It’s time to purchase your Bible

October 2024’s Bible sales rose 22% as compared to last year.  Circana industry analyst, Brenna Connor, stated, “The religion book market has been a bright spot of growth …Bibles are leading that growth, [and] subjects like Christian Life … are also up, reflecting increased interest for Christian subjects in the U.S.”

Briana Fitzpatrick, a New York-based artist, decided to purchase her first Bible after she and her father watched the documentary about the “Duck Dynasty” star, Phil Robertson, entitled, “The Blind.”  Briana stated, “[Phil] pulled out his Bible and… you could tell he’d had it for decades and decades.  It was… held together with duct tape.”  Briana expressed she wanted her own Bible to pass down for generations, filled with highlights and notes her children could read and “see how the LORD spoke to me through it.”

After receiving Jesus as my LORD and Savior, the Bible I began reading was large and heavy, making it difficult to carry with my other books to school. The morning I decided to carry it, a man wearing a gray suit was standing in front of my car when I parked.  The man handed me a small green KJV Gideon’s New Testament Bible.  I had never thought about purchasing a smaller Bible.  I knew the LORD had honored my decision to carry my big Bible, and then gave me the idea of getting a smaller, easier to carry Bible.  The Bible I have used for years, fits in my pocket and it’s the one from which I normally preach. 

Later I obtained a One Year Bible for daily reading.  One Year Bibles are wonderful for they contain Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs for everyday of the year.  The Old Testament is like potatoes, the starch, the foundation of the Word.  The New Testament is the meat of the Word with Jesus here on the planet.  Proverbs are like the greens that are good for you, and you develop a taste for them.  Psalms are like your dessert and praise to God.  Reading a One Year Bible daily, gives you a full balanced diet for the spirit man.  I was on the wrong day for years, but that is OK, just keep reading.  I discovered God can speak to you, even if you’re on the wrong day.  Now I am a month ahead.

In 1993 I learned to study the Bible in Hebrew and Greek using a “Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with the reference system” (ISBN 0-8407-6750-1).  Being a man’s life’s work in the 1890s, he numbered every word in the “King James Bible.”  To learn more about the Bible, look for an important word in a Bible verse, like the word “believeth” in John 3:16.  Using the concordance, this word is assigned the number 4100.  Looking up this number in the Greek Dictionary in the back of the concordance, you find it is translated from the Greek word “pisteuo,” meaning, “to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ).”  The concordance also shows it has also been translated as “commit, to trust, to put in trust with.”  These are relationship words, and choices, coming from spending time with God in His Word.

A companion book to “Strong’s” is “Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words keyed to Strong’s” (ISBN 0-8407-7559-8).  Having “Strong’s” number, you look up the word in the “Vine’s” and select the Greek word assigned that number for further understanding.  Doing this for the word “believe, pisteuo, 4100,” Vine’s says, “believe” means “reliance upon, not mere credence.”  Years ago, being unsure what “credence” meant, the “Webster’s Dictionary” definition burned into my spirit.  “Credence” means “mental acceptance as true or real.”   So, “believing on Jesus” isn’t about believing He is real or existed in history.  “Believing on Jesus” is a relationship from the heart, whereby we trust Him, rely upon Him, commit to Him and entrust Him with our lives now and in eternity.  You don’t do that with your head.  You do that with your heart.

This simple one-word study changed my life and that was the first one.

Years of further study showed “believe, pisteuo” is a verb, an action word.  The noun form is “pistis,” translated as “faith.”   “Faith” means “firm, steadfast, unwavering reliance upon God and the truth of His Word the Bible.”  “Faith” is the noun and “believe” is the verb.  Putting your “faith” into action, is when you are “believing.” “Believe” is “faith” with legs on it.

Around 1996 I learned the “King James Bible” is translated from different ancient Scriptures, as compared to other “Bible” translations.  Nearly all other translations come from the known corrupted Alexandrian texts, from the library of Alexandria, Egypt.  A Gnostic, named Origen, led the translation department.  Gnostics don’t believe in the deity of Jesus and Origen changed ancient documents to fit heretical beliefs.  This influenced translations, as evidenced by G.A. Riplinger’s book, “New Age Translations of the Bible.”  Jehovah Wittness’ studying their New World Translation, conclude Jesus is not God in the flesh.   Their translation is from the Alexandrian text.

According to the Revell Bible Dictionary (ISBN 0-8007-1594-2), early Church Fathers stated, Gnosticism came out of the Nicolaitans.  Concerning teaching that removes His deity, Jesus says…

“So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Revelation 2:15,16)

If Jesus says, “repent or else,” I suggest we make the choice to “repent.”

The only Bible I use now is a King James Bible, because it’s the best translation of the true ancient documents.

Thinking about it, the only classroom on the planet where people come together with books saying different things and are expected to come into agreement, is the Sunday School classroom, which is probably the most important classroom of all.

I wish you the wisdom of God in your Bible selection and reading.