Have You Read the BOOK OF THE YEAR?
Plain Truth Magazine
November-December 1983
Volume: Vol 48, No.10
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Have You Read the BOOK OF THE YEAR?

Read how this important book can change your life.

   PRESIDENT Ronald Reagan of the United States proclaimed 1983 "The Year of the Bible." To religious leaders this was an opportunity to focus the eyes of the nation on the book of the year.
   Yet how many people who have even read the Bible entirely from Genesis to Revelation really understand what it says?
   What a paradox it is that the Bible is consistently the best-seller every year with millions of copies or portions printed and distributed throughout the world in more than 1,400 different languages — yet so few understand it!
   To many, the Bible has become dull, dry history of the ancient past — having nothing to do with today's modern space age. Yet no other book is as up-to-date as the Bible.
   The Bible was written for our day — this generation. It predicted today's chaotic world conditions in which destructive forces threaten to extinguish the human race. But it also reveals what will be done to prevent world self-annihilation.
   Bruce Barton called the Bible "the book nobody knows." Yet in its pages are revealed the causes of today's ills — the social problems, the economic problems, international problems.
   The Bible shows where world events are leading and what the final outcome will be. In the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation we are given a skeletal framework of past and future events.
   The Bible is the written revelation of the Creator God for mankind. It contains absolutely vital knowledge that everyone needs to understand — but which would be inaccessible by any natural means.
   Without the Bible we could never understand the lessons of the past, the meaning of the present and the purpose of life.
   Much of the Bible is a record of what has happened when God's great law of love has been violated — both individually and nationally. God intended that we should learn from the record contained in the Bible. If humanity would learn from biblical history, we would not continue to make the same mistakes and suffer from the same results.
   Speaking of historical events recorded in the Bible, the apostle Paul stated: "It all happened to them by way of warning for others, and it was written down for the purpose of instructing us whose lot has been cast in the closing hours of the world" (I Cor. 10: 11, Moffatt trans.).
   And: "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4, RAV).
   God has laid bare the lives of those with whom he has worked over the centuries so that those who read and study the Bible might learn and avoid mistakes similar to those made in the past. The Bible contains the most meaningful case histories of human behavior ever recorded.

A Unique Book

   The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is unique in that it contains revealed knowledge from the Creator of the universe. The Bible is the written word of God in print. It is the "Maker's Instruction Manual" to explain how the human creation is to be operated. It explains why the Creator put human beings on earth. It instructs us how to live.
   Human behavior cannot be correctly interpreted apart from the Bible. Why does evil exist? What is sin? What is good? What is normal and what is deviant? Only the Word of God can supply the true answers to these and other crucial questions with which humanity is faced.
   God, through his written word, tells us what we are, how to live, and how and when we can achieve our ultimate human potential. The Bible spells out the way to peace and happiness for all humanity — vital knowledge that is missing from our schools, universities and even our churches.
   The Bible claims to be God's revelation to man of basic knowledge — knowledge of laws and principles that man is unable to discover for himself. The law of gravity, for example, is not directly revealed in the Bible. God equipped man with the powers and abilities to discover the law of gravity for himself.
   But man has not been able to discover with assurance what he is and why he was put here on earth — whether there is a real purpose for human life or what that purpose is. Man has not been able to discover the true way to peace, happiness, abundant well-being and real success.
   Only in the Bible can one find this necessary basic knowledge.

The Foundation of Knowledge

   God inspired the Bible to be the very basis of true education. The Bible, 'then, is the foundation of knowledge. It gives the true approach to the acquisition of knowledge in the fields of history, education, psychology, sociology and the health sciences. It reveals basic principles concerning business, commerce, science, the arts, law, government, philosophy and religion.
   But ironically, this "book of the year" is the least understood of all books.
   Why?
   Simply because when most people try to read the Bible, they try to understand it through the beliefs of their particular religious views.
   People could understand the Bible — if they were really willing to study it and accept it for what it says. And it doesn't say what most people think it says. The Bible is plain and simple. It means exactly what it says. If we take it as it is — without trying to read personal opinions into it — then the Bible makes real sense. It presents what some have called "the thinking man's religion."
   For more than 25 years, the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course has been helping thousands to understand what the Bible says. This course is a totally different method of Bible study. It makes the Bible easy to understand and shows how it is relevant to the space age. It is dynamic, down-to-earth. It tells the truth straight from the Bible itself.
   Students from all walks of life are enrolled in this course — even ministers of religion. They are enthusiastically discovering new truth in their Bibles with the guidance of each lesson.
   They are learning that there is hope for the future — that there are solutions to the seemingly insoluble problems of today. They are learning the keys to understanding Bible prophecy and the principles that lead to success, financial security and a happy, abundant life.
   You, too, can begin to share these same experiences by studying the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course. There is no tuition cost. To enroll and obtain your free lessons, write to the office nearest you. The address is on the inside cover.
   Although 1983 was proclaimed "The Year of the Bible," the Bible should be studied daily — every year. It is the Book of Life for all times.

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Plain Truth MagazineNovember-December 1983Vol 48, No.10