Christmas is a shortened term for “Christ’s Mass [1]”, a day which marks the remembering of the reason that Christ was born to this world. The Lord Jesus Christ came as God in the flesh to die on a cross for our sins. The purpose of “Christ’s mass” is to remember His death in the way He asked us to do it, by the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine. (1 Cor 11:23-26) The Bible calls it the ‘Lords Supper’.
The Lord’s Supper’ which celeb-rates Jesus birth began to be called Christmas in the mid 4th century. The more important event however is ‘the Lord’s Supper at the time of Passover (Easter). It was at the celebrating of the Jewish Passover Supper just prior to Jesus' crucifixion when Jesus asked us to remember His death in this way.
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in rememb-rance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. - Luke 22:19-22
These two observances Christmas and Easter of the ‘Lords Supper’ however, are no more significant than any other observance of the Lord’s Supper. The ‘Lord’s supper’ has been observed every Lord’s day (Sunday) by many Christians since the time of Christ’s ascension into heaven.
Christians claimed the first day of the week as their Sabbath day to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection as it represents the day that Christ was raised from the dead. (Acts 20:7) The rest of the world had always observed its day of rest on the Saturday, which goes back all the way to Adam. It is also the 4th of the Ten Commandments.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. - Exod 20:8-11
The Bread that is broken each Sunday represents Christ’s body which was broken for us. The wine represents Christ’s blood which was shed that we might be washed clean of our sins.
At Christmas we particularly reflect on the fact that God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ came to dwell among us. (John 1:1-4,14)
The scripture tells us that Jesus was born of a virgin. It tells us that He was begotten of God. (John 3:16) This makes Him equal with God, A claim that no one else could make.
The prophets said of Him that He would be called ‘Emmanuel’ meaning ‘God is with us’. (Isaiah 7:14) Jesus made His dwelling place among men. (John 1:14) Jesus said that He would prepare dwelling places in heaven (John 14:1-3) for His children who allow Him to have a dwelling place in their hearts.
12a But to as many as received Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) to them gave He the right to be called the children of God. - John 1:12a
16 …I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. … At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My command-ments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” - John 14:16-21
It is fitting that we celebrate Christ-mas in the winter time (although the best evidence is that Christ was actually born in the summer months perhaps as early as May) because the Bible says that God wants to make you white as snow.
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. - Isaiah 1:18
Can you think of any greater Christ-mas present than this! When God lives in you, He will help you to keep your life clean.
11 …He [God] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” – Matt 3:11b-12
The Apostle Paul said;
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:8-9
Jesus says;
20 Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come and sup with him and he with me. - Rev 3:20 KJV
At Christmas time we give gifts to each other. God has given the gift of His son to us. God is asking you to give a gift to Him this Christmas. That gift is yourself, your will and your willingness to submit to His rule in your life. Paul called this a reasonable request when you consider what He has done for you. (Rom 12:1-2)
Will you submit to Him? Consider starting a dialogue with Him right now.
If you want to know the true meaning of Christmas then invite Jesus to come into your life to dwell with you. He will give you a brand new start. He will make you white as snow.
Let us know if we can assist you in any way. May God bless you this Christmas season. May you experience it as you never have before!
A Suggested Prayer:
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, …9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. - Psalm 57:7-10
Continue to pray and confess your sins to the Lord Jesus as He reveals them to you. Ask Him to transfer His righteousness to you and to take away your unrighteousness.
Then find a church where you can celebrate the Lords Supper together with other believers and where they can encourage you in your new walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada, http://bibledoor.blogspot.com/ & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
----
[1] modif. of VL *messa, lit., dismissal at the end of a religious service. - MW Collegiate Dict. (11th Ed.) The word Mass doesn’t appear in the Bible. The Bible calls it “the Lords Supper”.The disciples met for the express purpose of breaking bread on Sunday in Acts 20:7, suggesting a weekly observance and suggesting that it is to be more than a dismissal tacked on at the end of a service.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Sinners Only Please!
Daily Devotional by Serious Faith Dot Com, Tuesday July 11th, 2006.
On one occasion Jesus posed to some sceptics who criticized the kind of people he hung out with the following;
Matt. 9 - 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
On the surface it seems odd that Jesus wants the sinners instead of the "good" people. Aren't good people the type who want to follow God and believe in Jesus? Aren't Christians the "good" people?
It is very common to hear today that a person will "go to heaven" because they are good. If you ask most non-Christians they will tell you that God is going to accept them in heaven because they are nice to their friends, help people and don't do anything extraordinarily wicked. After all, a loving God doesn't send people to hell and you get to heaven if your "good" outweighs your "bad".
If you're generally a "righteous" (good) person, then you DESERVE to go to heaven.
Even Christians get trapped in measuring how "good" they are by examining how much they pray and read the Bible; or by how much they give or serve. Subconsciously they feel acceptable to God because they have earned it by being "good". This is not to be confused with the very real sense of God's displeasure or chastisement when we are indeed ignoring or disobeying Him. The type of "being good" I’m discussing here believes that God OWES us His favour because we have acted a certain way.
Any idea that being good earns God's favour betrays a lack of understanding about what true righteousness is.
True righteousness does not originate in us.
True righteousness comes only from God. It is applied to us through our Saviour’s sacrifice, and we are empowered to righteousness through obedience to God.
Why did Jesus not call the "righteous" (those who are good)? Because good people (in the sense Jesus was speaking) have not yet reached a point of being "poor in spirit"
Matt 5 – 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
To be poor in spirit is to realize that we are completely bankrupt of good, and that we have no hope of salvation unless the Saviour comes to rescue us.
In the context of Jesus words, the "sinner" is the person who has this figured out. The sinner realizes who they are, and understands that they can't do anything about their condition without help. Jesus came to call those who understand their true hopelessness and dilemma.
The full article:
You may read the entire article at the following web address. http://www.seriousfaith.com/teaching_detail.asp?teachingnumber=308
The Ten Commandments
are arguably the most important part of the bible prior to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as they were written by God’s own hand! The Ten Command-ments define for us how God decides who is truly righteous.
1) You shall have no other god before me.
2) You shall not make yourself any graven image.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy.
5) Honour your father and your mother.
6) You shall not kill.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not lie.
10) You shall not covet.
Most people feel self-righteous as they go down through this list until they realize that a bad person includes a person who lies or steals. Most don’t realize that they have also committed adultery and murder. Jesus reminded us of this when he said;
Matt 5 – 21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement.’ “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement… and whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Many of us can think of a time when we have spoken ill of a brother. Again Jesus said regarding adultery;
Matt 5 – 27 “You have heard it said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
By the definition Jesus gave everyone has committed adultery.
Conclusion;
We are all basically bad people, or as the Bible says “Sinners”. The Bible reinforces this conclusion even more when it says,
Romans 3 - 10 There is none righteous, no not one.
Romans 3 – 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Further conclusion;
The Christian and a non-Christian are both sinners. The only difference between them is the Christian has admitted it and he has asked God to replace his lack of perfection with the gift of Christ’s perfection in his life.
Ephesians 2 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; It is the gift of God, 9 not of works lest anyone should boast.
Contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
On one occasion Jesus posed to some sceptics who criticized the kind of people he hung out with the following;
Matt. 9 - 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
On the surface it seems odd that Jesus wants the sinners instead of the "good" people. Aren't good people the type who want to follow God and believe in Jesus? Aren't Christians the "good" people?
It is very common to hear today that a person will "go to heaven" because they are good. If you ask most non-Christians they will tell you that God is going to accept them in heaven because they are nice to their friends, help people and don't do anything extraordinarily wicked. After all, a loving God doesn't send people to hell and you get to heaven if your "good" outweighs your "bad".
If you're generally a "righteous" (good) person, then you DESERVE to go to heaven.
Even Christians get trapped in measuring how "good" they are by examining how much they pray and read the Bible; or by how much they give or serve. Subconsciously they feel acceptable to God because they have earned it by being "good". This is not to be confused with the very real sense of God's displeasure or chastisement when we are indeed ignoring or disobeying Him. The type of "being good" I’m discussing here believes that God OWES us His favour because we have acted a certain way.
Any idea that being good earns God's favour betrays a lack of understanding about what true righteousness is.
True righteousness does not originate in us.
True righteousness comes only from God. It is applied to us through our Saviour’s sacrifice, and we are empowered to righteousness through obedience to God.
