Wycliffe Associates Poised to Launch Up to 30 Translation Projects for Persecuted Christians in the Middle East

Wycliffe Associates Poised to Launch Up to 30 Translation Projects for Persecuted Christians in the Middle East

(Worthy News) – Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, says that teams of mother tongue translators in the Middle East are ready to launch Bible translation projects in the face of intense persecution.

In the Middle East alone, 150 language groups still don’t have a translated Bible. Yet launching a translation project independently is not viable due to the extreme poverty and immense risk persecuted Christians face on a daily basis.
“National Bible translators are living under such severe persecution, you and I can hardly fathom what they’re going through,” says Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Many have been arrested. Their families have watched them being dragged off, jailed, beaten, and tortured. They’ve lost their jobs and their families simply because they tried to share God’s Word with their countrymen.”

One translator was arrested and imprisoned for eight months, spending part of the time in solitary confinement. Eventually he was released on the condition that he was not to associate with any Christians for five years. He lost his job due to his imprisonment and relies on the help of Christian friends for his family’s survival.

A leader of five house churches was arrested when police burst into his home and dragged him and his wife to jail. They were taken to court, and he was sentenced to a year in jail but was set free on “bail” and informed he would be taken into custody later to begin his sentence. Every day, the translator and his family live with the lingering threat of imprisonment.

Police raided the home of another translator and sent him to jail for 33 days, accusing him of spying. The authorities insisted that the translated Scriptures were in code and that his translation work was an attempt to take over the country. The translator was later released and forbidden to leave the country. He also was informed that he would be summoned for sentencing and sent to prison. Having lost his job due to his arrest, he and his family moved in with relatives, living as refugees in their own country.

Wycliffe Associates has set a goal of launching 30 new translations in the next 45 days in the Middle East and is raising funds to cover the cost of $19,500 per language.

Mother tongue translators are eager to translate the Scriptures for their people using the MAST method (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), a groundbreaking collaborative process that makes it possible for an entire New Testament to be translated in months rather than years.

“I have never seen faith like the faith of these Christians, laying their lives on the line, risking horrible recrimination if they’re caught,” says Smith. “That’s how important God’s Word is to them. In this region of the world, the Bible is a matter of life or death. Eternity hangs in the balance.”

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,097 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 76 countries. For more information, please see http://ift.tt/1yHQh0f.

Baghdad churches close as Iraq’s Christians continue to leave

Baghdad churches close as Iraq’s Christians continue to leave

(Worthy News) – Eight churches in Baghdad have closed their doors permanently due to the mass exodus of believers from Iraq.

The decision, made by the Vatican earlier this year, comes after seven years of falling or no attendance and is symbolic of the wholesale emigration of Christians from the Middle East.

Amounting to nearly 10 per cent of Iraq’s population at the start of the 21st century, Christians made up 40 per cent of those fleeing from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 to 2007, leaving just a handful behind. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More…) ]

Hundreds of Jews visit Temple Mount to commemorate destroyed temples

Hundreds of Jews visit Temple Mount to commemorate destroyed temples

(Worthy News) – Hundreds of Jews on Tuesday visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem for the Tisha B’av fast commemorating the destruction of the Jewish temples that once stood at the site.

Despite fasting, some 500 people braved a heat wave and went up to the Mount, while hundreds more waited in line to visit the holy site.

In light of recent tensions surrounding the site, the Jewish visitors were required to leave their identity cards with police before passing through metal detectors at the Mughrabi Gate, the only gate to the compound through which non-Muslims may enter. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

Trump may force Congress to act on Obamacare insurer payments

Trump may force Congress to act on Obamacare insurer payments

(Worthy News) – Republicans in Congress may soon have to appropriate federal funds to insurers they fought to hold off for several years under Obamacare, or otherwise risk being blamed for a chain reaction of insurer exits and premium hikes.

President Trump is expected to issue a decision as early as Tuesday on whether his administration will continue to deliver these payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies. If he chooses to end them, members of Congress have signalled that they may consider appropriating the funds.

“I hope the president will use his authority to extend those payments. He can do that,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 3 Senate Republican. “If he doesn’t then Congress will have to look at what our options are. [ Source:Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan

(Worthy News) – China’s UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.

1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

2.) Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More…) ]

China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan

(Worthy News) – China’s UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.

1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

2.) Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More…) ]

China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan

(Worthy News) – China’s UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.

1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

2.) Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More…) ]

China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan

(Worthy News) – China’s UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.

1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

2.) Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More…) ]

China urges support for new Israel-Palestinian peace plan

(Worthy News) – China’s UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.

1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

2.) Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More…) ]

Police will allow anti-gay protest to take place during Jerusalem pride march

Police will allow anti-gay protest to take place during Jerusalem pride march

(Worthy News) – Israeli police gave permission on Sunday for the far-right Lehava organization to hold a counter-protest during Jerusalem’s pride march, due to take place on Thursday.

Police have issued warnings not to disrupt the parade to around 50 individuals in Israel and the West Bank, with some told that they cannot be in Jerusalem on the day, Israel’s Channel 2 reports.

Up to 100 members of Lehava will be permitted to protest several hundred meters away from the march, under heavy police guard. The organization plans to stand under the banner: “Do not give them children,” in reference to the recent Supreme Court ruling and subsequent protests regarding same-sex adoption reform in Israel. [ Source (Read More…) ]