WITNESSING TO MORMANS

A Bible Study by Adam Osborne, JR.

12 June 2006

2 Peter 3:16-17 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.   ¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.  

WHAT MORMONS REALLY TEACH
Polytheism	God was once a man
Sin was necessary	Polygamy is right
Jesus had three wives	Man works his way to heaven

1. WHAT DOES THE MORMON BELIEVE ABOUT THE BIBLE AND OTHER DOCUMENTS?

First of all, when you start to quote scripture to a Mormon they will tell you that there are errors in our bible (King James…. NIV…etc.) so that is why they say that the Mormons had to re-write some of the text.

• The Mormons believe in 4 books:
  • The King James Bible, as far as it is translated correctly. The Mormons believe that the Bible has been severely corrupted by scribes and translators.
  • The Book of Mormon (reported to be historically accurate work about Jewish people in Central America from the 6th Century BC to the 15th Century AD)
  • The Doctrine and Covenants (138 revelations reportedly given directly to Joseph Smith)
  • The Pearl of Great Price (a collection of 5 documents).

THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE:

• Ask the Mormon to show historical evidence outside of the Book of Mormon for the places, people and nations mentioned in The Book of Mormon.
  • They can’t. No archaeology has ever turned up anything.
• Ask the Mormon if it bothers them that there is NO clear and convincing evidence to support the claims of the Book of Mormon, while every other ancient document gives thousands of pieces of evidence to support the King James Bible.
• The book of Mormon has been proven incorrect by archaeologists, anthropologists and bible scholars.
• The Mormons believe that God is not powerful enough, is not competent enough, to keep his bible from being corrupted. If that was so, then he is not all powerful, not omnipresent, and no god at all. That would make the entire bible a lie, not worthy of study or belief.

Christians believe that the Bible, given by God’s Spirit is complete in itself and needs no additions. In fact, additions to the Bible are forbidden. Deuteronomy 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you. Deuteronomy 12:32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! Revelations 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Mormons believe that they have “new Scripture” and that the writings of Joseph Smith are divinely inspired revelations – God’s nineteenth century additions to the Bible.

2. WHAT DOES THE MORMON BELIEVE ABOUT GOD?

Mormons believe:

• God is an exalted man named Elohim with a physical body of flesh and bone.
• He didn’t create anything from nothing, he just “organized” everything.
• His knowledge is great, but limited, it keeps growing as He turns less man and more god.
• He has not always existed but was derived from another great god.
• That God is a material creature who was once a man as we are now men.
• They say men can finally achieve godhood and that there are many gods.

Christians believe that God is uniquely eternal and all-powerful, the only God – and that He is a Spirit. Psalms 145:13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 1 Tim 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Jude 1: 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Mormons believe that God is a material creature who was once a man as we are now men. They say men can finally achieve godhood and that there are many gods.

3. WHAT DOES THE MORMON BELIEVE ABOUT SIN?

Christians believe that man is not godlike, but sinful and separated from God. Man can only have a relationship with God through faith in Christ. Man, apart from Christ is lost. Romans 5:12-19 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned– 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:1,3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

Mormons believe that salvation comes by works and that all men will spend eternity on some level of a multistoried heaven. The level will be determined by the scope of each man’s good works.

4. WHAT DOES THE MORMON BELIEVE ABOUT SALVATION?

Christians believe that salvation is a free gift provided by grace (unmerited love) of God for all who believe and accept His plan. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–9 not by works, so that no one can boast. John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 14:1-3, 6 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 1 John 3:1,2  1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Mormons believe Not totally a work of God through Christ on the cross. Jesus’ prayers and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross, and through the resurrection, immortality has been granted to everyone, regardless of belief. Salvation comes through gaining enough merit to secure the greatest type of salvation. This highest salvation can be gained by those who are already dead through the prayers of the living. The fullest kind of Mormon salvation is exaltation (godhood). It is only available to Mormons.

WEB SITES:

http://www.lifeafter.org/Christian_Mormons.asp

Is Jesus God?

Mormonism – Mormons hold that Jesus is not God and was in fact created, not creator. What’s more, Mormon teaching asserts that Jesus and Satan are brothers. “The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer–this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind.” Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15.

Christianity – The REAL Jesus is the only begotten Son (in the Hebrew “begotten” means heir, not off-spring) and He is God the Son. John 1:1 reads “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:14 goes onto say “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Clearly the Bible, particularly the Gospel According to John, is telling us the story of Jesus. Jesus is described as the “Word.” The “Word” is called God. Not “A God” but God! The Gospel of John then says that this God, known as the “Word” became flesh, real, temporal and tangible and lived among us. We know Jesus did this and this is afterall, the Gospel of Christ according to John. More evidence shows that Jesus called Himself God and the Jews tried to stone him for it, John 10:30-33. “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” Clearly the Jews understood Jesus’ meaning, else why would they attempt to stone Him? Is. 44:6, God of the Old Testiment says “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Rev. 1:18, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last.” Which of the two is lying? They both can’t be first and last unless they are one in the same. Is. 43:10 God says, “Before me there were no gods formed, nor will there be after.” If Jesus is “A” God, then this scripture would have to be wrong because Jesus’ very existence, given the Mormon position that Jesus is A god but not Father God, would be evidence of another God. Therefore, God was wrong that there would be no other gods. And being wrong would make Him imperfect. And if He is imperfect, He is therefore not God. By contrast, if Jesus “IS” God, then this scripture remains true and consistent with his claims of deity in John 10, Rev. 1 and the claims of Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Savior in Is. 9:6 where Isaiah calls him “Wonderful, Counselor, All Mighty God, the Everlasting FATHER, the Prince of Peace.” NOTE: This scripture was the basis of Handel’s Messiah sung every Christmas by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City. Finally, only God can forgive sins and yet on several occasions in the gospels we see Jesus forgiving sin. Matt. 9:2, Lk. 7:48.

The contention that Mormons are Christians is troubling to say the least. CHRIST-ians believe that Christ IS God. To believe otherwise is fine if that’s what you wish, but don’t call yourself a Christian. A Christian believes that “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” Col. 1:16. Christians believe Christ IS God.

Gods or God?

Mormonism – “In the beginning the head of Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people on it…in all congregations when I have preached on the subiect of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods.” Joseph Smith, History of the (Mormon) Church, Vol. 6, pp.308, 474.

Christianity – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Gen. 1:1. “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” Is. 43:10-11.

The two positions above are in complete opposition to each other. Yet when pressed, the best Mormons can offer is that since it’s written in what they consider sacred texts (which the bible may or may not belong depending on who you talk to), it’s a fact. Of course when asked to reconcile that God cannot lie and in light of the fact that the Bible came first, and the Book of Mormon says something different — implying God lied or changed His mind — the best the Mormons can offer is mere shrug saying “What can I tell you, you’re not ready to believe.”

Is there a Mrs. God?

Mormomism – “In the heaven where our spirits were born, there are many Gods, each of whom has a wife or wives, which were given to him…while yet in a mortal state.” Orson Pratt, (Apostle), The Seer, pg. 37. “The doctrine that there is a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in all plainness by the First Presidency of the Church.” Bruce R. McConkie (Apostle), Mormon Doctrine, p. 516.

Christianity – There is absolutely no mention of any wives of God. ” Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Matt. 22:29-30.

Again, the best any Mormon can do is turn to Mormon texts to back up his argument. If faced with an insistant Christian requiring he back up his claims with biblical scripture, the Mormon will always provide you with one of two solutions: 1) a misinterpreted, taken-out-of-context scripture or 2) a shrug and say “I don’t know what to tell you, I guess you’re not ready to believe.”

Is anything Impossible for God?

Mormonism – “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s,” Doctrine and Covenents, 130:22. “If God possesses a form, that form is of necessity of definite proportions, and therefore of limited extention and space. It is impossible for Him to occupy at one time more than one space of such limits.” James Talmage, Articles of Faith, page 43.

Christianity – Christians believe God is not limited by a temporal body, He knows everything immediately without benefit of sensory organs, and sustains the existence of all that exists. It follows that He is in some sense present everywhere. Certainly it is the Bible’s explicit teaching that God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:3-10, 1 Kings 8:27, Jer. 23:23-24, Acts 17:24-27, Matt 18:20), belief that Mormons do not hold. Mormons know that if God is omnipresent, he can’t be flesh and bone. Lastly, John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” This is what Christians believe because it is IN scripture. Mormons contend that God is as Talmage taught, a god of flesh and bones. Despite the evidence of scripture, Mormons tell Christians they are wrong and point to extra-bible Mormon writings as evidence. Despite lacking what Christians can present in the form of Biblical evidence, Mormons still contend that they are right and Christians are wrong. So if Christians are wrong, why would Mormons now wish to call themselves Christians?

Once again, the differences between the Christian God and the Mormon god are indisputable. Given the verses shown above, it is mindboggling to this Christian how Mormons can keep a straight face and preach this kind of ‘gospel.’ We have contended on several occasions, it is Mormons and Mormons alone who put limits on God. Note that Talmage reads into God’s nature based on the teachings of Joseph Smith, that God is as Joseph taught. Talmage says God is limited. He also says that something is impossible for God. Chrsitians believe that all things exist because of God and therefore nothing is impossible for the author of all things.

Words from Billy Graham regarding “cults”….

The basic mark of any cult, however, is that it rejects the divinity of Jesus. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh—that He alone was both fully man and fully God. Cults, however, deny this, and often confuse people who aren’t familiar with the Bible by twisting its meaning.