Why did Jesus not call the "righteous" (those who are good)? Because good people (in the sense Jesus was speaking) have not yet reached a point of being "poor in spirit"
Matt 5 – 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
To be poor in spirit is to realize that we are completely bankrupt of good, and that we have no hope of salvation unless the Saviour comes to rescue us.
In the context of Jesus words, the "sinner" is the person who has this figured out. The sinner realizes who they are, and understands that they can't do anything about their condition without help. Jesus came to call those who understand their true hopelessness and dilemma.
The full article:
You may read the entire article at the following web address. http://www.seriousfaith.com/teaching_detail.asp?teachingnumber=308
The Ten Commandments
are arguably the most important part of the bible prior to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as they were written by God’s own hand! The Ten Command-ments define for us how God decides who is truly righteous.
1) You shall have no other god before me.
2) You shall not make yourself any graven image.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy.
5) Honour your father and your mother.
6) You shall not kill.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not lie.
10) You shall not covet.
Most people feel self-righteous as they go down through this list until they realize that a bad person includes a person who lies or steals. Most don’t realize that they have also committed adultery and murder. Jesus reminded us of this when he said;
Matt 5 – 21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement.’ “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement… and whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Many of us can think of a time when we have spoken ill of a brother. Again Jesus said regarding adultery;
Matt 5 – 27 “You have heard it said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
By the definition Jesus gave everyone has committed adultery.
Conclusion;
We are all basically bad people, or as the Bible says “Sinners”. The Bible reinforces this conclusion even more when it says,
Romans 3 - 10 There is none righteous, no not one.
Romans 3 – 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Further conclusion;
The Christian and a non-Christian are both sinners. The only difference between them is the Christian has admitted it and he has asked God to replace his lack of perfection with the gift of Christ’s perfection in his life.
Ephesians 2 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; It is the gift of God, 9 not of works lest anyone should boast.
I John 1 – 9 If we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Monday, June 05, 2006
The Pastor has Guts
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the brand new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!"
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!"
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.[1]
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over the nation of the United States. May it once again be said that they are "one nation under God."
May we as Canadians remember that our founding fathers named our country the “Dominion of Canada” after deliberating whether to simply call us “Canada”. And that to remind us of that decision they had inscribed over one of the entrance ways to the Parliament Buildings this verse of scripture;
Psalm 87 - 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.”
No doubt our Canadian founding fathers had the Ottawa river in mind which connects to the Saint Lawrence and onto the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.
But sadly today Canada languishes with the same rejection of Gods standards for our society as has also occurred in many other nations. We have somehow come to believe that we can separate democracy from Godly morals.
We have even eliminated reference to God from our modern dictionaries.[2] In the original Webster’s dictionary of 1828 he defined the word Moral as; “…applicable to actions that are good or evil, virtuous or vicious, and has reference to the law of God as the standard by which their character is to be determined.” Today our modern 10th revision of that dictionary reads; “… conforming to a standard of right behavior …. sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.”
By doing so some in our society are encouraged to take the law in their own hands; These are people who have no conscience or ethical judgement because of the false idea that each of us can follow his or her own private ethical judgments rather than a common set of ethics which is unchanging when based on Gods dominion over us.
We have also eliminated the Lord’s Prayer [3] from our schools. By doing so;
1. We fail to teach our children to ask that God will keep them from temptation.
2. We fail to teach our children to seek to be delivered us from evil thoughts and practises.
3. We no longer teach our children that there is anyone to depend on when others fail.
1. We fail to teach our children to ask that God will keep them from temptation.
2. We fail to teach our children to seek to be delivered us from evil thoughts and practises.
3. We no longer teach our children that there is anyone to depend on when others fail.
We are now reaping what we’ve sown. [4] We now have soaring rates of suicide, soaring rates of crime, soaring rates of sexually transmitted diseases, soaring rates of abortion (now approaching 33% of all first pregnancies), soaring rates of violence including abuse against children, soaring rates of divorce (no 50%)
We have replaced God with ourselves.
We have put our faith that our individual freedoms will be protected by a democratic process rather than by the protection of the laws of God to have dominion over us.
Where is it all leading? Think about where we are now as a society and where we were 20 years ago. We have health care rates soaring out of control while offering free abortions. Our homicide rates are increasing. 20 years ago who ever heard of high school shootings. If we do not recognize the trends that are already in place little will convince us of where we are heading. I will simply state that I believe we can expect things to get much worse if we don’t once again seek to have Gods dominion over us.
What can we do about it? We would like to recommend that a person try reading the gospel of John from the Bible. If you do not own a Bible, let us know we will be glad to help you to obtain one. We are convinced that if you give it a chance that you too will discover that you want God to have dominion over you. Once God has dominion over you, He will tell you what to do and where to go from there. But we would be glad to assist you in any way we can.
Please join us to pray and support efforts to once again allow God to have dominion over our country. Prayerfully consider joining a political party of your choosing and influence that party with your desire to allow God to have Dominion over our country once again.
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything."
Let us know if you would like us to assist you in any way.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Let us know if you would like us to assist you in any way.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
--- Footnotes ---
[1]The italicised portion of this tract was sent to us at Bible Door Tracts by a missionary in Mexico, quoted from another news source. We have asked him to provide us with that source so we can include it in the future printings.
[2] Many seem unaware that Noah Webster (of Webster Dictionary fame) was a minister of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. He first made a translation of the Bible from Greek to English called the Webster’s Bible then he decided to provide a dictionary to go with the Bible that many of us know as the Webster’s Dictionary.
[3] Matthew 6 – 9 Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
[4] Galatians 6 - 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Why Only Four Gospels?
In Christianity, gospel means "good news". It’s generally thought that the word gospel derives from the Old English god "good", and spell "news", a translation of the Greek word ευαγγέλιον (evangelion) eu (good) angelon (message). This is also the Greek word from which we get the term evangelist.
The Good Message regards the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to our planet earth. He willingly took on a body of flesh and blood so that he could dwell among us and accomplish the will of the Father who sent Him. (John 1:1-14) His mission was to demonstrate a holy life without sin and then to allow His life to be sacrificed to deal with the sins of those that will put their trust in Him to rescue them from the consequences of their sins.
The Good News of the Old Testament
The Holy Bible is a collection of 66 books written over a period of time spanning 1500 years. The Old Testament (Testimony concerning Christ) contains 39 of these books that were written before the coming of the Lord Jesus to our planet. The Old Testament explains how man first fell into sin and it defines for us what sin is and the inescapable penalty for those that chose to die without dealing with it in God’s prescribed manner.
The concept that innocent blood of animals must be shed to cover man’s sin was first introduced in the Old Testament. [1] The prediction was made that some day God would send the Anointed One [2] who would be the great prophet who will know no sin and in fact will deal with the question of mans sin. [3]
The Good News of the New Testament
The New Testament was written after the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One fulfilled the Old Testament Predictions. It explains why Jesus came. It explains the meaning of the Cross and how that affects you and I personally.
The exactly four gospels of the New Testament [4]
In AD 185, Irenaeus of Lyons wrote an apologetic work he entitled “Adversu Haereses Irenaus”. In his apologetic he argued against some late dated gospels which had already shown up which dated to after AD 70. He specifically argued against the altered version of the gospel of Luke which Marcion had produced. Irenaus drew a conclusion from a vision given to Ezekiel of a creature with four faces that this must mean four views of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 1 - 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.
And Iranaeus argued that there was a distinct purpose for each of the original four gospels as follows;
· Gospel according to Matthew-written by or to Jewish Christians
· Gospel according to Mark-written to a Roman audience
· Gospel according to Luke-written to "most excellent Theophilus" (Greek)
· Gospel according to John-written to non-Jews
Early dating of the four gospels
Early Christian writers always understood the order of the writing of the Gospels to be Matthew, followed by Luke, followed by Mark then followed by John. But in the 1800’s skeptics attempted to discredit the gospels as original accounts claiming a different order for the books and claiming a mysterious original gospel they call “Q”. “Q” has never been found. In order to believe there is a “Q” gospel there is a tendency by the same skeptics to claim a late dating of the original Gospels writing. By claiming this late dating they are also attempt to bring parity to other late dated heretical “gnostic” gospels. They are called “gnostic” gospels because the early church correctly understood that these were largely written by a cult that predated Christianity which believes in goddess worship and attempts to hi-jack Christianity to discredit Christ as being a member of the triune Godhead. [5]
Unfortunately many mainstream Christians today have bought this lie regarding the “Q” manuscript and many have bought into the second lie regarding the late dating of the writing of the New Testament. The range of consensus is as follows;
· Mark: c. 68 (minority) vs 73
· Matthew: c. pre 70 (minority) vs 70 to 100
· Luke: c. pre 70 (minority) vs 80–100 most argue for 85
· John: c. Pre 70 (minority) vs 90–110. many skeptics argue for 2 stages with no stated date of completion. [6]
Although the early dating of scripture is held today by only a minority of Christians we see no evidence other than human deductive reasoning which we believe has led the majority of Christians in the wrong direction to support anything other than the “Minority” view of when the Gospel accounts were written.
