The online edition of the Quarterly Record, the magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society.
The history of the Christian church includes, among other things, the individual accounts of thousands of men and women, and boys and girls, who lived at different times and in various parts of the world, whose lives were devoted to Christ and the furtherance of His Kingdom. In the last edition of the Quarterly Record reference was made to one of this noble army, William Carey.
The bookshelves of many of our homes contain the written memorials of ministers, missionaries and others, who laboured for the cause of Christ at various times and in different continents during the past two thousand years. Their lives are recorded for our spiritual benefit and encouragement, and many profitable hours can be spent reading the lives of the godly of previous generations, and observing how the Lord has been pleased to use poor, unworthy and wretched instruments, so very like ourselves, in the accomplishing of His divine purposes.
Some of these books record the lives of eminent Christians who died whilst still comparatively young, and whose short lives were remarkably blessed to many; whilst others give detailed accounts of the long and devoted lives of the Lord's servants, who laboured through many discouragements and trials in their service to their Lord and Master. In the Lord's goodness, some of these Christians lived to see the Lord's blessing remarkably attend their labours, whilst others, like William Tyndale, the great translator of the English Bible, were removed from the scene of this world without being able to see anything of the wonderful fruitfulness that, under God, would result from their labours.
Not all the Lord's people are called to translate the Bible and to lay down their lives as Christian martyrs, as was the case of William Tyndale, or are required to bid farewell to their native lands and spend the entirety of their lives among the heathen on distant continents, as did William Carey. Not all are sent to live and work among their neighbouring heathen tribes, as was David Brainerd; or are called to be famous preachers whose ministry is blessed to thousands, as was George Whitefield.
Indeed, very, very few of the Lord's people -- ministers or missionaries, elders or deacons, school teachers or pupils, housewives or nurses, office clerks or factory workers, farmers or mechanics - have had their lives recorded in either biographies or autobiographies. Their lives, for the most part, have been unnoticed by many outside their immediate circles, and when their pilgrimages have ended their names invariably pass into comparative oblivion. However, their testimony for the truth of God and His Word, is always noted by the Master Himself; and whilst they may not have been able to lay claim to having been greatly used of God during their lives, they had humbly sought to be faithful, seeking grace to devote themselves in service to their God. Each one of them, therefore, would have received his eternal reward, "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 1.4). "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16.11).
Their lives had evidenced the grace of God. Having been born again, something of the sweet fragrance of true Christianity had marked them out as the people of God. Though they may have been often tried and tempted, and burdened by the sorrows and griefs that characterise those who fear God, they were men and women, boys and girls, who loved the Word of God and rejoiced in the God of the Word. Having been redeemed by the grace of God, their lives had become devoted to His cause. Their delight had been in "the law of the LORD", and "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season" (Psalm 1.2, 3), they had drawn grace day by day from the abundant fulness they had found in Christ, and thus were enabled to live as "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11.13), shining "as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life" (Philippians 2.15, 16).
Not only were they living epistles (2 Corinthians 3.3), whose very lives reflected something of the glory of Christ in the midst of the darkness and the wretchedness of this evil world, but their hearts' desire and prayer to God was for the extension of the Kingdom of Christ, and the conversion of their fellow men.
We, the staff, members and friends of the Trinitarian Bible Society, who have been saved by the grace of God, may not be called to be a Tyndale, a Carey, a Brainerd or a Whitefield; we may not have written our autobiographies, or have biographies written about us, to be passed down to posterity; we may not have been called to take a leading place in the history of the Christian church; but we have been called to be faithful; we have been called to be lights in the world; we are to seek His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom; we are to pray and labour for the salvation of our fellow men; we are to be men and women who ourselves love the Word of God and who have the prayerful and practical desire to place the Holy Scriptures in the hands of others throughout the world.
In this edition of the Quarterly Record reference is made to the passing away of a Vice-President of the Society and a former member of its staff. Their long association with the work in which we are engaged, of distributing faithful and reliable editions of the Holy Scriptures among all nations, was very tangible evidence of their spiritual and prayerful longings. May all our friends and supporters likewise evidence their spiritual interest by continued earnest prayer for the blessing of Almighty God to rest upon the work in which we are engaged, that unto His Name may be all the praise and glory!
by the Rev. G. Hamstra
A Vice-President of the Society
It happened during the afternoon on the Thursday prior to the week of the sufferings of Jesus. In the company of His disciples, and on His way to Jerusalem to celebrate His last Passover, the Saviour paid His first and only recorded visit to Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho, according to the custom of the times, gathered in the streets to welcome the pilgrims from Galilee and Peraea travelling towards the Holy City.
In this crowd of onlookers was an unpopular publican named Zacchaeus. This chief officer of the tax and custom department had become rich by unscrupulous means. Christ taught that it was harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. How could there then be hope for a man who had gained his riches by such dubious methods?
Yet Zacchaeus made an attempt to see Jesus. Why? Was it mere curiosity? Not very likely. Was he not satisfied with his ill-gained earthly riches? Did he seek and long for a deeper treasure? Was he perhaps moved by the inward drawing of the Holy spirit? We may not be certain in this regard. However, as so often, the way to Jesus was not without obstacles for Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was "little of stature" and so many in the crowd were standing between this helpless sinner and the Saviour. Something compelled him to go far beyond what others did. The wealthy man forgot his dignity. He climbed up a sycomore tree along the road by which Jesus was about to pass. No doubt Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus.
At last the pilgrim travellers arrived at the location where the publican was waiting. The gracious Saviour lifted His compassionate eyes upward. He sought and found Zacchaeus. Christ spoke the word of grace with power. "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house" (Luke 19.5). The publican did as he was bidden. He made haste and came down. This sinner was effectually called.
The Son of Man came to this world to seek and to save that which was lost. The relation of our text and its preceding narrative is rather unique. The text is a heavenly (Christ's) commentary on the narrative, while the narrative illustrates the ever relevant and precious teaching of the text. To seek and to save that which was lost, was Christ's one and only purpose for coming to this earth. All else He ever undertook was subservient to this glorious and superior goal of His life. To seek and to save was His meat and drink; it was the will of His heavenly Father.
Zacchaeus, like every other sinner of our fallen human race and in his natural condition, was a lost sinner. Lost: it is a little word, but how far-reaching is its significance! Human language can never fully express all that is implied in this one brief utterance. Lost: that means to be no longer in the possession of our original and rightful Owner. It is to be estranged from God by reason of our fall in Adam and our actual transgressions.
Moreover, if during his brief pilgrimage here below, the lost sinner is not sought and found, he will perish and be lost throughout all eternity. Furthermore, his lost condition does not only point to a serious future peril; no, he is lost already, for he is a perishing sinner.
A sinner cannot possibly save himself. Neither can any other creature perform his deliverance. God, and God only, is able to save. Divine love is needed to seek and find a lost sinner. Even divine love, by itself, is not enough. Divine wisdom and sovereign power are likewise needed to seek and save the lost. The Saviour, who is both God and Man, has the required qualifications.
Jesus sought and found Zacchaeus. The Saviour met the lost sinner. This meeting resulted in a great wonder, the wonder of divine grace: the salvation of a perishing soul. Made willing in the day of God's power, Zacchaeus spontaneously and joyfully received Christ into his heart and home. In heaven, holy angels sang for joy. But the crowd of pilgrims was not satisfied. The complaint was rather widespread; it was unanimous. They all murmured, because He was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. How terrible was this blind enmity! But it made Zacchaeus speak about what lived in his heart. Half of his goods he would give to the poor. If he had taken anything in a dishonest way, he would restore it fourfold. The greedy tax officer had become a generous friend of the poor! Salvation had come to Zacchaeus.
