Month: February 2021

God put eternity in the hearts of men so the vast majority of people still believe there’s a God. You can reason with someone who still believes in God and you can show them the truth of God as revealed in the Scriptures of the Bible. However, in those cases where Satan has totally blinded the unbeliever and hardened their hearts to the point they no longer even believe there’s a God then it’s pointless to first approach them with the Scriptures. They have no faith. The Bible says God’s Word is foolishness to those who don’t believe and they have no concept of the spiritual world. The best way to start witnessing to an atheist is to discuss the supernatural elements of the Bible they can see. Atheists can’t understand or discern spiritual things but as creatures of the physical world they can weigh the facts about anything in our physical world that they can see, touch and hear; like the Bible. I’m listing the supernatural elements that prove beyond any doubt that the Bible is the Word of the living God in heaven:

1. Its amazing unity – Even detractors have to admit to the unity of the Bible. 66 books by 40 writers over a period of 1500 years (1400 BC to 100 AD) with no inconsistencies or errors. None of the Scriptures contradict each other or walk over each other. The Bible has a consistent message of God’s love for man and his salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Bible reads like one person wrote it even though writers included kings, priests, prophets, scholars, soldiers, farmers and illiterate fishermen. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible covers all the really important facts of human history. No one other than God could have authored the Bible.

Psalm 68:11 – The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it.

2. Its indestructibility – Political persecution by Roman emperors failed to eradicate the Bible. God’s Word simply grew stronger and multiplied exponentially. All throughout history governments up to and including communist China have attempted to destroy the Bible yet the Bible keeps flourishing and is now in every country and every part of the globe has received God’s Word. Religious and philosophical persecution abounds yet they can’t touch the Bible. Only the protective hand of God could have accomplished such a feat.

Luke 21:33 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

3. Its historical accuracy – For 2000 years detractors have attempted to find errors in the Bible and have failed to find even one. In fact, archeological facts keep coming to light that corroborate the names, places, events and people mentioned in the Bible. It has been proven King David did rule Israel, the Hittites were an ancient kingdom in Asia Minor and the walls of Jericho fell all at once just as the Bible said.

4. Its scientific accuracy – Long before man could prove it the Bible stated the world was a sphere suspended in space. Ancient man could only see about 1200 stars but the Bible said the stars were innumerable which has proven to be correct. In ancient times people thought the bottom the ocean was smooth and gently sloping like a bowl. The Bible stated there are mountains, canyons, springs and fountains in the sea which we now know to be the case. The Bible said there were ocean currents which wasn’t proven until 2000 years later. The Bible contains facts about the hydrological cycle and health and sanitation that only came to light in the last century. The Bible describes the two laws of thermodynamics which weren’t realized by scientists until about 1850.

Isaiah 49:22 – It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Job 26:7 – He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.

Isaiah 43:15-16 – I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters.

5. Its prophetic accuracy – The bible contains over 1000 prophecies, over 500 of which have been fulfilled and documented as fact. Over 60 prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ and documented as historical fact. The Bible names King Cyrus as the person who frees the Jews from their Babylonian captivity. The Bible says Israel will be reborn in a single day and that actually happened on May 14, 1948. In all the fake religions of the world combined not one prophecy has ever been fulfilled.

Isaiah 66:8 – Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

Isaiah 44:28 – Who says of Cyrus, he is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”

6. Its universal influence on civilization – Western civilization was founded directly on the Bible and its teachings. The world’s calendar and most of its holidays stem from the Bible. Art, music and law are the result of the Bible’s influence.

7. Its care and copy – No book in history has been copied as many times with as much care as has been the Word of God.

8. Its amazing circulation – The Bible is everywhere in the world. Only one half of one percent of all books published survive seven years. 80% of all books are forgotten in one year. The Bible is the number one best seller every year and has most volumes in the world by a large margin.

9. Its absolute honesty – The Bible is not a book that man could write if he would, or would write if he could. Man didn’t have all the facts contained in the Bible when it was written so the writers received them from a higher authority, namely God. The Bible puts man in such a bad light no man would ever write a book so critical of himself as a species. God writes bad things about good people and good things about bad people. Only God would be honest enough to do that.

10. Its life-transforming power – Throughout the centuries the Bible has shown an amazing ability to change corrupt humanity. Millions have given their public testimony but you don’t hear that from any of the fake religions out there. Millions of books on bookshelves around the world proclaim the truth of Christianity but the false religions have very few books on the shelves because they’re all fake. Only Christianity is the power of the one true God to change our lives. For those who have ears let them hear and come to Jesus while he may still be found. The evidence is compelling. Now is the day of your salvation! Come quickly!

