And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2014Matt. 24:14<\/i><\/p>\n
431<\/b> Total Count: Two Billion Scriptures<\/b><\/p>\n
The American Bible Society has kept a count of the Scriptures it has printed and distributed. <\/p>\n
One hundred and forty-one years went by before 500 million copies of Scripture were distributed. President Dwight D. Ei senhower was presented with the 500 millionth copy in 1957. Nine years later the 750 millionth copy was presented to President Lyndon B. Johnson. That was in 1966. In 1969 President Richard M. Nixon was the recipient of the one-billionth copy. <\/p>\n
Only seven years were required to print and distribute one billion more Scriptures. On April 8, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford was given the 2-billionth copy. The presentation was made at the White House by the president of the American Bible Society, Mr. Edmund F. Wagner. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Victory<\/i><\/p>\n
432<\/b> Distribution Statistics<\/b><\/p>\n
According to Guinness, the Bible is still the world\u2019s most distributed book. It has been translated into 1,659 languages\u2014versus 222 for Lenin. And between 1815 and 1975, some 2.5 billion Bibles were printed, of which 1.5 billion were handled by Bible societies. <\/p>\n
In the year 1978, the United Bible Societies distributed 9.3 million complete Bibles in 150 countries. <\/p>\n
433<\/b> Years Needed For Bible Distribution<\/b><\/p>\n
According to the American Bible Society, at present rates of Scripture distribution, and computing no increase in population, it will require the following number of years to reach each person with some portion of God\u2019s Word: North America, 13 years; Latin America, 16 years; Australia, 30 years; Africa, 75 years; Europe, 90 years; East Asia, 97 years; and West Asia, 370 years. <\/p>\n
434<\/b> Gideons In Action<\/b><\/p>\n
A million copies every twenty-seven days. That, says the Gideons International is the rate at which its people are dis tributing Scriptures around the world. At the organization\u2019s seventy-sixth convention in Denver, leaders announced that 13.5 million Bibles and New Testaments had been distributed in 1975 in 107 countries and forty-three languages at a cost of $9.5 million. <\/p>\n
Since 1908 nearly 150 million copies of Scripture have been distributed by the Gideons, a Protestant Christian business and professional men\u2019s association. A recent emphasis has been Scripture distribution among high school and college students. More than 600,000 New Testaments will be given to students in India, thanks to a single convention banquet offering. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
435<\/b> Bible Vending Machines<\/b><\/p>\n
From Brussels, Belgium, came this report:<\/p>\n
A vending machine which once dispensed candy and cigarettes here now drops copies of the four gospels when a Belgian ten-franc coin (about twenty cents) is inserted. <\/p>\n
Just as it once provided customers with a choice of candies, the converted machine now provides a choice in languages. The books are available in French and Dutch. <\/p>\n
The director of the BELGIAN Bible Society placed the machine outside a Bible Society office near a major bus and trolley stop. He reports that about one hundred gospels a month are dispensed through the vending machine. <\/p>\n
436<\/b> American Home Bible League<\/b><\/p>\n
Chicago real estate broker William A. Chapman took a trip South to regain his strength in a warmer climate. One night he and his wife stopped at a Biloxi, Mississippi, motel. Picking up the Gideon Bible in their room, he said, \u201cBetty, I wonder how many houses there are in this country without a Bible.\u201d That night the American Home Bible League was born when the realtor determined to put a Bible in every home. <\/p>\n
Since its birth in the motel room, the League has distributed millions of Scriptures in over thirty languages to homes throughout the world. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
437<\/b> Bible On The Moon<\/b><\/p>\n
A microfilm packet containinz Genesis 1:1 in sixteen languages and a complete RSV Bible were deposited on the moon by Apollo 14 LEM commander Edgar Mitchell. <\/p>\n
438<\/b> Miracle In Madagascar<\/b><\/p>\n
In 1836 missionaries were forced to leave Madagascar, leaving behind the printed Bible. The authorities decreed death to anyone who should read the Bible. For a quarter of a century, persecution raged and over ten thousand were subjected to various penalties, including death. <\/p>\n
The believers held worship in secret, and the Scriptures were read only by stealth. When the supply of printed Bibles ran out, many copied out portions by longhand. Surprisingly, from the original 1,000 adherents and 200 communicants which the missionaries had left, became 7,000 communicants and 1,000 adherents. All because of the leftover Scriptures. <\/p>\n
439<\/b> Bible Reading In Space<\/b><\/p>\n
A group of Texas Gideons, was responsible for initiating the idea of adding a copy of the Scriptures to the cargo of moon-orbiting Apollo 8, according to Decision editor Sherwood E. Wirt. <\/p>\n
A new group of Gideons had been meeting each Monday morning for prayer in Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston. One of them confided to the group that he had been praying that God\u2019s Word would be aboard the sophisticated craft on its historic mission. Bass Redd, chief of the flight technical branch of the Manned Spacecraft Center, heard the remark and said, \u201cLet me see what I can do. I know Commander Borman. He is a fine Christian. You claim Jeremiah 33:3.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early December the Gideon representative was able to reach Borman and asked, \u201cDo you have a copy of Godls Word aboard?\u201d Borman allegedly replied, \u201cNo, and I\u2019m glad you reminded me of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gideons presented all three astronauts with New Testaments which they took on the journey to the moon. Commander Borman also took along his personal copy of the Bible. Each edition was covered with noncombustible material. The first 10 verses of Genesis 1 were read by the three astronauts on Christmas Eve from Commander Bor man\u2019s own Bible, passed\u2014or floated\u2014from man to man. <\/p>\n
\u2014Pastor\u2019s Manual<\/i><\/p>\n
440<\/b> Together Now \u2026 In Poland<\/b><\/p>\n
A few years ago before the war, a humble villager in eastern Poland received a Bible from a colporteur who visited his small hamlet. He read it, was converted, and passed the book on to others. Through that one Bible two hundred more became believers. <\/p>\n
When the colporteur, Michael Billester, revisited the town in the summer of 1940, the group gathered to worship and listen to his preaching. Billester suggested that instead of giving the customary testimonies they all recite verses of Scripture. <\/p>\n
Thereupon a man arose and asked, \u201cPerhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you mean to say there are people here who can recite chapters of the Bible?\u201d asked Mr. Billester in astonishment. <\/p>\n
That was precisely the case, Those villagers had memorized, not only chapters, but whole books of the Bible. Thirteen knew Matthew and Luke and half of Genesis. One had committed all the Psalms to memory. Together, the two hundred knew virtually the entire Bible. Passed around from family to family and brought to the gathering on Sundays, the old Book had become so worn with use that its pages were hardly legible. <\/p>\n
\u2014Sunday School Times<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. \u2014Matt. 24:14 431 Total Count: Two Billion Scriptures The American Bible Society has kept a count of the Scriptures it has printed and distributed. One hundred and forty-one years went … Continue reading “BIBLE DISTRIBUTION”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}