My sons Wilson and Hunter are now climbing a mountain in the LA area. However, they will be helping Sherwood tonight at Santa Monica Promenade. Sherwood preaches and has question and answer sessions. Below a former muslim turned atheist debates Sherwood on the issue of evolution.
My sons will be attending church on Sunday at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur will be preaching. Here is a clip of him from “Larry King Live.”
Genesis is filled with Creation myths, myths that appear in one form or another and virtually every culture. Do you want your kid’s teacher talking about the myth of “Adam and Eve”? Leviticus is down right scary, but it is a good place to point out the inconsistencies in Bible and how contrary they are to our common life.
The Gospels? Like 5 blind men describing an elephant. What were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John thinking?
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I understand how skeptics love to take pot shots at the Bible, but let us take a look at some of the facts.
Archaeologists have unearthed the five porticoes of the pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate (John 5:2), the pool of Siloam (9:1-7), Jacob’s well at Sychar (4:5), the ‘Pavement’ (Gabbatha) where Pilate tried Jesus (19:13), and Solomon’s porch in the temple precincts (10:22-23)… Since then, discovery of an ossuary (bone-box) of a crucified man named Johanan from first-century Palestine confirms that nails were driven in his ankles, as in Christ’s; previously some skeptics thought that the Romans used only ropes to affix the legs of condemned men to their crosses. And less than five years ago, in 1990, the burial grounds of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, and his family were uncovered in Jerusalem. These and numerous other details create a favorable impression of the Gospel’s trustworthiness in the areas in which they can be tested.
Sir William Ramsay, famed archaeologist, began a study of Asia Minor with little regard for the book of Acts. He later wrote:
I may fairly claim to have entered on this investigation without prejudice in favor of the conclusion which I shall now seek to justify to the reader. On the contrary, I began with a mind unfavorable to it,… It did not then lie in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.
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I wrote the famous atheist Anthony Flew a series of letters during the 1990’s and he was kind to answer several of them. I also sent him several cassette tapes and video tapes of Adrian Rogers messages. I will start a new series on this subject and post his responses. Below is a video clip filmed close to end of Dr Flew’s life.
How can I know the Bible is the Word of God? by Adrian Rogers
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Lewis sees Anna rushing toward him. Exhausted, agitated.
LEWIS Miss Freud? Are you all right?
ANNA I have his medicine. I came as fast as I could
LEWIS (concerned) He’s waiting for you, but he’s fine. Really. No need to worry.
ANNA I’m so glad you were here. It looks like you survived your visit.
LEWIS (quoting “Invictus”) “In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, My head is bloody, but unbowed.”
ANNA (surprises him continuing) “Beyond this place of wrath and tears, Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid”
How Can I Know the Bible is the Word of God?
By Dr. Adrian Rogers
Overview
The historical, scientific, and prophetic accuracy of Scripture, along with its life-changing qualities, offer evidence that the Bible is the revealed Word of God.
Introduction
Scripture Passage: Revelation 22:18-19
It is absolutely imperative that you are certain of God’s Word. You will never get much of anything else settled until you are sure of the Bible. Your salvation depends on it, since the Bible says you are born again by “the Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Your sanctification depends upon it, because Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). Your usefulness depends on it, for the Scriptures say, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). If you want to be sure of your faith; if you want to be an exclamation pointrather than a question mark, then you need to be certain that the Bible is the Word of God.
Discussion
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).
God makes it very clear that we are to believe and revere our Bibles, but there is in our world a war over the Word; a battle over the Bible. There are those who despise it; they are against all that we Christians stand for. There are those who deny it; they simply refuse to believe the Bible is the Word of God. There are those who distort it; they twist the words of the Bible to their own destruction. There are those who dissect it, treating Scripture more like a math text than a love story. There are those who disregard it, claiming it unimportant and irrelevant. They want to focus on the here-and-now, so they spend their energies making this world abetter place from which to go to hell. There are those who claim to believe it, giving lip service to the Bible as God’s Word, but they do not know it, nor do they live by it. There is dust on their Bibles and drought in their hearts. Finally, there are those who believe it. They know the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authentic Word of God, and they trust it for the daily guidance of their lives. We can have a firm assurance that the Bible is the Word of God. There is an abundance of evidence to support the fact.
Scientific Evidence
Skeptics seem to think that the Bible is full of scientific errors. However, before an individual can make that assertion, they had better make sure they know both science and Scripture. You see, I have heard unbelievers state that the Bible is not a book of science, but a book of religion, which is basically true. It is not written to teach us about science, but to teach us about God. But the God of salvation and the God of creation are the same. Science doesn’t take God by surprise. A close look at Scripture reveals that it is scientifically accurate.
Every now and then science may disagree with the Bible, but usually science just needs time to catch up. For example, in 1861 a French scientific academy printed a brochure offering 51 incontrovertible facts that proved the Bible in error. Today there is not a single reputable scientist who would support those supposed “facts,” because modern science has disproved them all!
The ancients believed the earth was held up by Atlas, or resting on pillars, or even seated on the backs of elephants. But today we know the earth is suspended in space, a fact the Word of God records in Job 26:7: “He . . . hangeth the earth upon nothing.” God revealed the facts of cosmology long before man had any idea of the truth.
For centuries man believed the earth was flat, but now we know the earth is a globe. The prophet Isaiah, writing 750 years before the birth of Christ, revealed that “God sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated here as “circle” was more commonly translated “sphere.” In other words, Isaiah explained that the earth was a globe centuries before science discovered it.
When Ptolemy charted the heavens, he counted 1026 stars in the sky. But with the invention of the telescope man discovered millions and millions of stars, something that Jeremiah 33:22 revealed nearly three thousand years ago: “The host of heaven cannot be numbered.” How did these men of God know the truth of science long before the rest of the world discovered it? They were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the truth. God’s Word is not filled with errors. It is filled with facts, even scientific facts.
When the black plague was killing one quarter of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century, it was the church, not science, that helped overcome the dread disease. The leaders in the church noticed the instructions given by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 13:46: “All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” These early believers did not know microbiology or understand what germs were, but they could understand a clear teaching to quarantine someone who was sick. So they followed the Biblical dictum, quarantined those sick with the plague, and stopped it from spreading. The Bible had its science correct even before man discovered the truth! Don’t accept the charge that the Bible is filled with scientific errors. Modern science seems determined to explain God away, and refuses to acknowledge any evidence of the supernatural. But the science of Scripture is one reason to accept the Bible as God’s Word.
Historical Evidence
The Bible is not primarily a history book, but it records history, and all the things we believe as Christians are historical fact. Historians have criticized the Bible as being filled with errors, but in our lifetime we have seen the history of the Scriptures proven right time after time. For example, linguists rejected the fact that Moses authored the Pentateuch, claiming that people didn’t know how to write during Moses’ day. But then the Tel Elarmona tablets were discovered in northern Egypt, containing business transactions of people in Palestine centuries before Moses was born. It turns out the Bible was correct–the people of Moses’ day did have a written language.
For years historians claimed Daniel’s story of King Belshazzar was a fake, that there was no record of that Babylonian king. They claimed the last Babylonian king was named Nabinitus, and that Belshazzar never existed. Then one day an archeologist uncovered a clay tablet describing the rule of Belshazzar, who was co-regent with his father, King Nabinitus. The Bible had been right all along.
Historians and archaeologists have dug into the history of both the Old and New Testaments, and each time the historical accuracy of Scripture has been upheld. That is one of the reasons we can trust the Bible.
Wonderful Unity
Another reason to trust the Scripture as the Word of God is that it offers a unique unity. Here is one unified book, yet it is really 66 books put together. Those books were written by at least forty different authors over a period of sixteen hundred years. They were written in thirteen countries, on three continents, by people of all different backgrounds. Some were shepherds, others were kings; some were soldiers, others were scholars; some were learned historians, others were unschooled fishermen. They wrote on different subjects, at different times, in at least three different languages. Yet on all subjects they came together to create one unified book that reveals the story of God and His people. From Genesis to Revelation, it reads as one book. What incredible unity! I’ve been studying this book for forty years, and the more I study the more unified I find it. There are no hidden flaws, only hidden beauties. The Bible has but one theme: salvation. It has one hero: Jesus. It has one villain: Satan. It has one purpose: to glorify God. How could this incredible book be written apart from divine intervention? There was clearly a Master Architect who designed this book, giving it a wonderful unity. That’s why I believe it.
Fulfilled Prophecy
Another reason we can believe the Bible is because of the fulfilled prophecies contained in it. It is the only book of its kind with so many accurate prophecies. For example, there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies dealing with Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament. Statisticians tell us that to suggest they are merely fulfilled by chance is an impossibility. A skeptic might say that Jesus, as a student of the Old Testament, simply arranged to fulfill these prophecies. But how could He arrange to be born in Bethlehem, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah? How could He arrange to be born of a virgin? How could He arrange for the prophet Isaiah to write all kinds of intricate details of the Lord centuries before He was born? And could He have arranged for the psalmist to describe His death by crucifixion long before that style of punishment was first used? Could He have arranged for the Roman government to crucify Him upon a cross, or for Judas to betray Him for exactly thirty pieces of silver, as the Old Testament prophesied? Finally, could He have arranged His own resurrection from the dead three days after His burial?
Well, in a sense the Lord Jesus did arrange all of that. As God, He revealed it to the Old Testament authors, who wrote the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. And so convinced were those who saw Jesus, that they were willing to lay down their lives for the truth. No one lays down their life for a lie. The early Christians knew that Jesus was who He claimed to be. There is no way to explain fulfilled prophecy apart from divine inspiration.
The Ever-Living Quality of Scripture
Another reason we can trust the Bible is that it is always alive. No book has endured as much opposition. Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, and made laws against it. At times it has been illegal to even own a Bible. Men have preached its funeral. But the corpse has outlived its pallbearers. The Bible has survived. Despite all the attempts to bury the Bible, it has continued to endure. No other book can make that claim. The ancient religious manuscripts of the pagans have disappeared, but the Bible continues. The wisdom of great men is often forgotten by succeeding generations, but the wisdom of God remains intact and available. The Word of the Lord endureth forever. That unique quality makes me believe that this is a special book–God’s book–and He intends for man to have it.
The Life-Changing Quality of Scripture
The Bible is not like any other book. It is alive and powerful. It describes itself as a sword and as dynamite. It has power to change lives and power to save sinners. No other book, no other power can take men’s guilt away except the Bible. It sanctifies those who believe. It brings truth and maturity to the saints. You will never grow spiritually strong until you begin to feed on the milk of the Word. It offers sufficiency to the sufferer. Many times I have seen people hurting or in torment, and they have found comfort in the Bible which they could find nowhere else. It brings satisfaction to the scholar. You can study it for a lifetime and still not fathom its depths. It is a book so deep you can swim forever and never touch bottom, yet so peaceful that even a child can take a drink without fear of drowning. You can never move on in your faith until you come to see the Bible for what it is: God’s precious gift to us, given so that we may know Him and find eternal life in Him. You can be certain that the Bible is the Word of God.
About Dr. Adrian Rogers
Dr. Adrian Rogers was the Pastor Emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church and one of America’s most respected Bible preachers. Under his pastoral leadership, Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, grew from 9,000 members in 1972 to more than 29,000. A staunch defender of Biblical inerrancy, Pastor Rogers was called upon to serve three times as President of the 14-million member Southern Baptist Convention. Adrian Rogers has written numerous books: Mastering Your Emotions; God’s Way to Health, Wealth and Wisdom; The Power of His Presence; and Ten Secrets for a Successful Family; Kingdom Authority, Believe in Miracles but Trust in Jesus; Standing for Light and Truth; God’s Wisdom is Better Than Gold; plus many others.
Dr. Rogers was also the pastor/teacher of Love Worth Finding, a ministry which extends the message of Dr. Rogers far beyond the congregation, proving to be a blessing to listeners around the nation every day. This radio and television ministry takes Dr. Rogers’ message in four languages to more than 14,000 television outlets and 1,100 radio outlets in the United States and in 150 other countries including all of Europe, Latin America, China, Australia, Africa, India, and beyond. Tapes and other resources from Dr. Rogers are available through Love Worth Finding Ministries, P.O. Box 38300, Memphis, TN 38183-0300, 1-800-274-LOVE (5683).
Dr. Rogers went to be with Jesus on November 15, 2005.
The Bible and Archaeology – Is the Bible from God? (Kyle Butt)
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1) INTRODUCTION
a) Revelation 22 is the golden clasp that God puts upon His Word.
b) It is absolutely imperative that we be certain about the Bible.
i) We will never get much of anything else settled until we get that settled.
ii) Our salvation depends upon it because the Bible says that we are born again by the Word of God.
(1) 1 Peter 1:23
iii) Our sanctification depends upon it.
(1) John 17:17
iv) Our usefulness depends upon it.
(1) 2 Timothy 2:15
v) Our assurance depends upon it.
(1) 1 John 5:13
c) Revelation 22:18-19
d) There is a war over the Word; a battle for the Bible.
i) There are those who despise it.
(1) They are against all that we, as Christians, stand for.
ii) There are those who deny it.
iii) There are those who distort it.
(1) They twist the Bible to their own destruction.
iv) There are those who dissect it.
(1) They come to the Bible with their measuring rod, scalpel and test tube, and they treat the Bible more like a math book rather than a love story.
(2) They are ever learning, but they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
v) There are those who disregard it.
(1) They say that it’s not relevant or important.
(2) They say that it’s outdated.
(3) They claim that we need to forget this religious stuff and do something about the social situation.
(a) So, they spend their energy trying to make the world a better place to go to Hell from.
(b) They are thinking of themselves.
(c) They are not thinking of the future but of right now.
vi) Perhaps the greatest enemy of the Word of God is found in churches and places of worship where there are those who say that they believe the Bible, but they only give lip service to the fact that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible and authentic Word of God.
(1) They don’t study it.
(2) They don’t know it.
(3) They don’t live by it.
(4) They don’t assimilate it.
(5) They don’t stand on it.
e) Especially in these days in which we’re living, we must be able to say that we know that the Bible is the Word of God.
i) There is nothing on which the devil can disturb us if we can stand on the Bible.
f) Today’s message will provide several reasons why we know that the Bible is the Word of God.
2) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY
a) Skeptics, atheists and liberals claim that the Bible has scientific errors in it.
i) Before anyone can claim this, they better make certain that they know two things:
(1) That they know science.
(2) That they know the Bible.
ii) They claim that the Bible is not a book of science but a book of religion.
(1) It is true that the Bible is not a scientific textbook written to teach us science.
(a) It is written to teach us God.
(i) The Bible was not written to tell us how the heavens go but how to go to Heaven.
iii) But the God of creation and the God of salvation are the same God.
(1) Science doesn’t take God by surprise.
b) The Bible is scientifically accurate.
i) There are times when science may disagree with the Bible.
(1) Given time, the scientists may catch up.
(a) For instance, in 1861, a French academy of science gave fifty-one scientific facts that they said proved the Bible is in error.
(b) Today, not one reputable scientist believes in these fifty-one “facts.”
ii) It isn’t the Bible that has changed; it is science that is catching up with the Word of God.
(1) Today, we take for granted that the Earth is suspended in space.
(a) We came to know this because we stand upon the knowledge of other people.
(b) We would not have known this back in Job’s day, however.
(i) The book of Job is the oldest piece of literature known to man.
(ii) In ancient times, men theorized, incorrectly, that the Earth was supported on five pillars, or on the back of a great giant, etc.
(c) But the book of Job gives us the answer.
(i) Job 26:7
1. How did Job know this before the age of modern astronomy and space travel?
a. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
(2) Today, we take for granted that the Earth is round.
(a) In ancient times, men thought the Earth was flat.
(i) In 1492, Columbus’ voyage proved to the satisfaction of many that the Earth is a sphere, a globe.
(b) The book of Isaiah was written about 750 years before Christ.
(i) The scientists in Isaiah’s day did not know that the Earth is a sphere.
(ii) But Isaiah said by divine inspiration that God sits upon the circle of the Earth.
1. Isaiah 40:22
a. The word for “circle” here is the word for “sphere” or “globe.”
iii) Job knew that the Earth was suspended in space, and Isaiah knew that the Earth is a globe by divine inspiration.
iv) Hipparchus, Ptolemy and Galileo tried to count the stars.
(1) In 150 B.C., Hipparchus said that there were 1,022 stars.
(a) This was science for 250 years.
(2) Ptolemy then charted the heavens and counted 1,026 stars.
(3) 1,300 years later, Galileo invented his first crude telescope and saw millions and millions of uncounted stars.
(4) Today, our great telescopes can see billions and billions of stars and other galaxies.
(5) Had these early scientists and astronomers learned what the Word of God said, they could have laid down their pencils.
(a) Jeremiah 33:22
(i) No one will ever be able to count the stars.
c) The Bible speaks to biology.
i) Psalm 139:14
(1) The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
ii) It wasn’t until 1615 that William Harvey discovered that the blood circulates through the human body.
(1) In past times, doctors would “bleed” their patients in hopes of making them well.
(a) If they had gone to the Word of God, they would have understood that the life of the flesh is in the blood.
(i) Leviticus 17:14
iii) In the fourteenth century, the black plague desolated the population.
(1) It was not the scientists of the day who brought the plague to an end; it was the church.
(a) They learned from the Word of God the principle of quarantining.
(i) Leviticus 13:46
iv) Dr. Semmelweis, a physician in Vienna, discovered the importance of hand washing prior to patient examinations and between each examination.
(1) Numbers 19:14-16, 19
(a) The Bible teaches about the importance of sanitation: running water, quarantining, the setting aside, the change of clothes, etc.
(i) There is a time interval for bacteria to die.
(2) They did not understand about germs, but germs did not take God by surprise.
3) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS HISTORICAL ACCURACY
a) The Bible is not primarily a book of history, but it records history.
b) The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch.
i) Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
ii) Moses wrote the Pentateuch.
(1) At one time, some scholars said that it was impossible for Moses to have written the Pentateuch because people didn’t know how to write at the time Moses was on Earth.
(2) Then, the Tell el-Amarna tablets were discovered.
(a) These were letters and business transactions from people in Egypt to people in Palestine and vice versa.
(b) These were written centuries before Moses was born.
(i) Not only did they know how to write, but they also had a postal system.
c) Daniel 5
i) Belshazzar was having a feast when suddenly a hand without an arm appeared and began writing on the wall.
(1) The writing said that his kingdom was divided and that Belshazzar was weighed in the balances and found wanting.
ii) Historians have said that this incident never happened.
(1) They state that the Babylonian records tell us that the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar but Nabonidus.
iii) As archeologists continued to work, they one day uncovered a clay tablet, a cylinder, with Belshazzar’s name on it.
(1) Nabonidus and Belshazzar were both kings.
(a) They were father and son.
iv) The archeologists continued to unearth evidence that showed that Nabonidus and Belshazzar were co-regents.
(1) Nabonidus traveled while Belshazzar stayed home to run the kingdom.
v) If the archeologists had not uncovered this tablet, it would not have made the Bible any less true or changed the truth of God’s Word.
(1) Romans 3:4
vi) Daniel 5:16
(1) Belshazzar told Daniel that he would make Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom if he could read the handwriting on the wall.
(a) There were already two rulers: Belshazzar and Nabonidus.
4) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS UNITY
a) The Bible is one book, yet, in a sense, it is sixty-six books.
i) There are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament.
ii) These different books were written by at least forty different authors over a period of about 1,600 years.
iii) They were written in about thirteen different countries and on three different continents.
iv) They were written by people from all different backgrounds.
(1) Some were shepherds, others were kings, some were soldiers, princes, priests, fishermen, scholars, historians, businessmen, and others were common laborers.
v) These books were written on many different subjects and in at least three different languages.
vi) Yet, these books come together, from Genesis to Revelation, and they read as one book.
b) There is an incredible unity to the Bible.
i) The Bible is like a garment in that you can pull a thread here, and it wrinkles way down there.
ii) The Bible has but one theme, and that is salvation.
iii) The Bible has one hero, and His name is Jesus.
iv) The Bible has one villain, and he is the devil.
v) The Bible has one purpose, and that is to glorify God.
c) John 10:35
i) Not one jot, not one tittle will fail from the law; it will all be fulfilled.
d) It is impossible for the Bible to have been written apart from divine inspiration.
5) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS FULFILLED PROPHECY
a) The Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy.
b) There are over three hundred precise prophecies in the Old Testament that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament.
i) Statisticians tells us that it is an astronomical impossibility that these prophecies were fulfilled by chance.
c) Micah 5:2
i) Tells of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.
d) The prophet Isaiah wrote many intricate details of the Lord Jesus 750 years before He was born.
e) Psalm 22
i) The Lord Jesus arranged that the Psalmist would write about a death by crucifixion before a crucifixion was ever known as a form of capital punishment.
ii) The Roman government would later crucify the Lord Jesus on the cross.
f) The Old Testament prophesied that Judas would betray the Lord Jesus for exactly thirty pieces of silver.
i) Zechariah 11:12-13
g) The greatest arrangement and prophecy of all is that the Lord Jesus would come out of the grave on the third day.
i) He was seen of 500 people.
(1) These 500 were so convinced that He rose from the dead that many of them paid for that truth with their lives.
h) Most of these prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus’friends but by His enemies.
i) His enemies had the most to gain by seeing that the prophecies would not be fulfilled.
i) These prophecies were not fulfilled by just one person but by many people.
j) Not just one prophecy was fulfilled but many prophecies.
k) There is no way to explain fulfilled prophecy apart from divine inspiration.
6) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS EVER-LIVING QUALITIES
a) The Bible is not the book of the month but the book of the ages.
b) No book has ever had so much opposition as the Bible.
i) Men have laughed at it, scorned it, ridiculed it, made laws against it and burned it.
ii) There was a time in Scottish history when to own the Bible was a crime worthy of death.
c) Many times, man has preached a funeral for the Bible.
i) But people pass away.
ii) Here in the twenty-first century, the Bible has survived.
d) The Bible is applicable and up-to-date.
i) We can open the Word of God and know more about what’s going on in the world today than all of the intelligentsia and governments combined.
e) 1 Peter 1:25
f) Psalm 119:89
7) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS LIFE-CHANGING POWER
a) We read other books; this book reads us.
b) Hebrews 4:12
i) The word “quick” in this passage means “alive.”
ii) It is full of power.
iii) The Word of God is like a sword.
c) Romans 1:16
i) The Gospel is the dynamite of God.
d) The Word of God is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.
i) Jeremiah 23:29
ii) The hardest rock will break.
e) The Word of God has power.
i) It’s saving for the sinner.
(1) No one is saved apart from the Word of God.
(2) 1 Peter 1:23
(3) The Gospel of Christ is the dynamite of God that saves.
ii) It’s sanctifying to the saint.
(1) What keeps us going is not what we feel but what we know.
(2) John 17:17
(3) We will never grow or be strong until we begin to feed on God’s Word.
(a) 1 Peter 2:2
iii) It’s sufficient for the sufferer.
(1) We can find comfort in the Word of God that we can’t find in any other place or in any other way.
(2) There is power and there are promises in the Word of God.
iv) It’s satisfying to the scholar.
(1) No matter how much we study the Bible, we will never fathom its depths.
(2) Romans 11:34
(3) Someone has said that the Bible is so deep that scholars could swim in it and never touch bottom, yet so wonderful that a little child could come get a drinkwithout fear of drowning.
8) CONCLUSION
a) The Bible tells us that Jesus loves us.
b) The Bible tells us that Jesus left Heaven, came to this Earth, suffered, bled and died for our sins.
i) Then, God raised Him from the dead, and Jesus ascended to Heaven.
c) Salvation is a gift of God’s grace.
i) If you will trust the Lord Jesus and believe on Him, then He will save you and keep you.
d) Do you know Jesus personally? If not, you can pray to Him today by asking Him to come into your life.
e) Call upon Jesus today. Repent (turn) from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.
i) Romans 3:23
ii) Romans 10:9-10
iii) Romans 10:13
iv) Acts 16:31
v) John 3:16
PO Box 38300| Memphis TN 38183-0300|(901) 382-7900lwf.org
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The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 6 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 6 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the Book […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 5 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 5 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 3 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 1 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 2 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 2 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
“In Christ Alone” music video featuring scenes from “The Passion of the Christ”. It is sung by Lou Fellingham of Phatfish and the writer of the hymn is Stuart Townend. On this Easter Morning April 24, 2011 there is no other better time to take a look at the truth and accuracy of the Bible. […]
Critics – Part 1 By Dr In my ongoing debate with other bloggers on the Arkansas Times Blog, I had an interesting response from Dobert: You can’t have it both ways. If the Gospel writers were allowed to adapt their message to a particular audience then it can’t be claimed that God literally took their […]
The Institute for Creation Research equips believers with evidences of the Bible’s accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework. info@icr.orghttp://www.icr.org Last night I had the opportunity to go back and forth with a couple of bloggers on the Arkansas Times Blog and this […]
This is a quick summary of the Bible’s reliability by a famous and well-respected former atheist. Please check out his website (http://www.leestrobel.com) for hundreds of FREE high quality videos investigating the critical aspects of our faith. Todd Tyszka http://www.toddtyszka.com On April 19, 2011 on the Arkansas Blog an entry of mine got this response from […]
Many Kings and important people in the Bible are also verified by secular documents. From time to time you will read articles in the Arkansas press by such writers as John Brummett, Max Brantley and Gene Lyons that poke fun at those that actually believe the Bible is historically accurate when in fact the Bible […]
Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the dead sea scrolls some 2,000 years ago, expertly guides you through the latest archaeological finds that have changed the way we understand the world of the bible. (Part 6 of 6 in the film series The Stones […]
My sons Wilson and Hunter went to California and visited Yosemite National Park with our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. (Sherwood on left) March 21-27. Here you can see all the snow they had to deal with. Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the […]
Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the dead sea scrolls some 2,000 years ago, expertly guides you through the latest archaeological finds that have changed the way we understand the world of the bible. (Part 4 of 6 in the film series The Stones […]
Below you will find my correspondence with the famous evolutionist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005) of Harvard. In this letter to Dr Mayr I answer the question Sigmund Freud asked: “For one reason. I want to learn why a man of your supreme intellect could suddenly abandon truth and embrace an insidious lie.”
