Fundamental Belief #1--Holy Scriptures
The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In this Word, God has committed to man the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the test of experience, the authoritative revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God's acts in history. (Look up these verses here. 2 Peter 1:20, 21; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Ps. 119:105; Prov. 30:5, 6; Isa. 8:20; John 17:17; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12.)
The story below can be adapted. When I told this story I shortened it considerably, telling about the airmen and the Bible hidden in the dough. But the story is certainly good as written. I found this online at Your Story Hour website.
God's Great Book
We’ll
have to make a forced landing,” said the pilot to his helper, “and
there is nothing but jungle and the enemy and dangerous natives below
us.”The plane came to a jolting halt in a little ravine. The men were badly shaken but not seriously hurt. They left their plane and began to creep through the jungle. The men were afraid. Surely someone had seen their crippled plane come down and would be out looking for them. Suddenly, the men saw before them a little opening in the jungle surrounding a small village. They did not know where to go to be safe, so they decided to remain hidden and watch the village. It was clean and neat, not like the villages on the other islands where the men had been stationed. The people who were in the village were clean, too.
Finally one of the men said, “Let’s go in and give ourselves up. We’ll die if we
stay in the jungle.”
When they walked into the village, the natives came to meet them, but not with clubs or guns. They came smiling. They greeted the fliers and took them to a clean house. They gave them food to eat, and then the natives showed the men the Book.
How happy the fliers were when they saw the Book! They were not afraid any more. They could trust these people who loved the Book. The natives were almost like brothers to the aviators, as they fed and cared for them. After days of planning and waiting, the natives helped them to reach their own forces again.
What was this wonderful Book that turned wild savages into kind people? It was a Book that is very precious; it is called the Bible. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, even before John Cabot discovered the New World people loved this Book. At that time only a few people had a copy of the Bible, for it was all written by hand, copied letter by letter. There were so few copies of the Bible that only a small number of people ever had the opportunity to read it.
People paid a great deal just for the privilege of coming to the house of someone who owned a Bible in order to read it. A farmer who heard that someone had a Bible, gave him a large load of hay for permission to read it for an hour each day.
The people who paid so much just to read the Bible actually risked their lives when they read it. Soldiers went through the towns and country looking for the Bible. If anyone was found with one in his home, he would be put in prison or even killed, and the Bible would be burned up. Even though it was so dangerous to be caught, people continued to read the Bible in secret places and in their homes with the shades tightly shut.
In the front of an old Bible this prayer was written: “God grant us to know and to keep well the Holy Writ and to suffer joyfully some pain for it at last.” People who read the Bible really knew what pain was because they were hunted like wild animals and had to live in lonely mountain valleys and in caves. Many who were caught lost their lives. After hundreds of years a man named Gutenberg found a way to produce books on a printing press. The first book he printed was the Bible, but people were still forbidden to read it. All the copies that could be found were burned.
Some good men who loved the Bible went about the country as peddlers, selling needles, pins, buttons and cloth and secretly carrying copies of the Bible with them. When they came to a home where people were hungry to hear the Bible read, they would bring out a copy of it and read it to them. Sometimes they would leave a Bible with the family, and they would share it with others.
A lady who had bought a Bible from one of the peddlers was in the kitchen one day baking bread. A neighbor came running to her house and told her that the king’s soldiers were coming. “Hide your Bible,” she said. The lady looked for a good hiding place and she suddenly thought about the bread sitting on the table. She quickly wrapped the Bible and hid it in an unbaked loaf.
When the soldiers came to her house they looked and looked but did not find the Bible.
In most countries today people are free to read the Bible, although in some places it is difficult to get a copy. Here in America and many other countries too, anyone who wants a copy may buy one in almost every bookstore. You will want to read this precious Book that so many people have loved.
“Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 NKJV.
This story is from Your Story Hour.
Here are the two Bible verses that were used on the coloring sheet.
"You have known the Holy Scriptures ever since you were a little child. They are able to teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus. God has breathed life into all of Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing." 2 Timothy 3:15-17
"Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You."
Psalm 119:11
The chorus of the old Sabbath School song "Give Me the Bible" was the chosen song for this story. Click the link to hear the song. You may have another song about the Bible you would like to teach the children.
Give Me the Bible
Give me the Bible-holy message shining,
Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way.
Precept and promise, law and love combining,
'Til night shall vanish in eternal day.
Here's the colouring sheet that was given to the children. I used pictures of both a girl and a boy reading the Bible for this story.
I've searched the internet til my eyes are blurry looking for the links to these pictures. If anyone knows where I found them please let me know so I can give credit and a link. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment