You never know who will read a Facebook post and reach out to you—even from across the world.
That’s exactly what happened more than 14 months ago when Kenneth Samples wrote a post celebrating the translation of one of his books into another language. A Christian pastor from Karachi, Pakistan, read the post and then messaged Kenneth, asking if it was possible to get Without a Doubt translated to and printed in Urdu, their national language.
Christian apologetics books are not readily available to Pakistani believers. So, as the pastor explained, he was seeking a book to translate and distribute to help Pakistani Christians learn how to defend their faith in God’s Word. In a country with one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in the world (97 percent of the population), such a book would be a perfect evangelism tool.
It was an intriguing request, but there was a problem—the pastor lacked the funds to translate and even to print the book. Nevertheless, he wrote, “We believe the Lord will provide.” Through countless emails and Zoom meetings between Reasons to Believe staff and this pastor, a plan began to emerge. His church would raise funds for the translator, and RTB would seek a donor’s help to fund the printing.
“Christians here are living a very miserable life, and most cannot afford education and can’t read English,” the pastor wrote. “We have to make translations possible and distribute them as widely as we can. Even pastors lack the resources to better understand the Bible. We have no materials to defend our faith.”
He said that Christians like himself and his church members in Pakistan “see lots of Christians convert to Islam.” Others are afraid to preach the truth and risk the consequences of living as a Christian in a Muslim-majority nation.
“These books will be distributed free of cost because our people cannot afford two meals per day, much less a Bible,” the pastor stated in email communications. “The leaders that receive these copies will grow in their own faith and reach more people for Christ. We believe this book is going to change the history of Pakistan.”
With time and much prayer, an RTB donor agreed to fund the book printing with $15,000. A local publisher in Karachi was chosen, which also had staff to complete the translation. Now that 1,500 copies have been printed, the pastor is planning to host Christian teaching seminars in 12 different cities to equip other pastors and church workers.
The Urdu translation of Without a Doubt increases the book’s reach to Muslim-majority nations. Several years ago, it was translated into Bahasa Indonesia, the country’s official language.
“I’m very excited that Christians in these overwhelmingly Islamic countries will potentially have access to my book, which explains and defends historic Christianity,” author Kenneth Samples says. “That is an answer to prayer; that God will use my writing to instruct believers and reach the lost.”
