A Little History Behind Biblical Truth Forum

[David]

Here are some older pictures of the forum:

• 2002 / 2006 / 2023

This is what my computer looked like in 1986:

• Pic 1 / Pic 2 / Pic 3

I don’t know if I have ever shared much about the history behind Biblical Truth Forum, but this ministry did not start yesterday. It goes back a long way.

Back in 1986, I first went online using an old dial-up modem, a Commodore 64, a floppy disk, and even a cassette drive. Programs took forever to load back then. Nothing was fast. Nothing was fancy. But even in those early days, there was already a way to reach people online and talk about the Bible.

That was where this work began.

Before forums looked like they do today, many of them were called BBS systems, which stood for Bulletin Board Systems. Ours started as **The Christian BBS**. It was a place where people could come online, read, post, discuss Scripture, ask questions, and talk about the things of God. It was simple compared to what we have now, but the purpose was the same: to point people to the truth of God’s Word.

Over the years, I have talked with many, many people about the Bible online. Some were believers needing encouragement. Some were confused. Some were searching. Some wanted to argue. Some brought false doctrine. But through all of it, the goal stayed the same: keep pointing people back to Scripture.

The Bible says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” ~John 17:17. That has always been the foundation. Not man’s opinion. Not religious tradition. Not popular teachers. Not what sounds good. God’s Word is truth.

I kept the old forum, **The Christian BBS**, running for many years. In fact, I kept it so long that the company that made the forum software eventually went out of business and stopped providing updates. By 2023, the software finally stopped working, and I had to let it go.

That was not easy. Over the years, the old forum had grown to over 16,000 members. A lot of history was there. A lot of discussions were there. A lot of work had gone into it. But technology changes, and sometimes the old tools finally break down.

After that, I spent time on other Christian forums for a while. What I saw grieved me. So many places that claimed to be Christian seemed to be overrun with confusion, false teaching, man-made doctrine, and people twisting Scripture. It became clear that there still needed to be a place where the Bible is treated as the final authority.

That is one of the reasons Biblical Truth Forum was started.

BTF is not just another discussion board. It is the continuation of a work that began decades ago, updated for today, but with the same basic purpose: to give people a place to discuss the Bible, test all things by Scripture, expose error, encourage believers, and point the lost to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Modern Christian forums still carry the old message-board tradition forward. Even today, directory listings still use language like “Christian BBS” and “Christian message boards.” That shows that today’s forum culture did not appear out of nowhere. It grew out of the older bulletin board pattern where people gathered online to discuss Scripture, prayer, doctrine, news, and Christian living.

Some of those old sites are now inactive or broken, but the need has not gone away.

People still need the truth.

People still need the gospel.

People still need to be warned about false teaching.

People still need to be pointed back to the Word of God.

The online world has changed since 1986, but the Bible has not changed. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” ~Psalm 119:89. The technology may change. The platforms may change. The software may come and go. But the Word of God stands.

I also spent about five years working for a company called 711.net, which began as Rated-G. It was a Christian internet filtering service that blocked pornography and other harmful material online. So even outside of the forum itself, I have been involved in Christian online work for a long time.

Looking back, I can honestly say this has been a long journey. From a dial-up modem and a Commodore 64 to the forum we have now, the burden has stayed the same: share the good news of Jesus Christ, defend the truth of Scripture, and provide a place where the Bible is not treated as optional.

Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” ~2 Timothy 4:2. That verse still matters. In a day when many people want smooth words, soft religion, and doctrine without correction, we need to stay anchored to what God has actually said.

That is what Biblical Truth Forum is about.

We are not here to build a platform around personalities. We are not here to promote every religious idea that comes along. We are not here to let false teaching run loose under the name of Christian discussion.

We are here to hold the line with Scripture.

That is where this forum came from, and by God’s grace, that is where it needs to stay.