ARE YOU ANCHORED IN CHRIST TOO?

 

         This begins a task that I have avoided for some time, and I do wonder if I am up to it. I certainly am not the man I once was. Where I used to run straight at trouble, today my idea of adventure is going down stairs without holding on to the railing! There are two reasons I have procrastinated in writing this letter:

         I know that no amount of proof or logic will change the hearts of those who are not willing to accept the Bible as truth, because to do so would require acceptance of God on his terms, and many would rather create God in their own image:

         “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
      Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
      ‘He did not make me?’
Can the pot say of the potter,
       ‘He knows nothing?”
Isaiah 29: 16

         The second reason is because no one wants their family and friends to think badly of them. I really don’t, and what I am going to say will offend some people. Others will think I’m simple for believing the Bible to be the Word of God, even worse for admitting it on paper. But, if just one person will go on to check out what I write and find what I have found, then simple I am glad to be.

         “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
 Mark 10: 15

         We live in a time of tolerance and moral relativism where all views are accepted as equal, and all of life’s roads lead to the same destination. To the many that adhere to this view, there is nothing more abhorrent and intolerable than the words spoken by Jesus two thousand years ago:

         “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14: 6

         For if these words are true then anyone who denies them and relies on their personal truth has been deceived and is in rebellion to God. Wow, could I have pissed off more people with fewer words than that? How could I be more narrow-minded than to believe God would say something as totally intolerant as:

         “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
 Matthew 7: 13-14

         If you haven’t thrown this letter away yet, let me get to the heart of this:

• Jesus said the Bible is the word of God.
• The Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God.
• If the Bible is the word of God, then Jesus is the Son of God.
• If Jesus is the Son of God, then the Bible is the word of God.
• If one of these is true then all of these must be true.
• If all of these are true, then John 14: 6 must also be true, (“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”)

         The Bible is the only book in the world that not only claims to be the word of God but also proves itself to be the word of God, and that is what I hope to show. That is my prayer for you, that the Lord will open your mind and your heart to his Truth.

         “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
Hebrews 4: 7

         The Bible is the work of God given to us through his prophets and was written in Hebrew, Greek, and some Aramaic by about 40 authors from such varied walks of life as kings and statesmen, fishermen, and a tax collector. They lived on different continents, were from different nations, and they wrote over a span of at least 1,500 years. It consists of 66 books, deals with hundreds of different topics, and contains allegory, biography and genealogies, gospels, history, hyperbole, law, letters, parables, prophecy, theology, and more.

         I once had a very good friend named Tim O’Malley. Although we could work together well we had very different methods, or perhaps I should say habits. If I did something once I would do it the same way 100 times, but not Tim. I used to kid him a lot and we always got a laugh out of his delayed reaction when I would say to him, “You never do anything the same way once.”
         How could 40 people so different write in such perfect agreement? How could 40 people, who in many cases did not know each other, who did not know what others were writing or what would be written in the future, do all of this without ever knowing what the completed book would be or even that there would be a book?

         The Bible is an account of the Creation, the Fall when God judged the world for sin, his promise of a Redeemer, the life of Jesus, and the Second Coming when he will return. And it all fits together because there is one mind behind it. From Genesis to Revelation, from first book to last, the amazing unity of the Bible proves itself to be a supernatural work. Nothing like it has ever been or could ever be accomplished by men alone.

         Another unique proof that the Bible is the inspired word of God is its prophecies. Here some will say that prophecy is not limited to the Bible. Yes, others have made prophecies. Let’s take a look at a few.

         Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, said that both a city and a temple would be built in the western boundaries of the state of Missouri. He said this was the “Word of the Lord”, and that it would be accomplished during the lifetime of those who were living. That was Sept. 22, 1832. It didn’t happen, and even though I can’t swear to it, I’m reasonably sure those people are long dead. This was just one of many false prophecies.

         The Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower Organization said in 1899 that the world would end in 1914… Armageddon, but of course, it didn’t happen. They later changed the date to 1925, and again they were wrong. False prophecy.

