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E.O. Wilson: Science, Not Philosophy, Will Explain the Meaning of Existence
The Social Conquest of Earth | Edward O. Wilson
Edward O. Wilson The Meaning of Human Existence Audiobook
Harvard University Professor E.O. Wilson in his office at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. USACredit: Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty.
| Francis A. Schaeffer |
|---|
| Founder of the L’Abri community |
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Francis Schaeffer mentioned Edward O. Wilson in his book WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? co-authored by C.Everett Koop on pages 289-291 (ft note 6 0n page 504). That was when I was first introduced to Dr. Wilson’s work. Wikipedia notes, Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, and writer. His specialty was myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he was called the world’s leading expert,[3][4] and he was nicknamed Ant Man.[5][6][7][8]
I was honored to correspond with Dr. Wilson from 1994 to 2021!!
Below is an email (or letter if I did not have email address) that I sent out to over 100 atheists on July 22, 2020 including Dr.Edward O.Wilson.
July 22, 2020
Dear Dr. Wilson,
Back on February 20, 2020, I emailed and wrote about 200 skeptics that I have been corresponding with for up to almost 30 years in some cases. I wrote the following words:
I have been blessed not have any health concerns for my first 58 years of life. However, on February 19, 2020, I was told by a cardiologist that a few months back my heart was attacked by a virus and now I have Congestive Heart Failure and my heart is operating at 40% of what it was earlier.
If the Lord blesses me with some type of recovery, I hope to continue to read the works of skeptics and correspond with them in the future.
Unfortunately, my recovery has been anything but easy and I have suffered 3 heart attacks. Today on July 22nd I am undergoing quadruple heart bypass surgery and I wanted to get this off to you before the operation this morning.
I have been blessed the last few months to interact with Ricky Gervais the famous British comedian who recently wrote and acted in the excellent NetFlix series AFTER LIFE which I highly recommend and I have even done many blog posts discussing the episodes. In fact, Ricky liked two of my blog posts about AFTER LIFE that were put on twitter and they got over 17,000 views each. AFTER LIFE is about Tony Johnson (played by Ricky) whose wife Lisa has died six months earlier. Ricky have decided to live life the way he wants to even if it means being rude when he feels like it and his so-called “super power” is that if he doesn’t get over his depression then he can go back to the original plan of killing himself.
Since Tony has rejected all religious and moral principles he says things like this below indicating that he thinks life is meaningless:
Here’s what’s what, humanity is a plague. We’re a disgusting, narcissistic, selfish parasite, and the world would be a better place without us. It should be everyone’s moral duty to kill themselves. I could do it now. Quite happily just go upstairs, jump off the roof, and make sure I landed on some c**t from accounts
Season one of AFTER LIFE reminded me a lot of Solomon searching for the elusive meaning to life UNDER THE SUN in ECCLESIASTES. Therefore, on Saturday April 18, 2020 at 6pm in London and noon in Arkansas, I had a chance to ask Ricky Gervais a question on his Twitter Live broadcast which was “Is Tony a Nihilist?” At the 20:51 mark Ricky answers my question. Below is the video at this link: https://youtu.be/Zxg6dnhbsjU
Atheists like Ricky and his good friend Richard Dawkins need evidence and in this series of posts on AFTER LIFE have examined many of the historical claims of the Bible and also the accuracy of Old Testament prophecies. Did you know that Isaac Newton spent about a third of his time in his favorite book of the Bible which was Daniel and he was particularly interested in chapter 9.
Thank you for you time! Hope all is well with you and yours.
Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, cell 501-920-5733, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org
(Richard Dawkins and Ricky Gervais seen above and Everette Hatcher seen below 7-10-20)
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BELOW IS A POST DID IN JULY of 2021:
(One year ago today) July 22, 2020 WAS THE DAY OF MY QUINTUPLE HEART BYPASS
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At 59 years of age I was not very excited to learn that my heart was giving out on me. A little over a year ago I was told by my heart doctor that I would have to go into the hospital and get a heart stent put in because my heart was too weak to have open heart surgery. . Next I knew it was 6 am on the morning of July 15, 2020, and I was lying on the operating table and the doctor was telling me that the anesthesia would start to work and that I would be falling to sleep soon and then he would start working on putting in my heart stent. Then mid-sentence (it seemed) the doctor announced that the operation was over and the operation to put in my stent did not work. It had appeared to me that I had several hours of me being asleep disappear from my life. Actually several hours had passed by with me not realizing it.
Then the doctor told me that I would stay in the hospital (at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock pictured above) for a week till my open heart surgery would take place. (The danger of getting exposed to COVID-19 was too great to send me home.) That gave me a lot of time to think about my life and on July 22, 2020 (exactly one year from today) I went to the operating table. My thoughts leading up to this moment concentrated on my faith in Christ alone for my salvation and on the reliability of the Word of God.
The constant thought I had that week was that the moment I laid on the operating table and went under the influence of anesthesia I would it seem wake up instantly and the operation would be over and I would either be in the recovery room or if the operation went poorly then I would be in my eternal home!
Sure enough I fell asleep on the operating table at 6am and woke up immediately (it seemed) to find myself thrilled to be alive!!! I stayed awake for 35 hours in a row and finally got some rest after I was given some morphine. The happiest moment was when I saw my wife Jill come see me in the hospital. Seeing Jill inspired me to take my first walk and start my rehabilitation. 5 days later I was out of the hospital and soon after I would be walking 4 miles a day after a 5-bypass heart operation.
We all are going to face a similar day in the future and it is best to think long and hard about our eternal destiny. Are you relying on your faith alone in Christ for your salvation? The Bible is true and can be trusted.
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” The first part of this verse is about the judgment sinners must face if not pardoned, but the second part is about Christ who paid our sin debt!!! Did you know that Romans 6:23 is part of what we call the Roman Road to Christ. Here is how it goes:
- Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) - The Penalty for our sin is death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) - The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ!
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) - If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins!
For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)
The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted.
Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God
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Why I Believe the Bible to Be the Word of God
Dr. Adrian Rogers
II Timothy 3
I want you to take your Bibles please and turn with me
to II Timothy chapter 3 and we’ll begin our reading in
verse 14. Paul is talking to young Timothy and he
says, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou
hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast
known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works.”
Why I believe the Bible, and I want to tell you,
friend, it is absolutely essential that you believe
the Word of God if you’re to know anything spiritually
and if you’re to have victory in your spiritual life.
The thing that keeps me going is not primarily what I
feel. Now, I thank God for feelings, but I’m a fellow
who operates in a moderately narrowed band. I don’t
get all that high and I don’t get all that low, but
the thing that keeps me going is not what I feel but
what I know. It is the truth of God’s Word, the
principles, and the promises, and the power of God’s
Word that sustain me and keep me going. If you do not
know God’s Word and, beyond knowing God’s Word, have
that firm assurance that the Bible is indeed the
inspired Word of God, you’re going to be floundering
around in your Christian life. These hath God married
and no man shall part, dust on the Bible and drought
in the heart.
Now, Paul here is talking to Timothy about the Bible
and he tells him several things about the Bible. First
of all, he says that all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God in verse 16. That literally means
that all Scripture is the breath of God. You see, as
I’m speaking to you right now what you’re hearing is
my breath. My diaphragm is forcing my breath up
through my throat and over my larynx and the voice box
and my tongue and my teeth and my lips are taking the
breath and making sounds and noises out of that breath
and what you’re hearing right now is what I am
breathing out. I’m breathing out these words. Now,
that’s the word that Bible uses to describe itself.
All Scripture is God breathed. When the Bible speaks
God speaks. That’s what inspiration means. When the
Bible speaks God speaks.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, but not
only are the Scriptures inspired, they’re instructed.
Verse 16 says they’re profitable for doctrine. What is
doctrine? That’s to tell you what’s right. Ask a
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little boy what doctrine is, he says, That’s what you
need when you’re sick. If you’re sick that is good
medicine but actually the word doctrine means
teaching. The Scriptures are there to tell you what’s
right.
Then it goes on to say for doctrine and for reproof.
Not only does the Bible tell you what’s right, it also
tells you what’s wrong. You see, God doesn’t want us
to make a mistake. He doesn’t want us to go astray. So
on one side he tells us what’s right, on the other
side he tells us what’s wrong so we can walk the
straight and narrow.
But he also says in verse 16 that it is necessary for
correction–that is, when we get wrong, how to get
back right. He shows us what’s right. He shows us
what’s wrong and if we’re wrong he tells us how to get
right.
