When I was a baby my mother took me to the Cradle Roll Sunday School class at New Zion Baptist Church in McMinn County, Tennessee. At age five my family moved to Etowah, Tennessee where we joined First Baptist Church. At age nine I became a Christian by confessing my sin and asking Jesus to come into my life as my savior and LORD. I attended Sunday School, Church Training, participated in Bible Drill, Vacation Bible Schools, Royal Ambassadors and later worked as a leader in RAs.

At age 17 I prepared and delivered my first sermon in First Baptist Church of Delano, Tennessee.

During high school I carried a small print Bible to school to read during study hall. I wrote the date at the beginning of each chapter so I would know when I had read the entire Bible. I finished that Bible in 1959-60, my senior year. Since then, I have read and marked in the Bible at least 13 times. During all those years, study also included daily devotionals and Sunday school. In the different translations of the Bible that I have read were numerous marginal notes and it is from those notes that this book is written.

It is my desire that these notes will assist people who are starting to study the Bible to get a quick start. These are totally my notes. There are no directly quoted passages, so you need to have your Bible beside you to read the text in question. This guide is NOT to be read cover to cover, but rather to use as you read and study the Bible.

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Dr. Bernard Franklin Bull, husband of Barbara Brown Bull; father of three grown children, Bradley, Benita (Heath Claiborne), Bethany (Keith Carpenter), and grandfather to five grands. He holds a BS degree from Carson Newman University 1964; MRE degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary 1967; MED Texas Christian University 1968, and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Tennessee 1975.

Dr. Bull is a retired Professor of Education at Carson Newman University after 35 years of service and is a Deacon, First Baptist Church, Morristown, TN. He can be reached by email at [email protected]