But first let me give an answer from Adrian Rogers to Freud’s question: “For one reason. I want to learn why a man of your supreme intellect could suddenly abandon truth and embrace an insidious lie.”
ADRIAN ROGERS:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). I believe this verse has been read more than any other piece of literature in all of history. How many people have started out to read the Bible through, and never did? But they got as far as Genesis 1:1.
It is a wonderful verse, and we will never begin to exhaust it with our little teacup minds and this great ocean of truth that is found in Genesis 1:1. But you must understand at least part of it, and you must believe all of it, because it is foundational. You’ll never really comprehend anything else in the Bible unless you understand Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is foundational truth; functional truth—you must believe it. The key to the rest of the Bible is hung right here by the front door.
The God Who is Presented
The first thing I want you to see about the God of all creation is that He is the God who is presented. Why did I choose that word, presented? Because the fact of God is not argued here, and the nature and being of God are not explained. He is just . presented. No philosophy, no argument, no apology, no explanation; just “In
the beginning God…” The Bible writers never tried to explain the existence of God; nor should you. You are very foolish if you try to prove God. People talk about the proofs for God, but there are none. Don’t let that shock you! The finite can never prove the infinite, you see. The Bible writers presented God. God doesn’t need any proof, and you are incapable of proving God! “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). Sometimes an atheist will swagger up to a believer and say, “Prove there is a God.” That never threatens me—I just smile and say, “Prove there is no God.”
The finite mind can never prove or disprove the infinite God. He does not lie in the realm of proof. To try to prove God by looking through physical, material things would be like tearing a piano apart to find the Hallelujah Chorus. You don’t prove God, and you don’t disprove God—you believe in God. Sometimes that is leveled against us Christians as though it is an accusation. “You just accept by faith that there’s a God.” That’s right! And let me tell you what the unbeliever does: he accepts, by faith, that there is no God! He has never proven there is no God. All men are believers—I choose to believe in God; the atheist chooses not to believe in God.
An atheist is not an unbeliever because he has intellectual superiority. Some of the finest minds this world has ever known have been given to the gospel of Christ. You show me a brilliant man who does not believe in God; I will show you a brilliant man who does. You show me a stupid man who doesn’t believe in God, and I’ll show you some stupid people who do.
It is not a matter of intellect, and it is not a matter of reason. Not that these things are unreasonable; they are above reason. He is the God who is presented, not the God who is argued. If a man does not believe in God, it’s because he doesn’t want to believe in God. There is no explanation of God given in the Bible, no philosophy for God. God is just presented: “In the beginning God.” And, there’s not much said about atheism in the Bible. As far as I can see, one-half of one verse deals with atheism: Psalm 53:1a says,” The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” That’s it, and then God goes on to another subject.
This word, fool, is the word nabal in Hebrew. It doesn’t refer to a man who has unfurnished rooms to rent upstairs, lacking intellectually. The word nabal here means a morally perverse person.
Notice what it says. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The problem with the man who doesn’t believe in God is in his heart, not his head. It is not that he cannot believe—it is that he will not believe. He doesn’t wish to believe. And this verse in Psalm 53 literally translates as, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘No God.’” What is the difference between “there is no God” and “no God”?
For example, after the holidays, many of us have determined to lose a few pounds. So, when somebody serves you a meal and says, “Would you like some pie?” I say, “No pie.” That doesn’t mean there is no pie. I just mean, “No pie for me. I don’t want any.”
This is literally what the fool is saying. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘No God.’” That is, “I don’t want any, thank you.” In his heart of hearts, he knows better. Evolution and atheism and all of that exists as a bias against God, not because a man has reasonably and logically figured it out.
Do you know what the atheist believes? Nothing times nobody equals everything. That’s not logical, is it? Of course not. You see, it’s not that he’s figured it out.It’s not that he is forced upon that belief by logic. He does not want the idea of God. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘No God.’” God is not argued in the Bible. The reason people don’t believe in God is found in Romans 1:28, “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.” The idea of God gives them an uneasy feeling, so they think that if they can get rid of the idea of God, they can get rid of that uneasy feeling.
But a man never gets rid of the uneasy feeling of not having God in his heart.He is like a man who bought a new boomerang, and killed himself trying to throw the old one away. It just keeps coming back, and coming back, and coming back. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God…” (Psalm 53:1a). They don’t like to retain the knowledge of God in their mind, but you find in Genesis 1:1 that He is, firstly, the God who is presented. Not argued, philosophized, explained, or apologized for; just, “Here it is, folks.”
———
Betting on the cosmos – with David Gross and Robert Laughlin
Published on Oct 10, 2012
Working out what happened in the moments after the Big Bang is difficult. Scientists can come up with theories, but in the end they are useful only if they can be tested. Nobel prizewinner Robert Laughlin is passionate about experiments. He challenges the students in this film, and laureate David Gross, to come up with ways to test our big ideas about the Universe. The two laureates make a bet. Watch the film to find out more and to decide who wins.
The Strong Force: A Chat with Nobel Laureate David Gross
Uploaded on Jun 11, 2009
David Gross, the 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics and the director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, talks with veteran journalist Jerry Roberts about why scientists love KITP. [7/2009] [Science] [Show ID: 16805]
In 1973, Gross, working with his first graduate student, Frank Wilczek, at Princeton University, discovered asymptotic freedom, which holds that the closer quarks are to each other, the less the strong interaction (or color charge) is between them; when quarks are in extreme proximity, the nuclear force between them is so weak that they behave almost as free particles. Asymptotic freedom, independently discovered by Politzer, was important for the development of quantum chromodynamics.
There have been areas of conflict between religion and science, by and large religion has been on the retreat in those areas of overlap as scientists discovered more about the real world that did conflict with earlier myths and beliefs and there remains areas of deep conflict in biology and cosmology. I don’t think there is much room for compromise there as a scientist and I think the truth that science reveals are truths according to the scientific criteria and if they conflict with some myth then too bad.
_____
Pilgrim Progress and how can a man of supreme intellect believe in God?
FREUD (CONT’D) Professor Lewis, if you disagree so strongly with my views, why did you come here to see me?
LEWIS Not all of them. When I was a student we devoured your every book to discover our latent perversions. And I was shocked when I read you declared Pilgrim’s Progress a work of “genius.“ Seriously? A clash between God and Satan?
FREUD I didn’t say whose side I was on.
LEWIS You’ve insisted all your life that the very concept of God is ludicrous.
FREUD Yes.
LEWIS So why do you care what I think if you’re satisfied in your disbelief? Why am I here? A beat – for the first time, the shadow of a smile crosses over Freud’s face.
FREUD For one reason. I want to learn why a man of your supreme intellect could suddenly abandon truth and embrace an insidious lie.
LEWIS What if it isn’t a lie? Have you ever considered how terrifying it would be to realize you’re wrong?
FREUD Far less terrifying than it would be for you. You said earlier that you challenge my world view, my belief in disbelief.
—-
Dr. Gross is suggesting that science has been in conflict with religion and that religion is on the retreat. Let me quote from my former pastor Adrian Rogers:
Skeptics seem to think that the Bible is full of scientific errors. However, before an individual can make that assertion, they had better make sure they know both science and Scripture. You see, I have heard unbelievers state that the Bible is not a book of science, but a book of religion, which is basically true. It is not written to teach us about science, but to teach us about God. But the God of salvation and the God of creation are the same. Science doesn’t take God by surprise. A close look at Scripture reveals that it is scientifically accurate.
Every now and then science may disagree with the Bible, but usually science just needs time to catch up. For example, in 1861 a French scientific academy printed a brochure offering 51 incontrovertible facts that proved the Bible in error. Today there is not a single reputable scientist who would support those supposed “facts,” because modern science has disproved them all!
The ancients believed the earth was held up by Atlas, or resting on pillars, or even seated on the backs of elephants. But today we know the earth is suspended in space, a fact the Word of God records in Job 26:7: “He . . . hangeth the earth upon nothing.” God revealed the facts of cosmology long before man had any idea of the truth.
For centuries man believed the earth was flat, but now we know the earth is a globe. The prophet Isaiah, writing 750 years before the birth of Christ, revealed that “God sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated here as “circle” was more commonly translated “sphere.” In other words, Isaiah explained that the earth was a globe centuries before science discovered it.
When Ptolemy charted the heavens, he counted 1026 stars in the sky. But with the invention of the telescope man discovered millions and millions of stars, something that Jeremiah 33:22 revealed nearly three thousand years ago: “The host of heaven cannot be numbered.” How did these men of God know the truth of science long before the rest of the world discovered it? They were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the truth. God’s Word is not filled with errors. It is filled with facts, even scientific facts.
When the black plague was killing one quarter of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century, it was the church, not science, that helped overcome the dread disease. The leaders in the church noticed the instructions given by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 13:46: “All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” These early believers did not know microbiology or understand what germs were, but they could understand a clear teaching to quarantine someone who was sick. So they followed the Biblical dictum, quarantined those sick with the plague, and stopped it from spreading. The Bible had its science correct even before man discovered the truth! Don’t accept the charge that the Bible is filled with scientific errors. Modern science seems determined to explain God away, and refuses to acknowledge any evidence of the supernatural. But the science of Scripture is one reason to accept the Bible as God’s word.
_______________
My first response is to recount my correspondence with the famous evolutionist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005) of Harvard. In his letter to me he basically said that there are many chemists and molecular biologists who find the story of gradual evolution of life totally convincing and that he is sticking with them. This is very similar to the approach by Dr. Gross and it is an appeal to authority in that they are suggesting that we just accept the brilliant scientists’ point of view because they are brilliant scientists and they are smarter than the rest of us.THERE IS A SIMPLE ANSWER THAT I COULD GIVE to both Dr. Mayr and Dr. Gross which is a quote from Adrian Rogers:
Did you know that all atheists are not atheists because of intellectual problems? They’re atheists because of moral problems. You say, “But I know some brilliant people who are atheists.” Well, that may be so, but I know some brilliant people who are not. You say, “I know some foolish people who believe in God.” Well, I know everyone who doesn’t believe in God is foolish.
In other words there are brilliant and stupid people on both sides of the fence and it is not an intellectual issue but a moral one. Let’s take a look at the history of science that was handled down to us from Western Europe and take a closer examination of those great men’s religious views and if their religious views were corrosive to their scientific pursuits? This is the accusation of many modern day evolutionists.
Ernst Mayr (pictured below with the beard)
Bill Gates, John Grisham, James Michener, E. O. Wilson, Ernst Mayr, George Lucas…
Published on May 19, 2012
Bill Gates, John Grisham, James Michener, E. O. Wilson, Ernst Mayr, George Lucas, James Cameron, Larry King, Ian Wilmut, Jane Goodall, Stephen Jay Gould, Tim D. White, Leon Lederman, Timothy Berners-Lee and Bill Gates. Complete and more interview go to websites “www.achievement.org”.
Mais entrevistas e completas no site “www.achievement.org”.
In 1994 and 1995 I had the opportunity to correspond with the famous evolutionist Dr. Ernst Mayr of Harvard. He stated in his letter of 10-3-94, “Owing to your ideological commitments, it is only natural that you cannot accept the cogency of the scientific evidence. However, to a person such as myself without such commitments, the story of the gradual evolution of life as reconstructed by chemists and molecular biologists is totally convincing.”
I responded by pointing out three points. First, Scientific Naturalism is atheistic by definition. Second, many great scientists of the past were Christians, and that did not disqualify their observations and discoveries. Third, the fact that evolution is true does not rule out God’s existence (Harvard’s own Owen Gingerich and many others such as Francis Collins hold to a Creator and evolution).
Let me just spend some time on my second point. Francis Schaeffer in his book “HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?” stated that according to Alfred North Whitehead and J. Robert Oppenheimer, both renowned philosophers and scientists of our era (but not Christians themselves), modern science was born out of the Christian world view. Whitehead said that Christianity is the “mother of science” because of the insistence on the rationality of God. In the article, “Christianity and Technological Advance – The Astonishing Connection,” by T. V. Varughese, Ph.D, he observed:
Without question, “technology” has now become the new magic word in place of the word “science.” Since technology represents the practical applications of science, it is clearly consumer-oriented. Herein is bright economic promise to all who can provide technology.
In terms of technology, our present world can be divided into at least three groups: countries that are strong providers of technology, both original and improved; countries that are mass producers because of cheaper labor; and countries that are mostly consumers. Without a doubt, being in the position of “originating” superior technology should be a goal for any major country. The difficult question, however, is “how.”
An obvious place to start suggests itself. Why not begin with the countries that have established themselves as strong originators of technology and see if there is a common thread between them? The western nations, after the Renaissance and the Reformation of the 16th century, offer a ready example. Any book on the history of inventions, such as the Guinness Book of Answers, will reveal that the vast majority of scientific inventions have originated in Europe (including Britain) and the USA since the dawn of the 17th century. What led to the fast technological advances in the European countries and North America around that time?
The answer is that something happened which set the stage for science and technology to emerge with full force. Strange as it may seem, that event was the return to Biblical Christianity in these countries.
The Epistemological Foundation of Technology
According to Alfred North Whitehead and J. Robert Oppenheimer, both renowned philosophers and scientists of our era (but not Christians themselves), modern science was born out of the Christian world view. Whitehead said that Christianity is the “mother of science” because of the insistence on the rationality of God.[1] Entomologist Stanley Beck,though not a Christian himself, acknowledged the corner-stone premises of science which the Judeo-Christian world view offers: “The first of the unprovable premises on which science has been based is the belief that the world is real and the human mind is capable of knowing its real nature. The second and best-known postulate underlying the structure of scientific knowledge is that of cause and effect. The third basic scientific premise is that nature is unified.”[2] In other words, the epistemological foundation of technology has been the Judeo-Christian world view presented in the Bible…
Perhaps the most obvious affirmation that Biblical Christianity and science are friends and not foes comes from the fact that most of the early scientists after the Renaissance were also strong believers in the Bible as the authoritative source of knowledge concerning the origin of the universe and man’s place in it.[4] The book of Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, presents the distinctly Judeo-Christian world view of a personal Creator God behind the origin and sustenance of the universe (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:17; etc.).
Among the early scientists of note who held the Biblical creationist world view are Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), and Samuel Morse (1791-1872) – what motivated them was a confidence in the “rationality” behind the universe and the “goodness” of the material world. The creation account in Genesis presents an intelligent, purposeful Creator, who, after completing the creation work, declared it to be very good (Genesis 1:31). That assures us that the physical universe operates under reliable laws which may be discovered by the intelligent mind and used in practical applications. The confidence in the divinely pronounced goodness of the material world removed any reluctance concerning the development of material things for the betterment of life in this world. The spiritual world and the material world can work together in harmony.
References –
Francis A. Schaeffer: How Should We Then Live (Revell, 1976), p. 132.
Henry M. Morris, Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Baker, 1991), p. 30.
Schaeffer, p. 131.
Henry M. Morris, Men of Science, Men of God (Master Books, CA, 1988), 107 pp.
Many of these great scientists of the past were before Darwin, but not all of them. However, all of them were acquainted with secular philosophies and some were in fact opponents of Darwinism (Agassiz, Pasteur, Lord Kelvin, Maxwell, Dawson, Virchow, Fabre, Fleming, etc). Many of them believed in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, as well as in the deity and saving work of Jesus Christ. They believed that God had supernaturally created all things, each with its own complex structure for its own unique purpose. They believed that, as scientists, they were “thinking God’s thoughts after Him,” learning to understand and control the laws and processes of nature for God’s glory and man’s good. They believed and practiced science in exactly the same way that modern creationist scientists do.
And somehow this attitude did not hinder them in their commitment to the “scientific method.” In fact one of them, Sir Francis Bacon, is credited with formulating and establishing the scientific method! They seem also to have been able to maintain a proper “scientific attitude,” for it was these men (Newton, Pasteur, Linnaeus, Faraday, Pascal, Lord Kelvin, Maxwell, Kepler, etc.) whose researches and analyses led to the very laws and concepts of science which brought about our modern scientific age….
To illustrate the caliber and significance of these great scientists of the past, Tables I and II have been prepared. These tabulations are not complete lists, of course, but at least are representative and they do point up the absurdity of modern assertions that no true scientist can be a creationist and Bible-believing Christian.
Table I lists the creationist “fathers” of many significant branches of modern science. Table II lists the creationist scientists responsible for various vital inventions, discoveries, and other contributions to mankind. These identifications are to some degree oversimplified, of course, for even in the early days of science every new development involved a number of other scientists, before and after. Nevertheless, in each instance, a strong case can be made for attributing the chief responsibility to the creationist scientist indicated. At the very least, his contribution was critically important and thus supports our contention that belief in creation and the Bible helps, rather than hinders, scientific discovery.
_______________
My relatives live 3 miles from Spring Hill, Tennessee. When the new General Motors plant opened there I got to go see it. What if I had said, “The assembly line created a beautiful Saturn automobile!” Hopefully, some would have corected me by responding, “The assembly line did not create the automobile. It was first designed by the General Motors engineers in Detroit.” ASSUMING EVOLUTION IS TRUE, IT WOULD STILL ONLY BE THE MECHANISM. DOES EVOLUTION ACCOUNT FOR THE DESIGNER?
NOTABLE INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES
OR DEVELOPMENTS BY CREATIONIST SCIENTISTS
CONTRIBUTION
SCIENTIST
ABSOLUTE TEMPERATURE SCALE
LORD KELVIN (1824-1907)
ACTUARIAL TABLES
CHARLES BABBAGE (1792-1871)
BAROMETER
BLAISE PASCAL (1623-1662)
BIOGENESIS LAW
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
CALCULATING MACHINE
CHARLES BABBAGE (1792-1871)
CHLOROFORM
JAMES SIMPSON (1811-1870)
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
CAROLUS LINNAEUS (1707-1778)
DOUBLE STARS
WILLIAM HERSCHEL (1738-1822)
ELECTRIC GENERATOR
MICHAEL FARADAY (1791-1867)
ELECTRIC MOTOR
JOSEPH HENRY (1797-1878)
EPHEMERIS TABLES
JOHANN KEPLER (1571-1630)
FERMENTATION CONTROL
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
GALVANOMETER
JOSEPH HENRY (1797-1878)
GLOBAL STAR CATALOG
JOHN HERSCHEL (1792-1871)
INERT GASES
WILLIAM RAMSAY (1852-1916)
KALEIDOSCOPE
DAVID BREWSTER (1781-1868)
LAW OF GRAVITY
ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)
MINE SAFETY LAMP
HUMPHREY DAVY (1778-1829)
PASTEURIZATION
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
REFLECTING TELESCOPE
ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)
SELF-INDUCTION
JOSEPH HENRY (1797-1878)
TELEGRAPH
SAMUEL F.B. MORSE (1791-1872)
THERMIONIC VALVE
AMBROSE FLEMING (1849-1945)
TRANS-ATLANTIC CABLE
LORD KELVIN (1824-1907)
VACCINATION & IMMUNIZATION
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
_______________
2000 Interview with Ernst Mayr, Harvard University
Uploaded on Jul 13, 2008
Interviews conducted in March 2000 at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences on the topic of Challenges for the New Millennium. Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. See http://www.aibs.org/media-library/ for additional AIBS conference recordings.
With the passing in recent years of the three most revered scientific spokesmen for evolution—Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and now Stephen Jay Gould—Professor Ernst Mayr is left as the unquestioned dean of the modern evolutionary establishment.
Gould, Asimov, and Sagan were all three extremely prolific and brilliant writers. All three were atheistic professors at prestigious eastern universities (Gould at Harvard, Asimov at Boston University, Sagan at Cornell), and all three were effusive and vigorous anti-creationists. They were formidable opponents (but eminently quotable), and we miss them. All three died at relatively young ages.
But that leaves Ernst Mayr, long-time professor of biology at Harvard. Dr. Mayr was born in 1904 and is (at this writing) still very much alive, and nearing the century mark. Dr. Gould recently called him “the greatest living evolutionary biologist and a writer of extraordinary insight and clarity” (in a jacket blurb on Mayr’s latest book).
Mayr’s New Book
And that book is the subject of this article. Its title is intriguing—What Evolution Is (Basic Books, 2001, 318 pages),—for if anyone could speak authoritatively on such a subject, it should be Professor Mayr. In his adulatory foreword, Jared Diamond, another leading modern evolutionist, concludes: “There is no better book on evolution. There will never be another book like it” (p. xii).
That evaluation should give any reader very high expectations. Unfortunately, however, Dr. Mayr first shows his disdain for creationism, not even considering its arguments. He simply says:
It is now actually misleading to refer to evolution as a theory, considering the massive evidence that has been discovered over the last 140 years documenting its existence. Evolution is no longer a theory, it is simply a fact (p. 275).
He dismissed the evidence for creation as unworthy of further discussion. “The claims of the creationists” he says, “have been refuted so frequently and so thoroughly that there is no need to cover this subject once more” (p. 269).
Ignoring Creation Evidence
He himself, however, has apparently not bothered to read any creationist or secular anti-evolutionist scientific books or articles. Or at least that is what one would infer from the fact that none of them or their arguments and evidence are even mentioned in his book.
No mention is made by Mayr, for example, of creationist expositions of the amazing created designs in living systems, nor of the effects of God’s curse on the creation, or of the significance of the great flood in understanding the geologic record. He does not even acknowledge the significance of naturalistic catastrophism or of such scientific concepts as complexity or probability. Current ideas about “intelligent design” are never mentioned. The origins of all things are due to time, chance, and natural selection, no matter how complex and interdependent they may be, according to Professor Mayr, who had been (along with Julian Huxley, George Simpson, and a few others) primarily responsible for the so-called modern evolutionary synthesis (or neo-Darwinism) back in the 1930s and 1940s.
Neither does Mayr seem aware that there are now thousands of credentialed and knowledgeable scientists (including a great many biologists) who reject evolution, giving not even a nod to the Creation Research Society, or to ICR, or any other creationist organization. He does occasionally refer to God or to Christianity, but only in passing, and always in a context that indicates that he does not believe in either one. He, like his three younger colleagues, is an atheist, and this naturally constrains him to ignore any possible theological implications of the origins issues.
The Alleged Evidence for Evolution
Mayr’s new book is beautifully written and does contain much good material, but it will not convert many to evolutionism, even though he does devote a chapter to what he thinks are the evidences for evolution. These evidences are essentially the same as those used 140 years ago by Darwin in the Origin (fossils, comparative morphology, embryological similarities and recapitulation, vestigial structures, and geographical distribution). Mayr adds nothing new to these arguments, ignoring the fact that creationists (and even a number of evolutionists) have long since refuted all of them. He does devote a brief section to the more recent “evidence” from molecular biology. But that also has been vigorously disputed by a number of specialists in this field, especially the supposed evolutionary relationships implied by the molecules. Even Mayr admits that “molecular clocks are not nearly as constant as often believed” (p. 37), but he does not mention any of the numerous contradictory relationships implied by these biochemical studies (e.g., the well-known genomic similarities of humans and bananas).
As do most evolutionists, Mayr spends much time in discussing micro-evolution, whereas modern creationists only reject macroevolution. He devotes five chapters to microevolution and only one to macroevolution. This particular chapter is quite long, discussing many speculative theories about how macroevolutionary changes might be produced, but there is one vital deficiency. He gives no example of any macroevolutionary change known to have happened. In other words, macroevolution seems never to have occurred within the several thousand years of recorded history. Thus, real evolution (as distinct from variation, recombination, hybridization, and other such “horizontal” changes) does not happen at present. Where, we would ask Professor Mayr, are there any living forms in the process of evolutionary change? He gives no examples, of course, because there are none.
As far as pre-human history is concerned, Dr. Mayr does insist that the fossil record documents past evolution. He cites the usual claims—horses, Archaeopteryx, mammal-like reptiles, walking whales, etc.—which are very equivocal, at best, and have all been shown by creationists to be invalid as transitional forms. Instead of a handful of highly doubtful examples, there ought to be thousands of obvious transitional forms in the fossils if evolution had really been occurring. Yet Mayr admits,
Wherever we look at the living biota, . . . discontinuities are overwhelmingly frequent. . . . The discontinuities are even more striking in the fossil record. New species usually appear in the fossil record suddenly, not connected with their ancestors by a series of intermediates (p. 189).
Professor Mayr still says that the fossils are “the most convincing evidence for the occurrence of evolution” (p. 13). Yet he also says that “the fossil record remains woefully inadequate” (p. 69). Thus, as creationists have often pointed out, there is no real evidence of either present or past evolution.
We have repeatedly noted also that the scientific reason why this is so is because real evolution to any higher level of complexity is impossible by the law of entropy, which states the proven fact that every system of any kind “tends” to go toward lower complexity, unless constrained otherwise by some pre-designed external program and mechanism.
Yet Ernst Mayr seems either to ignore or misunderstand this key argument of the creationists. Here is what he says:
Actually there is no conflict, because the law of entropy is valid only for closed systems, whereas the evolution of a species of organisms takes place in an open system in which organisms can reduce entropy at the expense of the environment and the sun supplies a continuing input of energy (p. 8).
And that’s all he says about one of the key arguments against evolution. This ubiquitous dodge of the evolutionists has been discredited again and again by creationists, and one would think that this “greatest living evolutionary biologist” in this “best book on evolution” would at least take notice of our arguments! At least half of America’s population, according to many polls, are creationists, apparently agreeing more with us than with Mayr.
An open system and external energy are, indeed, necessary conditions for a system to grow in complexity, but most definitely are not sufficient conditions. The question is just how does the sun’s energy produce complexity in an open system? The fact is that the application of external heat energy to an open system (such as from the sun to the earth) will increase the entropy (that is, decrease the organized complexity) in any open system, if that’s all there is. This is a basic principle of thermodynamics, and neither Mayr nor any other evolutionist has answered this problem. Evolution seems to be impossible by the known laws of science.
Professor Mayr does not deal with the theological or Biblical evidences, of course. For those who believe in God and the Bible, on the other hand, creation—not evolution—is, to appropriate Mayr’s words, “simply a fact.” Evolution is merely a belief held by many who “willingly are ignorant” (II Peter 3:5) of the strong evidences and arguments for creation, and who don’t even bother to consider them. In the words of the apostle Paul: “Where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (I Corinthians 1:20).
When one hears the name “Jericho” one naturally thinks of Israelites marching, trumpets sounding and walls falling. It is a wonderful story of faith and victory that we enjoy reading and telling in Sunday School class, but did it really happen? The skeptic would say no, it is merely a folk tale to explain the ruins at Jericho. The reason for this negative outlook is the excavation carried out at the site in the 1950s under the direction of British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. She concluded,
It is a sad fact that of the town walls of the Late Bronze Age, within which period the attack by the Israelites must fall by any dating, not a trace remains.…The excavation of Jericho, therefore, has thrown no light on the walls of Jericho of which the destruction is so vividly described in the Book of Joshua (Kenyon 1957: 261–62).
Thomas A. Holland, who was editor and co-author of Kenyon’s excavation reports, summarized the apparent results as follows:
Kenyon concluded, with reference to the military conquest theory and the L[ate] B[ronze Age] walls, that there was no archaeological data to support the thesis that the town had been surrounded by a wall at the end of LB I (ca. 1400 BCE…) (Holland 1997: 223).
H.J. Franken, a member of the Jericho excavation staff, stated,
Miss Kenyon’s work has presented scholars with the hard fact that if Joshua was active with the incoming Israelites either c. 1400 or c. 1200 B.C. he would not have been able to capture a great walled city of Jericho, because there was no city of Jericho in these periods…the huge ruins of the Hyksos city gave rise to the folktale attached to the hero Joshua (1965: 190, 200).
According to Kenyon’s dating, there was no city for the Israelites to conquer at the end of the 15th century BC, the Biblical date for the event. The Jericho of Joshua’s time could not be found-it was lost! Through our research, however, we have found the lost city of Jericho, the Jericho attacked by the Israelites.
Aerial view of Jericho, looking south. The trenches and squares visible today are from Kathleen Kenyon’s excavations in the 1950s and the more recent Italian-Palestinian excavation which began in 1997.
Fortifications of Jericho
Before the Israelites entered the promised land Moses told them, “You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky” (Dt 9:1). The meticulous work of Kenyon showed that Jericho was indeed heavily fortified and that it had been burned by fire. Unfortunately, she misdated her finds, resulting in what seemed to be a discrepancy between the discoveries of archaeology and the Bible. She concluded that the Bronze Age city of Jericho was destroyed about 1550 BC by the Egyptians. An in-depth analysis of the evidence, however, reveals that the destruction took place at the end of the 15th century BC (end of the Late Bronze I period), exactly when the Bible says the Conquest occurred (Wood 1990).
Pottery found at Jericho by John Garstang. This distinctive pottery, decorated with red and black geometric patterns, was in use only in the 15th century BC, the time of the Israelite Conquest according to Biblical chronology.
The mound, or “tell,” of Jericho was surrounded by a great earthen rampart, or embankment, with a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was some 12–15 ft high. On top of that was a mudbrick wall 6 ft thick and about 20–26 ft high (Sellin and Watzinger 1973: 58). At the crest of the embankment was a similar mudbrick wall whose base was roughly 46 ft above the ground level outside the retaining wall. This is what loomed high above the Israelites as they marched around the city each day for seven days. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for the Israelites to penetrate the impregnable bastion of Jericho.
Plan of the ruins of Jericho. A-area excavated by John Garstang where he found evidence for the destruction of Jericho by the Israelites which he dated to ca. 1400 BC. B-Two 8×8 m squares excavated by Kathleen Kenyon where she found similar evidence for destruction, but misdated it to 1550 BC and attributed it to the Egyptians.
Within the upper wall was an area of approximately 6 acres, while the total area of the upper city and fortification system together was half again as large, or about 9 acres. Based on the archaeologist’s rule of thumb of 100 persons per acre, the population of the upper city would have been about 600. From excavations carried out by a German team in the first decade of this century, we know that people were also living on the embankment between the upper and lower city walls. In addition, those Canaanites living in surrounding villages would have fled to Jericho for safety. Thus, we can assume that there were several thousand people inside the walls when the Israelites came against the city.
Schematic cross-section of the fortification system at Jericho.
The Fallen Walls
The citizens of Jericho were well prepared for a siege. A copious spring which provided water for ancient, as well as modern, Jericho lay inside the city walls. At the time of the attack, the harvest had just been taken in (Jos 3:15), so the citizens had an abundant supply of food. This has been borne out by many large jars full of grain found in the Canaanite homes by John Garstang in his excavation in the 1930s and also by Kenyon. With a plentiful food supply and ample water, the inhabitants of Jericho could have held out for several years.
After the seventh trip around the city on the seventh day, Scripture tells us that the wall “fell flat” (Jos 6:20). A more accurate rendering of the Hebrew word here would be “fell beneath itself.” Is there evidence for such an event at Jericho? It turns out that there is ample evidence that the mudbrick city wall collapsed and was deposited at the base of the stone retaining wall at the time the city met its end.
Section drawing of Kenyon’s west trench, showing the fallen mud bricks from the collapsed city wall (red area to the left of retaining wall KD).
Kenyon’s work was the most detailed. On the west side of the tell, at the base of the retaining, or revetment, wall, she found,
fallen red bricks piling nearly to the top of the revetment. These probably came from the wall on the summit of the bank [and/or]…the brickwork above the revetment (Kenyon 1981: 110).
In other words, she found a heap of bricks from the fallen city walls! The renewed Italian-Palestinian excavations found exactly the same thing at the southern end of the mound in 1997.
Excavations at the outer (lower) fortification wall by the three major expeditions to Jericho. At the north end (numbers 1–5), a portion of the mud brick wall (red) atop the stone retaining wall survived, demonstrating that the city wall did not fall in this area. Nothing remains of the mud brick city wall at other points investigated, showing that it had collapsed everywhere else (numbers 6–13). Remnants of the collapsed city wall (red) were actually found still in place in three places at Jericho: number 11 (German excavation), number 12 (Kenyon’s excavation), and the 1997 Italian-Palestinian excavation extending Kenyon’s south trench at number 8.
According to the Bible, Rahab’s house was incorporated into the fortification system (Jos 2:15). If the walls fell, how was her house spared? As you recall, the spies had instructed Rahab to bring her family into her house and they would be rescued. When the Israelites stormed the city, Rahab and her family were saved as promised (Jos 6:17, 22–23). At the north end of the tell of Jericho, archaeologists made some astounding discoveries that seem to relate to Rahab.
The German excavation of 1907-1909 found that on the north a short stretch of the lower city wall did not fall as everywhere else. A portion of that mudbrick wall was still standing to a height of 8 ft (Sellin and Watzinger 1973: 58). What is more, there were houses built against the wall! It is quite possible that this is where Rahab’s house was located. Since the city wall formed the back wall of the houses, the spies could have readily escaped. From this location on the north side of the city, it was only a short distance to the hills of the Judean wilderness where the spies hid for three days (Jos 2:16, 22). Real estate values must have been low here, since the houses were positioned on the embankment between the upper and lower city walls. Not the best place to live in time of war! This area was no doubt the overflow from the upper city and the poor part of town, perhaps even a slum district.
After the city walls fell, how could the Israelites surmount the 12–15 foot high retaining wall at the base of the tell? Excavations have shown that the bricks from the collapsed walls fell in such a way as to form a ramp against the retaining wall. The Israelites could merely climb up over the pile of rubble, up the embankment, and enter the city. The Bible is very precise in its description of how the Israelites entered the city: “The people went up into the city, every man straight before him” (Jos 6:20, KJV). The Israelites had to go up, and that is what archaeology has revealed. They had to go from ground level at the base of the tell to the top of the rampart in order to enter the city.
Dr. Wood points to collapsed mud bricks from the city wall that fell to the base of the retaining wall at Jericho. His left foot rests on part of the fallen wall. (Italian-Palestinian excavation, 1997, location 8.)
Destruction by Fire
The Israelites “burned the whole city and everything in it” (Jos 6: 24). Once again, the discoveries of archaeology have verified the truth of this record. A portion of the city destroyed by the Israelites was excavated on the east side of the tell. Wherever the archaeologists reached this level they found a layer of burned ash and debris about 3 ft thick. Kenyon described the massive devastation:
The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils; in most rooms the fallen debris was heavily burnt, but the collapse of the walls of the eastern rooms seems to have taken place before they were affected by the fire (Kenyon 1981: 370).
Excavations of John Garstang at Jericho showing the remains of the city destroyed by the Israelites in about 1400 BC.
Exterior of the retaining wall in Kenyon’s west trench.
Section drawing of Kenyon’s excavation showing house walls from the city destroyed by the Israelites and the thick burn layer (lower red layer).
Both Garstang and Kenyon found many storage jars full of grain that had been caught in the fiery destruction. This is a unique find in the annals of archaeology. Grain was valuable, not only as a source of food, but also as a commodity which could be bartered. Under normal circumstances, valuables such as grain would have been plundered by the conquerors. Why was the grain left to be burned at Jericho? The Bible provides the answer. Joshua commanded the Israelites:
The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into His treasury (Jos 6:17–19).
Jars full of grain found by John Garstang at Jericho. They were charred in the fire that the Israelites set to destroy the Canaanite city.
The grain left at Jericho and found by archaeologists in modern times gives graphic testimony to the obedience of the Israelites nearly three and a half millennia ago. Only Achan disobeyed, leading to the debacle at Ai described in Joshua 7.
Such a large quantity of grain left untouched gives silent testimony to the truth of yet another aspect of the Biblical account. A heavily fortified city with an abundant supply of food and water would normally take many months, even years, to subdue. The Bible says that Jericho fell after only seven days. The jars found in the ruins of Jericho were full, showing that the siege was short since the people inside the walls consumed very little of the grain.
Lessons of Jericho
Jericho was once thought to be a “Bible problem” because of the seeming disagreement between archaeology and the Bible. When the archaeology is correctly interpreted, however, the opposite is the case. The archaeological evidence supports the historical accuracy of the Biblical account in every detail. Every aspect of the story that could possibly be verified by the findings of archaeology is, in fact, verified.
There are a number of theories as to how the walls of Jericho came down. Both Garstang and Kenyon found evidence of earthquake activity at the time the city met its end. If God did use an earthquake to accomplish His purposes that day, it was still a miracle since it happened at precisely the right moment, and was manifested in such a way as to protect Rahab’s house. No matter what agency God used, it was ultimately the faith of the Israelites that brought the walls down: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days” (Heb 11:30).
The example of Jericho is a wonderful spiritual lesson for God’s people yet today. There are times when we find ourselves facing enormous “walls” that are impossible to break down by human strength. If we put our faith in God and follow His commandments, even when they seem foolish to us, He will perform “great and awesome deeds” (Dt 4:34) and give us the victory.
See Dr. Wood discuss the evidence in this cutting edge video, Jericho Unearthed.
The Bible and Archaeology (1/5)
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Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR
Open letter to President Obama (Part 519) (Emailed to White House on 5-3-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get […]
The Scientific Age Published on Jul 24, 2012 Dr. Schaeffer’s sweeping epic on the rise and decline of Western thought and Culture Francis Schaeffer rightly noted, “These two world views stand as totals in complete antithesis in content and also in their natural results….It is not just that they happen to bring forth different results, […]
The Way of Discovery: A Personal Journey of Faith Henry F. Schaefer III The Scientific Age Uploaded by NoMirrorHDDHrorriMoN on Oct 3, 2011 _______________ Episode VII – The Age of Non Reason ____________________ Episode 8: The Age Of Fragmentation Published on Jul 24, 2012 Dr. Schaeffer’s sweeping epic on the rise and decline of Western thought and […]
The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 6 of 6 _______________ I have debated with Ark Times Bloggers many times in the past on many different subjects. Here are some of the subjects: communism, morality, origin of evil, and the Tea Party. I have always loved to post about evolution and I have had a chance […]
The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 5 of 6 _______________ I have debated with Ark Times Bloggers many times in the past on many different subjects. Here are some of the subjects: communism, morality, origin of evil, and the Tea Party. I have always loved to post about evolution and I have had a chance […]
The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 4 of 6 _______________ I have debated with Ark Times Bloggers many times in the past on many different subjects. Here are some of the subjects: communism, morality, origin of evil, and the Tea Party. I have always loved to post about evolution and I have had a chance […]
The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 1 of 6 Uploaded by FLIPWORLDUPSIDEDOWN3 on Aug 30, 2010 _________ I have debated with Ark Times Bloggers many times in the past on many different subjects. Here are some of the subjects: communism, morality, origin of evil, and the Tea Party. I have always loved to post about evolution […]
FREUD’S LAST SESSION | “A New World” Official Clip
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Lewis tells the story of receiving a special birthday gift from his brother when he was at boarding school. It was a toy forest he created in a biscuit box with a deer figurine, moss, twigs, tiny stones, and flowers.
Lewis: I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I still do. The moment I saw it, it created a yearning I never felt before. I called that feeling “Joy.” I still do.
Freud: And this “joy” you equate with an inherent desire for a Creator?
Lewis: Yes.
Freud: You were led to God by a biscuit tin. Our deepest cravings are never satisfied, or even identified. In German, we call it “Sehnsucht.” A longing. All my years I have felt this.
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Deep down everyone knows that God exists!!! I have a good friend who is a street preacher who preaches on the Santa Monica Promenade in California and during the Q/A sessions he does have lots of atheists that enjoy their time at the mic. When this happens he always quotes Romans 1:18-19 (Amplified Bible) ” For God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness REPRESSandHINDER the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is KNOWN about God is EVIDENT to them andMADE PLAIN IN THEIR INNER CONSCIOUSNESS, because God has SHOWN IT TO THEM,”(emphasis mine). Then he tells the atheist that the atheist already knows that God exists but he has been suppressing that knowledge in unrighteousness. This usually infuriates the atheist. My friend draws some large crowds at times and was thinking about setting up a lie detector test and see if atheists actually secretly believe in God. He discussed this project with me since he knew that I had done a lot of research on the idea about 20 years ago. Nelson Price in THE EMMANUEL FACTOR (1987) tells the story about Brown Trucking Company in Georgia who used to give polygraph tests to their job applicants. However, in part of the test the operator asked, “Do you believe in God?” In every instance when a professing atheist answered “No,” the test showed the person to be lying. My pastor Adrian Rogers used to tell this same story to illustrate Romans 1:19 and it was his conclusion that “there is no such thing anywhere on earth as a true atheist. If a man says he doesn’t believe in God, then he is lying. God has put his moral consciousness into every man’s heart, and a man has to try to kick his conscience to death to say he doesn’t believe in God.”
(Adrian Roger’s seen below)
It is true that polygraph tests for use in hiring were banned by Congress in 1988. Mr and Mrs Claude Brown on Aug 25, 1994 wrote me a letter confirming that over 15,000 applicants previous to 1988 had taken the polygraph test and EVERY-TIME SOMEONE SAID THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, THE MACHINE SAID THEY WERE LYING. It had been difficult to catch up to the Browns. I had heard about them from Dr. Adrian Rogers‘ sermon but I did not have enough information to locate them. Dr. Rogers referred me to Dr. Nelson Price and Dr. Price’s office told me that Claude Brown lived in Atlanta. After writing letters to all 9 of the entries for Claude Brown in the Atlanta telephone book, I finally got in touch with the Browns. Adrian Rogers also pointed out that the Bible does not recognize the theoretical atheist. Psalms 14:1: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Dr Rogers notes, “The fool is treating God like he would treat food he did not desire in a cafeteria line. ‘No broccoli for me!’ ” In other words, the fool just doesn’t want God in his life and is a practical atheist, but not a theoretical atheist. Charles Ryrie in the The Ryrie Study Bible came to the same conclusion on this verse. Here are the conclusions of the experts I wrote in the secular world concerning the lie detector test and it’s ability to get at the truth: Professor Frank Horvath of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University has testified before Congress concerning the validity of the polygraph machine. He has stated on numerous occasions that “the evidence from those who have actually been affected by polygraph testing in the workplace is quite contrary to what has been expressed by critics. I give this evidence greater weight than I give to the most of the comments of critics” (letter to me dated October 6, 1994). There was no better organization suited to investigate this claim concerning the lie detector test than the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). This organization changed their name to the Committe for Skeptical Inquiry in 2006. This organization includes anyone who wants to help debunk the whole ever-expanding gamut of misleading, outlandish, and fraudulent claims made in the name of science. I AM WRITING YOU TODAY BECAUSE YOU ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CSICOP.
I read The Skeptical Review(publication of CSICOP) for several years during the 90’s and I would write letters to these scientists about taking this project on and putting it to the test. Below are some of their responses (15 to 20 years old now): 1st Observation: Religious culture of USA could have influenced polygraph test results. ANTONY FLEW (formerly of Reading University in England, now deceased, in a letter to me dated 8-11-96) noted, “For all the evidence so far available seems to be of people from a culture in which people are either directly brought up to believe in the existence of God or at least are strongly even if only unconsciously influenced by those who do. Even if everyone from such a culture revealed unconscious belief, it would not really begin to show that — as Descartes maintained— the idea of God is so to speak the Creator’s trademark, stamped on human souls by their Creator at their creation.” 2nd Observation: Polygraph Machines do not work.JOHN R. COLE,anthropologist, editor, National Center for Science Education, Dr. WOLF RODER, professor of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Dr. SUSAN BLACKMORE,Dept of Psychology, University of the West of England, Dr. CHRISTOPHER C. FRENCH, Psychology Dept, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, Dr.WALTER F. ROWE, The George Washington University, Dept of Forensic Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 3rd Observation: The sample size probably was not large enough to apply statistical inference. (These gentlemen made the following assertion before I received the letter back from Claude Brown that revealed that the sample size was over 15,000.) JOHN GEOHEGAN, Chairman of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, Dr. WOLF RODER, and Dr WALTER F. ROWE (in a letter dated July 12, 1994) stated, “The polygraph operator for Brown Trucking Company has probably examined only a few hundred or a few thousand job applicants. I would surmise that only a very small number of these were actually atheists. It seems a statistically insignificant (and distinctly nonrandom) sampling of the 5 billion human beings currently inhabiting the earth. Dr. Nelson Price also seems to be impugning the integrity of anyone who claims to be an atheist in a rather underhanded fashion.”
4th Observation: The question (Do you believe in God?) was out of place and it surprised the applicants. THOMAS GILOVICH, psychologist, Cornell Univ., Dr. ZEN FAULKES, professor of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), ROBERT CRAIG, Head of Indiana Skeptics Organization, Dr. WALTER ROWE,
5th Observation: Proof that everyone believes in God’s existence does not prove that God does in fact exist. PAUL QUINCEY, Nathional Physical Laboratory,(England), Dr. CLAUDIO BENSKI, Schneider Electric, CFEPP, (France),
6th Observation: Both the courts and Congress recognize that lie-detectors don’t work and that is why they were banned in 1988. (Governments and the military still use them.)
Dr WALTER ROWE, KATHLEEN M. DILLION, professor of Psychology, Western New England College.
7th Observation:This information concerning Claude Brown’s claim has been passed on to us via a tv preacher and eveybody knows that they are untrustworthy– look at their history. WOLF RODER.
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Solomon wisely noted in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “God has planted eternity in the heart of men…” (Living Bible). No wonder Bertrand Russell wrote in his autobiography, “It is odd, isn’t it? I feel passionately for this world and many things and people in it, and yet…what is it all? There must be something more important, one feels, though I don’t believe there is. I am haunted. Some ghosts, for some extra mundane regions, seem always trying to tell me something that I am to repeat to the world, but I cannot understand that message.”
Gene Emery, science writer for Providence Journal-Bulletin is a past winner of the CSICOP “Responsibility in Journalism Award” and he had the best suggestion of all when he suggested, “Actually, if you want to make a good case about whether Romans 1:19 is true, arrange to have a polygraph operator (preferably an atheist or agnostic) brought to the next CSICOP meeting. (I’m not a member of CSICOP, by the way, so I can’t give you an official invitation or anything.) If none of the folks at that meeting can convince the machine that they truly believe in God, maybe there is, in fact, an innate willingness to believe in God.”
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
I have been reading Proverbs almost every day for many years with my family in the evening and there is lots of wisdom in it. Take a look at the third part of this message from Adrian Rogers. How to Be the Father of a Wise Child Another great sermon outline from Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers […]
I have been reading Proverbs almost every day for many years with my family in the evening and there is lots of wisdom in it. Take a look at the second part of this message from Adrian Rogers. How to Be the Father of a Wise Child Another great sermon outline from Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
Leadership Crisis in America Published on Jul 11, 2012 Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero […]
Same old story it seems. Kentucky pulls out another close victory over the Vols. This is not the only story I am talking about today. Kentucky’s Alex Poythress (22) shoots between Tennessee’s Josh Richardson, left, and Yemi Makanjuola during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
(My pastor growing up was Adrian Rogers and he died 7 years ago today. He would have been 82 if he was still living. ) I love the Book of Proverbs and every day I read one chapter of Proverbs. Since there are 31 chapters, I start the 1st of ever month and read chapter […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
It pays to remember history. Today I am going to go through some of it and give an outline and quotes from the great Southern Baptist leader Adrian Rogers (1931-2005). Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times started this morning off with some comedy: From pro golfer John Daly’s Twitter account following last night’s Republican debate, […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school […]
Migrants cross the Rio Grande on Dec. 23, 2023. (Photo: David Peinado/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The FBI has a 15-month backlog on DNA testing for migrants and is running out of money to sustain the program, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security email chain reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Customs and Border Protection uses tests from the FBI, which then analyzes and stores them for federal border authorities, to test migrants 14 years old and older, according to the emails. FBI Director Christopher Wray previously raised concerns about the FBI’s ability to handle the “dramatic increase” in DNA samples given the migration surges in April, according to Voice of America.
“They [FBI] don’t have enough money to run the program which is a statutory requirement. They are still delivering kits and used to turn them around in 2 months, now they are looking at a 15 month backlog,” one CBP official said in the internal chain regarding its response to a Washington Post reporter working on a story regarding the DNA testing.
Federal authorities have recorded record flows of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in recent years, with roughly 2.2 million encounters in fiscal year 2022 and more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.
The FBI’s Combined DNA Index System is used by federal, state, and local labs to connect offenders to crimes, according to the bureau.
In a proposed response to the reporter’s question, the officials admitted that migrants who aren’t wanted for crimes are always released from agency custody before the DNA testing is completed.
“Migrants remain in CBP custody for up to 72 hours. Since the FBI’s DNA analysis has always taken longer than three days, migrants have always released from CBP custody prior to the FBI completing its DNA analysis. Migrants wanted for a crime are transferred to appropriate law enforcement agencies. You may, however, wish to contact [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to learn whether the current delay in FBI DNA analysis may have impacted ICE’s release of migrants as ICE holds migrants longer than CBP,” one portion of an email read.
When it comes to the migration flows to the U.S., federal border authorities have found significant numbers of migrants that are fraudulently making it seem like they’re legitimate families. Border Patrolhas a contract for rapid DNA testing of families, according to the emails.
A Department of Homeland Security pilot program previously found that 16 out of 84 families were “fraudulent” and not actually related, while a separate program discovered that out of a total of 522 migrant families, 79 were fraudulent. The Trump administration expanded the federal government’s DNA program at the border in 2020.
In May, a Government Accountability Office investigation found that CBP lacked the sufficient supplies of testing kits to obtain DNA samples, reporting “some individuals in CBP custody not having their DNA collected by CBP officers and agents.”
As of publication, the GAO says CBP has yet to fulfill its recommendations to resolve the issue.
In the email chain, the CBP officials noted the GAO report, saying that while the reporter “may benefit from reading” it, “it raises issues of CBP & FBI compliance with DNA testing that we may not need to introduce if the reporter has not already read this report.”
The FBI did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
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A FENCE WOULD STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND STOP TERRORISTS FROM GETTING IN
Convening a special cabinet meeting with the army’s leadership and various experts, I announced my intention to build a barrier along the Israeli-Egyptian border to prevent illegal migration from Africa. I wanted the IDF Engineering Corps to do it. The military objected. Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and his Deputy Benny Gantz explained that the fence would not work.
“Why not?” I asked. “It worked pretty well for the Chinese.” “This is different,” a staff officer explained. “They could tunnel under the barrier, as in Gaza.” “I doubt it,” I said. You need buildings to hide entry and exit points. This was barren desert with no buildings in sight for many kilometers. “So they’ll climb over it,” came the retort. “Then we’ll figure out how to make sure they won’t be able to,” I said in exasperation. This barrier would not just be a fence. We could use drones, mobile forces, fire hoses. “Just get the job done,” I said. “Prime Minister,” Ashkenazi said in a last-ditch effort, “we should build a virtual fence.” “What’s that?” I asked. “We’ll have a physical barrier in the south and in the north of the border, but in between there’ll be forces using visual means to intercept infiltrators.” “Yeah,” I said, “you’ll need half the army to monitor and seal two hundred kilometers. I want a real fence, not a virtual one.”
