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St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 remarkable opinion shift about Christianity. The initial confusion of many visitors as to NL’s religious identity by misidentifying it as Muslim shows a profound lack of prior knowledge as to the actual content of the Christian faith. 9.2 Unintended encouragement from a Somali Muslim journalist Two years ago, a Somali Christian colleague shared an article he read on a Somali news website 42 . It was entitled “The Christians are using the Internet to attract Somalis.” Translated into English, it reads: “While I was searching on Google, my eyes were drawn to an advertisement saying Arrin Cajiib ah ayaa dhacay (An amazing event happened), and again I’ve seen another one that says Amiirka Nolosha Cusub waa kuma (Who is the Prince of the New Life). All these advertisements are bringing you to a website named Nolosha Cusub which spreads the Christian religion. These men are trying to take advantage of technology so they may attract Somali Muslims by using eye-catching ads, and through social network sites such as Facebook and YouTube. However, the most surprising thing is that these ads for this site can even be seen on Somali news websites. It is unfortunate to spread another religion through websites owned by Muslims. This can take place because the Somali websites are using a Google advertising known as AdSense. But, they can still choose certain ads to be prohibited from appearing on their sites. It seems that Christians have had a great success using internet, and that is why you can find that Nolosha Cusub is the top-ranking Google selection when trying to search for the word Nolosha (The Life).” 9.3 After completing the 12 chapters in the online Bible course, a website visitor wrote an email explaining how he discovered the NL website 43 “Today, I am truly happy to be… following the path of truth. In previous months, I lived in despair and hopelessness with a defeated personality… I continually had meaningless thoughts as I considered what I would do after completing secondary school... I tried to find something on the radio to settle my mind. One day I listened to one of the local FM stations here in Muqdisho. They broadcasted a program about people who had become Christians. Their intention was to spread negative propaganda and they featured interviews of various people who had left Islam. Personally, what grabbed my attention was the question posed by a boy who had left Islam and followed the religion of the Lord Jesus. He said: ‘Muslims read the Quran in order to approach God. The Quran is written in Arabic. However, what prevents the Quran from being written in Somali or other languages like the Christians do’ That question really sent my mind spinning. I thought about how I might find the Christian websites that the reporter had referred to, despite the fact he had not specifically given their names… one day I decided to ask Google. I typed in ‘Somali Christian’, and then I found www.noloshacusub.net I rejoiced when I contacted you from the website and you replied. I completed the courses in the series One God, One Way. I discovered joy, I hope to live in that joy and in the love of God. Another joy was to find that the Bible can be accessed on the website.” 9.4 Providential coordination of multiple factors. Just as the pax Romanica facilitated the spread of the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean world during the apostolic age, so usage of the Internet via website and social media has a particular value for reaching Somalis in both their homeland and their Diaspora. Building upon linguistic unity, high cultural value for literature and oratory, radio became extremely popular over half a century ago. The decisive choice for a simple, practical orthography by an authoritarian regime resulted in a rapid spike in literacy. An unintended consequence (for that regime) was publication of the previously translated Bible, followed by other items of Christian literature. This in turn was widely used and disseminated by Christian shortwave radio. While the civil war has been extremely disruptive at the national, family and personal level, the simultaneous global development of the Internet and mobile telecommunication technology was quickly seized upon by Somalis. The dispersion of their nation across the globe only heightened the demand for rapid communication as family members resettled to scores of countries on five continents. Finally, more than 20 years of civil war, capped by the excesses of the lunatic fringe of jihadists, has corroded faith in Islam for 42 Posted on: http://www.xogsheeg.com/p=3219 Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 by Midnimo xogsheeg@hotmail.com 43 7 February 2012 St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 41
St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 many Somalis 44 . Taken together, these events have been used in God’s sovereignty to provide an unprecedented open door for the good news of reconciliation in Jesus the Messiah. 10. Conclusion: Every radio broadcast deserves a website As we compare the value of websites and social media usage versus shortwave radio broadcasting, they readily complement each other. While shortwave radio is receding in usage, it still reaches an audience in remote rural areas who need the Gospel as much as their urban relatives 45 . Assuming competent and committed IT assistance, a website provides a superb way to leverage audio and written resources already developed by a radio broadcast. Unlike radio, where the many hours of work culminate in a real-time event of a broadcast of 15 or 30 minutes to a portion of the globe, resources on the website are available at all times with little geographic restriction. To further emphasize the benefits for stewardship of time, energy and money, not only does the website allow media resources to be available 24/7, but the cost of operating a website is substantially less than paying for shortwave radio production and air time 46 . 44 This parallels the situation in Algeria, noted Bassam Madany in Algerians Alienated from Islam Are Turning to Christ. (Posted on Answering Islam, 2009: http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/madany/algerians.html). 45 Private FM broadcasting has grown dramatically within Somalia in the last decade, but it is unrealistic to expect any station would allow Christian programming for the foreseeable future. 46By comparison, the project costs for the VNL broadcast were over $455,000 for the past seven years, while for the NL website the total was $84,000. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 42
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