In my high school study-hall sat two military men waiting to talk to teenagers about joining the Army. The draft stopped in 1973. and the Vietnam war was ending. The Army men were Green Berets. They sat casually on tables near the front as I walked by and sat at a desk. They were both physically lean, fit, and good-looking. I gave them quite the look over as they talked about Army stuff, and my 16-year-old mind wandered elsewhere. Their names were Ken, 24-years-old and Lee, 26-years-old. Soon after, I met at my friend’s house to chat with them over the phone. My dad said. “You absolutely will not date a 20 -something Green Beret. No way. No how. Never while I am alive.” Hence the subterfuges of phone calls at my friend’s house.
My Dad was determined. The men were very respectable rule followers not looking for any trouble with teenagers. My friend’s mother was a nurse, who soon set them up with young nurses to date. If my dad had known, he would have been delighted. My policy of no telling tales, no confessions, and no repeat request prevailed. Despite my best efforts, I was stuck with teenage boys usually from church.
I wrote previously about my knowledge and relationship with Jesus. I was a committed Christian with a habit of turning most of my friends and acquaintances into Christian. It was my belief that everyone should be talking to Jesus. Mostly, so that they would be well behaved around me since I found the concept of good behavior challenging. Jesus did name me trouble at a very young age. Ken and Lee became Christians. Ken’s best friend and nurse became a Christian. Lee’s future wife and nurse became a Christian.
It was almost 50 years ago when I walked into that study hall. We have been in and out of each other’s lives for a long time. We attended the same churches. We all eventually moved to the same area of town. We know so many secrets that only retirees can know about each other. Ken resigned from the military and started working in law enforcement. Lee spent decades as a Green Beret. He regularly traveled overseas for many different assignments.
In my forties, while we attended the same church, Lee approached me to ask a question about God and religion, He frequently spent hours on flights overseas and hours sitting in barracks waiting for things to happen. He read through the Bible multiple times. He learned Greek to study deeper into the New Testament. But he was becoming bored with reading and studying the Bible. After 20+ years of being a studios Christian, he wanted something more interesting than rereading the Bible. He asked me, what could he do with his free time overseas?
I suggested that he pray to Jesus to show Lee books to read which would help him in the future. Jesus knew what Lee’s future held and what Lee might not be prepared to handle. Jesus could point Lee to good books before they were needed. Then after praying, he should just go pick out any book that looked interesting. A bit of an odd way to deal with future obstacles. But Jesus claims to know everything and to be able to control everything. Jesus knows all of Lee’s abilities, knowledge, interest, quirks, and future obstacles. Another quite amazing fact – Jesus has “read” all the books in existence past, present and future, (discuss that fact in your next book club meeting.)
Lee did what was suggested. Sometime later he found a book which he thoroughly enjoyed. He chose to read it three times. After which he was given an assignment in Afghanistan to befriend a war lord. An assignment with many possible bad outcomes. Unfortunately, I do not know the name of the book
The knowledge and methods in the book worked. He became friends with this warlord, as much as any Army soldier could be friends with an Afghan warlord. After some time, Lee spoke with this warlord privately. The man told Lee, “I know Jesus,” Lee was thrilled and excited. He offered to bring the man Bibles and more books about Jesus. But the man replied, “No, No. I cannot do that. I will be killed if anyone finds them.”
America pulled out of Afghanistan. Lee retired. The ex-warlord moved to another country. He and Lee managed to keep in touch over the years.
For several decades, I read books about small revivals happening around the world. About Muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and later becoming Christians. There was one book written by an Iranian who moved to USA to finish his PHD in computer science. He stayed in the USA and worked for a company in AI. Later he became a Christian. Then a church planter for Iranians living in the USA. While reading his book, there is mention of the 4 books of Islam. These are Tawrat (Torah): Revealed to Prophet Musa (Moses). Zabur (Psalms): Revealed to Prophet Dawud (David). Injeel (Gospel): Revealed to Prophet Isa (Jesus). Qur’an: Revealed to Prophet Muhammad (the final prophet).
