Every night for the past three months Yuri has come home from work to a tedious but very important task—copying a friend’s Bible. Carefully he writes, letter by letter, verse by verse. The work is slow, but Yuri, a new Christian, knows that this will probably be the only Bible he will ever own.
At least 40 million people in Russia would like to own their first Bible. Millions more disillusioned atheists might read it if they had one. During the past 25 years fewer than 300,000 copies have been printed inside Russia, while during the same period over 1,500,000,000 were printed in the United States alone!
Over the past few years thousands of Bibles have been smuggled into Russia by Christians, but it is like a crumb for a thousand mouths.
However, despite government opposition, a work of the Spirit of God has been going on behind the Iron Curtain. Reports continue to filter through: “We baptized 30 new Christians last Sunday, but we have no Bibles to give them. Please remember us.” S.G.N.
ML-10/07/1979