PROOF THAT GOD EXIST

Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.
But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon.
When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God.1 On the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you."2 Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons to consider...
1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.
Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with no end. But here are a few:
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.3 Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.
The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.4
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water is a universal solvent. This property of water means that thousands of chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.5
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.6
2. Does God exist? The human brain's complexity shows a higher intelligence behind it.
The human brain...simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes all your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands.
The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.7 Your brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to focus and operate effectively in your world. A brain that deals with more than a million pieces of information every second, while evaluating its importance and allowing you to act on the most pertinent information... did it come about just by chance? Was it merely biological causes, perfectly forming the right tissue, blood flow, neurons, structure? The brain functions differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to it, the ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take action, and relate to other people. How does one explain the human brain?
3. Does God exist? "Chance" or "natural causes" are insufficient explanations.
The alternative to God existing is that all that exists around us came about by natural cause and random chance. If someone is rolling dice, the odds of rolling a pair of sixes is one thing. But the odds of spots appearing on blank dice is something else. What Pasteur attempted to prove centuries ago, science confirms, that life cannot arise from non-life. Where did human, animal, plant life come from?
Also, natural causes are an inadequate explanation for the amount of precise information contained in human DNA. A person who discounts God is left with the conclusion that all of this came about without cause, without design, and is merely good fortune. It is intellectually wanting to observe intricate design and attribute it to luck.
4. Does God exist? To state with certainty that there is no God, a person has to ignore the passion of an enormously vast number of people who are convinced that there is a God.
This is not to say that if enough people believe something it is therefore true. Scientists, for example, have discovered new truths about the universe which overruled previous conclusions. But as science has progressed, no scientific discovery has countered the numerical likelihood of an intelligent mind being behind it all. In fact, the more science discovers about human life and the universe, the more complex and precisely designed we realize these to be. Rather than pointing away from God, evidence mounts further toward an intelligent source. But objective evidence is not all.
There is a much larger issue. Throughout history, billions of people in the world have attested to their firm, core convictions about God's existence--arrived at from their subjective, personal relationship with God. Millions today could give detailed account of their experience with God. They would point to answered prayer and specific, amazing ways God has met their needs, and guided them through important personal decisions. They would offer, not only a description of their beliefs, but detailed reports of God's actions in their lives. Many are sure that a loving God exists and has shown himself to be faithful to them. If you are a skeptic, can you say with certainty: "I am absolutely right and they all are wrong about God"?
5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.
I was an atheist at one time. And like most atheists, the issue of people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor, delusional people...to help them realize their hope was completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go about my life.
I didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was as if I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully admitting God's existence. Yet over the following several months, I became amazed by his love for me.
6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God pursuing us.
Why Jesus? Look throughout the major world religions and you'll find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to God. Surprisingly, Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the others. He said God exists and you're looking at him. Though he talked about his Father in heaven, it was not from the position of separation, but of very close union, unique to all humankind. Jesus said that anyone who had seen Him had seen the Father, anyone who believed in him, believed in the Father.
He said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."8 He claimed attributes belonging only to God: to be able to forgive people of their sin, free them from habits of sin, give people a more abundant life and give them eternal life in heaven. Unlike other teachers who focused people on their words, Jesus pointed people to himself. He did not say, "follow my words and you will find truth." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."9
What proof did Jesus give for claiming to be divine? He did what people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed people...blind, crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from the dead. He had power over objects...created food out of thin air, enough to feed crowds of several thousand people. He performed miracles over nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging storm to stop for some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus, because he constantly met their needs, doing the miraculous. He said if you do not want to believe what I'm telling you, you should at least believe in me based on the miracles you're seeing.10
Jesus Christ showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our self-centeredness and shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship with us. Jesus revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of his punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a different plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment for our sin on our behalf. Sounds ludicrous? Perhaps, but many loving fathers would gladly trade places with their child in a cancer ward if they could. The Bible says that the reason we would love God is because he first loved us.
Jesus died in our place so we could be forgiven. Of all the religions known to humanity, only through Jesus will you see God reaching toward humanity, providing a way for us to have a relationship with him. Jesus proves a divine heart of love, meeting our needs, drawing us to himself. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he offers us a new life today. We can be forgiven, fully accepted by God and genuinely loved by God. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."11 This is God, in action.
Does God exist? If you want to know, investigate Jesus Christ. We're told that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."12
God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly respond to him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the unique chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of people who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds to determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known through Jesus Christ. If you need to know more about Jesus and reasons to believe in him, please see: Beyond Blind Faith.
If you want to begin a relationship with God now, you can.
This is your decision, no coercion here. But if you want to be forgiven by God and come into a relationship with him, you can do so right now by asking him to forgive you and come into your life. Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. He who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him [or her]."13 If you want to do this, but aren't sure how to put it into words, this may help: "Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins. You know my life and that I need to be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me right now and come into my life. I want to know you in a real way. Come into my life now. Thank you that you wanted a relationship with me. Amen."
God views your relationship with him as permanent. Referring to all those who believe in him, Jesus Christ said of us, "I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."14

THE END TIMES 1of7

END TIMES

HOW TO LIVE FOR ETERNITY

4 STEPS TO KNOW GOD:

1. GOD LOVES YOU AND IS SEEKING TO HAVE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to remove the barrier of sin." (1 John 4:10)God loves you and planned a wonderful, full life for you. He wants to enter a personal and intimate relationship with you that includes fellowship, inner peace, happiness, guidance in life and power to fulfill His special plan for your life.2. SIN HAS CREATED A BARRIER BETWEEN MAN AND GOD"All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God." (Romans 3:23)GOD is Holy, and cannot have a relationship with anyone who falls short of His righteous character. Sin began when man went his own independent way and rejected his relationship with God. At that point, man became unacceptable to God's Holy character.The Ten Commandments were given to show us how good we would have to be if we try to come to God in our own merit. But God doesn't grade our law-keeping on the curve. He said, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."(James 2:10)No matter how sincere we are, or how hard we try, or how religious we are, we can never produce a righteousness that God can accept.Even our good deeds are not acceptable in God's sight, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness's are like filthy rags …" (Isaiah 64:6)So our sin has created a barrier that we cannot remove. Even though God loves you, He cannot compromise His holy character to receive you. Only God can remove this barrier.3. JESUS CHRIST CAME TO REMOVE THE BARRIER BETWEEN GOD AND MAN Jesus said of Himself, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)You see, God so loved us that He stepped out of eternity into time and became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life as a man and thus qualified to die for the sins of the world.He then willingly died in our place to purchase a pardon for sin sand satisfy the demands of His own perfect justice. When He did,He tore down the barrier of sin that separated us.4. NOW THERE IS ONLY ONE BARRIER BETWEEN YOU AND GOD YOU MUST RECEIVE THE PARDON JESUS PURCHASED FOR YOU Jesus Christ has removed every barrier that stood between you and God except one -- you must receive the pardon He purchased for youby an act of your will. You see, a pardon is not a pardon until it is received. There is a pardon with your name on it in heaven, but you must receive it to make it valid.It is not a matter of how good you are -- or even how bad you are.The issue is, will you talk to God and tell him you receive the pardon he purchased for you. He wants you to come just as you are and confess you can never be good enough for Him to accept.YOU can change your eternal destiny right now. Wherever you are,just bow your head and tell God you receive His pardon for your sins. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and begin to give you a new heart with new desires. He will come into your life and bring a new power and motivation for living you never dreamed possible.Jesus gave us this invitation, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20) The door represents your will.The Lord Jesus Christ is knocking at the door of your will right now. Just invite Him in and receive the gift of pardon He gave His life to give you. Then thank Him for the pardon and that He must keep His Word.Don't expect feelings right away. Some have them, some don't. The important thing is to simply believe God keeps His Word and He now has come to live in you. Seek out a Church that is true to the Bible and seek to learn about your new life."For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)Welcome to the forever family of God!