And then he says it’s profitable for instruction in
righteousness. What’s right, what’s wrong, how to get
right, and then how to stay right. How just to be
instructed day by day. How am I supposed to live? What
am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to feel? What
shall I do with my sins? Where does power come from?
Everything that I need to know, that instruction and
righteousness is there from the Word of God.
So, the Scriptures are inspired, the Scriptures are
informative, and then the Scriptures are instrumental.
That is, they work powerfully in our lives. For
example, look in verse 15. Paul told Timothy, “From a
child you’ve known the holy Scriptures that are able
to make you wise unto salvation.” You’re saved by the
Word of God. It is the message of the Bible, the
gospel that saves us, that makes us wise unto
salvation. That’s the reason that every preacher must
always preach the Word of God because the word is the
seed. We’re born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the Word of God. And so, the
Scriptures are instrumental in salvation.
The Scriptures are instrumental in sanctification.
Look in verse 17, “That the man of God may be
perfect.” Now, that word perfect means complete. It
means mature. It means full grown. Do you want to be a
little baby Christian or do you want to grow? “As
newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that
you may grow thereby.” You’re going to be a pygmy
Christian, you’re going to be baby Christian, you’re
going to be a weak emaciated Christian if you don’t
grow with the Word of God. “That the man of God may be
perfect,” mature.
Not only are they necessary for salvation and
sanctification but necessary for service.
“Thoroughly furnished,” he says in verse 17, “unto all
good works.” Everything God wants you to do he
furnished through his word. So, you’re completely,
thoroughly through and through, furnished of the
Bible. All that I need to know, all that I need to
have is revealed to me in God’s word.
How important is the Bible? But friend, the Bible may
be inspired and the Bible may be informative and the
Bible may be instrumental, but if I don’t believe it,
what good is that going to do me? It’s the devil’s job
to make people doubt the Word of God. The very first
thing the devil did in the Garden of Eden was to say,
“Yea, hath God said…” and to put a question mark on
the Word of God. Well, you need to have a rock-ribbed,
iron-clad assurance that the Bible is the Word of God.
Let me tell you why I believe the Bible to be the Word
of God. Let me give you three things about faith and
these are the foundations for our faith. Number one,
faith is rooted in evidence. Have you got that? It’s
worth writing down. Faith is rooted in evidence.
Number two, faith goes beyond evidence. Number three,
faith becomes its own best evidence. Let me develop
that and you’ll have a blessing.
First of all, I want to say that faith is rooted in
evidence. People sometimes accuse us Christians of
practicing blind faith. Now, friend, blind faith is
not faith at all. Don’t ever think that I’m asking you
just to blindly believe something. If somebody tells
me to believe something, first thing I want to know is
why should I believe it. Amen. I mean, why? The
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Christians faith is not blind faith. The Christian’s
faith is not a leap in the dark, it is a step in the
light. You see, the Christian’s faith is rooted in
revelation. The Christian’s faith is rooted in facts.
The Christian’s faith is rooted in evidence. God gives
us evidence for believing what we believe. Notice I
said evidence and not proof, there’s a difference.
Sometimes somebody might come and say to you, Prove
there’s a God. Don’t let that intimidate you. If you
were to say to me, Adrian, prove there’s a God, do you
know what I’d say to you? I can’t. Does that shock
you? I can’t prove there’s a God. Oh, I know there’s a
God, not that I have any doubt about it. I have no
doubt whatever, but to prove it doesn’t lie in the
realm of proof.
For example, if anybody ever comes to you and says
prove there’s a God. You just say, Prove there is no
God. Just prove there is no God. He can’t prove
there’s no God anymore than you can prove there is a
God. How can the finite prove the infinite? How can
the finite disprove the infinite? It doesn’t lie in
that realm you see. Well, he says, you just believe
there’s a God, and I say that’s right. And you just
believe there is no God, isn’t that right? Sure. You
see, all people are believers. He believes there is no
God. I believe there is a God. I’m a positive
believer, he’s a negative believe. I by faith believe
in God. He by faith believes there is no God. He says,
I don’t think there’s a God, I don’t believe there’s a
God. At least now he’s being honest. He hasn’t proven
there’s no God.