Consider the following reasons to consider the early dating of Scripture;
1. The witness of the Spirit - The Bible Tells Christians to become born anew. (John 3:3). When they do so it tells them that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within them forever (John 14:16). We are told clearly that our spirit witnesses with God’s Spirit, placed within us that these things are true. (1 John 5:6)
2. The promises to preserve the gospel message regarding our Lord Jesus - The gates of hell will not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
3. The eyewitness claims made - We are told that the scripture was written by eye witnesses (Luke 1:2; 2 Pet 1:16)
4. The fulfilled prophecy of the destruction of the temple - The great Prophecy of the Lord Jesus that the Temple would soon be destroyed came true in AD 70 along with the genocide of 2 Million Jews and Christians, yet nothing of this is mentioned in the New Testament.
The Bible tells us that skeptics will come which we must guard against regarding the accuracy of the word of God. (1 Tim 3:16, Rev 22:18-19) It tells us to defend it and to exhort and convict those who contradict it.
Titus 1 - 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
It is our hope that this tract will help you to defend the Good News of Jesus Christ as it is explained in the Bible. Please visit our website and listen to the Audio Bible broadcast from there or read it from one of our many links. Let us know where you are at in your spiritual journey. We would be glad to correspond with you.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada, http://bibledoor.blogspot.com/ & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
--- Footnotes ---
The Good Message regards the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to our planet earth. He willingly took on a body of flesh and blood so that he could dwell among us and accomplish the will of the Father who sent Him. (John 1:1-14) His mission was to demonstrate a holy life without sin and then to allow His life to be sacrificed to deal with the sins of those that will put their trust in Him to rescue them from the consequences of their sins.
The Good News of the Old Testament
The Holy Bible is a collection of 66 books written over a period of time spanning 1500 years. The Old Testament (Testimony concerning Christ) contains 39 of these books that were written before the coming of the Lord Jesus to our planet. The Old Testament explains how man first fell into sin and it defines for us what sin is and the inescapable penalty for those that chose to die without dealing with it in God’s prescribed manner.
The concept that innocent blood of animals must be shed to cover man’s sin was first introduced in the Old Testament. [1] The prediction was made that some day God would send the Anointed One [2] who would be the great prophet who will know no sin and in fact will deal with the question of mans sin. [3]
The Good News of the New Testament
The New Testament was written after the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One fulfilled the Old Testament Predictions. It explains why Jesus came. It explains the meaning of the Cross and how that affects you and I personally.
The exactly four gospels of the New Testament [4]
In AD 185, Irenaeus of Lyons wrote an apologetic work he entitled “Adversu Haereses Irenaus”. In his apologetic he argued against some late dated gospels which had already shown up which dated to after AD 70. He specifically argued against the altered version of the gospel of Luke which Marcion had produced. Irenaus drew a conclusion from a vision given to Ezekiel of a creature with four faces that this must mean four views of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 1 - 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.
And Iranaeus argued that there was a distinct purpose for each of the original four gospels as follows;
· Gospel according to Matthew-written by or to Jewish Christians
· Gospel according to Mark-written to a Roman audience
· Gospel according to Luke-written to "most excellent Theophilus" (Greek)
· Gospel according to John-written to non-Jews
Early dating of the four gospels
Early Christian writers always understood the order of the writing of the Gospels to be Matthew, followed by Luke, followed by Mark then followed by John. But in the 1800’s skeptics attempted to discredit the gospels as original accounts claiming a different order for the books and claiming a mysterious original gospel they call “Q”. “Q” has never been found. In order to believe there is a “Q” gospel there is a tendency by the same skeptics to claim a late dating of the original Gospels writing. By claiming this late dating they are also attempt to bring parity to other late dated heretical “gnostic” gospels. They are called “gnostic” gospels because the early church correctly understood that these were largely written by a cult that predated Christianity which believes in goddess worship and attempts to hi-jack Christianity to discredit Christ as being a member of the triune Godhead. [5]
Unfortunately many mainstream Christians today have bought this lie regarding the “Q” manuscript and many have bought into the second lie regarding the late dating of the writing of the New Testament. The range of consensus is as follows;
· Mark: c. 68 (minority) vs 73
· Matthew: c. pre 70 (minority) vs 70 to 100
· Luke: c. pre 70 (minority) vs 80–100 most argue for 85
· John: c. Pre 70 (minority) vs 90–110. many skeptics argue for 2 stages with no stated date of completion. [6]
Although the early dating of scripture is held today by only a minority of Christians we see no evidence other than human deductive reasoning which we believe has led the majority of Christians in the wrong direction to support anything other than the “Minority” view of when the Gospel accounts were written.
Consider the following reasons to consider the early dating of Scripture;
1. The witness of the Spirit - The Bible Tells Christians to become born anew. (John 3:3). When they do so it tells them that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within them forever (John 14:16). We are told clearly that our spirit witnesses with God’s Spirit, placed within us that these things are true. (1 John 5:6)
2. The promises to preserve the gospel message regarding our Lord Jesus - The gates of hell will not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
3. The eyewitness claims made - We are told that the scripture was written by eye witnesses (Luke 1:2; 2 Pet 1:16)
4. The fulfilled prophecy of the destruction of the temple - The great Prophecy of the Lord Jesus that the Temple would soon be destroyed came true in AD 70 along with the genocide of 2 Million Jews and Christians, yet nothing of this is mentioned in the New Testament.
The Bible tells us that skeptics will come which we must guard against regarding the accuracy of the word of God. (1 Tim 3:16, Rev 22:18-19) It tells us to defend it and to exhort and convict those who contradict it.
Titus 1 - 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
It is our hope that this tract will help you to defend the Good News of Jesus Christ as it is explained in the Bible. Please visit our website and listen to the Audio Bible broadcast from there or read it from one of our many links. Let us know where you are at in your spiritual journey. We would be glad to correspond with you.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada, http://bibledoor.blogspot.com/ & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
--- Footnotes ---
[1] Lev 6:6-16
[2] “Hamashiak” in Hebrew translated in BCE 250 as “Christos” in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_annointed_one.pdf
[3] Ps 22, Isa 52-53
[4] Wikipedia topic “Gospel”, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel
[5] For further information see: http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_DaVinciCode_TheCaseForChrist.pdf
[6] John while written last has the earliest manuscript fragments found to support it, dating to 115 AD.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Prehistoric ecosystem found in Israeli cave
Wed May 31, 2006 8:10 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.
The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions.
"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He said the cave's ecosystem probably dates back around five million years when the Mediterranean Sea covered parts of Israel
The cave was completely sealed off from the world, including from water and nutrients seeping through rock crevices above. Scientists who discovered the cave believe it has been intact for millions of years. "Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman.
Samples of the animals discovered in the cave were sent for DNA tests which found they were unique, he said. The cave has been closed off as scientists conduct a more detailed survey. "This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity," Dimantman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060531/sc_nm/science_israel_cave_dc_3
“They lost their sight due to evolution.” This is typical of the claims of the evolutionist. All science can demonstrate are changes within species but not changes from one species to another. And the changes within a species represent a failure of some kind in the genetic makeup of the animal rather than an enhancement.
The Bible tells us that God created every living species on earth; all of the plant life, aquatic life, reptiles, animals, birds, insects, mankind and He left instructions for each to reproduce “after its kind”.
Genesis 1 - 24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
Darwin pointed to the differences between Finches and Pigeons as evidence of Evolution. But each of these were part of a kind. When God created living things He embedded enough genetic diversity that each “kind” could adapt to weather conditions and environmental factors to survive, but He put a limit on adaptation that it could not and would not occur between species. That is why Science has never proven a “missing link” between species. There have been attempts but each attempt has been proven in time to be a hoax.
