The Nature of the Bible

The Bible contains 66 books written by about 40 different authors over a period of around 1,600 years.

What’s so remarkable about that?

The authors came from a variety of different professions and backgrounds and spoke languages ranging from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek yet none of them contradicted each other over an array of issues and topics.

Even though the last book was written around 90 AD, so many Greek manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament are still available that we can be assured that accuracy has been preserved. Moreover, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery produced fragments of every Old Testament book except Esther and they all attest that what we have today is virtually unchanged from the original. Despite many attempts throughout history to destroy the Bible, it has survived intact.

No other book on faith – or anything else for that matter – can match these achievements.

You can read much more on The Nature of the Bible HERE and it is the first lesson of an Ariel Ministries Discipleship Course.

Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries has put together a fantastic and free teaching resource for people interested in knowing more about the Bible and God’s ultimate plans for this world. There is a wealth of solid information in written printable format backed up by hours of audio lessons with a quiz after each subject is completed. It takes some time to complete but you can go at your own pace and it is well worth the effort.

You can learn more about the Discipleship Course HERE.

And you can commence it HERE.

Walking trees …

Modern science helps us understand a puzzling miracle
by Russell Grigg

In the Gospel of Mark, there is an intriguing account of how Jesus healed a blind man in a two-step process:

‘And He came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spat on his eyes and had put His hands on him, He asked Him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, I see men as trees, walking. And after that He put His hands again on his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored and saw all clearly’ (Mark 8:22–25).

Bible-believing Christians have no problem with this miracle, as the Bible presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who, in the beginning, created the universe and all things in it, including human life, by the power of His Word (Genesis 1; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16). The Lord who could do one could certainly do the other. The only question that arises is why the cure was in two stages rather than just one...continue reading

The real Jesus?

I had just watched my fiancé go through the Departure Gate at Melbourne airport and was feeling miserable. Not wanting to go home to an empty house I wandered around the airport almost hoping that – for some reason – there would be a problem with her papers and she would have to stay with me a little longer. I found a book shop to browse in and kill some time. One title stood out and caught my eye. It was Deepak Chopra’s fictional “Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment”.

I know a little about Chopra’s views because I spent a lot of time reading the sorts of New Age materials he writes. Chopra’s Christ isn’t God. This Christ wasn’t born of a virgin and did not die on the Cross to save those who would place their faith in Him for salvation. Chopra’s Christ is no more God than I am. Chopra is only one of many self-styled gurus who claim to know more about Christ than what can be found in Scripture.

What gives these people the TRUTH about Christ that Christian Biblical scholars seem to miss? I remember comparing a plethora of New Age and Gnostic materials supposedly detailing who Jesus Christ was, is and what He did. Much of their information was apparently gleaned from visions derived in meditation.

The late former Beatle George Harrison once made this statement in an INTERVIEW:

"If there’s a God, I want to see Him. It’s pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain God perception."

Interestingly, my New Age sources all purported to be enlightened yet they all differed in most details and aspects of Christ’s life. Many claimed He was the reincarnation of a series of historical individuals but none of them ever substantiated each other. How can this be reconciled?

But whether it was Chopra, Yogananda, Edgar Cayce or any one of the many gurus from India – they ALL unanimously DENIED that Christ was the Son of God who died for the sins of the world. They ALL imagined God and Christ in their own image.

In that same interview, Harrison made another interesting comment:

My idea in "My Sweet Lord," because it sounded like a "pop song," was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by "Hallelujah," and by the time it gets to "Hare Krishna," they’re already hooked, and their foot’s tapping, and they’re already singing along "Hallelujah," to kind of lull them into a sense of false security. And then suddenly it turns into "Hare Krishna," and they will all be singing that before they know what’s happened, and they will think, "Hey, I thought I wasn’t supposed to like Hare Krishna!"

Chopra has claimed that Christians have hijacked the real Christ. He points out that out of so many gospels only four were chosen. There was a logical reason for this. The four chosen were written by eye-witnesses and corroborated each other. The later Gnostic gospels weren’t eye witnesses and often contradicted each other.

I thought about my fiancé and her trip back home. She had to place her trust in a system and a host of individuals to get her home safely. The pilot had to be accredited and approved and the airplane had to be air worthy. Our journey in this world and through eternity is like her plane flight. We have to ask questions, engage our intellect and put our faith in the Right System and Person. The next time you have to take a flight, would you be prepared to trust your taxi driver or check out person to fly the plane for you?


