Wednesday, we resumed recording the Beyond Today television program after the Festival break. The three new programs recorded were: “Watch Out!” by Steve Myers, “Smyrna: Faith Under Fire” by Darris McNeely and “You Become What You Think” by Gary Petty.

Pray that the Word May Have Free Course

We are sending our semi-annual Beyond Today subscriber letter shortly. I’d like to share with you what we are writing to all of our readers, and I ask that you include prayers for its success. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians: “Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1). This passage is the inspiration for our new eNews feature by the same name as well.

In a time where increasing numbers of people foolishly blaspheme precious biblical truth and recklessly become despisers of good instead of lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4), it is vital that we openly espouse, defend and declare the living Word of God! We are sending out two versions of this letter. One is to subscribers, offering the Bible Study Course. To those who are donors and co-workers, we are offering How to Understand the Bible because they have previously been offered the Bible Study Course. The donor/co-worker list is less than 10 percent of the total subscriber list. I want to thank our team here for working out the details of this mass mailing that involves Editorial, Information Technology and Planned Giving.

Here is the text of the letter:

Dear friends and co-workers:

As 2021 draws to a close, can we have hope? When you watch, read, or hear the news of the day, it’s often depressing. Inflation, war, bickering politics, people in distress—it’s hard to take it all in.

Thankfully, you and I have a rock-solid source of good news—a dependable, flowing resource of insight that produces sustaining hope. That source, of course, is the Holy Bible.

When I included a brief survey when I wrote to you earlier, I was personally grateful to see that responses showed that our co-workers and friends—perhaps including you—wanted to know how to better understand the Bible.

That was encouraging to me, for as a minister in Christ’s service for more than five decades, I have seen many people’s lives changed for the better when they commit to studying the Bible.

Unfortunately some people tragically—and wrongly—feel the Bible is, or should be, a forgotten relic of an age long passed. Nothing could be further from the truth!

The Bible expresses living words inspired by God Himself. You may know that the Greek word for inspired means “breathed in.” It is God-breathed, showing us the intimate power contained within these words of life! Among other proofs, we know in part that the Bible holds a special and powerful place just by the sheer numbers that are printed, published, sold and distributed each year.

If you were a book publisher and sold one million copies of a given book, you would be considered a smashing success. Do you know that the annual distribution and sales of the Bible tops an astonishing 100 times that number? That’s an incredible 100 million new copies of the Bible each year—all published in almost two thousand different languages! In addition to printed versions, the Bible is downloaded multiple millions of times electronically to computers and mobile devices.

Far from being an irrelevant leftover artifact, the Bible reveals crucial knowledge that is up-to-date and personally focused on your very life! You may not know everything about the Bible, but the Bible knows everything about you!

We value the Bible highly. God took great care in its preservation across many centuries, safeguarding its message for people like you. You can hold deep confidence in its accuracy and meaning. We believe—and live our lives by the fact—that the Bible is indeed the very Word of God! God inspired more than 40 authors over a 1,600 year period to record knowledge that is critical to you today.

God says He has plans for you personally! “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11, New Living Translation). When you study the Bible prayerfully, honestly seeking God, you will begin to understand God’s plan and purpose for you.

Does that make you interested—even excited—to learn more? That’s just the start!

As you read and study, I believe you’ll be amazed at how the Bible holds together, and how almost one-third of the Bible makes amazing predictions about critical world events. Perhaps you have already started or been a student of the Bible and have wondered about some of this.

The beginning of the Bible reveals how God deliberately and carefully created the universe and the earth, including access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Remarkably the Bible returns and ends up with this same Tree of Life in the book of Revelation. How the Bible gets there is an extraordinary story of your personal incredible human potential!

There’s much more. To help you dive a little deeper into this amazing Word of God, I’d like to personally offer you a vital free study guide—How to Understand the Bible. In fewer than 40 pages, you learn vital keys that will unlock God’s remarkable words of life for you. It’s a rewarding experience.

In closing, I would also like to personally thank you for your support and prayers. Your continued support and partnership in doing this important work of God is gratefully appreciated, especially that we can continue providing this vital knowledge of God’s word to all.

May God Himself bless you personally, especially as you seek to learn more of what He has in store for you!