We trust the Bible because we believe it is God's Word and that what it says is true.

In this booklet we are going to see a little of what the Bible is about. Have your own Bible ready, and then you

can turn up the references that I give and read them for yourself. The first reference is 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse

16, which will answer our first question.

If you have read 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, you will already know that God caused the Bible to be written.

He used men to write it for Him, but guided them about what to write. This is what the verse means when it says:

`All Scripture is given by inspiration of God'.

The word Scripture means for us today the whole Bible, and God inspired it all.

To write some parts of the Bible God used ordinary men like Peter the fisherman, and Luke the doctor. God also

used men in high positions such as David the king and Moses the great leader of the Jews. So although we think of

the Bible as one book, it is really many books put together inside one cover. If you count the books in your Bible

you will see there are 66. The Old Testament has 39 and the New Testament 27.

All the books in the Bible should teach us something about the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we shall get to know

Him and His ways. We should also get to know just how He expects us to live, and what things we should and

should not do. So you can see that the Bible is an important book which we should read often.

Parts of the Bible are about the earth and parts about the heavens. Most of the Bible is about the earth. To only

one man, the apostle Paul, did God speak about His heavenly plan. Paul had then to make it known to others. We

must find out more about this later.

The Jews are people who were chosen by God for a special part of His plans. They were to teach God's ways to

the whole world so that all would know Him. A special country was given to them, to live in peace and to have the

first place in the earth. But they disobeyed God, and have been punished by being sent away from this country into

many different parts of the world. One day God will lead them back into their own country, and this time they will

obey Him and become His teachers to the whole world. Then everybody will know God and His ways.

Gentiles are people who are not Jews. In other words the other people in the world apart from the Jews. God

also has plans for the Gentiles. Some will live on the earth, but God's big plan for them is in the heavens. Paul tells

us about this plan in part of the New Testament.

The Bible tells us about things that happened in the past. It also speaks about the future, and it has a message for

the present.

The Lord Jesus Christ came in the past as the babe in the manger. He came to be the King of the Jews, and to

die for our sins. In the future He will come again; this time with great power, to put the world right.

When we are dividing the Bible up into past, present and future, we must be careful about what parts are for us

today. We want to know just what God has caused to be written for us personally. We can learn something about