The next obstacle the army put before me was cost. Showing diagrams of an enormously complicated multilayered barrier, they said the cost would run into many billions of shekels. “I think it could be much cheaper,” I said. I instructed the cabinet secretary to bring to the next cabinet meeting a competing bid from the Public Works Department of the Transportation Ministry. Faced with competition, the army cut its costs estimate for the fence by roughly half. I drafted a proposal to build the barrier. The cabinet approved the resolution in March 2010. Once the order was given, the chief of staff, to his credit, went into high gear. He appointed Colonel Eran Ophir, an exceptional project leader whom I later called “Herod” because he built on a scale worthy of that famed builder-king. Every three months I would fly to the Egyptian-Israeli border to monitor the work in progress. Invariably Eran’s deliverables came in ahead of schedule and under budget. During the construction, in August 2011, an incident occurred that underscored an additional reason to erect the barrier. Several terrorists from the Sinai crossed the border near Eilat and murdered six Israeli civilians and two soldiers. It was a reminder that building the fence was not only vital to stopping illegal job migrants.
It would also block the growing number of terrorists coming in from the Sinai. Less than two years after the beginning of its construction, the fence was complete. Like the Great Wall of China that inspired it, it went up and down gullies and chasms and closed the border. The rate of illegal infiltration into Israel went down to zero! Israel was thus the first Western country to effectively seal its borders.
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Jewish Democrat slams ‘Squad’ members over calls to end Israel assistance
Fox News Digital obtained comments from New Jersey Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer that torched Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri over their comments following the outbreak of the war in Israel. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A Jewish House Democrat slammed two members of the socialist “Squad” after they called to end U.S. aid to Israel amid the country’s war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Fox News Digital obtained comments from New Jersey Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer torching Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri over their comments following the outbreak of the war in Israel.
In their statements, Tlaib and Bush — both progressives — called for U.S. assistance to Israel to end amid the war.
Gottheimer, who is Jewish, noted that two of his “colleagues called for America to end assistance to Israel, despite the countless images of Israeli children, women, men, and elderly, including Americans, murdered by radical Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.”
“Families were violently pulled from their homes as hostages,” Gottheimer said. “This is a deliberate and coordinated terrorist attack, savagely targeting innocent civilians.”
“It sickens me that while Israelis clean the blood of their family members shot in their homes, they believe Congress should strip U.S. funding to our democratic ally and allow innocent civilians to suffer,” Gottheimer said.
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this update.
I want to give you five reasons to affirm the Bible is the Word of God.
First, I believe the Bible is the Word of God because of its scientific accuracy. The Truth of the Word of God tells us that God “hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). How did Job know that the earth hung in space before the age of modern astronomy and space travel? The Holy Spirit told him. The scientists of Isaiah’s day didn’t know the topography of the earth, but Isaiah said, “It is [God] that sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word for “circle” here means a globe or sphere. How did Isaiah know that God say upon the circle of the earth? By divine inspiration.
Secondly, the Bible is affirmed through historical accuracy. Do you remember the story about the handwriting on the wall that is found in the fifth chapter of Daniel? Belshazzar hosted a feast with a thousand of his lords and ladies. Suddenly, a gruesome hand appeared out of nowhere and began to write on a wall. The king was disturbed and asked for someone to interpret the writing. Daniel was found and gave the interpretation. After the interpretation, “Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:29). Basing their opinion on Babylonian records, the historians claim this never happened. According to the records, the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar, but a man named Nabonidas. And so, they said, the Bible is in error. There wasn’t a record of a king named Belshazzar. Well, the spades of archeologists continued to do their work. In 1853, an inscription was found on a cornerstone of a temple built by Nabonidas, to the god Ur, which read: “May I, Nabonidas, king of Babylon, not sin against thee. And may reverence for thee dwell in the heart of Belshazzar, my first-born favorite son.” From other inscriptions, it was learned that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents. Nabonidas traveled while Belshazzar stayed home to run the kingdom. Now that we know that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents, it makes sense that Belshazzar would say that Daniel would be the third ruler. What a marvelous nugget of truth tucked away in the Word of God!
Third, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reads as one book. And there is incredible unity to the Bible. The Bible is one book, and yet it is made up of 66 books, was written by at least 40 different authors over a period of about 1600 years, in 13 different countries and on three different continents. It was written in at least three different languages by people in all professions. The Bible forms one beautiful temple of truth that does not contradict itself theologically, morally, ethically, doctrinally, scientifically, historically, or in any other way.
Fourth, did you know the Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy? When you read the prophecies of the Bible, you simply have to stand back in awe. There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament. To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical impossibility.
Finally, the Bible is not a book of the month, but the Book of the Ages. First Peter 1:25 says: “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” No book has ever had as much opposition as the Bible. Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, ridiculed it, and made laws against it. But the Word of God has survived. And it is applicable today as much as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.
It’s so majestically deep that scholars could swim and never touch the bottom. Yet so wonderfully shallow that a little child could come and get a drink of water without fear of drowning. That is God’s precious, holy Word. The Word of God. Know it. Believe it. It is True.
Not in all of my life have I ever prepared an address as minutely and meticulously as I have this one tonight. I have been a pastor fifty-eight years. I began preaching at this pastor’s conference at the invitation of Dr. M. E. Dodd when he founded it something like fifty years ago. And I would think more than thirty times have I spoken to this assembly of God’s anointed undershepherds. But I have never, ever approached a moment like this. And the message tonight, entitled Whether We Live or Die, is delivered, prepared in view of the convocation of our assembled messengers beginning in the morning.
The outline of the address, of the study, is this:
The Pattern of Death for a Denomination; then
The Pattern of Death for an Institution; then
The Pattern of Death for a Preacher, a Professor; and then finally,
The Promise of Renascence, and Resurrection, and Revival.
So we begin: The Pattern of Death for a Denomination.
In the middle of the last century, a great storm arose in the Baptist denomination in Great Britain. Opposition to evangelical truths sprang from two sources: one, the publication in 1859 of Darwin’s Origin of Species, which made the Genesis account of creation a myth; and second, the vast inroads of German higher criticism and rationalism that explained away the miracles of the Bible and reduced the inspired Word to merely a human book.
This fungal attack on the Scripture brought forth open and militant opposition from the mighty preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He urged the Baptist Union of England to speak out against the heresy. They refused, saying Baptists believe in the priesthood of every believer, and further avowed that Baptists could believe their own way so long as they baptize by immersion. Spurgeon then published what he called “The Downgrade in the Churches.” He wrote, “Instead of submission to God’s Word [James 4:4-10], higher criticism urges accommodation to human wisdom. It sets human thought above God’s revelation and constitutes man the supreme judge of what ought to be true.”
He wrote, “Believers in Holy Scripture are in confederacy with those who deny plenary inspiration. Those who hold evangelical doctrine are in open alliance with those who call the Genesis fall a myth.”
He wrote, “A chasm is opening between the men who believe their Bibles and those who are prepared for an advance upon the Scripture . . . The house is being robbed, its very walls are being digged down, but the good people who are in bed are too fond of the warmth . . . to go downstairs to meet the burglars.” “Inspiration and speculation cannot long abide side by side . . . We cannot hold the inspiration of the Word [2 Timothy 3:16], and yet reject it. We cannot hold the doctrine of the Fall [Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:22], and yet talk of evolution of spiritual life from human nature. One or the other must go.” “Compromise there can be none.”
Dr. John Clifford, London pastor and president of the British Baptist Union and later the first president of the Baptist World Alliance, declared in 1888, quote, “It pains me unspeakably to see this eminent [preacher Spurgeon] rousing the energies of thousands of Christians to engage in personal wrangling and strife, instead of inspiring them to . . . herioc effort to carry the . . . Gospel to our fellow-countrymen.” Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?
Dr. John Clifford had embraced the higher critical new theology. He believed that evangelicalism and higher criticism could be combined. Dr. Clifford presided over the Council of the Baptist Union that met in session January 18, 1888. They voted to recommend to the plenary session of the Union a vote to censure Spurgeon. Dr. John Clifford did his work well. The Baptist Union met in assembly April 23, 1888, in the City Temple of London—Dr. Joseph Parker’s Congregational church, himself a critic of Spurgeon—and the recommendation of council for censure was placed before the full body. The official vote was two thousand for the motion to censure Spurgeon, and seven against.
A godly man, Henry Oakley, who was present in the Baptist Union assembly that day, wrote these words in later memory concerning the tragic meeting. Quote:
I was present at the City Temple when the motion to censure Spurgeon was moved, seconded, and carried. The City Temple was as full as it could be. I was there early but found only a standing place in the aisle at the back of the gallery. I listened to the speeches. The only one of which I have a distinct remembrance was that of Mr. Charles Williams. He quoted Tennyson in favor of a liberal theology. The moment of voting came. Only those members of the assembly were qualified to vote. When the motion of censure was put, a forest of hands went up. “Against,” called the chairman, Dr. John Clifford. I did not see any hands, but history records there were seven. Before any announcement of the censure number was made by Dr. John Clifford, the vast assembly broke into tumultuous cheering, and cheering, and cheering yet. From some of the older men their pent-up hostility found vent. From many of the younger men wild resistance of “any obscurantist trammels,”—Spurgeon’s preaching—as they said, broke loose. It was a strange scene. I viewed it with tears. I stood near a man I knew well. He went wild with delight at the censure. I say, it was a strange scene, that that vast assembly should so outrageously be delighted at the condemnation of the greatest, noblest, and grandest leader of their faith.
An English writer said of that downgrade controversy against Spurgeon that it quote, “entailed one of the most bitter persecutions any minister of the gospel has ever endured in this country.” Spurgeon’s wife Susanna said that the controversy cost him his life. He died at the age of fifty-seven. Spurgeon himself said to a friend in May, 1891, “Goodbye. You will never see me again. This tragic fight is killing me.” But Spurgeon also said, “The distant future will vindicate me.”
All that Mr. Spurgeon saw and said, and much more, came to pass. Baptist witness in Great Britain began to die. The Baptist Union in their minutes recognized the presence of higher criticism in their midst, but they said it would do no harm. Spurgeon answered that the future would witness a lifeless and fruitless church. As he foretold, with the accommodation of the higher critical approach to the Scriptures—which is universal among us—with the accommodation of the higher critical approach to the Scriptures, church attendance fell off, prayer meetings ceased, miracles of conversion were witnessed less and less, the number of baptisms began to decline—and for years they’ve been in decline with us—and the churches began to die out. The numerical graph of the British Baptists since the halcyon days of Spurgeon, their mighty champion, is down, and ever down, and for a century has been going down.
I was in India years ago when English Baptists were closing down their mission stations on the Ganges River, stations founded by William Carey. Some say the position taken by Spurgeon hurt the mission movement. My brother, if the higher critical approach to the Scriptures dominates our institutions and our denominations, there will be no missionaries to hurt! They will cease to exist!
A comment on the sad condition of Baptist churches in England is found in the latest biography of Spurgeon written by Dr. Arnold Dallimore, entitled: C. H. Spurgeon, a New Biography, published this last year. The comment concerning English Baptists is this, quote: “Where there is no acceptance of the Bible as inerrant; there is no true Christianity. The preaching is powerless, and what Spurgeon declared to his generation a hundred years ago is the outcome.”
And that statement is followed by this paragraph:
The failure of the new theology or higher criticism, call it what we will, is forcefully brought out by E. J. Poole-Conner in his Evangelicalism in England. He tells of a conversation between the editor of an agnostic magazine and a neo-orthodox minister. The editor told the minister that despite their different vocations, they had much in common. “I don’t believe the Bible,” said the agnostic, “but neither do you. I don’t believe the story about creation, but you don’t either. I don’t believe any of these things, but neither do you. I am as much of a Christian as you, and you are as much of an infidel as I.”
As with the Baptists of Great Britain, whether we continue to live or ultimately die lies in our dedication to the infallible Word of God [2 Timothy 3:16-17].
Number two: The Pattern of Death for an Institution.
An institution can be like a great tree which in times past withstood the rain, and the wind, and the storm, and the lightning, but finally fell because the heart had rotted out. Insects, termites destroyed the great monarch of the woods. This is the unspeakably tragic thing that happens to many of our Christian institutions, and eventually threatens them all. They are delivered to secularism and infidelity, not because of a bitter frontal attack from without, but because of a slow, gradual permeation of the rot and curse of unbelief from within. The tragic and traumatic example of that decay is the University of Chicago.
The faithful devout Baptist people of the North set about to build, in their words, and I quote, “a great Christian university to counteract the materialism of the Middle West.” God greatly, immediately blessed their effort. In May 1889, the electric news was announced to the Baptists gathered in a national meeting in Boston that Rockefeller had offered six hundred thousand dollars for the building of the Christian school if the Baptist churches would give four hundred thousand dollars. When the announcement was made, the entire assembly arose with a doxology on its lips. And Dr. Henson exclaimed, “I scarcely dare trust myself to speak. I feel like Simeon when he said, ‘Now, Lord, lettest now Thy servant depart in peace . . . for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation’” [Luke 2:29, 30].
Appeals were sent to twelve hundred Baptist pastors in the Middle West. The second Sunday in April 1890 was made University Day. The humble, faithful loyal Baptist people in all the churches gave prayerfully and sacrificially. Their splendid school for preachers, the Baptist Theological Seminary at Morgan Park in Chicago was, under the terms of the Rockefeller gift, to be the center of the university and to become the divinity school. The university was to be built around the seminary, and all of it was to be dedicated to the evangelization of the heartland of America. It was done gloriously, victoriously. The university was built. The divinity school was opened, and they prepared preachers to win the Middle West for Christ.
Then the infiltration began. The curse, the rot, the virus, the corruption of a higher critical approach to the gospel began to work. What are the ultimate results of this almost universal higher critical teaching? Here are some of the professors who taught the preachers in that divinity school during the course of the years. Professor G. B. Smith, systematic theology, who wrote, “The spirit of democracy protests against such an idea as that God has the right to insist on a rigid plan of salvation.” Professor Soares, who said, “Redemption is an absolute fancy. Revelation is self-deception. We refuse the idea that the principle business of the church is to get people converted and committed to the Christian life.” And Professor G. B. Foster, Baptist teacher in the seminary, and pastor of a Unitarian Church wrote, “An intelligent man who now affirms his faith in miracles can hardly know what intellectual honesty means. The hypothesis of God has become superfluous in every science, even that of religion itself. Jesus did not transcend the limits of the purely human.”
We cannot but find ourselves in sympathy with an editorial of a great Chicago newspaper which said:
We are struck with the hypocrisy and treachery of these attacks on Christianity. This is a free country and a free age and men can say what they choose about religion, but this is not what we arraign these divinity professors for. Is there no place in which to assail the Bible but a divinity school? Is there no one to write infidel books except professors of Christian theology? Is a theological seminary an appropriate place for a general massacre of Christian doctrines? We are not championing either Christianity or infidelity but only condemning infidels masquerading as men of God and Christian teachers.
A friend of mine, a teacher, went to the University of Chicago to gain a Ph.D. in pedagogy. While there, he made the friendship of a student in the divinity school. Upon the young theolog’s graduation, the budding preacher said to my teacher friend, quote, “I am in a great quandary. I have been called to the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in the Midwest, but it is one of those old-fashioned Presbyterian churches that believes the Bible. And I don’t believe the Bible, and I don’t know what to do.” My teacher friend replied, “I can tell you exactly what you ought to do.” Eagerly, the young preacher asked, “What?” And my teacher friend replied, “I think that if you don’t believe the Bible, you ought to quit the ministry!”
But not only in the North have we lost our Baptist institutions such as the University of Chicago; such as Brown University; such as Crozer Theological Seminary, practically all of them. But in the South—where we live—in the South we are beginning to witness the same loss. Within these last few years, two of our senior Baptist universities in the Southern states have been removed from Baptist control. Give it another century, and the loss will be unspeakably tragic.
John Wesley at one time wrote, “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.” This fear that troubled the heart of John Wesley no less troubles the hearts of believing Christians everywhere who take time to see what higher criticism can do to their institutions.
If neo-orthodoxy were a separate movement in itself, built its own churches, launched its own institutions, projected its own denomination, then we could look at it as just another of the many sects that appear on the surface of history. But neo-orthodoxy in itself builds nothing. It is a parasite that grows on institutions already built.
If these higher critical semi-Unitarians won the lost to Christ, built up the churches, sent out missionaries, ministered to the needs of the people, then we could abandon our Bibles, rest at ease in Zion, and watch the kingdom of God advance from our ivory towers. The trouble is, these self-styled superior religionists do nothing but preside over a dying church, and a dying witness, and a dying denomination.
No minister who has embraced a higher critical approach to the gospel has ever built a great church, held a mighty revival, or won a city to the Lord. They live off the labor and sacrifice of those who paid the price of devoted service before them. Their message, which they think is new and modern, is as old as the first lie, “Yea, hath God said?” [Genesis 3:1].
Let the true pastor never turn aside from his great high calling to preach the whole counsel of God, warn men of their sins and the judgment of God upon them, baptize their converts in the name of the triune Lord, and build up the congregation in the love and wisdom of Christ Jesus. If he does that he will have completed the work for which the Holy Spirit did choose him. Do not be deterred or be discouraged by what others say about you. Just keep on winning souls to Jesus!
Number three: The Pattern of Death for a Preacher, a Pulpiteer, a Professor
There came to the Southern Seminary in 1869 a scholarly young man by the name of Crawford H. Toy. He was the first addition to the original faculty of four, and gave every promise of becoming the greatest of them all. He knew more Hebrew than his teacher, Dr. Basil Manley. Literally, he was the pride and joy of the school. He was brilliant beyond compare.
However, through studying German higher criticism and rationalism, he drifted away from the revealed truth of the Scriptures and began to teach in the seminary the pentateuchal-destructive attacks of Keunen, Wellhausen, and a host of others. It broke the hearts of President James P. Boyce and Professor John A. Broadus, but the dismissal had to come.
When Dr. Toy left, Boyce and Broadus accompanied him to the railroad station. Just before the train took him away, President Boyce placed his left arm around the shoulders of the young man, and lifting up his right hand to heaven, said, “Crawford, I would give my right arm if you were back as you were when you first came to us.”
Dr. Toy went to be professor of Hebrew at Harvard University. He went into the Unitarian church and finally, never went to church at all. He was a world-famous scholar. In my library, I have Hebrew books written by Dr. Toy. He was a world-famous scholar, internationally known author, and a lovable man, but the virus of higher criticism destroyed his spiritual life and work.
This is the young man who first taught in Albemarle Female Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, before joining the faculty of Southern Seminary. This is the young man who taught in the school attended by a most vivacious and brilliant student, Miss Lottie Moon. This is the young man with whom Lottie Moon fell in love. This is the young man to whom Lottie Moon returned from China to America to marry. This is the young man the foreign mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1860 appointed a missionary to the Orient, the War Between the States preventing his going. This is the young man, Crawford H. Toy, who was idolized by the Baptist academic and religious world.
But Lottie Moon was shattered and grief-stricken by the new theology and liberal beliefs of the man she so deeply admired and so beautifully loved. She returned to China heartbroken, never to return to home in America, never to marry, and died there in the Orient, lonely in soul and pouring her very life into a ministry for her starving Chinese people.
In the current issue of Review and Expositor, the theological journal of Southern Seminary, there is an extended article on Crawford H. Toy. It is filled with lavish and extravagant praise for the Unitarian. Here are the closing sentences in the review; I quote, “So far as his critical trends developed within the ten years of his membership on the faculty, his views today would not be regarded as sufficiently revolutionary to call for drastic action. Toy’s research and views were too advanced for his contemporaries.” That is, if he lived and taught today, his higher-critical, destructive approach to the Word of God would be perfectly acceptable, condoned, and defended!
However much our hearts may yearn over those who are victims and carriers of modernistic fallacy, if we are to survive as a people of God we must wage a war against the disease that, more than any other, will ruin our missionary, evangelistic, and soul-winning commitment.
And last: The Possibility and Promise of Resurrection, Renascence, Revival.
If, if we will receive the Scriptures as of God, and be true to them as to the Holy Spirit, the Lord will use Southern Baptists to evangelize the world. Revelation 14:6 says, “And I saw an angel fly in the midst of the heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth.” That angelos, having the everlasting euangelion to euangelisai the whole world, can be Southern Baptists. We can experience in our very midst great revival, the outpouring of the saving power of the Holy Spirit upon our churches, upon our preachers, and upon our mission fields.
The way of God is always onward, forward, and upward. The Holy Spirit always announces that there is a greater day coming. The burden of the prophets and the marvelous beckoning light of biblical revelation are ever and always the same. Our mighty God is marching on. It is the message of the first page of the Bible. It is the message of the second page of the Bible. It is the message of the first book of the Bible. It is the message of the second book of the Bible. It is the message of the last page and the last book of the Bible. A glorious triumph is coming. The Lord never recedes. He necessarily advances. His creation is followed by redemption. His redemption is followed by sanctification. His sanctification is followed by glorification.
There is no formal conclusion to the Book of Acts. It is open-ended. God means for the story of Pentecostal power and revival to be prolonged after the same manner. God does not do a great thing and then an increasingly smaller thing. God does not build a portico of marble and finish the temple with decaying brick. Our greatest days are yet to come. There was a time when the Holy Spirit as a heavenly fire was a mysterious presence flashing like lightning from the skies, we knew not whence or whither; coming now upon a Moses and again upon an Elijah, sometimes appearing in the burning bush in Horeb [Exodus 3:2], sometimes falling in awesome mystery upon the altar of sacrifice of Mount Carmel [1 Kings 18:32-39], sometimes striking out in Israel’s camp in destroying fury [Numbers 11:1], sometimes appearing as the Shekinah glory in the temple’s Holy of Holies [2 Chronicles 7:1-3], the strange sign and symbol of Jehovah’s presence and power.
Since Christ’s ascension [Acts 1:9], and in the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh [Acts 2:1-4, 16-33]. John 3:34 confirms that God giveth not the Spirit by measure. He is with us, within us, for us, for power, for conquest, for glory. Since Pentecost, there is no age, no century, no era, no time without the marvelous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The soul-saving experience continues. Darkness and death and decay may reign in one place, but always light, life, and salvation will reign and vigorously abound in another.
The church at Jerusalem fell into Ebionitic legalism, but the church at Antioch experienced the greatest revival of Gentile converts the first century ever knew. When waning of piety began to empty the churches at Antioch, the churches at Ephesus and Rome and at Milan were waxing mighty in the work of the Lord. When the churches of Alexandria and Carthage were falling into empty philosophical dissertations, the churches of Gaul were winning all western continental Europe to the Lord.
While Rome was pursuing vain and sterile rituals, the churches of Ireland were baptizing the whole nation and their many tribes into the faith. While Mohammed was destroying the faith in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor, the scholars of Iona were going forth to evangelize the Northumbrians, the Scots, the Picts, the Anglo-Saxons, our ancestors.
While the pontifical court of Avignon was engrossed in seeking political power, the cities of Germany were learning the heavenly ways of the Lord Jesus. When the darkness of night and superstition were covering the churches of France, the morning stars of the Reformation were rising in England. When Italian fields were turning into useless stubble, Bohemia was alive with the converting Spirit of Christ.
When the Unitarian defection destroyed the evangelizing spirit of the congregations of New England, the pioneer preachers were advancing beyond the Alleghenies to build churches and Christian institutions in the heartland of America. And while elitism, and liberalism, and spiritual indifference are decimating the churches in the West, great revival is being experienced in Korea, in South America, and in central Africa. Why not America, and why not now?
Our own and our ultimate destiny lies in the offing—and with us, the world. Seemingly, we stand at the continental divide of history, at the very watershed of civilization. Changes of colossal nature are sweeping the world.
In years past, the French Revolution signalized a political change. The Renaissance brought intellectual change. The industrial revolution introduced economic change. The Reformation encompassed religious change. But today, we face every kind and category of change, mostly defined by the flood tides of materialism, secularism, and liberalism. In my lifetime, for the first time in world history, governments are statedly and blatantly atheistic. No ancient Greek would ever make a destiny-determining decision without first consulting the oracle at Delphi. No Roman general would go to war without first propitiating the gods. But these bow at no altar, call upon the name of no deity, and they seem to be possessing the world.
Whether we live or die lies in the imponderables of Almighty God [Psalm 33:8-19]. Will God not judge atheistic, communistic Russia? Will He not also judge secularistic, heathenistic, humanistic, materialistic America? What is the difference at the judgment bar of Christ between a God-denying Russian communist atheist and a God-denying American liberal humanist? Can God judge Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Nineveh, and Babylon, and not judge Moscow, and Peking, and San Francisco, and Dallas?
Our mission frontiers run down every street and village, through every house, home, and classroom. The whole globe today is small, compact, and shrunken. We see, hear, watch, read, follow what happens moment by moment around the world. The interdependence and the interlinking of all mankind is an actual modern fact. We all ride this planet together. Our nation is one in a dependent family of nations. Romans 14:7 avows, “For none of us lives to himself, and not one of us dieth to himself.”
As Baptist churches, and as a Baptist people, we need each other. One segment of our community cannot do our work, our task, alone. Our strength lies in a common determination and a common dedication. One church can build a Sunday school, but a Sunday school movement must be launched by an association of churches through a Sunday school board. One church can send a missionary, but a vast missionary movement must be engineered by a denomination of churches through a foreign mission board. One church can have a revival, but a revival movement must be prayed for, and prayed down, and lifted up by a community of churches through an evangelistic director.