The verse of our meditation has been called the golden text of the Gospel according to Luke, and rightly so. In every land and place where the Gospel is faithfully preached, and in every age until He returns, Christ is still graciously seeking, finding and saving the lost. Have you already experienced this saving power of Christ? His wondrous grace is unspeakably precious!
by C. P. Hallihan
In which country would you find the source of the river Tigris? Or the river Euphrates? Where is Mount Ararat? (At least as far as older maps show them.) Which nation, once a kingdom with a dynasty claiming descent from Solomon, has the double-edged distinction of being the first to declare Christianity as its national religion? Given the title of our article, the obvious answer is -- Armenia.
In 301 AD King Tiridates III, having been persuaded to Christianity by Gregory 'the Illuminator', proclaimed Christianity to be the religion of his realm. This antedates Constantine's Edict of Milan, which gave security to the profession of Christianity in the Roman Empire, by twelve years. The date stirs excitement for the historically inclined, for it is just on the brink of defining events -- the Council of Nicea; the founding of Constaninople; the controversy which is focused in the names Arius and Athanasius; the bitter strife between Nestorians and Monophysites; the first suggestions of a beginning of "The Empire of the East", Byzantium, with the theological and ecclesiastical divisions between East and West which obtain to this day. Armenia, the Armenian Church, was involved in it all.
But we should begin at something more like a beginning.
Contemporary Armenia is an entirely landlocked state, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, south of the Caucasus Mountains. Current borders, clockwise from the East, are with Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, and the Republic of Georgia. In area the country is 11,506 sq. miles, slightly less than Belgium, slightly more than the American state of Maryland. Five percent of the area of Armenia is covered by the largest of its hundreds of lakes, Lake Sevan (Van on older maps). Yerevan, the capital city, lies on a similar latitude to Sofia, Marseilles, Bilbao, Boston or Vladivostok. In former times the country extended to ports not only on the two seas mentioned, but also on the Tarsus coast of the Mediterranean, and historians speak of a Greater and Lesser Armenia. In rather simplistic terms one can say that modern Armenia is scarcely the size of the old Lesser Armenia, but that Armenian culture and language still pervades the larger area. This has given rise to an often confusing linguistic distinction between Eastern Armenian, the language spoken in the "home" country by almost four million people, and Western Armenian, spoken by Armenians dispersed through the larger, predominantly Turkish, sphere, and elsewhere in the World, by over eight million people. All that is meant by the demographic term Caucasian, and the linguistic term Indo-European, come to sharp focus, for good and ill, in Armenia.
This location means that Armenia has too often been coveted by neighbouring powers, either as a strategic buffer or else a convenient corridor, fought over and through, invested, divided, so that the continued sense of community and independence in the people is cause for amazement.
Victim of its geographical situation, only rarely has Armenia been independent in the course of some 2,500 years. It has been in turn, and in varying degree, subject to Persians, Seljuks, Greeks, Romans, Parthians, Turks and Russians. Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander, Caesar, as well as Ataturk and Stalin -- all had to do with this fierce land. The name first appears in Persian cuneiform inscriptions of the era of Darius Hystapses1, although there are references to the region and its earlier inhabitants, the Urartians, in Hittite hieroglyphs about 1360 BC, and Assyrian carvings of about 1110 BC. That earlier Kingdom of Urartu flourished as one of the more powerful states in the Middle East between the 10th and 7th centuries BC. The present Armenians can trace a continuous history to the 6/7th century BC, styling their ancestors the Hayk (Haik), and the land that of Hayastan (Haisdan). Around the time of Julius Caeasar's first trip to Britain, 55 BC, Roman forces, in part of an ongoing campaign against the Parthians, had defeated the Armenian King Tigran II. Armenia was in the Roman, and then Byzantine, sphere of influence for several centuries. Arab and Turkish incursions increased from the 7th century AD. From being a buffer zone between Rome and Parthia, Armenia had become the frontier zone between Christendom2 and the Muslim Powers. The last titular Armenian Kingdom fell to the Mameluke forces of Egypt in the 14th century, and by 1514 Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire, though with much interference from Persia (Saffarid Iran).