But what’s the difference between the negative be1iver
and the positive believer? Here’s the difference: the
positive believer has the evidence. You see, God has
not just told us to believe without giving us evidence
and so God has given us some evidence and that
evidence is rooted in God’s word. Now, if you’re going
to know the God of the Word, you’ve got to know the
Word of that God. And so, God has given us his Word
and God has given us some evidences that the Bible is
indeed the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word from a
God who cannot lie.
What are some evidences? Not proofs, but evidences,
that the Bible is the Word of God? (Because I’ve said
that faith is rooted in evidence.) Well, for example,
there is the historical evidence that the Bible is the
Word of God. The Bible is a history book. It tells
stories. Now, are these stories true or are they not
true? Did the things recorded in the Bible literally
happen or did they not happen? Is this actual history
or is this the figment of someone’s imagination? Well,
dear friend, the Bible is so historically accurate.
That’s one of the great evidences of its inspiration.
There was a man who lived a few years ago, Sir William
Ramsey, one of the world’s most brilliant intellects,
and he was a noted scholar. He lived in Aberdeen
Scotland and he was a great historian and a great
scholar of the history and geography of Asia Minor and
the Middle East. And when this Middle East historian,
this wizened, world-renowned man with more degrees
than a thermometer studied the book of Acts, which is
the history of the early church, he more or less
ridiculed the book of Acts. He more or less laughed at
the book of Acts. Here’s what Sir William Ramsey said
of the book of Acts and I want to describe it or at
least I want to give it to you in his own words. He
described the book of Acts as a highly imaginative and
carefully colored account of primitive Christianity.
Highly imaginative, that is, it’s not rooted in facts,
it is rooted in imagination, that’s what he was saying
about the book of Acts. Carefully colored. That is,
Luke just shaded his facts, he didn’t tell you the
truth, he just kind of shaped things and colored
things to make it come out the way he wanted it to
come out and so he said the book of Acts was not
historically correct, you can’t trust the history of
the book of Acts.
Now, remember this man was brilliant, a professor in
Aberdeen, Scotland. But do you know what he did? He
made a mistake and it was a happy mistake and good
mistake. He decided he would go to Asia minor and
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there carefully investigate and study the book of Acts
and do you know what happened? He had a
transformation, one hundred and eighty degrees he was
turned around. He wrote a book entitled, THE BELOVED
PHYSICIAN. And that book was about Dr. Luke who wrote
the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
And now, let me tell you what he said. After he
studied minutely the works of the great historian Dr.
Luke, who gave us the gospel of Luke and the book of
Acts, and I’m quoting now, this Dr. Ramsey said, and I
want you to listen to him: “I take the view that Luke’s
history is unsurpassed in regard to its
trustworthiness.” Did you hear that? “I now take the
view that Luke’s history is unsurpassed in regard to
its trustworthiness. You may press the words of Luke
in a degree beyond any other historian and they will
stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment.”
Amazing! Here was a man who studied the facts and when
he studied the facts he said you can trust the history
of God’s word.
You know historians–they love to study what they call
profane or secular history and then to turn around and
ridicule the Word of God. One thing they used to do a
few years back, they ridiculed the book of Daniel
because of the supposed errors in the book of Daniel.
The book of Daniel tells of the Babylonian empire and
it tells that the last king in Babylon was a king
named Beltshazzar. And do you remember Beltshazzar was
the one who saw the handwriting on the wall? Do you
remember that? So the historians said, “Well, that’s
obviously a fabrication. Obviously this is not real
history because we have the records of the ancient
Babylonians and we know that the last king of Babylon
was not a man named Beltshazzar at all, it was a man
named Nabanitus. We have the archives, we have the
records and we have all of the artifacts. Beltshazzar
was no king, there was no king named Beltshazzar.
Obviously the Bible is a fake, obviously a fraud, the
book of Daniel is not history.”
But the spade of the archeologists continued to do its
work and one day they turned up a clay tablet, a
cylinder, and guess whose name was on it? Give you
three guesses, first two don’t count. Beltshazzar. And
you know what it said about Beltshazzar and other
things that they uncovered? They found out that
Beltshazzar was indeed the last king of Babylon, but
so was Nabinitus. The truth of the matter is they were
co-regents. There were two kings at the same time.
Nabinitus was the father, Beltshazzar was the son, but
Nabinitus didn’t stay home. He loved to travel and he
was a big game hunter and was often gone and so the
kingdom was in the charge of Beltshazzar.