Years ago, I saw a pathetic picture in Lifemagazine. A little boy had been lost in a horizon-to-horizon Kansas wheat field, had wandered away from the house, and had lost his way in the vast sea of standing stalks. Frantically, the parents had searched for the small child to no avail. The sympathizing neighbors helped, but without success. Finally, someone suggested they join hands and comb the fields by sections. The picture I saw was the sorrowing neighbors with the family standing over the dead body of the little boy, and the cry of the father printed as the caption below: “Oh, if only we had joined hands before!”
United in prayer, preaching, witnessing, working, not around the higher-critical denial of Scripture, but around the infallible Word of God in Christ Jesus, we cannot fail. If we join hands with the blessed Savior, and deliver the message of the inerrant Word of God, God will rise to meet us.
And the Lord God whispered and said to me,
These things shall be, these things shall be.
No help shall come from the scarlet skies
Till My people rise.
Till My people rise, My arm is weak.
I cannot speak till My people speak.
When men are dumb, My voice is dumb.
I cannot come till My people come.
From over the flaming earth and sea,
The cry of My people must come to Me.
Not till their spirit break the curse
May I claim My own in the universe.
But if My people rise, if My people rise,
I will answer them from the swarming skies.
[excerpts from “God Prays: Answer, World! Angela Morgan, 1917]
No battle was ever won by retreat, or submission, or surrender. When Alexander the Great lay dying, they asked him, “Whose is the kingdom?” And he replied, “It is for him who can take it!” It will be we, or somebody else.
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear; O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
We shall not cease from battle strife,
Nor shall the sword sleep in our hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In this fair and pleasant land.
[Adapted from “Jerusalem,” by William Blake]
God grant it! Amen.
Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God
I want to give you five reasons to affirm the Bible is the Word of God.
First, I believe the Bible is the Word of God because of its scientific accuracy. The Truth of the Word of God tells us that God “hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). How did Job know that the earth hung in space before the age of modern astronomy and space travel? The Holy Spirit told him. The scientists of Isaiah’s day didn’t know the topography of the earth, but Isaiah said, “It is [God] that sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word for “circle” here means a globe or sphere. How did Isaiah know that God say upon the circle of the earth? By divine inspiration.
Secondly, the Bible is affirmed through historical accuracy. Do you remember the story about the handwriting on the wall that is found in the fifth chapter of Daniel? Belshazzar hosted a feast with a thousand of his lords and ladies. Suddenly, a gruesome hand appeared out of nowhere and began to write on a wall. The king was disturbed and asked for someone to interpret the writing. Daniel was found and gave the interpretation. After the interpretation, “Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:29). Basing their opinion on Babylonian records, the historians claim this never happened. According to the records, the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar, but a man named Nabonidas. And so, they said, the Bible is in error. There wasn’t a record of a king named Belshazzar. Well, the spades of archeologists continued to do their work. In 1853, an inscription was found on a cornerstone of a temple built by Nabonidas, to the god Ur, which read: “May I, Nabonidas, king of Babylon, not sin against thee. And may reverence for thee dwell in the heart of Belshazzar, my first-born favorite son.” From other inscriptions, it was learned that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents. Nabonidas traveled while Belshazzar stayed home to run the kingdom. Now that we know that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents, it makes sense that Belshazzar would say that Daniel would be the third ruler. What a marvelous nugget of truth tucked away in the Word of God!
Third, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reads as one book. And there is incredible unity to the Bible. The Bible is one book, and yet it is made up of 66 books, was written by at least 40 different authors over a period of about 1600 years, in 13 different countries and on three different continents. It was written in at least three different languages by people in all professions. The Bible forms one beautiful temple of truth that does not contradict itself theologically, morally, ethically, doctrinally, scientifically, historically, or in any other way.
Fourth, did you know the Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy? When you read the prophecies of the Bible, you simply have to stand back in awe. There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament. To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical impossibility.
Finally, the Bible is not a book of the month, but the Book of the Ages. First Peter 1:25 says: “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” No book has ever had as much opposition as the Bible. Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, ridiculed it, and made laws against it. But the Word of God has survived. And it is applicable today as much as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.
It’s so majestically deep that scholars could swim and never touch the bottom. Yet so wonderfully shallow that a little child could come and get a drink of water without fear of drowning. That is God’s precious, holy Word. The Word of God. Know it. Believe it. It is True.
“In Christ Alone” music video featuring scenes from “The Passion of the Christ”. It is sung by Lou Fellingham of Phatfish and the writer of the hymn is Stuart Townend. On this Easter weekend 2013 there is no other better time to take a look at the truth and accuracy of the Bible. Is the […]
Here is some very convincing evidence that points to the view that the Bible is historically accurate. Archaeological and External Evidence for the Bible Archeology consistently confirms the Bible! Archaeology and the Old Testament Ebla tablets—discovered in 1970s in Northern Syria. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place […]
Larry King – Dr. John MacArthur vs. “father” Manning Uploaded on Sep 26, 2011 GotoThisSite.org ___________ I have seen John MacArthur on Larry King Show many times and I thought you would like to see some of these episodes. I have posted several of John MacArthur’s sermons in the past and my favorite is his […]
The Bible and Archaeology (1/5) The Bible maintains several characteristics that prove it is from God. One of those is the fact that the Bible is accurate in every one of its details. The field of archaeology brings to light this amazing accuracy. _________________________- Many people have questioned the accuracy of the Bible, but I […]
I have been reading Proverbs almost every day for many years with my family in the evening and there is lots of wisdom in it. Take a look at the second part of this message from Adrian Rogers. How to Be the Father of a Wise Child Another great sermon outline from Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
Leadership Crisis in America Published on Jul 11, 2012 Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero […]
Same old story it seems. Kentucky pulls out another close victory over the Vols. This is not the only story I am talking about today. Kentucky’s Alex Poythress (22) shoots between Tennessee’s Josh Richardson, left, and Yemi Makanjuola during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
(My pastor growing up was Adrian Rogers and he died 7 years ago today. He would have been 82 if he was still living. ) I love the Book of Proverbs and every day I read one chapter of Proverbs. Since there are 31 chapters, I start the 1st of ever month and read chapter […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
7 years ago on November 15, 2005 Adrian Rogers passed away. This is a series of posts about the life and ministry of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers Memorial – Come To Jesus Uploaded by jonwhisner on Jan 20, 2011 This video is from Adrian Roger’s Memorial Service held at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN in […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
Netanyahu visits grave of Yoni, killed in Entebbe 43 years ago – Israel News – The Jerusalem Post
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Netanyahu visits grave of brother, Yoni, ahead of Memorial Day | The Times of Israel
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, during a memorial ceremony for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, 2007 (photo credit: Michal Fattal/Flash90)
Yonathan Netanyahu –
Yoni, Bibi and Iddo Netanyahu (Courtesy Netanyahu family)
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BIBI HAD ISRAEL ATTACK IRANIAN EFFORTS IN SYRIA!!!
THE PURSUIT OF a wider peace was aided by the fact that the Arab leaders witnessed our continued efforts to roll back Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s attempts to embed itself in Syria. In the Middle East people respect strength and make peace with the strong.
Remarks With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu After Their Meeting
Home / News & Events / Remarks With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu After Their Meeting
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Good afternoon. Secretary Pompeo, Mike, it’s wonderful to welcome you. This is your first visit to Israel as Secretary of State. I think it’s significant that you chose, as did the President, to include Israel on this important itinerary. I think it’s symbolic of our friendship, which is deep, and getting even deeper and stronger. We’ve known each other for some time, I followed your activities in Congress and then as CIA, now as Secretary of State. You’re a true friend of Israel, a true friend of the Jewish people, and I look forward to working with you in your new role. We’ve just had very productive, very focused conversations on our common interests and how to defend our common value.
I want to thank again President Trump for his historic decision on recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. We look forward to welcoming the American delegation to celebrate the relocation of the embassy with you, Ambassador Friedman. I must tell you that the bold decision by President Trump has prompted other countries – there are quite a few now who are planning to move their embassy to Jerusalem as well. It says something about American leadership and about the forthright way in which simple truths are being put forward and the effect this has on the international scene.
Mr. Secretary, I think the greatest threat to the world and to our two countries and to all countries is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons, and specifically, the attempt of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. We’ve had a very productive talk today on this subject as well. I appreciate the President’s leadership and your position on stopping Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons. I appreciate the President’s and your position on stopping Iran’s aggression in the region. That aggression has grown many-fold since the signing of the Iranian deal. If people thought that Iran’s aggression would be moderated as a result of signing the deal, the opposite has happened, and Iran is trying to gobble up one country after the other. Iran must be stopped. Its quest for nuclear bombs must be stopped. Its aggression must be stopped. And we’re committed to stopping it together.
I was very much encouraged, once again, by the steadfast support of the United States for Israel and for this common effort, which encompasses many other countries, as you know – as you well know, Mr. Secretary. But our bond is special. It’s based on shared values of democracy, freedom, the quest for security and peace, and I can say that today America and Israel are closer than ever before. And I have no doubt that our alliance will grow even closer in the years ahead.
So I want to welcome you back to Israel, Mr. Secretary. It’s a pleasure to see you and I wish you the best of luck in your important mission. Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Well, good afternoon. It is a great honor to be here on my first trip as Secretary of State. I’ve been the Secretary for a handful of hours. As I was saying earlier, I haven’t been to my office yet.
As you said, this relationship’s never been stronger, and I think we should both be proud of that. We had fantastic conversations today on difficult issues facing each of us. We are incredibly proud to be opening the new embassy on May 14th, well ahead of the original timetable. This step comes as Israel celebrates its 70th anniversary of independence and 70 years of recognition as steadfast support for Israel from the American people as well. By recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the seat of its government, we’re recognizing reality. I also stress, as President Trump has said in December, the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem remain subject to negotiations between the parties, and we remain committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future for both Israel and the Palestinians.
Many of our conversations today, Mr. Prime Minister, as you said, centered on Iran. Strong cooperation with close allies like you is critical to our efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing and malign activity throughout the Middle East and indeed throughout the world. We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region, and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East remains. The United States is with Israel in this fight and we strongly support Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself.
Regarding the JCPOA, President Trump’s been pretty clear. This deal is very flawed. He’s directed the administration to try and fix it, and if we can’t fix it, he’s going to withdraw from the deal. It’s pretty straightforward. Unlike the past administration, President Trump has a comprehensive Iran strategy that is designed to counter the full array of threats emanating from Tehran.
As part of the President’s comprehensive Iran strategy, we are also working to counter the broad set of non-nuclear threats: Iran’s missile systems, its support for Hizballah, the importation of thousands of proxy fighters into Syria, and its assistance to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. We look forward to working closely with strong allies like Israel in countering these threats and rolling back the full range of Iranian malign influence.
Regarding Syria, where the barbaric Assad regime is propped up by Iran, the United States’ top priorities are to defeat ISIS, de-escalate violence, deter the use of chemical weapons, and ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and support an ultimate political resolution to the conflict. Our strategy to do that remains unchanged. We strongly support the UN-led efforts in Geneva to bring an end to the Syrian conflict, which has gone on for far too long.
We know there are many challenges ahead and we look forward to being your partner in resolving each of them. The United States and Israel I know together can achieve that. It’s great to be back.
Harvard professors clash over students blaming Israel for conflict: ‘Get off the crack pipe’
Alan Dershowitz and Cornel West spark heated debate whether Israel, US have ‘supported and enabled’ war crimes
Two Harvard professors did not spare words Wednesday night in a passionate debate over whether the esteemed university’s students are right or wrong in blaming Israel for the latest conflict with Palestinians.
“I believe a Palestinian baby has the same value as an Israeli baby. So when you have that kind of vicious hatred and revenge, you get response of hatred and revenge. They are all wrong. They’re all war crimes,” independent presidential candidate and former Harvard theologian Cornel West said on “Hannity.”
“They’re all to be condemned, but you cannot simply look at this particular moment without the larger backdrop of an ugly occupation and the ugly attacks chronically against Palestinians,” West continued.
In response, Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz argued Palestinians “have formed human shields” using the elderly and children.
“Hamas is the ones responsible for the killing of Palestinian children,” Dershowitz countered. “The Hamas has a term, it’s called ‘the CNN strategy.’ And the CNN strategy is: Induce Israel into killing Palestinian children by using them as human shields, then parade the bodies out on CNN and you’ll see what happens. People like Cornel West will engage in crocodile tears, blame it on Israel, when the entire blame is on the Palestinians, Hamas for using their children as human shields.”
Harvard professors Alan Dershowitz, right, and Cornel West had an animated debate on “Hannity” on Wednesday over a students’ letter of support for Palestinians. (Fox News)
Amid the warfare, more than two dozen Harvard University student organizations signed a letter that declared Israel as “entirely responsible” for the violence taking place. Following backlash, some student groups quickly worked to rescind their signatures on the letter.
West clarified that he has equal outrage when Palestinian and Israeli babies and children are killed, and asked Dershowitz to “have the same indignation.”
“You can’t make a moral comparison — when Nazi kids were killed in the bombings of Dresden, I didn’t have the same comparison when Jewish kids were put in gas chambers in crematoriums,” Dershowitz replied. “You’re a professor of theology. Don’t you understand the moral difference between deliberately murdering a kid and having collateral damage because there are human shields?”
After Dershowitz then accused West of “defending Hamas,” West erupted and said: “Don’t you ever lie on me like that, brother. I’m defending the suffering of Palestine… Anybody who commits war crimes are barbaric. I’m saying that explicitly. But I want you to say, if the Israeli Defense Forces are killing children, are they barbaric, too?”
Dershowitz replied with “no,” arguing Israel has “never” targeted children.
“Oh brother, you’ve got to get off the crack pipe,” West reacted.
“Part of our challenge, though, and this is important just as a leader, you see, he asked me what I would do [as president]. I would say, we’ve got to end occupation. We’ve got to make sure that Palestinians have the same dignity, the same rights as Israelis. That’s at the center,” West expanded.
FOX News host Sean Hannity then asked: “Would Gaza be facing annihilation if Hamas did not attack and kill all these innocent Israelis?”
While Dershowitz answered with, “Of course not,” West argued the Gaza Strip has been facing annihilation since Hamas’ takeover in 2006 and 2007.
Israel’s military is expected to launch a ground operation into Gaza soon, with Fox News Digital reporting Israeli planes have dropped fliers into Gaza with a message for them to leave their homes and head to shelter, or risk being harmed.
When I was 15 I joined my family on an amazing trip with our pastor Adrian Rogers to the land of Israel in 1976 and the most notable event to me was our visit to the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) where hundreds of orthodox Jews were praying and kissing the wall. At the time we were visiting the wall I noticed that Dr. Rogers was visibly moved to tears because he knew that these Jews had missed the true messiah who had come and died on a cross almost 2000 years before. They were still looking for the messiah to come for the first time sometime in the future.
That one event encouraged my interest in presenting the gospel to the Jews. At about the same time in Little Rock two Jews by the names of Dr. Charles Barg and Dr. Jack Sternberg were encountering that gospel message. I have posted before about their life stories.
On 10-16-14 our teaching pastor Brandon Bernard at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock taught on Jesus’ message to those Jewish skeptics of his day. After hearing this message I went straight to our church bookstore and asked for any books that deal with Jewish skeptics and I bought the books BETWEEN TWO FATHERS by Dr. Charles Barg and CHRISTIANITY: IT’S JEWISH ROOTS by Dr. Jack Sternberg. I highly recommend both of these books.
Brandon’s sermon started with these words from Jesus to the Jewish skeptics of his day:
John 5:18-47 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Jesus’ Equality with God
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever[a]the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Himgreater works than these, so that you will marvel.21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Two Resurrections
25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is [b]the Son of Man.28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
31 “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not [c]true.32 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.
Witness of John
33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.35 He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for [d]a while in his light.
Witness of Works
36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Witness of the Father
37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
Witness of the Scripture
39 [e]You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it isthese that testify about Me;40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.41 I do not receive glory from men;42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.44 How can you believe, when youreceive [f]glory from one another and you do not seek the [g]glory that is from the one andonly God?45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. We are faced, then, with a frightening alternative. This man we are talking about either was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or something worse. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.
In this passage from John Jesus gives his identity (Son of God verse 25) and his authority (v.27-28 to judge and give life). It also discusses the four witnesses in Christ behalf. Then Brandon asked, “How does the identity and authority of Jesus affect you? He asserted, “It is impossible to honor God apart from honoring Jesus Christ.”
Brandon’s last point of the sermon was this:
PEOPLE DON’T DESIRE THE GLORY OF GOD BECAUSE THEY WANT IT FOR THEMSELVES.
If someone truly wants to worship the Jewish Messiah of the Old Testament then they should take a close look at what the Old Testament says about that Messiah. Both Dr. Barg and Dr. Sternberg found the Old Testament prophecies very convincing and they both are now members of my church in Little Rock which is Fellowship Bible Church. Take a look at some of these verses which are mentioned in Adrian Rogers’ short article below.
“Digging Deeper” into Scripture, you’re going to find that all of the Bible—Old Testament as well as New—is about Jesus Christ. Yes, He appears in the Old Testament—if you know how to find Him there. The Lord Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is found throughout the Old Testament in prophecy, types and shadows.
In this study we’ll see how that occurs.
Did you know there are about 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah? Professor Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953, then was Chairman of the Science Department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He wrote a book titled Science Speaks. He proved that it is impossible, by the law of mathematical probability, for Jesus Christ not to be the one true Messiah of Israel and the Son of God
Later in this study we’re going to look at that, so keep reading.
But first let’s begin with something the apostle Peter said, confirming Jesus’ presence in the Old Testament:
1. Turn to Acts 10:43. Peter, testifying in the household of Cornelius about Jesus, says: “To Him,” [to Jesus,] “give all the prophets witness.”
When Peter made this statement, the New Testament had not yet been written. So when Peter says “the prophets,” who is he talking about?
Peter wanted Cornelius, a Roman officer, to know that throughout the Old Testament, the prophets were looking ahead, predicting and proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah.
When we get to the New Testament, we find the fulfillment.
In the gospels, we see Jesus as the Prophet preaching the kingdom of God.
In the epistles and Acts you see Jesus Christ, the ascended Priest, interceding for the people of God.
In the book of Revelation, you see Jesus Christ as the King, coming to rule and reign.
Each of these offices is a portrait of Jesus Christ.
All of the Old Testament pictures Jesus as prophet, priest, and king.
All of the New Testament shows Jesus as the fulfillment.
He is the Prophet, Priest, and King.
Portraits of Jesus in the Old Testament:
Jesus is the second Adam because the first Adam prophesied Him.
Jesus is a beloved, rejected, exalted son and world bread supplier like Joseph.
Jesus is that root out of dry ground, born of a virgin. (Is. 53:2)
Jesus is a priest like Aaron and Melchizedek because they prefigured Him.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah (the same
mount as Mt. Calvary, where Jesus literally died.)
Jesus is the Passover lamb.
Jesus is a prophet like Moses because Moses typified Him.
Jesus is the water that came from the rock in the wilderness.
Jesus is the manna that fell from the sky.
Jesus is the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
Jesus is the scapegoat bearing away thesins of the people.
Jesus is pictured in the Ark of the Covenant.
Jesus is the mercy seat where the shekinah glory of God dwells.
Jesus is the sacrifice upon the brazen altar in the tabernacle and the temple.
Jesus is a champion like Joshua, whose name literally means “Jesus.”
Jesus is a king like David.
Jesus is a wise counselor like Solomon.
Jesus is the lion of Judah.
Jesus is the good shepherd, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Jesus is the fruitful branch.
Jesus is that one without form or comeliness yet altogether lovely. (Is 53:2)
(If you are truly seeking then take time to fill in a few blanks yourself.)
Prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the great proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ.
God began to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus with a multitude of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Him. There can be no mistake that Jesus is the Messiah. As Professor Peter Stoner pointed out, the law of mathematical probability makes it totally impossible that anyone other than Jesus else could be the Messiah.
The law of probability is not an abstract law. Life insurance policies, for example, are based on mathematical probability.
Let’s look at just 8 out of 108 Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled.
1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)
Fulfillment: Luke chapter 2 and Matthew 2:1
2. The Messiah will have a forerunner. (Malachi 3:1)
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple…”
Fulfillment: Matthew 3:1-3 “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”
3. The Messiah would make His triumphant entry riding on a donkey (now what king does that?)
Zechariah 9:9 “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a ___________, Even on a colt, the foal of a ___________.
Fulfillment: Matthew 21:7, John 12:14-16
4. The Messiah would die by crucifixion. (Psalm 22, especially vv. 11-18)
“…for dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they have pierced my hands and feet.”
Fulfillment: Luke 23:33, Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24 John 19:23
5. Those who arrested Him would cast lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18)
“They part my garments among them, and _______ ______ upon my vesture.
Fulfillment: Luke 23:34
34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.” Also John 19:23, Mark 15:24, and
Matthew 27:35, “and parted His garments, casting lots.”
6. Messiah would be betrayed by one of His own friends. (Zechariah 11:6)
6 “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my ___________.’
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14-16, “14 Then ____ of the __________, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests…” Also Mark 14:10-11, John 18:2
7. Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12)
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:15-16
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for _________ pieces of _________. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
8. The Messiah will remain silent when He is accused and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:7)
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
Fulfillment: Mark 14:61, 61 But He held his peace, and answered nothing.”
1 Peter 2:23 23 Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously:”
These are just 8 examples of Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. There are at least 108, many of which He had no control over, if He were only a human being (such as the place of His birth and the prophesied “flight to Egypt” when He was a child.)
The odds of any one person being able by accident to fulfill even 8 of the 108 prophecies is a number so astronomical, our minds cannot conceive of it. Professor Stoner calculated it to be 1in 1017 or 1 in 100 quadrillion.
Is Jesus Christ found in the Old Testament? He is found in type and shadow in every book of the Old Testament.
________
Adrian Rogers: An Old Testament Portrait of Christ
Published on Jan 27, 2014
I own nothing, all the rights belong to Adrian Rogers (R.I.P.) & his website http://www.lwf.org. Story of Abraham is told.
______________________________________
Adrian Rogers: The Biography of the King
Published on Dec 19, 2012
Series: What Child is This?
Who on earth has his biography written 700 years before his birth? The King of Kings. Isaiah looked centuries into the future, divinely inspired, and depicted the supernatural birth, simple life, substitutionary death, saving resurrection, and sovereign reign of Christ the King.
This message references: Isaiah 53:1
I own nothing, all the rights belong to Adrian Rogers (R.I.P.) & his website http://www.lwf.org.
Richard Dawkins & Ricky Gervais on Religion Trailer | The Story of the Jews | PBS ____________________________ Robert Lewis noted that many orthodox Jews believed through the centuries that God would honor the ancient prophecies that predicted that the Jews would be restored to the land of Israel, but then I notice the latest film […]
____________ __________________________________ ___________________________________ In light of recent developments in the news the future fulfillment of Revelation chapter 12 does not look so far-fetched. Obviously Israel is the mother that produced the Messiah (verse 1) and Satan is the dragon that dragged 1/3 of the angels out of heaven with him. Jesus is the child who […]
Zechariah 12:3 (KJV) notes, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” It is amazing how up to date the Bible can be in many ways. […]
Irving Kristol pictured below: In 1980 I read the books HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? by Francis Schaeffer and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? by both Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop and I saw the film series by the same names. In those two books Daniel Bell was quoted. In HOW SHOULD WE […]
The Birth Of Israel (2008) – Part 1/8 I can’t say I agree with every word from Chuck Colson’s words below but it is a good article though. Covenant and Conflict Israel’s Place in the World Today By Chuck Colson|Published Date: February 18, 2003 When our BreakPoint Managing Editor Jim Tonkowich returned from this year’s […]
One News Now reports on Friday Obama’s comments a ‘gross error’ GOP lawmaker and Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann says President Obama has defined his Middle East policy: “blame Israel first.” Supporters of Israel are expressing outrage over President Barack Obama’s call yesterday that Israel give back territory it gained when attacked by Arabs […]
Michele Bachmann released this statement yesterday: Washington, May 19 – Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) released the following response after President Obama’s speech today on his Middle East policy, which included a dramatic shift away from support of Israel: “Today President Barack Obama has again indicated that his policy towards Israel is to blame Israel first. […]
“Drink Your Energy Drink & Away We Go!” Michele Bachmann Federal Spending & Jobs Summit Michele Bachmann Wikipedia notes: She married Marcus Bachmann in 1978.[17] They have five children (Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia), and have also provided foster care for 23 other children.[18][19] Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice in […]
President Barack Obama addresses an audience during a campaign fundraising event, in Boston, May 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets President Obama before his speech at the State Department. Clinton introduced Obama, who joked that she has been accruing quite a few frequent-flier miles. Below is […]
Adrian Rogers: An Old Testament Portrait of Christ Published on Jan 27, 2014 I own nothing, all the rights belong to Adrian Rogers (R.I.P.) & his websitehttp://www.lwf.org. Story of Abraham is told. ______________________________________ Adrian Rogers: The Biography of the King Published on Dec 19, 2012 Series: What Child is This? Who on earth has […]
Adrian Rogers: 3 Truths to pass on to the next generation Published on Feb 7, 2013 Just a few weeks before Glory ___________________ Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God Adrian Rogers pictured below: ________________________________ Adrian Rogers, ‘rising star of Memphis,’ elected 35 years ago by David […]
_______________________________ Adrian Rogers pictured below: __________________ I sent William Provine a letter several months ago with a CD of the following message by Adrian Rogers and in the letter were several arguments from Schaeffer. Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God Today I am sending out another […]
__________ Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God In the 1970’s and 1980’s I was a member of Bellevue Baptist in Memphis where Adrian Rogers was pastor and was a student at ECS from the 5th grade to the 12th grade where I was introduced to […]
____________ __________________________________ ___________________________________ In light of recent developments in the news the future fulfillment of Revelation chapter 12 does not look so far-fetched. Obviously Israel is the mother that produced the Messiah (verse 1) and Satan is the dragon that dragged 1/3 of the angels out of heaven with him. Jesus is the child who […]
__________________ Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) was my pastor at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis when I grew up and he loved football. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named Burt […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
Clips of Adrian Rogers and Francis Schaeffer from the film “With God on our side” ______________________ I grew up in Memphis going to Bellevue Baptist Church and Adrian Rogers was our pastor and he had a great impact on me. He had a lot to say on the issues of the day and that included […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
Kusher and Netanyahu at an earlier meeting last August. Photo: Israeli Prime Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
BIBI RIGHTLY REBUKED AN ARAB WHO SAID: : “We were here before you, and we will be here after you.” BIBI RESPONDED “The first thing you said didn’t happen, and the second never will.”
