The history of the Bible is an amazing one. God's truth. God inspired, Holy Spirit directed.
Today- September 19, 2020-
So what are some of the restrictions on the Bible around the world? Here are some of the most prominent examples:
- In North Korea, children sometimes are unaware of what their parents’ Bible is. Even having a Bible there is enough to be arrested or killed. An American was arrested and detained for five months, simply for leaving a Bible in a restaurant in the hopes a North Korean might find and read it.
- It is not illegal for a foreigner to have a single Bible in the Maldives in their own language, but there is not a complete translation of a Bible in the native language.
- In Malaysia, Bibles are allowed, but it’s not allowed to refer to God as “Allah” in Christian publications.
- In China, Bibles are allowed, but have been coming under increased scrutiny and regulation.
- In Saudi Arabia, it’s fine to bring in a Bible if you’re a foreigner—but if you do something like read it in public, or it’s suspected you have any intention with speaking publicly about your faith, that could mean prison.
- And in many places it’s permissible for traditional Christians and foreigners to worship in private or in their own ethnic groups, but if someone converts from Islam or is found with a Bible in their own language, it can lead to significant punishment.
From <https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/where-is-the-bible-banned/>
Why ban or restrict a book unless there was a fear of what reading that book might do?
God's word is powerful, yet so many who have easy access to this powerful word neglect it completely and many despise it outright. God's word is alive and well, even though throughout history many have tried to destroy it.
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Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The word of God.
God's holy word.
Love.
Despised.
Revered.
Trampled upon.
Honored.
The Bible has been through many, many phases- some where it has been openly honored and others where is has been openly despised. People have gone to great lengths to possess the written word of God, many have died in possession of mere snippets of the Scriptures because it has been illegal to have any part of God's written word. Even today in parts of the world this is still true. We don't like to believe it is because that would mean we live in a barbaric world and we do in many, many ways. To discount such a powerful prophecy geared towards the written word of God would be incredibly foolish and we would be allowing ourselves to be blind if we ignored the possibility.
The word of God was abandoned, burned, discarded, destroyed all as the age of reason was ushered in. Where did this take place? Over in part of the world which was once under the rule of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire was broken up into ten main parts this part of the world was one of those ten- France. Do you remember our Daniel study on this? Let's have a tiny refresher.
'There were ten nations at some time in their history that were most important in bringing the Roman Empire to its knees, who as independent kingdoms held portions of the Roman empire as theirs. Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxons, and Lombards'
The Franks- France.
This wasn't a part of the world unknown, a part of the world that had no history in God's prophecies, this part of the world was 1/10th of those responsible for the Roman Empire falling apart. France- one of the ten toes in Daniel's prophetic interpretation of the great statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. We shouldn't be surprised at all whatsoever that this part of the world would play a part in more prophetic history. Politics and religion mingled- politics trying to shut out religion and succeeding in keeping the written word of God despised but the word of God could NOT be destroyed.
The written word of God was shoved into darkness, deep, deep darkness for many years and then in extreme darkness before it was revived.
Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The Bible! The glorious Bible was massed produced and began to be given to many, many, many people and it has NOT stopped being massed produced since and given to many. The Bible Societies in our world have gone to great lengths to see that God's written word has gone to people all over the world in many, many languages.
Read this--
Religious books, especially the Bible and the Qur'an, are probably the most-printed books, but it is nearly impossible to find reliable sales figures for them. Print figures are missing or unreliable since these books are produced by many different and unrelated publishers. Furthermore, many copies of the Bible and the Qur'an are printed and given away free, instead of being sold.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books>
The MOST printed books and the Bible is among them!
The Spirit of life from God entered into the written word being proclaimed.
Did great fear fall upon those which realized the Bible's power as it was being given to people everywhere? Yes. The very same people that did not want the Bible to be given to people but wanted to control what they knew of God's word- were NOT happy with this mass produced Bible going to everyone. These people even told their followers that the word of God could only properly be interpreted by them. It's true! I know I've mentioned it before in other studies.
'In particular, watch more carefully over those who are assigned to give public readings of holy scripture, so that they function diligently in their office within the comprehension of the audience; under no pretext whatsoever should they dare to explain and interpret the divine writings contrary to the tradition of the Fathers or the interpretation of the Catholic Church.'
INTER PRAECIPUAS (On Biblical Societies) by Pope Gregory XVI, May 8, 1844
There is much a person can find on the history of the Bible, of the Bible being banned and so forth. God's witnesses were severely oppressed. We have access to God's written word and we are so incredibly blessed by that access.
God's word directs us heavenward, yes?
The gospel of Christ directs us heavenward. We cannot forget this, not for a moment. The Gospel of the kingdom! Salvation through our Savior!
As the fallout from the French Revolution, of the Biblical side of things was witnessed many were horrified, severely horrified by what they saw and yet those who are God's chosen knew still they must give all glory to God. God's remnant throughout time have been witness to the abuse of God's written word through those who have sought to follow God's truth. Killed for the word of God, this is fact NOT fiction and yet so many today laugh off Christianity. So many laugh off conviction and believe it's all a bunch of foolishness.
Oh by the grace of God may we NEVER be among those fools, NEVER be among those deceived. Please Lord continue to enlighten us, please! By Your grace, by Your mercy, by Your LOVE always!!!!!!!! Help us Lord, save us! Amen.
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