Under Turkish dominion in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Armenian nation, declared since 301 as Christians, suffered every kind of oppression and abuse. Pogroms of a violence and scale scarcely yet admitted or acknowledged were carried out, right up to the end of the First World War, when Turkish rule gave way to Russian influence3. In December 1920 Armenia, after a brave but doomed attempt at Independence, became a Soviet Socialist Republic. In March 1922 Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were federated. Azerbaijan remained fiercely Muslim, and the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, given to Azerbaijan by Soviet authorities in 1923, had a majority population of Christian Armenians. Tension and outright violence have been the stormy product of this situation ever since. Even though the breaking up of the former USSR made room for democratic independence in September 1991, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh dominate political affairs in Armenia. A singular difficulty for Armenia is that many of its most useful communication lines lie through Azerbaijan, which fact had a distressing impact on the supply of aid in the devastating earthquake of 1988.
The official language of the Republic of Armenia is Eastern Armenian (Hayeren), although Russian is still very much in evidence, so that the Society has been able to distribute several thousands of Russian Scriptures in Armenia over recent years. Major Western European languages are included in school curricula. Armenian is a distinct one-language subset of the Indo-European family. An Armenian alphabet was first constructed in AD 405 by a monk, Mesrop Mashtots: thirty-six characters, to which another three were added later. It was the need to translate the Bible which motivated this step, and this early Bible version, in manuscript form, became the defining standard of the language, 'grabar' or Classical Armenian. Several works of classical Greek and Latin origin are only extant today in early Armenian translations, and one of the treasures of modern Armenia is the Matenaderan, the National Depository of Manuscripts, in Yerevan. This is enriched by the fact that in the Middle Ages, Armenia was renowned for the production of splendidly illuminated written work.
From the 4th century Christianity has been the declared religion of Armenia; the Armenian Apostolic Church, with its head, the Catholicos, in Echmiadzin near Yerevan, counts some six million adherents in Armenia and as a diaspora throughout the World. Given the time of its rise, and the location, one would expect a certain amount of historical and theological confusion.
This Church3 is generally of the Orthodox rite and doctrine, but retains distinctions and independence. For a while in the Middle Ages it bowed to Romish authority, but is unmistakably Byzantine in character. Broadly speaking the Eastern (Greek) churches were most concerned with theological issues, and the painstaking refinement of investigation into the Nature of the Godhead and of Christ, whilst soteriology, how are we saved, was more the preoccupation of the Western (Latin) churches.
This distinction is by no means absolute, but does help one grasp the underlying motives in the coil of councils and creeds of the Byzantine era -- the East always attempting a conclusive statement as to the nature and economy of the Godhead, and the West always pointing out the implications of such statements in connection with the work of Redemption. Arians, Nestorians, Monotheletes, Monophysites, all were of the Eastern persuasion, and as they appeared to Western theologians to impugn the Person and Work of Christ to the extent that they rendered Him (technically) an inadequate Saviour, their views were denounced in the West as heresy. Mystical contemplation of the Incarnate God was the Eastern path. Becoming a beneficiary of the Work of the Incarnate God was the Western. (Again, I admit the drastic simplicity of such generalised statements, and ask your forbearance.)
The Armenian Apostolic Church is 'coming from' the Monophysite realm, basically suppressing the human nature, or the activity of such, in the Person of Christ, to the extent that, to the Western Church, His federal capacity to represent His people is compromised. The Armenian Apostolic Church, in common with the Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian Churches, never subscribed to the Creed of Chalcedon. Nevertheless this Church has endured over centuries, as a bulwark of Christianity, first against the Zoroastrianism of Persia and later in face of the full flood of Moslem expansion: and suffered gravely for such a distinction. This Church counts some 80% of the population as its members, and has been the ark of Armenian culture. The liturgy is conducted in the classical language, with all the problems which that entails in this modern era. Statistics show less than 1% of the population as Protestant, but indicate that this group is growing rapidly. Mission from outside the country began in the early 19th century, especially coming from the United States. Evangelical witness has multiplied since the collapse of Communism, often supported by Armenians in other countries, especially in North America and the Middle East.