The Arab member of the Knesset summed up his speech with a sharp, double-edged barb: “We were here before you, and we will be here after you.” At two in the morning I had had enough. I asked to use the prime minister’s prerogative to speak and gave my shortest speech in the Knesset: “To the Knesset member who just spoke, I say this: The first thing you said didn’t happen, and the second never will.”
13 The house broke up in laughter.
I COULD HAVE reminded the Arab Knesset member of other historical facts once known to many schoolchildren but which have since been forgotten—or distorted by anti-Israel propaganda.
The history of the Jewish people spans almost four millennia. The first thousand years or so are covered in the Bible, and are attested to by archaeology and the historical records of other, contemporaneous peoples. As the centuries progress, the mists of time and the myths gradually evaporate and the unfolding events come into sharp historical focus. Reading the Bible from second grade on, I could easily imagine Abraham and Sarah on their long trek from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan almost four thousand years ago. Abraham envisions one God, unseen but present everywhere. He buys a burial cave in Hebron and bequeaths the new land to his progeny. The descendants of Abraham’s grandson Jacob are enslaved in Egypt for centuries, until Moses takes them out of bondage. He leads them for forty years in the wilderness to the Promised Land, giving the Children of Israel the Ten Commandments and a moral code that would change the world. The indomitable Joshua conquers the land, wily David establishes his kingdom in Jerusalem, and wise Solomon builds his Temple there, only to have his sons split the realm into two. The northern kingdom, Israel, is destroyed, its ten tribes lost to history. The southern kingdom, Judea, is conquered and Solomon’s Temple is destroyed by the Babylonians, by whose rivers the exiled Judeans weep as they remember Zion. They rejoice when in 537 BCE they are reinstated in their homeland by Cyrus of Persia, who lets them rebuild their destroyed Temple. The Persian rulers are replaced by Alexander the Great, one of whose heirs seeks to eradicate the Jewish religion. This sparks a rebellion led by the brave Maccabees, and the independent Jewish state they establish lasts for eighty years. It is overtaken by the rising power Rome which initially rules through proxies, the most notable of whom is Herod the Great. Herod refurbishes the Jerusalem Temple as one of the great wonders of the ancient world. In its bustling courtyard a Jewish rabbi from the Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth, overturns the tables of the money changers, setting off a chain of events culminating in his eventual crucifixion and the beginning of the Judeo-Christian tradition. When the Jews rebel against Roman rule, Rome destroys Jerusalem and Herod’s Temple in 70 CE. Masada, the last rebel stronghold, falls three years later. Despite the devastation, sixty-two years later the Jews rebel again under the fearless Bar Kokhba, only to be crushed even more brutally. The Roman emperor Hadrian bars the Jews from Jerusalem and renames the country Palestina, after the Grecian Philistines, who have long disappeared. Unlike them, the Jews do not disappear. Under Roman rule they flourish in the coastal plain and in the Galilee in cities like Yavneh, Bnei Brak, Safed, Tiberias and Zippori. Denied a central temple, they build hundreds of smaller temples, called synagogues. They communicate with the great Jewish centers of learning in Babylon, Yemen and others that soon spread in the eastern Mediterranean and other parts of the world. Contrary to the common belief that the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel is ended by the Romans, the country remains primarily Jewish. In 212, the Roman emperor Caracalla bestows Roman citizenship on the Jews because they are considered “a people with their own country.”14 The Jews of Palestine are granted considerable autonomy by Rome and later by its successor, Byzantium. Over the next three centuries in the Land of Israel, great rabbis compile the Mishna, Gemara and the Jerusalem Talmud, interpretations of the Torah that guide social conduct and religious worship. Despite centuries of Roman and Byzantine domination, the Jews continue to yearn for independence, rebelling unsuccessfully against Rome once again in 351. Incredibly, in 614 the Jews of Israel are still fighting for their freedom. They raise an army that joins the Persians in seizing Jerusalem and ousting the Byzantines from Palestine. In the siege of Tyre alone, the Jews deploy more than twenty thousand fighters.15 But in 636 a historical turning point occurs that tragically affects the Jewish people’s presence in their homeland. The Arabs burst into the land from the Arabian Peninsula, having earlier destroyed the Jewish communities there. The rule of the Byzantines had been harsh for the Jews, but it is under the Arabs that they are finally reduced to an insignificant minority. Though small numbers of Jews continue to live in the Land of Israel throughout the centuries, it is during the first two centuries of Arab rule that the Jewish people cease to be a national force of any consequence in their own land. Jewish emigration from the Land of Israel is prompted by several factors, including the economic allure of Jewish communities in the eastern Mediterranean. But it is conclusively finalized by one other phenomenon that had never occurred before in Jewish history. Unlike previous conquerors, the Arabs pour in a steady stream of colonists, often military battalions and their families, to Arabize the land. Expropriating Jewish property, houses and labor, the Arabs succeed over the next two centuries to achieve what the might of Rome had not: the final uprooting of the Jewish farmer from his soil.16 Thus it is not the Jews who usurp the land from the Arabs, but the Arabs who usurp the land from the Jews. Anti-Israel propaganda paints it backward. The truth is simple: The Jews are the original natives, the Arabs the colonialists. Arab colonial rule leaves the country in ruin. For the next one thousand years, Arab rulers are replaced by the Crusaders, who are in turn ousted by the Muslims led by Saladin. They are supplanted by the Mamluks, who are booted out by the Ottomans, until they too are evicted four centuries later by the British in World War I.
Throughout these long centuries, no people claim the land as their distinct homeland except the Jews. Alone they cherish Jerusalem as their eternal capital, proclaiming on each Jewish New Year “next year in Jerusalem.” Dispersed for centuries, suffering unparalleled persecution in their rootless sojourn among the nations, the Jews never lose hope of returning to the Promised Land. Individual Jews continue to return throughout the ages, joining the tiny Jewish communities that never left. But the land is barren, sparsely populated and undeveloped. Visiting the Holy Land in 1867, Mark Twain echoes many contemporary travelers when he says, “A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action… the desolate and unlovely land is hopeless, dreary and heartbroken.”17 A century later, Arab propaganda depicts things differently. It describes Palestine in the nineteenth century as a lush land teeming with a flourishing Arab population. “The Jewish invasion began in 1881,” says Arafat at an infamous United Nations speech in 1974. “Palestine was then a verdant area.”18 It wasn’t.
Protesters were arrested outside Sen. Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., New York City apartment on Friday night, Fox News Digital has confirmed
The arrests took place during a pro-Palestinian protest outside the senator’s apartment. Schumer is expected to travel to Israel as part of a bipartisan CODEL trip this weekend.
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 28: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks following a Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on March 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. Schumer spoke out against Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) preventing the confirmation of military appointments over the Pentagon’s abortion policies. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))
At least 2,800 people have been killed druing the Israel-Hamas war, including at least 1,200 Israeli civilians.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com a
How can I know the Bible is the Word of God? by Adrian Rogers
How Can I Know the Bible is the Word of God?
By Dr. Adrian Rogers
Overview
The historical, scientific, and prophetic accuracy of Scripture, along with its life-changing qualities, offer evidence that the Bible is the revealed Word of God.
Introduction
Scripture Passage: Revelation 22:18-19
It is absolutely imperative that you are certain of God’s Word. You will never get much of anything else settled until you are sure of the Bible. Your salvation depends on it, since the Bible says you are born again by “the Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Your sanctification depends upon it, because Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). Your usefulness depends on it, for the Scriptures say, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). If you want to be sure of your faith; if you want to be an exclamation pointrather than a question mark, then you need to be certain that the Bible is the Word of God.
Discussion
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).
God makes it very clear that we are to believe and revere our Bibles, but there is in our world a war over the Word; a battle over the Bible. There are those who despise it; they are against all that we Christians stand for. There are those who deny it; they simply refuse to believe the Bible is the Word of God. There are those who distort it; they twist the words of the Bible to their own destruction. There are those who dissect it, treating Scripture more like a math text than a love story. There are those who disregard it, claiming it unimportant and irrelevant. They want to focus on the here-and-now, so they spend their energies making this world abetter place from which to go to hell. There are those who claim to believe it, giving lip service to the Bible as God’s Word, but they do not know it, nor do they live by it. There is dust on their Bibles and drought in their hearts. Finally, there are those who believe it. They know the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authentic Word of God, and they trust it for the daily guidance of their lives. We can have a firm assurance that the Bible is the Word of God. There is an abundance of evidence to support the fact.
Scientific Evidence
Skeptics seem to think that the Bible is full of scientific errors. However, before an individual can make that assertion, they had better make sure they know both science and Scripture. You see, I have heard unbelievers state that the Bible is not a book of science, but a book of religion, which is basically true. It is not written to teach us about science, but to teach us about God. But the God of salvation and the God of creation are the same. Science doesn’t take God by surprise. A close look at Scripture reveals that it is scientifically accurate.
Every now and then science may disagree with the Bible, but usually science just needs time to catch up. For example, in 1861 a French scientific academy printed a brochure offering 51 incontrovertible facts that proved the Bible in error. Today there is not a single reputable scientist who would support those supposed “facts,” because modern science has disproved them all!
The ancients believed the earth was held up by Atlas, or resting on pillars, or even seated on the backs of elephants. But today we know the earth is suspended in space, a fact the Word of God records in Job 26:7: “He . . . hangeth the earth upon nothing.” God revealed the facts of cosmology long before man had any idea of the truth.
For centuries man believed the earth was flat, but now we know the earth is a globe. The prophet Isaiah, writing 750 years before the birth of Christ, revealed that “God sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated here as “circle” was more commonly translated “sphere.” In other words, Isaiah explained that the earth was a globe centuries before science discovered it.
When Ptolemy charted the heavens, he counted 1026 stars in the sky. But with the invention of the telescope man discovered millions and millions of stars, something that Jeremiah 33:22 revealed nearly three thousand years ago: “The host of heaven cannot be numbered.” How did these men of God know the truth of science long before the rest of the world discovered it? They were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the truth. God’s Word is not filled with errors. It is filled with facts, even scientific facts.
When the black plague was killing one quarter of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century, it was the church, not science, that helped overcome the dread disease. The leaders in the church noticed the instructions given by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 13:46: “All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” These early believers did not know microbiology or understand what germs were, but they could understand a clear teaching to quarantine someone who was sick. So they followed the Biblical dictum, quarantined those sick with the plague, and stopped it from spreading. The Bible had its science correct even before man discovered the truth! Don’t accept the charge that the Bible is filled with scientific errors. Modern science seems determined to explain God away, and refuses to acknowledge any evidence of the supernatural. But the science of Scripture is one reason to accept the Bible as God’s Word.
Historical Evidence
The Bible is not primarily a history book, but it records history, and all the things we believe as Christians are historical fact. Historians have criticized the Bible as being filled with errors, but in our lifetime we have seen the history of the Scriptures proven right time after time. For example, linguists rejected the fact that Moses authored the Pentateuch, claiming that people didn’t know how to write during Moses’ day. But then the Tel Elarmona tablets were discovered in northern Egypt, containing business transactions of people in Palestine centuries before Moses was born. It turns out the Bible was correct–the people of Moses’ day did have a written language.
For years historians claimed Daniel’s story of King Belshazzar was a fake, that there was no record of that Babylonian king. They claimed the last Babylonian king was named Nabinitus, and that Belshazzar never existed. Then one day an archeologist uncovered a clay tablet describing the rule of Belshazzar, who was co-regent with his father, King Nabinitus. The Bible had been right all along.
Historians and archaeologists have dug into the history of both the Old and New Testaments, and each time the historical accuracy of Scripture has been upheld. That is one of the reasons we can trust the Bible.
Wonderful Unity
Another reason to trust the Scripture as the Word of God is that it offers a unique unity. Here is one unified book, yet it is really 66 books put together. Those books were written by at least forty different authors over a period of sixteen hundred years. They were written in thirteen countries, on three continents, by people of all different backgrounds. Some were shepherds, others were kings; some were soldiers, others were scholars; some were learned historians, others were unschooled fishermen. They wrote on different subjects, at different times, in at least three different languages. Yet on all subjects they came together to create one unified book that reveals the story of God and His people. From Genesis to Revelation, it reads as one book. What incredible unity! I’ve been studying this book for forty years, and the more I study the more unified I find it. There are no hidden flaws, only hidden beauties. The Bible has but one theme: salvation. It has one hero: Jesus. It has one villain: Satan. It has one purpose: to glorify God. How could this incredible book be written apart from divine intervention? There was clearly a Master Architect who designed this book, giving it a wonderful unity. That’s why I believe it.
Fulfilled Prophecy
Another reason we can believe the Bible is because of the fulfilled prophecies contained in it. It is the only book of its kind with so many accurate prophecies. For example, there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies dealing with Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament. Statisticians tell us that to suggest they are merely fulfilled by chance is an impossibility. A skeptic might say that Jesus, as a student of the Old Testament, simply arranged to fulfill these prophecies. But how could He arrange to be born in Bethlehem, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah? How could He arrange to be born of a virgin? How could He arrange for the prophet Isaiah to write all kinds of intricate details of the Lord centuries before He was born? And could He have arranged for the psalmist to describe His death by crucifixion long before that style of punishment was first used? Could He have arranged for the Roman government to crucify Him upon a cross, or for Judas to betray Him for exactly thirty pieces of silver, as the Old Testament prophesied? Finally, could He have arranged His own resurrection from the dead three days after His burial?
Well, in a sense the Lord Jesus did arrange all of that. As God, He revealed it to the Old Testament authors, who wrote the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. And so convinced were those who saw Jesus, that they were willing to lay down their lives for the truth. No one lays down their life for a lie. The early Christians knew that Jesus was who He claimed to be. There is no way to explain fulfilled prophecy apart from divine inspiration.
The Ever-Living Quality of Scripture
Another reason we can trust the Bible is that it is always alive. No book has endured as much opposition. Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, and made laws against it. At times it has been illegal to even own a Bible. Men have preached its funeral. But the corpse has outlived its pallbearers. The Bible has survived. Despite all the attempts to bury the Bible, it has continued to endure. No other book can make that claim. The ancient religious manuscripts of the pagans have disappeared, but the Bible continues. The wisdom of great men is often forgotten by succeeding generations, but the wisdom of God remains intact and available. The Word of the Lord endureth forever. That unique quality makes me believe that this is a special book–God’s book–and He intends for man to have it.
The Life-Changing Quality of Scripture
The Bible is not like any other book. It is alive and powerful. It describes itself as a sword and as dynamite. It has power to change lives and power to save sinners. No other book, no other power can take men’s guilt away except the Bible. It sanctifies those who believe. It brings truth and maturity to the saints. You will never grow spiritually strong until you begin to feed on the milk of the Word. It offers sufficiency to the sufferer. Many times I have seen people hurting or in torment, and they have found comfort in the Bible which they could find nowhere else. It brings satisfaction to the scholar. You can study it for a lifetime and still not fathom its depths. It is a book so deep you can swim forever and never touch bottom, yet so peaceful that even a child can take a drink without fear of drowning. You can never move on in your faith until you come to see the Bible for what it is: God’s precious gift to us, given so that we may know Him and find eternal life in Him. You can be certain that the Bible is the Word of God.
About Dr. Adrian Rogers
Dr. Adrian Rogers was the Pastor Emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church and one of America’s most respected Bible preachers. Under his pastoral leadership, Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, grew from 9,000 members in 1972 to more than 29,000. A staunch defender of Biblical inerrancy, Pastor Rogers was called upon to serve three times as President of the 14-million member Southern Baptist Convention. Adrian Rogers has written numerous books: Mastering Your Emotions; God’s Way to Health, Wealth and Wisdom; The Power of His Presence; and Ten Secrets for a Successful Family; Kingdom Authority, Believe in Miracles but Trust in Jesus; Standing for Light and Truth; God’s Wisdom is Better Than Gold; plus many others.
Dr. Rogers was also the pastor/teacher of Love Worth Finding, a ministry which extends the message of Dr. Rogers far beyond the congregation, proving to be a blessing to listeners around the nation every day. This radio and television ministry takes Dr. Rogers’ message in four languages to more than 14,000 television outlets and 1,100 radio outlets in the United States and in 150 other countries including all of Europe, Latin America, China, Australia, Africa, India, and beyond. Tapes and other resources from Dr. Rogers are available through Love Worth Finding Ministries, P.O. Box 38300, Memphis, TN 38183-0300, 1-800-274-LOVE (5683).
Dr. Rogers went to be with Jesus on November 15, 2005.
The Bible and Archaeology – Is the Bible from God? (Kyle Butt)
______________________
1) INTRODUCTION
a) Revelation 22 is the golden clasp that God puts upon His Word.
b) It is absolutely imperative that we be certain about the Bible.
i) We will never get much of anything else settled until we get that settled.
ii) Our salvation depends upon it because the Bible says that we are born again by the Word of God.
(1) 1 Peter 1:23
iii) Our sanctification depends upon it.
(1) John 17:17
iv) Our usefulness depends upon it.
(1) 2 Timothy 2:15
v) Our assurance depends upon it.
(1) 1 John 5:13
c) Revelation 22:18-19
d) There is a war over the Word; a battle for the Bible.
i) There are those who despise it.
(1) They are against all that we, as Christians, stand for.
ii) There are those who deny it.
iii) There are those who distort it.
(1) They twist the Bible to their own destruction.
iv) There are those who dissect it.
(1) They come to the Bible with their measuring rod, scalpel and test tube, and they treat the Bible more like a math book rather than a love story.
(2) They are ever learning, but they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
v) There are those who disregard it.
(1) They say that it’s not relevant or important.
(2) They say that it’s outdated.
(3) They claim that we need to forget this religious stuff and do something about the social situation.
(a) So, they spend their energy trying to make the world a better place to go to Hell from.
(b) They are thinking of themselves.
(c) They are not thinking of the future but of right now.
vi) Perhaps the greatest enemy of the Word of God is found in churches and places of worship where there are those who say that they believe the Bible, but they only give lip service to the fact that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible and authentic Word of God.
(1) They don’t study it.
(2) They don’t know it.
(3) They don’t live by it.
(4) They don’t assimilate it.
(5) They don’t stand on it.
e) Especially in these days in which we’re living, we must be able to say that we know that the Bible is the Word of God.
i) There is nothing on which the devil can disturb us if we can stand on the Bible.
f) Today’s message will provide several reasons why we know that the Bible is the Word of God.
2) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY
a) Skeptics, atheists and liberals claim that the Bible has scientific errors in it.
i) Before anyone can claim this, they better make certain that they know two things:
(1) That they know science.
(2) That they know the Bible.
ii) They claim that the Bible is not a book of science but a book of religion.
(1) It is true that the Bible is not a scientific textbook written to teach us science.
(a) It is written to teach us God.
(i) The Bible was not written to tell us how the heavens go but how to go to Heaven.
iii) But the God of creation and the God of salvation are the same God.
(1) Science doesn’t take God by surprise.
b) The Bible is scientifically accurate.
i) There are times when science may disagree with the Bible.
(1) Given time, the scientists may catch up.
(a) For instance, in 1861, a French academy of science gave fifty-one scientific facts that they said proved the Bible is in error.
(b) Today, not one reputable scientist believes in these fifty-one “facts.”
ii) It isn’t the Bible that has changed; it is science that is catching up with the Word of God.
(1) Today, we take for granted that the Earth is suspended in space.
(a) We came to know this because we stand upon the knowledge of other people.
(b) We would not have known this back in Job’s day, however.
(i) The book of Job is the oldest piece of literature known to man.
(ii) In ancient times, men theorized, incorrectly, that the Earth was supported on five pillars, or on the back of a great giant, etc.
(c) But the book of Job gives us the answer.
(i) Job 26:7
1. How did Job know this before the age of modern astronomy and space travel?
a. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
(2) Today, we take for granted that the Earth is round.
(a) In ancient times, men thought the Earth was flat.
(i) In 1492, Columbus’ voyage proved to the satisfaction of many that the Earth is a sphere, a globe.
(b) The book of Isaiah was written about 750 years before Christ.
(i) The scientists in Isaiah’s day did not know that the Earth is a sphere.
(ii) But Isaiah said by divine inspiration that God sits upon the circle of the Earth.
1. Isaiah 40:22
a. The word for “circle” here is the word for “sphere” or “globe.”
iii) Job knew that the Earth was suspended in space, and Isaiah knew that the Earth is a globe by divine inspiration.
iv) Hipparchus, Ptolemy and Galileo tried to count the stars.
(1) In 150 B.C., Hipparchus said that there were 1,022 stars.
(a) This was science for 250 years.
(2) Ptolemy then charted the heavens and counted 1,026 stars.
(3) 1,300 years later, Galileo invented his first crude telescope and saw millions and millions of uncounted stars.
(4) Today, our great telescopes can see billions and billions of stars and other galaxies.
(5) Had these early scientists and astronomers learned what the Word of God said, they could have laid down their pencils.
(a) Jeremiah 33:22
(i) No one will ever be able to count the stars.
c) The Bible speaks to biology.
i) Psalm 139:14
(1) The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
ii) It wasn’t until 1615 that William Harvey discovered that the blood circulates through the human body.
(1) In past times, doctors would “bleed” their patients in hopes of making them well.
(a) If they had gone to the Word of God, they would have understood that the life of the flesh is in the blood.
(i) Leviticus 17:14
iii) In the fourteenth century, the black plague desolated the population.
(1) It was not the scientists of the day who brought the plague to an end; it was the church.
(a) They learned from the Word of God the principle of quarantining.
(i) Leviticus 13:46
iv) Dr. Semmelweis, a physician in Vienna, discovered the importance of hand washing prior to patient examinations and between each examination.
(1) Numbers 19:14-16, 19
(a) The Bible teaches about the importance of sanitation: running water, quarantining, the setting aside, the change of clothes, etc.
(i) There is a time interval for bacteria to die.
(2) They did not understand about germs, but germs did not take God by surprise.
3) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS HISTORICAL ACCURACY
a) The Bible is not primarily a book of history, but it records history.
b) The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch.
i) Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
ii) Moses wrote the Pentateuch.
(1) At one time, some scholars said that it was impossible for Moses to have written the Pentateuch because people didn’t know how to write at the time Moses was on Earth.
(2) Then, the Tell el-Amarna tablets were discovered.
(a) These were letters and business transactions from people in Egypt to people in Palestine and vice versa.
(b) These were written centuries before Moses was born.
(i) Not only did they know how to write, but they also had a postal system.
c) Daniel 5
i) Belshazzar was having a feast when suddenly a hand without an arm appeared and began writing on the wall.
(1) The writing said that his kingdom was divided and that Belshazzar was weighed in the balances and found wanting.
ii) Historians have said that this incident never happened.
(1) They state that the Babylonian records tell us that the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar but Nabonidus.
iii) As archeologists continued to work, they one day uncovered a clay tablet, a cylinder, with Belshazzar’s name on it.
(1) Nabonidus and Belshazzar were both kings.
(a) They were father and son.
iv) The archeologists continued to unearth evidence that showed that Nabonidus and Belshazzar were co-regents.
(1) Nabonidus traveled while Belshazzar stayed home to run the kingdom.
v) If the archeologists had not uncovered this tablet, it would not have made the Bible any less true or changed the truth of God’s Word.
(1) Romans 3:4
vi) Daniel 5:16
(1) Belshazzar told Daniel that he would make Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom if he could read the handwriting on the wall.
(a) There were already two rulers: Belshazzar and Nabonidus.
4) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS UNITY
a) The Bible is one book, yet, in a sense, it is sixty-six books.
i) There are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament.
ii) These different books were written by at least forty different authors over a period of about 1,600 years.
iii) They were written in about thirteen different countries and on three different continents.
iv) They were written by people from all different backgrounds.
(1) Some were shepherds, others were kings, some were soldiers, princes, priests, fishermen, scholars, historians, businessmen, and others were common laborers.
v) These books were written on many different subjects and in at least three different languages.
vi) Yet, these books come together, from Genesis to Revelation, and they read as one book.
b) There is an incredible unity to the Bible.
i) The Bible is like a garment in that you can pull a thread here, and it wrinkles way down there.
ii) The Bible has but one theme, and that is salvation.
iii) The Bible has one hero, and His name is Jesus.
iv) The Bible has one villain, and he is the devil.
v) The Bible has one purpose, and that is to glorify God.
c) John 10:35
i) Not one jot, not one tittle will fail from the law; it will all be fulfilled.
d) It is impossible for the Bible to have been written apart from divine inspiration.
5) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS FULFILLED PROPHECY
a) The Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy.
b) There are over three hundred precise prophecies in the Old Testament that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament.
i) Statisticians tells us that it is an astronomical impossibility that these prophecies were fulfilled by chance.
c) Micah 5:2
i) Tells of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.
d) The prophet Isaiah wrote many intricate details of the Lord Jesus 750 years before He was born.
e) Psalm 22
i) The Lord Jesus arranged that the Psalmist would write about a death by crucifixion before a crucifixion was ever known as a form of capital punishment.
ii) The Roman government would later crucify the Lord Jesus on the cross.
f) The Old Testament prophesied that Judas would betray the Lord Jesus for exactly thirty pieces of silver.
i) Zechariah 11:12-13
g) The greatest arrangement and prophecy of all is that the Lord Jesus would come out of the grave on the third day.
i) He was seen of 500 people.
(1) These 500 were so convinced that He rose from the dead that many of them paid for that truth with their lives.
h) Most of these prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus’friends but by His enemies.
i) His enemies had the most to gain by seeing that the prophecies would not be fulfilled.
i) These prophecies were not fulfilled by just one person but by many people.
j) Not just one prophecy was fulfilled but many prophecies.
k) There is no way to explain fulfilled prophecy apart from divine inspiration.
6) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS EVER-LIVING QUALITIES
a) The Bible is not the book of the month but the book of the ages.
b) No book has ever had so much opposition as the Bible.
i) Men have laughed at it, scorned it, ridiculed it, made laws against it and burned it.
ii) There was a time in Scottish history when to own the Bible was a crime worthy of death.
c) Many times, man has preached a funeral for the Bible.
i) But people pass away.
ii) Here in the twenty-first century, the Bible has survived.
d) The Bible is applicable and up-to-date.
i) We can open the Word of God and know more about what’s going on in the world today than all of the intelligentsia and governments combined.
e) 1 Peter 1:25
f) Psalm 119:89
7) WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF ITS LIFE-CHANGING POWER
a) We read other books; this book reads us.
b) Hebrews 4:12
i) The word “quick” in this passage means “alive.”
ii) It is full of power.
iii) The Word of God is like a sword.
c) Romans 1:16
i) The Gospel is the dynamite of God.
d) The Word of God is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.
i) Jeremiah 23:29
ii) The hardest rock will break.
e) The Word of God has power.
i) It’s saving for the sinner.
(1) No one is saved apart from the Word of God.
(2) 1 Peter 1:23
(3) The Gospel of Christ is the dynamite of God that saves.
ii) It’s sanctifying to the saint.
(1) What keeps us going is not what we feel but what we know.
(2) John 17:17
(3) We will never grow or be strong until we begin to feed on God’s Word.
(a) 1 Peter 2:2
iii) It’s sufficient for the sufferer.
(1) We can find comfort in the Word of God that we can’t find in any other place or in any other way.
(2) There is power and there are promises in the Word of God.
iv) It’s satisfying to the scholar.
(1) No matter how much we study the Bible, we will never fathom its depths.
(2) Romans 11:34
(3) Someone has said that the Bible is so deep that scholars could swim in it and never touch bottom, yet so wonderful that a little child could come get a drinkwithout fear of drowning.
8) CONCLUSION
a) The Bible tells us that Jesus loves us.
b) The Bible tells us that Jesus left Heaven, came to this Earth, suffered, bled and died for our sins.
i) Then, God raised Him from the dead, and Jesus ascended to Heaven.
c) Salvation is a gift of God’s grace.
i) If you will trust the Lord Jesus and believe on Him, then He will save you and keep you.
d) Do you know Jesus personally? If not, you can pray to Him today by asking Him to come into your life.
e) Call upon Jesus today. Repent (turn) from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.
i) Romans 3:23
ii) Romans 10:9-10
iii) Romans 10:13
iv) Acts 16:31
v) John 3:16
PO Box 38300| Memphis TN 38183-0300|(901) 382-7900lwf.org
The Bible and Archaeology (1/5) The Bible maintains several characteristics that prove it is from God. One of those is the fact that the Bible is accurate in every one of its details. The field of archaeology brings to light this amazing accuracy. _________________________- I want to make two points today. 1. There is no […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 6 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 6 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the Book […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 5 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 5 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 3 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 1 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
The Book of Mormon vs The Bible, Part 2 of an indepth study of Latter Day Saints Archeology The Book of Mormon verses The Bible, Part 2 of an indepth study With the great vast amounts of evidence we find in the Bible through archeology, why is there no evidence for anything writte in the […]
“In Christ Alone” music video featuring scenes from “The Passion of the Christ”. It is sung by Lou Fellingham of Phatfish and the writer of the hymn is Stuart Townend. On this Easter Morning April 24, 2011 there is no other better time to take a look at the truth and accuracy of the Bible. […]
Critics – Part 1 By Dr In my ongoing debate with other bloggers on the Arkansas Times Blog, I had an interesting response from Dobert: You can’t have it both ways. If the Gospel writers were allowed to adapt their message to a particular audience then it can’t be claimed that God literally took their […]
The Institute for Creation Research equips believers with evidences of the Bible’s accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework. info@icr.orghttp://www.icr.org Last night I had the opportunity to go back and forth with a couple of bloggers on the Arkansas Times Blog and this […]
This is a quick summary of the Bible’s reliability by a famous and well-respected former atheist. Please check out his website (http://www.leestrobel.com) for hundreds of FREE high quality videos investigating the critical aspects of our faith. Todd Tyszka http://www.toddtyszka.com On April 19, 2011 on the Arkansas Blog an entry of mine got this response from […]
Many Kings and important people in the Bible are also verified by secular documents. From time to time you will read articles in the Arkansas press by such writers as John Brummett, Max Brantley and Gene Lyons that poke fun at those that actually believe the Bible is historically accurate when in fact the Bible […]
Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the dead sea scrolls some 2,000 years ago, expertly guides you through the latest archaeological finds that have changed the way we understand the world of the bible. (Part 6 of 6 in the film series The Stones […]
My sons Wilson and Hunter went to California and visited Yosemite National Park with our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. (Sherwood on left) March 21-27. Here you can see all the snow they had to deal with. Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the […]
Dr Price, who directs excavations at the Qumran plateau in Israel, the site of the community that produced the dead sea scrolls some 2,000 years ago, expertly guides you through the latest archaeological finds that have changed the way we understand the world of the bible. (Part 4 of 6 in the film series The Stones […]
Netanyahu visits grave of brother, Yoni, ahead of Memorial Day | The Times of Israel
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, during a memorial ceremony for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, 2007 (photo credit: Michal Fattal/Flash90)
BIBI RIGHTLY NOTED: “After the Holocaust, it was often said that few, if any, foresaw its horrors. This is patently not true. Even as a twenty-three-year-old, in 1933, my father was one of those remarkably perceptive people who sensed what was coming.”
In the beginning of chapter 14 FATHER, BIBI shows the warning his father gave in 1933 of the potential extinction of European Jews.
Who shaped Father’s thinking on Zionism? First and foremost, Theodor Herzl. The founder of political Zionism wrote about the impending destruction of European Jewry forty years before it happened. As Father wrote, “It was clear to Herzl that what awaited the Jewish People was extinction.” What is amazing about Father’s analysis is that it was written three years before the advent of World War II and the Holocaust, by a young man of twenty-seven. After the Holocaust, it was often said that few, if any, foresaw its horrors. This is patently not true. Even as a twenty-three-year-old, in 1933, my father was one of those remarkably perceptive people who sensed what was coming. That year, he wrote what appears in hindsight as an astonishing prophecy. Racial antisemitism is inciting a global war against the existence of the Jews, as a race that “poisons” human society. If racial antisemitism spreads, it will not only endanger Jewish rights but the existence of Jewish people everywhere. In the face of the Holocaust facing the Jewish people, our role is to repeatedly remind the entire world what Germany is inculcating to its own sons. We can only crush racial antisemitism if we prove that German racism is not directed at Jews alone. We must convince others that Hitlerism’s attack on the Jews of Germany is an attack on human society as a whole.1 Perhaps the history of the twentieth century and the fate of multitudes, including six million Jews, would have been different if more had paid heed to such warnings in time. In addition to Herzl, the primary influence on my father’s recognition of what was happening at a time when virtually all other Jewish leaders dismissed such warnings as “alarmist” and “panicky” was the Russian Jewish activist and founder of Revisionist Zionism, Ze’ev Jabotinsky. In Warsaw in 1938, on the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’av (marking the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans), he said to Poland’s three million Jews, almost none of whom were to survive the war: For three years I have been imploring you, Jews of Poland, the crown of world Jewry, appealing to you, warning you unceasingly that the catastrophe is nigh. My hair has turned white and I have grown old these years, for my heart is bleeding that you, dear brothers and sisters, do not see the volcano which will soon begin to spew forth its fires of destruction. I see a horrible vision. Time is growing short for you to be spared. I know you cannot see it, for you are troubled and confused by everyday concerns…. Listen to my words at this, the twelfth hour. For God’s sake: let everyone save himself, so long as there is time to do so, for time is running short.
The Biden administration sent $33.7 million from the American Rescue Plan, a spending bill meant to combat COVID, to a Palestinian relief organization that has previously been accused of providing safe harbor to terrorists in Gaza and has been referred to as “effectively a branch of Hamas.”
The American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 relief bill pushed through Congress with unanimous Democrat support in the Senate and almost unanimous in the House, allocated $33.7 million to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency through the State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance program, according to data from USASpending.gov, as part of $500 million that was included in the bill for the State Department to fund migration and refugee assistance.
UNRWA has faced intense scrutiny in recent years from critics who say the group has not done enough to prevent aid from reaching the hands of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA locations have reportedly housed Hamas activities and spread Hamas propaganda in schools.
In 2014, the left-leaning New Republic described UNRWA as “effectively a branch of Hamas.”
President Biden, UNRWA, Hamas fighter (Getty Images)
UN Watch reported earlier this year that UNRWA schools were complicit in teaching children to hate Jewish people and glorify terrorism. UN Watch reported that USRWA has acknowledged that teachers “mistakenly” produced and distributed inciting material but promised in 2021 that it no longer circulates such material.
UNRWA acknowledged in 2014, and condemned, Hamas missiles that were found at one of its schools in Gaza twice in one week.
“UNRWA strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law,” the group said at the time.
“Facilities of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, have been repeatedly used by Hamas Palestinian terrorists for military purposes, as staging grounds, weapons depots, and hideouts,” professor Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital.
“They have also been used as shields, giving cover to nearby military assets. UNRWA officials have had all kinds of inappropriate relationships with Hamas itself. Whenever these facts — war crimes — are revealed, the UN does a quick ‘investigation,’ sometimes accompanied by a meaningless expression of regret, and carries on,” added Bayefsky, who is also president of Human Rights Voices.
“The fallout from their past behavior is that it is impossible and unwise to take them at their word, or to assume they are a neutral party, instead of serving as an enabler of Palestinian terrorism, today.”
Fire and smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Former President Donald Trump cut off UNRWA’s funding in 2018 in a move that was criticized by the Brookings Institution, which alleged that he was cutting off “life saving” aid to impoverished Gaza residents.
That funding was reinstated by the Biden administration despite acknowledging concerns that there was a possibility Hamas could benefit from foreign aid.
A March 2021 internal State Department document that was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon earlier this year and verified by Fox News Digital shows officials privately communicating their concerns that a Biden administration plan to unfreeze over $360 million in U.S. funds for the Palestinian Authority could risk benefiting terror groups, a trade-off the officials argued was necessary for national security.
“We assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza. There is less but still some risk U.S. assistance would benefit other designated groups,” the State Department wrote in the document. “Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”
An Israeli flag flies over body bags of over 20 dead Hamas militants with the word “terrorist” written in Hebrew, on a main field at Kibbutz Be’eri, where dozens of civilians were killed days earlier near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
“Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”
In July 2022, the Biden administration announced it had given more money to UNRWA than any other entity in the world.
“This contribution cements the United States’ status as UNRWA’s largest donor,” the White House said in a press release announcing $201 million of taxpayer dollars going to the organization. “These new funds bring the total United States assistance to UNRWA during the Biden Administration to more than $618 million.”
The New York Post reported this week that the Biden administration has given a total of $730 million to UNRWA.
A baby stroller, along with other personal belongings are left on the side of the road next to a car after multiple civilians were killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants near the border with Gaza, on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
“They don’t really have much else to keep going in Gaza except for contributions through things like the United Nations, which are important to remember, funded by the U.S. taxpayer,” Victoria Coates, former Trump deputy national security adviser, told Fox News Digital this week. “Now, we cut that off during the Trump administration, but that money has been flowing again for the last two years.”
Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital the decision to fund UNRWA has “indirectly benefited Hamas.”
“We can say for certain it indirectly benefits the Hamas government in Gaza,” Schanzer said. “UNRWA provides services that the government should be providing… this has alleviated some of the Hamas government’s burden in the Gaza Strip.”
Supporters of UNRWA, and even some critics, argue that the agency does do a lot of good in the region and that often it is necessary for Israel to work with UNRWA to get aid and assistance to Palestinians.
On Thursday, the United Nations posted on social mediathat 220,000 people were being sheltered in 92 UNRWA schools.
A Palestinian woman and her family seek refuge after leaving the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, waiting outside the Sidon municipality for relocation to a UNRWA school in Sidon, a southern port city in Lebanon, on Sept. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
“UNRWA human development and humanitarian services encompass primary and vocational education, primary health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, microfinance and emergency response, including in situations of armed conflict,” UNRWA’s website states.
The UNRWA was founded by charter following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War “to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees” and is funded “almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and UNRWA and did not receive a response.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that UNRWA “remains a lifeline for millions through services such as food assistance for food-insecure Palestinian civilians and has a mandate from the UN General Assembly to provide education, health, and emergency and social services, among other services.”
“As we do with other UN agencies, we are committed to serving as a strong partner to the Agency to help it provide the most effective and efficient assistance possible while fully respecting principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence, and in a manner that respects human rights. Violations of the humanitarian principle of neutrality are never acceptable.”
A State Department spokesperson also told Fox News Digital that Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) funds sent to UNRWA are given to Palestinian refugees for health services, protective equipment for health care workers, hospitalization services, and assistance to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable families.
“Oversight of U.S. funding to UNRWA includes monitoring visits by Department staff to UNRWA facilities, direct programmatic and financial reporting to the United States, close scrutiny of third-party reporting, review of audit findings, and membership and participation UNRWA’s Advisory Commission,” the spokesperson said.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report
One of my favorite messages by Adrian Rogers is called “WHO IS JESUS?”and he goes through the Old Testament and looks at the scriptures that describe the Messiah. I want to encourage you to listen to this audio message which I will send to anyone anywhere anytime. I have given thousands of these CD’s away over the years that contain this message and they all contain the following story from Adrian Rogers. Here is how the story goes:
Years ago Adrian Rogers counseled with a NASA scientist and his severely depressed wife. The wife pointed to her husband and said, “My problem is him.” She went on to explain that her husband was a drinker, a liar, and an adulterer. Dr. Rogers asked the man if he were a Christian. “No!” the man laughed. “I’m an atheist.”
“Really?” Dr. Rogers replied. “That means you’re someone who knows that God does not exist.”
“That’s right,” said the man.
“Would it be fair to say that you don’t know all there is to know in the universe?”
“Of course.”
“Would it be generous to say you know half of all there is to know?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be possible that God’s existence might be in the half you don’t know?”
“Okay, but I don’t think He exists.”
“Well then, you’re not an atheist; you’re an agnostic. You’re a doubter.”
“Yes, and I’m a big one.”
“It doesn’t matter what size you are. I want to know what kind you are.”
“What kinds are there?”
“There are honest doubters and dishonest doubters. An honest doubter is willing to search out the truth and live by the results; a dishonest doubter doesn’t want to know the truth. He can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”
“I want to know the truth.”
“Would you like to prove that God exists?”
“It can’t be done.”
“It can be done. You’ve just been in the wrong laboratory.Jesus said, ‘If any man’s will is to do His will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority’ (John 7:17). I suggest you read one chapter of the book of John each day,but before you do, pray something like this, ‘God, I don’t know if You’re there, I don’t know if the Bible is true, I don’t know if Jesus is Your Son. But if You show me that You are there, that the Bible is true, and that Jesus is Your Son, then I will follow You. My will is to do your will.”
The man agreed. About three weeks later he returned to Dr. Rogers’s office and invited Jesus Christ to be his Savior and Lord.
When I was 15 I joined my family on an amazing trip with our pastor Adrian Rogers to the land of Israel in 1976 and the most notable event to me was our visit to the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) where hundreds of orthodox Jews were praying and kissing the wall. At the time we were visiting the wall I noticed that Dr. Rogers was visibly moved to tears because he knew that these Jews had missed the true messiah who had come and died on a cross almost 2000 years before. They were still looking for the messiah to come for the first time sometime in the future.
That one event encouraged my interest in presenting the gospel to the Jews. At about the same time in Little Rock two Jews by the names of Dr. Charles Barg and Dr. Jack Sternberg were encountering that gospel message. I have posted before about their life stories and they can be easily found on the internet.
I THOUGHT OF YOU ON 10-16-14 WHEN OUR TEACHING PASTOR BRANDON BARNARD AT FELLOWSHIP BIBLE CHURCH IN LITTLE ROCK TAUGHT ON JESUS’ MESSAGE TO THOSE JEWS SKEPTICAL OF HIS CLAIMS TO BE THE MESSIAH AND THE SON OF GOD. After hearing this message I went straight to our church bookstore and asked for any books that deal with Jewish skeptics and I bought the books BETWEEN TWO FATHERS by Dr. Charles Barg and CHRISTIANITY: IT’S JEWISH ROOTS by Dr. Jack Sternberg. I highly recommend both of these books.
Brandon’s sermon started with these words from Jesus to the Jewish skeptics of his day:
John 5:18-47 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Jesus’ Equality with God
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever[a]the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Himgreater works than these, so that you will marvel.21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Two Resurrections
25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is [b]the Son of Man.28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
31 “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not [c]true.32 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.
Witness of John
33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.35 He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for [d]a while in his light.
Witness of Works
36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Witness of the Father
37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
Witness of the Scripture
39 [e]You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it isthese that testify about Me;40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.41 I do not receive glory from men;42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.44 How can you believe, when youreceive [f]glory from one another and you do not seek the [g]glory that is from the one andonly God?45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. We are faced, then, with a frightening alternative. This man we are talking about either was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or something worse. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.
In this passage from John Jesus gives his identity (Son of God verse 25) and his authority (v.27-28 to judge and give life). It also discusses the four witnesses in Christ behalf. Then Brandon asked, “How does the identity and authority of Jesus affect you? He asserted, “It is impossible to honor God apart from honoring Jesus Christ.”
Brandon’s last point of the sermon was this:
PEOPLE DON’T DESIRE THE GLORY OF GOD BECAUSE THEY WANT IT FOR THEMSELVES.
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If someone truly wants to worship the Jewish Messiah of the Old Testament then they should take a close look at what the Old Testament says about that Messiah. Both Dr. Barg and Dr. Sternberg found the Old Testament prophecies very convincing and they both are now members of my church in Little Rock which is Fellowship Bible Church. Take a look at some of these verses which are mentioned in Adrian Rogers’ short article below.
“Digging Deeper” into Scripture, you’re going to find that all of the Bible—Old Testament as well as New—is about Jesus Christ. Yes, He appears in the Old Testament—if you know how to find Him there. The Lord Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is found throughout the Old Testament in prophecy, types and shadows.
In this study we’ll see how that occurs.
Did you know there are about 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah? Professor Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953, then was Chairman of the Science Department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He wrote a book titled Science Speaks. He proved that it is impossible, by the law of mathematical probability, for Jesus Christ not to be the one true Messiah of Israel and the Son of God
Later in this study we’re going to look at that, so keep reading.
But first let’s begin with something the apostle Peter said, confirming Jesus’ presence in the Old Testament:
1. Turn to Acts 10:43. Peter, testifying in the household of Cornelius about Jesus, says: “To Him,” [to Jesus,] “give all the prophets witness.”
When Peter made this statement, the New Testament had not yet been written. So when Peter says “the prophets,” who is he talking about?
Peter wanted Cornelius, a Roman officer, to know that throughout the Old Testament, the prophets were looking ahead, predicting and proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah.
When we get to the New Testament, we find the fulfillment.
In the gospels, we see Jesus as the Prophet preaching the kingdom of God.
In the epistles and Acts you see Jesus Christ, the ascended Priest, interceding for the people of God.
In the book of Revelation, you see Jesus Christ as the King, coming to rule and reign.
Each of these offices is a portrait of Jesus Christ.
All of the Old Testament pictures Jesus as prophet, priest, and king.
All of the New Testament shows Jesus as the fulfillment.
He is the Prophet, Priest, and King.
Portraits of Jesus in the Old Testament:
Jesus is the second Adam because the first Adam prophesied Him.
Jesus is a beloved, rejected, exalted son and world bread supplier like Joseph.
Jesus is that root out of dry ground, born of a virgin. (Is. 53:2)
Jesus is a priest like Aaron and Melchizedek because they prefigured Him.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah (the same
mount as Mt. Calvary, where Jesus literally died.)
Jesus is the Passover lamb.
Jesus is a prophet like Moses because Moses typified Him.
Jesus is the water that came from the rock in the wilderness.
Jesus is the manna that fell from the sky.
Jesus is the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
Jesus is the scapegoat bearing away thesins of the people.
Jesus is pictured in the Ark of the Covenant.
Jesus is the mercy seat where the shekinah glory of God dwells.
Jesus is the sacrifice upon the brazen altar in the tabernacle and the temple.
Jesus is a champion like Joshua, whose name literally means “Jesus.”
Jesus is a king like David.
Jesus is a wise counselor like Solomon.
Jesus is the lion of Judah.
Jesus is the good shepherd, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Jesus is the fruitful branch.
Jesus is that one without form or comeliness yet altogether lovely. (Is 53:2)
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Prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the great proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ.
God began to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus with a multitude of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Him. There can be no mistake that Jesus is the Messiah. As Professor Peter Stoner pointed out, the law of mathematical probability makes it totally impossible that anyone other than Jesus else could be the Messiah.
The law of probability is not an abstract law. Life insurance policies, for example, are based on mathematical probability.
Let’s look at just 8 out of 108 Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled.
1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)
Fulfillment: Luke chapter 2 and Matthew 2:1
2. The Messiah will have a forerunner. (Malachi 3:1)
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple…”
Fulfillment: Matthew 3:1-3 “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”
3. The Messiah would make His triumphant entry riding on a donkey (now what king does that?)
Zechariah 9:9 “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a ___________, Even on a colt, the foal of a ___________.
Fulfillment: Matthew 21:7, John 12:14-16
4. The Messiah would die by crucifixion. (Psalm 22, especially vv. 11-18)
“…for dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they have pierced my hands and feet.”
Fulfillment: Luke 23:33, Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24 John 19:23
5. Those who arrested Him would cast lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18)
“They part my garments among them, and _______ ______ upon my vesture.
Fulfillment: Luke 23:34
34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.” Also John 19:23, Mark 15:24, and
Matthew 27:35, “and parted His garments, casting lots.”
6. Messiah would be betrayed by one of His own friends. (Zechariah 11:6)
6 “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my ___________.’
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14-16, “14 Then ____ of the __________, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests…” Also Mark 14:10-11, John 18:2
7. Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12)
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:15-16
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for _________ pieces of _________. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
8. The Messiah will remain silent when He is accused and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:7)
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
Fulfillment: Mark 14:61, 61 But He held his peace, and answered nothing.”
1 Peter 2:23 23 Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously:”
These are just 8 examples of Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. There are at least 108, many of which He had no control over, if He were only a human being (such as the place of His birth and the prophesied “flight to Egypt” when He was a child.)
The odds of any one person being able by accident to fulfill even 8 of the 108 prophecies is a number so astronomical, our minds cannot conceive of it. Professor Stoner calculated it to be 1in 1017 or 1 in 100 quadrillion.
Is Jesus Christ found in the Old Testament? He is found in type and shadow in every book of the Old Testament.