Now, the secular, profane historian was quite correct
when he said that Nabinitus was the last king of
Babylon, but he was quite wrong when he said
Beltshazzar wasn’t the last king of Babylon. And you
see, there are little minute confirmations of the Word
of God. So in the fifth chapter of the book of Daniel,
we understand a passage now that we might not have
understood before that because Beltshazzar said to
Daniel, “If you can read the handwriting on the wall,”
I’ll make you what? “The third ruler in the kingdom.”
You see, there were already two, Beltshazzar and
Nabinitus. Now, suppose we’d not found that clay
cylinder with Beltshazzar’s name on it. Would have
that have meant the Bible was wrong? No, it would have
just meant we didn’t have enough evidence, isn’t that
right? See, friend, be careful before you let some
historian or someone tell you that the history of the
Bible is not correct.
Our faith is rooted in evidence. There’s the
historical evidence that the Bible is the Word of God.
There’s the scientific evidence that the Bible is the
Word of God and I wish I had time to deal with all of
the scientific evidence that the Bible is the Word of
God, so let me just quickly narrow and get into one
little area there.
If you’ve not read the little book called “None Of
These Diseases,” I hope you’ll read it. It’s written
by a medical doctor, Dr. S. I. McMillan. Dr. McMillan
has recorded a wonderful story in there that I’m going
to try to share a little bit with you. He talks about
the ancient Egyptians and the medical knowledge that
the ancient Egyptians had about fifteen hundred years
before Christ was born in the time when Moses was a
lad and was growing up. The Egyptians had the dominant
position in world medicine at that time.
The Egyptians were no fools. When you see the things
that the Egyptians were able to do and accomplish
you’re just overwhelmed at the intelligence of the
ancient Egyptians, but they had their medical
knowledge put in a book and we have that book. The
Papyrus Ebers, Dr. McMillan tells about it. In the
Papyrus Ebers you have there the medical knowledge of
the ancient Egyptians and it’s almost ludicrous,
friends, it’s really kind of funny when you read some
of the medicine that they recommended. Now, you might
be interested in some of these prescriptions.
For example, if your hair is turning gray, pay
attention, to prevent the hair from turning gray,
anoint it with the blood of a black cat which has been
boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake. Now,
you be careful gathering that rattlesnake fat,
alright? For people who are losing hair, when it falls
out, apply a mixture of six fats, namely those of the
snake and the ibex. I haven’t seen an ibex in a long
time but you get some snake fat and ibex fat and then
to strengthen it you anoint it with the tooth of a
donkey crushed in honey. That’s to keep your hair from
falling out. If you had a splinter or a puncture, they
recommended lizard’s blood, worm’s blood and donkey’s
dung. Can you imagine the spores, the tetanus spores
and the microbes and the filth in donkey dung? As a
matter of fact, they often used excreta for medicine–
of human beings and donkeys and antelopes and dogs and
cats and even flies–that was a part of their
medicine. Another medicine they recommended was
moisture from pig’s ears, good medicine, haha. Well,
we laugh at that.
Now, the interesting thing is do you know where Moses
got his education? Moses was educated in the
University of Egypt. You see, Moses was the adopted
son of Pharaoh and Pharaoh gave to Moses the best
education that money could buy and the Bible says that
Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
He had the equivalency of a Ph.D. from the University
of Egypt and if he was learned in all the wisdom of
Egyptians, surely he studied this kind of knowledge.
Aren’t you glad that he didn’t write any of this in
the Bible? I mean, you would have expected what he
learned in school to bleed over in what he wrote in
the Bible, wouldn’t you? Of course you would. Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible. Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I’m so
glad we don’t read anything about using moisture from
pig’s ears for medicine.
As a matter of fact, when you read the Bible and you
read about the medicine of the Bible and you read the
sanitary code of the Bible and you read the dietary
code of the Bible you’re going to find out that modern
medicine is just now catching up. You want to be
healthy? You practice the dietary code of the Bible.
Not because you’re under legalism, just because you
want to have a good strong body. As a matter of fact,
do you know what they’re telling us now? Science is
just making a discovery. They used to talk down the
health food faddists and all of that and now the
scientists are begrudgingly coming along and the
medical doctors are begrudgingly coming along, and
saying, Hey, you need to cut all that fat out of your
diet, it might cause cancer, cut all that fat all of
your diet, it might cause high cholesterol and it
might cause heart attacks. Friend, just go back and
see what Moses had to say about cutting all that fat
out of your diet. You just go read it right there in
the Word of God. Find out what the Bible has to say.
