Confidence, Amid Craziness

Lawlessness and crime are everywhere.

Our world has become bizarre, creating chaos and concern in our homes, community, and certainly for those serving in jails.

Yet, God offers peace and hope in every situation (which COs surely need and deserve), through his word, the Bible. He offers to reassure and guide us in and through every disappointment, challenge, and pain—because He loves us.

Although the description might surprise, the Bible is a love letter from God to us, which we choose to read or ignore. I didn’t start reading it until I was 40; doing so has changed every aspect of my life for the better—including the certainty of an amazing eternity.

Have you ever written a love letter—even a short, sweet note—to someone, and eagerly awaited their response? Can you imagine your disappointment if it was ignored and never opened? God waits patiently—hoping that each person will choose to read His love letter. God isn’t pushy, but “stands at the door, knocking,” waiting to be invited into your life.

Why Read God’s Love Letter?

1. It’s relevant, applies to everyone everywhere, through every century, to now. It’s never outdated; its message is unchanging, helpful, and adaptable to those in any life stage: childhood, youth, adolescence, maturity, and senior years. It covers every topic with wisdom, simplicity, depth, encouragement, and truth—with helpful examples. Many other books are read and praised yet fall out of use. In contrast, the Bible continues as the best-seller of all time and has been translated into over 3,000 languages—more than any other book.

2. It’s scientifically accurate. Since God created all things and directed the Bible’s writing, it’s no surprise that his word revealed scientific facts long before human research discovered them. For example:

• Isaiah wrote, “the circle of the earth,” and “the earth hangs on nothing” long before people learned that the earth was round (not flat) and suspended in space (not held up by Atlas).

• 3,000 years ago, King David said in Psalm 18: “The valleys of the sea…” although people of that time believed all seabeds were flat. Only many years later did sonar and other inventions reveal oceans’ mountain ranges, valleys, and trenches.

• Leviticus states, “life is in the blood,” This was written 3,400 years before being proven by DNA! Its 13th chapter recommends 14 days’ quarantine for disease—a guideline in modern medicine which led at least one atheist doctor to recognize that the information had to come from an all-knowing power, and, thus, there must be a God.

• Thousands of years before Jesus was born, scripture predicted 300 different aspects about this coming Messiah’s birth, life, death, and resurrection—each of which he fulfilled, perfectly. For example, 700 years before the Romans invented crucifixion, scripture predicted that was how the Messiah would be executed.

3. It asserts truth, for which its authors died. Jesus’s followers were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the scriptures. They were executed for what they’d said and wrote. No one will die for a lie, but these died because they knew that what they’d written was true: that Jesus is God, who died to pay for all sin, rescuing from hell any who accepts his payment as the only way to enter heaven.

4. It reveals heroes’ failures and sinful nature. Media coverage of contemporary “heroes,” often downplays or covers up their major failures, even their corruption. But the Bible records King David’s adultery and murder of the husband, Moses’ disobedience, Gideon’s fear, and Jesus’s mother Mary being grateful for her savior. This is good news; it’s reassuring to read how every Biblical man or woman—all sinners—except Jesus failed yet were loved and helped by God. God doesn’t seek to condemn us; he wrote the Bible to give us wisdom, so that we create less havoc in our lives and less pain to others and ourselves.

5. Its predictions came true except the last, in Revelation, which is yet to come. Up to a thousand years prior, the Bible accurately predicted the rise and fall of empires (Babylonian, Mede, Persian, Greek, and Roman), the birth, type of death and resurrection of the Savior (Isaiah 53), the re-establishment of Israel (which occurred in 1948), and more.

6. It exists despite being attacked for thousands of years, affirming Jesus’s promise that “Scripture will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). The Bible condemns sexual immorality, pride, and other extolled behaviors, so sinful people dislike and ridicule it. It exposes Satan and how he works, so the devil attacks it. In the 1700s, famed author-publisher Voltaire asserted, “In 100 years, the Bible will only be in a museum.” He died and (ironically), his home and printing press became the Geneva Bible Society, where Bibles were printed.

7. It changes hearts and lives. Why is the Bible banned in many countries—even by many US institutions? Murderers, extortionists, liars, and others have been transformed by learning the Bible’s message. The abused are filled with hope by reading that God loves them. Everyone can benefit from reading and following its practical wisdom, and gain more fulfilling lives, by trusting it rather than political leaders or institutions. Most leaders prefer to control and want people to rely upon (and in effect, worship) a controlling government, rather than trust a loving Creator.

8. It has incredible unity. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by 40 men, located in three continents (Africa, Middle East/Asia, and Europe), writing in three languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic). Its first writer, Moses (who wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, except the final chapter), died 1,450 years before the birth of the final author, the apostle John, who wrote Revelation. The 40 writers were diverse: kings, slaves, lawyers, laborers, warriors, captives, farmers, fishermen, scholars, shepherds, priests, physicians, prophets, and poets. Collusion was impossible, yet their writings mesh, because God’s Holy Spirit prompted each of the 40 what to write about God, yet in his own way—some using named scribes.

9. It’s holy, which means “unique—different from all others.” The Bible is a collection of small stories that combine to tell the Bible’s big truth: that God loves His broken, rebellious creation so much that He sent His only Son to rescue us, by dying and offering each a perfect eternity. It’s each person’s choice to accept or reject this gift.

Ignoring or rejecting the Bible

Those who reject God’s word typically lead lives of self-directedness. They’ve no certainty of heaven after death unless they lie to themselves.

“Where will it all end?” I’ve been asked. “In hell,” is the only reply. “Sin brings forth death…they’ve rejected the Word of the LORD...therefore…they shall be cast down, says the LORD.” Jeremiah 8:12.

To reject the Bible is to reject its author, God. To reject God is to reject his commands. To reject his commands is to reject his authority. To reject that authority is to accept the anarchy of hell and to choose tobecome a resident of hell.

Let the Bible rule your head, heart, and home. In this country—unlike many others—we’re still free to obtain and read the Bible, apply it to our life, and enjoy a fabulous, perfect eternity with God and others! Read it often, treasure it, memorize, and apply key passages relevant to your life’s issues, and share it with those who don’t yet know that it’s the best book ever written, for them.

Then, no matter how demanding or crazy the world, you’ll have a powerful resource and loving assurance for every day, and growing confidence in God’s offer of hope and peace.

If you’d like to read how to read the Bible, download How to Read the Bible leaflet on the AJA website at Publications—Wellness—Leaflets—Spiritual matters. And, if you’ve any questions, I’d love to try to help—just email me at lindaahrens1@yahoo.com!

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Chaplain Linda Ahrens Chaplain American Jail Association