In his love, mercy and grace Almighty God has shared with man the revelation of himself. Without the further “inspiration” of God no Scriptures ever would have been written. The third step God used to create the Bible is “illumination” and without it no sinner ever would have been saved. Illumination, then, is that method used by the Holy Spirit to shed divine light upon all seeking men as they look into the Word of God. I remember reading the Bible when suddenly the realization hit me that God was real and I was holding the Word of God. It came as quite a shock. The truth of God was instantly settled in my soul without any doubt whatsoever. That was the Holy Spirit communing with my spirit to confirm that I was a child of God.

Nobody can fake God out. The Holy Spirit looks at the sincerity of a man’s heart to see if we have the necessary amount of faith to be saved. If we have enough faith the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and shows us the truth of God and our need for his salvation. Illumination is from the written word to the human heart by way of the Holy Spirit. Nobody can be saved apart from the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is only present when the holy Scriptures are read from God’s Word, our Holy Bible. As I’ve said before, nobody can be saved apart from the Bible and the Holy Spirit of God working in unison. Some people think they can wait until the last minute, pick up the Bible, and read it to save themselves. It doesn’t work that way. We’re called by God; chosen to be a child of God and justified by God’s grace. It’s the Holy Spirit who actually saves us unto eternal life. It’s not possible for man to save himself for the following reasons:

1. Because of our natural blindness.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Matthew 16:16-17 – Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

2. Because of satanic blindness.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

3. Because of carnal blindness.

Hebrews 5:12-14 – For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracle of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

When the Bible is read sinners are saved and believers strengthened. It takes more than believing there’s a God to be saved. Illumination from God isn’t automatic. God saves those who repent and seek him; those who put forth a little effort to find the Lord our God. In addition, the Holy Spirit seeks those believers who can help him illuminate the hearts of unbelievers. All the more reason for us to be prepared to witness the gospel of Christ when called upon. We see several examples of this in the Bible. It was the Holy Spirit who spoke to Phillip and sent him to intercept the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza so he could share the gospel of Christ with him. We must be ready to do the same when called.

2 Corinthians 2:10 – But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

2 Corinthians 4:6 – For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 119:105 – Your word id a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

In the previous blog we discussed God’s revelation of himself to man which was the first step toward creating the Bible. Now let’s look at the second tool God used to create the Bible which is “inspiration”. This is where man takes the revelation of God and puts it down on paper in the manner God wants it written. How exactly does that happen? There are several theories how God accomplished this but the only scripturally correct theory is the plenary-verbal theory. That theory states God imparted his inspiration to the Bible writers so that every single word in the Bible is inspired by God and meant to be in the text as written.

Hebrews 1:1 – God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Matthew 5:18 – (Jesus speaking) – For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

1 Peter 1:25 – But the word of the Lord endures forever.

What we do know about the inspiration of God is the following:

1. All parts of the Bible are equally inspired but all parts of the Bible are not equally important. John 3:16 is more important than Judges 3:16.

2. Godly inspiration is only guaranteed in the original text and not later copies or translations. That’s why we need to make sure new Bible don’t change or leave out verses.

3. Inspiration does not allow for any false teaching but can record the lies of someone.

4. Inspiration does not permit any historical, scientific or prophetic errors. That’s why critics try so hard to disprove any single fact in the Bible. If they can prove one things is false in the Bible it gives credence to their claim that the Bible isn’t authored by God.

5. Inspiration doesn’t prohibit personal research. God welcomes anyone to examine the truth of his Word. In the Bible God say let us reason together. False religions don’t allow this because they know they’re fake and they don’t want their followers to find that out.

6. Inspiration does not deny the use of extra-biblical sources. God mentions several in the Bible.

7. Inspiration does not overwhelm the personality of the human writers of the Bible. God didn’t want robots writing his Word. The Holy Spirit guided the writers without being dictatorial.

8. Inspiration does not exclude the use of pictorial and symbolic language. I don’t know how any writer could produce the book of Revelation without the use of symbolic language. The trick is to know when it’s being used.

9. Inspiration does not mean uniformity in all details given in describing the same event. That’s why we have four gospels. Each writer gave his own impression of the life of Jesus which makes the story that much more compelling; that much more believable.

The plenary-verbal theory of inspiration assures us that God has included in the Bible all the necessary things he wanted us to know, and excluded everything else. Of all the tools God used in making our Bible, inspiration is the most important. You can have inspiration without revelation and illumination but not vice versa. God’s inspiration to man was completed with the writing of the book Revelation by the Apostle John around 95 AD. We know this by the statement made in Revelation 22:18-19. That means any cult that says Jesus showed up later somewhere else is telling a lie. That means Mormons, for one, have a fake religion and they’ll face the wrath of God on the last day.

Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Revelation 22:18-19 – For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book.

The greatest proof of God is the Holy Bible. We’re all creatures of the physical world and we believe best what our senses tell us. We can hold the Bible in our hands; we can read the Bible and hear the Bible read in our presence. The Bible is more real to us than spiritual things and that’s just human nature. If anyone asks us how we can be so sure there’s a God we simply hold our Bible up and tell them the proof is in this book. We need to ask them, “Shall we look at the Bible together to see if it’s the truth of God?” Someone will eventually ask us the reason for our faith so we must study God’s Word accordingly and prepare our witness beforehand in order to be ready. Turn an old Bible into a witness Bible, writing important Scripture inside the covers and tabbing the verses of Scripture that clearly show unbelievers the path to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I posted a sample witness outline in my previous blogs (December 2019).

We may only get one chance to change someone’s eternal destiny so let’s make sure we’re well prepared to share our witness with unbelievers. Think of it as preparing for the spiritual Olympics and when we win at least one soul for the kingdom of God we get to stand on the podium on the last day and receive the crown of rejoicing from Jesus. Witnessing for Christ is that important! We are commanded by God to know our Bible so that we can share God’s salvation plan for man and to be able to witness the truth of the gospel of Christ to anyone who asks. We can do this by using the Bible, the greatest proof of God. The Bible is a window into the spiritual world and the only thing you need to bring others to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The primary reason God leaves us here on earth after our salvation is so we can share the the gospel of Christ with others. Someone helped save us so we owe it to the unsaved to try and save them with our witness for Christ. If we don’t do it who will?

Every soul is priceless. Could you live with yourself knowing you didn’t do everything possible to keep someone from the lake of fire for eternity? I know I couldn’t. That’s why I’m always studying God’s Word and trying to learn more. I’m doing my best to prepare so that I can witness for Christ when called upon by the Holy Spirit. Witnessing is an awesome responsibility all believers should embrace. My blog is passive witnessing for Christ by sharing knowledge about God’s Word and urging others to also witness for Christ. I can never stop blogging about the kingdom of God. I’m always going to be trying to help save one more for Jesus while there’s breath in me. When we witness for Christ we’re sowing the seeds of salvation and occasionally we’re also able to reap a soul for the kingdom of God. Either way, whether we’re sowing or reaping, we’re working in God’s harvest field and obeying the command of our God. We’re building up riches in heaven.

1 Peter 3:15 – But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.

2 Peter 3:18 – But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

All three persons of the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, were involved in creation. Likewise, all three persons of the Trinity are involved in salvation and nobody has ever been saved unto eternal life apart from the participation of all three persons of the Trinity. God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sins of all men, past, present and future. God sent Jesus so that man can have eternal life in heaven. God the Father designed the salvation plan for man. God the Father calls us to be saved. God the Father justifies us, he sanctifies us and he glorifies us. God the Holy Spirit regenerates the believer’s spirit and baptizes the believer into the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit seals the believer as God’s own possession and writes our name in the book of life.

All of God’s power from the spiritual world is focused on us in the physical world through the Word of God. The Bible is the nexus between God and man, between the spirit world and the physical world. In addition to the Trinity, nobody is saved apart from God’s Word because the Bible tells us the how and why of salvation and brings forth the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit will only convict us of our sins and save us unto eternal life in the presence of the Word of God. If you aren’t praying to God and quoting the holy Scriptures the Holy Spirit isn’t going to save you unto eternal life. You must enter the narrow gate to see heaven and that narrow gate goes through the Bible and your salvation requires the participation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 53:11 – He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

Romans 8:30 – Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Titus 3:5 – Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

God created the Bible using three, ‘tools of the Trinity, ” referred to as revelation, inspiration and illumination. The Bible is God’s primary method of revelation about himself to his creatures. The Holy Bible contains 66 books by 40 writers who wrote their books over a period of 1500 years (1400 BC to 100 AD). God revealed himself to these chosen writers of his Word and they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit so that every word of the Bible is inspired by God. “Inspiration” means God-breathed. Bible writers included kings, priests, prophets, scholars, soldiers, farmers and illiterate fishermen.

All the books of the Bible fit together like a glove and its unity is unquestioned. The Bible contains no errors or inconsistencies. None of the Scriptures contradict or walk over each other and we’re talking about writers from different times with various backgrounds, education levels, and life experiences. This in itself is a powerful proof of God. Then we have the obvious wisdom of the Bible and the fact it has changed the lives of millions of people. That can’t be chance or luck; that can only be God. The clear consistent message of the Bible is God’s love for man and his salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. For 2000 years critics have been trying to disprove the Bible and all attempts have failed. The Word of God is magical. The Bible is a living thing that cannot be broken. God’s Word will stand forever.

