Introduction
Think about the best-selling books of all time. The Lord of the Rings may come to mind. Or you might think of A Tale of Two Cities. But both were outsold by Don Quixote. More copies of Mao Tse-Tung’s Little Red Book were printed than any of them, but it may not be in the running since reading this book was coerced by the Communist Chinese. Every Chinese citizen in Red China during the Cultural Revolution was required to read this one.
You could take all the copies of all the books mentioned above, add them together, and they wouldn’t add up to a fraction of the number of copies of the all-time bestseller, the Bible. It was among the first books ever printed on a printing press and continues to roll off the presses at a rate of millions each year. Digital copies are often accessed at an amazing rate. Sometimes, hundreds of thousands are downloaded in a single day.
Even in our age of secularism, Bible sales are not waning. In fact, Bible sales doubled in 2025, compared to 2019. As skepticism grows, so does spiritual hunger. The Bible is ubiquitous; it’s everywhere in our culture. Politicians, athletes, and movie stars often quote their favorite passages.
One might think the culture is awash in knowledge of the Bible. Sadly, this is not the case. Of the millions of Bibles sold, many sit unread on bookshelves and coffee tables. They are carried into churches each Sunday like fashion accessories, then left in the car the rest of the week..
Change the World
While a majority of Americans still profess to be Christians, the numbers are dwindling year by year. Like the Pharisees, we can be religious, but sometimes, we’re hypocritical. Studies show that simply attending church or identifying as a Christian doesn’t change your behavior significantly. The rates of divorce and depression are very similar whether one identifies as a Christian or an unbeliever.
But something changes when you add regular Bible reading in as a factor. People who read the Bible four or more times per week show a sharp contrast with people who read it three or less times. People who habitually read the Bible report less loneliness, anger, and bitterness in their lives. They are less likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, engage in sex outside of marriage, or view pornography.
This doesn’t mean that the Bible is a magic book that eliminates all your problems, but there is something powerful about it. I have written Double-Edged Sword to highlight what makes the Bible special. I want you to understand you can trust it and encourage you to pick it up daily and read it. The Bible can change your life. And if enough lives are changed, it can impact our families, our communities, and eventually the world
How This Book Is Structured
One of the interesting things about the Bible is that it is not a single book written by one author. It is a library composed by various authors across different places, languages, and cultures. Yet it weaves together a unified story from beginning to end. That is what we examine in Chapter 1.
In Chapter 2, we look at how the scriptures were formed. Why were some books included and others excluded? We can be confident that the books in the Old Testament are the right ones.
The New Testament went through a similar process. Some books were considered inspired and included in the Bible; others were excluded. In Chapter 3, we dispel some of the myths about the Council of Nicaea and show that most of the books of the New Testament were recognized before the end of the second century.
Chapter 4 is about a period when many scholars began questioning the divine nature of the scriptures and of Jesus himself. We examine these theories and consider if the enlightened Bible critics of the 19th century let their biases shape their scholarship.
Chapter 5 shows how archaeology confirms important aspects of the Bible’s historical narrative. We will build a timeline from the Bible of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt.
In Chapter 6, we compare Egyptian history with the biblical account. We will consider if the pharaohs and Egyptian dynasties align with the Bible’s history.
We examine prophecies in Chapter 7—one of the ways we know the Bible is telling the truth. If the prophets can accurately describe events hundreds of years in advance, we have evidence that the Bible knows our future too.
Chapter 8 focuses on the messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. In the Old Testament, Christ’s first coming to earth is anticipated. In the New, the prophecies are fulfilled.
In Chapter 9, we turn our attention to prophecies unfolding in our times. The story of Israel—their dispersion, their persecution, and their restoration—was foretold centuries ago. Yet we see these prophecies coming to fruition in today’s headlines.
Chapter 10 looks at names, places, rulers, and time references in the Gospels. These details would have been difficult, nearly impossible, for later writers to fabricate accurately. We can discern the true gospels from pseudepigraphal gospels written in later times and places because the fake gospels get these details wrong.
We examine references to Jesus outside of the Bible in Chapter 11. We will look at Roman historians, Jewish sources, and ancient letters that confirm key aspects of Jesus’ life and death and the early church.
Chapter 12 introduces “undesigned coincidences.” These are subtle details that confirm details from another scriptural account. They interlock like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. These confirmations point to authenticity across various books of scripture.
For Chapter 13, we apply legal standards for eyewitness testimony to the Gospel accounts. We will ask you to decide if the accounts in the gospels and Acts meet these criteria.
Finally, in Chapter 14, we land at the ultimate question: What will you do with this evidence? If the Bible is God’s message to us, we ignore it to our own peril. God’s word demands our response.
The Bible is the most important book ever written. I want to show you why that statement is true. The only thing that remains is whether you’re willing to consider the evidence.