At Thanksgiving, my parents had some family keepsakes from my Dad’s mother. Gramma, as she was known to me, or Jeanne Wiers Ketchum, passed away in April of 2008. This involved a box filled with journals, old photographs, and a unique little Bible.
This Bible belonged to my great-grandfather Garrett Wiers. This was my grandmother’s father. He lived in Willard, Ohio which is where my grandmother grew up and lived until she met my grandfather from Steele, Missouri in WW2. His name was Garrett which has become a family name. My dad was given the middle name, Garrett. It is my middle name, and we used it for Landon’s middle name.
I did a bit of research on the Bible and the “Pocket Testament League.” The Pocket Testament League is a Christian based group that gives out pocket sized New Testaments. They began giving them to the soldiers during WW1 in London. Then they started giving them to American soldiers. (Check out the links at the bottom of the post to learn more.) I do need to say that this league and this Bible teach falsely the plan of salvation. They teach that all someone needs to do to be saved is “receive Jesus” into their heart through the sinner’s prayer. This type of message was recorded at the end of my granddad’s Bible too. The Bible teaches us that we must hear, believe, repent, confess Christ, and be baptized to have our sins washed away (John 8:24, Acts 17:30-31, Luke 13:3, Rom. 10:10, Mat. 10:32, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-5, 1 Pet. 3:21, etc)(I would be happy to study more with you about this or refer you to some sermons or send you some literature).
Despite this problem with the League’s work, my great-granddad’s Bible is still interesting and encouraging.
First, there is strong encouragement to read the Bible. The soldier is encouraged and makes a commitment to read at least one chapter a day.
Second, they were to spread the gospel with fellow soldiers and others they come into contact with in their journey.
Third, there is a letter written from the White House by President Woodrow Wilson which is included and printed in the front of the Bible.
Check out this front page. We believe the date is referencing his service 1917-18.
At first, we assumed that these Bible were given out by the government because of this letter. After researching this a bit, that doesn’t seem to be correct. But rather, the President wrote a letter in support of the league’s mission and specifically encouraging soldiers to read the Bible and trust in Christ. Take a minute and read President Wilson’s letter.
The President gives some wonderful encouragement to the soldiers. Now I know what you are thinking! Because I am thinking it too. My, how far we have come!
Maybe we have come so far because we have not heeded this advice. We as a nation are ignorant of the Bible. We don’t have time to read it in long passages or read it daily, we get “little snatches here and there” to echo Wilson’s words.
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