Thank you for taking time to read this and feel free to contact me back at everettehatcher@gmail.com or 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002
Richard Dawkins & Ricky Gervais on Religion Trailer | The Story of the Jews | PBS ____________________________ Robert Lewis noted that many orthodox Jews believed through the centuries that God would honor the ancient prophecies that predicted that the Jews would be restored to the land of Israel, but then I notice the latest film […]
____________ __________________________________ ___________________________________ In light of recent developments in the news the future fulfillment of Revelation chapter 12 does not look so far-fetched. Obviously Israel is the mother that produced the Messiah (verse 1) and Satan is the dragon that dragged 1/3 of the angels out of heaven with him. Jesus is the child who […]
Zechariah 12:3 (KJV) notes, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” It is amazing how up to date the Bible can be in many ways. […]
Irving Kristol pictured below: In 1980 I read the books HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? by Francis Schaeffer and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? by both Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop and I saw the film series by the same names. In those two books Daniel Bell was quoted. In HOW SHOULD WE […]
The Birth Of Israel (2008) – Part 1/8 I can’t say I agree with every word from Chuck Colson’s words below but it is a good article though. Covenant and Conflict Israel’s Place in the World Today By Chuck Colson|Published Date: February 18, 2003 When our BreakPoint Managing Editor Jim Tonkowich returned from this year’s […]
One News Now reports on Friday Obama’s comments a ‘gross error’ GOP lawmaker and Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann says President Obama has defined his Middle East policy: “blame Israel first.” Supporters of Israel are expressing outrage over President Barack Obama’s call yesterday that Israel give back territory it gained when attacked by Arabs […]
Michele Bachmann released this statement yesterday: Washington, May 19 – Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) released the following response after President Obama’s speech today on his Middle East policy, which included a dramatic shift away from support of Israel: “Today President Barack Obama has again indicated that his policy towards Israel is to blame Israel first. […]
“Drink Your Energy Drink & Away We Go!” Michele Bachmann Federal Spending & Jobs Summit Michele Bachmann Wikipedia notes: She married Marcus Bachmann in 1978.[17] They have five children (Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia), and have also provided foster care for 23 other children.[18][19] Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice in […]
President Barack Obama addresses an audience during a campaign fundraising event, in Boston, May 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets President Obama before his speech at the State Department. Clinton introduced Obama, who joked that she has been accruing quite a few frequent-flier miles. Below is […]
Adrian Rogers: An Old Testament Portrait of Christ Published on Jan 27, 2014 I own nothing, all the rights belong to Adrian Rogers (R.I.P.) & his websitehttp://www.lwf.org. Story of Abraham is told. ______________________________________ Adrian Rogers: The Biography of the King Published on Dec 19, 2012 Series: What Child is This? Who on earth has […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his father, Benzion, during a memorial ceremony for Yoni Netanyahu at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, 2007 (photo credit: Michal Fattal/Flash90)
Yonathan Netanyahu –
Yoni, Bibi and Iddo Netanyahu (Courtesy Netanyahu family)
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BIBI HAS TO DRAW THE LINE IN THE SAND FOR IRAN SINCE OBAMA WONT DO IT AND THE UN SPEECH WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY
We had two weeks to prepare. The most important question was, Where do you draw the line? Iran had two hundred kilograms of low-enriched uranium at the 3 percent level. If it crossed the 20 percent enrichment level we would be in the danger zone. The time it takes to enrich uranium to bomb-grade quality shrinks rapidly after 20 percent. Once there, Iran would be 90 percent of the way to having enough enriched uranium for a bomb. That is where I would draw the red line. The next question was how to present this red line visually. Answer: by actually drawing a red line. This suggestion came from Gary Ginsberg, an American whom I had gotten to know a few years earlier through a mutual friend. We struck an immediate friendship. A lawyer by training, Gary had worked with both Bill Clinton and Rupert Murdoch. He knew politics and he knew the media. Politically moderate, he would sometimes temper my words, yet at other times he could toughen them. He had an uncommon ear for language and an uncommon ability to weed out imprecision. He, Ron Dermer, my friend Spencer Partrich and my cousin Nathan Mileikowsky became my sounding board before speeches in the UN and in Congress. A wonderful camaraderie emerged among us. In our preparatory meetings I enjoyed the input of these four incredibly incisive minds who helped me hone the text of my speeches in America. But these sessions were more than intellectual exercises. They were fun. We often broke out in bellyaching laughter by trying out Jackie Mason–like alterations of the text, incorporating vulgar or comical expressions. “Bibi, on second thought, cut that out! You might actually say it,” they would warn me, howling merrily. I seldom enjoyed myself so much as with these four who were united in their love of Israel and their support for me. I couldn’t hope for better or more capable friends. Now, before the UN speech, it was only Gary who could come from the States to Israel for a preparatory meeting. Spencer and Nathan would meet us in New York before the speech. Gary’s first suggestion was that I physically draw the bomb while standing on the podium. After some quick trials I passed on that idea. I would have the bomb diagram prepared in advance. Not since my design of Yoni’s scout troop pennant almost fifty years earlier did my drawing skills come in so handy. I sketched some diagrams and settled on a drawing of an old-style bomb topped by a caricature fuse at the top. Dermer, Gary and my spokesman Mark Regev broke out in laughter. “That looks like the bomb that Wile E. Coyote would use against the Road Runner,” Ron said. “Beep-beep,” I responded. The staff got me the thickest red marker I had ever seen. I practiced drawing a line underneath the fuse while holding the diagram toward the audience. It folded in two so I could bring it unnoticed into the General Assembly, where props weren’t allowed. What the hell, I thought. Who’s going to stop me? The UN speech was carried by television channels worldwide. The front page of most of the leading newspapers in the world featured a photo of me holding the diagram on the UN podium. A zillion memes blossomed mocking the bomb presentation. This was fine with me. As long as they got my red line right. An especially warm response came from an avid listener of my UN speeches, the towering UN security officer Matthew Sullivan. After each speech he would offer his candid opinion. Commenting a few years later on another one of my UN speeches, he said, “It was okay, but I liked your red line speech better.” While I appreciated the feedback, my most important audience was the tyrants of Tehran. The red line held for seven years.
A top adviser to President Biden is facing criticism over a comment he made shortly before the Hamas attacks on Israel.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Middle East was the calmest it has been in decades, bringing to the forefront other controversial foreign policy decisions the Biden adviser has been involved with over the last decade.
“What we said is want to depressurize, de-escalate, and ultimately integrate the Middle East region,” Sullivan said at The Atlantic Festival on Sept. 29.
“The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce, for now the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped, our presence in Iraq is stable, I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” he said.
Eight days later, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israelis, causing many conservatives to blast Sullivan’s comments on social media.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan served as a foreign policy adviser for the Clinton campaign. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
“We are less safe with this Biden team,” former Trump Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Richard Grenell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Sullivan’s comment.
Matthew Brodsky, senior fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, wrote on X that Sullivan’s comment was an “outright lie at the time he said it.”
Sullivan has been at the center of several controversies in recent years, many of which have been brought up by conservatives on social media in light of his Middle East comment, including the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In the days following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sullivan and the State Department were criticized for being unable to say exactly how many Americans had been left behind.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
On Aug. 22, 2021, more than a week after frenzied scenes of evacuating Afghans at the Kabul airport began to surface, Sullivan admitted that the administration did not know how many Americans were still in Afghanistan.
“We cannot give you a precise number,” Sullivan told CNN. “We believe it is several thousand Americans who we are working with now to try to get safely out of the country.”
At one point, it was believed that nearly 450 Americanswere still stuck in the country two months after the U.S. withdrawal.
Sullivan said on Aug. 16 that “the president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan” and that the situation devolved at “unexpected speed.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
“He should’ve lost his job after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal,” Abigail Jackson, press secretary for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., posted on X on Sunday.
In 2021, the top oversight Republican in Congress called for the removal of Sullivan from his position due to his position at the “epicenter” of failed foreign policy decisions over the last 10 years, including the Benghazi terror attack that killed three American contractors and a U.S. ambassador.
Sullivan served as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and policy adviser at the State Department during the 2012 attack on U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
“From Benghazi to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jake Sullivan has been at the epicenter of the worst foreign policy crises and decisions over the past decade,” Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital at the time. “Given this administration’s tendency to create self-inflicted crises, it’s no surprise Jake Sullivan has been given a top post at the Biden White House.”
A source involved in Libya policy in Washington throughout Clinton’s tenure, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital in 2020 that Sullivan was a prominent — albeit quiet — player in the controversial U.S. overthrow of Libya with Clinton’s unflinching support.
Republicans also raised questions about Sullivan this past summer, Fox News Digital reported, after it was revealed that Sullivan served with Hunter Biden on the board of the Truman National Security Project, a liberal foreign policy think tank, for roughly two years before Sullivan joined the Biden campaign in 2020.
Jake Sullivan, left, served with Hunter Biden on the board of the Truman National Security Project for roughly two years. (Getty Images)
During the Clinton presidential campaign, Sullivan also notoriously pushed the Trump-Russia collusionnarrative to reporters. He told members of the House Intelligence committee in a December 2017 interview that prior to the 2016 election he briefed reporters on his suspicions.
“[B]asically we sat with them and walked through what we understood to be the case from — in terms of the DNC hack and leak, what we believed to be the case with respect to Russian involvement,” Sullivan said, “and then what we thought the upshot of this was, which is you now have the start of a much more aggressive phase of an intelligence-led operation by foreign power, and there’s likely to be more as we go forward, and people should really pay attention to this.”
“Jake Sullivan has a lot to answer for,” Hawley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this year.
“He has repeatedly lied for perceived political gain — whether that be about the Russia Collusion hoax or the Hunter Biden laptop. And now he’s Biden’s national security adviser? He should resign immediately.”
Sullivan was recently accused by former White House official Mike McCormick of being a “conspirator” in the Biden family’s “kickback scheme” in Ukraine when Biden was vice president.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 17, 2021.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Sullivan denied the allegations, telling reporters that he had nothing to do with such an operation.
Sullivan has also been criticized in the past for his involvement in the U.S. foreign policy dealings in Syria and Myanmar.
During a 2019 interview with The New Yorker, Sullivan said it was “a great regret of mine” that “we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes.”
The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
The Authenticity of the Bible – The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict – Josh McDowell Part 1
From time to time you will read articles in the Arkansas press by such writers as John Brummett, Max Brantley and Gene Lyons that poke fun at those that actually believe the Bible is historically accurate when in fact the Bible is backed up by many archaeological facts. The Book of Mormon is blindly accepted even though archaeology has disproven many of the facts that are claimed by it. For instance, the use of Hebrew of Egyptian languages did not exist in North America when they said they did.
Archaeological evidence shows that the only people known to have developed written languages in America were the Olmecs and Mayans, whose written languages have no resemblance to Hebrew or Egyptian hieroglyphs. Additionally, professional linguists and Egyptologists do not consider the Anthon Transcript document to contain any legitimate ancient writing. Klaus Baer, Egyptologist at the University of Chicago, called the characters of the transcript nothing but “doodlings”.[94]
The Smithsonian Institution has noted, “Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian Hebrew, and other Old World writings in the New World in pre-Columbian contexts have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines, and sensational books. None of these claims has stood up to examination by reputable scholars. No inscriptions using Old World forms of writing have been shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse rune stones which have been found in Greenland.”[29]
Additionally, linguistic studies on the evolution of the spoken languages of the Americas agree with the widely held model that homo sapiens arrived in America between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. According to the Book of Mormon, immigrants first arrived on the American continent about 2500 BC (the presumed time period of the biblical Tower of Babel).
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Ossuary of Caiaphas Did this ossuary contain the bones of Caiaphas, high priest during the time of Jesus?
This beautifully decorated ossuary found in the ruins of Jerusalem, contained the bones of Caiaphas, the first century AD. high priest during the time of Jesus.
On the side (as seen above) and the back of the ossuary is inscribed Caiaphas’ name (“Yosef bar Caifa”).
(see Matt 26:3, 57; Luke 3:2; John 11:49; 18:13-14, 24, 28; Acts 4:6; Josephus, Ant. 23.25, 39). It was a custom in ancient Israel to store the bones of the dead in ossuaries. They gathered the bones about a year after burial.
Caiaphas, who’s name means “searcher” was appointed high priest (after Simon ben Camith) by the procurator Valerius Gratus, under Tiberius, 18 A.D.. He continued in office from A.D. 26 to 37, when the proconsul Vitellius deposed him. He was the president of the Jewish council (Sanhedrim) which condemned the Lord Jesus to death, Caiaphas declaring Him guilty of blasphemy.
Caiaphas was the official high priest during the ministry and trial of Jesus (Matt 26:3, 57; Luke 3:2; John 11:49; 18:13, 14, 24, 28; Acts 4:6).
It was Caiaphas who, unknowingly, made the incredible prophecy concerning God’s plan of sacrificing Jesus for the sins of the nation and even the whole world:
John 11:47-54 “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.”
Matthew 26:3-5 “Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Matt 26:57-68 And those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ” And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”
John 18:19-24 “The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.” And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?” Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.”
The Jewish High Priests from 200 B.C to the Reign of Herod the Great
1. Simon II the Just, 220-190 B.C.
2. Onias III, 190-174 B.C.
3. Jason/Jeshua,175-172 B.C.
4. Menelaus, 172-162 B.C.
5. Alcimus, 162-156 B.C.
6. Jonathan, 153-142 B.C.
7. Simon, 142-135 B.C.
8. John Hyrcanus I, 134-104 B.C.
9. Aristobulus I, 104-103 B.C.
10. Alexander Jannaeus, 103-76 B.C.
11. Hyrcanus II, 76-67 B.C.
12. Aristobulus II, 67-63 B.C.
13. Hyrcanus II, 63-40 B.C.
14. Antigonus, 40-37 B.C.
The Jewish High Priests from Herod the Great to the Destruction of Jerusalem
15. Ananel, 37-36 B.C. (Appointed by Herod the Great)
16. Aristobulus III, 35 B.C.
17. Jesus, son of Phiabi, ? -22 B.C.
18. Simon, son of Boethus, 22-5 B.C.
19. Matthias, son of Theophilus, 5-4 B.C.
20. Joseph, son of Elam, 5 B.C.
21. Joezer, son of Boethus, 4 B.C.
22. Eleazar, son of Boethus, 4-1 B.C. – (Appointed by Herod Archelaus)
23. Jesus, son of Sie, 1 – 6 A.D.
24. Annas, 6-15 A.D. (Appointed by Quirinius)
25. Ishmael, son of Phiabi I, 15-16 A.D. (Appointed by Valerius Gratus)
26. Eleazar, son of Annas, 16-17 A.D.
27. Simon, son of Kamithos, 17-18 A.D.
28. Joseph Caiaphas, 18-37 AD.
29. Jonathan, son of Annas, 37 A.D. (Appointed by Vitellius)
30. Theophilus, son of Annas, 37-41 A.D.
31. Simon Kantheras, son of Boethus, 41-43 A.D. (Appointed by Herod Agrippa I)
32. Matthias, son of Annas, 43-44 A.D.
33. Elionaius, son of Kantheras, 44-45 A.D.
34. Joseph, son of Kami, 45-47 A.D. (Appointed by Herod of Chalcis)
35. Ananias, son of Nebedaius, 47-55 A.D.
36. Ishmael, son of Phiabi III, 55-61 A.D. (Appointed by Herod Agrippa II)
37. Joseph Qabi, son of Simon, 61-62 A.D.
38. Ananus, son of Ananus, 62 A.D.
39. Jesus, son of Damnaius, 62-65 A.D.
40. Joshua, son of Gamal iel, 63-65 A.D.
41. Matthias, son of Theophilus, 65-67 A.D.
42. Phinnias, son of Samuel, 67-70 A.D. (Appointed by The People)
Some dates cannot be known for certain.
The Authenticity of the Bible – The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict – Josh McDowell Part 2
Residents look at a massive crack in the ground.
I grew up listening to sermons by Adrian Rogers who was the longtime pastor of Bellevue Church in Memphis.
Adrian Rogers sermon “No other way to heaven except through Jesus” based on Romans chapter one (part 3).
Since we had achieved our major objective, knocking out the top Hamas commander Jabri right at the start of the campaign, there was no point in continuing. But ending these kinds of operations is much harder than starting them. The public invariably expects the government to continue the battle and “flatten Gaza,” believing that with enough punishment the Hamas regime would collapse. Yet that would only happen if we sent in the army. The casualties would mount: many hundreds on the Israeli side and many thousands on the Palestinian side. Did I really want to tie down the IDF in Gaza for years when we had to deal with Iran and a possible Syrian front? The answer was categorically no. I had bigger fish to fry.
With emotions running so high, stopping a battle like this was enormously costly politically. The Hamas leaders would come out from their holes and declare victory among the ruins. Though hollow, this spectacle would exact heavy political costs in Israel. Political opponents would castigate me for “not finishing the job,” as they did four years earlier to the Olmert government in the Gaza campaign of that time. Though as Opposition leader I had forcefully supported Olmert during that operation, defending it often on international television, I too criticized the government after the operation ended. I could hardly expect anything different in my case. It was late 2012, with the 2013 elections on the near horizon, and I knew this criticism would be directed at me as well, but I decided to end the fighting nonetheless after a week of battle.
We had lost two soldiers and four civilians; the Palestinians lost 233 lives, of which 155 were identified as terrorists, including several leading commanders. Most of the civilian casualties were brought about because Hamas used them as human shields, thus committing a double war crime of indiscriminately firing at Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian ones.
is increasingly common in our remorselessly overcomplicated age, the coverage of Hamas’s extraordinarily brutal incursion into the nation of Israel has been sliced and diced along a whole host of convoluted lines. When describing the various players, commentators have set them against a series of ideological axes: Left and Right, Zionist and anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, the Settlers and the Displaced, and so forth. If I may be so bold, I would like to propose that these categories are wholly inadequate to the task before us and that, instead, we ought to be dividing the observers into just two camps. Into the first, we can place the normal human beings. Into the second, we can place the unreconstructed crackpots who have lost their godforsaken minds.
It is simply not within the normal bounds of human behavior to look at what has happened in Israel and to filter one’s instinctive moral reaction through whatever goofy, specious, ugly ideology one might have picked up in an overpriced seminar hall when aged 19. In their proper place, terms such as “colonialism,” “imperialism,” and “occupation” can be descriptively useful; as a response to the news that a bunch of armed savages have just massacred a thousand innocent people in cold blood, they are utterly, disastrously, spectacularly irrelevant. I daresay that, in certain faculty lounges and newsrooms, the latest iteration of the Unified Oppressed/Oppressor Matrix goes down a treat. To everyone else, it appears psychotic. Well-adjusted people do not read about surprise attacks that involve the machine-gunning of concertgoers, the live-streaming of executions, the beheading of babies, the raping and desecration of women, and the immolation of corpses and respond by musing about how intersectional the dead might have been. Well-adjusted people do not learn of the largest single instance of antisemitic butchery since the Holocaust and write open letters that “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence” against it, that describe the atrocities as an example of “inevitable” “resistance” that “made history,” or that cast Hamas as a quotidian political entity that is engaged in a “process of decolonization.” Well-adjusted people do not see the reams of harrowing footage that has been published and assume aloud that the most likely explanation is that the Israeli government staged a false-flag in order to protect its embattled prime minister. Such thoughts would never occur to them. George Orwell once said that “some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.” That there is anything much to debate about the egregious crimes that were committed in Israel over the weekend is among those “some ideas.” There is not.
Indeed, I shall go one further here and propose that it is not simply abhorrent to subordinate one’s elementary sense of horror to a set of esoteric abstractions; it is the prerequisite to barbarism. From time to time, students of history wonder how the great tyrannies of the past could have impelled so many ostensibly rational people to treat others with such brazen contempt. This question, I’m afraid, has a mundane answer: Those tyrannies persuaded their accomplices to do terrible things by insisting that the people to whom the terrible things were being done were lesser in some meaningful way. I have no doubt that many of those who are making excuses for Hamas are convinced that their dispassionate analysis is the product of an exquisite understanding of the world that the less credentialed conspicuously lack. I also have no doubt that they are wrong, for, in reality, such reactions are the grotesque product of a brainwashing process that has swapped the rudimentary building blocks of civilization for a set of monstrous self-justifications. It may be terribly bourgeois to believe that it is presumptively wrong to slaughter or rape or set fire to civilians, but, if we are to enjoy any semblance of stability in the world, it is also imperative. As sophisticated as we might fancy ourselves to have become, there will always be a place for the sort of pedestrian Manichaean dualism that rejects cruelty irrespective of its target. That the vast majority of human beings continue to believe this is not a problem within our society; it isour society. Sometimes, there really is just Good and Evil. On Saturday, when the Western world saw both, most of us were able to determine which was which. The remainder were not.
–
Well-adjusted people do not learn of the largest single instance of antisemitic butchery since the Holocaust and muse about how intersectional the dead might have been.
Adrian Rogers: Christ of the Old Testament [#2299] (Audio)
“Digging Deeper” into Scripture, you’re going to find that all of the Bible—Old Testament as well as New—is about Jesus Christ. Yes, He appears in the Old Testament—if you know how to find Him there. The Lord Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is found throughout the Old Testament in prophecy, types and shadows.
In this study we’ll see how that occurs.
Did you know there are about 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah? Professor Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953, then was Chairman of the Science Department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He wrote a book titled Science Speaks. He proved that it is impossible, by the law of mathematical probability, for Jesus Christ not to be the one true Messiah of Israel and the Son of God
Later in this study we’re going to look at that, so keep reading.
But first let’s begin with something the apostle Peter said, confirming Jesus’ presence in the Old Testament:
1. Turn to Acts 10:43. Peter, testifying in the household of Cornelius about Jesus, says: “To Him,” [to Jesus,] “give all the prophets witness.”
When Peter made this statement, the New Testament had not yet been written. So when Peter says “the prophets,” who is he talking about?
Peter wanted Cornelius, a Roman officer, to know that throughout the Old Testament, the prophets were looking ahead, predicting and proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah.
When we get to the New Testament, we find the fulfillment.
In the gospels, we see Jesus as the Prophet preaching the kingdom of God.
In the epistles and Acts you see Jesus Christ, the ascended Priest, interceding for the people of God.
In the book of Revelation, you see Jesus Christ as the King, coming to rule and reign.
Each of these offices is a portrait of Jesus Christ.
All of the Old Testament pictures Jesus as prophet, priest, and king.
All of the New Testament shows Jesus as the fulfillment.
He is the Prophet, Priest, and King.
Portraits of Jesus in the Old Testament:
Jesus is the second Adam because the first Adam prophesied Him.
Jesus is a beloved, rejected, exalted son and world bread supplier like Joseph.
Jesus is that root out of dry ground, born of a virgin. (Is. 53:2)
Jesus is a priest like Aaron and Melchizedek because they prefigured Him.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah (the same
mount as Mt. Calvary, where Jesus literally died.)
Jesus is the Passover lamb.
Jesus is a prophet like Moses because Moses typified Him.
Jesus is the water that came from the rock in the wilderness.
Jesus is the manna that fell from the sky.
Jesus is the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
Jesus is the scapegoat bearing away thesins of the people.
Jesus is pictured in the Ark of the Covenant.
Jesus is the mercy seat where the shekinah glory of God dwells.
Jesus is the sacrifice upon the brazen altar in the tabernacle and the temple.
Jesus is a champion like Joshua, whose name literally means “Jesus.”
Jesus is a king like David.
Jesus is a wise counselor like Solomon.
Jesus is the lion of Judah.
Jesus is the good shepherd, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Jesus is the fruitful branch.
Jesus is that one without form or comeliness yet altogether lovely. (Is 53:2)
Prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the great proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ.
God began to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus with a multitude of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Him. There can be no mistake that Jesus is the Messiah. As Professor Peter Stoner pointed out, the law of mathematical probability makes it totally impossible that anyone other than Jesus else could be the Messiah.
The law of probability is not an abstract law. Life insurance policies, for example, are based on mathematical probability.
Let’s look at just 8 out of 108 Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled.
1. The Messiah will be born in ___________________. (Micah 5:2)
Fulfillment: Luke chapter 2 and Matthew 2:1
2. The Messiah will have a forerunner. (Malachi 3:1)
“Behold, I am going to send My _____________, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple…”
Fulfillment: Matthew 3:1-3 “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”
3. The Messiah would make His triumphant entry riding on a donkey (now what king does that?)
Zechariah 9:9 “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a ___________, Even on a colt, the foal of a ___________.
Fulfillment: Matthew 21:7, John 12:14-16
4. The Messiah would die by crucifixion. (Psalm 22, especially vv. 11-18)
“…for dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me; they ____________ my ________ and ________.”
Fulfillment: Luke 23:33, Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24 John 19:23
5. Those who arrested Him would cast lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18)
“They part my garments among them, and _______ ______ upon my vesture.
Fulfillment: Luke 23:34
34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.” Also John 19:23, Mark 15:24, and
Matthew 27:35, “and parted His garments, casting lots.”
6. Messiah would be betrayed by one of His own friends. (Zechariah 11:6)
6 “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my ___________.’
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14-16, “14 Then ____ of the __________, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests…” Also Mark 14:10-11, John 18:2
7. Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12)
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:15-16
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for _________ pieces of _________. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
8. The Messiah will remain silent when He is accused and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:7)
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
Fulfillment: Mark 14:61, 61 But He held his peace, and answered _____________.”
1 Peter 2:23 23 Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously:”
These are just 8 examples of Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. There are at least 108, many of which He had no control over, if He were only a human being (such as the place of His birth and the prophesied “flight to Egypt” when He was a child.)
The odds of any one person being able by accident to fulfill even 8 of the 108 prophecies is a number so astronomical, our minds cannot conceive of it. Professor Stoner calculated it to be 1in 1017 or 1 in 100 quadrillion.
Is Jesus Christ found in the Old Testament? He is found in type and shadow in every book of the Old Testament.
Adrian Rogers: 3 Truths to pass on to the next generation Published on Feb 7, 2013 Just a few weeks before Glory ___________________ Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God Adrian Rogers pictured below: ________________________________ Adrian Rogers, ‘rising star of Memphis,’ elected 35 years ago by David […]
_______________________________ Adrian Rogers pictured below: __________________ I sent William Provine a letter several months ago with a CD of the following message by Adrian Rogers and in the letter were several arguments from Schaeffer. Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God Today I am sending out another […]
__________ Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God In the 1970’s and 1980’s I was a member of Bellevue Baptist in Memphis where Adrian Rogers was pastor and was a student at ECS from the 5th grade to the 12th grade where I was introduced to […]
____________ __________________________________ ___________________________________ In light of recent developments in the news the future fulfillment of Revelation chapter 12 does not look so far-fetched. Obviously Israel is the mother that produced the Messiah (verse 1) and Satan is the dragon that dragged 1/3 of the angels out of heaven with him. Jesus is the child who […]
__________________ Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) was my pastor at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis when I grew up and he loved football. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named Burt […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
Clips of Adrian Rogers and Francis Schaeffer from the film “With God on our side” ______________________ I grew up in Memphis going to Bellevue Baptist Church and Adrian Rogers was our pastor and he had a great impact on me. He had a lot to say on the issues of the day and that included […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what […]
(Emailed to White House on 1-29-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]