A Bible for Hard Times | Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.

A Bible for Hard Times
Copyright © December 24, 2014 and May 2, 2015 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Introduction
Bibie

The world is not becoming a gentler, safer place in which to live.

Instead survival in many areas is gradually becoming a significant challenge on a day-to-day basis due to things such as famines, localized plagues, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, unusual severe weather conditions, massive layoffs and unemployment, civil unrest and rioting, and religious extremism that is resulting in horrible atrocities against humanity.

For all of these reasons there is currently a lot of interest, and a lot of speculation, about the tribulation period as described in the Holy Bible. The tribulation, or apocalypse, is a seven-year period of worldwide calamities during which over one-half of the people on the earth will perish.

Except for God, nobody knows when the seven-year tribulation will actually begin. It could have already started, or it may start in a few years, or it may not start for another hundred years, or it may not start for a thousand years or more.

However, if the tribulation should begin during your lifetime and the events in the book of Revelation begin to unfold in the exact sequence in which they were foretold, then would you like to have a copy of the Holy Bible in your possession at that time? Would you be interested in knowing what happens next so you could make some reasonable plans for your family's survival?

The tribulation is described in detail in Revelation Chapters 6 to 19, Matthew Chapter 24, and Mark Chapter 13. Anyone who had a copy of the Holy Bible could read these chapters and they would know what to expect during the tribulation.

How would you feel if you believed the tribulation had begun but you didn't have a copy of the Holy Bible? How would you feel if you had a copy of the Holy Bible and none of your neighbors or friends had a copy? How do you think they would feel?

During the early part of the tribulation there is a chance that all religious books will be outlawed, confiscated, and destroyed. The governments around the world may ask for the voluntary submission of all religious books to the government. Then a short time later the government may offer a reward to anyone who has information about someone who still has a copy of any type of religious book. This will be a very difficult time for religious people all over the world.

During this time a lot of people will probably become very interested in what the Holy Bible says about the tribulation for two reasons:
1. The government will not want people to know this information and therefore the average person will become very interested in wanting to know this "outlawed" information.
2. It will become very difficult to find this information anywhere because the majority of the Holy Bibles around the world will have been destroyed.

Therefore it would make good sense for at least one person in each family to purchase an "extra" copy of the Holy Bible now, and vacuum seal that Bible inside a vacuum seal bag, and then hide that sealed Bible in a special place that would be extremely difficult for someone else to find. If the tribulation were to begin during your lifetime, and if your home was unexpectedly searched and all your religious books were taken away from you, then you would still have your one "extra" copy of the Holy Bible in its secret hiding place that your family would have access to.

Alternatives to a Mass-Produced Holy Bible
Before the invention of the modern printing press, the different books in the Holy Bible were copied by hand onto some type of parchment. This was a very labor intensive task and therefore a single copy of a single book of the Bible was relatively expensive.

The invention of the printing press made the printing and sale of complete copies of the entire Bible more affordable.

At the current time the Holy Bible is available in print form and in digital form. I strongly recommend that you have at least one printed copy of the Holy Bible in your possession in the event that you are not able to access your digital copy for one reason or another.

Some digital copies of the Holy Bible will not allow you to print the Bible on your printer. Other digital copies of the Holy Bible will allow you to print the Bible on your printer. However, if you calculate the number of pages of paper you will need, and the amount of black ink you will need, then you could easily spend $80 or more to print one copy of the Bible on your printer. You would also need to invest in a large three-ring binder to keep the Bible pages together in the correct order. During a serious hard times event this probably would not be the best use of your paper and ink if you take into consideration the fact that you could purchase a printed copy of the entire Holy Bible right now for $10 or less.

In today's modern world it is sometimes difficult to put things into perspective. For example, you may occasionally spend $5.00 for lunch at a fast food restaurant, or you may spend $10.00 or more for supper at a restaurant. After you have enjoyed your meal you will get hungry again in a few hours and you will have nothing to show for your investment in the food that you just ate.

Or you could spend $5.00 or $10.00 on a Holy Bible and you would have a printed copy of God's Holy Words available to you for the rest of your life. If you take the time to stop and think about it, a copy of the Holy Bible is a much better investment than a small amount of food that is gone after you have finished eating it.