Sinner's Prayer - Recognizing the Need The "Sinner's Prayer" is a term that describes the words spoken by a person when he or she has recognized their sin and their need for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It goes something like this:
"Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
NOTE: When you both Heart and Mind give yourself unto God, and believe with all of your heart, that Jesus Christ (The Promised Messiah) saved each and everyone of us from eternal death, then you will have entered your name into the Book of Life and will be with the Lord for ever and ever. We were never created to die, but rather live for eternity. It was the sin of Adam and Eve that began this mess for nearly 7,000 years and God will restore the eternal paradise that was created for our eternal home. The Big bang, Evolution, UFOs and every other invention of mans mind (because they chose to turn their back from our creator) has been scientifically, historically, logically proven without a doubt to be false. The Bible written by many different authors over a period of time in two languages totally absent of each others writings, remains the ONLY intact cover to cover authentic word of God without so much as one error or contradiction as some would argue. I have seem almost every alleged contradiction and it was the result of their lack of understanding. The Bible is the worlds only written manuscript, personally guided by the mouth of God unto man's hands, to pen his word that was designed to last for the remaining generations. His word would be understood in perfect harmony by all tongues from every nation upon this earth for thousands of years. That is proof in itself that this could happen, it is simply God's WILL and it will be done........Terry/PWNG
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -(PWNG)PROPHECY WATCHER NEWS GROUP: End Times NEWS

YAHOO PROPHECY WATCHER: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/prophecywatcher/BLOGSPOT PROPHECY WATCHER:http://terry-prophecywatcher.blogspot.com/MYSPACE PROPHECY WATCHER:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=56221534

JUDGMENT OR DESTRUCTION ON AMERICA??

The Stage Is Set: Will It Be Judgment Or Destruction? - By Jeffrey K. Radt - www.raidersnewsnetwork.com

We need to repent and pray for the forgiveness of our nation's sins. Specifically, we need to pray for God to have mercy on us all.

In a few days, America will never be the same as I fear that we are about to enter a new realm in our spiritual relationship with our Lord and Creator. I might even go so far as to say that we will have reached the proverbial point of no return.

Our God is a God of grace, mercy, and love. However, He is also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice. For instance, Nahum warned that while God is one who is righteous and holy He is also one who will not tolerate sin (Nahum 1:2-3):

"A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished."

The Bible also says that God will bless those who bless Israel, and He will curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:3). The Bible says that he who touches Israel touches "the apple of God's eye" (Zechariah 2:8).

The upcoming Annapolis conference is akin to our government thinking they can poke God in the eye and blind Him long enough so that they can create a legacy on their own terms and independent of His plan for His chosen people as well as mankind.

They will leave a legacy all right, but will anyone be around to read about it in history books?

Does it bother anyone else to watch a so-called Christian president and his administration blatantly thumb its nose at God? I'm sorry, but any true Christian who has spent time reading his or her own Bible would know that Israel is off limits and that true peace will never be established until Jesus Christ returns again.

To ignore history - - especially recent history - - all for the sake of political expediency is dangerous and arrogant. To continue to push such initiatives is suicidal, borderline psychotic, and it shows a disdain for God and His truths not to mention a complete misunderstanding of Scripture and eschatology.

SETTING THE STAGE

Dr. David R. Reagan has published a truly remarkable study of recent world events and their prophetic significance in relation to Israel on his Lamb & Lion Ministries website. I encourage you to take some time to read his report in its entirety because it provides some additional in-depth information on this topic and adds comments on why we may be at a critical juncture in our nation's history.

His thesis is the foundation of this piece and in many cases several excerpts will be included here given their grave importance to upcoming world events with immense spiritual implications.

What emerges from the reading is a clear and accurate account that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation and, as Dr. David Reagan puts it, "we are living on borrowed time."

To begin with, God is the one who establishes nations and He is the one who takes them down (Daniel 2:20-21). When a nation rebels against God, He responds first by raising up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance.

These are not people with supernatural knowledge of the future. They are simply those who have the spiritual gift of discernment to see where a nation is missing God's mark. In other words, they know how to apply the Scriptures to current events.

If a nation refuses to listen to the prophetic voices, God will then send remedial judgments. That is to say that God will do what He has to in order to get our attention. Deuteronomy 28 lists the many forms that these judgments can take, which includes economic failure, rebellion of youth, an epidemic of divorce, confusion in government, foreign domination, and military defeat. The chapter also mentions natural disasters like drought, crop failure, and pestilence.

Sometimes God uses signs of nature to underline the importance of major events. More often, He uses signs of nature as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. He has always spoken to the world through signs of nature. One example that comes readily to mind is the birth of Jesus when God placed a special light in the heavens. Another is when Jesus was crucified and the earth experienced three hours of darkness and a major earthquake.

There are also many examples of remedial judgments in the Bible that involve natural disasters. For example, the plagues with which God afflicted Egypt in order to convince Pharaoh that he should release the children of Israel from captivity. I could go on and on.

Clearly, both the Bible and history attest to the fact that God has a pattern of dealing with nations.

Sadly, there are times when a nation ignores such messages from God and instead digs in against Him and His calls to repentance. This is the point of no return and it is often referred to as "when the wound becomes incurable" (Nahum 3:19, Jeremiah 30:12, and Micah 1:9).

It is at this point that the Lord will deliver the nation from judgment to destruction.

Do all natural catastrophes represent remedial judgments of God? No - - most are products of the natural processes of our weather systems. How then can we determine when a natural calamity is a remedial judgment?

Dr. David R. Reagan suggests, "One important factor is the timing of the event as it relates to the sins of the nation. Another factor is the magnitude of the event. Remedial judgments are designed to have great shock value in order to capture people's attention and force them to think with an eternal perspective. The most important factor is God's Spirit witnessing to the spirits of those to whom He has given the gift of prophecy. They will be motivated to speak forth with a united voice."

The culmination of the remedial judgments on the U.S. in recent history seemed to come with 9/11. This tragedy was a wake-up call from God for our nation to repent. Personally, it fulfilled this very purpose in my own life.

There is no question that our national sins have called down remedial judgments from God. Yet, as Dr. David R. Reagan brilliantly catalogs, "what I think we may have failed to realize is that since 1991, many of the judgments we have experienced have been directly related to our mistreatment of Israel."

DRESS REHEARSAL

The Bible provides us with many signs we are to watch for that will signal the soon return of Jesus Christ. The signs related to Israel are the most important.

The key to understanding where we are on God's prophetic timeline is to take a closer look at the Jewish people and the state of Israel since they are God's timepiece.

God often points to future events and says they will occur when certain things happen involving Israel. A good example can be found in Luke 21:24 when Jesus is quoted as saying that He would return "when Jerusalem is no longer trampled down by the Gentiles."

In the end times, all the nations of the world will come together against Israel over the issue of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:3). Tragically, even though many of our blessings as a nation have been due to the fact that we have historically been a safe haven and friend to the Jewish people, it was the early 90's when we began to turn against Israel.

Believe it or not, we were the ones who forced Israel into adopting the current suicidal policy of appeasement and we have been twisting her arm ever since, pressuring them to divide up the land that God gave them as an everlasting possession.