The Armenian Bible, as noted above, was culturally and linguistically definitive for the Armenian nation. A product of the 5th century, it is generally in the Byzantine tradition, and took its Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint rather than Hebrew texts. Its chief value in textual studies is its reflection of the earlier Syrian versions. Well before its appearance in print, copies began to show some influence of the later Vulgate Latin Bible. When it was first printed, in Amsterdam 1666 under the editorial travail of Voskan Vardapet, somewhat more of Latin influence intruded. From the beginning, though, the Deutero-Canonical books, or Apocrypha, were an integral part of the Old Testament text.
Armenian clerical writers are very clear as to their doctrine of Scripture. Whilst the Book is indeed referred to as 'Asdvadzashoonch', "Breath of God", it is not for them the ultimate authority, but a part of Holy Tradition; it is not for them the voice of God, for that is the privilege of the Church. The Armenian Bible is for them essentially an 'in-house' document of the Church, having no evangelical or inspirational relevance outside the Church: the Bible does not speak to the World, that is the Church's part.
A "New" Armenian Bible was produced within the last decade, but not one which would commend itself to supporters of the TBS. The need for Evangelical Testimony and a Bible produced according to Protestant principles of text and canon is keenly felt by the Society, and an Armenian Project is in hand at this time. We anticipate having the Gospel of John available soon as a pilot edition, with the rest of the New Testament following in the next year. We would encourage your prayers for this endeavour, as we seek to provide the Scriptures for Armenian readers round the world.
One of our workers, an Armenian national, has graphically described present conditions in Armenia as a result of the war and blockade and earthquake:
It must be remembered that Armenia is not a third world country. Many of these people were living in modern high rise buildings with all the comforts offered by up-to-date technology. Suddenly it became impossible for them to wash, or flush their toilets. Drinking water and shopping had to be carried across the city, and up many flights of stairs...cars, buses, lifts, taps, shops are present only as relics of an old life...and generally, nothing works.... In the aftermath of the earthquake the UN had sent in a lot of supplies in metal containers. Now many of those whose homes were ruined by the disaster live in these metal containers.
However, the same brother goes on to speak of mighty gospel mercies in the midst of these distresses, of a lone evangelical witness in Yerevan having but a congregation of tens in the 1970s becoming thousands in the 1990s, and becoming fifty churches! Bibles, sound literature, elders, pastors and teachers are all greatly needed, as such as there are suffer from massive overwork (yes, I mean copies of the Bible, as well as Bible teachers!), such is the growth of the need. Our colleague reflects:
I have often pondered on the way revival broke out in Armenia when their history was at one of its lowest points, and conditions were so terrible. Perhaps it is understandable that when everything has been taken from them and they have nothing else to cling to, people will turn to God as their only hope. Perhaps it is simply God's gift to the nation in its time of direst need. Maybe we should not try to explain the ways of God, but simply marvel at His doings.
Let us marvel indeed, give thanks, and continue in prayer for the cause of Christ and the Scriptures in Armenia.
