Next month, the United States celebrates 250 years as a nation. But without the Bible, the USA would not have been so blessed. From its earliest days, America’s founders drew inspiration from the Scriptures.

When the pilgrims first came to the eastern coast of the New World, they wrote that they came because they had,

a great hope and inward zeal of laying some good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world. ^[i]

Patrick Henry, who gave an impassioned speech in 1775, saying “Give me liberty or give me death,” towards the end of his life said,

The Bible is a book worth more
than all the other books
that were ever printed. ^[ii]

The second US President, John Adams, said,

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. ^[iii]

But the Bible was not originally in the language of any of the country’s founding fathers. It required men like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale to translate it into their language. Because the Bible was in their mother tongue, America began with a firm foundation.

In Mulila Village, young mothers read the Scriptures for the first time.

Ken and Pastor Gerald teaching villagers how to do a Bible study with an audio Bible.

James Mwanza and his wife flagged us down as we traveled through their village so that they could buy this copy of God’s Word.

Sue with children in Malama village.

Young men who cannot read now have access to God’s Word through these audio Bibles.

Today, there are still languages without the Scriptures. That’s why you send us as missionaries. And wherever missionaries have brought the Gospel, they have established schools, brought literacy and Bible translation, established hospitals, and helped lay foundations for civil society. Nations influenced by biblical Christianity are more open to concepts of human dignity, religious liberty, the rule of law, and democratic ideals.

The best diplomacy does not come through embassies, military alliances, or foreign aid programs. Instead, it comes through God’s Church as we send missionaries to foreign lands. The intention is not to spread American culture or ideology but to spread the Good News of God’s love and salvation for all mankind.

Our translation consultant, Emese Ferreira, works with George and Blessings.

She spent three weeks with the Toka-Leya team this month, carefully checking the accuracy of 1 Corinthians. Sadly, Emese’s father in Hungary passed on during the last week of the checking. She will return to Hungary next week for the funeral.

A church growing in love with Jesus is America’s only hope. When believers love God above all else and embrace His call to reach every nation with the Gospel, then God’s greatness is displayed through His people. America’s greatest contribution to the world will not be found in its political influence or economic strength, but in the Church that sends the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth.