This present day world has opened the floodgates to every kind of belief and has settled for less than the truth and as a result we have a mixed up view of what truth is and is not, to say the least. We live in a world in the throes of moral relativism. The Holy Bible once almost universally respected as truth is now continually under attack. It has been called inaccurate, evil and wrong. We have a world that insists there are no absolutes, no one standard, no one truth to live by. New cults appear every day and old cults and pagan beliefs are repackaged for a new generation.
In the Book of Judges, we read about a man named Abimelech who came in and forced and manipulated the people of Shechem to make him king. Abimilech and the treacherous people he had under him even slayed his own brothers, the 70 legitimate sons of Gideon so they could not rule. Abimilech was also a son of Gideon but he was illegitimate and very selfish and cruel. Jotham, speaking as a prophet, spoke a warning to the people, in the form of a parable. Jotham knew they had settled for a king that was less than what God wanted them to have. He saw the danger of such a king and a government who cared only for itself, and more importantly, what could happen if they settled for less than what God has for their life. This is the parable he prophetically spoke:
“ 8 The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. 9 But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. 11 But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? 12 Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. 13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 14 Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. 15 And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. “ (Judges 9:8-15)
The moral of this story and the events that followed is about how people suffer for their bad choices and who or what they put their trust in. I think this parable also has something to say to modern day people. Like the trees in this story many go about seeking truth in places where there is no truth and sooner or later someone is willing to present a truth that is not a truth but a lie that appeals to the seeker who really wasn’t seeking truth anyway, only a solace and agreement for what they already believed. As in verse 15 the bramble once again calls out to our generation to put our trust in the shadow of that which is less than the truth and allow a lie to rule over us and continually the fires of hell devour those who have been deceived, even those who were once as strong as the cedars of Lebanon.
Jesus compared those who trust in lies paraded around as truth to a house built on sand that was destroyed when the storms came (Matthew 7:24-28). What ‘truth’ are you listening to? Whose words do you trust? Is the truth you trust in really truth at all? You better be sure. In times like these we need a foundation that is solid, something we can depend on when the storms of life come and when our beliefs are challenged. Jesus said He is the rock that we must build on. So what you think of who He is is important. I feel like Jesus once again is asking this generation as He did in Matthew 16:13-18 “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” The answer of the unbelieving world is still the same as it was when He first asked this question. Some say He is a prophet, some say He was a good man, some say He was an ‘enlightened’ one no more than a Buddha or a Muhammad or some other well-known person who claims to be enlightened. But I will ask you as Jesus asked His disciples on that day: “But who do YOU say that I am?” How you answer this question has everything to do with where you will spend eternity when you die and what you call truth while living in this world. Peter knew the right answer, he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus went on to tell him something that is very significant. He said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (He was speaking of Himself and the truth that Peter spoke, not Peter.) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living and only true God. Peter knew this because God the Father had revealed it to him. He didn’t have to consult with the theologians and scholars of his time, he just knew. Do you?
In John 17 Jesus is praying and refers to Himself as God’s son and ‘Jesus Christ’ (Christ means ‘the anointed one’.): “1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Now there are many who will accept that Jesus was a good man or a prophet and nothing more, but Jesus did not say that about Himself, He said He was the Son of God. Now, for Him to make such a statement about Himself makes Him either a lunatic or He was truly whom He said He was. There is no in between. Jesus in another place, John 14:6, said of Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He never says ‘I am A way’ He says He is THE WAY, as in the ‘only’ way. He never says He is just another prophet, He says He is THE SON OF GOD. Every person who is confronted with what Jesus says, then, has to answer the question: “Who do YOU say that I am?” To answer any differently than Peter did is to deny what Jesus said of Himself and to call Him a liar.
