In the beginning God... (Genesis 1:1); God is Spirit,... (John 4:24); Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:2); “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14); Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)
"From nothing, nothing comes." Since we can see "something" then we understand that "from something, something comes." Science calls this the Law of Biogenesis, not the "theory", so this is an absoute fact!
God is, always has been, always will be, and all wisdom comes from Him:
“The Lord possessed me [wisdom] at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primal dust of the world. (Proverbs 8:22-26)
God is independent of creation, but all things are created by Him:
In the beginning God created... (Genesis 1:1); When He prepared the heavens, I [wisdom] was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman [Christ, Lord God]; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:27-31; Genesis 1:1-2, 26, 2:1-3); “Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You. (Nehemiah 9:5-6; Job 38-40:5; Psalm 104)
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, Lord God has always been, from the beginning: But of Him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:30-31, 1:18-25); He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:15-18, Genesis 2:4-25, 3:8-11; Revelations 3:14); “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelations 1:8)
What did God do before creation? Existed (ie. In the beginning God...)! So why did He create? Because He wanted to (ie. ...it pleased Him)!:
The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, In all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul! (Psalm 103:19-22); He [God] has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, Who can find it out? (Ecclesiasted 3:11, 14, 7:24); Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36; Isaiah 40:12-14; Jeremiah 23:18-20)
We'll never fully understand or grasp the complete knowledge and wisdom of God while we're in the flesh (I Corinthians 13:12). But we should take great comfort and assurance in knowing that God loves us and cares for us (John 3:12-17), that above all that He created, we are the only thing He made in His image and gave dominion over everything else He made (Genesis 1:26-27). Above everything else, for those of us who are saved, God is our Heavenly Father (Luke 11:9-13), and through belief, faith, hope, and trust in His Son, our Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus (John 10:7-30), one day we will be in His presence, for eternity (Revelations 20:11-15; 21-22), and then we'll understand it all:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14, Matthew 12:15-21)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Too Fantastic to Believe - 2 of 2?
Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law. (Psalm 119:18); They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. (Matthew 20:33-34)
Just as Jesus gave sight to the blind (John 9:1-12), and hearing to the deaf and speech to the mute (Mark 7:31-37), so will he also give us spiritual eyes to see the Truth, spiritual ears to hear the Truth and wisdom to speak the Truth (Luke 4:16-21), even if it seems to fantastic to believe. Let's continue...
Jesus believed Sodom and Gomarrah were destroyed because of their immorality, and that Lot's wife became a pillar os salt for looking back at the city:
- Then the men said to Lot, ... —take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:12-13, 17, 23-26)
- Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Remember Lot’s wife. (Luke 17:22-25, 28-30, 32)
Jesus believed in Jonah and that he spent three days in the belly of a big fish, and that after the fish spit him out on dry land, he went on to evangelize in Ninevah:
- Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:1-3, 17); Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.(John 2:1, 10); Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.(Jonah 3:1-3, 4-5, 10)
- Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But [Jesus] answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:38-41)
Jesus believed in all the prophets of God: Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets; and He refered to them throughout his ministry:
- “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)
- Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. [“I am the Lord your God, ... “You shall have no other gods before Me., Exodus 20:2-3] (Matthew 10:17-22)
- ...(and the Scripture cannot be broken),... (John 10:35); And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.(Luke 24:27, 44-45); You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5:39)
There are hundreds of examples that could be given, but the point of it all is this: If Jesus believed the Word of God, shouldn't we? Let us be like the church in Berea, These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11) Don't depend on men to prove that God is or isn't real, but go to God directly, by studying His Word with a sincere desire to know the Truth, the Truth that all creation professes: “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food? “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. (Job 12:7-11, 13)
Just as Jesus gave sight to the blind (John 9:1-12), and hearing to the deaf and speech to the mute (Mark 7:31-37), so will he also give us spiritual eyes to see the Truth, spiritual ears to hear the Truth and wisdom to speak the Truth (Luke 4:16-21), even if it seems to fantastic to believe. Let's continue...
Jesus believed Sodom and Gomarrah were destroyed because of their immorality, and that Lot's wife became a pillar os salt for looking back at the city:
- Then the men said to Lot, ... —take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:12-13, 17, 23-26)
- Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Remember Lot’s wife. (Luke 17:22-25, 28-30, 32)
Jesus believed in Jonah and that he spent three days in the belly of a big fish, and that after the fish spit him out on dry land, he went on to evangelize in Ninevah:
- Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:1-3, 17); Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.(John 2:1, 10); Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.(Jonah 3:1-3, 4-5, 10)
- Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But [Jesus] answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:38-41)
Jesus believed in all the prophets of God: Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets; and He refered to them throughout his ministry:
- “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)
- Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. [“I am the Lord your God, ... “You shall have no other gods before Me., Exodus 20:2-3] (Matthew 10:17-22)
- ...(and the Scripture cannot be broken),... (John 10:35); And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.(Luke 24:27, 44-45); You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5:39)
There are hundreds of examples that could be given, but the point of it all is this: If Jesus believed the Word of God, shouldn't we? Let us be like the church in Berea, These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11) Don't depend on men to prove that God is or isn't real, but go to God directly, by studying His Word with a sincere desire to know the Truth, the Truth that all creation professes: “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food? “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. (Job 12:7-11, 13)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Too Fantastic to Believe - 1 of 2?
For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God. “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” (John 5:43-47, Jesus speaking to the Jews, and all mankind)
This study is very long, but it's too important to shorten. There are so many things that happened during mankinds early existence on this planet, that many of us find difficult to believe, and a great multitude refuse to believe. Many unbelievers will admit that maybe Jesus did exist, but He didn't really do all the things the Bible said He did. They may even go on to say that all the things the Bible states happened didn't really happen. Finally they're left with, it's just a book made up by men and there isn't even a God. (read Science Denies God, Because It "Has" To!) Even if the facts seem too fantastic to believe, we must allow ourselves the freedom to believe them, then and only then will we be able to see The Truth (John 8:48-58). Jesus believed the Word of God (John 2:22); He was the Word of God in the flesh (John 1:14); and He quoted the Word of God always (John 14:10):
Jesus believed in creation, and the existence of God, because the Spirit in Him, Lord God was in the beginning with God:
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;... Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 1:1-2, 26; 2:1, 4-7)
- Jesus prayed: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:21, 24-26)
Jesus believed in Adam and Eve, and also that marriage is between a man and a woman:
- And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24); And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20)
- And [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)
Jesus believed in Noah and the ark, and that only Noah, his family and the animals on the ark were saved:
- Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8); Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. (Genesis 7:1, 7-9, 12, 23)
- Jesus said: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:36-39)
Jesus believed in Abraham and Moses and all that God did through them:
- When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:1-5); So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon [Lord] God. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:4-6, 11, 14)
- Jesus said: “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-23, 27-31); Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)
We can't stop now; there's still more...
This study is very long, but it's too important to shorten. There are so many things that happened during mankinds early existence on this planet, that many of us find difficult to believe, and a great multitude refuse to believe. Many unbelievers will admit that maybe Jesus did exist, but He didn't really do all the things the Bible said He did. They may even go on to say that all the things the Bible states happened didn't really happen. Finally they're left with, it's just a book made up by men and there isn't even a God. (read Science Denies God, Because It "Has" To!) Even if the facts seem too fantastic to believe, we must allow ourselves the freedom to believe them, then and only then will we be able to see The Truth (John 8:48-58). Jesus believed the Word of God (John 2:22); He was the Word of God in the flesh (John 1:14); and He quoted the Word of God always (John 14:10):
Jesus believed in creation, and the existence of God, because the Spirit in Him, Lord God was in the beginning with God:
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;... Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 1:1-2, 26; 2:1, 4-7)
- Jesus prayed: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:21, 24-26)
Jesus believed in Adam and Eve, and also that marriage is between a man and a woman:
- And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24); And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20)
- And [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)
Jesus believed in Noah and the ark, and that only Noah, his family and the animals on the ark were saved:
- Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8); Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. (Genesis 7:1, 7-9, 12, 23)
- Jesus said: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:36-39)
Jesus believed in Abraham and Moses and all that God did through them:
- When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:1-5); So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon [Lord] God. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:4-6, 11, 14)
- Jesus said: “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-23, 27-31); Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)
We can't stop now; there's still more...
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Science Denies God, Because It "Has" To!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:25-26, 28) But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:14)
There is a study done by Pastor Erwin Lutzer that is so clear, accurate and detailed in explaining why we, all people, should believe The Bible, entitled "Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible". The seven reasons he gives are:
- The Logical Claims of the Bible
- The Historical Reliability of the Bible
- The Prophetic Predictions of the Bible
- The Authority of Christ
- The Story of Creation
- The Role of God's Providence in Creating the Bible
- The Power of God's Word in Your Life
Scientist went on to try and justify the Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by writing The Young Oxford Book of Astronomy textbook (1940’s), which states quote: “At the beginning of the universe, all matter and all radiation was concentrated into a tiny region of space, much smaller than the nucleus of a single atom. The theory that the universe has expanded from next to nothing into its current immensity relies on the assumption that the red shift of galaxies are caused by motion away from us. By the time the universe was about a millionth of a second old, much of the energy had been converted into protons, in the next milliseconds electrons formed, and these collided with protons to make neutrons. Neutrons survived only a thousand seconds, as independent particles, so the next few minutes were critical! During the first quarter of an hour, the protons reacted with the neutrons which were fast decaying to make the nuclear helium atoms. In a race against time, as the universe continued to cool and expand, the universe managed to convert…” So all order of the universe came from caos, that on its own, came to order? WOW!
Joel R. Primack (2010’s) is a professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz in California, and in recent years at an evolutist conference in Chicago, IL, he stated quote: “[There is one unresolved mystery at the birth of the universe.] Physicist have recently realized that the basic forces of nature split off from one unified force for a few moments after the “big bang” more than 15 billion years ago. That splitting could have happened in many different ways, only a few of which would have resulted in an inhabitable planet such as the earth. Humans seem to have hit the jackpot in a cosmic Las Vegas, leaving room for the possibility that some divine providence was responsible for our luck. I have to be impressed by all the coincidences."
Pahu, a converted athiest, states in his blog, Science Proves God:There is no scientifically valid answers to the question of how the universe could come from nothing, which is impossible by any natural cause of which we are aware. Walt Brown writes in his book, “In the Beginning”: "Spontaneous generation (the emergence of life from nonliving matter) has never been observed. All observations have shown that life comes only from life. This has been observed so consistently it is called the Law of Biogenesis. Evolution conflicts with this scientific law by claiming that life came from nonliving matter through natural processes." (see previous blog, God, Anyone, No One - Why?)
So why not acknowledge the truth, or at least admit they're not sure what to believe? Phillip Johnson, states it best in one of his writings that the commitment of athiestic evolution is not to science. It is first to the presuppostion that only matter exists and there is no God. Lou Oton, an evolutionist wrote quote: "We take the side of science in spite of some of the patent absurdity of some of the constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance in the scientific community for unsubstantiated 'just so' stories. We do this because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and the institutions of science somehow compel us to accept the material explanation of the phenomenal world, but on the contrary. We are forced by our apriority adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door.” Well then, how closed minded. Not only is God's foot in the door, but God made the door, or at least the trees that it was made from!
People who refuse to believe in God find it easier to believe all the inconsistency and inprobability of evolution, instead of believing in creation, even if science has proven that indeed there was a moment in which the universe was “created”. (Edwin Hubble) Man evolved from monkeys? But we still have monkeys. Why? Because ... God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind.(Genesis 1:21, 25) God made every animal that has or will ever exist. God also made man: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ...God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis1:26-27) It took several paragraphs of quotes of people trying to justify evolution, but it only took a few sentences from God to explain creation. We belittle ourselves when we compare ourselves to, claim we evolved from and act like animals. God made us in His image, and gave us authority to take care of His creation, including the animals. Why would we settle for being less than that? To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. (Titus 1:15)
Albert Einstein (1900's), a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, effecting a revolution in physics, stated quote: "The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority, such that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and the acting of human beings is utterly insignificant." Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. (Psalm 40:4-5) For those who think creation is too fantastic to believe, then watch out, because things that have happened on the earth since creation will blow our minds even more...