In mid-December, we were informed that Miss Grace King had passed on to glory at the age of 91. After 30 years as a French teacher, Miss King took early retirement in December 1962. After some years of voluntary proofreading for the Society, she commenced full-time work with the Society at the beginning of January, 1963, utilising well her linguistic abilities in helping to check foreign translations. Miss King also worked on the Golden Thoughts Calendars, prepared the Jewish leaflets, and helped produce materials for children, including the Hidden Text Albums and Scripture items designed not only to teach children the Word of God but also to improve their reading skills. She did some accounts work, and, because at that time only small parcels could be sent to Israel and Spain, packed up many single Bibles to be sent to these countries. At that time most of the Society's articles were duplicated, and Miss King spent many hours operating the duplicating equipment. She also served the Society in the Grants Department, in due course passing her considerable skills in this area on to our present head of Grants, Anne Newman. She was hard working, and devoted to the work of the Society until her retirement in June, 1983, and maintained prayerful interest in the work to her end.
Miss King lived with Miss Fuller, the secretary to our former President, the late Rev. T. H. Brown. We would appreciate your prayers for Miss Fuller who has suffered the loss of this friend of over fifty years.
On 7th December 2000, the Rev. Alexander McPherson, a Vice-President of the Society, was also called home to be with his Lord and Master. The Rev. McPherson served for some years in Zimbabwe, during which time he wrote a biography of the Rev. James Fraser. His literary skills also enabled him to serve as editor of The Young People's Magazine and the official History of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
The Rev. McPherson was called to the Gospel Ministry and ordained in 1961, serving the Lord in this capacity for nearly forty years. In 1979 he was made Minister of the London Congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and during his tenure there joined the General Committee of the Society. Following his return to Scotland in 1992, he continued his involvement with the Society as a Vice-President. He served the interests of the Society most diligently for many years and will be greatly missed. We extend our sincere condolences to Mrs McPherson and the family.
As mentioned in our last Quarterly Record, the Society is pleased to announce the introduction of our new online sales facility. Now, in addition to writing, telephoning or faxing, you have the option of placing your order online at
By logging onto our Website, you can see full-colour photographs of our Bibles and Scripture items, take your pick from Scriptures in numerous languages and place your order through our secure system.
We rejoice in the Lord that we are able to take advantage of this option for spreading His Word world-wide via the Internet.
After the very successful publication last year of the special Millennium John's Gospel, of which we printed half a million copies, we are now pleased to announce the publication of a John's Gospel in the same well-received Millennium text and paragraphed format, but with a new cover.
The attractive natural colour gloss cover features a typical Northern American river in the foreground lined by trees and a back elevation of beautiful, snow-capped mountains.
These John's Gospels are an ideal introduction of Scripture to unbelievers. They are very reasonably priced at £0.30 each and discounts are available if Churches are involved in free distribution or for Missionary work. If you have in mind ordering a number of these we shall be pleased to send a sample complimentary copy.
You can see this Gospel in virtual reality on our website at www.TBS-sales.org. If you require further information or would like to place an order in the UK please contact Jon Hickman UK Sales on (020) 8543 7857 or at jon@TBS-sales.org or contact your local Branch Office.
Every so often the Society has the opportunity of hosting groups of visitors to our London Headquarters. On these occasions, the staff of the Society prepare talks and tours in order to help our supporters and friends better understand the work which the Lord has been pleased to give us to do -- and in which our supporters and friends play a large part with their prayers and finances.
October brings a group of teenagers from a Christian school in The Netherlands. Some years ago this school added the Society to its itinerary of places to see while in London.
A rare privilege was afforded the Society during last winter by the visit of a group from a Roman Catholic School in Poland. We were pleased to be able to present not only the work of the Society but also the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We would encourage your prayers for these children and their parents.
An annual event is our Open Day, when for one Saturday we throw open the doors of our Headquarters and invite anyone interested to get a better understanding of the work and witness of the Society. Last year some 150 people came, both old friends and new.
Greetings in Jesus' wonderful Name. The three parcels were received safely and soundly, though it arrived little late. The distribution of the Golden Thoughts was very successful. Our prison ministry used it effectively and many more prisoners requested for it and other churches, too. The Golden Thoughts have been approved by churches for family use. Some new converts received the Bible while all received the Golden Thoughts. Glory be to God. Thanks.
