The
HOLY BIBLE-
WHOLLY TRUEThe Bible isn't like any other book
that's ever been written. The claims
of the Bible are unlike any other
book--it's not a human book! God called His
Word living. But unless you have a rock-
solid commitment to truth, the Bible won't
change your life - it will only be so many
words in a sea of words.
Many of the Eastern thought forms use
Scripture. They use it to capture people's
hearts. That's because the Bible is so power-
ful you can't ignore it. God has built life into
His Word, and all of the strong cults rip it
off. They steal bites out of the Bible and use
it. They use the truth of it to try to justify the
lies they tell. Just the fact that
pieces taken out of
context are
powerful enough to draw men's hearts should tell you what the whole Word, used under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, can do!
Some Credentials
Here are some facts that will be valuable for anyone with an open heart. Now, you don't have to throw your mind away in order to believe these facts, but if you don't want to believe, nothing will convince you. I read once that Mark Twain said, 'It's not the things I don't understand in the Bible that bother me, it's the things I do understand!' This accurate insight exposes the real reason most people are afraid to study the Scriptures. They're afraid they might meet the Author through His Word, and they know they're not ready to do that... So what are this book's credentials? I could say to you, 'I've just written a book and it's the Word of God. It's a great book...took me a whole year to write it.' And you would have every right to say, 'Prove it!' In the various world religions, there are 30 to 40 books, each one claim- ing to be a superior revelation. Jesus Christ said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35) The Bible doesn't attempt to defend its inspiration. You won't find any verse that says, 'This book is really true, so better believe it!' But here is an interesting thing: Genesis opens with the words, "God said" nine times in the first chapter. The statement, "saith the Lord" appears 23 times in the last Old Testament book - Malachi. So you have 'God says' from Genesis to Malachi. Essentially the words 'The Lord spake' appears some 560 times in the first five books of the Bible and some 3800 times in the whole of the Old Testament! Isaiah claims some 40 times that his message came directly from the Lord; Ezekiel, some 60 times; and Jeremiah, some 100 times! And the Lord Jesus quoted from some 24 different Old Testament books - that's right, He just quoted. In the mid-1700's Voltaire, one of the most influential writers of his day, held a copy of the Bible in his hand and stated that within 100 years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and would pass into history.
Could You Write The Bible? Say you were going to write a book, and this was how you had to write it: For a start find 40 different writ- ers--totally different writers. Get some who are highly educated, even doctors - then get some farmers. Go dig a guy off a ranch somewhere and say, 'I'd like you to help me write a book.' Then find some fisherman. Go down to the wharf and find a couple of guys say from Larsen Bay, Alaska and say, 'Hey! listen, help me write a book.' And they say, 'Sure, fine...we'll help you.' And then you get all of them to write on the following things: religion, poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, the creation of the universe and where it's going--ask them to throw in a few things about where they think it will all end. Next, you need to collect all that information, and then...oh, by the way, you have to separate these people so they can't communicate by phone or telegraph...only possibly word of mouth, passed down over the years. Ah, yes, years...you collect all this stuff over about one and half thousand years, and compile the whole thing in one book. What would you have? I know what you'd have--you'd have the most motley junk you've ever seen in your life, with people totally contradicting each other! I suggest you take a biology textbook from 60 years ago, and compare it with one today. And that's only 60 years! But that's not what you have when you read your Bible. The more you read this book, the more you see the incredible unity of it. Because the more you get into it, the more incredibly detailed it is, and you find there are not 40 people who wrote it, but One Person.
The Bible: Your Science Book The Bible is scientifically accurate. The God of the Bible is the God who created the universe. True science and Scripture will always agree--they both have the same Author! No statement in the Scrip- tures is scientifically incorrect. Science can tabulate the 'what,' analyze the 'how,' and probe for the 'why,' but it can't tell us the 'where from,' nor the reason for which the universe exists. It can't say who you are or why you are here. It can tell us what we're able to do, but not what we ought to do. At the same time the Bible was written, people thought the world was flat and held up by three elephants. Big elephants. Someone asked, 'What holds the world up?' Another said, 'Three elephants.' Then someone ventured to ask, 'And what holds the elephants??' Someone answered, 'A big tortoise.' And so early science grew. Now, listen to what God said. Remember, this wasn't written in the last hundred years, or even the last thousand. This comes from over 2500 years ago..."Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth," (Isaiah 40:21-22). The word "circle" is the word 'sphere' in Hebrew. Also,
"He stretcheth out the north over an empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7) Well, so much for elephants! There are many other astounding scientific facts in Scripture, presented centuries before it became part of man's 'knowledge.'
