Destroy This Book – If You Can!

But you can’t! The Word of God is Indestructible!

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Luke 16:17: “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”

The Assault on the Bible

Diocletian occupied the imperial throne from A.D. 284-305. In A.D. 303, he inaugurated a series of merciless persecutions upon those who professed the religion of Christ. Hurst notes: “One edict ordered the burning of every copy of the Bible—the first instance in [Christian] history when the Scriptures were made an object of attack”

 John Wycliffe (1330-1384) was the impetus for translating the New Testament into English from the Latin Vulgate. His main opposition was from the Catholic church because they did not want the Bible translated into the vernacular of the people. His followers were the Lollards, who continued his work after his death. They preached the Word from the Wycliffe translation – and many of them met death by being burned at the stake with the Bible chained to their neck.

William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) was proficient in both Hebrew and Greek and was fluent in several other languages. (Hebrew and Aramaic were the original languages of the Old Testament and Greek was the original language of  the New Testament.) He had a passion for translating the Bible into the language of the people. By 1525, he had completed his first translation of the New Testament from Greek to English and followed that with four more revisions or editions. He succeeded in getting his translation printed. Tyndale also translated part of the Old Testament through 2 Chronicles.

The Catholic church rewarded him by kidnapping him in 1535 and burning him at the stake in 1536. His charge was “a corrupt translation of the Bible.” In reality, it was superb. The clergy maintained that it was too difficult for the ordinary people to comprehend. They needed the clergy to interpret it for them.

Tyndale’s translation had a significant influence on the King James Version (KJV) Bible of 1611. Some scholars say that 90% of the KJV is still based on Tyndale.

The Romanizers made a persistent effort to suppress the English Bible. In 1543, an act was passed absolutely forbidding the use of Tyndale’s version and any reading of the Scriptures in assemblies without royal license.

Enemies of the Tyndale Bible burned thousands of copies. “Of the estimated 18,000 copies printed between 1525-1528, only two fragments are known to remain.”

The Fourth Rule of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) stated that the indiscriminate circulation of the Scriptures in the common vernacular would generate “more harm than good.”

There have been many more attacks against the Bible since that time.

Voltaire,  the French rationalist, “predicted that within a hundred years of his death (1778) Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history,  yet two centuries have come and gone, and today, rare is the person who owns a copy of Voltaire’s writings, while almost every home is adorned with a Bible.”

And – the assault on the Bible continues today into the 21^st century.

In an article about North Korea in the May 26, 2023, Business Insider, the authorities arrested a Korean Worker’s Party member who owned a Bible, took him out to an airfield, and executed him before a crowd of thousands.

Many other countries have severe restrictions or bans on the Bible. They include Afghanistan, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, and Maldives. Churches have had Bibles and religious literature confiscated. Authorities punished many for possessing Bibles and other Christian materials.

Yet, in the latest sales data available in America, sales of the Bible, as compared to a year ago, are up over 2,100% above other average book sales.

Despite all the attacks on the Bible, it remains a powerful influence today, not only in terms of sales and copies but also in the value and accuracy of its content.

In decades past, critics would argue that we need other ancient secular literature to substantiate the Bible. However, the earliest copies of many respected classical writings are all several hundred years after the original. Most of the copies of the New Testament are less than 100 years after the original. Homer wrote the Iliad around 900 B.C., and the earliest copy is dated to about 400 B.C., spanning a period of approximately 500 years. There are about 643 copies of this classic – more than any other ancient classic. There are 5,600 copies of the New Testament writings. Some of these scholars(??) accept the scant evidence of the classics but reject the voluminous evidence of the New Testament.

But what does the Bible say?

The Bible has stood and will stand the tests and trials of the ages.

Psalm 119:89 “For ever, O LORD, thy Word is settled in heaven.”

1 Peter 1:25 “But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

The Bible is a supernatural, inspired, and accurate book.

 2 Peter 1:19-21 “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration (God-breathed) of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

The Bible shows the way to salvation.

2 Timothy 3:15 “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

The Bible is to be lived, not just read and learned.

James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

Proverbs 28:9: “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”

Are you reading, believing, learning, living, and loving the  Word of God today?