White House correspondent William Koenig recently wrote a book titled Eye to Eye. It was subtitled, Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. The thesis of the book is that many of the natural calamities, economic setbacks, and political crises experienced by the United States since 1991 have been directly related to actions we have taken to force Israel to surrender territory to the Arabs.

Koenig is a devout Evangelical Christian who has the gift of prophecy. Accordingly, he has the discernment to see the supernatural relationship between world events and judgments of God.

His book had a very prophetic cover. It showed President Bush looking over his right shoulder at a hurricane, and in the eye of the hurricane was a Star of David, the symbol of Israel.

The title of the book, Eye to Eye, was suggested by Koenig's wife. She took it from Matthew Henry's commentary on Isaiah 52:8 - -

"They [the watchmen] shall see an exact agreement and correspondence between the prophecy and the events, the promise and the performance; they shall see how they look upon another eye to eye, and be satisfied that the same God spoke the one and did the other."

In other words, in the end times there will be people who are prophetically gifted to recognize the correspondence between Bible prophecies and world events.

In his book Koenig shows the amazing parallels between U.S. mistreatment of Israel and subsequent natural calamities, economic setbacks and political crises. Let me share just a few of the examples he gives.

The Madrid Conference - This conference, which we forced on Israel, marked the beginning of the "land for peace" process. The opening of the conference on October 30, 1991, coincided with the formation of "the Perfect Storm." This was the record breaking storm along our Atlantic seacoast which produced 100 foot high waves and heavily damaged President Bush's home at Kennebunkport, Maine. The headlines of USA Today on November 1, 1991, had the stories of the storm and the Madrid Conference side by side.

Round Six of the Bilateral Peace Talks - In June of 1992 Yitzhak Rabin was elected the new Prime Minister of Israel. We immediately insisted that he come to Washington, D.C. and meet with Yasser Arafat. The day that meeting began, August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into Florida with winds of 177 miles per hour. The damage done amounted to over $30 billion - the most costly hurricane in U.S. History to that point in time.

Arafat at the United Nations - In September of 1998 Yasser Arafat was invited to speak to a special session of the United Nations that was held in New York. President Clinton arranged a meeting with him to put pressure on Israel. As the meeting took place, Hurricane Georges smashed into the Gulf Coast causing over $6 billion in damage.

Arafat and a Palestinian State - With our encouragement, Arafat announced that he was going to proclaim a Palestinian state on May 4, 1999. Even though President Clinton later persuaded Arafat to postpone the declaration to at least December, on the very day the proclamation was to have been made (May 3rd in the U.S.; May 4th in Israel), the most powerful tornado in U.S. history tore through Oklahoma City with wind speeds of 316 miles per hour, destroying over 2,000 homes.

The Camp David Summit - From July 11 through July 24 in the summer of 2000, President Clinton hosted a summit conference between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Clinton pressured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to surrender the heartland of Israel. During these precise dates, a major heat wave struck the South Central U.S. and fires broke out in our Western states. At one point, there were over 50 active fires that consumed over 500,000 acres before the end of the month.

White House Ramadan Celebration - On Thursday evening, November 7, 2002, President Bush hosted a dinner at the White House to honor the Muslim religious holiday called Ramadan. In his speech that evening, the President said:

". . this season commemorates the revelation of God's word in the holy Koran to the prophet Muhammad. Today this word inspires faithful Muslims to lead lives of honesty and integrity and compassion . . .

"We see in Islam a religion that traces its origins back to God's call on Abraham . "

Two days later a total of 88 tornados hit Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania..

The Middle East Peace Plan - On April 30, 2003, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer presented the "Road Map" peace plan to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. It was a plan formulated by an ungodly coalition called "the Quartet." This group was made up of Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, and the United States. It called for Israel to surrender Gaza and its heartland of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians. On May 3rd Secretary of State Colin Powell departed for the Middle East for talks to implement the plan. On May 4th Secretary Powell met with terrorist leader Hafez Assad of Syria and made a commitment to him to include the surrender of the Golan Heights in the peace plan. That day a swarm of tornados began tearing apart the Central United States. Over the next 7 days, there was a total of 412 tornados - the largest cluster ever observed by NOAA since it began its record keeping in 1950. The previous record had been 177 in 1999.

In summary, between October 1991 and November 2004, the United States experienced:

* 9 of the 10 largest insurance events in U.S. history.

* 9 of the 10 greatest natural disasters as ranked by FEMA relief costs.

* 5 of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history

* 3 of the 4 largest tornado swarms in U.S. history.

All of which were linked to our attempts to pressure Israel into either dividing up its land or surrendering part of its capital city of Jerusalem.

The world would laugh and call these coincidences, but Christians don't believe in coincidence. God is sovereign. He is in control.

The most recent chaotic event in Israel was the forced withdrawal of all Jews from Gaza. It began on August 7, 2005 and continued through the 22nd, as nearly 9,000 Israelis were uprooted from their land and homes. Many had been in the area for as long as 35 years.

It was a heart-wrenching event to watch women and children manhandled, synagogues violated, torah scrolls desecrated, houses bulldozed, graves dug up, and farms destroyed. Entire Jewish communities were forcibly removed from land which God has given to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession (Psalm 105:8-11).

And while this travesty was taking place, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began applying more pressure with the following statement: "Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing . . . but it cannot be Gaza only."

What was the supernatural response from God?

The withdrawal ended on August 22nd, and ON THE VERY NEXT DAY, the government of Bermuda announced that a tropical depression had formed off its coast. Dubbed "Katrina," the storm quickly developed into the most powerful hurricane in modern history.

It slammed into New Orleans and the Mississippi coast four days later on the 27th. The hurricane disrupted 25% of our crude oil production and destroyed our nation's largest port (the 5th largest in the world in terms of tonnage).

It is also interesting to note that the hurricane hit just three days before New Orleans - which often refers to itself proudly as "Sin City USA" - was scheduled to host an ungodly event that had come to be called "The Gay Mardi Gras." The theme this year was to be "Jazz and Jezebels."

The previous year the event drew 125,000 revelers who proudly flaunted their perversion publicly in a parade that featured the bizarre. Incredibly, this event was sponsored by a group that has named itself "Southern Decadence."

New Orleans is known for its occult practices, particularly voodoo. The city is also infamous for its high murder rate and its rampant political corruption.

Nonetheless, I do not believe the storm was meant primarily as a judgment upon the city of New Orleans. Rather, I see it as a judgment on our entire nation for our mistreatment of Israel. The consequences of the storm were national in scope.

Still not convinced that perhaps God was trying to tell us something?

Rabbi Joseph Garlitzky, head of the international Chabad Lubavitch movement's Tel Aviv synagogue, recounted for WorldNetDaily a speech he gave soon after Hurricane Katrina:

"We don't have prophets who can tell us exactly what are God's ways, but when we see something so enormous as Katrina, I would say (President) Bush and (Secretary of State Condoleeza) Rice need to make an accounting of their actions, because something was done wrong by America in a big way. And here there are many obvious connections between the storm and the Gaza evacuation, which came right on top of each other. No one has permission to take away one inch of the land of Israel from the Jewish people."

Some of those "obvious connections" or eerie similarities between Katrina and the evacuation of Gush Katif, including parallels in events, names and numbers:

* Close to 10,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in the Gaza Strip and parts of Northern Samaria. Katrina's death toll was just over 10,000.

* America's population ratio to Israel is about 50:1. Ten thousand Jews who lost their Gaza homes is the equivalent of about 500,000 Americans who have been reported to have been displaced as a result of Katrina.

