8
“…. It is more blessed to give than to receive” ... continued
nation when David called for gifts for the
temple that Solomon would build. The details
– 1 Chronicles 29:6-7
The Test of the True Believer
Jesus outlined the test of genuineness, He
applies to His followers – by one sign only -
(John 13:34) “...by this will all men know that
you are my disciples, in that you have love
one for another.”
The Christian Believer should, and must stand
out in this world by love applied and prac-
tised. By showing, compassion, pity, love and
forgiveness within – that it might attract oth-
ers, ‘to the Lord’s side’ and to become more
‘like Him’.
The Inspiration of the Bible
T
here is a familiar saying that you can tell
what a man is by the company he keeps,
and what is true of men is also true of books.
The character of a book can be judged by the
kind of person who reads it, and the influence
it exerts upon its readers. The good man reads
a good book, the man of low and vicious dis-
position reads books which suit his depraved
tastes. Judged by this standard, the Bible
holds a unique and unchallenged position. The
great and good men who have loved the Bible
are legion; a few names come to mind, such
as Milton, Priestley, Sir Isaac Newton, Davy,
Faraday, Kelvin, and Gladstone and, among
women, Queen Victoria and Miss Nightingale.
In the night clubs, the gaming houses, or in the
homes of the thief or the prostitute, the Bible
finds no place. Where vice, drunkenness and
improvidence abound not a single Bible will be
in use. There is in the Bible that which no
other book possesses to a similar extent, a
spirit which pervades it and which can influ-
ence men and women towards higher and bet-
ter things.
Whence came that spirit? The answer is sup-
plied by the Bible itself, where we read that
God “at sundry times and in divers manners
spoke in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets”. The good spirit, then, is of God,
who has inbreathed it into a book, from which
it goes forth again to the world.
No other book has, or ever has had, such a
wonderful record as the Bible. No other book
has been published, broadcast in so many mil-
lions; no other book has been translated into
so many languages; no other book has had so
great an influence on the lives of men, or on
the destiny of nations. The Bible has withstood
the assaults of infidels and survived them all;
it has been banned, destroyed and publicly
burned, but has arisen triumphantly over all
its foes because it is of God.