole. those faith based organizations are the bomb!

I'm reading this and thinking...this has to be the onion.

ha ha ha

*chuckle*

How apt.

Ya gotta love The Onion.

Hi Freekee - posted my answer under ravengirls post by mistake if you're curious.

1. No, you didn't, you posted it to one of my comments.

2. I'd have gotten it anyway, because this is my post.

Hard night, last night? ;-)

You could say that :~/ Made the mistake of keeping going to the point where I was totally ready for bed.. when I wasn't at home! Then it all just got a bit tedious :) I'm never going to drink agaaaaiin!!

Very odd posting behaviour on this thread unless I've gone mad. Meant to post my response under your post, "Okay, now that, I don't get." but it ended up under Ravengirls post (on my screen). Then, very definately, opened a reply box under your post to tell you, submitted that and that appeared under Ravengirls post. Deleted that comment after copying it and then tried to paste it under your comment again (twice) and it wouldn't appear anywhere. Then tried to add a new response (with the same text) at the bottom of thread and that wouldn't appear! Seems that if you delete a comment you can't insert the same text anywhere else on the same page? Time to go to bed, I think :)

Interesting. I posted a comment that said "test." Then I deleted it and tried to do the exact same again. It seemed to go, but there was no new comment.

hehheheheh
but you know what. It just seems such a plausible story .

Yeah. It's entirely plausible that people would send bibles over there. It's only the details that put it over the top. Like the bread truck. :-)

Well this is called ""Follow Jesus and you will get Aid ""

It was a fictitious article from The Onion. I hid a link at the top of the page. But so many crazy things happen these days, that make this plausible.