* Gaza's Jewish communities were located in Israel's southern coastal region; America's southern coastal region was hit by Katrina.

* Katrina, written in Hebrew, has a numerical equivalent of 374, according to a biblical numbering system upheld by all traditional Jewish authorities. Two relevant passages in the Torah share the exact numerical equivalent: "They have done you evil" (Genesis 50:17) and "The sea upon land" (Exodus 14:15).

* Bush, from Texas, and Rice, from Alabama, were the most vocal U.S. backers of the Gaza evacuation. Hurricane Katrina hit the states in between Texas and Alabama - - Louisiana and Mississippi.

* Similarity in scenes: Many residents of Jewish Gaza climbed to their rooftops to escape the threat of expulsion, while residents of the Gulf Coast climbed on their own rooftops to protect themselves from the rising waters.

* Gush Katif was an important agricultural area for Israel, providing the Jewish state with 70 percent of its produce. A New Orleans port that exported much of the Midwest's agricultural production was destroyed by Katrina.

Why is the Bush Administration so willing to ignore recent history in pursuit of the elusive prospect of peace in the Middle East?

CURTAIN UP

President Bush could have created a historical legacy by promoting and pushing a domestic agenda that resonated with the hearts and minds of his conservative base of supporters.

However, instead of using his bully pulpit to advance vital measures important to us he's decided to take a path that will lead to infamy, not fame.

Speaking of President Bush, many are asking why such a committed Evangelical would put such inordinate pressure on Israel. More and more, people are asking, "Why doesn't President Bush see the prophetic significance of end time Israel?" Dr. David R. Reagan recently put that question to Bill Koenig when he interviewed him. His response was very illuminating.

Koenig pointed out that President Bush was raised in the Episcopal Church and in recent years has attended the Methodist Church. Although there are pastors in both of these churches who recognize the prophetic significance of modern Israel, the vast majority of the spiritual leaders in both churches (and especially those on the national level) believe in Replacement Theology. This is the theology that says God washed His hands of the Jewish people in the First Century and replaced Israel with the Church. They therefore see no prophetic significance to the re-establishment of Israel.

Koenig stated that within the Bush Administration the President is not the only victim of this erroneous theology. He is surrounded by godly people who have also grown up spiritually in Replacement churches. So, even though these people may respect the Judaic roots of their faith, they have no appreciation for the prophetic significance of modern day Israel.

I guess it's just another case of the blind leading the blind.

I also find it incredibly fascinating that Jesus said the signs of the times would be like "birth pangs" (Matthew 24:8) describing the end times by referring to them in a way that all cultures and peoples can understand - - pregnancy and birth.

A casual reading of any of the media's news reports on the upcoming Annapolis peace summit from this past week has uncovered some striking parallels with Jesus' use of symbolism that should raise some eyebrows.

For instance, consider that one article stated that "Annapolis may well bring us closer to what European Union foreign policy Chief Javier Solana is saying is doable within nine months, referring to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that would birth a Palestinian state on Israel's covenant lands." (italics mine).

I do not believe that it is mere coincidence that such verbiage has been used in connection with issues involving God's holy land.

Blogger Michael Mickey of The Rapture Alert recently postulated that the United States could be sitting on a cataclysmic time bomb.

In a widely read post from last week, Mickey wrote:

"As the United States prepares for its upcoming Middle East peace conference to be held in Annapolis, God is, in my opinion, drawing our attention to the fact that He is keeping a close eye on developments concerning this most blessed of nations lending an ear to Israel's enemies and, in fact, providing them with support to obtain portions of Israel's God-given covenant lands.

"How is God drawing the attention of those willing to see the spiritual connotations of events transpiring in the world around us as Annapolis draws near, potentially placing our nation in great peril of coming up on the curse side of God's promise of blessing and curse recorded in Genesis 12:3? He's drawing our eyes toward Yellowstone - - and dramatically so of late, in my opinion.

"The Independent recently unveiled an article on its site entitled "Yellowstone: The Time Bomb Under America."

"The opening lines of the article are anything but comforting, reading as follows:

"Deep beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a vast super-volcano which, if it blew up, could devastate much of the US. Recently, it's been a bit too restless for comfort.'

"Too restless for comfort indeed when we consider that Annapolis may well bring us closer to what European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is saying is 'doable' within nine months, referring to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that would birth a Palestinian state on Israel's covenant lands!

Conclusions?

"Trying to find the United States of America in Bible prophecy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. May Yellowstone be an answer as to why? I'm not sure but the last paragraph of the Independent's article certainly doesn't close the door on that being a possibility:

"And what if the ground at Yellowstone does not start to go down? Well, these calderas, he admits, occasionally they burp. Let's hope the park's belly-ache resolves itself - such a "burp" would shake half of the planet.

"In spite of God's clear warning provided in Genesis 12:3 that He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her, the United States, potentially within a year of a peace deal coming into existence that may well lead to the prophesied cries of 'peace and safety' foretold in 1st Thessalonians 5:3, is casting God's Word aside in spite of many Christian leaders and Jewish rabbis publicly warning against the United States helping Israel make what Bible prophecy clearly demonstrates to us is the equivalent of a covenant with hell is anything but wise!

"I don't know about any of you but, if I was sitting on a time bomb, I think I'd be careful concerning how my actions might influence the outcome of my predicament, especially if the bomb's designer was watching my every move with trigger in hand and I'd been amply forewarned by those who know him best that certain practices of mine could lead to disaster for me!

"But that's just me.

"May the Lord have mercy on those He is willing to, particularly those of us who love Him and fear His righteous judgments."

A major eruption at Yellowstone in modern times would be devastating. It would obliterate the national park and nearby communities, spread ground-glass-like volcanic ash from the Pacific coast to the Midwest, and cause worldwide weather changes from the airborne dust and gases, according to Smith, who described the potential effects in detail in his book Windows into the Earth, published in 2000.

A modern full-force Yellowstone eruption could kill millions, directly and indirectly, and would make every volcano in recorded human history look minor by comparison.

God is on His throne. He is in control. He cannot be mocked. He will not tolerate the division of His holy land. Nor will He tolerate gross immorality that mocks everything that is moral and decent.

God loves our nation. He has blessed us more than any other nation. His Word says that to those to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:47-48). His Word also says He disciplines those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:7).

Another thing His Word makes clear is that when He sends discipline, the fundamental purpose is never to punish. Instead, the purpose is to call us to repentance so that we might be saved.

Here's how the prophet Isaiah expressed it: "When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9b).

Our God is truly a God of amazing grace. Even when He pours out His wrath, He does so hoping that it will provoke repentance so that people can be saved.

We as a nation have set our jaw against God. We are tempting Him to move us from judgment to destruction. Our God is so merciful. He is patiently sending us one wake-up call after another because He never pours out His wrath without warning.

Make no mistake, a wake-up call from God is on the horizon. It is imperative that when that call comes we don't simply roll over and hit the snooze button - - again.

I pray that this time we'll have the heartfelt desire to want to change our ways, repent and refocus our hearts and minds on what's truly a worthwhile pursuit: A relationship and life with our Lord and Savior.

I pray that the hearts of our leaders to be opened to the significance of Israel in Bible prophecy.

As the representatives from many nations across the globe converge on Annapolis this week, they are all ready to play their role on the stage of world history.

The curtain may be rising on this 'historical" peace summit, but the curtain might also be closing upon the stage of human history as we know it.

The rest of us will wait with baited breath for the resulting spiritual response that looms over us. The only question that remains is whether or not God will send us judgment or destruction.

