Brookside Bible Society
The Brookside Bible Society was founded in 1985, for the preservation and propagation of the word of God in foreign languages and countries. We believe the English Authorized Version of the scriptures, otherwise known as the King James 1611 Version, to be the preserved, infallible word of God in the English language. We accept it as the final standard to be used in all translation work and printing of the scriptures that we are associated with.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Bibles that American missionaries used in foreign languages were based almost entirely on the same manuscripts, i.e. the TEXTUS RECEPTUS, from which our King James 1611 version came into being. Today, however, the world is flooded with numerous "versions" such as the RSV, NIV, NEV, ASV, NASV, and many others. It should not surprise us, then, to find that many Bible Societies are no longer printing Bibles for foreign countries that are based on the TEXTUS RECEPTUS manuscripts. For this reason in recent years many Bible-believing pastors and churches have unknowingly sent or helped to send Bibles to the mission fields in foreign languages which have corrupt readings in them. These Bibles are not compatible with the King James version.
After discussing this situation in 1985, with Brother Cheatwood, Pastor Fred Potter sensed the Lord burdening his heart to start the Brookside Bible Society. This Bible Society is a subsidiary of Charity Baptist Mission. Both the mission board and the Bible Society are arms of Brookside Baptist Church. At the time that the Bible Society was started, missionary Ralph Cheatwood was already involved in translating the New Testament into the modern Turkish language. Turkey no longer uses or teaches the Arabic alphabet in their country, so even the old Arabic Bibles they had were not usable for printing and distribution. God used this situation to show Pastor Potter the need for a Bible Society committed to helping produce and print scriptures comparable to the English King James Version. From 1985, through 1990, the Brookside Bible Society was involved in helping produce these scriptures in primarily two languages, which were Turkish and Hindi (one of the main languages spoken in India).
Then in the beginning of 1991, the Lord began to open up the formerly communist country of Bulgaria to Charity Baptist Mission, and later opened up to us the countries of Ukraine & Moldova. There is a great hunger for the printed and preached word of God in these eastern European countries, and the open doors to distribute and preach God's word there at the present seem almost unlimited!
When the missionaries went to Bulgaria, they found the Bulgarian Bible to be a very unreliable translation of the scriptures. The Lord enabled us, with the help of some Bulgarians who are very proficient in their native language, to begin working with their New Testament to produce a reliable translation of the scriptures. To date we have produced and printed the gospel of John and feel that the Lord has blessed the copy we are now printing and distributing. Over 250,000 copies of this Bulgarian gospel of John have been printed and distributed, with the result of many souls being saved and a number of churches being started. Twelve percent of the population of Bulgaria are Turkish speaking peoples, so brother Cheatwood's translation work in the Turkish scriptures has also proven to be very fruitful in Bulgaria. To date over 500,000 Turkish gospels of John have been printed for distribution in Bulgaria & Romania. The result has been that numerous believers have turned from the to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and 70 house churches have been birthed in Bulgaria & Romania. We strongly believe that having a reliable copy of the scriptures for these people in their own native tongue plays a large part in the fruitfulness of the missionary work in their countries.
From 1992-1994, most of the scriptures and tracts were printed in Bulgaria or Moldova. The paper and printing costs were much cheaper there than in America. This also eliminated the costs of shipping them from America to eastern Europe. "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." (Matthew 21:42)
After moving the mission base in Bulgaria to Romania in January of 1995, it was no longer feasible to have scriptures printed in Bulgaria. So in 1995, we had 180,000 Turkish gospels of John & Hymn books printed here in America and shipped them to the missionaries in Romania. Each of these gospels also had 101 Turkish hymns printed in them. These hymns were written by Turkish converts that have been saved through the work in Bulgaria. We also sent 25,000 pre-recorded audio cassettes in the container, which had Turkish testimonies and hymns recorded on them. God has blessed this “sowing of the seed” and many Turks have been saved through reading the scriptures and/or listening to the testimonies and hymns on the cassettes.