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MORMON THEOLOGY	CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
The Church has 4 Standard Works that are authoritative:  The Bible (in so far as it is translated correctly), the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.  Speeches and writings of the current president of the church are also authoritative.  The Bible is far below the other standard Works because it is full of errors (wherever it disagrees with Mormon doctrine).	The only authoritative scriptures given by God are the  books of the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible.  God promised to preserve his word and to suggest that the Bible was mistranslated and corrupted would be to call God a liar.  If God were to give additional revelations they would be consistent with any prior revelations thus eliminating Mormon writings, since they stand in direct opposition to the divine revelation that has already been given in the Bible.
One God
There are many Gods. Brigham Young-Journal of Discourses 7:333 “How many Gods there are, I do not know.  But there never was a time when there were not Gods.	There is only one God.  (Dt 6:4; 33:26-27; Isa 43:10; 45:5; 46:9; 1Ti 2:5)
The Nature of God
God the Father is an exalted man (a man who has progressed to godhood) with a body of flesh and bones.  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1973 ed., p. 346 – “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man…I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in a form-like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man.” D & C 130:22  “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also.”	The Bible is most explicit in stating that God is not a man (Nu 23:19; 1Sa 15:29; Hos 11:9).  God the Father, the eternal God is Spirit (Isa 55:8-9; 6:1-5; 57:15; Pss 90:2; 113:5-6; 123:1; Jn 4:24: 8:23)  Jesus said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Lk 24:39)
God the Father became a God after learning truth, aggressively pursuing godhood, and being obedient to the laws of the gospel.	God the Father has always existed as such (Dt 33:27; Isa 43:10; 44:6; 45:5, 21; 46:9; Mal 3:6; 1Co 8:4; 1Ti 2:5; Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13).    As Psalms 90:2 and 93:2 state, God has been God “from eternity to eternity.”
God the Father has a wife, through whom he procreates spirit children. “Implicit in the Christian verity that all men are the spirit children of an Eternal Father is the usually unspoken truth that they are also the offspring of an Eternal Mother.  An exalted and glorified Man of Holiness (Moses 6:57) could not be a Father unless a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness was associated with him as a Mother” (Mormon Doctrine, 1977 ed., p. 516)	The Godhead determined to make man in their image, not to procreate spirit children (Ge 1:26).  Nowhere does Scripture even hint at the existence of an Eternal Mother.
God is not a uniquely eternal being.  All spirit is self-existent matter and is eternal (without beginning or end).  Such “matter (called intelligences) sometimes becomes organized into a spirit being through birth to celestial parents.  Then that spirit is born through human parents on earth.  Like all people, God took this course and eventually reached Godhood. God would stop being God if intelligences stopped supporting him as God. (D&C 93:29, 33; Abraham 3:18-23; Mormon Doctrine, 1977 ed. p. 751)	God is not God unless He is all-powerful, all knowing, absolutely in charge.  If God exists only as God because of support given from other intelligent forms, He is not God at all (Isa 44:6; Ro 3:4; Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13)   God is unchangingly omnipotent, and no purpose of His can be thwarted.  He is not overruled by anyone (Ge 17:1; Job 36:22-23; 42:2; Isa 14:26-27; 40:13-14; Jer 32:27; Mt 19:26; Lk 1:37; Ac 17:24-25; Rev 19:6)
Man and Sin
Man was also in the beginning with God.  Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be”  (D&C 93:29) Life, intelligence, mind, the ‘light of truth’ , or whatever name one gives to the center of the personality of man, is an uncreated, eternally existent, indestructible entity…In the first stage, man was an eternally existent being termed an intelligence…The next realm where man dwelt was the spirit world….eternally-existing intelligences were clothed with spirit bodies…numerous sons and daughters were begotten and born of heavenly parents into that eternal family in the spirit world” (The Gospel Through the ages, pp.126-127)	Man is a finite being, not an eternal one.  The first man Adam was created at a specific point in time (Ge 1:26-27; 2:7; 1Co 15:45-49).  Man did not exist in the beginning when God was creating the universe, for if he had, God’s question to Job would have made no sense (Job 38:4).  Man was created lower than the angels, so that David wondered why God is even mindful of him (Ps 8:3-5; 144:3).  Not a single verse in the Bible suggests that God has a wife, but Isaiah 44:24 explicitly says that the Lord made all things by Himself.  Moreover, several passages in Isaiah indicate that there is only one God and there is none beside Him (44:8; 45:6) or like Him (46:9).
“…these spirit children were organized, possessing divine, eternal, and godlike attributes, inherited from their Heavenly Father and Mother.  There in the spirit world they were reared to maturity, becoming grown spirit men and women prior to coming upon this earth” (The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 127). “Jesus is man’s spiritual brother.  We dwelt with Him in the spirit world as members of that large society of eternal intelligences, which included our Heavenly Parents and all the personages who have become mortal beings upon this earth or who ever shall come here to dwell…Jesus was the ‘firstborn,’ and so He is our eldest brother” (Ibid., p.21)	Jesus was and is Almighty God from everlasting to everlasting.  He is the creator of all that exists and is “firstborn” over all creation in the sense that He is the preeminent originator of life and the universe (Mic 5:2; Ps 90:2; Jn 1:1-3; Ac 3:14-15; Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:2).  This meaning for the word “firstborn” can be understood by comparing Genesis 41:51-52, which states that Manasseh was Joseph’s “firstborn” son while Ephraim was the second, with Jeremiah 31:9, where God calls Ephraim the “firstborn.”  Obviously, “firstborn” does not always mean the one literally born first.
Death and sin came through the fall of Adam and Eve.  But their deed was not actually a “sin.”  It was really a blessing because it enabled man to continue progressing on toward eternal life.  “They (the Christian world) have been long taught that Adam and Eve were great transgressors…We, the children of Adam….should rejoice with them, that through their fall and the atonement of Jesus Christ, the way of eternal life has been opened up to us” (Articles of Faith, p. 476)	Rejoicing is hardly the proper response to Adam’s sin.  Because of that sin, both Adam and Eve died spiritually and their physical bodies began to deteriorate.  Eve was given pain and sorrow in child-bearing, Adam was required to work and sweat in order to eat, the entire creation was cursed, they were thrown out of the Garden forever, and the entire human race was destined to be born dead in sins and children of god’s wrath by nature.  To rejoice in the fall of man is to embrace Satan’s lie.  It was Satan who deceived Eve by convincing her that sin was good and would bring her knowledge and reward.  (Ge 3:16-24; Ro 3:23; 5:12-15, 17-19; 8:19-22 Eph 2:1-5; 1Jn 3:4)

The Doctrine of Salvation

Christ’s death on the cross (the atonement) canceled the penalty of death imposed on ALL men through Adam’s sin, thereby ensuring that all men would be redeemed – resurrected and given immortality (the reuniting of spirit with body)-as a gift. “If there had been no atonement, temporal death would have remained forever, and there never would have remained forever, and there never would have been a resurrection.  The body would have remained forever in the grave” (Mormon Doctrine, 1977 ed., p.63) “Redemption from death, through the sufferings of Christ, is for all men, both the righteous and the wicked” (Ibid., p. 65) “Immortality is a free gift which comes by grace alone without works on man’s part” (Ibid., p. 377)

Not everyone is blessed through Christ’s crucifixion.  Only those who accept His sacrifice and surrender themselves to Him (Ro 10:9) will receive the benefit of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is forgiveness of sins (Ac 10:43) and salvation (Ro 3:24).  Eternal life “in Christ,” and not just simply eternal existence through resurrection, is the gift offered by God to humanity (Ro 6:23).  This gift is obtainable only by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-10).   Jesus’ death serves to reconcile all believers to God (Ro 5:10).  In dying, Jesus broke down the wall of separation between us and God that was present through man’s disobedience to the Law (Eph 2:11-22)

THE GREAT APOSTASY Was there really a great apostasy? Did the true Church die out so we now need a restoration the Mormon Church being the true Church restored? The biblical response is clear. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus declared, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Ask them, “Does this sound to you like Jesus thought there would be a total apostasy? Could Jesus have been wrong?” Keep in mind, in your conversation, that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Therefore, how could he fail? (See also, Ephesians 3:21; Hebrews 12:28; and Daniel 2:44.) Ephesians 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Hebrews 12:28  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, Daniel 2:44  “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. Mormons will use a variety of passages to support their belief in a complete apostasy (e.g., Acts 20:30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1). But none of these actually teaches a universal apostasy; they only teach a limited falling away. Make sure you read these passages aloud when Mormons refer to them. Acts 20:30   Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

PRIESTHOOD AUTHORITY What about the Mormon priesthood authority? Is it biblical? Not at all. The Aaronic priesthood was to be held only by those of the tribe of Levi (Numbers 3:5-10). This priesthood was fulfilled by the atonement of Christ (Hebrews 7:11-28; 10:8-18); thus, making this priesthood no longer valid or necessary. Numbers 3:5-10 The LORD said to Moses, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. 7 They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. 8 They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. 9 Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him.[a] 10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.” Hebrews 7:11-28  11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. 13 He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is declared:    “You are a priest forever,    in the order of Melchizedek.”[a]  18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.  20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:   “The Lord has sworn   and will not change his mind:     ‘You are a priest forever.’”[b]   22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.  23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely[c] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.   26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 10:8-18  8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.   11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:   16 “This is the covenant I will make with them  after that time, says the Lord. will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”[b]   17 Then he adds:  “Their sins and lawless acts  I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. In the Old Testament, there was generally only one high priest. What the book of Hebrews teaches is that Jesus has fulfilled the Aaronic priesthood (meaning it is no longer in effect), and that he has permanently taken the position of high priest. Since he will never die, he will have no successors (Hebrews 7). Thus he is of the order of Melchizedek, without beginning or end of days. Therefore, his priesthood is “unchangeable” (v. 24; the Greek word is aparabatos, which literally means “untransferable”). We need no other high priest no other mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, So where do Christians get their authority? Directly from God. John 1:12 teaches that those who receive Christ are given authority (exousia, the same word used of Christ in Matthew 28:18). We have been adopted as Gods children, therefore we are co-heirs with Christ. John 1:12  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

THE RELIABILITY OF THE BIBLE Since Mormons do not believe the Bible is fully trustworthy, you may encounter some trouble using the Bible. But you should never stop using the Bible, simply because of their unbelief. In spite of their unbelief, the Bible is still the word of God; and it is true (John 17:17) and reliable (Isaiah 40:3). Remember, the word of God contains wisdom unto salvation, and thoroughly equips Gods people for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17). John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD;  make straight in the desert  a highway for our God. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. If you use a modern translation of the Bible (e.g., NIV, NASB), you may want to have a King James Version available while witnessing to Mormons. This way, you can compare translations. There are several books that show the reliability of the Bible: F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?; Evidence That Demands a Verdict I and II, by Josh McDowell; or Norman Geisler and William Nix’s From God to Us. If a Mormon is willing to read this type of information, then find some for them to read. Many Mormons point to alleged contradictions in the Bible to undermine its trustworthiness. While there are certainly hard passages in the Bible, there are no real contradictions (note, 2 Peter 3:16-17). Gleason Archer’s Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties is an excellent study aid regarding hard passages in the Bible. 2 Peter 3:16-17 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.   17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.   When using the Bible with Mormons, often they will respond to your use of a passage with, “Well, that’s just your interpretation.” Simply respond by having them look closely at what the passage says. You may also refer to cross-references to aid in your presentation. Pray that God would open their eyes, that they may come to a knowledge of the truth. Finally, keep in mind that one carefully explained verse or passage may be more effective than a dozen passages simply thrown at your Mormon friend.

Misplaced Trust

Important in witnessing to Mormons is showing that they have placed their trust in something truly untrustworthy. Here are a few areas on which you may focus.

THE GODS OF MORMONISM
Mormonism teaches that God has not always been God, but that through obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel he was able to progress to deity. Therefore, the god of Mormonism is a changing being. He was once a man, who then became a god. His knowledge, wisdom and power have thus increased. Mormons believe that all faithful Mormons will also progress to become deities.

In contrast to Mormonism, the Bible reveals a distinctly different and wonderful God. The true God does not change (Malachi 3:6), nor does he grow in knowledge Isaiah 40:13). There is none like him, he is unique, he is the only true God (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6-8; 45:5, 21-22; 46:9; 1 Corinthians 8:5). He has always been God (Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 40:28). God is spirit, not an exalted man with flesh and bone (John 4:24; Luke 24:39; Hosea 11:9; Numbers 23:19). (Note that though Jesus, being God, did become human in his incarnation, this is quite different than saying that a man became a god.)

Despite the teachings of Mormonism, men cannot become gods (Isaiah 43:10). Man was created, unlike God, and therefore has not existed from eternity (1 Corinthians 15:46). Mormons cannot compare themselves to Jesus and his preexistence, for they are not deity by nature, as is Jesus. He preexisted because he is God (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1; 17:5; Philippians 2:6-7).

As you dialog with your Mormon friend, show them the greatness of the God of the Bible, the true God. Pray that they will see how wonderful and great God is. Who should trust in gods who change? Why trust in a mere man who has become a god? Are you not still trusting in a man (Jeremiah 17:5-8)?

THE BOOK OF MORMON
Mormons believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of Godlike the Bible. But when one compares the two books, one can see that they are not in the same category. For example, while many Mormons believe that there is archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, in fact, there is none. No cities unique to the Book of Mormon have ever been located. While Mormons may insist that cities have been found, the fact that the Book of Mormon contains no maps is one indication that the alleged cities have never been located. Ask them, “If the Book of Mormon is a record of real history, like the Bible, why hasn’t the Mormon church published any maps?” (Note that while individual Mormons may have published maps, the church itself has never authorized an official map of Book of Mormon lands.)

Mormons will many times side-step the question of the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon for experiential “proof” that the book is true. In Moroni 10:4-5 (a book in the Book of Mormon) we are instructed to pray about the Book of Mormon to find out if it is true. Generally, the answer expected by Mormons is a “burning in the bosom,” a heart-felt emotional experience.

The biblical approach to truth is clear. Though we are called to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), the Bible nowhere teaches that prayer is a test for truth. We cannot trust the feelings of our hearts (Proverbs 14:12; 28:26; Jeremiah 17:9), nor can we trust every spiritual witness (1 John 4:1-6). Rather, we are called to be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11, who searched the Scriptures to test even what the apostle Paul was preaching. They are therefore said to be more noble than the Thessalonians. The biblical test for truth focuses on the word of God as our standard (2 Timothy 3:16-17; John 17:17). And the witness of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the word he inspired the Bible (2 Peter 1:21). (In light of this, if Joseph Smith really did encounter an angel in his first vision, then it was surely an angel of light [2 Corinthians 11:14].)

You should ask your Mormon friend, “How do you know that witness is the Holy Ghost?” They may respond that an unholy spirit would not bear witness to such a good and moral religious system. You may want to point them to the Jehovah’s Witnesses as an example of something they believe is of the devil, but that is also something that teaches good morals. It is important to show them that their test for truth is simply unreliable.

PERFECTIONISM
Mormon perfectionism stands in sharp contrast to the biblical Gospel of grace. Many Mormons are weighted down spiritually, psychologically, and physically as they seek to live according to their church’s teachings. In seeking to present the biblical Gospel to a Mormon, it is important that you first present the weightiness of the Law of God and our falling short of it.

Matthew 5:48 reads, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (KJV). This is a very important verse—one with which Mormons are very familiar. With this in mind, you may ask them if they are in fact perfect now. The command “be perfect” is in the present imperative tense. It does not say “become perfect,” but be perfect. Emphasize that according to Gods law, we are to be perfect now.

You may then ask them whether they have ever sinned. (I have actually had some Mormons tell me they haven’t sinned. In that case, have them read Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8, 10.) To show the gravity of our sin, have them read James 2:10. If they have sinned at any point in their lives, they are guilty of breaking the whole law of God.

Then, once a Mormon, through the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, recognizes his or her sinfulness it is time to present the biblical Gospel of grace. Emphasize that salvation comes only by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), it is not based on our righteous works (Titus 3:3-5). In fact, if we could attain salvation by obeying the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21). Show them that we can be righteous before God only on the basis of the righteousness of Christ. Though Christ was without sin, he paid the penalty due our sin so that we would be declared righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21; see also, Ephesians 2:1-5).

With specific reference to the idea of perfection, you should familiarize yourself with Hebrews 10:10-18. In this passage we read that we have been made perfect through the atonement of Christ (v.13). Therefore, God no longer remembers our sins (v. 17). What good news!

JOSEPH SMITH
We don’t recommend that you initially focus on Joseph Smith. Mormons can become very defensive when their prophet is critiqued. But, after you have built a relationship with them, you may raise some of the following issues.

The Bible presents clear tests for those who claim to be prophets. In Deuteronomy 18:20-21 we are told that a prophet of God will never have false prophecies and will never teach false gods. We have already seen that Joseph taught false gods. But he also proclaimed several false prophecies. Keep in mind that it only takes one false prophecy to make one a false prophet.

Here is just one false prophecy. In Doctrine and Covenants section 84, Joseph prophesied that the city of New Jerusalem would be erected within his generation” in the Western boundaries of the State of Missouri.” But to this day, the Mormon Church has failed to erect it. In fact, the Mormon Church does not even own that land on which Joseph said the city would be built. This clearly is a false prophecy. How could Joseph be a prophet of God?

Misuse of the Bible

Because so many Bible passages are distorted by the teachings of Mormonism, we will only be able to look at a few of the more common distortions. Keep in mind that if you take the context of a verse into account, you will see that it does not teach Mormon doctrine. Their interpretation is read into the text.

ARE WE SAVED BY WORKS?
Mormons, when attempting to prove the necessity of works for individual salvation, will often reference James 2:17, “faith without works is dead.” In order to answer this misuse of the Scripture, you must become familiar with the teachings of James.

When one carefully examines this verse in its context, one can see that it does not teach a works-based salvation. The context: people claiming to have faith in Christ but not showing this in their everyday lives (1:19-2:13). James’s “justification” (v. 24) is in reference to men, not God. His point is that men can only see that your claim to faith is true by how it is expressed in your life. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works” (v. 18). Your works prove your claim to faith to those who cannot see your heart. Christians are called to live up to their claims. (It will be good, at this point, to study the fourth chapter of Romans to see how Paul presents his case for justification.)

Mormons many times believe that if one believes he can be saved without works, then he believes he can sin freely. In other words, that a Gospel of grace is a license to sin. At this point it is important to note what the apostle Paul said in response to the same argument. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid… What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” (Romans 6:1-2, 15).