PRAYER REQUEST FOR MY NIECE WHITNEY

Hi everyone. I am asking that everyone pray for my niece and continue to do so for a month as I am getting every one I know to do the same. I know that God listens to prayers when many pray.My niece is 17 years old and has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which is a rare mutation in and around the muscles of the heart . She is going to need a heart and lung transplant. These organs can take many years to find that is compatible from a donor and a sudden massive heart attack could result with out notice. I sincerely believe that God who gives life can save it and it will require sincere and strong faith to heal her. I know it is tough to put deep prayers into someone that we don't know personally so I am just asking that you bring it before God when you can. I know that God's (WILL) will be done in her life as well as all of our lives, and ultimately we must find solitude in that. In my own life, I embrace what ever God's Will is for me and except my time when it comes. I say this because in my niece's life she is the life blood of the family since my whole family including here live together and live vicariously through each other that her passing would have extreme consequences on the rest of them. So please give her your prayers and let God's Will be done. My niece's name is Whitney...Thank You,.......Terry/PWNG

BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT

Body, Soul And Spirit - A Bible Study by Jack Kelley -

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. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebr 4:12-13)

Some people view the soul and body interchangeably, while others think soul and spirit are equivalent terms. But as believers we should think of the soul as the conscious part of us, composed of mind (intellect), will, and emotions, It's the part of us that makes choices and controls our behavior by giving orders to the body. Our spirit is the subconscious part, an internal advisor to the conscious soul.

Both are intangible and eternal and are housed in our body which is tangible and temporal. It's designed for use in this life, and when we die we leave it behind. Paul described our body as our earthly dwelling and spoke of how we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. Believers don't desire so much to be rid of our earthly bodies, he said, as to receive our heavenly ones. He said receiving our heavenly body is the very purpose for which we were created, and that's why God gave us the Holy Spirit at the first moment of our belief. He's a deposit guaranteeing what is to come, which is the exchange of our earthly dwelling for our heavenly one. (2 Cor. 5:1-5)

It Wasn't Always Like That

I believe Adam and Eve were created with a heavenly alignment of body submissive to soul which was submissive to spirit which was one with God. But at the fall this alignment was perverted and through Satan's influence the soul began to assert itself over the spirit. Both were contaminated by sin in the process and the direct link to God was broken. In the time after the fall the soul became more assertive as man entered the period some call the Dispensation of Conscience. Man was left to decide for himself what was right and things got progressively worse until God had to wipe the slate clean and start over. This experience has been repeated again and again. Even the time of Israel's dominance when the communication link with God was formally re-opened ended in failure. During that period Prophets were appointed to speak to the people for God and Priests to speak to God for the people. But it wasn't enough.

The problem was that the spirit of unsaved man is confused and uncertain because of the effects of sin and often gives bad advice to his soul, which is also contaminated by sin. The cross changed all that. Now, when we are born again our spirit becomes one with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:17) and the confusion and uncertainty clears up. Our spirit begins to know right and wrong as absolutes, and as our conscience it begins to serve as a reliable guide to our soul, which is still sin infested.

This is why Jesus told us that our righteousness has to surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Not being born again, their efforts at keeping the law were acts of will and were often in conflict with what their spirits were advising them to do. For them it was still a matter of their soul asserting itself over their spirit. They just knew the law well enough to know when their spirits were advising them to break it. In Isaiah 29:13 the Lord had said, "These people come near to me with their lips (governed by the soul), but their hearts (spirits) are far from me." Jesus accused them of looking like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of dead men's bones and everything unclean (Matt. 23:27) Their obedience to the law was only intellectual assent backed up by will power.

Back To Hebrews 4
But the Lord pays special attention to the motives of our heart and judges us on our intentions, not our actions. This is what the writer to the Hebrews meant when he said that the word of God can divide soul (behavior) and spirit (motive). He's not fooled by man's attempts at good behavior. He knows the thoughts and attitudes of our heart. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Commenting on ceremonial cleanliness He said that it's not what goes into us that make us unclean, but what comes out of us. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." (Matt. 15:17-19) Jeremiah wrote that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. (Jere. 17:9) After sinning with Bathsheba, David prayed that God would create in him a pure heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within him. (Psalm 51:10) This is what happens when we're born again and the Holy Spirit unites with our spirit. It results in our receiving a pure heart. It's what David longed for, but it couldn't happen before the cross. (John 7:39)

In effect, the Holy Spirit works through our spirit to repossess our soul from its bondage to sin. But since it's not the conscious part of us, our spirit can only work to influence our decisions. Our soul must choose to heed the advice of our spirit, in whose "ear" the Holy Spirit is whispering. This is what Paul meant when he told us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (soul). (Romans 12:2) This transformation consists of consciously choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to become the primary influence in determining our actions. This is the heavenly alignment again. God's Spirit to our spirit to our soul. This is why the Pharisees were criticized. God's Spirit was not within them, and so their obedience was a product of their intellect, their soul. Their spirit remained unregenerate. It looked good on the outside, but inside it was all out of order. It was form without substance, and it produced self righteousness, not humility.

The biggest problem we have is that our soul is still struggling with its bondage to sin, and therefore must constantly choose to submit to our renewed spirit. Remember the soul is where our behavioral decisions are made. Our spirit is one with the Spirit of God, but can only advise. Paul described our dilemma poignantly in Romans 7-8, saying that he had the desire to do good but could not carry it out. His spirit was one with God, but his soul sometimes rebelled. Inwardly he could delight in God's Law, but outwardly would sometimes conform to the law of sin and death. It's actually the opposite of the Pharisees' problem. They looked good on the outside but were full of evil thoughts and intentions. While the Lord condemned them, he directs no condemnation toward us (Romans 8:1) because although our soul often betrays us, our spirit is one with God. He goes so far as to separate the behavior from the believer saying that it's not we who sin, but the sin nature that dwells within us. (Romans 7:20)

Will This Ever End?

When we die or are raptured, our transformation will be complete, and the Holy Spirit's work of repossession will be finished. The heavenly alignment will be permanently restored, our regenerated soul in perpetual submission to our spirit which is one with God. Only then will we be ready for our resurrection bodies. It will no longer occur to us to behave in a manner contrary to God's will, and we'll finally be fit to dwell with Him forever.

The new body we receive will compare to the old one only in physical characteristics. The old one was corrupt and doomed to perish. The new one will be incorruptible and will never perish. (1 Cor. 15:53) No longer will things be hidden from our understanding or beyond our comprehension because our soul, where understanding and comprehension take place, will finally be freed from the bondage of sin. The immeasurable creative capacity with which the human mind was created will finally be unleashed for our eternal use and enjoyment. The tiny nuggets of talent and ability in the arts and sciences that we can only faintly glimpse now will become rich veins to be mined for all eternity.

And best of all, we'll finally achieve our heart's true desire, to be one with our Creator, body, soul, and spirit.

