Station 1
We are happy that you decided to visit the Bible Truck, where you will
see 150 exhibitions.
We will explain to you the birth of the Bible, how it was written, and how it was shared and
distributed…
You will be able to see different copies of
ancient and modern Bibles.
But most importantly you will be assured that the Bible is the Word of God.
First I will tell you a little about the history of the word “Bible.” In English it comes from
the word “biblia” in Latin and “biblos” in Greek. In Greek, “biblos” is derived from “biblus” which was
the term used to describe a sheet of papyrus that had already been written on.
The Bible, is not simply a book, it is an entire library containing 66 books.
The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament consists of 39
books and the New Testament contains 27 books.
The Bible is the Word of God. The Revelation of God to us, people. It reveals to us Who God is, and how
an individual can obtain a relationship with the Creator.
The Bible contains hundreds of various subjects. The
authors of the Bible reveal them
adhering to harmony and unity from the very beginning, from the book
of Genesis until the very end, the book of Revelations. Throughout the
entire Bible, however, the main highlight is the story of the redemption
of mankind, the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. If in
Genesis the doors to heaven are closed then in Revelations they are
forever opened.
The history of the Bible is very interesting, and throughout the
next hour you will be assured of that.
The Bible is the world’s best seller as well as the world’s most frequently stolen book.
This is the Word of the Living God that is capable of changing your life.
It is the most ancient and most persecuted book in the world.
The Bible is Gods letter to an individual, and many people living before us went through great
hardships in order for the Bible to reach us.
They opened this envelope so that we could have access to this fascinating and living book.
And now we will be able to see the history of the Bible from Sinai to our current days.
Left Wall/ Room 1
The first exhibition that we will look at is the Birth of the Bible itself.
When, where, how and by whom was the Bible born. This big banner explains that the Bible:
 Was written during a period of 1600 years
o Here you see a graph – these are the years, and this zero symbolizes
the beginning of the current era.
o The birth of Jesus changed the era
o This is called “Before Christ” and this is “Our Era”
o And here are the 66 books of the Bible and the approximate times
they were written…
o The very first book written was Job and the last – Revelations.
 Throughout this time 60 generations passed
 Individuals of different occupations authored the various books of the
Bible. Some of the occupations included shepherds, prophets, kings,
priests, lawmakers, a doctor, and others.
 They wrote the Bible in different locations – in the desert, the king’s courts
and in prison.
There are many different situations in life, and maybe because of this God
used these different people so that in any moment of our life we could
turn to the Bible for advice. For the Bible is the instruction for life!
 The Bible was written in different countries. As you can see here, the lines
connect the Bible to the different places. Some of the different countries
are Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt.
 The Bible was written in three languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
 In the Bible you will find different literature types, such as: the law, history,
poems, proverbs, biographies, prophecies and revelations.
However, we Christians read this book not because of its historical
uniqueness; we believe that it is God-inspired. The most vivid example of this
is the fulfillment of prophecies.
One of the most vivid examples of this is the fulfillment of the prophecy about the city of Tyre (“Tyrus”
on the map). Tyre was a very large city. Kind of like New York in our days. For the people living there it
seemed that everything was going very well, however they strayed very far from God. So the Lord spoke
through the prophet Ezekiel saying:
That the city would be ruined and only barren rock would remain from the city
When Ezekial spoke these words, they perceived him as being silly. How can such a large city be
destroyed? Where can all of the architecture and greatness of the city go?
This prophecy was fulfilled in approximately one year. When King Nebuchadnezzar’s army plundered the
city, the citizens of Tyre fled with all their goods to an island, which was not far from shore. This saved
them because Nebuchadnezzar did not have ships for sailing, he only attacked on dry land. HOWEVER
the ruins of the city remained, therefore this was still not the completion of the entire prophecy; for God
said that there would only remain barren rock.
How could a prophet know that after 240 years there would come a different ruler –
Alexander the Great – that would have his own fleet? Nevertheless all of a sudden he comes
here, yet the people are living carelessly. Alexander the Great decides to seize this island yet
understands that if he sails his ships would lose fleet due to the underwater reefs that the
citizens of Tyre built.
Completely unaware of the prophecy Alexander the Great makes a decision in agreement to the words
of Ezekiel.
Alexander said, that the army will build a bridge in order to cross over to the island. But how does he do
that, since there is no machinery?
Then he tells his soldiers, “Go, and bring all the ruins of Tyre and we will dump them into the water.”
And so with all the stones, bricks, and wooden planks, meter by meter the bridge began to grow.
It grew and grew and at a certain time they put EVERYTHING into the water and they told Alexander the
Great that there was no more.
Then Alexander makes the decision that fulfilled the prophecy ALL THE WAY. He commands that “Every
soldier take their own clothing and use it in order to transport dirt and, also, dump it into the water.”
And so on the place of Tyre all that remained was barren rock.
Now let’s direct our attention to this gallery through which we would like to show you the various
allegories to which God compares the Bible.
