The Christ Embassy Daily Devotional, Rhapsody of Realities authored by the church’s founder Rev. Dr. Chris Oyakhilome DSc. DD, has not only become the world’s number one daily devotional, it has also become the world’s most translated book with over 7,000 languages translated. This stirs up some curiosity; what is it about this book? How did the journey begin? How did it become the history made from Africa? How does a book get distributed in the billions within 22 years of print? Available in almost all the languages of the world, what is the secret behind its journey from 2001 till date?
In the year 2,000, it is recorded that the author of this world renown book, the African Televangelist, Chris Oyakhilome gave a prophecy that heralded the birth of the Daily Devotional during a service. By the following year, the first edition of the book was published in English language and was only available in the commercial capital city of Nigeria – Lagos state. In 2002 the ROR became translated in three languages: English German and Dutch. Three years later, the ROR has become available in the Arabic language; bringing the number of translations to four. By 2010, 99 more translations have been added, making it a total of 103 translations.
77 more translations were added by 2012; the ROR became available in 180 languages of the world. 2014, the devotional has become available in 552 languages of the world! Almost 500% increase in 2 years! What took the church 12 years to achieve became one-fifth of her achievement in one year! Worthy of mention is the fact that over 100,000, 000 copies of the devotional were distributed all around the world in the same year. Four years later, the number of copies of the ROR distributed all around the world grew ten folds as over1Billion copies were distributed in one year! That trippled the book’s 17-year achievement; bringing the cumulative distribution to over 3 Billion copies. The number of translations have grown to 1,800 by the following year.
Although the nations of the world were locked up and economies were shut down in 2020, the spread, translation and distribution of this history making devotional were not affected. The ROR became available in 2,510 languages of the world with several billions distributed. 2 years after, the ROR made a new history: it is now available in over 7,000 languages of the world.
What then is in this book? Why does it get so much attention? How can a religious book authored by an African based in Africa become so endearing to people of all nations and tribes: so much that people, elites of their own worlds, professionals in their fields, artisans, common people are all willing to not only pay for copies, but are willing to distribute, translate, and sponsor more distribution to regions beyond? The answers to the questions will be known by reading a copy and listening to the testimonies of the readers and/or translators. The testimonies from the readers are in all shades: from transforming their estate, to raising their dead back to life, to putting food on their table, shelter over their heads, etc. The translators not only translate, they recruit other translators. These men and women cross rivers, climb mountains, stay in prison cells, just to ensure that no tribe within their region is without an access to this devotional in their languages. Many risk their lives just to get this book to the people in their worlds. And when asked what the inspiration is, the response is the same across board: “to give every man an opportunity to hear the gospel and receive salvation, whatever the cost.”
