The Stolen Bible

I was once asked, "What is the one event of your life that has had the biggest impact on you?" 

My answer: "The day I stole a Bible."

This event not only changed me for all time and eternity, but it is also why we founded WORDview Ministries. 

When I was 12 years old, I "stole" a Bible. It was sitting on a lost-and-found table in a church foyer and had no name in it! I was waiting for my parents to pick me up after the morning worship service. I liked it because it had stick-figure drawings of some man in it, and I was an aspiring young artist. I took it home, concealed beneath my shirt, and hid it under my mattress. 

That night, after it was dark and everyone had gone to bed, I got it out, crawled up under my sheets, and began reading it using a flashlight. Somehow I just happened to start with the Gospel of John, chapter one. By the time I was into chapter three, something began to happen to me that I had never experienced before. I began to weep with a sense of amazement, thrill, awe, and even "fear." I know now that it was the power of God's Holy Spirit coming over me, convincing, convicting, and converting me!

I remember thinking as I was nearing the end of that gospel, "This is really true. There really was a man called Jesus who came to earth and performed these miracles. He really was God in flesh. He really did die on the cross for my sins, and then He rose from the grave proving His identity. And if I believe in Him, He will save me from my sins, and I can have joy and purpose in this life serving Him, as well as eternal life in heaven!" 

I didn't understand it at the time, but I had just experienced what Jesus called being "born again (John 3:3)." God had placed a new nature in me empowered by His ever-dwelling Holy Spirit. That was over 50 years ago, and it made a difference in my life that I have never "gotten over." And all of this happened just from reading a Bible.

This is the reason we founded WORDview Ministries. Our mission is to help others experience the life-changing power of God's word. We believe that by simply teaching and encouraging others in how to read the Bible for themselves, they too can experience the transformation that comes from knowing its' author, the Living Word, Jesus Christ.  

We also believe this is the answer to the problems we see in our world today. There is not one single problem going on in our world that cannot be solved simply by helping others personally experience the life-changing power found in this book. This is why our motto is "Read The Bible, Change Your World."

Will you join us in this quest? Will you help us "get the Word out" to this troubled world that so desperately needs what the Bible offers?

(By the way, in case you are wondering, part of the impact of reading that stolen Bible was a conviction to return it. When I did, I noticed several of these same "lost" Bibles sitting on that table in the foyer. They were actually complimentary copies of the New Testament in The Good News translation, made available by that church free of charge. The stick figures illustrating this Bible were created by the world's best-selling artist of all time, Annie Vallotton. Her work is part of the reason I, too, am a visual artist working in oils. I believe it is one of many ways to express our Lord's beauty as an act of witness and worship. For more information, visit Guy Jackson Art.)

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