         I have a State Journal-Register newspaper clipping from July 4, 1999 about Nostradamus. It quotes a passage known as Quatrain X:72 where Nostradamus wrote:

     “The Year 1999 seven months
     From the sky will come the great
          King of Terror
     To resuscitate the great king of
          the Mongols
     Before and after Mars reigns by
          good luck.”

         Believers of Nostradamus were expecting many different things to happen that month. In that same article James Randi, an expert on Nostradamus said, “July 1999 is the only prophecy Nostradamus made that mentions an exact date… Nostradamus has a record of being very, very wrong… He made 104 verifiable predictions, in which he actually named a place or a person or a time, he’s been wrong on 103 of the 104. We’ll have to wait to see if he has a perfect record.” Well, July, 1999 has come and gone and so, he does have a perfect record. False prophecy.

         Remember Jeanne Dixon? A lot of people believe she predicted the assassination of John F. Kennedy but that is not true. She never mentioned him and she was wrong 80 to 90 percent of the time. She predicted that Jacqueline Kennedy would not remarry. You know, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. False prophecy.

         As far as Dionne Warwick and the other “Psychic Hot-liners” are concerned, don’t waste your money. If they had any real powers they wouldn’t be answering phones, and God has already spoken:

         “All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
          let them save you from what is coming upon you.
         “Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up.
          They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame…”
Isaiah 47: 13-14

         The first of the two main sections of the Bible is known as the Old Testament and contains 39 books. The Jewish Bible is the same as the Christian Old Testament, but divided into only 22 books. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and was completed more than 300 years before the birth of Jesus. Some skeptics have tried to claim the Old Testament prophecies may have been altered to fit Jesus, but this cannot be true for two reasons. For the most part the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and would not have altered their Holy Scripture to suit someone they did not believe in.

         And secondly, the Old Testament had already been translated into Greek, the Septuagint, which was completed by approximately 247 B.C. Any changes made to the Hebrew Bible would have to be made in the Greek version also. This is a highly doubtful conspiracy.

         The Old Testament contains over 2,000 prophecies that have already been fulfilled, and 333 of those deal with the coming of the Messiah. Unlike Nostrodamus whose prophecies were vague, the Bible’s prophecies are often given in specific detail. Let me give a few examples:

• Both Isaiah 9: 5-6 and Isaiah 11: 1 predict that Jesus would be a descendant of David.
• Isaiah 7: 14 foretold the astonishing fact that he would be born of a virgin.
• Micah 5: 1 tells us he would be born in the small town of Bethlehem, Ephrata.
• Isaiah 9: 1-2 reveals that he would live in Nazareth of Galilee.
• Isaiah 53: 9 & 12 that he would die with criminals, but would be buried with the rich.
• Psalm 69: 22 says he would be offered vinegar and gall to drink.
• Psalm 22: 19 that they would cast lots for his clothing.
• Psalm 22: 2 and Psalm 31: 6 both record his dying words.
• Psalm 16: 10 predicted that he would rise from the dead.
• Isaiah 35: 5, 6 that he would perform miraculous healings.
• Psalm 34: 21 states that none of his bones would be broken. The criminals who were crucified at his sides both had their legs broken by the Roman guards but his were not.         And what I find most remarkable, Zechariah 11: 12 tells us that he would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver who would then throw the money on the floor of the house of the Lord… which Judas did after he betrayed Jesus.
           An interesting side note is that Zechariah 11: 13 states, “To throw the money to the potter,” and Matthew 27: 10 tells us the money was used to buy a burial ground which became known as “Potter’s Field.”         The Bible gives many accounts of miracles, but how can I use those miracles to prove the Bible, or the Bible to prove the miracles actually occurred? Obviously, I can’t, so I will look elsewhere. Let me start with what my pre-politically correct dictionary defines a miracle to be: “an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is hence thought to be due to supernatural causes, especially to an act of God.”

         There are writings beside the Bible that support the fact that Jesus performed miracles. Flavius Josephus, the famous first century Hebrew historian is one of these, but there is question that parts of his writings may have been added by over zealous scribes.