Bread – if we do not feed our flesh it will die, likewise if we do not feed our soul with the Word of the
Lord, then it too shall die.
Fire – which burns, the Word of God burns through your conscience and you understand that you
need God.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO US IN LIFE??? MAYBE IT IS GOLD, money, our house, our
outer appearance, or our rank in society. Put whatever you want here, BUT this is
all temporary. Only God is Eternal!!
AND ONE DAY YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION what is more important to
you, the Word of God or the values of this world?
This is that, which gives you hope for eternal life.
And so let’s move onto the next gallery…
Right Wall/ Room 1
Now we will talk about how exactly did the Bible come to us??
FIRST OFF WE SEE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS, WHICH THE LORD INSCRIBED WITH HIS OWN
HAND ON THE TABLETS.
If God wrote first, then after that the Bible was written by the Lords people
using different types of materials that were available in their times….
These were clay tablets, papyrus (made of cane). Papyrus was glued and rolled into a scroll. But this was
uncomfortable because the average length of the roll would be 6-10 meters, and sometimes reached
the length of 40 meters.
Later parchment was used, which was made out of animal hides, which was specially treated, and was
very expensive. In order to write one Bible, 170 animal hides would be used.
The writing utensils that were used were feather quills, then later pens.
They continued writing on papyrus however they folded it from two sides and sewed it
together, which caused it to be more mobile.
In such a way, codex’s appeared, in that time there were no printers or typewriters. THE COST OF ONE
BIBLE WAS EQUIVALENT TO THE COST OF A GIANT CASTLE.
But God sent the desire and ability to one man named Johannes Guttenburg,
who wanted to do something for God. HE CREATED THE FIRST MACHINE IN THE
WORLD for typing books.
From specially carved letters, pages were formed, later ink was rolled onto the letters and everything
went through the press. And so, page after page the book was coming together. Here we see a page
which was made on this kind of press.
Johannes needed five years in order to type one Bible. ALL OF THE DESIGNS AND THE FIRST LETTERS
WERE HAND DRAWN. Guttenberg typed this (?) banner. HOWEVER NEVER SIGNED.
However, after a while the process became faster and the Bible then cost the equivalent of an
automobile. >>a pair of shoes>>a dozen of eggs>>and now it is free on your phone.
Here we see the largest printing press in the world. This printing press is in China where every second a
Bible is produced.
This little book was also typed on the Guttenburg press, it consists of The Lords Prayer.
The smallest Bible and the largest Bible
And now that technology is so advanced, unfortunately today, more than 50 countries have passed laws
considering the Bible to be an Anti-Governmental book. People who are found with Bibles are shot,
hung etc.
Here we would like to show you how the Bible was typed during times of persecution (in the Slavic
countries). People risked their lives in order that we may have the Bible.
1. Here is one of the methods by which the Bible was rewritten. The thing is that in that
time you could not own a typing machine. The government knew who owned them and
what they were publishing on them.
Due to such regulations, Christians took a Russian Journal titled “Flame” and cut out
letter by letter with a blade. Afterwards, they took pictures of all of this and with the
help of a camera produced photoprints which then were put together to form such
books.
Often times they lacked photo paper, therefore at times books were formed form little
pieces.
2. A little while after, however, opportunities arose to find parts of typewriters and use them in
order to type books. It was very important to type very carefully
a. In order not to make mistakes
b. And to work quietly, undercover (hidden in root cellars)
3. For this particular book one man spent 10 years in prison. Before his very arrest he
had the time to hide this machine and the unfinished book. And thankfully, today we
can see this proof of great love and devotion to the Word of God.
4. However, typing was very hard work and Christians searched for a better option. They later
thought of this machine in order to produce copies using a special blue ink (which was easy to
obtain).
THIS WAS ALL DONE UNDERCOVER, WHEN INDIVIDUALS COULD’VE BEEN
IMPRISONED. AND IN SUCH A WAY WE CAN VIEW HOW INDIVIDUALS
CHERISHED THE WORD, AND HOW IT WAS PASSED THROUGHOUT THE
GENERATIONS FROM SINAI TO OUR DAYS.
Qumran Caves
Israel is a small country having lived through many various events in its history.
Around 140 AD there was a group of Essenes, who rewrote copies of the Scripture. In the time of
the Jewish revolt in the year of 67 AD the Essenes hid the scrolls in nearby caves. All of the
Essenes were killed.
Over 2000 years the handwritings laid untouched, in that time scientists debated about the
accuracy of the Bible saying that it is full of errors and that it was written by sinful people.
In 1947 a young shepherd in search of his lost goat was intrigued by an opening in the rock nearby.
Interested, he dropped a stone inside and heard a sound. The boy though he found a treasure. “A
Treasure!” He thought. However, in the discovered cave the boy only found jars with the rolled up
scrolls.
When these scrolls were obtained by Professor Eliezer Sykenko of the Israeli University,
he dated them to the day that the texts were rolled up into scrolls, and it turned out to be
in harmony with what we read right now.