Friday, September 21, 2012
Tolerance, But At What Cost?
They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. HE DOES NOT WANT ANYONE TO BE DESTROYED, BUT WANTS EVERYONE TO REPENT. (II Peter 3:5-9)
Just because God doesn't deal with sin as swiftly as He did during the earlier Biblical times doesn't mean He has changed His mind about sin and the punishment it deserves: “For I am the Lord, I do not change; (Malachi 3:6); The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. (II Peter 3:9) So why isn't He striking people dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-11) or destroying cities by fire for the sexual immorality of the people (Genesis 19:1-29), or is He? No, he is being patient for your sake. (II Peter 3:9); God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ... (I Timothy 2:3-5) God wants us to repent, meaning to confess our sins to Him, ask for His forgiveness, and then sincerely desire to stop doing those things that He has commanded and will enable us not to do, through the power of His Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:1-17), so that we can start living the life of peace, contentment and prosperity He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11).
What are the sins God is so patiently waiting for us to repent from, turn away from and turn to Him? ...vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32; Matthew 15:19-20; Mark 7:21-23; II Corinthians 12:20-21; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7; Colossians 3:5-10)
The problems are, we either want to deny that God exists, so that we don't have to deal with the guilt of our sin; or we want to believe that God is so loving, He couldn't possibly punish us for doing what we "feel" is right. First problem is, every human being who ever existed or will exist knows that God is real, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse... (Romans 1:19-20). Second problem is God does not change, and if He says a sin is a sin, it will always be a sin, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
If sex between two women wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it vile passion. (Romans 1:26) If sex between two men wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it committing what is shameful. (Romans 1:27; Leviticus 18:22). If sex between a man and a woman who aren't married wasn't sin, God wouldn't call if fornication. (Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5) If sex between a man and a woman who are married to other people wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it adultery. (Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:18) If sex between humans and animals wasn't sin, God wouldn't command us not to do it. (Leviticus 18:23) And if all the other immoral things we could possibly do weren't sin, God wouldn't say we have a debased mind. (Romans 1:28)
So, how do we resolve this conflict of wanting to do what we want to do, but knowing that we have to obey God if we are saved: For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Romans 7:15) The same answer that has always been from the beginning of sin is the same and only answer that will work today: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25) We must confess our sins to God, and believe the Word of God, in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and then Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (I Corinthians 6:18-20); And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30) God will empower us, through His Holy Spirit and His Word, to do all the things He instructs us to do, because Jesus said I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
We are never to tolerate or justify sin, not even in our own lives. We all have to understand there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,... (Romans 7:22-23); You [God] are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. (Isaiah 64:5); Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:17-19) God forgives, Christ saves, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we ALL can be changed! “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way [world's way] that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way [God's way] which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14); Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
Just because God doesn't deal with sin as swiftly as He did during the earlier Biblical times doesn't mean He has changed His mind about sin and the punishment it deserves: “For I am the Lord, I do not change; (Malachi 3:6); The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. (II Peter 3:9) So why isn't He striking people dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-11) or destroying cities by fire for the sexual immorality of the people (Genesis 19:1-29), or is He? No, he is being patient for your sake. (II Peter 3:9); God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ... (I Timothy 2:3-5) God wants us to repent, meaning to confess our sins to Him, ask for His forgiveness, and then sincerely desire to stop doing those things that He has commanded and will enable us not to do, through the power of His Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:1-17), so that we can start living the life of peace, contentment and prosperity He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11).
