The Rhapsody of Realities daily devotional which was first published 22 years ago has achieved milestones of global reckoning as efforts to ensure it bypassed language barriers has seen it hitting 7,000 languages worldwide, with 520 of such languages in Nigeria alone.
Ordinarily, this development should be of interest to global leadership, especially the United Nations. According to UNESCO, about 7,151 languages are spoken globally as at today. Unfortunately, roughly 40% of languages are now endangered, often with fewer than 1,000 speakers remaining. UNESCO predicted that 1,500 known languages may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. Meanwhile, just 23 languages account for more than half the world’s population.
With what Rhapsody of Realities is doing, having had the book translated into 7,139 languages of the world, it will go a long way to save some languages from going extinct. Evidently, Christ Embassy is throwing a challenge to anyone, anywhere in the world, with knowledge of any language going into extinction, to contact them, as the Ministry has made a commitment to preserve all human languages, and ensure none goes into extinction.
The beauty is that even in Nigeria, the book has helped to discover 18 more indigenous languages, beyond the 502 officially listed on the Nigerian languages websites, thereby adding to the body of knowledge and enriching the works of linguists on the nation’s body of languages.
This is definitely a feat of no small proportion, especially when one recollects that day in 2001 when Pastor Chris Oyakhilome stood before the congregation clutching the very first copy of the daily devotional and assuring them that it will get to everyone in the world irrespective of language. A declaration even the most avowed optimists thought was an overreach.
That was why only few caught the revelation, when he said prophetically, that “this small book, which would be published monthly, will soon travel and be in all homes all over the world.” Though a thunderous chorus of Amen followed the prophetic proclamation, yet, one block at a time, with uncommon diligence and hard work, the devotional, in just two decades, have found phenomenal expression speaking in languages people understand, and also highlighting experiences they easily relate with.
From the first hundreds of copies, to the first million, to the hundreds of millions, and presently to billions of copies of the devotional, Loveworld Publishing had soared above the global stifling challenges of publishing, to distribute free of charge, the ROR devotional and can be found in all nations of the world, and even at some of the most inaccessible parts of the earth.
Recently, the publishers held a press conference to announce to the world other outstanding feats achieved in the course of efforts aimed at putting this daily devotional not only in every language available, but also in the hands of everyone who can read, listen, and speak those languages.
For the publishers, there is no gainsaying that The Rhapsody of Realities should already have a pride of place in the Guinness World Book of Records to formally recognise the efforts of the revered Man of God, who from the shores of Nigeria, is reaching all corners of the universe with the message of good news, transforming lives shaping destinies, and restoring man back to their divine purpose to replenish and dominate all of God’s creation.
The Director of Operations, Pastor Lola Aisida, said: “Never in the history of the world, and in all the record books of Guinness Book of World Records has any literary material – be it document, film, writing, book, or any piece of historical or modern parchment – been translated into 7,000 languages.”
For Aisida, the meteoric rise of the Rhapsody of Realities devotional to the most-coveted spot as the world’s Number 1 daily devotional and now the Most Translated Book (MTB) in the world, is seeded in the hard work sown by Pastor Chris and volunteers across the world who have grown into a vast network of publishers spread across several countries, churning out month after month life transforming messages, that is being translated worldwide by a web of translators who have morphed into a global network known as Translators Network International (TNI).
She said the massive army of translators, have continued to apply due diligence processes in delivering the devotional, across the world.
“By any standard, the work of translation is not an easy one. If it were, the world’s popular literary pieces would have long been made available in all languages. On the contrary, authenticated records points that the most translated records show that the most translated short film documentary is in 11 translations, the most translated short film has 22 translations, the most translated document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, produced by United Nations in 1948, as at 2019, has been translated into only 370 languages. The acclaimed Most Professionally translated author in the world, Agatha Christie has her books translated in only 100+ languages.
“Aisida said though over 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today, research showed that 42 percent of them are endangered. The statistics posed a global challenge fit only for a global publishing house that transcends the inadequacies of the publishing space.”
She concluded that Loveworld Publishing will ensure that no language goes extinct as the Rhapsody of Realities will remain widely distributed month after month in all languages of the world.
To achieve uniformity in the message the TNI has an academy, with the headquarters in Nigeria where all translators are trained and retrained in the terms, and languages and nuances peculiar to the Ministry in order to ensure that what goes out monthly in all those identified languages are the right words and phrases from the author.
To celebrate the 7000 language feat, the LoveWorld Publishers would between September 2 and 3, 2022, organise a global event to tell the world how this has been done, and efforts would be made to ensure that as much of these languages considered endangered are brought to life with translators telling their stories from across the world.
Aisida said the Rhapsody of Realities is also in audio and Braille formats for the blind and others living with disabilities in order to ensure that all people irrespective of their state in live are captured in order to ensure that they are not denied the opportunity of experiencing the healing and transforming hand and power of God.