The true story of the mutiny on the British ship Bounty has often been retold. One part that deserves retelling was the transformation caused by one book. Nine mutineers with six native Tahitian men and twelve Tahitian women put ashore on Pitcairn Island in 1790. One sailor soon began distilling alcohol, and the little colony was plunged into drunken orgies and violence.

Ten years later, only one white man had survived, surrounded by native women and half-blooded children. One day, in an old chest from the Bounty, this sailor found a Bible. He began to read it and then to teach it to the others. The result was that his own life and ultimately the lives of all those in the colony were changed. Discovered in 1808 by the USS Topas, Pitcairn had become a prosperous community with no alcoholism, no crime, and no jail.

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Several friends were telling each other a little about themselves. One of them said, “My story is unlike other men.” He continued: “I was a pickpocket. One day I saw a man with a definite bulge in his hip pocket. `A fat billfold,’ I thought, and soon it was in my pocket. When I arrived home, I was disgusted to find that it was only a book. Later, out of curiosity, I opened it and began to read. It was a Bible. Before long, I had discovered God’s love for me in its pages, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. This book changed my life.”

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FROM THE BIBLE…

This is what God says about His Word: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread for the eater, so shall My Word that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

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God’s Promises

As the deep blue of heaven
Brightens into stars,
So God’s great love shines forth
In promises

Which, falling softly through
Our prison bars,
Daze not our eyes, but with their
Sweet light bless.

Ladders of light, God sets against
The skies-
Upon whose golden rungs we step by step
Arise.

- Author Unknown

“He has given us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (The Bible, 2 Peter 1:4).

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The Word of God can change hearts and minds, something no atom bomb or molotov cocktail or any number of bullets has ever done!

In God’s Word you can find the answer to every question, every problem you will ever have in life.

Many people struggle through life needlessly, when only a little more time spent with God’s Word would bring the peace, faith, and happiness they seek.

- David Brandt Berg

Words that Work, Copyright © 1998-2012, The Family International