PRAYER REQUEST FOR MY NIECE WHITNEY

Hi everyone. I am asking that everyone pray for my niece and continue to do so for a month as I am getting every one I know to do the same. I know that God listens to prayers when many pray.
My niece is 17 years old and has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which is a rare mutation in and around the muscles of the heart . She is going to need a heart and lung transplant. These organs can take many years to find that is compatible from a donor and a sudden massive heart attack could result with out notice. I sincerely believe that God who gives life can save it and it will require sincere and strong faith to heal her. I know it is tough to put deep prayers into someone that we don't know personally so I am just asking that you bring it before God when you can. I know that God's (WILL) will be done in her life as well as all of our lives, and ultimately we must find solitude in that. In my own life, I embrace what ever God's Will is for me and except my time when it comes. I say this because in my niece's life she is the life blood of the family since my whole family including here live together and live vicariously through each other that her passing would have extreme consequences on the rest of them. So please give her your prayers and let God's Will be done. My niece's name is Whitney...Thank You,.......Terry/PWNG

DOES GOD EXIST: A SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

DOES GOD EXIST: And More.......
Does God Exist – A Scientific InquiryDoes God Exist? The other day I was asked to prove the existence of God. It was a one-on-one conversation with a skeptical friend, who somehow thrust the burden of proof on me. He didn’t want the religious, moral or philosophical arguments -- He wanted the scientific “proof.”
Does God Exist – Is a Scientific Approach Possible? When it comes to the question, “Does God Exist,” there are really only two possible conclusions: God either is, or He isn’t. There’s no half-way. There’s no sliding scale. Whether you’re an atheist or whether you’re a theist, there’s a certain level of knowledge, and there’s a certain level of faith. I thought for a moment… Can I prove the existence of God -- scientifically? In my religious/moral/philosophical experience, He’s been proven to me. However, my friend hasn’t walked the same journey as me. He wants the facts -- he wants the naturalistic proof for a supernatural reality. I came to the conclusion that my friend’s question was a fair one. He deserved my best attempt at an answer. So, I gave it a shot…
Does God Exist – A Scientific Examination of the Evidence God may not be provable through mathematical formulae or properties of physics, but we live in an era where the evidence of an Intelligent Designer is all around us. Just look through the Hubble Telescope and peer to the edge of the massive cosmos. View the monitor of an electron-scanning microscope and delve into the intricate world of a microscopic cell. Try to comprehend the massive library of complex information inherent in the digital code that turns a fertilized egg into a human being. Study principles of quantum mechanics and investigate the world of extra-dimensionality. Review the nature of your conscience, subconscious, standards of morality, and thoughts of religion. Then, try to reconcile all of these realities with a basic theory of randomness and chaos. Based on what we know today, I truly believe that atheism (not believing in any kind of god) is a much bigger "leap of faith" than theism (believing that some kind of god exists). I asked my friend, “Have you really thought about some of the evidences for God? Or, are you presupposing a purely naturalistic world, and closing your eyes to some of the possible evidence? If I propose some observational evidence, are you even open to examining it?” My friend asked me to go on. So, here’s my attempt at some basic scientific observations that point to God:
Causation. God provides the best explanation for the existence of the universe and all that's in it. (The alternative theory is that "nothing" exploded and resulted in everything that we see.)
Order. God provides the best explanation for abstract notions such as numbers, mathematical formulae, chemical-based processes, and natural laws. (The alternative theory is that the chaotic first elements ordered themselves into complex information systems.)
Design. God provides the best explanation for the absolute complexity inherent in cosmological, stellar, planetary, chemical and biological systems. (The alternative theory is that random chance engineered apparent design.)
Encoded Instructions. God provides the best explanation for the digital DNA code contained in and controlling the functions of all life on earth. (The alternative theory is that complex code, such as binary code running computers, can pop into existence without any kind of programming, testing and debugging process.)
Irreducible Complexity. God provides the best explanation for fully functioning biological organisms, systems, and subsystems that couldn’t come about through gradual evolutionary process without totally ceasing to exist at lower, evolutionary levels. (The alternative theory is that biological systems took huge, unseen leaps from simple to complex without any guided process or forward-looking instructions.)
Duality. God provides the best explanation for the separate human functions of brain and conscience (matter and mind). (The alternative theory is monism -- only matter exists and the human brain only appears to have a separate subconscious ability.)
Morality. God provides the best explanation for the existence of love, emotion, altruism, and inherent moral/ethical values throughout the world. (The alternative theory is that unguided materialistic processes evolve higher human consciousness.)
Does God Exist – A Scientific ConclusionWhen it comes to the question of “Does God Exist,” there are only two scientific worldviews -- Someone/Something did it, or it did itself. Whether it’s the beginning of the cosmos or the beginning of life, the beginning of mankind or the beginning of mind, either Someone/Something is responsible for everything we see or it’s responsible for itself. “Does God Exist?” Is this really a question for science at all? Actually, it seems this is a matter of forensic science, since we can’t re-create the birth of the universe or the formation of first life in a laboratory. Therefore, we collect the observable evidence in our world and apply our forensic investigation skills to analyze its collective meaning. In the end, we all need to collect and examine the evidence for ourselves. Ultimately, whether couched as scientific inquiry or purely religious/moral/philosophical faith, it’s not a matter for the laboratory. It’s a personal, investigative decision for each and every one of us.

Does God Exist - The Big QuestionsDoes God exist? An answer to this fundamental question is a prerequisite for answering the other big questions of life: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Do we serve a purpose? Do we have any intrinsic value? What happens after we die? The question of the existence of God is fundamental.
Does God Exist - A Philosophical IssueBefore we ask the question "Does God exist?" we first have to deal with our philosophical predispositions. If, for example, I am already dedicated to the philosophical idea that nothing can exist outside of the natural realm (i.e. there can be no supernatural God), no amount of evidence could convince me otherwise. Asking the question "does God exist?" would be pointless. My answer would be "No, He doesn't," regardless of whether God truly exists or not. The question would be impossible to answer from an evidentiary standpoint simply because anything which God might have done (that is, any supernatural act which might serve as evidence for His existence) would have to be explained away in terms of natural causes, not because we know what those natural causes could possibly be, but simply because a supernatural God is not allowed to exist! Dr. Richard Lewontin, the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University, put it like this: "It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door" (Richard Lewontin, "Billions and Billions of Demons," New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997, p. 28). If, on the other hand, I were neutral, and didn't already have an "a priori adherence" to a particular worldview (be it naturalistic or otherwise), the question "does God really exist?" wouldn't be pointless at all. Rather, it would be the first step in an objective and meaningful search for ultimate truth. Our willingness to ask the question with an open mind is fundamental to our ability to discover the truth behind the answer. So first of all, before you even ask the question, decide whether or not you're really willing to accept the answer.
Does God Exist - Things to ConsiderOnce you're ready to ask the question, "does God exist?" here are a few observations to consider as you begin your search for an objective answer:
Discoveries in astronomy have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe did, in fact, have a beginning. There was a single moment of creation.
Advances in molecular biology have revealed vast amounts of information encoded in each and every living cell, and molecular biologists have discovered thousands upon thousands of exquisitely designed machines at the molecular level. Information requires intelligence and design requires a designer.
Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. In fact, scientists aren't even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligent processes. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise?
The universe is ordered by natural laws. Where did these laws come from and what purpose do they serve?
Philosophers agree that a transcendent Law Giver is the only plausible explanation for an objective moral standard. So, ask yourself if you believe in right and wrong and then ask yourself why. Who gave you your conscience? Why does it exist?
People of every race, creed, color, and culture, both men and women, young and old, wise and foolish, from the educated to the ignorant, claim to have personally experienced something of the supernatural. So what are we supposed to do with these prodigious accounts of divine healing, prophetic revelation, answered prayer, and other miraculous phenomena? Ignorance and imagination may have played a part to be sure, but is there something more?
If your curiosity has been piqued and you desire to look into this matter further, we recommend that you consider the world's assortment of so-called Holy Books. If God does exist, has He revealed Himself? And if He has revealed Himself, surely He exists...