Affordable Holy Bibles
At the current time you can find a $1.00 King James Version of the Holy Bible at some Dollar Tree stores. This is a complete printed copy of the entire Bible including the Old Testament and the New Testament. The $1.00 Bible does not have color maps, or a concordance, or any other extra features. But it does include the entire text of the Holy Bible. (Note: Pictures of these affordable Bibles are at the bottom of this article.)

Other dollar stores sometimes have copies of the King James Version of the Holy Bible for $3.00 or $5.00 or sometimes a little bit more. These slightly more expensive Bibles are usually printed on higher quality paper, they have a nicer binding, and they sometimes include color maps or a concordance. Therefore they are well worth the small amount of extra money for one of these Bibles.

Some dollar stores have other translations of the Holy Bible such as the New King James Version, or the New International Version. Both of these translations are good translations of the Holy Bible and they are easier to read because they do not use the words "Ye, Thee, Thou, Thy, and Thine."

Walmart also usually has several different translations of the Holy Bible for between $8.00 to $12.00 each. They also have some more expensive Bibles in the $15.00 to $40.00 price range, if you are interested.

If you pay cash for your "extra" copy of the Holy Bible then there will be no digital record that could be traced to you as the buyer of the Bible. This may not be important to you right now but if the tribulation should begin sometime in the near future then it would be comforting to know that there is no digital trail to your "extra" copy of the Holy Bible.

King James Version of the Holy Bible
Some people complain about the King James Version of the Holy Bible as being difficult to read and understand. This is generally because of the use of the words: "Ye, Thee, Thou, Thy, Thine." Each of these words simply means "you or your." Therefore when you see one of the words "Ye, Thee, Thou, Thy, Thine" simply read it as "you or your." The following table may help you to understand how to interpret these words correctly:

Old English	Modern English	Singular or Plural
ye	you	refers to more than one person
thee or thou	you	refers to one person
thy or thine	your or yours	refers to one person

Some examples are as follows:
Exodus 20:23 - neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold = neither shall you make unto you gods of gold.
Exodus 20:15 - Thou shalt not steal = You shall not steal.
Exodus 20:17 - Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house = You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
Exodus 20:12 - Honor thy father and thy mother = Honor your father and your mother.

Important Optional Features in a Holy Bible
Paper Quality: Some Bibles are printed on very thin paper and the words on the reverse side of the paper can be seen through the paper. Other Bibles are printed on better quality paper and you cannot see the print on the reverse side of each page, or the print of the reverse side of the page is so very faint that it doesn't interfere with the reading of the text on the front side of the page.

Print Size and Print Clarity: Generally bigger print is easier to read. However, bigger print requires more pages for the same amount of content. Darker print is usually easier to read than lighter print. However darker print requires thicker pages to prevent the words on the reverse side of the page from being visible on both sides of the page. This results in a tradeoff between print size, print darkness, page size, and page thickness. Bible printers attempt to reach an acceptable compromise among these variables by matching the print darkness to the thickness of the paper so the print does not show through on the opposite side of the page. If the print on a page is dark enough so it can be easily read and the print on the reverse side of the page does not show through, or is only very faint, then the Bible is a good choice. (Note: If the print size is too small to read comfortably then a Bible with a larger print size is recommended. Or you could wear reading glasses with 1.25 or 1.50 or more powerful lenses. I personally prefer the reading glasses that are sold at Dollar General because they have quality lenses and quality frames and they only cost about $8.)

Color Maps: When you are reading the Bible it is sometimes helpful to be able to see a map of the Holy Land and its surrounding areas. This gives you a chance to visualize where specific events happened, and how far away different cities and towns were from each other.

Concordance: A concordance is an alphabetical list of some of the most important words in the Bible, such as faith, love, and salvation. The concordance lists the important scripture verses where these words appear. A concordance is different from an index because an index lists the actual page number where the word appears in the book. A concordance lists the actual scripture verse where the word appears so when you turn to that book of the Bible, and find the correct chapter, then you can look down the page until you find the specific verse number you are looking for. This means you don't have to read an entire page to find the word you are interested in. This can save you a lot of time because you can focus on the exact scripture verses you are looking for. This also makes it possible for a concordance to be correct even when the size of the Bible is different, and there are more pages or fewer pages in the Bible. The reason is because a concordance lists the exact scripture verse (book, chapter, verse) and not a specific page number. A concordance is a very useful tool when someone becomes very interested in knowing what the Bible has to say about a specific topic, such as faith.