Argument Melts Down "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (II Pet. 3:10) I've read this very verse was used nearly a century ago to prove that the Bible couldn't have been divinely inspired because, 'How could there be a fire big enough to burn the whole world? Silly fisherman!' It took over two more generations for science to catch up to what God possibly had spoken of through Peter, that an atomic reaction could actually melt the basic building blocks of matter itself. God was prophesying how the world would end. In fact, two verses later we find these words, "Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat!" (II Peter 3:12) The immediate above appears to be an atomic physics statement from a fisherman. These and countless other examples show us how the Lord has hidden unsurpassed knowledge and wisdom in His Word.
Lots Of Lucky Guesses? If there's one thing the Bible dares to do, that no other book in the world does, it's to accurately predict the future. God can arrange the situations and circumstances of history to bring about patterns laid down before the foundation of the world. The outline of many of these patterns is revealed in the Bible.
There are about 3,856 verses tells of future events! God's challenge to the world is 'Prove Me now - I am the Lord...I will speak, and the word that I speak shall come to pass.' (See Jeremiah 28:9; Ezekiel 12:25, 24:14) Buddhists, Confu- cianists, and Musl_ms have their own sacred writ- ings, but in them the element of prophecy is obviously absent. The destruction of Tyre and Assyria, the fall of Babylon and Rome--each were accurately predicted in the Bible and fulfilled to the smallest degree.
directly or indirectly concerned with
prophecy in Scripture--about one verse in six
In the brief life of Jesus Christ (the Lord and Saviour of all those who repent and place all their faith in Him only to forgive their sins and to save them from hell) alone we see over 300 fulfilled prophecies. The odds that these would all coincide by accident in one person are laughable. By the laws of chance, the conservative odds of even just 48 of those prophecies being fulfilled by one man are one in 10157. (That's 1 followed by 157 zeros!!!) Let me try to give you an idea of how immense this number is.
We'll take a very small object, let's say an elec- tron. (Electrons are so small that if you lined them up, it would take 2 1/2 quadrillion of them to equal one inch.) Now let's go back to our figure of 10157. If you tried to put this many electrons into a big pile, it would be 10,000,000,000 times larger than the universe as we know it - which scientists calcu- late to be 6,000,000,000 light-years across. (A light-year is the distance that light will travel in one year, moving at the speed of 186,000 miles per second.) Now, take just one electron out and color it red. Stir it back into this pile for a hundred thousand years with all the others. Then blindfold a man and send him in to pick it out - first time! Impossible? These would be the same odds that one man would live and die according to only 48 of the prophecies about the Messiah, if it were only an accident. The Scriptures specifically predict events and happen- ings that are as modern as tomorrow's new release.No Other Conclusion You can put any test you like on this book and nothing is even in the same category, not even in the same class. It's not just a book - it is God who has spoken in history, and that's why He says that His word is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword!" (Hebrews 4:12) Only the 66 books of the Scriptures bear this divine seal. No other work of man in any language even faintly resem-
bles the intricate structure and design of the Bible. The fact remains - only an infinite mind could have devised this Book of books. The Bible is a book with a universal message for all men. It's the only volume that a child and scholar may find equal delight in. Its simple, life-related principles can work in any country, transcending barriers of culture and race to bring peace, love, joy, and for- giveness. Only the Bible can make bad men (lost sinners) good inside, transforming the rebel into a saint (saved person by grace of God). The greatest proof of the Bible is the difference its message can make in your life. If you haven't done so--will you ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of His power to your heart through its pages? Try praying honestly, 'God, I don't know if this is Your Word or not, but if it is and You can help me, please reveal Your- self to me through Your Word as I read.'
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