P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

"GIVE ME THE BIBLE" #3

BONFIRES AND COBWEBS

A recent newspaper clipping was photocopied and dropped on my desk the other day. A number of brief little items were classed under the headline: NEWS OF THE WEIRD. And the very first one caught my attention.

A man in Palo Alto — and we'll kind of hop over his name — embarked recently on what he estimated was a $70 million fundraising campaign to build a rocket ship and lunar landing vehicle for the purpose of placing an indestructible copy of the Holy Bible on the moon for safekeeping. There, he told the newspaper Mountain View Voice, the Bible would be preserved against tampering or in case civilization is destroyed on Earth from plagues, wars, or, in his words, "acts of God."

Well, I'm sure there's a one-liner hiding in there somewhere. And I'll admit that I'm struggling a little bit with the idea of spending $70 million to deliver ONE Bible to a place that's already called the Sea of Tranquility — and where there's nobody there to read it. Or that such a zealous Bible enthusiast wouldn't know what that very Bible teaches about all of civilization being destroyed on Planet Earth. But I'm not about to come on the radio here during National Bible Week and disparage someone's dream of making sure that God's Word is never tampered with or destroyed. That IS a noble objective.

And you know, even though we can be pretty casual about it today, it truly is a miracle that there even IS something like National Bible Week . . . and that we can buy airtime on this radio station and openly speak in praise of the Word of God. Do you and I even sense the tiniest FRACTION of all the opposition that the world's most valuable Book has faced? Do we have any IDEA?

Throughout the centuries, Bibles have been burned. Those who read them have been burned. Those who TRANSLATED them have been burned. A number of years ago, the It Is Written television program, which I enjoyed serving as associate speaker, did a marvelous six-episode series entitled The Book That Would Not Go Away. And television host George Vandeman and his camera crew stood right in Oxford, England at the very spot on Broad Street where Bible translators Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer, and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake — Ridley and Latimer in 1555 and Cranmer a year later.
John Wycliffe, the "morningstar of the Reformation," came so close to the flames himself. While translating the Bible into English, he was attacked by a dangerous illness. His enemies stood at his bedside with their haughty "I told you so's."

"You have death on your lips," they told him. "Be touched by your faults and retract in our presence all that you have said to our injury."

Well, Wycliffe listened to them and then asked his attendant to raise him up in the bed. Looking into the faces of these men who were doing battle against the Word of God, he said in a suddenly strong voice: "I shall NOT die, but live." His enemies, astonished and amazed, hurried from the room . . . and Wycliffe did indeed live to finish his translation under God's protection.

But the devil's attacks on the Bible have taken so many forms. Manuscripts lost. Bibles chained to the walls of monasteries and kept in medieval languages the common people couldn't understand. The Word of God BANNED, absolutely legislated out of existence by modern governments right here in the 20th century! One of the most fascinating, readable, THRILLING books I've ever enjoyed was entitled God's Smuggler, the story of Brother Andrew, who successfully smuggled tens of thousands of Bibles into the countries behind the Iron Curtain. And this is just brief decades ago! Many of you listening today were alive when these things happened. Even today, November 22, there are vast populations where Bibles still aren't available. So while I can understand a man's desire to spend $70 million to make sure one Bible is safe, I would say to our friend who's building that moon rocket, Why not spend some of that money getting Bibles to people on THIS planet who still don't have one?

In the gift book I'd like to send you today, based on that It Is Written miniseries, The Book That Would Not Go Away, there's an unbelievable story of how France tried to publically and openly and OFFICIALLY do away with God and the Word of God. In the year 1793, after years of revolution and bloodshed, the government of France unanimously renounced belief in God. I mean, this was VOTED in their legislative assembly! No God, no Bible, no religion, no anything! And the entire population of the capital danced in the streets when they heard the announcement.

Worshiping God was made illegal. Bibles were collected and burned. One of the leaders of the new order scornfully shouted to the sky:

"God, if You exist, avenge Your injured name. I bid You defiance! You remain silent. You dare not launch Your thunders. Who after this will believe in Your existence?"

But as has been often pointed out, every man worships something or someone. Shortly after this, the legislature convened again and had a big festival. All the musicians were there. And then, amid all the marching, they escorted in a veiled woman, easily recognized as a local dancing girl of the opera. They installed her right next to the president as the new Goddess of Reason. "Reason" was the new object of France's worship. Not God. Not God's Word. But a morally corrupted girl named Reason.

What next? This new amoral regime with all its freedoms, set up the guillotine; the war against the Bible soon turned into the Reign of Terror. Those in power one day were lined up at the falling blade the next. The galleys and prisons were filled to bursting. The gallows and the guillotine, even operating at full speed, weren't fast enough to keep up, and so long rows of prisoners were simply mowed down with grapeshot. Those who watched described how "the blood flowed through the streets." That wasn't just a technicolor metaphor, friend. This is how it really happened.

How long did the no-God-no-Bible experience go on? Just three-and-a-half years. In that brief period, even the most diehard atheists could see that France was spinning down into a sick ruin. No one could bear any more. And after three-and-a-half years, the same legislature that had voted God and the Bible out RESCINDED those earlier decrees. As Vandeman put it on his television special:

"The watching world stood aghast at the frightful result of rejecting the Bible and its principles!"

Well, that was France. That was 1793. Here we are on Main Street U.S.A. or downtown on Dufferin Street in Toronto, Canada. November 22, 1995. We have Bibles all around us; every Christian and even every secular bookstore has them in stock. Ministries will send you one for a dollar or even free if you can't afford it. The Gideons put them in every hotel and motel room. You probably have several copies right there in your own home. It looks like the war is over and Satan has lost, doesn't it?

But how is it REALLY in your house, friend? Right here one day before Thanksgiving, when our thoughts ought to be focused on God and His goodness, let me ask you: how long as it been since you opened up God's Word?

You see, the devil can win his battles with bonfires or with cobwebs, can't he? If your Bible sits up on a shelf, Lucifer's victory is just as resounding as if an army of soldiers with black leather boots and Uzi submachine guns had broken down your front door and confiscated that dust-covered book.

I heard a cute but kind-of-sad story once about a woman who had a visit from her pastor. In the course of the conversation he seemed to imply that perhaps she might try to read her Bible more often. Well, that suggestion made her very indignant. "Why, Pastor Jones," she scolded him, "I'll have you know that I'm VERY faithful; I read my Bible all the time." And just to prove it, she went over to her bookcase and reached up to the top shelf. She'd show him!

As she pulled the Book free, she inadvertently gave out a little cry of amazement. "Well, what do you know? THERE are my glasses I lost two years ago."

And I guess the enemy of God's Word smiled in triumph.

But do you know something? The devil wins some and he loses a lot more. He got a lot of Bibles burned, but more were printed. He worked to have Bible translators burned at the stake, but the work went on, didn't it? Bibles were chained to the walls, but the Protestant Reformation sawed right through those chains, and today YOU can have a Bible. And even though Lucifer bombards us with distractions or tries to pump sleeping gas into our studies and prayer closets, still, millions of people are dusting off their Bibles and getting back into the Word of God.

I mentioned the other day that National Bible Week has gotten eight MILLION people to read the Bible again. How about you, friend? Don't you want to be part of that number? I know Jeannie and I THIS WEEK are resolving that we'll read MORE. Study MORE. Memorize MORE. Even after National Bible Week is over, we want the Word of God to live MORE in our hearts and in our lives and our example.

Of course, we'd certainly love to have you join us. As you pack up your suitcase and head out for a Thanksgiving reunion, be sure to tuck in that one precious, priceless package: the Holy Bible.