Dog breeders know what constitutes a pure breed. They know that if no selective breeding is done on an ongoing basis that the breed will deteriorate and eventually the characteristics of the breed will revert. That is why some dogs are sold as non-breeder dogs, even though their parentage may be of the right selection of breeds.
Because of the tremendous genetic diversity God created within each species traits can be enhanced by selective breeding. We have all benefited by this when it comes to our pets and our livestock. But no amount of breeding has ever demonstrated the changing of a single species into another species. A dog has always produced a dog. A cat has always produced a cat. This is just as God had determined it would be in the beginning.
There is absolutely nothing in the fossil record that can suggest any other conclusion, even though scientists have believed they would find a missing link for many years now they have come up lacking. Of the millions of fossils that have been examined any mutations that have been found could easily be explained as arthritic or otherwise non beneficial mutations cause by disease.
You were wonderfully made by the Creator of all that there is that exists. He has created you in his own image. You are not a mistake of evolution. He has placed you on this earth and he has given you a mind.
He wants you to analyse and discover the wonder of His intricate and detailed design for every aspect of your life.
No one questions when they see a tall building that there is an architect who designed that building. Yet man knows that he is much more complex than that building and wonders if he was made by accident. Some have said that the odds of a man being created by accident are similar to a jumbo jet being created by a tornado barrelling through a junk yard. You were not created that way.
You can live your life out of touch with the creator who made you, but you are the only one who will lose. We have that example regarding many things in life. If I chose to overeat I may gain weight and die early of diabetic complications. If chose to smoke I may die early of cancer. If I sleep in everyday I may lose my job and die in poverty. Perhaps God allows these things in our lives as examples of loss due to our actions or inactions.
If only we could learn from life’s examples when it comes to knowing God. We will have only ourselves to blame if we do not discover the truth of the master designer while we visit this earth in the bodies that he has created for us. God did not leave us on our own to discover Him. He has given us the Bible; the only book in existence that continues to prove itself as Gods word by fulfilled prophecy.[1] God didn’t stop there he sent His only begotten son to dwell here in the flesh among us. His name was Jesus.
You owe it to yourself to check out the claims of the Bible and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do it while God continues to grant you the breath of life on this earth to do so.
The Bible warns those that put this off;
Daniel 12 – 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.
The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions.
"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He said the cave's ecosystem probably dates back around five million years when the Mediterranean Sea covered parts of Israel
The cave was completely sealed off from the world, including from water and nutrients seeping through rock crevices above. Scientists who discovered the cave believe it has been intact for millions of years. "Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman.
Samples of the animals discovered in the cave were sent for DNA tests which found they were unique, he said. The cave has been closed off as scientists conduct a more detailed survey. "This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity," Dimantman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060531/sc_nm/science_israel_cave_dc_3
“They lost their sight due to evolution.” This is typical of the claims of the evolutionist. All science can demonstrate are changes within species but not changes from one species to another. And the changes within a species represent a failure of some kind in the genetic makeup of the animal rather than an enhancement.
The Bible tells us that God created every living species on earth; all of the plant life, aquatic life, reptiles, animals, birds, insects, mankind and He left instructions for each to reproduce “after its kind”.
Genesis 1 - 24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
Darwin pointed to the differences between Finches and Pigeons as evidence of Evolution. But each of these were part of a kind. When God created living things He embedded enough genetic diversity that each “kind” could adapt to weather conditions and environmental factors to survive, but He put a limit on adaptation that it could not and would not occur between species. That is why Science has never proven a “missing link” between species. There have been attempts but each attempt has been proven in time to be a hoax.
Dog breeders know what constitutes a pure breed. They know that if no selective breeding is done on an ongoing basis that the breed will deteriorate and eventually the characteristics of the breed will revert. That is why some dogs are sold as non-breeder dogs, even though their parentage may be of the right selection of breeds.
Because of the tremendous genetic diversity God created within each species traits can be enhanced by selective breeding. We have all benefited by this when it comes to our pets and our livestock. But no amount of breeding has ever demonstrated the changing of a single species into another species. A dog has always produced a dog. A cat has always produced a cat. This is just as God had determined it would be in the beginning.
There is absolutely nothing in the fossil record that can suggest any other conclusion, even though scientists have believed they would find a missing link for many years now they have come up lacking. Of the millions of fossils that have been examined any mutations that have been found could easily be explained as arthritic or otherwise non beneficial mutations cause by disease.
You were wonderfully made by the Creator of all that there is that exists. He has created you in his own image. You are not a mistake of evolution. He has placed you on this earth and he has given you a mind.
He wants you to analyse and discover the wonder of His intricate and detailed design for every aspect of your life.
No one questions when they see a tall building that there is an architect who designed that building. Yet man knows that he is much more complex than that building and wonders if he was made by accident. Some have said that the odds of a man being created by accident are similar to a jumbo jet being created by a tornado barrelling through a junk yard. You were not created that way.
You can live your life out of touch with the creator who made you, but you are the only one who will lose. We have that example regarding many things in life. If I chose to overeat I may gain weight and die early of diabetic complications. If chose to smoke I may die early of cancer. If I sleep in everyday I may lose my job and die in poverty. Perhaps God allows these things in our lives as examples of loss due to our actions or inactions.
If only we could learn from life’s examples when it comes to knowing God. We will have only ourselves to blame if we do not discover the truth of the master designer while we visit this earth in the bodies that he has created for us. God did not leave us on our own to discover Him. He has given us the Bible; the only book in existence that continues to prove itself as Gods word by fulfilled prophecy.[1] God didn’t stop there he sent His only begotten son to dwell here in the flesh among us. His name was Jesus.
You owe it to yourself to check out the claims of the Bible and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do it while God continues to grant you the breath of life on this earth to do so.
The Bible warns those that put this off;
Daniel 12 – 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
For you see God has created you as an eternal being. Your examination of why God has placed you hear on this earth will have everlasting consequences.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
http://bibledoor.blogspot.com/ & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Monday, May 29, 2006
Ushers Notes - How Long has Man been on the Earth?
The following is a summary taken from bishop USHERS NOTES which detail the dates which USHER figured out that date the age of the earth as 4004 prior to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ..The following is a detailed listing from the Bible showing how the years leading up to the Crucifixion of Christ are identified.According to the Bible mankind has only inhabited planet earth for approximately 6000 years.
