Books That Changed My Life
I often get asked why and how I started selling Reformed experiential books some fifty-six years ago. The answer is rooted in God’s dealings with my own soul. When I was fourteen, the Lord brought me under deep conviction of sin that drove me to the Scriptures and to my father’s bookcase looking for relief—shelves that were filled almost entirely with the Puritans. Night after night, from about nine o’clock until about midnight, I read my way through most of my father’s entire collection. It took eighteen months before I was finally brought to spiritual freedom in Christ by God’s amazing grace, much of which was His blessing of the Puritans’ amazingly free offer of grace in their writings to my fearing and needy soul. By the grace of God, I was enabled to surrender my whole life to Christ at the age of fifteen. I then saw vividly that all my righteousness was to be found in Christ’s righteousness alone—through His active and passive obedience, His perfect law-keeping, and His full atonement for the sins of His people. That freedom convinced and moved me to zealously believe that sound Christian books are among God’s chosen means of grace to save and mature sinners.
A Calling to Put Books in People’s Hands
That conviction quickly became a calling. At the age of sixteen, I felt that I simply had to put such books into other people’s hands. I spent my (meager) life savings to start a small church library—it began with only eight approved titles and grew to one hundred within months—and God used those books to bring several people to saving faith. Not long after, I had an unusual and vivid dream. I saw a sheet of paper bearing the return address “Bible Truth Books: Kalamazoo, Michigan.” I also saw a list of books, the first of which read like this: “Alexander, Archibald. Thoughts on Religious Experience. Retail price: $10.00. Our price: $8.00.”
I woke up, reflected on the dream, and felt certain that a church library was not enough. I was sure the Lord wanted me to start a business selling these books. I visited our church elders, who gave me permission to start a non-profit book business—only if an elderly brother from Grand Rapids, who had a small business selling Christian books, would consent to the start of such an endeavor (which could inadvertently detract from some of his business). The next day, my brother Jim and I drove to Grand Rapids to seek the blessing of this elderly bookseller, weeping in the car outside his house and praying that he would not see us as competition. After listening intently to our vision, he leaned forward and said with outspread arms, “Young men, may the whole world be your parish! Godspeed!” We were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. And so Bible Truth Books was born. Our very first list was a single blue sheet of paper. Remarkably, as the books were alphabetized and “Alexander” was the first entry, the list opened with the exact title at the exact price (both retail and discount prices) that I had seen in my dream! I drove to the post office every day, praying earnestly for incoming orders and checking P. O. Box 2373. Every Saturday night, about fifteen young people from our church gathered to help us pack the orders and pray over them as they went out into the world.
The book ministry continued growing for the next five years, but I eventually had to give it up when I was accepted by my denomination to study for the ministry in Ontario. So I gave Bible Truth Books into the hands of the young people in Kalamazoo. In 2003, the ministry relocated to Grand Rapids but is still functioning today. After I was ordained into the ministry at the age of twenty-five, the synod of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations asked me to chair their “Book and Publishing Committee,” which I poured myself into, writing books, editing others, and publishing about ten books per year. With God’s help, I was able to expand the sales tenfold over the next fifteen years.
Beginning Again
Then came a painful split in the denomination. With that split, I lost all the books that had been published—including my own authored and edited titles, which added pain to pain. But I could not imagine a life not spent placing good books into people’s hands all over the world. In my mind, the reading of such books remains a primary means of grace. So I resolved to begin again. This time, I decided not to tie the new book ministry to a denomination, but placed it under an independent, interdenominational board. We started very small—with five board members and modest means—and we called it “Reformation Heritage Books” (abbreviated as “RHB”). Once again, we poured everything we could into this ministry. Reformation Heritage Books soon filled the basement of our home and overflowed into different rooms, which, together with my personal study, meant that every room in our two-story parsonage in Grand Rapids was filled with books from floor to ceiling—except for our master bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathrooms!
Beyond All Expectation
When Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (which began in 1995) purchased a modest little ranch home for the expanding ministry in the late 1990s, RHB moved in with the seminary. My office was in the living room, my own books were in the basement, and the RHB books were in the remodeled garage where the students met for classes. When customers came to the home, they often had to wait until class was done to see the books and purchase them. A small bedroom was used for packing the orders (which were quickly multiplying!). One full-time book packer did all the work—a dear older lady, who later told me that with every order she packed, she silently prayed that the Lord would richly bless the books to their recipients. In 2004, we built a 20,000 square foot building next door and, by God’s grace, we raised $3 million to pay for it as the dual home for both PRTS and RHB. In 2014, a $3.6 million expansion was added to the building because we were running out of space for both ministries. In God’s kind and remarkable providence, both buildings were entirely paid for on the very day of dedication! Eventually, RHB could no longer contain all the books of the rapidly expanding ministry, which was now selling millions of dollars of books each year. So RHB decided to purchase its present building, a former paint store, of 44,000 square feet, where God has blessed us beyond all expectation!
I can truly say that I’m as excited and overjoyed to sell books in my senior years as I was as a teenager. Over the years, I’ve experienced thousands of times that these godly books have been a huge blessing in the lives of God’s dear people, as well as for the conversion of many souls. RHB continues to be very dear to my heart. I often pray God that He will use RHB to continue filling the whole world with millions of godly readers in scores of different languages who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Dr. Joel R. Beeke
Founder and Chairman, Reformation Heritage Books
