By Van Yandell
2 Timothy 16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
In a conversation with a man at a mission, he stated he did not believe the Bible was the word of any god. I asked him, “what about it do you reject?” His answer sent me into a state of skepticism, “Well I don’t know exactly; I’ve never read it.”
If I could name the frustration at the top of my list, it would definitely be the people that say they do not believe the Bible but don’t have a clue what it contains.
Is it fair to judge someone or something without all the facts? Of course not! In the legal system of most countries, a trial for an alleged perpetrator of a crime is to uncover the evidence for guilt or non-guilt.
Why cannot this fairness (or the appearance thereof) be applied to God’s word? All I’ve ever asked when speaking to a group, especially when I know that some (or many) in attendance are non-Christian, is to consider the evidence and be fair and reasonable in deciding what you believe.
Many believe the Bible is a supernatural document, written by men, inspired by God, the Creator of the universe and all things in it. There are volumes of evidence to indicate this is true if people would simply consider the information.
Many times when we think of the false prophets and false teachers, we think of other religions that have no (or very little) substance. Many are simply opinions of men and contain no supernatural quality. It is easy for someone not knowledgeable of the Holy Bible’s authoritative structure to deny it as such.
Another type of false prophet/teacher is the one that believes nothing concerning the spiritual realm. In a sense, they are more dangerous than the one that claims to be a prophet from some god that does not exist.
These believers in their own super powers that are not verifiable, except by silver-tongued rhetoric, have led many to a life separated from their Creator.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” While there is disagreement among Christians as to what “wages of sin is death” specifically means, one thing we can be assured of is that it means eternal separation from God.
If our existence is eternal, why do some ignore or refute the obvious. If I’m riding a motorcycle on a road at a speed of 60 miles per hour and I see a brick wall in the middle of the road, do you think I’m going to run into it headlong? Do I need to answer that question?
With the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, we have absolute conclusive evidence the Bible is an ancient writing. It was not written yesterday.
The Holy Bible contains many facts and threads of evidence leading us to the decision it has to be of a supernatural origin. For example, Job 26:7 “He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing.”
The Book of Job was written over 2,600 years ago. Men thought the earth was flat and all the stars, sun, moon, and other planets revolved around a stationary earth until the 1500s A.D.
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus detailed his theory of the Universe in which the Earth, along with the other planets, rotated around the Sun. He, at first, was considered a radical and even a lunatic. Then aided by the power of telescopes, his theory was verified.
Galileo Galilei and other astronomers first used telescopes to view the heavens around 1600 thus verifying the movement of the planets.
Aristotle, around 310 BCE came to believe the earth was round by observing the shadow of the earth on a quarter moon. The shadow was an arc (part of a perfect circle) thus indicating a spherical planet.
Isaiah 40:22 “It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in.”
This is another example of the many scriptures of “beyond earth” examples in the Bible. “The circle of the earth” is a certain indication of a round earth. Isaiah observed humans as “grasshoppers” and the heavens as a curtain for us. We now know this is absolute truth. Doubters of the Bible are sometimes science aficionados although the two, verify each other.
Jeremiah 33:22a “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured.” Astronomers are now numbering the galaxies in the billions and the stars in the trillions. That’s just too many to count. It seems as though Jeremiah and God were right after all.
Examples are too numerous to list. The evidence of the supernatural, divine nature of the Bible is overwhelming but people must consider it.
Skeptics and doubters will always be among us. Those that are too stubborn to consider the facts and turn their heads away from the obvious will continue to be blinded and mislead their victims. Yes, the followers of the false prophets are victims because this consideration has eternal consequences.
The examples of information in the Holy Bible that verify it as divine (from God) are many. Predictions/prophesies that have happened or are happening now are mind boggling when one considers the age of the source.
The last words that Jesus said before ascending were “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Since these were the last words Jesus said to His disciples while on earth, they are of extreme importance. Those words are not a suggestion but a mandate of tremendous importance.
We are seeing our world literally fall apart morally because humanity has drifted away from the teachings of God. While we are consumed with entertainment, addictions and other self-destructive interests, the purveyors of such attitudes are becoming wealthy. Riches are finite, eternity is infinite.
Please pay attention, see the big picture and share this information with others. The Bible contains its own proof of validity if we will be fair and reasonable in accepting or rejecting it.
There is no point in being arrogant or overpowering in sharing (1 Peter 3:15). Tell someone about the only eternal salvation, which is a faith based belief in Christ Jesus crucified for the remission of sin and resurrected.
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary.