         The Koran states that God performed miracles through his prophets to confirm that they were prophets. It also says that Jesus performed miracles including raising people from the dead. As a side note, when they asked Mohammed to perform a miracle to prove that he was a prophet of God, he could not.

         Two of God’s greatest miracles are the Creation, and the fact that he would send his Son to die for us and then raise him from the dead. Let’s take a look at the Resurrection first:

         “After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”
1 Corinthians: 15: 6

         This Scripture and others were written and in circulation not long after the Resurrection, and note the wording, “most of whom are still living”. If the Resurrection did not occur, then where are the denials? The apostle Paul even challenges doubters to talk with those individuals personally to determine the truth for themselves.  All that was necessary to put an end to Christianity in the first century would be to persuade just one of the many witnesses to deny seeing the risen Christ, or to produce the body. But all the Pharisees could find was silence and an empty tomb guarded by Roman soldiers.

         Lee Strobel is an attorney and was once a legal journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He decided to use his legal and journalistic skills to disprove Christianity, but when he investigated the evidence, the skeptic became a believer. (“The Case For Christ“, by Lee Strobel is a book worth reading.)

         His conversion is not an isolated case. Some of the greatest legal minds in history have also become believers after examining the evidence for the Resurrection. Simon Greenleaf, who wrote the book on legal evidence that lawyers use to tell if witnesses are telling the truth, was a professor of law at Harvard. His students asked him to apply these same rules to the New Testament witnesses and he concluded that they were telling the truth. Simon Greenleaf became a Christian because of the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus.

         As to the Creation of the Universe, all I need say is, the evidence is all around you. If anyone can look out at the stars at night or at the face of a child and not see the work of God, then I feel bad for that person, for surely they have allowed the light to burn out:

         “The heavens declare the glory of God;
           the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Psalm 19: 1

         Is the Bible inerrant, and is the Bible that we have today an accurate rendering of the original? The answer is yes to both questions. But, what about all the errors we have been told are in the Bible? If the Bible is the word of God then it cannot have errors, because God cannot err:

     “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.
      He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”
2 Samuel 22: 31

     “All your words are true;
     all your righteous laws are eternal. ”
Psalm 119: 160

         There are no errors in the Bible, but there are difficult passages. Dr. Norman Geisler devoted 50 years to investigating these difficulties and has written a book (When Critics Ask) that gives explanations to many of them. Let’s take a look at eight types of problems that occur in the Bible as described by Dr. Geisler:

         1.) Critics assume that the unexplained is unexplainable. Many “errors” in the Bible have been explained in the past century and a half by archeological discoveries. For Example: 

         The Bible was the only place that mentioned the Hittites and critics claimed the Bible to be wrong until a whole library was found in Turkey.

         Critics said there was no writing in Moses’ day and that he could not have written the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). Again the critics were proven wrong. Writings have been found that go back 2,000 years before the time of Moses.

         In the past two centuries, archeologists have excavated thousands of sites in the Middle East, often hoping to disprove the Bible. But as Nelson Glueck, a famous archeologist has said, “It can be categorically stated that not one single archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical text.”

         Unfortunately, it is also true that even if we could dig up the whole Middle East and confirm every historical and geographical statement the Bible makes, it would not confirm that what Jesus said is right and true. Frankly, no amount of evidence, and certainly not this letter, will convince anyone of this. That is a matter of the heart.

         “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2 Corinthians. 4: 4

         If you just read through that scripture (2 Corinthians. 4: 4) quickly, maybe its meaning did not sink in. It is a very powerful statement. It says that God (who is in control) allows the god of this age (who is Satan) to keep unbelievers (those who choose not to see) from seeing (the truth) that they can be saved by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior (which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ). That’s a pretty scary thought.

