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Sgian Dubh

"The sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God..."
— Ephesians 6.17

If you have no objections, I am going to indulge in some speculative fiction. (If you do have objections, it will be here if you change your mind.)

My eschatological beliefs are pretty much the most common view, where Jesus will come back at any moment for his people in what is commonly referred to as the "Rapture", followed by the rise of the Antichrist, the seven-year Tribulation period (you definitely do not want to be left behind at the Rapture — are you sure you're ready?), the triumphal Second Coming of Christ and his people and so on. But I will not defend or debate my position, I am just letting you know what I think the Bible teaches on the subject.
So, this speculative fiction, which could be considered "science fiction", as it has future-based elements, involves those left behind to face the Tribulation and deal with the Antichrist. (If I have believed the wrong teachers, Christians will endure all or part of the Tribulation. Or you can skip the Tribulation aspect and insert some sort of persecuting, totalitarian government.) Are you with me on this? It will be a time of unprecedented intense persecution for people who become followers of Jesus after the Rapture. Anyone who has read accounts of the persecution of Christians in former Soviet-controlled countries, as well as what is happening even now, will know that persecution is relentless. Add to this some of the end times Tribulation movies ("Left Behind" series, "A Thief in the Night" et al) and you can get a good mental picture of what will probably be coming along.

Also, secrecy is essential. People are skilled at hiding things all through history, but even more so in this electronic age. Obviously, Bibles will be confiscated. Where can you hide yours if you're still here? Hiding methods are good (check a "spy supplies" catalog sometime), but so are search methods.

As you know, I am rather excited about theWord Bible Software. One of the features that grabbed my attention is that you can put theWord, with all of its Bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, maps and books onto a flash drive. And some of those flash drives are very small.
"What's the funny title, Cowboy Bob?"
It's Gaelic, pronounced skeen doo. It means "black knife". Not always because of the color, but because of the use. A kilted Scot puts it into the top of his stocking... I remember an episode of "Doctor Who" where Jamie McCrimmon was held from behind in a choke hold. He reached down into his stocking, pulled out the sgian dubh, and knifed his attacker in the knee.

So anyway, this comes from the Ministry of Dreadful Analogies. Putting the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, onto a flash drive, SD card, memory stick or whatever. What would you call a very small sword? A dagger. Daggers can be hidden for later use. Our electronic daggers can be stashed carefully to be retrieved later by us or by someone the Lord directs to it after the Rapture.

In a more practical sense, not only can these Bibles get smuggled easier (especially on an SD card or memory stick), but having theWord on a flash drive could be a very interesting gift or evangelism tool. Depending on your intentions, you may want to spend more money on a durable flash drive. But always look for reviews before you spend a great deal of money.

Consider putting a foreign language Bible on the flash drive if invading soldiers find it. I selected Chinese.