On December 6, 1865, the U.S. ratified the Thirteenth Amendment which banned slavery. The Mississippi legislature had voted against ratifying the amendment because it had the largest enslaved population in the country. In 1994, a Texas legislative clerk was studying the Thirteenth Amendment and discovered that Mississippi had not technically signed it so he sent Mississippi lawmakers a resolution that would make the ratification unanimous. The State of Mississippi signed it in 1995.

But somehow some state officials were not as adept at filing required paperwork with the federal government, so it was then discovered that the vote wasn’t legally recognized. In 2012, some Mississippi residents found the error again and filed the paperwork. The ratification was officially recorded in 2013!

When something is important, it is really important to notify everybody of this fact. There are many stories about how a war ends and a treaty is signed, but there are some people in remote populations that don’t get the news and continue fighting.

The Bible is very clear that Jesus is Lord. It is very clear that He is the way, the truth, and the life and nobody comes to the Father but by Him. It is true that He lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, rose again on the third day, and is coming again. Everybody needs personally to ratify it.

In today’s culture the internet can go where missionaries cannot go. One of the things I am trying to do in my leadership ministry is to offer several different digital platforms that are going where people might not be welcomed to share the Good News. I am amazed at how digital messages can reach people that missionaries could never reach.

One of the greatest joys of my life is to receive notes from people who share how somewhere during my days of ministry, somebody has heard and responded to the love of God and their life has changed. I have seen impossible people become true disciples of Jesus Christ. Somebody said, “I’m just a nobody telling everybody about Somebody who can change anybody.”

Slavery has been officially abolished and now every state has ratified it, but not every person hasn’t ratified it. Sin has also been declared null and void by the cross of Jesus Christ—but we must confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness and become a forgiving person.

I have experienced it in my life, and I have witnessed it in the lives of a lot of people. Jesus healed a blind man. (John 9:13-25) The people in authority questioned how somebody that hadn’t been to medical school could do such a thing. They didn’t understand it. The man didn’t understand it either but one thing he did understand—yesterday he was blind but today he could see!

I love reading about Peter and John in the Book of Acts when they came and started doing miraculous things. (Acts 4:13ff) People discredited them because they were just common people with no education and no authority. That might sound good, but all of a sudden, lame people were walking, sick people were healed, and sinful people were rejoicing in a new life.

I have read every page in the Bible. It is true and I know that God is delighted in seeing people come to know Him. Share that Good News with a world that is desperately looking for it. It’s the only way that peace can come to our world.

God’s Good News is not a new amendment that was added a few years ago. It is the original document of how God created us, redeemed us, and has prepared a place for us to live forever.

Have you received it and ratified it?