Scientists found 11 more caves with hundreds more scrolls.
The revelation of these caves confirmed the accuracy of our current Biblical texts in the
Old Testament.
St. Catherine’s monastery
Here we see St. Catherine’s monastery. It was built in 530 AD in the center of Sinai’s Peninsula,
where many years before the Lord gave his people the 10 commandments.
A young German researcher Theologian Konstantin von Tischendorf was searching for ancient
writings of the Scriptures. He traveled many places in search, however couldn’t find anything. And
so he decided to travel to this monastery.
He searched through the library in the monastery and found a large basket that contained pieces of
parchment, ready to be burned. There he found precious letters of the New Testament.
He started searching more, but could not find anything else. After a while Tischendorf was preparing
to depart back home, when one holy father showed him what he was reading. Tischendorf
immediately recognized the handwritings, that he searched for, for such a long time. These were the
handwritings of the New Testament.
If the Qumran caves verified the accuracy of the Old Testament then the
revelation of Tischendorf revealed the accuracy of the New Testament.
The Spread of the Bible
We say, that the Bible came from the days of Sinai to our days. How did that start?
There was a group of people called ‘Book Carriers’. Their work started in April of 1863.
The goal of book carriers was to draw the attention of the readers to the savior Jesus
Christ.
To persuade people that true faith in Jesus gives an individual justification and salvation.
They carried Bibles, sermons of Charles Spurgeon and other various books on spiritual subjects.
One of the first book carriers in Russia was Otto Bogdanovich Forhamer,
throughout his years as a book carrier he distributed 58 thousand books of the
Holy Scriptures.
Another well-known book carrier was Sinklitikiya Petrovna Philipova. She lived to be 96
and in her 14 years of service distributed 14 thousand books of the Holy Scriptures. She
was nicknamed “the old lady with books.”
Throughout their time of service, book carriers distributed a very large amount of the Holy
Scriptures, and thanks to their hard work this served as a blessing to the Russian people.
Book carriers walked throughout cities, towns and villages, feasibly spreading the word of God.
But throughout history there are times when the Bible was strictly prohibited. Because through all
of the unique features, and historical facts about the Bible, it is also the most persecuted book of all
time. And as we look at how the Bible was distributed during the times of persecution, we will
understand how rich the fantasies of Christians, that were directed by the Holy Spirit, were.
Unfortunately the word of God was not always distributed throughout the earth freely.
A well-known French Atheist Voltaire said that in about 100 years after his death, Christianity would
be wiped off the face of the earth. Voltaire died and was left in history, but the popularity of the
Bible has grown throughout the entire world even till today. After about 50 years of Voltaire’s death
in his own house on his personal typewriter the Geneva Bible Organization went to work, typing the
Bible.
But if we look throughout history we will see how the Lord sent Christians wisdom. The Bible
continued to be distributed in many different ways.
Yarl Nikolayevich Peysti led a broadcast in order to spread the word of God to the Russian people.
The government wanted no influence from the west and tried to block all Christian radio programs.
Shevchenko wrote a letter and put it into a bottle, for it was impossible to send it any other way.
About a year later a woman found the letter and kept it at home.
She later gave it to an institute in order for them to translate it, right were Peysti was located.
The miraculous hand of God directed this bottle throughout all those years.
In such a way Yarl Nikolayevich knew that his work was not in vain.
A truck
Bread – Bibles for prisoners
Gas tanks, propane tanks
In the beginning of 1990s there came a time of freedom, an opportunity was
given to transport the word of the Lord in great numbers. This was done in….
Corner with Bibles: Family
And about how people of different languages understand the Word of the Lord you will
understand if you look at the next exhibit.
Various Bible Translations
England: in England the first Bible was translated in the 1400s. John Wycliffe professor of a
university, took upon himself the task of translating the Bible. He translated the Bible and died soon
after. His friend John Huss started distributing several handwritten copies of the example booklets.
He was caught and burned at the stake in 1415. In order to start the fire they used the pages from
the translated Bibles of Wycliffe.
Germany- 1517 Martin Luther
Russia- Slavic’s still had writings. Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet and went on to
translate the Scriptures.
There are 6000 different languages in the world, the Bible is translated into 2500 of them.
Here are several translations…
From left to right
This is a Gypsy Bible – God is working even now through his people
The Bible for the visually impaired. (Braille)
Louis Braille was blind by the age of 3, having hurt his eyes with a sharp object, perhaps with his
father’s awl.
He created Braille
Currently the Braille Bible is available in 84 languages. In general it weighs about 50 kilograms. The
making of one Bible for the blind costs about 100 times more than the Bibles that we read.
READ PUSHKIN
They said that, but what will YOU say?
Maybe you will open the Bible and it will remain a book with empty pages
Or you will say that yes, the Bible has went through a great deal from the days of Sinai until our days
and you will see it as a historical book in which only stories and events are recorded.
Or maybe, after this exhibit you will start reading the Word of God and it will start to change your
life and you will find the purpose in life. And yours will be a colorful life in God.
MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!