Holy Bible: A General OverviewThe Holy Bible is a phenomenal account of history, comprised of 66 books, written over approximately 1600 years, by at least 40 distinct authors. The Old Testament (Old Covenant) contains 39 books written from approximately 1500 to 400 BC, and the New Testament (New Covenant) contains 27 books written from approximately 40 to 90 AD. The Jewish Bible (Tenach) is the same as the Christian Old Testament, except for its book arrangement. The original Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic, while the original New Testament was written in Greek.
Holy Bible: The Old TestamentThe Holy Bible begins with the Jewish Scriptures. The historical record of the Jews was written down in leather scrolls and tablets over centuries, and the authors included kings, shepherds, prophets and other leaders inspired by God. In Exodus, God tells Moses to write the Law (Torah) in a book. About 450 BC, all of the Jewish scriptures were collected and arranged by councils of rabbis, who then recognized the complete set as the inspired and sacred authority of God. Beginning as early as 250 BC, the Hebrew Bible (Tenach) was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt. The translation became known as the Septuagint, meaning 70, and referring to the tradition that 70 or 72 men comprised the translation team. At this point, the books of the Hebrew Bible were arranged by topic, including history, poetry, and prophecy. In 90 AD, at the Council of Jamnia, the Jewish elders established the final Hebrew Bible canon. Although the Jewish Scriptures were copied by hand, they were extremely accurate copy to copy. The Jews had a phenomenal system of scribes, who developed intricate and ritualistic methods for counting letters, words and paragraphs to insure that no copying errors were made. In fact, scribal tradition was maintained until the invention of the printing press in 1455. As far as manuscript accuracy, the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has confirmed the remarkable reliability of the Old Testament texts over the years.
Holy Bible: The New TestamentAfter approximately 400 years of scriptural silence, Jesus arrived on the scene in about 4 BC. Throughout His teaching, Jesus often quotes the Old Testament, declaring that He did not come to destroy the Jewish Scriptures, but to fulfill them. In Luke 24:44-45, Jesus proclaims to his disciples, “All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Starting in about 40 AD and continuing to about 90 AD, the eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus Christ, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude write the Gospels, letters and books that later become the New Testament. These authors quote from 31 books of the Old Testament, and widely circulate their material so that by about 150 AD, early Christians were referring to the set of writings as the New Covenant. During the 200s AD, the writings were translated into Latin, Coptic (Egypt) and Syriac (Syria) and widely disseminated. At this time, at least 21 of the writings were considered canonical. Thereafter, in 397 AD, the current 27 books of the New Testament were formally confirmed and canonized in the Synod of Carthage. Like the Old Testament, we now have significant evidence that the New Testament we read today is remarkably accurate as compared to the original manuscripts. Of the thousands of copies made by hand before the printing press, we have approximately 24,000 manuscripts, including more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts from the New Testament alone. The Bible is better preserved, by far, than accepted writings of Homer, Plato and Aristotle. Of course, as the Bible was carried from country to country, it was translated into languages that don’t necessarily mirror the original languages of Greek and Hebrew. However, other than grammatical and cultural differences, God’s Word has been remarkably preserved and translated over the years. The Bible now gives inspiration to hundreds of millions throughout the world – that’s because the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:20-21).

Who Wrote the Bible - A Letter from God“Who wrote the Bible” is a question that is undoubtedly asked by many who are familiar with the impact this book has made on people around the world. The Bible gives guidance in our journey through life to eternity, as well as leads us to a relationship with the God of the universe. It is a historical book that is backed by archeology, and a prophetic book that has lived up to all of its claims thus far. In light of all these facts, asking, “who wrote the bible,” is a vital question that deserves serious investigation and a serious response. The Bible is God’s letter to humanity collected into 66 books written by 40 divinely inspired writers. These writers come from all walks of life (i.e., kings to fishermen) and spans over a period of 1,500 years or more. These claims may seem dramatic (or unrealistic to some), but a careful and honest study of the biblical scriptures will show them to be true.
Who Wrote the Bible - Evidence of Divine Inspiration“Who wrote the Bible” is a question that can be definitively answered by examining the biblical texts in light of the external evidences that supports its claims. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that “All scripture is inspired by God….” In 2 Peter 1:20-21, Peter reminds the reader to “know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, … but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” The Bible itself tells us that it is God who is the author of His book. God does not leave us with just claims of His divine handiwork in the Bible, but also supports it with compelling evidence. The design of the Bible itself is a miracle. Written over more than 1,500 years by vastly different writers, yet every book in the Bible is consistent in its message. These 66 books talk about history, prophecy, poetry, and theology. Despite their complexity, differences in writing styles and vast time periods, the books of the Bible agree miraculously well in theme, facts and cross-referencing. No human beings could have planned such an intricate combination of books over a 1,500-year time span. Bible manuscripts (remember, there were no printing presses until 1455) have survived despite weather, persecution and time. Most ancient writings written on weak materials like papyrus have vanished all together. Yet many copies of the Old Testament scriptures survived. For instance, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain all books of the Old Testament, except Esther, and have been dated to before the time of Christ. Consider Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Only ten copies written about 1,000 years after the event are in existence. In comparison, there are over 24,000+ New Testament manuscripts, the earliest one dating to within 24 years after Christ. The Bible also validates its divine authorship through fulfilled prophecies. An astonishing 668 prophecies have been fulfilled and none have ever been proven false (three are unconfirmed). An honest study of biblical prophecy will compellingly show the divine authorship of the Bible. Further, archeology confirms (or in some cases supports) accounts in the biblical record. No other holy book comes close to the Bible in the amount of evidence supporting its divine authorship.
Who Wrote the Bible - A Question of Eternal Significance“Who Wrote the Bible” is indeed a question that everyone must ask. If indeed it is the Word of the living God, then no other book gives us more insight into our lives, more hope for our future, and a true path to a relationship with God. Search the Bible with openness and honesty and see for yourself what the Creator of the universe wants to tell you!