Years Date Bible Ref. Comments
0 4004 BC Gen 1:26- Adam and Eve Created by God
131 3873 BC Gen 5:3 - Seth was born in Adam’s 131st year
236 3768 BC Gen 5:6 - Enos was born when Seth was 105
326 3678 BC Gen 5:9 - Cainan was born when Enos was 90
396 3608 BC Gen 5:12 - Mahalaeel was born when Cainan was 70
461 3543 BC Gen 5:15 - Jared was born when Mahalaeel was 65
623 3381 BC Gen 5:18 - Enoch was born when Jared was 162
688 3316 BC Gen 5:21 - Methuselah as born when Enoch was 65
875 3129 BC Gen 5:25 - Lamech was born when Methuselah was 187
1057 2947 BC Gen 5:28 - Noah was born when Lamech 182
1656 2348 BC Gen 7:6 - Noah was 600 when Flood occurred
1659 2345 BC Gen 11:10 - Arphaxad was born 2 years after the flood
1694 2310 BC Gen 11:12 - Salah was born when Arphaxad was 35
1724 2280 BC Gen 11:14 - Eber was born when Salah was 30
1758 2246 BC Gen 11:16 - Peleg was born when Eber was 34
1788 2216 BC Gen 11:18 - Reu was born when Peleg was 30
1820 2184 BC Gen 11:20 - Serug was born when Reu was 32
1850 2154 BC Gen 11:22 - Nahor was born when Serug was 30
1879 2125 BC Gen 11:24 - Terah was born when Nahor was 29
2084 1920 BC Gen 11:32 - Terah dies age 205 (during his 206th year)
2085 1919 BC Gen 12:4 - Abram leaves Haran to enter Canaan (he departed at age 75)
2095 1909 BC Gen 15:18 - Typical confirmation of Covenant: Abram age 85
2096 1908 BC Gen 16:16 - Ishmael born when Abraham was 86
2110 1894 BC Gen 21:5 - Isaac was born when Abraham was 100
2144 1860 BC Gen 23:1 - Isaac offered at age 33 1/
22147 1857 BC Gen 23:1 - Sarah died at age 127
2170 1834 BC Gen 25:26 - Jacob and Esau born when Isaac was 60
2300 1704 BC Gen 47:9 - Jacob enters Egypt at 130
2515 1489 BC Gen 15:13 - see Gal 4:28-30, Israel in Egypt 215 years to Exodus
2995 1009 BC 1 Kings 6:1 - Solomon laid the temple foundation 480 years after the Exodus (4th year of his reign)
3031 973 BC 1 Kings 11:42 Solomon reigned for 40 years
3048 956 BC 1 Kings 14:21 - Rehoboam reigned for 17 years
3051 953 BC 1 Kings 15:2 - Abijah reigned for 3 years
3092 912 BC 1 Kings 15:10 - Asa reigned for 41 years
3117 887 BC 1 Kings 22:42 - Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years
3122 882 BC 2 Kings 8:17 - Jehoram reigned for 5 years (+3 pro-rex)
3123 881 BC 2 Kings 8:26 - Ahaziah reigned for 1 year
3129 875 BC 2 Kings 11:3 - Athaliah reigned for 6 years
3169 835 BC 2 Kings 12:1 - Jehoash reigned for 40 years
3198 806 BC 2 Kings 14:2 - Amaziah reigned for 29 years
3250 754 BC 2 Kings 15:2 - Azariah (Uzziah) reigned for 52 years
3266 738 BC 2 Kings 15:33 - Jotham reigned for 16 years
3282 722 BC 2 Kings 16:2 - Ahaz reigned for 16 years
3311 693 BC 2 Kings 18:2 - Hezekiah reigned for 29 years
3366 638 BC 2 Kings 21:1 - Manasseh reigned for 55 years
3397 607 BC 2 Kings 22:1 - Josiah reigned for 31 years
3401 603 BC 2 Kings 23:36 - Jehoiakim (Elialim) reigned 4 years before being tributary to Nebuchadnezzar in his 1st year
3471 533 BC Jer 25:11-12 - Land of Israel served Babylon for 70 years
3471 533 BC 2 Chron 36:22 The decree of Cyrus allowing the return
3549 455 BC Ezra 7:7-8 - Artaxerxes Longimanus who made the decree to rebuild Jerusalem
4036 33 AD Dan 9:27 - Messiah to be cut off middle of 70th week
4039 36 AD Acts 10 - End of 70th week, conversion of Cornelius and opening of door to Gentiles
???? AD Heb 4:1-11 Return of Christ to set up His Millennial Kingdom on Earth
????+1000 AD Rev 20:15 - Great White Throne Judgment - Post Millennial Kingdom
The reason there are question marks for some of the dates is that they have not occurred yet, but are predicted in the Bible to occur sometime in the future. The Bible tells us explicitly not to set dates for these future events. It does however give us general guidelines and expects us to be ready for these events to occur. Scripture tells us that the generation that sees Israel blossom will see the coming of the Second Coming of the Messiah.[1] That started to happen in 1948 but it fully happened in 1967 during the 6 day war, when Israel took position of Jerusalem. Many Christians are looking for the soon and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ within the lifetimes of any who saw that event.
The Bible gives us another clue as to the length of time that man has been on the earth in the lineage given for the Lord Jesus Christ, through his mother Mary’s line. The lineage goes right back to Adam. 65 generations x approx 40 years each = 2,600 years but the bible also records that at the beginning of the world men lived to near 1000 years, which is why Jesus own lineage points to 4000 years to his birth. We know how many years it has been since Jesus birth every time we write the current date we attest to it.
Luke 3 – 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, 27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
[1] Parable of Fig Tree - Matt 24:32-35, Luke 21:29-33
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada, http://bibledoor.blogspot.com & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Years Date Bible Ref. Comments
0 4004 BC Gen 1:26- Adam and Eve Created by God
131 3873 BC Gen 5:3 - Seth was born in Adam’s 131st year
236 3768 BC Gen 5:6 - Enos was born when Seth was 105
326 3678 BC Gen 5:9 - Cainan was born when Enos was 90
396 3608 BC Gen 5:12 - Mahalaeel was born when Cainan was 70
461 3543 BC Gen 5:15 - Jared was born when Mahalaeel was 65
623 3381 BC Gen 5:18 - Enoch was born when Jared was 162
688 3316 BC Gen 5:21 - Methuselah as born when Enoch was 65
875 3129 BC Gen 5:25 - Lamech was born when Methuselah was 187
1057 2947 BC Gen 5:28 - Noah was born when Lamech 182
1656 2348 BC Gen 7:6 - Noah was 600 when Flood occurred
1659 2345 BC Gen 11:10 - Arphaxad was born 2 years after the flood
1694 2310 BC Gen 11:12 - Salah was born when Arphaxad was 35
1724 2280 BC Gen 11:14 - Eber was born when Salah was 30
1758 2246 BC Gen 11:16 - Peleg was born when Eber was 34
1788 2216 BC Gen 11:18 - Reu was born when Peleg was 30
1820 2184 BC Gen 11:20 - Serug was born when Reu was 32
1850 2154 BC Gen 11:22 - Nahor was born when Serug was 30
1879 2125 BC Gen 11:24 - Terah was born when Nahor was 29
2084 1920 BC Gen 11:32 - Terah dies age 205 (during his 206th year)
2085 1919 BC Gen 12:4 - Abram leaves Haran to enter Canaan (he departed at age 75)
2095 1909 BC Gen 15:18 - Typical confirmation of Covenant: Abram age 85
2096 1908 BC Gen 16:16 - Ishmael born when Abraham was 86
2110 1894 BC Gen 21:5 - Isaac was born when Abraham was 100
2144 1860 BC Gen 23:1 - Isaac offered at age 33 1/
22147 1857 BC Gen 23:1 - Sarah died at age 127
2170 1834 BC Gen 25:26 - Jacob and Esau born when Isaac was 60
2300 1704 BC Gen 47:9 - Jacob enters Egypt at 130
2515 1489 BC Gen 15:13 - see Gal 4:28-30, Israel in Egypt 215 years to Exodus
2995 1009 BC 1 Kings 6:1 - Solomon laid the temple foundation 480 years after the Exodus (4th year of his reign)
3031 973 BC 1 Kings 11:42 Solomon reigned for 40 years
3048 956 BC 1 Kings 14:21 - Rehoboam reigned for 17 years
3051 953 BC 1 Kings 15:2 - Abijah reigned for 3 years
3092 912 BC 1 Kings 15:10 - Asa reigned for 41 years
3117 887 BC 1 Kings 22:42 - Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years
3122 882 BC 2 Kings 8:17 - Jehoram reigned for 5 years (+3 pro-rex)
3123 881 BC 2 Kings 8:26 - Ahaziah reigned for 1 year
3129 875 BC 2 Kings 11:3 - Athaliah reigned for 6 years
3169 835 BC 2 Kings 12:1 - Jehoash reigned for 40 years
3198 806 BC 2 Kings 14:2 - Amaziah reigned for 29 years
3250 754 BC 2 Kings 15:2 - Azariah (Uzziah) reigned for 52 years
3266 738 BC 2 Kings 15:33 - Jotham reigned for 16 years
3282 722 BC 2 Kings 16:2 - Ahaz reigned for 16 years
3311 693 BC 2 Kings 18:2 - Hezekiah reigned for 29 years
3366 638 BC 2 Kings 21:1 - Manasseh reigned for 55 years
3397 607 BC 2 Kings 22:1 - Josiah reigned for 31 years
3401 603 BC 2 Kings 23:36 - Jehoiakim (Elialim) reigned 4 years before being tributary to Nebuchadnezzar in his 1st year
3471 533 BC Jer 25:11-12 - Land of Israel served Babylon for 70 years
3471 533 BC 2 Chron 36:22 The decree of Cyrus allowing the return
3549 455 BC Ezra 7:7-8 - Artaxerxes Longimanus who made the decree to rebuild Jerusalem
4036 33 AD Dan 9:27 - Messiah to be cut off middle of 70th week
4039 36 AD Acts 10 - End of 70th week, conversion of Cornelius and opening of door to Gentiles
???? AD Heb 4:1-11 Return of Christ to set up His Millennial Kingdom on Earth
????+1000 AD Rev 20:15 - Great White Throne Judgment - Post Millennial Kingdom
The reason there are question marks for some of the dates is that they have not occurred yet, but are predicted in the Bible to occur sometime in the future. The Bible tells us explicitly not to set dates for these future events. It does however give us general guidelines and expects us to be ready for these events to occur. Scripture tells us that the generation that sees Israel blossom will see the coming of the Second Coming of the Messiah.[1] That started to happen in 1948 but it fully happened in 1967 during the 6 day war, when Israel took position of Jerusalem. Many Christians are looking for the soon and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ within the lifetimes of any who saw that event.