Jesus Christ Questions and Answers

Can I Trust the Bible?

Christian Answers for the New Age on Deepak Chopra’s New Age Jesus.


John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Mat 16:15-16 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

John 20:27-28 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

1Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Mat 10:33 "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

God's Maniac

I'd like to take the opportunity to present Lou Talley's website and book.

In Lou's words:

"PTSD is no respecter of persons, knowing many women veterans who have returned home from hostile areas to become dysfunctional as parents who were not that way prior to being deployed.

"I also know of past earthquake victims from 1995 who are still sleeping outside and afraid to go back into their homes or apartments for fear of being caught and buried in another earthquake.

"My book is for all who suffer with PTSD, men, women, children, but especially veterans past and present who suffer with this crippling disorder."

I've read the book and I highly recommend it!

Defending the Bible - CONTEMPORARY APOLOGETICS AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

I stumbled across Part 1 of this article by Dr John Whitcomb in the book “DISPENSATIONALISM tomorrow & beyond”. Now I realize that that ugly word “Dispensationalism” will be enough to immediately turn a lot of people off. But this article is well worth reading if, like me, you have had reservations and frustrations about your personal witness and wondered what you could do to improve it.

How much do Christians have to know to successfully witness to the unsaved? What are Christians really up against? Is it just the other person's lack of faith or unwillingness to accept the Truth? Or are there other factors and obstacles involved in this drama?

Here are the titles Dr Whitcomb covers:

Part I: Human Limitations in Apologetics

Part II: Christian Apologetics and the Divine Solution

Part III: Proof Texts for Semi-Rationalistic Apologetics

Part IV: The Limitations and Values of Christian Evidences

The full version of John Whitcomb’s essay can be found HERE.

Who do you think that I am?

With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.

Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well...Read More

Are you a good person?

The Necessity of the Cross

What do Buddha, Muhammad, Ghandi, Karl Marx, John Lennon and Joseph Smith have in common? If signs marked their grave-sites, theirs would read “Occupied”. Christ’s grave would read “Vacant”.

Act 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

1Co 15:12-18 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

Christianity is an exclusive religion. It claims to have the ONLY truth and, as such, it is intolerant to any other belief system claiming the way to Salvation. In today’s progressive society, the word - intolerant - has negative connotations. Yet intolerance is necessary to our daily lives. Most people would not tolerate an inept pilot flying their airplane. Making a decision that affects our eternity demands that we do not tolerate deception.

It has often been said that there are many paths to God and that all religions are equally valid. This is a logical fallacy. I suspect that those who claim this are either not being entirely honest for various reasons or they haven’t thought through the implications of that statement:

1) Religions cannot all be valid because most contradict each other’s Salvation system.

2) Some deny any need for Salvation.

3) Buddhism is atheistic.

4) Hinduism teaches multiple gods.

5) Islam; the New Age and certain cults claiming to be Christian, deny that Christ was anything but a great man, master or prophet.

6) The New Age teaches that we are gods – we only have to arrive at that realization.

7) Christianity teaches that God became man and was crucified on a wooden cross to redeem mankind and the universe. There is no other way.

Given the contradictions above, there can only be two possibilities (despite claims by Oprah & co) - either all the belief systems are wrong, or only one of the systems is correct. If this world is the by-product of an accident then this article is worthless and so is Christianity. Simple as that.

In my personal search, I had to first deal with the prevailing attitude that this universe was the result of an explosion and life on earth began in a pond of primordial soup, or brought here via meteor from a pond elsewhere in the universe - and somehow evolved through a mechanism that is still not understood. This is basically what is being taught as fact in schools, universities and propagated by practically every media outlet. The evolutionary view has become so pervasive and repetitious that not many (if any) secular individuals dare question it publicly. Those who do are treated with derision.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

It’s not my intention to turn this into an apologetic for Creationism, but please refer to the links below as they will help anyone who is genuinely and objectively searching for answers. You can use the search engines to research particular subjects or you can contact these websites with specific questions no matter how complicated they are. These people are bona-fide scientists well able to hold their own in debates and many have even published secular peer-reviewed scientific articles and books. And, yes, I have challenged and tested them.

Answers In Genesis

Creation Ministries International

True Origin

Having satisfied myself that there was a God and that evolution was problematic, I spent years reading New Age materials and chasing the “truth” down rabbit holes. The New Age isn’t exactly a structured system per se. What it does do very well is obfuscate the truth by presenting a smorgasbord of appealing options for a fastidious seeker not wanting to be offended by blood spilled on wood. Those astute enough will quickly realize how contradictory its varied teachings are. Ironically, some see this as an advantage. In fact – and this is very significant – the only consistent teaching I found throughout the New Age and in other religions is that Jesus was just a human being – not God.

