230 likes | 244 Views
Learn how Thell Ross Neal, a Christian Marine, escaped death in WWI due to his Bible protecting him from shrapnel. Understand the impact of faith and scripture in the midst of battle.
E N D
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • Thell Ross Neal, a Christian and a Marine whose life was spared by his Bible 100 years ago • Neal was born March 5, 1891, in the Smith County community of Grant, TN, about 12 miles east of Lebanon
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • The hunting he did as a youth served him well, and he earned a medal for sharpshooting before he boarded the USS Henderson and sailed for France • On Sept. 15, 1918, his division fought Germans in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • “Before we started our attack one of the officers said, ‘Neal, put that sharpshooter’s medal in your pocket. It offers a shiny target,’” Neal told The Nashville Tennessean as he recounted the ordeal in 1946. “I pushed the metal back in my blouse pocket behind a copy of the New Testament.”
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • The German mortars rained a shower of shrapnel, his good buddy on his right got hit and fell to the ground, and he hollered, ‘Neal, help me!’
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • He leaned over to help him up and another shell came and a shower of fallen branches fell on them. He reached to get a better grip and another shell went off and he was hit. He felt it hit his right hand first. He was hit in several places and passed out from a concussion.
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • When he came to he was in a field hospital lying on an examination table in a tent. When he asked about his friend, they told him he was dead.
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • While he had cuts on his hand, arm, side and leg, Neal was told by medics that they found nothing serious. But the soldier felt a strong pain in his chest. It likely was pneumonia from spending nights in the trenches, he was told.
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • Then they saw the hole in his pocket. It was a solemn moment when they saw that quarter fragment of shrapnel that had penetrated the New Testament but had been stopped by the medal over his heart.
A Christian Soldier Saved By A Bible • Everybody was stunned. The doctor told him, “If you hadn’t had that Bible, we wouldn’t be talking to you right now.” • Source: The Christian Chronicle. October 5, 2018
He Carried His Bible Into Battle • Christians are soldiers (2 Tim. 2:2-3) • Christians are at war (1 Tim. 1:18); a war of fleshly lusts (1 Pet. 2:11) • Christians must fight (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7)
He Carried His Bible Into Battle • Christians are to take their Bible to war (Eph. 6:17) • There is a battle for our reasoning (2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; 6:7; 10:3-6)
He Carried His Bible Into Battle • There is a battle for our courage (Phil. 1:14) • There is a battle for our evangelism (1 Thess. 1:8; 2 Thess. 3:1) • There is a battle for truth (1 Thess. 2:13)
He Carried His Bible Into Battle • There is a battle for our thoughts (Heb. 4:12)
He Kept His Bible Near His Heart • Where is your Bible? In your heart and mind (Psa. 1:1-2; Heb. 8:10)? • God’s word builds us up (Acts 20:32) • God’s word comforts (Rom. 15:4)
He Kept His Bible Near His Heart • God’s word admonishes (1 Cor. 10:11) • God’s word guides (2 Tim. 3:16-17) • God’s word exhorts (Heb. 13:22)
He Kept His Bible Near His Heart • God’s word gives confidence (1 Jn. 5:13) • God’s word rewards (Rev. 1:3)
He Placed His Bible BetweenHimself and the Enemy • Like the psalmist (Psa. 19:11-13; 119:11) • Like Jesus (Mt. 4:4, 7, 10)
He Was Saved By His Bible • Words save (Acts 11:14; 13:26) • The gospel saves (Rom. 1:16; Eph. 1:13; 1 Cor. 15:2) • The word of the cross saves (1 Cor. 1:18)
He Was Saved By His Bible • Preaching saves (1 Cor. 1:21) • Speaking saves (1 Thess. 2:16; Heb. 2:3) • The truth saves (2 Thess. 2:10; 1 Tim. 2:4) • Sacred scriptures save (2 Tim. 3:15)
He Was Saved By His Bible • Instructing saves (Tit. 2:11-12) • The implanted word saves (Jas. 1:21) • Spiritual milk saves (1 Pet. 2:2)