The Pastor and members of our Ministry, of which I am the Pastor, wish to take this opportunity to thank you and the entire staff of the Society for the wonderful co-operation and help for sending Bibles and Christian literatures to the people of Ghana. This time round, distribution of Bibles and literatures went to the Christian youth in the Bible believing Churches in and around the city of Accra and Tema Metropolitan area. Others were distributed to our brothers and sisters from Liberia who are residing in Ghana as Refugees, as a result of the war that took place in their country.
Thank you so much for hundred copies of Holy Bibles, received safely. As I have told you before receiving Bible from you is very helpful, necessary and very useful for four reasons: 1. Especially most of the students are very poor; they could not afford. 2. The Bible in English is not printed in our country. 3. The very limited available Bibles are corrupted versions. 4. There is no bookshop selling English Bible regularly. Out of sixty-three Baptist Ministers in our area fourteen of them have no English Bible. I distributed the Bible in the conference and after that the President of the Ministers said words of thanks to God and to Trinitarian Bible Society and concluded with prayer. We introduced linguistic since the past three years in two theological Schools at Kalaymyo. Fortunately, we have some teachers those who are interesting linguistic; mostly those teachers are graduated from India, etc. But one of the greatest problem is Holy Bible in Hebrew and Greek. Those linguistic students are at present fifty-three altogether. If you can supply at least fifty-three copies of HEBREW Old Testament/GREEK New Testament we would be very grateful and I'm sure it will be very helpful. I am very grateful to receive the encourage magazine of your quarterly regularly. Only from you we receive great help. May the sustainer God bless the Trinitarian richly. Thanks.
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Your materials, Bibles are most serviceable in our ministry. Also your posters are proclaiming God's Word in many places. Some pastors also asking your poster to paste in their churches, homes, and schools, colleges, so send me some more posters. Because posters are doing marvellous work in our ministry. Scripture text sheets Country Byways, Country Homes, are much useful for the school children. Therefore send me Scripture text sheets more. We are praying for your ministry.
First of all I would like to express my great gratitude for your wonderful present, the picture calendars (Words of Life) for 2001. I have already got the 500 copies and started to distribute them today. In the Albert Schweitzer Home each old sister and brother will have a calendar at his/her bed and also the nurses. I gave half of the calendars to the mission-leaders of our church, who work among the deaf and homeless people, as I was invited to preach the Good News for them just recently. Thank you to make me able to give something nice, important and useful to those who became near to me. We celebrate the Reformation Day (31 October) all over the church. In our home we had a Holy Communion Worship on Sunday (29th) and it was my privilege to preach the Gospel of the great deeds of our Lord.
Our children received their Bibles. They were presented at our annual prize-giving. Thank you once again for the Bibles. The parents thought it was an excellent idea and would like the Bibles to be kept as a memento but the Sunday following the presentation the children all brought them to use in Sunday School.
Many thanks indeed for the prompt delivery of the calendars and Quarterly Record magazines in the super TBS envelope. It will come in very useful for me to send a 'Golden Thoughts' calendar to a friend. I do so want her to have it in mint condition and the envelope is just the job. This dear Christian friend always likes to read the whole chapter as suggested on the calendar. Very many thanks too for the TBS 'upmarket' magazines -- I believe that's the 'in' word! They not only look good, but they are a very good read as well. It was interesting to read of the Lord's leading in the lives of Graham Bidston, David Allen and Michael Harley. It is good to know the Lord has called David Allen into the work -- a very faithful servant of the Lord with a lovely wife Lyn and three lovely children, Matthew, Rachel and James. I hope I've remembered correctly. May the Lord richly bless him in this work which is right up his street. I believe it was David Allen that first brought to our notice that the Lord 'hast magnified thy' (His) 'word above all thy name' Ps. 138.2. Please find the enclosed gift for TBS -- I wish I could add two more noughts to it -- may the Lord multiply it which He is well able to do.
