1. The Bible Saved His Life

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 “I pushed the metal back in my blouse pocket behind a copy of the New Testament.”

5. 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!’

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. https://christianchronicle

13. 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; Tim. 4:7)

14. 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)

15. 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)

16. He Carried His Bible Into Battle
There is a battle for our thoughts (Heb. 4:12)

17. 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)

18. 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)

19. He Kept His Bible Near His Heart
God’s word gives confidence (1 Jn. 5:13)
God’s word rewards (Rev. 1:3)

20. He Placed His Bible Between Himself and the Enemy
Like the psalmist (Psa. 19:11-13; 119:11)
Like Jesus (Mt. 4:4, 7, 10)

21. 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)

22. 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)

23. 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)