3rd Quarter 2020
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The chaos raging across our planet is oppressing people everywhere and draining hope from their hearts. But through your heroic efforts and by the grace of God, thousands are finding real, lasting hope daily through Amazing Facts broadcasts, publications, websites, and more—powerful, truth-filled resources that point them to Jesus!
That’s why I’d like to share with you the uplifting experience of Brian. He was raised with a distorted view of God, but he came to know the deep love and patience of the Savior through Amazing Facts resources provided by you! I pray that you’ll be inspired as you read his story …
Pastor Doug Batchelor
Off to a Bad Start
The little boy sat in the pew, his feet dangling off the floor. His tousled head could barely see the priest on the platform. He stared curiously and shifted toward his mother. He wanted to know so many things about what the priest was doing and saying, and questions tumbled from his lips. But in one swift motion, his mother pulled him from his seat and took him out of the church. Her grip was like iron. As her blows fell on him, he was reminded repeatedly that he was to be silent during Mass.
Only years later, through the intervention of a voice on the radio, would Brian discover God’s true character of openness and love.
Who Needs God?
Born into a Catholic family to a father he rarely saw and a mother who regularly beat him and his siblings, Brian was taught that God was unloving and unforgiving. He grew up around alcohol and parties—his parents turning their home into a veritable dancehall.
“People seemed happy when they drank,” says Brian. So at just ten years old, he tried his first taste of alcohol. Before he turned 15, he had taken every drug he could find; he once landed in the emergency room after smoking marijuana laced with PCP. But that didn’t stop him.
After leaving home, Brian married and had two children of his own, but he continued in his addictions. And his life would have continued in this way had it not been for one long, lonely night—and your help in providing a voice on the radio.
One evening as he drove home, Brian scanned through radio stations and heard a clear voice call out, “Do you want to hear an amazing fact?”
“Yeah!” Brian said aloud. As he listened, the voice told a story he’d never heard. “Did you know there was another man who sacrificed everything for you?” the voice continued.
Well, Brian had heard this story—a myth about terror and punishment and all things evil in the world. No thanks. Jesus freak, he thought and then reached for the power button.
A God Who Cares
Then another voice came on, causing Brian to hesitate. He realized the two men were hosting a call-in program about the Bible. People were asking all kinds of questions about God and Scripture.
Brian was stunned. Asking questions about God is a sin, he thought. He’d never forgotten those beatings! But instead, after every question, callers were answered calmly, patiently, and always with passages from the Bible. Brian listened, enrapt, to the full hour of Bible Answers Live—a program you make possible every week on radio stations around the world.
“I learned more about God in that hour than in 12 years of Catholic school,” Brian says. “I heard about a loving and caring God, one that already knew of my struggles and was ready to forgive me and redeem me. I wanted a relationship with Him.”
From there, Brian downloaded the Amazing Facts app and read through our Bible studies. He came to know those two voices—Pastor Doug Batchelor and Pastor Jëan Ross—very well. He has since dedicated his life to Jesus and begun a journey with God that will last to eternity!
Thank you for your generosity in reaching out to a lost and lonely soul through a voice on the radio. Now Brian is using his voice to reach others for Christ.
Amazing Facts — Your Impact
Reaching Europe and the World
During these uncertain times, souls are thirsting for the truth. But thanks to you, many are now able to learn about God’s last-day message on GOD TV, a major Christian network in Europe. The Holy Spirit is moving hearts during these uncertain times, as we’ve also seen a 39-percent increase in the number of people watching the three angels’ messages on the Trinity Broadcasting Network!
AFCOE Africa Update
AFCOE Africa evangelist Stanley Mayambala was able to conduct Bible meetings in Eastern Uganda despite the nation’s COVID-19 lockdown. While forced to meet quietly in a church member’s home, his outreach still reaped 15 baptisms! Because of your co-laboring gifts, you helped our Africa team conduct 1,291 Bible studies in May—leading to 128 baptisms, with about 30 more precious souls still preparing for baptism.
Upsurge in Bible School Enrollments
Interest in God’s Word is soaring, and your loving gifts are providing more Bible studies than ever before. You’ve helped double the number of truth-seekers enrolling in the Amazing Facts Bible School! This surge is likely due to people staying home, with more time to discover Amazing Facts programs; it has also multiplied the workload in our Bible School, with over 5,000 souls starting Bible studies each month so far this year. And you’ve also helped provide 10,000 enrollment cards, along with many copies of The Richest Caveman, to prisons nationwide. Thank you for your critical role in this ongoing project!
PRAISE REPORT!
After a surprising government shutdown, our Amazing Facts Chinese website is back online! And, thanks to you, we have sufficient server capacity to accommodate the growing numbers of visitors. Indeed, we’ve had more than 40,000 Chinese people finding truth in just the first 23 days of reopening!
Your faithful support sparked a huge jump in requests to our correspondence department in April—with postal mail up 45 percent and emails up 71 percent! And you’ve also provided close to 22,000 pieces of heart-transforming literature this year in response to their questions and spiritual needs!
Life-changing truth—that’s what you’re providing by casting gospel seeds to an average of 2,111,458 television viewers every month through Amazing Facts programming such as Channel 26 in New Zealand;Channel 51 in the Caribbean; 9Gem TV Australia; Iran Alive Ministries; Life Destiny TV South Africa; LifeStyleTV Sweden; and more!
Through our recently launched Amazing Facts Latino website (amazingfactslatino.org), you are now helping transform more Spanish-speaking lives than ever before—in every part of the world!
Friend, through your faithful alliance with Amazing Facts, you are making a tremendous difference in the lives of searchers around the globe! Your kindness brings the life-transforming truth about the love of God to thousands more like Brian every day. Thank you!
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