Four years ago Yasin (not his real name), an educated Shia Muslim in northern India, wouldn’t even speak with people from the Sunni Muslim majority. Then he met Christ through the media ministry of Good Books, BTGMI’s ministry partner in India.
Today Yasin not only has fellowship with Sunni converts, he also produces the Good Books radio program in the local language of the region.
Yasin’s studio is hidden because it is not safe to let the people of his community—or even his extended family—know what he is doing. For Yasin, being a Christian is a huge risk.
Yet Yasin, who is an English teacher, finds every opportunity to share the Christian faith. “In English literature you have a lot of Bible verses,” he notes. “Whether you teach John Milton or John Keats, or a modern writer like T.S. Eliot, you may find a biblical reference.
“My students ask where the references are from and I show them the passages are from the Bible. So the students inquire about the Bible. They ask, ‘What is the Bible? What is it all about?’ This is a very good way to introduce them to the Word of God.”
Yasin reports that these conversations have produced great results, saying, “I have personally seen the effects.”
Yasin also uses the Good Books radio program to share the Bible. “In this region we have no proper medical help, so we prepare health scripts to help people understand different diseases and common remedies for them. With the health issues, I weave in biblical teaching when possible to bring the words of God to the people so God’s Word can be felt in their hearts.
“Radio is a very effective way of taking God’s Word to the people,” he says. “Families here listen to the radio while they work, since radio doesn’t need your eyes. Families, children as well as adults, put on the radio while they do needlework—carpet weaving, shawl making—or perhaps woodworking. Once they become regular listeners to one of the programs, they are willing to listen to our other programs as well.”
The area where Yasin lives is full of turbulence and violence. “But I believe that the Prince of Peace will use people like me to restore peace to this valley,” he testifies.
About the Author
Nancy Vander Meer is a staff writer with Back to God Ministries International in Grand Rapids, Mich.
