Gospel News — Jun-Aug 2012

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that grace. I could have come to the end of my life without having responded to all the nudges and taps on the shoulder which God gave me. But in my case I have at least tried to respond. But God wouldn't have been wrong to show me that grace, to have tried with me. So maybe our showing of grace in Riga, everywhere, is a kind of `trying', just as God is probably trying with millions of people right at this very moment.

And then on a more simple level, it is also true that there are many very needy people in Latvia at this time and we need to try to help them. There is money, but only with a few, and there are people, especially the elderly and those without families to support them, who are not cared for very well by the state. There are also those without the right documents, there is discrimination, there are many factors and reasons which can mean that a person isn't covered by the state. And pensions for many people and things like child support are really very small. Child support is e.g. only about 8 Lats (?9.31) per month. Some of those who live in the night shelters get only 7 Lats (?8.25) a month. You can't live on this. So, as I say, on a more simple level, grace means being gracious to others without even hoping for a response. I know that there are hundreds of people, literally hundreds, in Riga who have been deeply affected by your grace in supporting the work being done. I want to thank you on their behalf, and on my own behalf, for showing me the right understanding of grace and the hope of eternal life in the Kingdom, which you have shown me. That somebody, by grace, put an advertisement in a newspaper, that God, by grace, led me to notice it and respond, that someone organized a seminar and Bible Schools, that God by His grace has promised to save me - from all my heart, thank you so very, very much, to God, and to you!

The Importance of the Bible

Bro. Gideon Hankomone, (Mazabuka, Zambia)

"All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The Bible was inspired by God - men wrote it as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It is very important and uplifting in spirit for us to continue reading our Bibles daily; we can follow the table plan of Brother Robert Roberts.

What does it mean that the Bible is inspired?

When we speak of the Bible as inspired we refer to the fact that God divinely influenced the human authors of the scriptures in such a way that they wrote the Word of God exactly as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Other verses are which claim that the Bible comes from God, 1 Cor.2:12-13, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God, and we impart this in words that are not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual". 2 Peter 1:21, "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit".

These verses teach us that though God used men with their distinctive personalities and writing styles, He divinely inspired the very words they wrote. Jesus himself confirmed the verbal plenary inspiration of the scriptures when he said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law..." Matt.5:17-18. In