Words of Christ in Red: Some Bibles have the words of Jesus Christ printed in red ink and all the other words printed in black ink. This can be very helpful in identifying exact quotations of what Jesus said. However, the entire Bible is the inspired word of God so this "red ink" feature is not as important to me as having a Bible that contains a good concordance.

Thumb Indexed: Some Bibles have the outside margin of the Bible indexed to show where each of the books of the Bible can be found. This allows you to quickly find any book in the Bible just by looking at the thumb index on the outside margin of the Bible.

Summary: If a Bible is printed on good quality paper, and it has Color Maps, a Concordance, the Words of Christ in Red, and it is Thumb Indexed then that Bible is a really nice Bible. However, it can be difficult to find all of these options in one Bible at an affordable price. In my opinion good quality paper is the most important feature because it makes the Bible easier to read and it eliminates the frustration of trying to identify each word on the page from the printing on the reverse side of the page. In my opinion the second most important feature of a Bible is that it also has a good concordance at the end of the Bible. The other options are also nice but they increase the price of the Bible and if the Bible is only being purchased as an "extra" Bible and you do not have a lot of money to invest, then the "extra" Bible does not need to have all the other features.

Conclusion
If the seven-year tribulation begins during your lifetime then would you like to have a printed copy of the Holy Bible that you could read?

If it gradually becomes apparent to a lot of people that they are living in the tribulation period as described in the Holy Bible, and some of them become very serious about wanting to know a lot more about the tribulation and the rest of the Holy Bible including salvation and eternity in heaven, then would you like to be able to give these people a copy of the Holy Bible that you purchased before the tribulation began? This could be a very effective way for you to witness to these people and their entire family. However, it would mean that you would need to purchase a few extra $1.00 or $3.00 or $5.00 Bibles right now and then vacuum seal those Bibles in vacuum seal bags so they will be in "new" condition when you give them to your future brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pictures of Affordable Holy Bibles


Holy Bible with Blue Paperback Cover Price $1.00 at "Dollar Tree" May 2, 2015		Holy Bible with Brown Paperback Cover Price $1.00 at "Dollar Tree" May 2, 2015

All the Dollar Stores in my area have been sold out of Holy Bibles since Christmas of 2014 because we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th of each year and therefore Bibles are a very popular Christmas gift.

However, in May of 2015 some Dollar Stores have now restocked their supply of affordable Holy Bibles.

The Dollar Tree Stores in my area now have a King James Version of the Holy Bible for sale for $1.00 (plus a few pennies in sales tax).

This Bible is printed in the United States of America by Minerva Books, Ltd., in New York, NY.

The two Bibles in the above pictures are identical on the inside of the Bible and the only difference in the Bibles is the color of their covers.

This is a very affordable Bible and it contains the entire text of the Old Testament on 366 pages, and it contains the entire text of the New Testament on 113 pages.

The Bible measures 8.25 inches high (21.0 cm), and 5.25 inches wide (13.3 cm), and 1 inch thick (2.54 cm).

The Bibles have a glossy paperback cover. The pages inside the Bible are good quality book paper. The print on the interior pages is very dark black ink but the printing does not show through to the reverse side of each page. This makes it very easy to read the words on each page.

The Bible is printed with three columns on each page. The print is relatively small and I had to look very closely at the words to read them. However, after I put on my 1.25 reading eyeglasses that I always use to read books (and to read the information on my computer screen), then I was able to easily read the words on each page. The words are printed in crisp clear black ink and the individual letters in each word are very distinct. The margins around each page are just right for the size of the pages and I could easily read the words on the inside edge of each page where it was attached to the center spine of the Bible.

There are no extras in this affordable Bible, such as color maps or a concordance.

If you are experiencing Hard Times and you do not already own a Holy Bible, then perhaps now would be a good time for you to consider the purchase of an affordable Holy Bible for one dollar.

Respectfully,
Grandpappy.

Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com