Now, there are those who would like to make the case that the Bible is inaccurate or mistranslated or written by people as just a conspiracy of the Catholic church to control people. That line of reasoning cannot even be considered seriously. There is too much evidence that points to the Bible we have available to us today being accurate. There is archaeological evidence to support that the people and places spoken of in the Bible did indeed exist. There are other historians that recorded Jesus was real, historians like Josephus. And as far as the translation of the Bible being inaccurate, there have been many ancient scrolls found such as The Dead Sea Scrolls that have been properly translated and compared to modern texts and found to be accurate. The first published Greek New Testament appeared in the year 1516. It was edited by Erasmus, a Dutch scholar. Erasmus had at his disposal no more than six Greek manuscripts; we have thousands at our disposal today! There has been more than one scholar who has compared the King James Version of the Bible with ancient manuscripts available and agree that the KJV is 95% accurate and the discrepancies mostly have to do with spelling or minor differences that in no way skew or challenge any doctrine or character of the original manuscript.
Dr. Reagan of Trinity Baptist Temple in Knoxville, Tennessee puts it well when he says: “Men have been “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Corinthians 4:2) ever since the devil first taught Eve how. From Cain to Balaam, from Jehudi to the scribes and Pharisees, from the Dark Age theologians to present-day scholars, the living words of the Almighty God have been prime targets for man’s corrupting hand. The attacks on the Word of God are threefold: addition, subtraction, and substitution. From Adam’s day to the computer age, the strategies have remained the same. There is nothing new under the sun.”
Then there was a fictional work that came on the scene in 2003 called ‘The Davinci Code’ written by Dan Brown. The author himself made it clear that this was a work of fiction but many ran with it and claimed it to be fact. This book eventually made into a movie suggested a conspiracy of the Catholic church to bury other books from other disciples that revealed among other ludicrous claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This opened the floodgate to people who claimed they had these books, books like the ‘Book of Thomas’ and the ‘Book of Mary’. Upon examination from experts these books were proven to be fabrications. One was even made from stolen ancient paper and the ink replicated making it no more than a modern day forgery. Many things spoken of in these books contradicted what Jesus spoke in the Bible and were out of character of who He was and how He would truly act and what He would truly say.
The apostles and many modern day, born again believers realize something that the rest of the world just doesn’t get. The Truth is a person and not something that can be written on a page. That person is Jesus. The one and only true God manifested Himself in human form for a brief time upon this planet and continues to manifest Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. Jesus speaking said, “13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” The truth is a person: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God manifested in three persons. The Holy Spirit is in those who are born again and He will guide us into all truth. How? By showing us Christ in a way that only He can. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” (John 15:26). John expressed this truth in the first chapter of the book of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not….10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:1-5, 10-17)
The true gospel always points to Christ not a man. Examples from religions that are pointing to a man are: Islam points to Muhammad; Buddhism points to Buddha and god being us in our enlightened state; Catholicism points to the Pope and the priest to forgive us of our sins; Various so-called Christian TV ministers love to point to themselves and let their name be known…and the list goes on.