2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

2 Peter 1:21 – For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 4:4 – (Jesus speaking) – It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

John 17:17 – (Jesus speaking) – Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

My goal every year is to read the entire Bible. Every January I revisit my goals to see if they need to be renewed or updated. I’ve read the Bible multiple times and what I’ve realized is some Old Testament books I dread reading and some books are always on my mind and I long to return to them more often, like the gospels. It’s up to each of us to keep up our end of the conversation with God by daily prayer and daily Bible reading. How we do that depends on our personal preferences. We’re responsible for keeping our faith alive and the Bible tells us faith comes from reading, hearing and speaking God’s Word and this is especially true where the gospels are concerned. Think of the Bible as a spiritual battery charger to keep our faith fully charged. God’s eternal power is focused on us through his Word and distributed to us through the Holy Spirit as we read, hear and speak Scripture. When our faith remains strong our relationship with God deepens, our sanctification by God proceeds quicker because we’re more spiritually receptive and we’re less susceptible to the lies and temptations of Satan. When we’re walking humbly with God we have his protection.

Mark 1:15 – (Jesus speaking) – The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel.

Romans 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 15:4 – For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

I’ve looked at numerous, “read the Bible in one year,” formats but none of them work for me. I can’t read a few chapters and stop if I’m really into the story. I’m task oriented and I must complete what I start before I can rest easy. If you’ll notice in my blogs, once I start on a topic I can’t stop until I’ve exhausted all I have to say. Then I can stop and catch my breath. Getting back to my Bible reading plan, I’ve decided to make my own schedule which I think is much better because it puts more emphasis on the books in the Bible I consider more important. The focal point of the Bible is the four gospels of Christ. It’s the most important story in human history.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 – For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 – To which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:15 – For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

I’m not content with reading Mark, Matthew, Luke and John once a year. Why should I be? One of the spiritual laws of God is that whenever someone receives God’s Word the Holy Spirit will always be present. When someone receives the gospel of Christ the Holy Spirit is present abundantly! I don’t think any believer should be more than a month away from the gospel message of Christ and being refreshed by the Holy Spirit of God. The rest of the New Testament is epistles (letters) providing further explanations and interpretations about the Christian faith in general and the gospels in particular. The Old Testament is the necessary historical backdrop that provides us with the background for the coming of Jesus. If it got right down to it, we could depend on the gospels alone for salvation and be just fine. Spend more time in the gospels and less time with the supporting information.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek (Gentile).

Ephesians 1:13 – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 6:19 – And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

What I’ve done is break the Bible into monthly segments. Every month I read a new gospel and I then repeat so that I read each gospel three times a year. Now I have the right amount of focus on what’s important. Repetition is good for the soul. It keeps our faith alive and our salvation before our eyes. I allow the first week of each month for gospel reading. The second week of each month I read the New Testament epistles and I try to space it out evenly over twelve months. The third week of each month I allot to Old Testament reading using the same parameters. Week four is for tying up loose ends and researching additional information on the books being read that month.

I intentionally left out the Old Testament books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy because they’re boring and deal primarily with God’s relationship with the Israelites during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. When your focus is brought back to the gospel of Christ on a monthly basis you’re in God’s wheelhouse. You’ll be in your “sweet spot” with God the Father and you’ll be blessed by the Lord. You can always use a Bible commentary to brush up later on those three Old Testament books I removed from my annual Bible study. There you have it; 27 New Testament books and 36 Old Testament books being read in one year if we have the discipline. The outline below will keep you on track and keep you interested in reading your Bible:

TWELVE MONTH BIBLE READING OUTLINE BY WEEKS (1 TO 4):

January: `1. Mark 2. Acts 1-13 3. Genesis and Exodus 4. Research books; who wrote it, where did he write it, when did he write it and why did he write it, etc.

February: 1. Matthew 2. Acts 14-28 3. Joshua and Judges 4. Research

March: 1. Luke 2. Romans 3. Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel 4. Research

April: 1. John 2. 1 & 2 Corinthians 3. 1 & 2 Kings 4. Research

May: 1. Mark 2. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians 3. 1 & 2 Chronicles 4. Research

June: 1. Matthew 2. 1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Timothy 3. Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester, Job 4. Research

July: 1. Luke 2. Titus and Philemon 3. Psalms 4. Research

August: 1. John 2. Hebrews 3. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon 4. Research

September: 1. Mark 2. James 3. Isaiah 4. Research

October: 1. Matthew 2. 1 & 2 Peter 3. Jeremiah 4. Research

November: 1. Luke 2. 1 & 2 & 3 John and Jude 3. Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel 4. Research

December: 1. John 2. Revelation 3. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi 4. Research