ARE THE TWO STICKS OF EZEKIEL THE BIBLE AND THE BOOK OF MORMON?
Mormons often refer to Ezekiel 37:16, 17 as a prophecy of the Book of Mormon. But is this really the point of the prophecy? As always, it is important to read the context. Ask your Mormon friend to read verses 15-22. God explains the meaning of the prophecy to Ezekiel, so that he can in turn explain it to his countrymen. It says nothing about the Book of Mormon. Once they have read the passage, then ask them, “How does God explain this prophecy to Ezekiel? Don’t you think we should believe Gods interpretation?”

You may also want to note that Ezekiel is told to write on some sticks, but the Book of Mormon was allegedly written on golden plates. After noting this you can ask, “Wasn’t the Book of Mormon written on golden plates? But Ezekiel is told to write on sticks, not golden plates. Could you be reading something into this passage that is not there?”

Finally, you may want to ask them what Ezekiel was to write on the sticks (v. 16). Then ask them, “Does it say to write Bible and Book of Mormon?” They will answer “No.” Then ask, “Do you think that might be because this prophecy is not about books but about tribes?”

WERE THE “OTHER SHEEP” IN THE AMERICAS?
Mormons use John 10:16″I have sheep which are not of this fold”to argue that Jesus needed to visit his people in the Americas. Who are these “other sheep” according to the Bible? Several passages clearly teach that these “other sheep” are the Gentiles. Study the following passages yourself. John 11:51-52; Acts 10:45; 11:18; 13:46; 14:27; 15:3-23; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:11-19; 3:3-6. Choose one or two to have your Mormon friend read aloud. Ask them what the passages say, and to whom they refer.

ARE THERE THREE HEAVENS?
Mormons most often refer to 1 Corinthians 15:40-41 as proof that there are different levels of heaven: “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” But these verses teach nothing of the Mormon concept of the three degrees of glory.

First, you should note that the word “telestial” does not occur in verse 40; in fact, it does not occur anywhere in the Bible. Secondly, in order to understand what the apostle Paul was saying, you must look closely at the context. The whole context of 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection of the dead. At this point in the chapter, Paul is answering the question about what resurrected bodies will be like (v. 35). So he explains that it is quite different from our earthy bodies. Simply read verses 42-44 and you will see the contrast between resurrected and pre-resurrected bodies. There is nothing in the context which speaks of different levels of heaven.

SHOULD WE BAPTIZE FOR THE DEAD?
The primary verse used by Mormons to support their practice of baptism for the dead is 1 Corinthians 15:29, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all, why are they baptized for the dead?” Again, one must take the context into account.

In this chapter, the apostle Paul was countering those in Corinth who denied the resurrection of both Christ and believers (vv. 12-19). When he comes to verse 29, he is showing the inconsistency of those who deny the resurrection of believers for these same people were doing baptism for the dead. But it is clear that Paul is not referring to either himself or the believers in Corinth in general. Rather, he was referring to the “some” of verse 12. In light of these false teachers, he uses different pronouns in verse 29. Notice he does not say, “Why do we baptize for the dead?” but “Why do they baptize for the dead?” Note the pronouns Paul uses in verses 12-19 and 30 as compared to verse 29. And keep in mind that there is nothing in the context about different heavenly kingdoms. Carefully, and prayerfully show these facts to your Mormon friends.

In Conclusion

BE PRAYERFUL We are called to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Pray that God would grant you the wisdom you need to clearly and carefully communicate the truth to your Mormon friends (James 1:5).

BE PREPARED While there is no need to try to know everything about Mormon beliefs, history and culture, it can only help if you know some of the basics. This way you can anticipate what they might say. It is even more important for you to know what the Bible teaches. You must spend much time studying the Bible so you may be able to respond to the Mormon distortions and appeals to it.

BE PATIENT As you seek to witness to your Mormon friends, don’t try to cover too much territory in one sitting. This can lead to a strong defensive attitude and minimal communication. Take your time. Remember 2 Timothy 2:24-26.

BE PERSISTENT Don’t give up. We are in this for the long term. If you get frustrated, take some time off. Pray and ask God to help you in your preparation and understanding. Pray too that he will give your Mormon friend eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of who God is, their need for his salvation, and his provision of the Gospel of grace.

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Contact Adam

05.10.25

This study was given to me by a friend at church, who shall remain nameless. I did not create this study. Adam

Summary of “Secular Proof of the Bible”

• 40 authors, 3 different continents, no way for them to communicate with each other, all writing the same thing.  Divine guidance.
• Prophecy.
• Entire bible is 40% prophecy. Nearly 8,000 verses of prophecy.
• 90% of those prophecies have come true.  Some recently, we know that the remaining 10% are in the works or will come to pass soon.
• Only God could accurately tell of stories that came to be, in EXACT detail, one thousand years before it happened. 
• In the prophecies the bible was correct in extreme detail, name for name, city for city, date for date.
• All of the other “worldly” would-be so called prophets (Nostradamus, Edgar Cayse, etc.) have predicted world events, but some of them have come to pass, but a lot of them failed to occur.  This is where they prove the bible even more, the bible has never had an error.

Just a FEW of the prophecies

• Over 60 prophecies written about Jesus, BEFORE His birth, and each prophecy came true, exactly.
• And, most importantly, don’t forget what some of these prophecies foretold.  They predicted his life, his walk, his death, and his resurrection. 
• Jewish captivity by Babylon (Isaiah 39:5-7) (Jeremiah chapters 25 & 27)
•  Israel’s Rebirth in 1948
• Multiple books, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Leviticus.
• 430 years of punishment for not listening to God…broken down by events. Scholars, using the Jewish calendar, have given us the exact date of 907,200 days…..May 14th, 1948.  The same day David Ben Guirion announced to the whole world the official formation of the nation of Israel.
• Six day war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
• The destruction of Tyre.  SEVEN very specific prophecies made 2600 years ago and recorded in the Old Testament.  These prophecies all came true and were recorded in SECULAR historical document.
• SECULAR evidence (stone tablets) of the writings prove that the writings were made 500 to 600 BC.  Prophecies came true, at various times, ending around 1291 A.D.  About 1700 years after Ezekiel’s death.
• Cyrus
• Isaiah prophecies regarding the judgment that God was going to bring upon the nation of Israel for their sins.  (Hmmmmm, something worth paying attention to in our country today).
• Involved Babylon again, which was an insignificant country when the prophecy was written.  Later, as prophesied, Babylon became a major world power.
• FOUR highly detailed prophecies, which at the time didn’t make too much sense.  But later, during the events of the time, made total sense.
• SECULAR PROOF: Prophecy written in 703 B.C. by the prophet Isaiah. Greek historian Herotidus records the historical secular events, which then subsequently proved out Isaiah’s exact details.
• All four prophecies were literally fulfilled 163 years after they were written. 
• Seventy Weeks
• Pinpointed the time of the coming Messiah
• Used the well know Jewish calendar, all accepted by secular scholars.  The exact number of weeks recorded in well-documented historical secular documents.
• I recommend that you read this “Seventy Weeks” portion thoroughly, good stuff.

Secular Proof of the Bible

First of all, hundreds, thousands of book proving the bible have been written.  If you really wanted to research the subject all one has to do is start looking through the web sites and the libraries for these discussion.

If that is true, then why doesn’t “everyone” just believe?  The text below does a good job explaining this question.  There is a ton of reading here, but this is just a few pages compared to the tens of thousands of pages that have documented the accuracy of the bible.

	God didn’t expect us to believe on blind faith alone Throughout the Scriptures, God exhorts us to be vigilant, to study, to test things to be sure of them. God has created the human race with the ability to think and to make choices. We are not propelled by instinct as the animals are, but we have the ability to make logical choices based upon consideration. Though God loves us all, He does expect us to use our ability to think and to choose to come to know Him. It is not His intention to force Himself on us, but rather to wait patiently for us to choose Him. Therefore, God has done some things for us so that we could know that He is who He says He is…. IF we want to know.   Prov 3:5-6 (NIV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.   God’s First Testimony to us that He is the divine author of the Bible: A fact of history: The bible was written by 40 men, chosen by God to write it.. Those 40 men who wrote were on 3 separate continents, and were all writing the same thing, at the same time. The gospel of Christ. In that day, they had no mail delivery trucks, no drop ship planes, no Federal Express, no UPS and no e-mail. So how could it be then that they all wrote the same things while on 3 separate continents? Because as the men wrote, God spoke.   Prophecy. The bible is approximately 40% prophecy. There are nearly 8,000 verses of prophecy in the bible. Of those nearly 8,000 verses, 90% of them have come to pass with excruciating accuracy. The remaining 10% are either in the works now, or will be coming to pass soon. Only God can tell our entire trajectory of history from the beginning to the end. And God has not been wrong yet. God’s prophetic program has proven to be precise and exact.    It is not possible for humans to know the entire trajectory of the events of our world and to describe them in exact detail thousands of years before they happen.
	An Introduction to Prophecy
	Assuming this universe and it’s contents are the products of a supernatural, designer, creator, we must next examine how he could demonstrate conclusively that he exists and is that creator.   God will not just jump out at you to prove Himself. God is not interested in proving Himself, He expects you to seek after him,   The God of the Bible demonstrates that he is the creator by demonstrating that he exists outside of our dimension of time. The Bible is the he only book on planet earth that can demonstrate it’s text comes from a being who exists outside our time domain. It does this by telling us things before they happen with incredible accuracy.     A Note on Nostradamus, Edgar Cayse, and other so called visionaries and prophets: “But Nostradamus and others have predicted world events and they have come to pass, and he is not God” someone will say. But these so called prophets have a tremendous deficit on their part… they have been wrong more than they have been right! God has orchestrated our outcome from the beginning to the end. He knows what will happen, and has told it to us. God has not been wrong, nor has He misguided us.   The year 2000 brought tons of articles to the shelves in all kinds of magazines and tabloids. They all raved about how Nostradamus and Cayse and others predicted that the year 2000 would bring the end. Many cataclysmic disasters would also occur during the year 2000. The passage of time has proved them to be flat wrong. As a matter of fact, none of their prophecies for the year 2000 came to pass. While the passage of time continues to show the modern day self proclaimed prophets to be wrong, the passage of time continues to show God to be absolutely correct, and never wrong.

