Why is it so important to eliminate Bible poverty?

A second reason is that God’s Word in the heart language penetrates deeply

George Whitefield, the great 18th-century evangelist, was hounded by a group of detractors who called themselves the “Hell-fire Club.” They derided his work and mocked him. On one occasion one of them, a man named Thorpe, was mimicking Whitefield to his friends, delivering his sermon with brilliant accuracy, perfectly imitating his tone and facial expressions. Suddenly, he himself was so pierced that he sat down & was converted on the spot.

We shouldn’t be surprised. Heb 4:12-13 tells us that the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

At a workshop for pastors in Guinea-Bissau in West Africa, one of the oldest, most respected pastors stood up and said, "I read the Bible in Portuguese but I don’t understand everything. I speak Creole but I can’t read it. But when I read the Bible in my mother tongue, I understand everything. My mother tongue ‘me corta’ (which means “it cuts me”).”

A good friend of ours from Nigeria related his experience watching the Jesus Film: “I saw the Jesus film many times in English when I was a university student. I saw it in Hausa, a trade language. And I saw it in Mumuye, the language in which I helped to translate the Scriptures. But when I saw it in my mother tongue, and heard the crowd yelling, “Numnuh, Numnuh” [Beat him, Beat him] as they led Jesus to be crucified, I wept and wept.”