This surprised me. I only knew of the Quaran, If these are the 4 books of Islam which most Muslims do not have, I thought surely, we can provide them with their own books. I prayed to God with the single idea of how to print the 4 books of Islam and give them to Muslims. I considered the print on demand option Amazon offers self-published authors. Asking God if it would be possible to create a self-publishing site in a Muslin country and provide the 4 books of Islam to the people. After telling my idea to Ken and Lee things began to happen. Ken ran into a man at the local mall who knew all about the book printing equipment, computer systems, licensing, and paper needed to create a self-publishing site, He was able to draw up detailed plans on everything required.
Then we began searching for land in a Muslim country to build a printing shop. Lee reached out to his old ex-warlord friend to make a visit. He showed him the plans. Explained how Lee would purchase the equipment. How to build a secure metal building with A/C, heat, and security systems. The site would be able to produce 10,000 books a day. The ex-warlord could freely distribute the books in his small community.
I was given a rather large sum of money for computer code I wrote during graduate school in 1998. I did not know some people were using the code and making large profits. When these people discovered the original code was part of my master thesis, they decided to gift me with a portion of their large profits. I contributed the necessary money to build the printing shop. Building the shop in the Middle East would cost roughly $10,000. There was enough money to continue the printing indefinitely.
One day an Iman spoke to the printing shop owner, quietly saying, “Can you print Bibles?” The ex-warlord quietly responded, “Are you trying to get me killed?” Once to Iman convinced the ex-warlord he was sincere in his desire to read a real Bible, arrangements were made to print Bibles in the local language. I provided additional funding. Soon many people in the community asked for boxes of Bibles. The community became saturated with Bibles and the 4 books of Islam.
All went very well, as though God’s blessing was everywhere in the process. Then, one day a band of terrorists came speeding across the desert wearing mask and carrying automatic weapons. The community quickly shut down. Children were snatch up by parents and hidden. Doors were locked. Windows were covered. The printing shop locked its heavy metal door. Everyone was hiding,
The terrorists drove directly to the printing shop. Then they put down their guns, pulled off their mask and politely knocked on the door, saying, “we are not terrorist we just want Bibles. Pretending to be terrorist is the only safe way for us to come here.” The ex-warlord slowly unlocked and opened the door to find a smiling, unarmed young man. Relieved, he told a worker to run tell his wife to provide the pseudo-terrorist with water and a meal.
The printing shop began printing Bibles. The car trunks and pickup beds were filled with boxes of Bibles. The men covered their faces, picked up their guns and sped across the desert towards home. Soon other pseudo-terrorist can to the printing shop, All using the same disguise. The town stop locking up at the site of terrorist. A pavilion was built outside the print shop. The village provided the Bible-seekers food, water, and a place to rest before returning home. The shop still stands and still gives away books to anyone asking.
I began praying and thinking for ways to expand the print shops through the middle east and other difficult parts of the world. I saw an ad on the website for Biblegateway.com. It was an international organization seeking donations to help persecuted Christians. On the organization’s website there are several offices around the world. One office is only a 3-hour drive from my home. Ken and Lee were dispatched to meet the people working in that office. I offered a large sum of money to pay for the print shops being built, employee paychecks, and supplies, The organization only needed people on the ground to make it work. The organization was ecstatic. They are now building the print shops as quickly as time and people allow.
Everything is being greatly blessed by God. We reached out to some USA Christian writers asking for the printing rights to their books to be translated into other languages. They gave us the rights to translate and print the books. They want no profit from the books, as long as the books are given away freely.
I look back on my life and realize that this project began in 1975 when 2 military men were sitting in my study hall. We became lifelong friends. We are Christians with diverse experiences, We all talk and help each other with problems. We all have opportunities given to us that we did not expect or know how to handle. I see three lives with many difficult problems or opportunities over time. Each problem, each opportunity being a knot in an otherwise comfortable life. God strings all those knots together with one idea at a time creating a string that stretches through decades and carries a package of seeds to plant an orchard of God’s truth and love in some of the most difficult places in the world.
I only know one thing to say to God in response to these experiences.