         Returning to the subject of how archeology has verified the Bible, I’d like to relate something I find interesting. The Old Testament lists all the kings of Israel and Judah, plus 47 Gentile kings from countries such as Egypt, Babylon, Syria and Greece. Not one history book mentioned even one of them, but when archeologists began to dig, they found the names of all 47 kings in exactly the places the Bible said they had reined:

         “I tell you’, he replied, ‘If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Luke 19: 40

         2.) Often critics will assume a partial or divergent report to be a false report because it seemingly contradicts another report. The Bible has many partial reports, but that does not make them false. For example:

         The Gospel of Matthew says there was an angel at the tomb after the Resurrection of Jesus, and the Gospel of John says there were two angels. If there are two there is always at least one. The critics read into Matthew the word “only” which is not there. Matthew does not say there was only one angel.

         In the case of a divergent statement, something seemingly different from other statements in the Bible, one should stick with what is clearly defined and explained elsewhere. We will not be able to understand all things in this life, so let’s give the Bible the benefit of the doubt when we run into difficult passages. Show a little faith and rely on the vast amount of clear information it contains, and as Dr. Geisler says, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!

         “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13: 12

         3.) Critics sometimes demand that New Testament quotations of the Old Testament always be exact quotations. Why? We don’t do that today. Newspapers paraphrase and summarize all the time. When the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament it doesn’t always give the exact wording, but it always gives the exact meaning.

         4.) Sometimes critics assume that because the Bible records something that the Bible approves of it. There are some pretty ugly events described in the Bible, but don’t shoot the message bearer. Because an event is recorded in the Bible doesn’t mean God approves of it. A perfect example of this would be the American Civil War. Many people wrongly used the Bible to justify slavery, which it does not.

         5.) Because the Bible speaks to us in every day language critics will often try to prove errors where they don’t exist. For example:

         Joshua 10: 13 states, “…The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.” That is very unscientific, but it is just as unscientific for a meteorologist to say “sunrise will be at 6 a.m.” or, “sunset will be at 7 p.m.” And the Bible often rounds off numbers, but that also is not an error. The Bible speaks in everyday language.

         6.) Confusing general statements with universal ones. For example:

         Proverbs 16: 7 states, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”

         Jesus was obviously pleasing the Lord (“And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'”  Matthew 3: 17) but yet, his enemies crucified him. This doesn’t make the Bible wrong. Be careful not to confuse a general statement with one that is universally true.

         7.) Forgetting that later revelations supersede previous ones. For example:

         Deuteronomy 14 lists foods that were “unclean” and not to be eaten, such as pork and rabbit. But later, we are told this restriction has been lifted and that all foods can be eaten. This can be found in Matthew 15, Mark 7, & Acts 11.

         8.) Taking scripture out of context to prove a point which is contrary to Biblical teaching. I do believe the two words in the Bible that are used out of context more than any others are, “judge not”. It seems that every time a Christian gives an opinion on anything or anyone there is someone just waiting to jump out from behind a rock and say “judge not!” It is true that Jesus said not to judge, but he did not say, do not make a judgment on anyone or anything. The Bible is filled with scripture telling us we should and must make judgments:

         “Speak up and judge fairly;
         defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Proverbs 31: 9

         When (as in Matthew 7: 1) Jesus said not to judge, he was condemning unjust and hypocritical judging. Keep in mind that anyone can use Gods words for their own purposes. Even Satan quoted scripture to tempt Jesus… and Jesus answered with scripture. If you do not study Gods word, how can you know if it is being used correctly by others? How can you know Gods will for your life if you don’t read the manual?

         “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4: 4

         The Bible is inerrant in the original manuscripts given by God, but there are copyist errors in the Bible we have today. Therefore, can we trust the Bible? The original Bible manuscripts as given by God must be without error because God cannot err and cannot lie, but the question that arises, as with any other writing from antiquity is, “Do we have an accurate copy of the original?” How do we know that the documents that our current translations are based on have been reliably copied throughout history?

         Let’s take a look at the Old Testament first. The earliest known complete Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament was the Ben Asher Codex dating to around 1,008 A.D. Remember, the Old Testament was completed in approximately 325 B.C., a span from original documents to earliest known copy of over 1,300 years. 1,300 years is a lot of time for errors to accumulate.

