Dear Friends
The impact of the faithful proclamation of the Gospel through the radio is sometimes quite different than what you would expect. I was recently notified that after a few months of broadcasting Reformed Faith and Life on a powerful station in the Kasai region (Democratic Republic of the Congo), the director of programming decided to suspend other supposedly Christian religious broadcasts: their content, compared to the messages of RFL, was deemed to be utterly unbiblical. It was not the fruit of my own meddling in the internal affairs of this station, which compelled them to do this, but a decision of their own. By itself, the light of the Gospel dispels the darkness of false prophets and of false gospels... Praise the Lord for the fact that RFL is used by the Lord to help people testing the spirits as I John 4:1 puts it: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."
From a much different location comes a letter with encouraging words: in Perpignan (South of France-a Protestant radio station) has been a faithful partner of RFL for years. A family of listeners writes the following: "We have been regularly listening to your broadcasts-Reformed Faith and Life. We are very pleased to hear them and we hope that you will continue producing new programs. We also hope that this letter will be for you an encouragement just as your programs have been an encouragement to us."
France and its moral and spiritual condition remains a central focus for the ministry of RFL. Many people, in this country marked by the "enlightenment" philosophy of the 18th century, believe that religious faith is a purely private matter that should never come out into the public sphere. If it does, it has the potential to become a dangerous factor of oppression and intolerance (and they inevitably refer to the religious wars which devastated France and other countries in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries). A large majority of French people is very concerned, if not upset, by the visible rise of Islam, which has now become the second largest religious group. New mosques are being erected on French soil and mark urban landscapes in an unmistakable way.
In the meantime, laws are being promulgated which forbid the wearing by Muslim women of the integral veil (niqab, or hijab), deemed to be contrary to the French culture of human (and in particular women's) rights. Reading what Internet bloggers write when they comment on newspaper articles, it is also clear that people are desperate to find moral norms which could give direction to a society having progressively lost its bearings. Where to find these moral norms, how to restore or rebuild crumbling foundations, that is the question. The traditional secular ideology cherished by the French does not seem to have much to offer, while Christianity is still being confined to the private sphere of individuals. Preaching the Word in season and out of season remains, as far as I am concerned, the only way to bring light in a situation marked by a lack of hope and liberating perspectives.
In March I will be traveling to France in order to work on the promotion of my book published last year (To Give an Account of Hope) and also to develop contacts with Christian radio stations likely to broadcast RFL's messages. Pray that this visit will be blessed and that it will open new doors for the light of the Gospel to shine on a country which needs it no less than Africa.
