A local pastor creates a Bible to help laymen understand Word

Scott and Jane Johnson sat together in their living rooms, Jane reading her Bible and Scott reflecting on their recent trip.

“She was reading her bible that week about the Jordan River Experience, when Jesus was baptized at the Jordan River. Scott Johnson remembered that she was reading it in the living room of her house, and she had a red Bible. “There’s a voice in Heaven saying, “This is My Son in whom I am pleased.” She read it and said, “Hon, why didn’t God get a colour?”

That question led Scott to research the red letter Bible, which he found was conceived in 1899 by Louis Klopsch, who thought red – the color of blood – would help highlight the words of Jesus Christ for readers.

The first red book Bible was published the same year. The Oregonian newspaper reported that the first 60,000 copies of the first red book Bible sold out quickly. Since then, red-letter bibles have been widely published.

Scott Johnson went to sleep thinking that he’d just learned something about the Bible. He woke up in middle of the night with an idea for a new way to emphasize key words in the Bible.

“I don’t remember if God told us, but an angel said to me, and the Spirit told my, but I answered, ‘He does indeed have a color. He will have one color starting now, and it’s Blue,” he said. “Why blue? This is the color I thought of when I was asleep. It’s fitting because the sky is Blue and Heaven is There.

He realized that the Holy Spirit should be highlighted in gold, to represent the fire associated with the Spirit. Jesus’ words would continue to be in red.

Thus, the BRG – blue, red, gold — Bible was conceived.

13 years later, these first widely-available copies were published, printed, and delivered.

The process should be started

Johnson has owned a few copies before of the BRG Bible. Johnson printed copies of the BRG Bible on demand in 2013 as readers requested. However, at $40-50 per copy, it was prohibitive to distribute widely.

The Johnsons also partnered with e-Sword Bible, where they offered a digital copy of the BRG Bible to be downloaded for free. Bible Gateway, an app and website dedicated to Christianity, also asked for digital copies of BRG Bibles two years later.

BRG Editions have been downloaded over 50 million times worldwide, even in Spanish.

The Johnsons decided three years ago to print the BRG edition again.

“The quality of the color printing process has improved. As you can see, the colors are not blemished through the Bible pages. It was impossible to do three colors, but Worldwide Printing (a printer) said they could. “Technology since the pandemic is improving, Scott Johnson stated.” “It took almost three years to put it all together.”

BRG Bible is now using the King James Version of the Bible. Along with the blue words and names of God in blue, messages from angels and other heavenly beings are underlined. Messianic prophesies and messages are underlined. Scott stated that these are only the changes; the words remain the same.

First, the BRG edition had to be type-set. Scott and his wife partnered with a Minneapolis company to accomplish this. Scott said that the owner took ill during the typesetting process and that Scott had to have an assistant from Argentina complete some of the work.

After that, the PDF version of the printable was sent to an editor in Nashville.

Scott and Jane looked for a printer capable of printing the three colors on the Bible pages.

“We met World Wide Printing in Atlanta, Georgia and also met with a Chinese print shop.” Both wanted to do the deal, but they decided to work with Worldwide due to their Dallas headquarters.” he stated.

After the editing was complete, the updated version was sent to Minsk (Belarus), where World Wide’s printing presses can be found. The presses began to run in September and, on Dec. 28, 2000 copies were sent from Minsk.

The pallet of Bibles was transported through the Ukrainian warzone to Port Odessa where they were then shipped to New York City. They arrived at El Dorado on Monday, February 20th, were held in customs almost for a month, then they were shipped to New York City.

Scott Johnson stated that Clear Harbors delivered the pallet at noon on spring equinox to the East Faulkner parish. “I consider that significant, as it symbolizes the separation of light & darkness spiritually. It’s also historically attributed to be the day Gabriel spoke to Mary – the conception was on the equinox.”

Next steps

East Faulkner Church of Christ pastor Scott Johnson has copies of the BRG Bible available for $10. Johnson explained that Johnson can be reached at despite not being available 24/7. [email protected] Find out more about the BRG Edition.

Scott Johnson indicated that he thought the BRG Edition might be helpful for laymen to read the Bible.

He stated, “I think that’s exactly the way it works, because it captures dialogue with a colour so it draws down the eyes of readers to those specifics so they know who is doing which.” “We all know that the Bible was inspired and that the Spirit wrote it. But when you reach a particular sentence by Christ in Red, it emphasizes this. You now know that God the Father is speaking these words.

Johnson suggested that BRG might be a good option for pastors who want to understand the Word better.

He said, “I believe it gives teachers a deeper rendering” of the message.

He also noted that yellow, red, and blue are the primary colors for light. This symbol is another way to represent God, who is often compared with light.

The BRG edition has only printed the New Testament at the moment. Scott Johnson stated that he would like to find a publisher who could finance the printing of the Old Testament as a BRG edition.

Jane and he are currently working together with the New International Version licenser (NIV) in order to produce the digital BRG edition.

He said, “Since the first one was done, it has done nothing but grow.” “I believe that this is a change in the Bible, but it’s not a modification of the Bible. It’s only a kindergarten effort. I just received two more Crayolas.