Did you know in the fourteenth century Europe they had
a plague called the black plague? It was terrible, it
was horrible. Now, I know you’ve seen on television
the horrible things that are happening in Ethiopia and
that breaks your heart, it’s so hard to even watch.
But I want to tell you something worse than that
happened in Europe in the fourteenth century–the
black plague, where one out of every four people died.
Can you imagine that? One out of every four. One two,
three, dead. One two, three, dead. One two three,
dead. One two, three, dead. One, two three, dead. They
died and the physicians and the doctors were not able
to stop it and they didn’t know what to do. They
didn’t understand germs. They’d never seen a germ.
They didn’t know what a microbe was. They didn’t know
anything about a communicable disease. Well, you say,
everybody ought to know that. Why do you know it.
Somebody taught you, you didn’t figure it out. We
stand on the shoulders of other people. They didn’t
know that, they didn’t understand that and they
thought it was bad air, this thing or that thing, they
were trying, building fires and everything else to try
to stop the plague. Imagine trying to stop the plague
by building a fire.
And do you know it was not the doctors, it was the
church and the church leaders that finally stemmed the
tide of the plague by going back to God’s Word.
Leviticus chapter 13 and verse 46. “All the days
wherein the plague shall be upon his, he shall be
defiled, he is unclean, he shall dwell alone outside
the camp shall his habitation be.” What did the Bible
say to the man who was the leper, a man who had the
plague of leprosy? They said, “Put him outside the
camp, put him in isolation. Quarantine him, quarantine
him.” And when they begin to apply the knowledge that
Moses had given, then and only then was the plague
brought under control. One historian said the laws
against leprosy in Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the
first model of a sanitary legislation.
I’ve just talked in one little area. We could talk in
many, many areas about the wonderful medical and
scientific and evidences that the Bible is the Word of
God. Let me give you another evidence that the Bible
is the Word of God and that is the indestructibility
of this book. You see, this book is not just the book
of the month, friend, it’s the book of the ages. For
isn’t it an amazing thing? Here you are, an
intelligent erudite, educated people listening to a
halfway intelligent preacher, we’re here in the
twentieth century by television with electric lights
and we’re studying this old book. Isn’t that amazing?
You tell me what other book is as up to date. Why,
listen, it’s more up to date than tomorrow’s newspaper
and a whole lot more accurate. Amen.
Wasn’t that an amazing thing when they were
questioning the President of the United States the
other day and the news reporter said to him, “Mr.
President, we’d like your views on Armageddon.”
Amazing, Armageddon–that’s a Bible fact and here
they’re talking to the President of the most powerful
nation on the face of the earth in the most
enlightened educated time and after all of these years
people are still wanting to know what your view of
this book is. This Bible is such a living, powerful
force.
William Tyndale wanted to get the Bible printed so the
people could have it. Print it and put into the hands
of the English-speaking people and they hounded him
and they ran him out of England and William Tyndale
went to Germany and there he began to set up the type
to print the Bible so he’d get the Bible into the
hands of the people. Laboriously, day after day, week
after week, month after month, year after year,
setting that type, setting that type, not the way we
set it today, not with that ease, but painstakingly,
heartbreakingly so long to get the type set so people
could have the Bible in their mother tongue. He
finally finished the job and went to bed and that very
night vandals came in and wrecked the printing press
and destroyed the type and ruined the whole thing. He
had to start again from the bottom and to build it and
to set the type again and he finally got it done. He
printed those Bibles and in order to get them into
England, he put them in barrels of flour and shipped
them into England and the Word of God came to England.
They hated William Tyndale, some of the clerics and
the leaders, they hated him so much that they
strangled him to death. And then, not happy that they
strangled him, that wasn’t enough, they burned him
because he wanted a Bible for the people. And as they
were strangling Tyndale, he prayed, Oh God, Oh God,
open the eyes of the king of England, God, open his
eyes. They killed him in 1536. In 1611, we received
the King James Version of the Word of God. Amen.
William Tyndale, a man who loved God’s Word, a man who
died for God’s Word because the Word of God lives and
abides forever. “The grass withers, the flower thereof
falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.”
Hallelujah!