There are many belief systems in this world that seem to echo similar truths as presented in the Bible, but don’t let that confuse you. Every cult quotes a little bit of the Bible to try and rock the listener to sleep and to attempt to lull them into believing that their way is the true way. That is how powerful the Word of God is. Even when used out of context it still has a certain effect on people. But beware. Did not the Bible warn us that these times would come? Jesus said, “3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:3-5). Paul warned us also in 2 Timothy 1-7, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Wow, verse 7 is so true. We are living in a generation of people today that think they are so smart and don’t need God. But no matter how advanced they become they still cannot come to the knowledge of something as simple as truth. He further goes on to describe these false teachers of these last days: “13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Maybe this will help. This is the gospel in a nutshell: Sin came into the world by one man, Adam, we were put back in right standing with God through one man, Jesus. By one man sin entered the world; by one man we are redeemed . How is this possible? Adam was the first man. In his loins were all humankind, therefore sin was passed down to every child of Adam, and that includes you, me, all humankind. When Jesus came on the scene sinless, born of a virgin, not of sinful flesh, though he was born of a woman He was born without the curse of sin upon Him. Our sins and the judgment we deserved was placed upon Jesus on the cross. He was the only one who could do this. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin had to be judged. When Jesus died on the cross He paid it all in full. Every sin of every man, woman and child, paid in full! He was more than a man. He was the Son of God. None of us deserved mercy or love but God is love (1 John 4:8) and He could not help but love the most wicked among us. The entire weight of all the sins that ever were committed and ever would be committed were laid upon His shoulders. His blood was sufficient to take care of all the sins of the world. There was no need to sacrifice animals anymore. Even the law was fulfilled. No need to crucify Jesus afresh. Once was enough. And it didn’t end there. They crucified Him and put Him in a tomb and He even conquered death! He rose on the third day. It is not just a story! He did it for you! He did it for me! So what should our response be to that? If you live a sinful life all the way up to the day you die and do not repent (turn from) your wicked ways you have made a choice without saying a word. You have rejected the salvation offered to you. 1 John 5:17 says, “All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” Also read James 4:17, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” There is a difference between the stumbling in sin and feeling convicted of it and asking forgiveness vs. knowing you are committing a sin and doing it willfully. A person who is living a sinful lifestyle more than likely has not been saved at all. They may have prayed a so-called ‘sinner’s prayer’ or cried off a little guilt at the altar but if they truly did not repent of their sins and commit their life to Christ they will be lost just as sure as if they had never went to the altar. There has to be a deep seated regret for the sin a person has lived. 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 explains: “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” This is what is often called ‘conviction’. It is a realization that a person is a sinner and in need of a savior and is followed by God drawing that person to Himself. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44). People love to classify sin and say ‘Oh, I’m not as bad as so and so’ but Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All people are born into sin and need to be saved it isn’t about how good or bad we are.
And it is not about making yourself live up to a set of rules. That is legalism. That is religion. The truth is we are supposed to live in a relationship with God and if we truly live in a relationship with God we will just naturally want to live for Him, not because He commands it, but because we want to. Romans 5 ends with these 2 verses: “20. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.“ What did the law accomplish? It pointed out our sins. It made it clear without a doubt what we were guilty of. It was supposed to point us to God and cause us to realize we could not live up to the holy standard of a holy God so we would cry out to God. Some people got it but some used it to their advantage to rule the people and add so many laws that made it impossible to live. People in power like the Pharisees and later the dark ages Catholic church loved it. As long as you were the one ruling, life was good. There were so many laws added to the original law no one could live up to them. Jesus was constantly trying to get people to live up to the ‘spirit’ of the law. He told them that it was the ‘letter’ of the law that killed. The law was never meant to condemn a man or control a man. You can live up to laws, church teachings, whatever, and still be eat up inside where it counts. He told the Pharisees, you look good on the outside but on the inside you are just dried up dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27). This is legalism. All legalism does is create hypocrites. In fact it insists on it. Legalism is silently screaming out that as long as you look good and don’t get caught then it is OK. This kind of living is such a lie. Any religion caught up in this kind of living is only fooling itself because the world sees right through it and often it causes all Christians to be labeled a bunch of phonies.
I have honestly and open-mindedly looked into and studied many religions and philosophies and one thing that stands out to me in Christianity is it is the only belief system that admits we cannot do it on our own, that we need a Savior. Think about it. Every other system is about works, things we can do to be righteous. If it was something we could do then Jesus would not have had to die on a cross. Look at history. Look at the world during the Mosaic law. It could not and cannot be lived apart from God in our life guiding us and empowering us by His Spirit. The truth has not changed. The truth is still alive and well. His name is Jesus. Call upon His name and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). Accept no substitutes. If you do you will only be disappointed.
“3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-7)
OTHER RESOURCES:
Rather than address all the accusations as to the accuracy of the Holy Bible I will direct you to this website that explains it well and in painstaking detail: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/kjvdebat.html.
I also recommend an article I wrote that is a 4 part study on the validity of the Holy Bible called Holy Bible, God’s Word
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