That’s not what the Bible teaches. When Adam and Eve fell, garments of skin were supplied as a covering for them by God (Gen 3:21). This idea of covering by sacrifice is a thread woven throughout Scripture. The myriad idioms and rituals used for priestly intercession and sacrifice were all designed to point to Christ’s substitutionary provision on the Cross for all who place their faith in Him (John 3:16). The testing lesson of Abraham in Gen 22:1-14 points directly to the Cross. God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and, furthermore, Abraham knew this because of the covenant promises God had made regarding Isaac’s future (Gen 17:1-7; Gen 21:1). Even though Abraham was distressed, he knew well enough to trust God:

Gen 22:7-8 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

Numbers 21:7-9 is also a prophetic foregleam of the Cross as Christ points out to Nicodemus in John 3:14, 15. And the manna from heaven (Exo 16:14-35); the smiting of the rock by Moses (Exo 17:6) and Jonah’s three days in the belly of the beast are only the most commonly recognized pointers to Christ – there are far too numerous similar examples to account for here. Finally, in Revelation, we read:

Rev 5:5-7 and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals." And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Rev 22:13-14 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

The Bible is an unparalleled, integrated system of sixty six books, written by forty different authors, spanning about 3,500 years that affirms Christ’s divinity and the ABSOLUTE necessity of the Cross. This truth is sprinkled throughout the book from beginning to end. No other literature purporting to be spiritual can match the Bible for consistency, integrity and critical scrutiny – leaving aside prophetic considerations. The message it contains is not about restrictions – it is about Freedom and Incredible Joy. Put it to the test for yourself.

What you do, or don’t do, will impact your eternity.


Further reading in no particular order:

Christian Answers for the New Age

A Brazen Epitaph

Aleph Tau

The Resurrection and Genesis

Jesus Christ Q & A

Can I trust the Bible?

Is Jesus Really God?

Evidence for the Resurrection

Ankerberg Theological Institute Apologetics

There is no Rapture?

Some good thoughts by a fellow Aussie:

There is no Rapture?

By Keygar

What if there’s no rapture? What if an angel appeared to me right now and said “sorry mate, you got it wrong, there isn’t any rapture, you’re going to have to go through the tribulation, do you want to call it quits?”

“No way” I’d say (by God’s grace, after getting up off the ground). God has got me this far, I’m sure He can get me all the way to finally be with Him. If I have to lose my head (literally) during the tribulation, I’m sure He’ll give me the grace to endure to the end. Would I want to keep my life anyway, and be like the Christian haters who will run the earth during that time? In a fit me thinks, and my head has never been much to look at anyway.

It amuses me though, and saddens me, how many so-called Christians really verbally attack other Christians who do actually believe in a rapture event. I even wonder if they are Christians. They certainly don’t exhibit the fruit of love, patience and tolerance. I have no problem with or grudge against those Christians who don’t believe in a rapture. Who knows, they might be right. DOES IT REALLY MATTER to the point of being rude about it. Surely the main thing is to eventually be with Christ forever no matter what suffering or persecution may or may not precede that...

Read the rest of the article HERE

Note the concluding thoughts:

But, ultimately, my faith and hope and joy doesn’t lie in "a rapture", it lies in the person of Jesus Christ. He alone I REALLY am totally sure about. Not the rapture, not the scoffers, not the world, not the politicians, not other Christians, not my family, but ONLY, Jesus Christ. I am happy just writing about it. I can’t wait to get to heaven, whenever that will be.

Well said!

Jesus Christ Questions and Answers

This is an excellent resource from:

Creation Ministries International

Is Jesus really God?

What is the evidence that Jesus ever existed?

Did Jesus Christ really rise from the dead?

Was Christ really born of a virgin? Are there answers to the sceptical objections?

Did Jesus fulfill any prophecies?

Is it rational to believe in Jesus’ miracles?

Jesus Seminar: Facts or fallacies? Are the ‘gospels’ of Thomas and Judas reliable?

What about the claims of The Da Vinci Code?

Was Christianity just copied from pagan mythology?

What is the difference between Gnosticism and Christianity?

Why is Jesus Christ given the title of ‘the last Adam’ in 1 Corinthians 15:45?

Click here to get the answers.