The Bible gives us another clue as to the length of time that man has been on the earth in the lineage given for the Lord Jesus Christ, through his mother Mary’s line. The lineage goes right back to Adam. 65 generations x approx 40 years each = 2,600 years but the bible also records that at the beginning of the world men lived to near 1000 years, which is why Jesus own lineage points to 4000 years to his birth. We know how many years it has been since Jesus birth every time we write the current date we attest to it.
Luke 3 – 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, 27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
[1] Parable of Fig Tree - Matt 24:32-35, Luke 21:29-33
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada, http://bibledoor.blogspot.com & http://bibledoor.no-ip.org
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Friday, May 26, 2006
The Chicken or the Egg?
Which Came first? The Chicken or the Egg?
Philosopher, scientist, farmer crack chicken-egg question
Friday May 26, 12:42 AM
LONDON (AFP) - Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to a scientist, a philosopher and a chicken farmer, it was the egg, British newspapers reported.
The key to the age-old question apparently lies in the fact that since genetic material does not change throughout an animal's life, the first bird that evolved into a chicken must have initially existed as an embryo inside an egg. Professor John Brookfield, from England's University of Nottingham, concluded that because of this, the living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it turned into.
The specialist in evolutionary genetics was quoted in a number of newspapers as saying: "Therefore the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg. The egg came first." Brookfield's conclusion was backed up by Professor David Papineau, of King's College, London, and the chairman of the trade body Great British Chicken, Charles Bourns. Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, argued that the first chicken must have emerged from an egg even though it was laid by a different species of bird, but it was still a chicken egg because it had a chicken in it. "The conclusion therefore must be that the egg came first and the chicken afterwards," he stated.
Bourns' methodology was not explained in The Times, the Daily Mail and the Independent, who all carried the story. "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived," he affirmed.
This story appeared on Friday May 26, 12:42 AM on the Yahoo News Site: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/25052006/323/philosopher-scientist-farmer-crack-chicken-egg-question.html
You’ll notice a bit of trickery in this report given by the scientist, where he says “the first chicken must have emerged from an egg even though it was laid by a different species of bird.” So the bird (not chicken) laid the egg, but the egg became a chicken not at all like the bird that laid it. So in other words the Bird preceded the egg which preceded the chicken. But that leaves us again where we started off. How did we get “the bird” in the first place? This scientist has already stated that the first chicken had to have come from an egg. “since genetic material does not change throughout an animal's life, the first bird that evolved into a chicken must have initially existed as an embryo inside an egg.” Therefore we must conclude that “the bird” must also have come from an egg according to his reasoning.
Once again we are brought back to the obvious question of how did we get the first egg that produced the first bird that in turn produced the first “chicken egg” that produced the first chicken?
There are of course many other unanswered questions; 1) Where did the DNA come from for the first life either the Bird, or egg it produced? Of course the DNA would be different in the EGG from that of the parent because it requires DNA from both a male and a female to produce a new life. 3) Did the DNA evolve until it was sufficient to produce an EGG?
God gave us riddles to try to figure out that ought to lead us back to a knowledge of Him. But man shakes his fist at God and says there is no God. Then He sets about trying to figure out how to prove that hypothesis by his wise thoughts.
Philosopher, scientist, farmer crack chicken-egg question
Friday May 26, 12:42 AM
LONDON (AFP) - Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to a scientist, a philosopher and a chicken farmer, it was the egg, British newspapers reported.
The key to the age-old question apparently lies in the fact that since genetic material does not change throughout an animal's life, the first bird that evolved into a chicken must have initially existed as an embryo inside an egg. Professor John Brookfield, from England's University of Nottingham, concluded that because of this, the living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it turned into.
The specialist in evolutionary genetics was quoted in a number of newspapers as saying: "Therefore the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg. The egg came first." Brookfield's conclusion was backed up by Professor David Papineau, of King's College, London, and the chairman of the trade body Great British Chicken, Charles Bourns. Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, argued that the first chicken must have emerged from an egg even though it was laid by a different species of bird, but it was still a chicken egg because it had a chicken in it. "The conclusion therefore must be that the egg came first and the chicken afterwards," he stated.
Bourns' methodology was not explained in The Times, the Daily Mail and the Independent, who all carried the story. "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived," he affirmed.
This story appeared on Friday May 26, 12:42 AM on the Yahoo News Site: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/25052006/323/philosopher-scientist-farmer-crack-chicken-egg-question.html
You’ll notice a bit of trickery in this report given by the scientist, where he says “the first chicken must have emerged from an egg even though it was laid by a different species of bird.” So the bird (not chicken) laid the egg, but the egg became a chicken not at all like the bird that laid it. So in other words the Bird preceded the egg which preceded the chicken. But that leaves us again where we started off. How did we get “the bird” in the first place? This scientist has already stated that the first chicken had to have come from an egg. “since genetic material does not change throughout an animal's life, the first bird that evolved into a chicken must have initially existed as an embryo inside an egg.” Therefore we must conclude that “the bird” must also have come from an egg according to his reasoning.
Once again we are brought back to the obvious question of how did we get the first egg that produced the first bird that in turn produced the first “chicken egg” that produced the first chicken?
There are of course many other unanswered questions; 1) Where did the DNA come from for the first life either the Bird, or egg it produced? Of course the DNA would be different in the EGG from that of the parent because it requires DNA from both a male and a female to produce a new life. 3) Did the DNA evolve until it was sufficient to produce an EGG?
God gave us riddles to try to figure out that ought to lead us back to a knowledge of Him. But man shakes his fist at God and says there is no God. Then He sets about trying to figure out how to prove that hypothesis by his wise thoughts.
The Bibles says the following regarding man’s wisdom;
Psalm 14 – 1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.”
1 Cor 1 - 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
The only way we could ever solve the riddle of the chicken and the egg is to have an eye witness account to tell us the answer. Our God, the eye witness to all of creation has done that in giving us His word, the Holy Bible. And he has also given us human eye witnesses when it comes to the case the Bible makes for Christ.
2 Peter 1 - 16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
2 Cor 2 - 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Bible Door Tracts
bibledoor@rogers.com,
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada,
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The Da Vinci Code (Or the Bible, Which is true?)
The Bible predicts that a time would come when many will no longer be able to distinguish truth. Is that time now?
1 Tim 3:16 – 16 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
What are the key issues regarding the Da Vinci Code? Why is this book so popular? If the book is not true then why do many Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christians fight against it? Surely Dan Brown has a right to his view as does anyone else. Why are Christians fussing about Dan’s expression of his right to free speech? These are some of the questions that people are asking about Dan Brown and his book.
1 Tim 3:16 – 16 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
What are the key issues regarding the Da Vinci Code? Why is this book so popular? If the book is not true then why do many Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christians fight against it? Surely Dan Brown has a right to his view as does anyone else. Why are Christians fussing about Dan’s expression of his right to free speech? These are some of the questions that people are asking about Dan Brown and his book.
First of all, If you have read Dan Brown’s book or have watched the movie entitled the Da Vinci Code, we wish to thank you for spending some of your valuable time to consider the historical claims that Dan makes regarding the person and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many manage to go through life unaware of the claims made about the Christ. We believe that any reason that a person contemplates this famous man in history is a good reason as the answer you come up with will have eternal consequences on your life.
Many think they know the claims made about the Lord Jesus Christ, but in fact they have never read the Bible from cover to cover. Because of this they are at a disadvantage when they read only Dan Browns book as their source of information and they are in danger of falling prey to the kind of deception the Bible is talking about in the above quoted passage.
