August 2010
Dear Friends,
At the General Conference session a few weeks ago a man held up his iPhone and surprised me with the Seventh Day promotional trailer playing on it. He explained that he is a language teacher and often shows it to his students.
Of course, I was delighted to show him The Seventh Day in eight languages spread out on our booth table! The French version arrived hot off the press – well, duplication machines – just barely in time to make it to the General Conference. Our friends at Il Est Écrit in Canada put in some long hours to finish it, and the interest among the French-speaking attendees was great. The entire stock was sold out before the last weekend of the convention!
I was particularly pleased to have the Chinese version in hand, and loved seeing it in the hands of some of our Chinese brothers and sisters. The Dutch version was popular among folks from the Netherland Antilles – islands like Curacao, where Dutch is still spoken. Brazilians came by and nodded their heads in recognition of the Portuguese Seventh Day videos that are now being watched all over the South American Division.
Oh, and a missionary teacher in Saudi Arabia told me that she shows the English version to her Muslim students! We’re eager to get the Arabic finished for her.
The German version inspired a story, told to me by the manager of Stimme-der-Hoffnung, the German Media Center that produced and broadcasts the German version of The Seventh Day. 
A woman called the German Hope Channel. “My husband is disabled,” she said. “He’s home all day. He hates religion and wants nothing to do with God.” But this dear woman has been watching the Hope Channel in the night after her husband falls asleep. “And now I’m keeping the Sabbath!” she said – a result of seeing Der Siebte Tag.
To our surprise, we came home from the General Conference with translated scripts for two more languages – Polish and Turkish! We’ll review them as quickly as possible so production can continue.
I just wanted to give you an encouraging report on what God has done and is doing with the Seventh Day series, with the prayers, financial contributions, energy and love that so many of you have put into its development over so many years. Thank you again!
My iPhone friend was particularly pleased to see what we’re doing now – with the State of the Dead.
“I grew up terrified! My whole childhood I lived in fear. I knew there were ghosts under my bed when I went to bed at night. I was scared of the dark, and I was afraid of getting old and dying because then the fires of hell would burn me forever and ever.”
“It was such a relief to me when I learned the truth about death!”
How often have you heard that? How often have you thought it? What a blessing it is to be able to sleep peacefully at night; to live without fear; to know that you are looked after by a God who delights in life; to know that the dead in Christ are – to use a metaphor familiar to New Testament Christians – asleep, and that their next conscious moment will be at the Resurrection when Jesus comes again.
to me when I learned
the truth about death!"
And how good it is to know that our heavenly Father is not a sadistic monster who condemns the lost to everlasting misery and pain.
God had to let sin take its course; He had to allow sinful life to end in death; but He did not add torture to the mix.
Can we even begin to imagine His grief over the agony that was introduced into His perfect universe? What a blow to God to see that first sign of death. I cannot begin to imagine how He grieves over those He has to allow to die! He longs to save, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
So to portray God as ruthlessly extending the lives of His lost children so they can writhe in burning torment forever is a travesty. To use that portrait of God to manipulate or coerce His children into obedience or financial generosity is an additional evil.
Here at LLT we are at a crucial stage in the development of our plans for presenting the truth about the eternal fate of the lost. We see this as an opportunity to promote a clearer understanding of God’s character and to call attention to His great love as revealed in the cross of Christ.
We invite your continued support. Your financial gifts, your words of encouragement and your prayers are vital to this ministry. May God bless you as you continue to partner with us in this important work.
Many blessings,
Pat Arrabito
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