Prophecy #1

Ezekiel’s Prophecy of Israel’s Rebirth in 1948

In the year 592 B.C. in the Babylonian Empire a Hebrew slave named Ezekiel was instructed by an angel to:

“Lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.” (Ezekiel 4:4-6).

At the time of this visitation the Jews were in captivity after being overthrown by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer in 606 B.C. This 70 year captivity of the Jews had been prophesied extensively by Isaiah almost 100 years earlier (Isaiah 39:5-7) and (Jeremiah chapt 25&27).

Now the prophecy in Ezekiel chapt 4 predicts a total of 430 years of punishment for the nation of Israel. 70 years of this period of punishment are accounted for in the 70 year Babylonian captivity. That leaves 360 more years of punishment unaccounted for. For centuries biblical scholars could find nowhere in history a period of punishment on Israel that could corresponds to the remaining 360 years of punishment.

In the book of Leviticus, chapt 26, we are told that if the nation of Israel did not hearken (obey) unto the Lord that she would be punished. Then after being punished, if the nation continued to be in rebellion toward God that the punishment would be multiplied by seven:

“If you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant…I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies. If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.” Leviticus 26: 14-22.

Recently Biblical scholars have applied this Levitical principle of multiplying Israel’s punishment by seven to the remaining 360 years of punishment and found a phenomenal discovery.(4)

The Biblical prophetic year in the Jewish calendar is 360 days long. This discovery was made by Sir Robert Anderson in his book The Coming Prince.(5) In fact, all ancient calendars of the world, at one time calculated the year as 360 days. So if you multiple the 360 years of remaining punishment x 360 days/year x 7 times punishment (Levitical principle) = 907,200 days. 907,200 days is 2483.8 years (modern Julian calendar years). So, 907,200 days of punishment remained for the nation of Israel after the 70 year Babylonian captivity. The question is where do you begin calculating the remaining 907,200 days?

Servitude of the Nation

There is a Biblical term applied to the nation of Israel called the period of the servitude of the nation. This refers to the period of time that the conquered people of Israel lived through without their own rulership. The people and nation of Israel ceased being a sovereign nation in 606 B.C. And began the first 70 years of servitude at that time. After the 70 year Babylonian captivity they returned to the land but they were ruled over by a succession of empires (Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman) until 70 AD When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Then for the next 18 centuries the Israelites were dispersed among the many nations of the world and for the most part were slaves. To the Jewish mind they lost their sovereignty in 606 B.C. with the Babylonian takeover and didn’t regain it until the servitude of the nation ended on May 14, 1948 when Israel again became a nation.

The Babylonian captivity began July 25th 606 B.C. and ended July 23rd 537 B.C. This was the very day that the Medo-Persian emperor Cyrus gave the decree that allowed the Jews to return to Israel. If you begin counting the 907,200 days of remaining punishment from July 23rd 537 B.C., the day of Cyrus’ decree and the end of the first 70 years of the servitude, and go foreword 907,200 days you get May 14th 1948.. This was the very day that David Ben Gurion announced to the whole world the official formation of the nation of Israel.

Desolation’s of Jerusalem

Another term commonly discussed is the period of the desolation’s of Jerusalem. This was the period of time prophesied by the prophets in which the city of Jerusalem would be desolate and ‘trodden down by the gentiles”. Many people have mistakenly believed that this term was the same period as the Servitude of the nation discussed above. However, this period of the desolation’s of Jerusalem did not begin in 606 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzer took the first captives. The desolation’s of Jerusalem began with the third siege of Jerusalem with the destruction of the city and the temple. The city and the temple were destroyed on August 18th ,587 B.C. in the third siege of Nebuchadnezzer and the Babylonian army. Exactly seventy Hebrew calendar years later (360 days/year) brings us to August 16th, 518 B.C. If we begin calculating the remaining 907,200 days of punishment from that day it brings us to June 7th ,1967.

This is the very day Israel recaptured the city of Jerusalem during the Six day war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria..

How could Ezekiel have predicted this? He couldn’t unless he was instructed by one that lives outside of time. Truly god sees the beginning from the end and is outside of time as we know it.

Prophecy #2

The Destruction of Tyre

In the year 595 B.C. a man named Ezekiel was given a prophecy regarding the city of Tyre, a city in the modern day country of Lebanon . At that time this city was a large thriving city and a great enemy of Israel. He was told:

“Thus says the Lord God: ‘behold I am against you o Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets…it shall become plunder for the nations…behold I will bring against Tare from the north King Nebuchadnezzer, King of Babylon.. he will slay your people by the sword and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timbers, and your soil in the midst of the water…l will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken. Will the coast lands not shake at the sound of your fall.. then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their embroidered garments…and be astonished at you”. (Ezekiel 26:3)

These are the very specific prophecies for the city of Tyre made by a Hebrew prophet 2600 years ago.

1. Nebuchadnezzer will destroy the mainland city of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:8)
2. Many nations against Tyre (Ezekiel 26:3).
3. Make her bare rock; flat like the top of a rock (Ezekiel 26:4)
4. Fishermen will spread their nets over the site (Ezekiel 26:5)
5. Throw the stones and timbers into the water (Ezekiel 26:12)
6. Never be rebuilt(Ezekiel 26: 14)
7. Princes of nearby coast lands will be astonished by Tyre’s fall and give up their thrones.

Now lets look at what secular history says happened to Tyre.

In the year 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzer, the King of the Babylonian Empire began to attack the city of Tyre. The Babylonian army was the greatest fighting force up to that time and besieged the city of Tyre for 13 years. When they finally broke down the gates and walls of Tyre he found that the people had moved out to an island 1/2 mile off the coast of Tyre. #l fulfilled. City besieged.

In the year 332 B.C. Alexander the Great laid siege against the island city of Tare because they would not submit to his authority. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that because Alexander the Great had no fleet of ships he demolished old Tyre on the mainland and he threw the debris (stones and timbers and dirt) into the ocean and made a causeway (jetty or wood/stone bridge) connecting the mainland to the newer island city of Tyre.

Secular historian Phillip Myers stated in his textbook of history that:

” Alexander the Great reduced Tare to ruins in 332 B.C. Tyre recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. the larger part of the site of the once great city is now as bare as the top of a rock- a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry” #2,3,4,5 fulfilled.

Secular historians have stated that the ruins of Tyre are highly unique. Tare ruins are the only ones in the world that have been completely thrown into the ocean.

After Alexander the Great, the island city persisted in various degrees of strength. during the next 16 centuries. Many kings besieged the city until its final destruction by the Moslems began in 1291 AD

Currently, there is a flat rock area with not one stone upon another. The stones that were thrown into the sea are still there. Other than a few nearby small fishing villages, there is no evidence of the former great city. On the flat former foundation stones you find to the present day fishermen drying their nets. #6 fulfilled.. Never rebuilt.

Secular historians record that when Alexander the Great besieged the city of Tyre that many of the neighboring kings submitted to his authority without a battle. #7 fulfilled. Princes give up their thrones.

How could Ezekiel know these things? Because he served the creator of the universe. i.e. the God of the Bible who told Isaiah, Ezekiel and the other prophets that he would tell them things before they happened so that when they happened the people would know that he was truly God. This is only one of hundreds of Hebrew prophecies that have come true to the very word. God states that he can see the beginning from the end; that he is outside of time; that he can see all the history of man like we would look at the pages of a book. Sounds impossible doesn’t it? Well it is if you happen to live in our four dimensional universe.

However, an interesting outcome of Einstein’s theory of relativity was the discovery of dimensions of time and space that exist separately and distinct from the four dimensions we experience. In fact, these dimensions may even be in our midst but not visible to us. More recently mathematicians have shown that up to eleven dimensions may exist in the universe. Many physicists believe that there are places in the universe where time ceases to flow. One of these places is in a black hole. Now it is interesting that the Bible tells us that God dwells in a place where time does not flow. For centuries this concept was mocked by scientists. Such a place is now scientific fact.

If one were to be sucked into a black hole, or any other realm where time ceases to flow, we could see the flow of time, in places where there is time, like we were reading the pages of a book. Since we would experience no flow of time, the beginning and the end of time filled dimensions would be present and observable all at once.

These strange facts of physics may be evidence for the truth of what we call the supernatural “spirit realm”. However, if these supernatural dimensions can be shown mathematically possible then they are not really supernatural. Rather, they are natural. People believe in a lot of things we can’t see ( wind, atoms, heat, electromagnetic radiation, luck). Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not real.

The Skeptics Reply

Now the skeptic immediately says that the book of Ezekiel must have been written after these events took place. However, archaeological finds have produced Ezekiel texts that are dated to as far back as 400-600 B.C. In this century an almost complete Ezekiel text on stone tablets was found. The type of Hebrew on these tablets indicates that it was from the time of Ezekiel i.e. 500-600 B.C. There are many scholars who believe that this stone work may be from the hands of Ezekiel himself. Alexander the Great didn’t invade the city until 332 B.C., long after Ezekiel’s death. The final fulfillment of the prophecy did not happen until 1291 AD i.e., about 1700 years after Ezekiel’s death. The story of Tyre is in the oldest text’s known.