Dan Brown has touched a chord with many people. He has challenged them to examine information presented about the man called Jesus. Unfortunately Dan reinforces a negative and sceptical view of who Jesus is. By that I mean that Dan encourages the reader to have doubts about who Jesus is. For the remainder of this tract we are going to refer to the sceptic as meaning any who doubt the claims of the Bible made about the Christ. That Person may be Dan Brown or another like him. Perhaps that person describes you.
The purpose of this tract is to make a positive case in support of the claims made in favour of the Lord Jesus Christ. The positive case for Christ is based from two sources; 1) the Bible, 2) and the witness of those who have come to know the God of the Bible in a personal and meaningful way in their lives. The Bible makes some pretty powerful claims about itself. It tells us that the when someone hears the words from this book it will not be without having an effect on their lives.[1] The Bible claims to be the word of truth and more powerful than a two edged sword, but many people never experience that power because of doubts which have been given them about the Bible itself. For that reason we would like to tell you a bit about the Bible.
The Bible Proves itself by Fulfilled Prophecy
1. The Bible is made up of 66 books which were written over a 1500 year period of time on 3 separate continents by many different authors during many different centuries.
2. The Bible is divided into two sections.
a) The first section was written prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. We (Christians) call it the Old Testament, because it testifies of a future coming Christ (Anointed One).
b) The part of the Bible written after the coming of the Christ is called the New Testament, because it records the fulfillment of the Old Testament predictions regarding the Christ and it records what is called the gospel (good news) about Christ.
3. The rule for the writing of the Old Testament was that the writer must first establish his credibility as a Prophet of God with his peers so that his peers would be willing to listen to him.[2]
a) Many remember Moses for the 9 miraculous plagues that he pronounced against Egypt in order to gain freedom from slavery for the Jewish Nation. What is more significant than the miracles themselves is the fact that with 100% accuracy he predicted ahead of time each of these plagues. This is why Moses is considered to be the greatest prophet who ever lived preceding the greatest one, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the first five books of the Old Testament that Moses wrote are considered as canon (a guideline that rules over us) of scripture by both the Jews and Christians today.
b) God gave Moses special instructions that if someone makes a prophecy and it doesn’t come true he must die [3] for this offence.[4]
c) The Lord Jesus Christ did not exempt himself from proving He was a prophet. He made the greatest fulfilled prophecy ever. He predicted His own death and resurrection. [5]
d) By the Bibles standard;
i. Mohammed the founder of Islam would not qualify as a prophet of God because he never made a prediction which could be verified during his lifetime.
ii. Nostradamus and Jean Dixon would fail as prophets for the simple reason they failed to be 100% accurate in their predictions. Jean Dixon, for example, predicted that the Vietnam War would turn into World War III.
4. The rule for the writing of the New Testament is that the person writing it must have personally and physically met Jesus. [6]
a) Any book written by non eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Christ are also false gospels. Dan Brown asks why other gospels are not included in our Bibles today. The reason for their omission is simply because it is easily proven that the writers of those “other gospels” never met Christ. Even though the “gospel of Judas” for example is supposedly written about the disciple who betrayed Jesus it is freely admitted by its proponents that it was written two centuries after Christ’s Resurrection by a ghost writer who wrote it as though Judas had written it. [7]
b) Some sceptics argue that Just as the “other (Gnostic) gospels” are not first accounts, the New Testament claim to be a first hand account but a story that was passed down for 2 or 3 centuries before being recorded.
i. The Bible however does make claim to be written by eye witnesses. For example, the apostle Paul who wrote more than 50% of the New Testament claimed that the majority of 500 persons who saw Jesus after his resurrection are still alive at the time of the writing of his letter in the bible.[8]
ii. The Dead Sea Scrolls is a name commonly given to 7 copies of the Old Testament written in Greek (Septuagint) dating to 200 BC and 19 other Hebrew scrolls some dating to as much as 500 BC which were first discovered in the 1940’s. Sceptics prior to this had claimed that the Septuagint was corrupted in its translation from the Hebrew by Christians to make it agree with Christ as Messiah. That is now proven not to be the case as the oldest copies date to 200 years before Jesus was born.
iii. Prior to this discovery the oldest Manuscript of the Old Testament called the Masoretic text dated only to 1000 AD. This caused many sceptics to argue that the Bible changed over the years. That too has also been proven to be a false claim, since comparison of the 500 BC manuscripts virtually match the ones from 1000 AD, even though there is a 1500 year difference in the age of the manuscripts.
iv. There is strong evidence that the original writing of the New Testament was completed prior to the year 70 AD for 2 reasons; a) History records the Great Dispersion in 70 AD in which the Temple that Daniel and Jesus predicted would be destroyed occurred. Yet this event is not mentioned anywhere in the NT. b) Christians fled from Jerusalem because of this event as far south as Ethiopia, and as far north as Russia, bringing the New Testament with them. Today we find Manuscripts of the New Testament in Russia and in Ethiopia which agree with over 99.5% accuracy. There is no explanation other than this event of how they got there and no way Christians could have collaborated on any changes to the text after that event. [9]
The Christ, the Anointed One of Fulfilled Prophecy
We know today that the Old Testament Prophecies were not tampered with (see previous comments on this). It should therefore be of interest what the OT has to say are the qualifications for the Christ and to consider whether Jesus met those qualifications. Here is a short list;
1. He must be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 - Septuagint rendering) - Fulfilled Luke 1:27
2. He will be called the Christ (Several places in the OT including Dan 9:25 - Septuagint rendering.).
a) History records that Jesus has been labelled as the Christ (meaning Anointed One.)
3. He would be cut off (martyred) exactly 483 years after Artexerxes decreed to restore Jerusalem (Dan 9:25-27). The command was given in BC 457, and Jesus died exactly 483 years after that. See our Tract
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_annointed_one.pdf
4. He will be cut off from his people prior to the Temple in Jerusalem being destroyed. Dan 9:26-27.
a) Jesus Was Crucified in AD 27. b) The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in AD 70 and never rebuilt.
5. He would be beaten and bloodied beyond recognition. Isaiah 52:14 -15. History bares this out.
The Resurrection and the Cult which followed
Christians were called “Atheists” by the Romans who believed in many Gods and not just one triune God of the Christians. Christians, like Christ are willing to lay down their lives [10] rather than recant what they had witnessed either physically or since that time spiritually by the indwelling of Holy Spirit in their lives. [11]
Another label Christians were given is “the Cult of the Resurrection” because they began to hold a supper meeting celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the week (the Lord’s Day). Many Christians still commemorate it to this day, although few celebrate it at the supper hour (6 pm) as was practiced for the first two centuries.
Sceptics Quoting Sceptics
Dan Brown quotes sceptical writings from others that were written in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The problem is that Dan Brown does not seek to prove that these writings were accepted in the day when they were written. All he actually proves is that there have historically been other sceptics. If I found a document saying that Abraham Lincoln was not murdered I would have to do some serious investigating before I believed it to be a true document. First I would want to know how old that document was. In Dan’s case his documents are late dated to the 3rd century and not possibly eyewitness accounts. Second I would want to know if the document was received well when it was written or if it was considered to be a hoax at the time it was written. Just because I find a document doesn’t prove that it is a true document.
Gnostics who are they?
It’s a little known fact that Gnostics existed prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prior to the birth of Jesus the Gnostics worshiped a goddess they named Sophia. The gospels that Dan Brown quotes from are called Gnostic Gospels because it is a well known fact that they were written by the Gnostics. Dan Brown himself is a modern day self-professed Gnostic. He has posted at his website that he desires to promote the idea of “Sacred Feminine” goddess worship.
A word to the reader
We would like to assist you in any way that we can to explore the Bible and the claims about Christ. Please let us know where you are in your spiritual journey and send us your questions.
The Bible Proves itself by Fulfilled Prophecy
1. The Bible is made up of 66 books which were written over a 1500 year period of time on 3 separate continents by many different authors during many different centuries.
2. The Bible is divided into two sections.
a) The first section was written prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. We (Christians) call it the Old Testament, because it testifies of a future coming Christ (Anointed One).
b) The part of the Bible written after the coming of the Christ is called the New Testament, because it records the fulfillment of the Old Testament predictions regarding the Christ and it records what is called the gospel (good news) about Christ.