What are the sins God is so patiently waiting for us to repent from, turn away from and turn to Him? ...vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32; Matthew 15:19-20; Mark 7:21-23; II Corinthians 12:20-21; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7; Colossians 3:5-10)
The problems are, we either want to deny that God exists, so that we don't have to deal with the guilt of our sin; or we want to believe that God is so loving, He couldn't possibly punish us for doing what we "feel" is right. First problem is, every human being who ever existed or will exist knows that God is real, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse... (Romans 1:19-20). Second problem is God does not change, and if He says a sin is a sin, it will always be a sin, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
If sex between two women wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it vile passion. (Romans 1:26) If sex between two men wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it committing what is shameful. (Romans 1:27; Leviticus 18:22). If sex between a man and a woman who aren't married wasn't sin, God wouldn't call if fornication. (Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5) If sex between a man and a woman who are married to other people wasn't sin, God wouldn't call it adultery. (Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:18) If sex between humans and animals wasn't sin, God wouldn't command us not to do it. (Leviticus 18:23) And if all the other immoral things we could possibly do weren't sin, God wouldn't say we have a debased mind. (Romans 1:28)
So, how do we resolve this conflict of wanting to do what we want to do, but knowing that we have to obey God if we are saved: For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Romans 7:15) The same answer that has always been from the beginning of sin is the same and only answer that will work today: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25) We must confess our sins to God, and believe the Word of God, in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and then Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (I Corinthians 6:18-20); And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30) God will empower us, through His Holy Spirit and His Word, to do all the things He instructs us to do, because Jesus said I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
We are never to tolerate or justify sin, not even in our own lives. We all have to understand there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,... (Romans 7:22-23); You [God] are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. (Isaiah 64:5); Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:17-19) God forgives, Christ saves, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we ALL can be changed! “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way [world's way] that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way [God's way] which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14); Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Seven Reasons to Believe The Bible!
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
There is a study done by Pastor Erwin Lutzer that is so clear, accurate and detailed in explaining why we, all people, should believe The Bible, entitled "Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible". The seven reasons he gives are:
- The Logical Claims of the Bible
- The Historical Reliability of the Bible
- The Prophetic Predictions of the Bible
- The Authority of Christ
- The Story of Creation
- The Role of God's Providence in Creating the Bible
- The Power of God's Word in Your Life
It is not wise to seek counsel and instruction solely from other people, who can come up with all kinds of ideas and imaginations, based on their feelings and beliefs at any given time: A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him? (Ecclesiastes 10:14) “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven— what can you do? Deeper than Sheol [Hell]— what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. (Job 11:7-9) How much better to believe God, who never changes and always stays the same, regardless of what's going on in the world: “For I am the Lord, I do not change;... (Malachi 3:6); “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, ... for in Him we live and move and have our being, ... (Acts 17:24, 28); Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. (Psalm 139:7-8) Yes, God used men to speak and write His Words, but "the Lord God says,'...'" (II Peter 1:16-21)
But to get back to why we can believe the Bible, based on the prophecies of God, the following has to be the most convincing reason of all. The book of Isaiah was written between 700-680 B.C., and God said: Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’ “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— ... For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1, 4-5) Not only does God prophecy that Jerusalem will be destroyed and the children of Isreal will be taken into captivity by the Babylonian nation, but He goes on to prophecy that after a period of time, which ended up being seventy years, the children of Isreal will be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city by the Babylonian ruler at the time, and He states his name, Cyrus; all of this prophecied by God nearly 200 years before it happens, as is recorded in Ezra 1 - 6, somewhere between 600-530 B.C.! This fact is also documented in many other historical books, which we can verify for ourselves regarding Cyrus the Great.
Why did God specify the name, Cyrus, in His prophecy? Because unlike the other so-called prophets, predictors or fortune tellers at that time, He was proving beyond a doubt that He is the One and Only True and Living God: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’” (Isaiah 44:6-8) God is the only One ... who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (Romans 4:17); But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) First we have to believe in God, then we have to believe the Word of God, and then and only then can we “Repent, and let every one of [us] be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and [we] shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God in order to understand the Word of God because ...the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:14)
There are hundreds of other examples of fullfilled prophecy spoken by God that could be given, and there is still hundreds more that will be fullfilled. Another one we can research is God prophecies the destruction of the city of Tyre by "many nations" through the prophet Ezekiel around 592-587 B.C. (Ezekiel 26-28), and it was fullfilled starting with Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon around 573 B.C. (Ezekiel 26:7-14) and completed by Alexander the Great and the help of many conquered nations around 356-323 B.C. (Ezekiel 26:3-6, Alexander the Great) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1) This is the Word of the Lord! Amen.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Happy Labor Day, 9/3/12!
I pray each of us are able to enjoy this Labor Day holiday!
Until we resume our studies, remember the promise of Christ:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Until we resume our studies, remember the promise of Christ:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
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