Friend, men have laughed at the Bible, men have
scorned the Bible, men have made laws against the
Bible, men have ridiculed the Bible. There was a time
in Scottish history when to own a Bible was a crime
worthy of death, but the Word of God lives on and it
is bright and vibrant and relevant today. That’s an
evidence that it is the Word of God.
Let me give you another evidence. I’m just telling you
that faith is rooted in evidence. What about fulfilled
prophesy? If we were to start today and talk about
fulfilled prophesy, just the prophesy of the nations,
what is happening in the nations of this world, what
is happening on the world map, the last days, what we
call the signs of the times, why, we could take a
Bible conference for several months and just talk on
that one thing. But let me just narrow the prophesies
and let’s just talk about the prophesies concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that there are
more than three hundred exact, minute prophesies
concerning the life, death, burial, resurrection,
ascension, enthronement and second coming of Jesus
Christ in the Old Testament? I’m not talking about the
New Testament. I’m not talking about small prophesies
or vague prophesies. I’m talking about hard, fast,
substantial, clear prophesies concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. That these prophesies could have been
fulfilled by chance is astronomically, listen to me
now, astronomically impossible. Billions to one would
be the chance that they would have been fulfilled by
chance.
Do you know what the enemies of the Lord Jesus say
about this? Here’s the way they answer that. They say,
Well, he just arranged to have the prophesies
fulfilled. He just rigged it so the prophesies would
be fulfilled. Well, brother Rogers, do you think he
just arranged it for the prophesies to be fulfilled?
Yes, I do, before it ever happened, not afterward, but
before. Before he ever came to this earth. Now,
listen, I was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, but I
didn’t arrange it. Jesus arranged to be born in
Bethlehem. Amen. Because the Bible says in Micah
chapter 5 that our Lord would be born in Bethlehem and
so he arranged it. But I want to tell you, he
supernaturally arranged it.
I’ll tell you something else, he arranged for Isaiah
seven hundred years before he was born to give a
biography of his life in Isaiah chapter 53. You go
home and get that Old Testament chapter of the Bible
and read Isaiah chapter 53. You’re going to find the
amazing story, the entire biography of the Lord Jesus
Christ before he was born, not after he was born,
before he was born.
Go home today and read the twenty-second Psalm, an
amazing Psalm, the twenty second Psalm is a Messianic
Psalm. It is written about the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the twenty-second Psalm is written as
a graphic description of the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was written centuries before Jesus
was born. And let me tell you something else. In Psalm
22 the words that Jesus would say from the cross are
prophesied. The words that his enemies would say when
they ridiculed him were prophesied. The very fact that
they would gamble for his garments was prophesied.
But here’s one of the most amazing prophesies of all.
In Psalm 22 it says they “pierced my hands and my
feet.” That’s what happens when you crucify; there are
nails through your hands and nails that go through
your feet. But this was written hundreds and hundreds
of years before the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was the
Roman way of capital punishment. The Jews at that time
knew nothing of death by crucifixion. Do you know how
the Jews executed people? Do you know what the method
of Jewish capital punishment was? It wasn’t the
electric chair, it wasn’t the gas chamber, it wasn’t
crucifixion, it was stoning. They stoned people to
death. If you’ve ever been there, you know they’ve got
enough stones. They stone people to death. But
crucifixion was a Roman form of execution and the
Romans were very clever. There’s no death as horrible,
as painful, as ignominious as crucifixion and you want
to keep people in line, you show them a cross. But I
want to remind you that was a Roman form of execution
and hundreds of years before the Roman Empire comes on
the scene you read there in Psalm 22, “they pierced m
my hands and my feet.”
Now, you explain that. Do you think Jesus arranged all
of that? Do you think Jesus arranged the Roman Empire?
Do you think Jesus arranged the cross? I do, but he
arranged it before the fact, he arranged it while he
was still in glory. Yes, he arranged it all, he
arranged that he would be sold for thirty pieces of
silver as Zechariah the prophet said. He arranged that
he would be betrayed by Judas as the Bible says. He
arranged that he would be buried in rich man’s tomb.
He arranged that he would be raised from the dead the
third day and seen by five hundred people who were so
convinced that they sat out to convince others that he
was raised from the dead.