3. The rule for the writing of the Old Testament was that the writer must first establish his credibility as a Prophet of God with his peers so that his peers would be willing to listen to him.[2]
a) Many remember Moses for the 9 miraculous plagues that he pronounced against Egypt in order to gain freedom from slavery for the Jewish Nation. What is more significant than the miracles themselves is the fact that with 100% accuracy he predicted ahead of time each of these plagues. This is why Moses is considered to be the greatest prophet who ever lived preceding the greatest one, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the first five books of the Old Testament that Moses wrote are considered as canon (a guideline that rules over us) of scripture by both the Jews and Christians today.
b) God gave Moses special instructions that if someone makes a prophecy and it doesn’t come true he must die [3] for this offence.[4]
c) The Lord Jesus Christ did not exempt himself from proving He was a prophet. He made the greatest fulfilled prophecy ever. He predicted His own death and resurrection. [5]
d) By the Bibles standard;
i. Mohammed the founder of Islam would not qualify as a prophet of God because he never made a prediction which could be verified during his lifetime.
ii. Nostradamus and Jean Dixon would fail as prophets for the simple reason they failed to be 100% accurate in their predictions. Jean Dixon, for example, predicted that the Vietnam War would turn into World War III.
4. The rule for the writing of the New Testament is that the person writing it must have personally and physically met Jesus. [6]
a) Any book written by non eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Christ are also false gospels. Dan Brown asks why other gospels are not included in our Bibles today. The reason for their omission is simply because it is easily proven that the writers of those “other gospels” never met Christ. Even though the “gospel of Judas” for example is supposedly written about the disciple who betrayed Jesus it is freely admitted by its proponents that it was written two centuries after Christ’s Resurrection by a ghost writer who wrote it as though Judas had written it. [7]
b) Some sceptics argue that Just as the “other (Gnostic) gospels” are not first accounts, the New Testament claim to be a first hand account but a story that was passed down for 2 or 3 centuries before being recorded.
i. The Bible however does make claim to be written by eye witnesses. For example, the apostle Paul who wrote more than 50% of the New Testament claimed that the majority of 500 persons who saw Jesus after his resurrection are still alive at the time of the writing of his letter in the bible.[8]
ii. The Dead Sea Scrolls is a name commonly given to 7 copies of the Old Testament written in Greek (Septuagint) dating to 200 BC and 19 other Hebrew scrolls some dating to as much as 500 BC which were first discovered in the 1940’s. Sceptics prior to this had claimed that the Septuagint was corrupted in its translation from the Hebrew by Christians to make it agree with Christ as Messiah. That is now proven not to be the case as the oldest copies date to 200 years before Jesus was born.
iii. Prior to this discovery the oldest Manuscript of the Old Testament called the Masoretic text dated only to 1000 AD. This caused many sceptics to argue that the Bible changed over the years. That too has also been proven to be a false claim, since comparison of the 500 BC manuscripts virtually match the ones from 1000 AD, even though there is a 1500 year difference in the age of the manuscripts.
iv. There is strong evidence that the original writing of the New Testament was completed prior to the year 70 AD for 2 reasons; a) History records the Great Dispersion in 70 AD in which the Temple that Daniel and Jesus predicted would be destroyed occurred. Yet this event is not mentioned anywhere in the NT. b) Christians fled from Jerusalem because of this event as far south as Ethiopia, and as far north as Russia, bringing the New Testament with them. Today we find Manuscripts of the New Testament in Russia and in Ethiopia which agree with over 99.5% accuracy. There is no explanation other than this event of how they got there and no way Christians could have collaborated on any changes to the text after that event. [9]
The Christ, the Anointed One of Fulfilled Prophecy
We know today that the Old Testament Prophecies were not tampered with (see previous comments on this). It should therefore be of interest what the OT has to say are the qualifications for the Christ and to consider whether Jesus met those qualifications. Here is a short list;
1. He must be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 - Septuagint rendering) - Fulfilled Luke 1:27
2. He will be called the Christ (Several places in the OT including Dan 9:25 - Septuagint rendering.).
a) History records that Jesus has been labelled as the Christ (meaning Anointed One.)
3. He would be cut off (martyred) exactly 483 years after Artexerxes decreed to restore Jerusalem (Dan 9:25-27). The command was given in BC 457, and Jesus died exactly 483 years after that. See our Tract
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_annointed_one.pdf
4. He will be cut off from his people prior to the Temple in Jerusalem being destroyed. Dan 9:26-27.
a) Jesus Was Crucified in AD 27. b) The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in AD 70 and never rebuilt.
5. He would be beaten and bloodied beyond recognition. Isaiah 52:14 -15. History bares this out.
The Resurrection and the Cult which followed
Christians were called “Atheists” by the Romans who believed in many Gods and not just one triune God of the Christians. Christians, like Christ are willing to lay down their lives [10] rather than recant what they had witnessed either physically or since that time spiritually by the indwelling of Holy Spirit in their lives. [11]
Another label Christians were given is “the Cult of the Resurrection” because they began to hold a supper meeting celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the week (the Lord’s Day). Many Christians still commemorate it to this day, although few celebrate it at the supper hour (6 pm) as was practiced for the first two centuries.
Sceptics Quoting Sceptics
Dan Brown quotes sceptical writings from others that were written in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The problem is that Dan Brown does not seek to prove that these writings were accepted in the day when they were written. All he actually proves is that there have historically been other sceptics. If I found a document saying that Abraham Lincoln was not murdered I would have to do some serious investigating before I believed it to be a true document. First I would want to know how old that document was. In Dan’s case his documents are late dated to the 3rd century and not possibly eyewitness accounts. Second I would want to know if the document was received well when it was written or if it was considered to be a hoax at the time it was written. Just because I find a document doesn’t prove that it is a true document.
Gnostics who are they?
It’s a little known fact that Gnostics existed prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prior to the birth of Jesus the Gnostics worshiped a goddess they named Sophia. The gospels that Dan Brown quotes from are called Gnostic Gospels because it is a well known fact that they were written by the Gnostics. Dan Brown himself is a modern day self-professed Gnostic. He has posted at his website that he desires to promote the idea of “Sacred Feminine” goddess worship.
A word to the reader
We would like to assist you in any way that we can to explore the Bible and the claims about Christ. Please let us know where you are in your spiritual journey and send us your questions.
You may contact the person who handed you this tract or the tracts author.
Bible Door Tracts
273 Manchester Drive, Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4 Canada
bibledoor@rogers.com
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org and http://bibledoor.blogspot.com
Our Urdu site: http://bibledoorurdu.no-ip.org
Copyright 2006 © Bible Door Tracts.
Check the web for this tract along with other similar ones
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_DavinciCode_TheCaseForChrist.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_DavinciCode_HoodwinkingWorld.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_The_passion_sm.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_easter_sunday _is_a_great_day_sm.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/eng_the_role_of_the_prophet.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/eng_annointed_one.pdf
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted.
[1] Psalms 55:11 http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_DavinciCode_TheCaseForChrist.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_DavinciCode_HoodwinkingWorld.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_The_passion_sm.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_easter_sunday _is_a_great_day_sm.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/eng_the_role_of_the_prophet.pdf
http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/eng_annointed_one.pdf
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. The opinions contained in this tract do not necessarily represent the opinions of Riverdrive Park Bible Chapel where Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted.
[2] There are two exceptions in the Old Testament where we cannot prove the book was written by a Prophet. The book of Esther and the The Song of Solomon.
[3] Deut 18:20-22 - 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
[4] A verifiable example today of this punishment being given is the tomb of 300 false prophets were killed for not having their prayers answered to their gods to rain down fire on their alters. The only Prophet that God answered was Elijah. If you visit Israel you can go and visit that tomb.
[5] John 2:15;21
[6] The Apostle Paul did not meet Jesus physically in person until after Jesus was resurrected but the account of his physical encounter is made in scripture which is why we accept the Paul as qualified as a writer for much of the New Testament.
[7] In order to try to put those “other gospels” on an equal playing field with the ones included in the Bible Dan in order to give credit to the “other gospels” sometimes called “Gnostic Gospels” must discredit the early dating of the ones that are included in the Bible by claiming that they were not written by eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ either.
[8] 1 Cor 15 – 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
[9] Fragments of the gospel of John have been found dating to AD 115.
[10] In the first two centuries many thousands of Christians were fed to the Lions at the original Olympic games and were offered up tied to a stake and burned alive as Roman Candles by Nero. [11] John 14:15-21; Eph 1:13; 4:30
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