Another interesting fact is that these 2500 year old stone tablets contain exactly the same text as the Hebrew Bible you can buy today.(2) So much for text being lost or changed because of faulty translation.. Others might argue luck. Well, the mathematical probability that Ezekiel could have guessed so many unlikely events happening is staggering. But this is only one small prophecy. There are hundreds that have come true. For an extensive treatment of this prophecy see Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.(3)

God told the prophets that he would tell them things that would happen in advance so they would recognize him as a supremely intelligent all knowing creator that exists outside time and space. This kind of evidence was very impressive to men in those days. However, in today’s world most people live with very little awareness of God. We tend to rationalize prophecies like these saying that there must be a “natural explanation”. Many people don’t want to see this kind of evidence because they are comfortable with their agnostic view that a knowledge of God is not possible; or worse yet, that there is no God. Many people are like the man that says “don’t confuse me with facts my mind is made up”. However, whether we choose to believe a fact does not alter the truth of it . That is, you can choose to believe that there is no gravity. However, this is not rational since the abundance of evidence seems to point to the truth of gravity. There is at least a 50/50 chance that there is a God.

The more evidence that we find that seems to support this fact the higher the probability that there is a God.

Prophecy #3

Cyrus

In the year 703 B.C. A man named Isaiah, a man who claimed to be Hebrew prophet, wrote extensively about the judgment that God was going to bring upon the nation Israel. This judgment was to occur because they had not obeyed his law. He stated that they would be taken captive by the Babylonian empire, that their city and finally the temple Solomon built for God would be destroyed. Isaiah and other prophets also stated that after the captivity the Jews would return to their land. The interesting thing about this prophecy is that in 703 B.C. the nation of Babylon was insignificant and it would not be raised up to power and conquer Israel for another 100 years.

In the 44th and 45th chapters of Isaiah he names the man who would give the decree to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem. At the time of Isaiah’s ministry the Jews were still in Israel and they simply scoffed at Isaiah.

“The Lord who says of Cyrus “he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple, your foundation shall be laid. Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held – to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.. That you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servants sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you though you have not known me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God beside me. I will gird you though you have not known me.. I am the Lord and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity. I the Lord do all these things…Isaiah 44:28,45:1,3-7

This prophecy has several major predictions:

1. A man named Cyrus will perform the Lords pleasure
2. He shall say to Jerusalem “you shall be built” (in 703 B.C. it was still standing)
3. He will say to the temple “your foundation will be laid”( it hadn’t been destroyed yet)
4. He (God) will open the double doors before him (Cyrus).

Now lets look at what secular history says about Cyrus and the Jews:

This prophecy was written in 703 B.C. According to historians Isaiah and the kings he served under lived between 745-695 B.C. Cyrus, the Medo-Persian Emperor, was born about 100 years later. Starting in 606 B.C. the we a series of three sieges upon the nation of Israel by the Babylonian Empire led by Nebuchadnezzer. The siege of 606 B.C. began the seventy year captivity prophesied by Isaiah (39:5-7) and Jeremiah (chapt 25&27).

At the end of this seventy year captivity in the year 537 B.C., the general of the Medo-Persian province, second in line to the throne, overtook the city of Babylon and the Babylonian empire without a battle. His name was Cyrus.

The Greek historian Herotidus records that drunk Babylonian guards left the large gates open to the city of Babylon in the middle of the night. He records that Cyrus and his army simply walked through the gates and overtook the city. He records that many of the citizens did not even know the city had been taken until three days later. This same man, Cyrus, soon became emperor with the death of his father. That same year, 537 B.C. he gave the command that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple. The Jewish Talmud records that the prophet Daniel showed a scroll of Isaiah to Cyrus and showed him that God had named him 100 years before he was born..

This must have blown his mind. It impressed him enough that he let the Jews go and stated that their God must be true. Thus all four prophecies were literally fulfilled 163 years after they were written. Again, God showed his power by predicting events before they happened.

Prophecy #4

The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks

The Most Amazing Prophecy in the Bible:

In a city called Babylon, around the year 537 B.C., a Hebrew slave named Daniel claimed that while deep in prayer he was interrupted by an angel named Gabriel. Daniel had been praying for the people and nation of Israel when the angel stated that he had come to give Daniel “skill and understanding” regarding the future of the nation of Israel.

In the book of Daniel 9:24-26 the angel stated:

“Seventy sevens are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah. the Prince, there shall be seven sevens and sixty two sevens; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty two sevens the Messiah shall be cut off. But not for himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”. Daniel 9:24-26

This message pinpointed the time of the coming of the long awaited Messiah.

At the time of this visitation Jerusalem was completely desolate. The nation of Israel had been destroyed by the Babylonian empire 70 years earlier. The Hebrew people were, however, about to befreed from seventy years of captivity by the Medo-Persian king Cyrus.

The prophecy states that “seventy sevens “are determined for the people of Israel. In Hebrew the word translated as “seven” is shabua which actually means a week of years; much like the English word decade means ten years.

Now the prophecy states that Daniel should understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah comes that there will be sixty two sevens and seven sevens. Thus if a seven (shabua) is seven years, then 69 sevens is 483 years (69 x 7=483). It is a well established fact that at that time in history all of the known ancient calendars calculated a year as 360 days (Chinese, Mayan, Egyptian, Hebrew, Babylonian ).

It is well known that for prophecy the Jews use a 360 day calendar. Therefore, 483 years times 360 days per year equals 173,880 days. Gabriel was telling Daniel that 173,880 days after the command is given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem the Messiah would come.. Remember, at the time of this prophecy the city was desolate.

Now, is there anywhere where a command of this sort is given? Yes. In the second chapter of the book of Nehemiah it states that:

“In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took wine and gave it to the kin. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore, the king said to me why is your face sad, since you are not sick “ (Nehemiah 2:1-2)

Nehemiah, went on to explain that he was sad because he had heard a report that the city of his people, Jerusalem, was desolate. Nehemiah requested that he be allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. The king granted his wish on the spot.

The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Anaxerxes Longimanus ascended to the throne of the Medo-Persian empire in July 465 B.C. By Hebrew tradition when the day of the month is not specifically stated, it is given to be the first day of that month. So, the day of the decree by Artaxerxes was the first day of the Hebrew month Nisan 445 B.C. The first day of Nisan in 445 B.C. corresponds to the 14th day of March in 445 B.C. This was verified by astronomical calculations in the British Royal observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson.(6)

Now remember, the prophecy states that 69 weeks of years (173,880 days) after the command goes forth to restore the city of Jerusalem the Messiah will come. If we count 173,880 days foreword from 14th of march, 445 B.C. We come to Sunday, April 6th 32 AD. Again this date was verified by British Royal Observatory.(6)

Here’s the calculations:

March 14th 445 B.C. to March 14th, 32 AD is 476 years. (1 B.C. to 1 AD is one year. there is no year zero) 476 x 365 days per year = 173,740 days Add for leap year = 116 days (three less leap years in four centuries )*** March 14th to April 6th = 24 days total = 173,880 days. *** leap years do not occur in century years unless divisible by 400.

What happened on April 6th 32 AD? A humble carpenter rode into the east gate of Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowds cried “Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. This man’s name was Jesus of Nazareth. This was the first day that he allowed his followers to proclaim him as their Messiah. He had previously told them that his day had not yet come. This day (April 6th 32 AD is commonly known as palm Sunday. Skeptical? Read on

Is there any other way to check the accuracy of this date? Yes. In chapt 3 of the gospel of Luke, a Roman physician. Luke states that in the l5th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar that Jesus was baptized and began his ministry. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that the reign of Caesar Tiberius started on August 19th in the year 14 AD Most scholars believe Jesus was baptized in the fall season. Therefore, the fall of the 15th year of Tiberius’ reign would have been 28 AD The day that a Roman ruler ascends to the throne begins his first year. Consequently, according to Luke chapt 3, the ministry of Jesus started with his baptism in the fall of the l5th year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius and lasted 3 1/2 years (4 Passovers). The fourth Passover of his ministry was the day of his crucifixion and would have fallen in the year 32 AD The Passover in the year 32 AD fell on April 10th. The Sunday before that Passover was April 6th.. This day April 6th, 32 AD Was exactly 173,880 days after Artaxerxes gave the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 B.C…. These dates are historically sound and have been verified by Royal British Observatory and many other scholars.(6)

Daniel’s prophecy stated that 483 years(173,880 days) after the command went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem the Messiah would be revealed.. That day was April 6th 32 AD, Palm Sunday, the first day Jesus of Nazareth allowed his disciples to proclaim him as Messiah..

I know what your thinking. This calculation and prophecy is contrived by over -zealous Christians. However, ancient Jewish Rabbinical writings in the Talmud, which are dated from the time between Daniel and the time of Jesus Christ, reveal without a doubt that the Hebrew scholars recognized this prophecy of Daniel as Messianic. That is referring to the coming of the Messiah.(7)

After the destruction of the Jewish temple by the Romans in 70 AD, Rabbinical writings by Mamonides and other well respected Jewish rabbis discuss their dismay about the Messiah not coming in the first century AD They knew that according to the prophet Daniel, the Messiah was due to come in the early part of that century.. The writings revealed that they knew that the 483 years that the prophet Daniel had prophesied were up. They didn’t understand why the Messiah had not yet come.(8)

They were counting the years and were expecting the Messiah about the time of the time of Jesus. However, they needed to read Daniel’s prophecy further.