         But in 1947, in Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These manuscripts date back to between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D., making them the oldest in the world. When a comparison was made it was shown that, except for minor details (such as spelling) that do not affect the meaning of the text, the two were almost identical.

         The reason they were the same after so many years and that we can rely on the Bible we have today is because the Jews had been entrusted with Gods Word, and for centuries they meticulously worked to preserve its integrity. The Old Testament was written on scrolls made of animal skins and they were copied by men known as Scribes. The rules they followed were incredibly demanding. If they made any mistake such as allowing two letters of a word to touch each other then the entire panel and the panel that came before it (because it had touched the panel with the mistake) were destroyed.

         The evidence for the reliability of the 27 New Testament books is perhaps even stronger. There is more evidence that the New Testament is an accurate historical record than for any book of the ancient world. There are more accurately copied documents, with a closer time span from the original writings to the earliest known copies, than for any book from antiquity. So much so, that if you cannot believe the New Testament to be historically reliable, you would need to throw out all of ancient history if their authenticity is judged by the same set of rules.

         The average time gap from original writing to first known copy of most books from the ancient world is over 1,000 years. Plato’s Tetralogies were written around 400 B.C. and the first copies we have are from 900 A.D. That’s 1,300 years for copyist errors to have occurred, and we only have seven copies. Caesar’s Gallic Wars were written in 60 B.C. and the first of only ten copies was from 900 A.D. Homer’s Iliad was written in 900 B.C. with the oldest copy from 400 B.C. and it has the most copies (643) of any ancient Greek or Roman writer, and their authenticity is accepted.

         We have about 5,300 copies of the Greek New Testament manuscripts, and the time span from time of writing to the first known copies is about 100 years, with some fragments to within 25 years! In addition to the Greek manuscripts and manuscript portions there are 10,000 Latin Vulgate, and 9,300 Ethiopic, Coptic, and other language versions.

         There is also a back up source for the 27 New Testament books. In fact, if every Bible in the world were destroyed, we could still reconstruct virtually the whole New Testament from quotations by the early church Fathers. The Anti-Nicene Fathers from the second to the fourth century record over 36,000 New Testament quotes. All but about a dozen verses of the New Testament can be found in their writings. No unbiased person can doubt the reliability of the Bible when the same standards that are used for authenticating other ancient writings are applied to the Bible.

         Greek scholar, A. T. Robertson, has stated that the New Testament is about 99.9% accurate and the .1% is mostly spelling errors that do not affect the meaning of any of the Bible’s doctrines. We can trust the Bible we have today because it is God’s Word and he has protected it from all who would keep it from us.

         If the original Bible manuscripts are without error, and the Bible we have today contains only minor copyist errors, then the next question should be, “Is one Bible better than another?” In his book, (General Introduction to the Bible), Dr. Norman Geisler lists over 1,200 translations of the Bible into English that have been made since the eight century. Of the ones commonly available today, most are good, meaning all the essential major and minor doctrines come through correctly in the translation. They do not deny the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, his Deity, the bodily Resurrection, or any of the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

         But some are better than others in their readability, and they mostly fall into two categories, those that are more literal (word for word) and those that are more literary (phrase for phrase).

         For those who prefer a more literal translation, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an excellent choice. It was done by a group of conservative scholars and it gives the literal meaning of the original languages, but literal translations don’t flow very well, and they are also difficult to memorize verses from. I prefer the literary translations, and in particular, the New International Version, 1984 Edition (NIV). It also was done by a group of about 100 conservative scholars and they used the oldest and therefore most reliable Hebrew and Greek texts.

         Many people are still fond of the King James Version (KJV) and argue wrongly that it is more accurate than the later translations. Some even say it is the only true Bible. I say “wrongly”, because when the KJV was translated to English in 1611 no manuscripts of the Bible had been discovered that dated before the sixth century. Since the 1840’s we have found manuscripts dating back to the second century.

         Today’s translations are based on older and therefore more reliable manuscripts than the KJV. Also, the language used in the KJV is archaic. Some of the words don’t even have the same meaning anymore. For example, can you tell me what this line from the KJV means?:

         “He that letteth will now let”.
2 Thessalonians. 2: 7

         In 1611 “let” meant to hinder, and of course today it means to allow. So, if you were reading the KJV today you would get the opposite meaning of what was intended.

