It came to pass that a financial crisis affected banks and businesses globally. Even churches faced significant financial difficulties. While inspecting the church storeroom, the minister found several cartons of new Bibles that had never been opened or distributed. An idea struck him.
During his Sunday sermon, he called for volunteers from the congregation willing to sell the Bibles door-to-door for P200 each to generate the urgently needed funds for the church. Three men stepped forward: Juan, Pedro, and Jose.
The minister was aware that Juan and Pedro made their living as salesmen and were likely to be effective in selling some Bibles. However, he had reservations about Jose, a local farmer who tended to isolate himself due to his speech impediment. Nevertheless, he permitted Jose to participate in the endeavor.
After the church service, he distributed the Bibles to the three men. He instructed them to report back on the outcomes of their door-to-door sales efforts the following Sunday. On that day, he was eager to learn about their success.
He initially approached Juan. With pride, Jack presented the minister with an envelope and stated, “Using my sales skills, I successfully sold 20 Bibles, and here is the P4,000 I gathered for the church.”
Pedro also exhibited great confidence in his achievements. “I am a seasoned salesman,” he declared. “I sold 30 Bibles for the church, and here is P6,000 that I collected.”
Next, it was Jose’s opportunity, but the minister felt quite uneasy about posing the question. Before the minister could even begin to speak, Jose discreetly handed him a substantial envelope. The minister opened it and counted the contents: P64,000.
“What is this?” the minister exclaimed. “Are you implying that you sold 320 Bibles for the church, going door to door, in merely one week?” Jose simply nodded.
“That is unbelievable!” both Juan and Pedro exclaimed simultaneously. “We are experienced salesmen, yet you assert that you sold 10 times more Bibles than we did.”
The minister concurred and requested Jose to clarify how he achieved such an extraordinary accomplishment.
Jose shrugged. “I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don’t kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,” he stammered. Impatiently, Pedro interrupted. “For crying out loud, Jose, just tell us what you said to them when they answered the door!”
“A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,” Jose replied, “W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this B-b-b-b-bible f-f-for t-t-two h-h-hundred p-p-pesos – o-o-o-or — wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you?”
It may sound funny but the Bible is the world’s best-selling book. It is also the most-translated book of all time.
Why is this so? Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States, answered it well: “Inside the Bible’s pages lie all the answers to all of the problems man has ever known…. It is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us. The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, and refresh our souls.”
The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word biblios. The word testament means “covenant” or “agreement.” Henrietta C. Mears explains in her book, What the Bible is All About, “The Old Testament is the covenant God made with man about his salvation before Christ came. The New Testament is the agreement God made with man about his salvation after Christ came.”
The Bible contains 3,586,489 letters and 773,692 words. It has 31,173 verses and 1,189 verses. The word “and” occurs 46,277 times. The middle verse in the entire Bible is verse 8 of Psalm 118. All the letters of the alphabet are found in Ezra 8:21. The longer verse is Esther 8:9 while the shortest is in John 11:35.
In the third century, there was a monk named Antony who spent his entire life in solitude within the vast desert of Egypt. Despite his seclusion, he maintained an active correspondence with many notable figures of his time. Emperor Constantine would reach out to seek his counsel. Other hermits would also write to request his prayers.
One day, one of the monk’s students expressed astonishment that even kings and emperors communicated with him. The saintly hermit replied, “Do not think much of it. What the emperor writes is not extraordinary. And the messages from other renowned individuals are hardly worth mentioning. In fact, I am aware of only one letter that is truly deserving of reading, re-reading, and contemplation.”
Upon hearing this from the monk, the pupil was intrigued to learn about such a significant letter. He inquired who could have penned such a remarkable correspondence. Antony then revealed, “The letter I refer to was written for us, humanity, by God Himself. We refer to it as the Bible.”
“The gospel is not a book; it is a living being, with an action, a power, which invades everything that opposes its extension, behold! It is on this table: This book, surpassing all others. I never omit to read it, and every day with some pleasure,” said French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Bible has been used for many things: to keep family statistics, recipes, clippings, pictures, to press flowers and keep letters. One woman keeps her household money between its sacred pages. Here’s her reason: “Anybody who opens the Bible is not the type who would steal from you. Those who want to steal would not pick up a bible in the first place.”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Woodrow Wilson once said, “When you have read the Bible, you know it is the word of God, because it is the key to your heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.”