Daniel states that the Messiah would be “cut off”. The word translated cut off “karath” in the ancient Hebrew language literally means to be put to death for a capital crime. Jesus was tried and convicted for blasphemy and insurrection against the Roman empire, both capital crimes.

The prophecy then states that after the Messiah is “cut off”, the people of the prince who is to come would “destroy the city and the sanctuary”. In the year 70 AD ten legions of Roman soldiers under the Roman general Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem. A Roman historian, named Josephus dramatically records the events of that period of time in Jerusalem. He records that the city was burned to the ground and millions of Jews were killed. Still skeptical? Read on.

The book of Isaiah, chapt 53 and Psalm 22 foretold of the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. Isaiah 53 states that

“He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.. He was wounded for our transgressions.. Bruised for our iniquities.. By his stripes we are healed . He was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth.. He was cut off from the land of the living.. He poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors.. He bore the sin of many and made intercession for us..”(Isaiah 53:3-5)

This is exactly what happened to Jesus. He was rejected, beaten(stripes), opened not his mouth, crucified next to two transgressors( thieves), and poured out his soul (bled to death). Psalm 22 gives a graphic description of crucifixion 700 years before it was invented by the romans.

“I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it has melted within me…My tongue clings to the roof of my mouth.. They pierced my hands and my feet.. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots”. Psalm 22:14-16,18

Finally, in the book of Zechariah 12:10 the Messiah states that when he comes to set up his kingdom in the last days they( the Jews) will mourn when they see me whom they have pierced.

Again, ancient Rabbinical writings from the Talmud and Mishna written prior to Jesus’ life have shown that there was no doubt that they knew these were all Messianic prophecies.(9)

Why did they reject him? Again, writings from before the time of Jesus indicated that they expected the Messiah to be a mighty warrior who would wipe out the Roman empire and set up God’s kingdom. Jesus of Nazareth taught them to love their enemies, do good to those who hate you, turn the other cheek, he ate with sinners and he was also highly critical of the Jewish religious leaders, calling them hypocritical, selfish, self-righteous, white washed sepulchers (a real insult 2000 years ago). So they began to conspire to kill him.

On April 6th 32 AD As Jesus rode near to the city of Jerusalem he stopped and wept, saying:

“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hid from your eyes.” Luke 19:42

Hid from your eyes.. Whose eyes? The Jews.

I believe Jesus held them accountable for recognizing that the 483 years were up. However, he was not what they expected or wanted in a Messiah.

Modern archaeologists and ancient document experts have dated all four new testament gospels and Paul’s letters as being written prior to 70 AD In fact, the gospel of Luke indicates that he had consulted eyewitnesses and even older documents about the life of Jesus. He used these earlier eyewitness accounts to help him compose his gospel. History tells us that the men that wrote these accounts were all tortured and murdered for what they wrote. Peter states “For we did not follow cunningly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses of his majesty.” II Peter 1:16

In the new testament it states that when Jesus was hanging on the cross the sky became black from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. This was on Passover, which is always on a full moon. At least three Roman historians recorded for all mankind to read an episode of total mid-day darkness that occurred during the full moon during the reign of Caesar Tiberius. (10) Two of them recognized the impossibility of this being a solar eclipse because it was at the time of a full moon. This correlates with the darkness that came over the land during the crucifixion of Jesus…

Now, why would the disciples falsely “Messianize” a man who did not fit any of the preconceived expectations of the Messiah? If they wanted to fabricate a Messiah, they would certainly create a story which fit the mold better. This would make it more believable. And why would they be willing to be ripped apart by lions, crucified, burned at the stake, torn apart by chariots, beheaded, stabbed, stoned, imprisoned, humiliated for something they knew was a lie.. Surely, if they fabricated the story, one of them would have recanted, when faced with death. I know that many people have died for a lie in the past (e.g. Kamikazes); however, they died for something they thought was true. No sane man dies for something he knows is a lie, especially when offered life if he recants the story.

The foundation upon which the Christian church rests is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This event in history is either true or not. There is no third option. When examining the evidence for the resurrection we must look for the explanation for the empty tomb which best fits all the facts of history.

There are excellent books on the evidence for the resurrection, written by men who were initially trying to refute Christianity by disproving the resurrection. Two of the best books are Who moved the Stone by Frank Morrison and The Resurrection Factor by Josh McDowell. Both of these men were anti-Christian skeptics who thought Christians were crazy, but when confronted with the evidence, concluded that the body of Jesus was in fact resurrected.

Why am I going through all this? Because Jesus of Nazareth is the most controversial person in history. Why? Because the claims he made about himself are radical. In fact, he said that all men are either “for me or against me”(Matthew 12:30). Did you hear that. He states that your either with him or against him. There is no neutral position.

What were his claims? He stated that he was “…the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet he shall live”(John 11:41). He said, “I and my father are one.” (John 10:30) To his disciple Philip he stated that “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”(John 14:9) One day when teaching in the temple he said to the Jews “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24 )

While under arrest he stated to the Jewish leaders and the local Roman procurator that he was the Messiah. Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” And He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” (Luke 22:70 )

To his disciples he said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 He was claiming to be God and claiming to be the way to eternal life. He also claimed that by rejecting him would result in damnation (John 3:18). No wonder he offends so many.

Another interesting thing that he stated was that by being one of his followers we would not be liked by the world in general. He said we would be persecuted for his name sake. Now I think this is interesting. Usually when a religious crock comes around they will say things like n follow me and you will have peace, love, joy, nirvana, happiness, salvation and you can become like god- through good works of course.” Jesus didn’t say that. He did claim that a life in him would create peace, joy, a changed meaningful life, but he also promised that we would probably be hated, persecuted, despised and maybe even killed for his name sake. He claimed to be the human incarnation of God, the Creator of the universe.

No religious leader ever made claims like these: not Bhudda, Mohammed, Krishna. It is these radical claims that made the Jewish leaders want to kill him. And it is these claims that make men today reject him. However, if the historical evidence supports his claim, then an honest person will examine the evidence and act on it. Many people are like the man that said “don’t confuse me with facts, I’ve made up my mind”. But this is not intellectually honest. However, it is also not surprising because the apostle Paul, a man who met Jesus face to face, stated that “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. By this he meant that the whole message of Jesus would offend many because the message was so convicting.

Prophecy #5
A Prophecy regarding the unsaved:

Since the rest of God’s prophecies have come to pass, and are coming to pass, there is no basis for not believing that this one to shall come to pass…

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Jesus claimed to be God in human form. The Bible claims that man is sinful by nature 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” and that God will not accept man into heaven without a covering for sin and that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood (previously done by blood animal sacrifice) Leviticus 17: 11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”. The Bible says that Jesus was to be killed to provide the blood sacrifice for all mankind for redemption of sins. John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The Bible claims that by believing in Jesus we can receive remission of sin and have eternal life and that this salvation is a free gift available to all who will just take it. It cannot be earned by good works. This is the message of the gospel (good news)of Jesus Christ.

The prophecy I’ve gone through above is stunning evidence of the truth of the life, death and messianic claim of Jesus. Open your mind and heart and begin your own search to answer the question “Who was Jesus of Nazareth?”

I believe there are only 4 options for who he was:

1. He never existed- disproved even by Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Liar
3. Lunatic
4. Lord

Some try to add a fifth: “He was a great, wise, righteous man”.

However, a great man doesn’t claim to be something he knows he’s not(i.e. son of God) that makes him a liar. Secondly, if he thought he was God, but wasn’t, no matter how sincere. he’s a lunatic.

When Jesus was on the earth he said “Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden, for I will give you rest.” The emptiness, anger, anxiety, frustration, fear, loneliness, guilt that can overwhelm us at times, can be replaced with love, joy and the knowledge that the creator of the universe is in charge of all things. The Bible says that God proved to the people that he was God by telling them things that would happen before they did. God also states that to have eternal life in heaven we must be sin free.

One of Jesus’ claims was that he had the authority to forgive sins and that simply by believing in him we could have that forgiveness. There is a lot of peace in knowing that all my sins are forgiven . To obtain this you need only to confess Jesus as your Lord and savior. You don’t have to follow a whole lot of rules or do a lot of works. Salvation is by grace (a free gift) and by believing in the completed work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, who rode on a donkey into Jerusalem exactly on the day prophesied by Daniel.

The God of the Bible says that he made man for his pleasure and for communion with him. He gave man free will to choose the recognize and serve him or to choose to reject him. He also states that the penalty for rejection would be death. This is not my opinion but is stated in the ancient scrolls of the Hebrew prophets. The interesting thing is, that it is our choice. God will not force himself on you. He will allow uncomfortable circumstances to occur so that you will reach out for him. The free will on our behalf ensures that those who choose God do so by choice. This is what makes a relationship meaningful. How meaningful would a relationship with a spouse be if she was pre-programmed to love you. She has no choice but to love you in this situation. This is why God gave free will to man. He knew that some would reject him; but he also knew that some would recognize him for who he is and serve him. If the prophecies of the Bible can be shown to be true; and if they can’t be explained away by “natural explanations” then the God of the Bible must be that Creator.

I Dare You…. Search the evidence for the claims of Jesus of Nazareth

It’s Your move.. God Bless You. Read The Gospel of John “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6 -7 “He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ” Isaiah 8:14

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried atone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.” Isaiah 28:16

Believe on Him who God has sent and you will not be sorry.

