Have you ever wondered why in the year 2024 there are whole countries that ban the Bible from being read? Could it just be that its message is so powerful that entire political regimes could be toppled if the common people were able to read its pages. Or what would cause the total transformation of hardened criminals into saints. The real life stories of some of the worst sinners around have been transformed into model citizens after embracing the central character of the Bible – Jesus Christ.
Down through the centuries men have done everything imaginable to try to destroy this one book, but its survival is testimony of just how powerful a book it is. 19th century writer, H. L. Hastings, shows how the Bible has withstood the most severe attacks of skepticism when he stated:
“Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt.
“When the French monarch proposed the persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, ‘Sire, the Church of GOD is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.’ So, the hammers of infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures. If this book had not been the book of GOD, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still lives.”1
Pastor John MacArthur astutely commented on why so many people have attempted to destroy this one book when he shared: “Precisely because it is so powerful, the Bible has always had its enemies. Unbelievers challenge its credibility. Skeptics question its accuracy. Moral revisionists depreciate its precepts. Religious liberals dispute its supernatural character. Cultists twist its meaning.”2
With all of the enemies of the Bible, I contend that unless it was a supernatural book it would have been destroyed long ago. Just how powerful this amazing book is can be seen in how it can influence even those who casually read it. Winkie Pratney states this unique ability of the Bible as follows: “You know, many of the Eastern thought forms use Scripture. That’s because the book is so powerful – you can’t ignore it. If you don’t use it, you can’t capture people’s hearts. God has built life into His Word, and all the strong cults rip it off – steal bites out of the Bible and use it…Just the fact that pieces taken out of context are powerful enough to draw men’s hearts should tell you what the whole Word, used under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can do!”3
But its most powerful testimony, as we Christian know, is its ability to take men who are totally dead in their sins and resurrect them to new life in Christ Jesus. Every time a person reads its pages and accepts the central person of the book, Jesus Christ, into their heart, a miracle occur – the spiritually dead are brought back to life – such is the power of the Bible!
My friends the Bible’s awesome power stems from the fact that it is hands down the most unique, intellectually sound, transformational, and yes, the only supernatural book ever written. Christian, the next time you pick up your Bible, I challenge you to stand in awe and realize that you hold in your possession the most powerful book in the universe!
1 The Anvil that Has Worn Out Many Hammers › The Forerunner
2 55 Christian Quotes & Sayings by John F MacArthur (Quotations) (allchristianquotes.org)
3 “The Holy Bible-Wholly True” by Winkie Pratney. Copyright 1979, 1984. Last Days Ministries.