Please allow me to thank you on behalf of the Headteacher and the Governing Body of our school for the Bibles you sent to us in the summer. After taking advice from our Archbishop, we would be delighted to receive free copies of Bibles both in Greek and English. I am enclosing the Request Form. If you wish to send fewer than the requested number please feel free to do so. Your gift of these precious books is much appreciated.
Thank you for these Original Languages Bibles which arrived this week. We are very grateful to you for them -- they have been mainly taken by our first year students who are from the U.K., Eire, Switzerland, Italy, U.S.A., Canada, and S. Korea but some have been made available to second year students who are from the aforementioned countries plus Brazil, Hong Kong and Pakistan. Thank you again for providing these.
We hope you are well. Thank you for the calendars in Arabic and French. Please do send us ten more of each if possible. We have not received any in Spanish so far. It might be that this year I failed to send you the form or if I did send it you have not got it. If this is so please do send us if at all possible as usual a hundred calendars in Spanish, one in English and one in Portuguese. Also the same amount of the Golden Thoughts calendar. Thank you very much.
We're now in the bleak midwinter and the year's work is almost complete. We thank you for your prayers. God has been good. We're in good health and carrying the Gospel across our country. The winter may be bleak but the Light is shining. The membership at the midweek meetings last year was falling, in fact, there was talk of closures but we thank God that all this has changed. This year the numbers are rising again. "Have faith in God." We've spoken at forty-two meetings and had forty-three bookstalls. Around the country we have six permanent bookstalls. We have distributed 3,500 Trinitarian calendars to prisons, old folks' homes, churches and missions. We very gratefully receive them through the grant scheme of the Trinitarian Bible Society. We also supply three churches with "Daily Bread" from Radio Bible Class ministry. We thank you for your help and encouragement in the work and wish you and yours every blessing. Keep on praying.
A thousand thanks for the gift of ten Hebrew/Greek Bibles which arrived here safely in my absence. Hence my delay in writing! They are a treasure and you may be assured that great care will be taken with regard to their distribution. The Greek New Testament -- the previous gift proved to be a tremendous blessing. Copies were given to professors and students in Hungary and Germany. Be assured of my gratitude and of the thanks of the recipients. I make it clear that it is a gift from TBS and not from me!
When we received this Kulish translation of the Bible we did not know that this translation of the Bible has such popularity in Ukraine. We received requests from many Organisations including museums and embassies, and unions of writers and painters. A lot of people would like to have this translation of the Bible because this translation was read by their grandmothers and grandfathers. Many people call us and ask: Is it true that you post free this translation of the Bible to everybody who is interested in, because it is difficult to believe?
I am a Jewish prisoner incarcerated the past eighteen and a half years here in the United States. I wanted to write and ask you if you have a copy of your "The Holy Scriptures in the Original Languages" you could send me. It can be used. I would very much appreciate having one. It would sure help me because I am an Ivris (Hebrew) speaker and would like to further my knowledge with learning from the Tanakh. I am sorry though, that I don't have no funds to pay for a copy. I pray you will consider my request. Thank you for your time. P.S. Will you also place me on your mailing list?
I wanted to extend a thank you for your well laid out website and its information about the King James Bible and other versions. It is one of the most level-headed sites I have seen. I have actually referred many "anti-KJVers" to your site because I believe it delivers a message that is difficult to reproach. I have been raised reading the KJB since I was 5 years old and defend its integrity whenever I can. In fact, recently, I was censored from a mostly pro-new version web community. The last post I posted on their forums referred to your site and then I was banned from posting further. To me this only proves that your site is very effective in its delivery of getting out the message of God's unadulterated Word. God Bless you. Keep up the Good work.
Although certain phrases and expressions used in these letters may not be doctrinally accurate or in the proper English form, we reproduce the letters essentially as received, knowing that the Lord is using His Word to the glory of His Name and the furtherance of His Kingdom as the Scriptures are distributed among the nations of the world.
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