Page 6 - GraceMail October 2021

A Word from Reg Swinney
It’s a privilege for me to be asked to contribute to Grace Mail to write about something that is near to my heart, The Bible.
As Christians we should ever thank God for the Bible. What a strength itistousaswereadit.Weshould always be grateful to those who were willing to lay down their lives as martyrs, to be
burnt at the stake
for translating the
Bible from Latin
into English, so that
we could read
God’s Word. Two
of those martyrs
were Bishops Ridley
and Latimer who, on 16th October 1555 were put to death in Oxford. It is recorded that as the flames burnt around them Bishop Latimer said “Be of good comfort Bro. Ridley and play the man, we shall light a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust never shall be put out” We still have the freedom in our land today to read the Bible,
so let us, as Christians, cherish it,
for there are those in our nation today who would like to see it banned.
I once came across a poster, it said ‘Bibles that are falling apart are usually read by people who aren’t’. I believe this to be so true.
Friends, I love the Bible. Jesus talked about building our life upon
a sure foundation, and that foundation is the Bible.
The late Dr. Billy Graham said “It is in the Bible that we find the answer to life’s ultimate questions - ‘Where
did I come from?’ Why am I here?’ Where am I going?’ What is the purpose of my existence?’
When I retired from pastoring a church in Grimsby nearly 20 years ago, I was one day having a walk into Scunthorpe, and, passing the Bible Show Case at Britannia Corner I stopped to have look. I was saddened that the case looked so neglected. It looked as if it hadn’t been opened for years.
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