Contact Adam

05.10.25

Who Were the Chaldeans?

1. Historical and Geographic Identity

• The Chaldeans (Hebrew: Kaśdîm) were a Semitic people who originally lived in the southern part of Babylonia, in what is now southern Iraq.
• By the 9th century BC, they had migrated into southern Mesopotamia, especially around the marshy land near the Persian Gulf.
• They rose to political power and eventually established the Neo-Babylonian Empire (also called the Chaldean Empire).

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The Chaldeans in the Bible

2. The Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BC)

• The most famous Chaldean ruler was Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned 605–562 BC), who appears prominently in the books of Daniel, Jeremiah, and 2 Kings.
• The Chaldeans, under Nebuchadnezzar, were responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the Babylonian exile of the Jews.

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3. Chaldeans as Babylonians

• By the time of the prophets, “Chaldeans” and “Babylonians” were often interchangeable terms, though originally the Chaldeans were a subset of the Babylonian population.
• In books like Habakkuk, “Chaldeans” represent a powerful, terrifying empire used by God for judgment.

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Key Biblical References

A. Habakkuk 1:6

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation…”

• God is using the Chaldeans to judge Judah, despite their own wickedness.

B. Daniel 2:2

“Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams.”

• Here, “Chaldeans” refers not just to ethnicity but to a class of wise men or astrologers.

C. Isaiah 47:10–13

• The Chaldeans are condemned for their arrogance, idolatry, and occult practices, particularly astrology and divination.

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Theological Themes

1. Instrument of Divine Judgment

• God uses the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to punish Judah for idolatry and injustice, fulfilling prophetic warnings.
• However, God later judges the Chaldeans themselves for their brutality and pride (cf. Jeremiah 50–51, Habakkuk 2).

2. Symbol of Human Pride and Oppression

• Babylon/Chaldea becomes a symbol of worldly power that opposes God. This symbolism is carried into the Book of Revelation with “Babylon the Great.”

3. The Danger of False Wisdom

• The Chaldeans were known for occult knowledge, astrology, and magic arts—contrasted with divine wisdom (e.g., Daniel’s wisdom from God vs. the Chaldean magicians).

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Spiritual Significance in Prophecy and Revelation

• In Revelation, “Babylon” is a spiritual continuation of the arrogance and godlessness first associated with Chaldean Babylon.
• The Chaldeans represent systems of oppression, idolatry, and counterfeit wisdom that challenge God’s sovereignty.

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In Summary

Aspect	Detail
Ethnic Identity	Semitic people from southern Babylonia
Empire	Founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BC)
Biblical Role	Destroyed Jerusalem; exiled the Jews
Symbolism	Used by God as judgment; later judged for pride and sin
Spiritual Themes	Pride, judgment, false wisdom vs. divine truth
Relevance Today	Seen as a type or shadow of godless systems opposed to God

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Last edit 05.10.25

OLD TESTAMENT

God of Genesis, You created the world and made it teem with life.

God of Exodus, You led your people out of bondage and made them a nation.

God of Leviticus, You established Your worship in Israel.

God of Numbers, You are Lord of all.

God is Deuteronomy, You are the great lawgiver.

God of Joshua, You lead Your people to victory.

God of Judges, You always return Your  people’s hearts to Yourself.

God of Ruth, You care for all and establish Your work through widow’s, the poor, and foreigners.

God of Samuel, You raise up priests and prophets to do Your bidding.

God of Kings, You establish and depose the rulers of men.

God of Chronicles, You do not leave Yourself without a testimony of Your mighty works.

God of Ezra, You always show up when Your Word is exalted.

God of Nehemiah, You rebuild and restore Your people time and time again.

God of Esther, all nations and peoples are in Your hands.

God of Job, You are sovereign over all, and no one can accuse You of wrong.

God of Psalms, You fill my heart with song, my mouth with praise, and my feet with dancing.

God of Proverbs, You are God only wise, and in Your hand is all knowledge.

God of Ecclesiastes, You bring all our vanity to nothing.

God of Solomon’s Song, You are my beloved, and I am Yours.

God of Isaiah, You are exalted, a God who fulfills His promises.

God of Jeremiah, You are a God of great and mysterious ways.

God of Lamentations, You are a God of passion who weeps for His people.

God of Ezekiel, You are a God of signs and wonders.

God of Daniel, You are a God who honors faithfulness and brings low the proud.

God of Hosea, You are faithful, even when I am faithless.

God of Joel, You restore all that your righteous wrath destroys. God of Amos, You warn Your people again and again of the dangers and deceits of sin.

God of Obadiah, You will establish Your kingdom, God of all nations.

God of Jonah, You show mercy to all who repent.

God of Micah, You repeatedly show compassion to Your wayward children.

God of Nahum, You judge the nations in righteousness.

God of Habakuk, You alone are the strenght of Your people.

God of Zephaniah, You turn back our enemies and make us glad.

God of Haggai, You are worthy to be honored among men and among all the nations.

God of Zechariah, You are a God of visions and revelation.

God of Malachi, You are constant and pure, desiring a religion of the heart, not an outward show.

NEW TESTAMENT

God of Matthew, You are my King.

God of Mark, You are the supreme servant, the example of true humility.

God of Luke, You are Lord of all.

God of John, You are the living Word, the great I Am.

God of Acts, You are the author of the church, the pioneer of the faith.

God of Romans, You are the salvation-worker.

God of Corinthians, You are a God of order and righteousness.

God of Galatians, You are the great liberator, a God of freedom and grace.

God of Ephesians, You are a God of light, unity, and unfathomable riches.

God of Philippians, You are a God of joy!

God of Colossians, You are preeminent, a God of glory.

God of Thessalonians, You are a God of hope.

God of Timothy, You are the great shepherd.

God of Titus, You are always working, always doing good.

God of Philemon, You make brothers of all men.

God of Hebrews, You have made Jesus greater than all things – all priests, all covenants – all.

God of James, You are a God of practical  wisdom.

God of Peter, You are true and victorious in all things.

God of John, You are love and truth.

God of Jude, You are able to keep me from falling

God of Revelation, You hold the future – and the times of all peoples – in Your hand!

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05.10.25

QUESTION:  How do we know that the bible was written by God and not by men?

A very excellent question.  This question MUST BE resolved so that every Christian, from the week-old Christian to the ninety year Christian, can faithfully depend upon God’s written word for truth, guidance, teaching, inspiration, and correction through one’s spiritual walk.

This question is SO important that it is the very FIRST discussion from the “Baptist Faith and Message“.

“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man.  It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction.  It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.  It reveals the principles by which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.  The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”

First, and most importantly……

2 Timothy 3:16  16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

What did that say to you? 

• It didn’t say that “some” scripture was breathed by God….or that some scripture was written by men….it said that “ALL” scripture is God breathed.

2 Peter 1:19-21 (NIV) And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

• Men wrote it, but men spoke from what God wanted them to say, carried by the Holy Spirit…..which IS GOD!

1 Peter 1:25 (NIV) but the word of the Lord stands forever.”  And this is the word that was preached to you.

• Not man’s word, but the Lord’s Word!

Heb 1:1-3 (NIV) In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

• Old times, God used the prophets.
• New Testament, God used his Son’s speech, which was witness by thousands, written and recorded in the scriptures.

Heb 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

• Only God is that powerful.  Man’s words can not penetrate the soul and the spirit, man’s words can not give us the holy spirit that judges our thoughts and attitudes and teaches right from wrong, time without end.  Only God’s Word will last for all eternity.

Romans 15:4 (NIV) For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 16:25-26 (NIV) Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him–

Acts 17:11 (NIV) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

• All men want the truth…no man wants to be deceived.
• We know that the Word is truth….and knowing that, we should thirst for it, so that the Holy Spirit will show us all things in His own time.

Luke 21:33 (NIV) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

• Only God could promise such a statement.  As far as “writtings” go, only God’s Word is eternal.

Luke 24:44-46 (NIV) He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.

• Recorded history proves the bible.  All 60+ “prophecies” that were recorded in the Old Testament, BEFORE Jesus was born and walked the earth, came true during the life of Jesus. 
• Man can not prophesize with 100% accuracy….only God can do that.  The bible tells us how to know a true prophet, if ANY prophecy that a man delivers is ever false, then he was not a true prophet.

John 16:13-15 (NIV) But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

• The Holy Spirit can help you come to a belief in the bible as the true Word of God.
• The Spirit revealed to men the Words in the Bible, and made it know to us.

John 17:17 (NIV) Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Matt 5:17-18 (NIV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Prophecy after prophecy has come true from the writings of the bible.  Time will tell all things.

Matt 22:29 (NIV) Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

• Jesus testified that those who do not know, who do not believe, in the scriptures are in error.   
• Jesus was talking about the Old Testament Scriptures, which also state that the Lord wrote the Bible….and don’t change it.

Psalms 19:7-10 (NIV) The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

Ex 24:4 (NIV) Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Deut 4:1-2 (NIV) Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.

Deut 17:19 (NIV) It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees

Josh 8:34 (NIV) Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law–the blessings and the curses–just as it is written in the Book of the Law.

Psalms 119:11 (NIV) I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalms 119:89 (NIV) Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

• Man’s words would not stand firm in the heavens.

Psalms 119:105 (NIV) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Isaiah 34:16 (NIV) Look in the scroll of the LORD and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV) The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

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05.0.25