         There are some Bibles that are halfway between literal like the KJV, and literary like the NIV. The New King James Version (NKJV) is one of these. It is an improvement over the KJV in that it got rid of the archaic language of the KJV. The English Standard Version (ESV) is an excellent Bible and was translated from the oldest and most reliable Hebrew and Greek texts.

         My personal favorite Bible is the New International Version, 1984 Edition but they have since made updated versions with “gender-neutral language”, and although the translation is still reliable, some of the added notes and comments are questionable, and I do not recommend it.

         There are some bad translations also. One of these is the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have deliberately altered verses on the Deity of Christ to conform to their beliefs. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church is also guilty. At the 1546 Council of Trent they added seven of the Apocryphal books to the Bible. Not one of these writings claim to be inspired by God, and they also contain theological and historical errors.

         As a matter of fact, Jerome, possibly the greatest Catholic scholar of the middle ages, who translated the Latin Vulgate which lasted over 1,000 years, rejected the Apocryphal writings and refused to even translate them. The New Testament quotes virtually every book in the Old Testament or cites it in some way, but not these. They were never in the Jewish Bible. These writings were added to the Roman Catholic Bible to support their doctrines on penance, purgatory, and the selling of indulgences.

     “Every word of God is flawless;
          he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
     Do not add to his words,
          or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”
 Proverbs 30: 5-6

         Well, here we are. Eleven pages and I’ve hardly scratched the surface. Keeping this to a letter and not a book has been difficult. The Bible’s influence can be found in all aspects of life; society, education, law, work ethic, morality, politics, literature, science, and on and on.

         I hope if you already haven’t, that you will investigate the Bible for yourself. I know that if you do, you will find that it is God’s message of hope and love to his creation, and a great source of strength and comfort in a fallen world.

         If you don’t have a reliable and reader friendly Bible, I strongly recommend the New International Version (NIV) Study Bible. It will be a very good investment. Start reading at the beginning with Genesis, then read the Gospels, and after that go wherever it takes you. It is an incredible journey.

         I promised myself that regardless of how much this letter grew, I would include these three things:

     1.) Some trivia: What is the shortest verse in the Bible? (Answer at the end of letter).

     2.) In my opinion the coolest verse in the Bible can be found in John 8 when Jesus is talking about Satan and he says:

     “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

     3.) Dennis Praeger, a Jewish radio talk show host, once made an interesting point about the power of the Bible to change lives, and it went something like this:

     “If you were stranded on a street alone at night, your car had broken down, say at 2:00 a.m. on a lonely street in Los Angeles… pitch black darkness, and you get out of your car and suddenly, you see ten big burly men coming out of a house and walking toward you, would it or would it not be comforting to know they were just coming out of a Bible study?”

         Earlier I talked about the proofs of the Bible, its amazing unity, its prophecies, and its miracles. There is another proof that can be witnessed today and that is, how the Bible can and does change lives. Some of you will look at me and say that I am not so good, and rightly so. No one has ever heard me claim to be anything more than what I am, a sinful man in a fallen world, who would be lost if not for the sacrifice God made for me.

         When I stand before my Maker, as we all must do, I will have no doubt that my sins have been (past tense) forgiven.  I have put my faith, not in myself, but totally in the fact that Jesus paid my debt for me.  The moment I accepted this as fact and asked Jesus to come into my life I was born again.  That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can be found in the Bible.  That is why I wrote this letter and why I urge you to find it there for yourself as God has given it to us, pure and true, and not altered by man.
     
“Nothing in my hand I bring
          Only to the cross I cling.”

         Just as last year, my son Michael has helped me write this letter.  So, if you like it, it is because of his help.  And if you don’t like it… it is because of his help!

     Trivia answer:
          “Jesus wept.” John 11: 35
 

All scripture from the New International Version (NIV) 1984 Edition.

 

GOD BLESS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Bob Rani                                                 Mike Rani