Cairo Bible Society Success
My Egyptian friend, Ramez Atallah the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt, does a wonderful job in promoting the Bible in a Muslim environment. I have had Ramez as my guest on radio and television several times. In the next month, he will be getting ready for the big Cairo International Book Fair at which he sells Christian Bibles, books, and videos. Last year I remember his staff made more than 10,000 transactions.
For various reasons, selling Christian material in a mainly Muslim community is not easy. Ramez does not complain, he just gets on with the job.
Last year, they sold 35,000 Bibles, over 100,000 New Testaments, 122,000 audio cassettes of the Bible, 11,500 Christian music CD’s and over 13,500 Christian videos.
The great impetus has been the film and DVD of “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson. The screening of the film in major cinemas promoted in the general public an interest in the Prophet Jesus and the demand for more material about him. I understand cinemas were packed and a trade in illegal pirate DVD’s saw hundreds of thousands sold for a cheap price.
It is hard to estimate the impact of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus as witnessed by so many. But the sales of Bibles and other Christian literature has boomed. The articles in nearly every newspaper and the controversy it stirred have had a profound impact. In the Western world the film was criticised by Jewish people as being anti-Semitic. But in the Arabic world, this was regarded as a good reason why the film should be promoted.
The Bible Society, under my friend Ramez, produced a good tract entitled, “He Suffered for Us.” He also made a special advertised on TV as “See the whole life of Jesus.” and manufactured tens of thousands of Arabic editions of the film, “Jesus”.
Thousands of orders arrived for the low cost video of the film they had been selling for twelve years, and staff had difficulty keeping up with demand.
We praise God for this Work of the Bible Society and pray that this year the Book Fair will be just as successful.
REV HON DR GORDON MOYES, A.C., M.L.C..