And I want to tell you something, friend, these people
with no hope of material gain became followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, so convinced were they that Jesus
Christ came out of that grave. Many of them paid with
their life’s blood for their conviction that Jesus
Christ was alive. Now, you’re reasonable people. A man
may live for a lie but he will not knowingly die for
one. These people died, sealed their testimony with
their blood, so convinced were they that that grave
was empty and that Jesus Christ came out of that
grave. Over three hundred exact, precise prophesies in
the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament.
Matthew chapter 26 verse 56, “But all this was done
that the Scriptures of the prophets might be
fulfilled.”
Time has gone from me so let me just make the other
two points very very quickly. Listen to me. Faith is
rooted in evidence. Faith goes beyond evidence, it has
to or it wouldn’t be faith. Now, God is not going to
prove himself to you, but what God will do for you is
this–God will reveal himself to you. God will give
you facts. God will give you evidence and then God
will give you faith to believe those facts. It must be
by faith because faith is a moral response to the
character of God and the Bible says in John chapter 17
verse 7, “If any man wills to do the will of God he
shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.” Now,
what does that mean? That means if you want to know
whether these facts are true, if you want to know this
evidence, then you can know it. God on the one hand
gives you the facts and then God on the other hand
gives you the faith to believe those facts. It is not
blind faith, it is rooted in evidence, but nonetheless
it is faith. God does not prove it to you, God shows
it to you and then from the inside God gives you his
force.
You see, there is that objective revelation of God,
but then there is that subjective inclination to
believe the revelation. That’s the reason Jesus said,
“My sheep hear my voice.” I don’t know about you, but
there’s something in me that when I read this Bible it
tells me it’s the Word of God. Not just because of
these facts that I’ve been giving you, but there is
just the voice of God. God speaks in his book. Do you
know what I’m talking about? Jesus said, “He that is
of the truth heareth my word and so the words I speak
unto you, they’re spirit and they’re life.” This Bible
is not like other books. You read other books but this
book reads you. And so, faith is rooted in evidence,
but faith goes beyond evidence.
Then I want to say the last thing and I’m hurrying.
Faith then becomes its own best evidence. I believe
because I believe. Let me give you a wonderful
Scripture. Psalm 34 verse 8. “0 taste and see that the
Lord is good.” I want to find out about you people,
find out how educated you are. How many of you have
ever tasted a mango, let me see your hand? Oh, I pity
the rest of you poor, denied people. You never had any
mango. You don’t know what mango is. Listen, folks, if
you can’t go to heaven, at least you ought to have a
mango. I mean, that’s nectar, that’s indescribably
luscious fruit from Florida. I was weaned on mangos,
wonderful. Now suppose you’ve never had a mango and
somebody comes with a mango and says, That’s a mango.
It looks good and it’s beautiful and it smells good.
You ought to have some. Thus far it’s just evidence.
He says it’s a mango, he says it’s good, it smells
good, it looks good, all of the rest of it, other
people seem to be enjoying it, other people testify–
that is all evidence.
But there’s something in you that impels you, you just
feel drawn toward it, you go beyond that evidence and
then you do something, you take a bite and now, folks,
you’ve got the evidence on the inside. Amen. That’s
what the Scripture means when it says, “Taste and see
that the Lord is good,” taste and see that the Lord is
good. Now, you see, that the reason that a Christian
with an experience is never at the mercy of an infidel
with an argument, because he’s got the evidence within
him. And one of the ways that I know that the Bible is
God’s Word is because the bright, living reality, the
truth of the God of that Bible lives within my heart.
Faith is rooted in evidence, faith goes beyond
evidence, faith becomes its own best evidence.
My Homage to the Late Harvard Biologist EO Wilson (THE SAAD TRUTH_1351)
How Should We Then Live | Season 1 | Episode 6 | The Scientific Age
How Did Writer & Biologist EO Wilson Die | The Life and Sad Ending Edwar…
Edward O Wilson has passed away 💔|| his last moment before death so touc…
Remembering the life of renowned biologist and Alabama native E.O. Wilson
—
How Should We Then Live (1977) | Full Movie | Francis Schaeffer | Edith …
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FEATURED ARTIST IS HOCKNEY
DAVID HOCKNEY (born 1937)
David Hockney is one of the living myths of the Pop Art. Born in Great Britain, he moved to California, where he immediately felt identified with the light, the culture and the urban landscape of the ‘Golden State’.
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