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Armed Forces get bespoke Bibles

New Zealand Armed Forces personnel swearing in on the Bible will now get the chance to keep a bespoke edition gifted by Bible Society New Zealand.

Taonga News/ BSNZ  |  17 May 2019  |

Bible Society New Zealand has gifted 5,000 specially designed Bibles to the chaplaincy service of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF).

The new Bibles were individually tailored for New Zealand’s Airforce, Navy and Army, with messages from the Governor General and the Principal Defence Force Chaplain Ants Hawes, along with NZDF photographs, the National Anthem and the relevant prayer for each of the forces.

Most will go to new NZDF recruits who choose to attest on the Bible at their swearing in ceremony. "They are then asked if they would like to keep the Bible," Ants Hawes says.  

“These Bibles will be used week by week and month by month, they will not sit and gather dust,” said Ants Hawes.

 “People come into my office, and many aren’t religious, but they are all going through things.

“I say to them, 'Look I know you are going through a hard time, things are absolutely bleak but I need to tell you – I have a verse from a favourite Psalm which says ‘tears come at night but laughter comes in the morning.’

“I want to assure you, as dark as it is now, better days will come.'

“It's amazing how often the Word of God will bring comfort, even to those who may not believe.”

Bible Society New Zealand began supplying New Zealand Defence Force chaplains with Bibles just over one hundred years ago during the First World War.

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