When he was searching in 1987 and could not find the answer to his needs, he started developing a software program which has grown into a popular and valuable reference tools for pastors, theology students and devoted Christians. 

The Online Bible is known to many Christians throughout the world. Because of its compact size and light weight, a CD-ROM provides an advantage to missionaries in remote corners of the globe. In the jungles of Papua-New Guinea, New Tribes missionaries don't have the burden of hauling a large number of books overland to preach the Gospel. Instead, they use a battery-operated portable computer with the latest technology -- and a complete reference library on compact disk. 

What began as a simple search and locate computer program eight years ago has evolved into a compendium of theological reference materials which currently has 15 versions of the English Bible and at least 30 foreign versions, including Hebrew and Greek. Also included are lexicons, Strong's Numbers, Creationism material and 644,000 cross-references. 

Just how many copies are out there, no one knows. "Not a clue," Pierce explains. "It's a misleading question because we allow the material to be copied which is really unique because nobody else allows that. Anything we produce we allow people to freely copy. Not republish, there's a difference. We have a lot of volunteer help and it's not fair someone should profit from it." 

What Larry Pierce does know is that various distributors have shipped out more than 60,000 manuals which represents only registered owners of the Online Bible who purchased their copy. "That's the tip of the iceberg for the number floating around out there because most don't bother to get the manuals." Since June, 1994, when he shifted production from floppy disk to CD-ROM, tens of thousands have been shipped. 

"We basically got in on the ground floor," he said. "The few programs that were out there were prohibitively expensive -- around $1,200 for a complete package. Prices have dropped considerably since 1987 and Bible students can now choose from a wide range of excellent Bible study tools for a very reasonable cost." 

In true Christian charity, Pierce said "our policy has always been to give them the (Online) Bible if they cannot afford it." The philosophy is simple: freely received; freely given. "Anyone who is interested in studying God's Word will have it." 

"It is really not a business," he said. "It is more like a hobby that takes a lot of time each day. The reason I say that is that is that whatever money we receive, we either reinvest in new materials or find a good cause that needs help. We have revenue from other sources to live on." 

In the early days, the simplicity of the program only allowed an authorised version Bible text. Today's CD-ROM has all the texts, notes, topics and commentary modules amounting to hundreds of megs of data. As technology advances, Pierce predicts the Online Bible will advance with it. On the horizon is new CD technology which will
push disk capacity to 3 gigabytes, more than a fourfold increase, from today's nearly 600 megabytes. 

The need to change to the CD format resulted from the Online Bible growing "bigger and bigger each year". Things got a little out of hand, Pierce admits, when Version 6 was completed in 1992 requiring between 20 and 30 high density floppy disks. 

Using the CD-ROM technology will also help that missionary in Papua-New Guinea because it avoids a destructive virus which strikes computer floppy disks. It is a literal virus, a fungus which grows on the disk and separates the magnetic media, it contaminates the read-write heads and contaminates all future disks going into the (disk) drive," Pierce said. "What they have to do is keep all their disks in a hot box, a box with a light in it to keep the humidity out of it." 

The first Bible text proofed by Pierce in 1987 showed eight verses missing. Because this is God's Word, no labour was spared in producing an accurate text. This took two years. The result is a reputation for accuracy which resulted in a unique request from the Queen's Printer in the United Kingdom. After 400 years, an electronic copy of an English language Bible goes back to where the print original came from. 

One of his major projects has been Gill's Expositor. Three volunteers have been working with Pierce to proof the text of John Gill's Expositor. The work takes up about 55 megs of disk space. Gill's work gives him the distinction of having the most words in electronic form. 

In the future is also the works of C.H. Spurgeon, the 63-volume Metropolitan Pulpit, who now has the most words in print. That should take up about 150 million characters of disk space. "The fact it's still in print after 100 years should tell you a lot." It will take five years to proof the entire work. Matthew Henry's and Matthew Poole's complete commentaries are also being looked at seriously for inclusion into the Online Bible. All this work takes
time and Pierce devotes much of the working day, from about six onward to scanning, proofing and other duties. "It took us months to add in the Strong's numbers support. Now with the advances in technology, we can do much more than that each month." 

Online Bible has financed putting Strong's Numbers into the French Bible, which was never done before. It also mapped the French back into Hebrew and Greek. And the same is now happening in Holland and Germany. Much of this work was done by volunteers who freely gave of their time. Eastern Europe has not been forgotten. Since the lifting of the Iron Curtain, translations have been made into Russian, Romanian and Albanian. Vietnamese was recently completed. But what Pierce really desires is a translation in Portuguese. There are several translations into other more popular languages, two in Italian, for example, but nothing in Portuguese. 

The Online Bible takes a strict theological view, with a very high view of the Scriptures especially Genesis. "I find it amazing that people will take the word of fallible scientists who do not know everything and were not present when God created the world instead of God who was there, knows everything and has yet to make his first mistake." 

The Lord called him to salvation when he was eight and he was baptized at the age of eight. He is currently in fellowship at the Brethren assembly, Woodside Bible Fellowship. 

Larry Pierce Tel: (519) 664-2266 (noon to 5 weekdays EST) 
11 Holmwood St. Fax: (519) 664-1444 (24 hour fax line) 
Winterbourne, Ont. E-Mail: 76614.1275@compuserve.com 
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