NICK CARLSON / The Forum Pastor Jewell Smith displays his many Bibles including a King James version from 1611 at the Fargo Baptist Church.

Treasured texts Security on alert to guard rare collection of Bibles By Deneen Gilmour The Forum    Since when are Fargo police asked to run extra patrols past a church to safeguard Bibles in the deep hours of the night?    And since when do guards - maybe armed, maybe not (they won't say) - sleep in a sanctu- ary to protect Bibles?    Since the Rev. Jewell Smith brought his rare and expensive collection of Bibles and reli- gious manuscripts to Fargo Baptist Church on Thursday.   Some of the relics are more than 4,000 years old.    Smith won't talk about the collection's worth because he prefers to value its religious and historical significance.   But T.C. Scheving, pastor of Fargo Baptist Church, says it's fairly well known the collection is "worth millions."    In fact, thieves have twice attempted to steal the 67-year-old semi-retired pastor's assem- blage as he hauled it around the globe to share it with others the past 12 years. Where to see collection    More than the curator of a traveling museum, the Rev. Jewell Smith is also a scholar who's delivering five talks on "Our Biblical Heritage" at Fargo Baptist Church through the weekend.    The first talk was Thursday night.   The others are today at 7 p.m., Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.   The church is at 2500 18th St. S. in Fargo.    The Bibles may be viewed during Smith's presentations, or people who can't make it to the presentations may call the church to arrange another time to see the Bibles.    Before agreeing to display it at a church Smith asks the pastor to post guards.    Here, Scheving enlisted the help of two parishioners he describes as "big bruisers" trained in the military.    Although concerned about the irreplaceable documents, Smith refuses to lock them up. "What good would that do anybody?   This is our biblical heritage.   It gives us the assurance God has preserved [H]is word."    Smith says he transports the Bibles "would you believe, in Samsonite suitcases" - swad- dled in plenty of bubble wrap, of course.   On his way to Fargo he winced as airline luggage handlers tossed one suitcase like a sack of dirty laundry.   He later discovered the trauma cracked a wooden cover on one Bible.    Smith recently dropped his insurance with Lloyd's of London, opting instead to "hope the Lord protects them."    The highlights of Smith's treasury include: !>Stone tablets, known as cuneiform, 4,021 years old.   Engraved with hieroglyphic-like writing, the tablets chronologically relate to Abraham's time - Genesis 11:27-32. !>A 1539 Bible equipped with a metal chain which anchored it to a pulpit.   England's King [] See BIBLES, Back page

[] Bibles Continued from Page A1 Henry VIII ordered Bibles chained to pulpits because they were so scarce and expensive.  !>A King James Bible, translated in 1611.   Smith says it's been the world's most popular Bible for 400 years.   He calls it "the Bible that made America a great nation...built our churches and Bible colleges and universities like Harvard and Yale that started out as Bible Colleges."  !>A replica of the first Bible to roll off Johann Gutenberg's newly invented printing press in the 1400s.   "You're looking at something that changed the world," Smith says.   "The greatest pinnacle of his- tory was the crucifixion and resur- rection of Jesus Christ and the sec- ond was the invention of the print- ing press because it unleashed the word of God, and all words for all people, starting the Renaissance."  !>He has also acquired several hand-lettered Bibles and a Torah, all printed on animal skins.   The 400-year-old Torah was shepherded out of the crumbling Soviet Union several years ago by Russian Jews who had preserved it.  Smith believes he and his family have assembled the world's largest private collection of ancient Bibles and manuscripts.   The family oper- ates two Bible museums in Orlando.