Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

War is in the air and we're hunkered down waiting for things to lighten up.  Sounds like a good time to see what the ol' Southern Baptists are up to, yeah?  As with previous posts on this blog, when it comes to the International Mission Board taking advantage of a regional crisis to raise funds in a duplicitous way, rarely do they disappoint.  And November of 2023 proves that some things will never change.  These posts can almost write themselves.
 

Additionally, it is also happens to be the time of the year for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, when the IMB comes to churches like Eddie Haskell with cap in hand to take advantage of not only the SBC church members' natural generosity and goodwill, but also their ignorance and trust.  Sorry if this sounds like a harsh accusation, but my experience with that lot is the source of the disgust I feel when I see what depths they stoop to in order to rake in the huge amounts of cash they need to keep the racket going.  Same playbook, same results, same corruption.

I'm not going to go into each detail of nonsense on their fundraising plea, but just highlight one item which particularly makes me uncomfortable. 

I currently work with numerous organizations here in Israel doing outreaches, follow up, discipleship, and church planting.  We all have access through the Bible Society in Israel for all of the Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, etc Bibles that all of us ever need.  With the exception of English Bibles (which we rarely give out), the Bibles we use and distribute are available for free.  FREE.

Sure, sometimes we give a donation to the Bible Society for these Bibles because we have the resources to do so.  While we only give the Bibles to people we meet one on one and to those we feel won't immediately chunk it into the trash, we do give out quite a few on a regular basis.  We give occasionally because we are committed to this work of getting God's word into people's hands not just in word, but in deed, and we would pay for them out of our pockets (we have no ministry budget, but do everything out of pocket) because it is that crucial to what we do.

So that being said, there are two main problems with the IMB in Israel (via their accomplices at headquarters in Richmond, Va) asking for money for Bibles.  The first is what I have explained in previous posts from my time at the Baptist Village and with the IMB as career personnel, regarding the absolute waste of resources.  Let's just say that we never had a shortage of Bibles laying around in every facility.  Even if you count old boxes of Bibles stashed away and forgotten about until someone inadvertently discovers the moldy container before being sending it to the trash bin.  Happened more than once.  More often than not, we would pass on the Bibles to other organizations to distribute because, sadly enough, although IMB personnel would occasionally give out the odd Bible here or there, they are truly some of the last people in the country to actually give them out.  Their lack of urgency and action (coupled with the fake talk) is central to why I am no longer with the organization so I can do this very thing (see earlier posts below).

The second problem is that the IMB is asking for $10 for one (free) Bible, and $1000 for a "carton", that is, 100 (free) Bibles.  If you really want to donate money for Bibles for Israelis, you would be wise to donate directly to the Bible Society in Israel here:

https://biblesocietyinisrael.com/donate/

The glaring question is why in the world would you give money to the IMB to pay for Bibles when you can donate directly at the source??  When I see what they are asking, money wise, for free Bibles, it is staggering.  Makes you wonder why suddenly the Baptists in Israel are asking for $500,000(!!!) like Bibles are hard to come by in this time of "crisis".  Given their track record of being less than forthright and wasteful, why would anyone give a cent to them?  Are they trustworthy middle men .. ?

Something sounds extremely fishy.  I assume that if, say, $100,000 is raised for Bibles (not an unreasonable expectation proportionally to what's being requested), 10,000(!!) Bibles will be delivered to the Baptists.  Anyone who has ever been associated with the IMB in Israel knows immediately what a joke that would be.  And yet, this is exactly what the message is to lay folk in America - give money for truckloads of Bibles.  Trust them you rubes, they're the experts. 

Not sure who the bigger clowns are, the IMB for asking, or the clowns the IMB thinks you SBC church goers are for believing ?

I'm not saying that the IMB doesn't give out the odd Bible in Israel.  They do.  In fact, I've been in team and cluster meetings where people practically take a victory lap when they recount that someone took a Bible from them.  It does happen.

But the IMB predictably using a crisis to ask for big bucks to purchase Bibles in Israel?  Please...  

Do it and you're an absolute sucker.  You have been told.