Bible App Blocked in 14 Countries, Publisher Calls for Prayer
A Bible app has been blocked in Turkey, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Mainland China, Russia and Belarus. The publisher is calling on Christians to pray for those who cannot freely access Scripture.
A Bible application has been blocked in fourteen countries, prompting its publisher to issue a call for prayer and reflection on the value of free access to Scripture. The app is unavailable in Turkey, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Mainland China, Russia and Belarus.
The publisher said the news gave reason to pause and remember something that can easily be taken for granted: the freedom to open the Bible, hear the Word and share it without hindrance. While access faces barriers in some places, readers elsewhere can still turn to Scripture freely — a contrast the publisher describes as a privilege rather than a given.
In response, the publisher invited believers to join in prayer. The appeal asks that the Word of God continue to reach people through voices, content and the app itself, but also that it reach places where human hands cannot go. «May no barrier be greater than the reach of God's Word,» the publisher writes.
The accompanying prayer is written as a first-person reflection. It opens with thanksgiving for the freedom to know Scripture, to hear about God and to share the Gospel, while acknowledging that this freedom is often treated as commonplace. The speaker asks to be led to places where the Word encounters closed doors and not to remain indifferent to barriers that try to prevent it from acting.
The prayer also expresses a desire for Church unity, asking that the pain of a brother find space in the heart of every believer and that the need of an unknown person lead to intercession. It affirms that the mission of the Gospel belongs to everyone and that all people need to hear it. Where someone announces God's name, the prayer says, there should be rejoicing; where someone suffers for the faith, there should be intercession; where someone is prevented from hearing, there should be no silence.
A central theme is the courage to use the freedom one has received. The speaker asks not to waste opportunities while others desire what is so easily within reach. The prayer asks that relationships, family, church, work and every place a believer occupies become spaces where Christ is known and where the Word can reach other hearts.
When hands cannot reach a certain place, the prayer continues, the response is to put knees on the ground. It calls for intercession for those who still cannot freely access Scripture, for Christians who remain firm amid difficulties, and for those who may be seeking God without knowing where to find him. It asks God to open doors that no one can close and to sustain those who announce the Gospel.
The publisher frames prayer as a form of reach that crosses what feet cannot cross, and communion as something not limited by distance. The prayer asks Jesus to gather his people around the same mission and the same love, and that the Church not be indifferent to closed doors but instead pray, serve, announce and remain on its knees.
Remembering those without the same freedom, the prayer says, should produce not only sadness but also responsibility and intercession. It asks that the speaker's life be used so others may know grace, and that believers be part of a Church walking united until all nations can hear about God. The closing line returns to the central image: «And, when our feet cannot arrive, may our knees remain on the ground and our hearts remain united in You.»
The blocked countries span several regions and include nations where restrictions on religious material have been documented in recent years. The publisher did not specify the reasons given for each block, but presented the situation as a reminder of the obstacles many believers face in accessing Scripture and as a call to solidarity through prayer.
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