WELCOME TO this month’s edition of Glad Tidings magazine! You can download a PDF version of the whole edition by clicking on the below download full issue link. To access individual articles, please scroll down and click on the title of the article you would like to read.
We hope you find the articles interesting and informative and that they challenge you to open up the Bible for yourself finding out about God’s message of Good news through Jesus Christ.
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The Forbidden Book
DURING A GAME of football at Rugby School in 1823, so the story goes, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it. It was entirely against the rules of the game, but it caught on. The game of Rugby football spread through English public schools and universities, and was exported around the world.
The Bible- World Bestseller
ACCORDING TO the Guinness World Records, the Bible is the best selling book of all time with calculations of between 5 and 7 billion copies printed, and about 80 million copies continuing to be printed each year. It has obviously withstood the test of time, but let’s look at what it is and why it is held in such high regard.
Can There Be True Peace?
WHAT DOES PEACE look like to you? What does peace sound like? I’m sure everyone pictures something different, but I’m sure we can all agree that it’s something to look forward to. You won’t be surprised to know that the Bible has a lot to say about peace. Ultimately, it’s what the Bible promises for the whole earth.
The Hope of Israel
WHEN THE APOSTLE Paul was being carried as a prisoner to Rome he made an extraordinary statement: ‘It is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain’ (Acts 28:20).
What is the ‘hope of Israel’? We are given a clue from an earlier declaration by Paul: ‘And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers’ (Acts 26:6).
People Like You
DO YOU FIND IT HARD to relate to the Bible? After all it’s a book that was completed nearly 2,000 years ago, and it describes many events which most people these days would dismiss as impossible.
We have Sarah and Abraham in the book of Genesis who had their child at the ages of 90 and 100 (Genesis 21:5). We have strong- man Samson who killed a lion with his bare hands, 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey and then single-handedly demolished a temple (Judges 13–16).
The Future is Certain
THE STATESMAN Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Yet for Bible believers there is a greater certainty—the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up God’s Kingdom on earth.
2 Peter
WRITTEN FIVE OR SIX years later than Peter’s first letter, it tells us that ‘false teachers’ (2:1) were threatening to divert the churches from the truth.
The Apostle Peter, inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, proclaimed true teaching, like the prophets of God in Old Testament times (1:21). This letter, meant for believers everywhere, reminds us that God’s word of prophecy is like a lamp shining in a squalid world (1:19), to which we need to give careful attention.