Is the Bible True? - A Remarkable BookIs the Bible true? Certainly the Bible is a remarkable book -- unquestionably the world's all-time bestseller with countless millions of copies in print. A single Bible distribution organization reported delivering over 627,000,000 Bibles worldwide in one year alone (United Bible Societies, 1999). Actually, the Bible is a compilation of 66 books written by over 40 separate authors from a variety of backgrounds (from lowly peasants to noble kings) over a period of at least 1,600 years. These 66 books are divided in two principle parts, the "Old Testament" (39 books) and the "New Testament" (27 books). The Bible was completed in its entirety nearly 2,000 years ago and stands today as the best-preserved literary work of all antiquity with over 24,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts discovered thus far. Compare this with the second best-preserved literary work of antiquity, Homer's Iliad, with only 643 preserved manuscripts discovered to date.
Is the Bible True? - "…By inspiration of God"So, is the Bible true? If the Bible is indeed what it claims to be, the implications for us are considerable. The Bible candidly claims to be "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Of course, the Bible is not the only book to claim divine inspiration, but it is unique in that it offers substantial evidence to back its claims. It even goes so far as to challenge its readers to put it to the test, exhorting us to "Test all things" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Is the Bible True? - The Test of ProphecyIs the Bible True? Unquestionably, the single greatest evidence lending to the veracity of the Bible's claims of divine inspiration is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Consider this: if man were able to clearly and consistently foresee the future, would the billion-dollar Las Vegas gambling industry exist? We're willing to bet it wouldn't. As man by himself is unable to foresee future events, prophecy is a reasonable indicator of supernatural inspiration. The Bible purports to contain more than a thousand inspired prophecies. The vast majority of these prophecies have already come to pass and can be verified by secular history. Consider, for example, Ezekiel's prophecies concerning God's judgment against the ancient Phoenician capital of Tyre (Ezekiel, chapter 26). The prophecy states that Tyre would first be razed by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Later, it would be utterly destroyed by a coalition of nations, flattened like the top of a rock, its ruins (and even its dust) scraped and thrown into the sea, becoming a place for fishermen to spread their nets. The surrounding nations would witness Tyre's fate and surrender without a fight. It's a rather odd prophecy. Amazingly, the conditions of Ezekiel's prophecy were fulfilled, even to the tiniest detail. Nebuchadnezzar sacked Tyre. Later, Alexander the Great led a coalition of nations against Tyre, demolished it, scraped it to bedrock and threw its ruins into the sea. The ancient site became (and remains to this day) a place for local fishermen to spread their nets to dry. (For secular confirmation, see General History for Colleges and High Schools, Boston, Ginn & Co., p. 55). Prophecy is not just a phenomenon of the ancient past. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled today before our eyes. Consider the nation of Israel. The Jews were "the least of all peoples" (Deuteronomy 7:7), without a homeland and without freedom, serving as slaves in Egypt. At the time, Egypt was the dominant world power. However, because of a promise God made to a man named Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob centuries earlier, God rescued the Israelites from their bondage "with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders" (Deuteronomy 26:8). God gave the Israelites a homeland of their own, made a covenant with them, and entrusted them with the Bible. Israel was a nation set apart for God -- God's testimony to a world that turned its back on the One who created them. Sadly, Israel's history, like that of the world's, was one of constant rebellion against God. Over and over, the Jewish people would rebel, suffer God's wrath, humble themselves, regret their rebellion and turn back to God, and receive God's blessing again - then start the process all over again… Finally, God sent nations upon them (like He did with ancient Tyre) and drove the Jews from their homeland. In 70 AD, Roman legions decimated Israel, dispersed the Jews throughout the world, and banned them from ever reentering their homeland. The Jews were without a homeland for 1,900 years! Nevertheless, God promised the Jews that though He would remove them from the land, they would remain an identifiable people and would return to their land again. (see, for example, Leviticus 26:13-16; Nehemiah 1:8-9; Deuteronomy 30:1-5). It is a miracle in itself that the Jews have survived and remained an identifiable people without a homeland for 1,900 years. All other nations who have ever lost their homeland became assimilated into the surrounding nations and lost their identity within a few hundred years. Yet the Jews have remained and miraculously returned to Israel as their official homeland in 1948.
Is the Bible True? - ArchaeologyIs the Bible true? Not only does the Bible miraculously foretell the future, it also recounts the distant past with great accuracy. As such, archaeology has been a source of great vindication for the Bible. In Josh McDowell's classic treatise on the historical evidences supporting the Bible's veracity, renowned archaeologist Nelson Glueck is quoted as saying, "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference." (McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Here's Life Publishers Inc., 1979, p. 65.) Consider, for example, the biblical account of Israel's exodus from Egypt. Pharaoh, Egypt's monarch, chased the Israelites with an army of chariots, cornering Israel at the Gulf of Aqaba (the Red Sea). God miraculously parted the Red Sea allowing Israel to pass through over a land bridge. The Egyptians followed in close pursuit, but after the last Israelite made it across, God released the parted water and drowned the Egyptian army. Archaeologists have discovered a number of evidences vindicating the Bible's exodus account, including chariot wheels embedded in coral along the land bridge at the bottom of the Red Sea. (Exodus Revealed, video documentary by Discovery Media Productions.)
Is the Bible True? - The AuthorsIs the Bible true? Consider the integrity of the Bible's authors -- men who claimed to be inspired by God. Take for example Luke, who authored approximately one-quarter of the entire New Testament. Luke is regarded as an authoritative historian -- one of the greatest of antiquity. Dr. John McRay, Professor of New Testament and Archaeology at Wheaton University in Illinois, explains, "The general consensus of both liberal and conservative scholars is that Luke is very accurate as a historian. He's erudite, he's eloquent, his Greek approaches classical quality, he writes as an educated man, and archaeological discoveries are showing over and over again that Luke is accurate in what he has to say." (John McRay, quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case For Christ, Zondervan, 1998, p. 129.) Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest archaeologists of modern times, declared, "Luke is a historian of the first rank." (Sir William Ramsey, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 1915, p. 222.) Now, let's consider the martyrdom of many of these authors. According to sources and traditions outside the Bible, many of the Bible's writers died brutal and horrible deaths in defense of their written testimony. In fact, all but one of the New Testament's authors were executed for proclaiming and defending their testimonies (John was spared, but forced into exile by Roman Emperor Titus). Of course, martyrdom in itself is not unique -- many people throughout history have died willingly for their beliefs. What makes the New Testament authors' martyrdom special is that these men were in a position to know the truth of their written accounts. Think about it -- no one knowingly dies for a lie! For example, the September 11th suicide hijackers may have sincerely believed in what they died for, but they weren't in a position to know whether their beliefs were absolutely true. The hijackers put their faith in religious traditions passed down over many generations. In contrast, the Bible's martyrs were in a position to know the truth. They were eyewitnesses to the historical events they recorded. Either they saw what they claimed to see or they didn't -- plain and simple. Nevertheless, these men clung to their testimonies, even to their brutal deaths at the hands of their persecutors, and despite being given every chance to recant their stories. Why would so many men knowingly die for a lie? They had nothing to gain for lying… and everything to lose.
Is the Bible True? - Judge For Yourself…Is the Bible true? For those of us who don't believe that God inspired the Bible, how do we explain it? What compelling reason do we have to reject the Bible as God's divine revelation to man? We should lay aside our philosophical disposition, examine the evidence objectively, and weigh the facts for ourselves… And then ask: Is the Bible true?
Who Is God - Who Does He Claim to Be?Who is God? He's been described as everything from an impersonal life-force to a benevolent, personal, almighty Creator. He has been called by many names, including: "Zeus," "Jupiter," "Brahma," "Allah," "Ra," "Odin," "Ashur," "Izanagi," "Viracocha," "Ahura Mazda," and "the Great Spirit" to name just a few. He's seen by some as "Mother Nature" and by others as "Father God." But who is He really? Who does He claim to be?
Who Is God - Father God or Mother Nature?Who is God? What has He revealed about Himself? To begin with, whenever He refers to Himself in parental terms, He always addresses Himself as "Father," never "Mother." He calls Himself "a Father to Israel,"1 and in one instance, when His "children" were particularly disrespectful to Him, He said to them, "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?" 2 His prophets acknowledged Him as Father by saying, "You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand,"3 and "do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us?"4 Never once does God refer to Himself as "Mother" and never once is He called such by the prophets to whom He spoke. Calling God "Mother Nature" is comparable to calling your earthly father "Mom."
Who Is God - What Does God Care About?Who is God in terms of moral attributes? What does God have to say about Himself in this regard? He says that He delights in justice and righteousness: "…Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."5 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity…"6 Justice and equity are very important to God. But so are grace and mercy. And so, while God will hold everyone accountable, each for their own lives, He extends His grace to the repentant sinner. He promises that, "'If the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,' declares the Lord GOD, 'rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?…I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,' declares the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, repent and live.'"7 By "death" God is not referring to the physical death which we might have in mind. Rather, God is referring to something which will happen in eternity, after our physical deaths. The Scriptures refer to this event as the "second death."8 The first death separates us from our bodies and takes us from this world. The second death is different. It also entails a separation, but it's the separation of one group of people from another: the righteous and the forgiven on one hand and the wicked and the unrepentant on the other. The two groups will be judged separately. The one group will be rewarded according to the good that they've done. Their evil deeds will be overlooked, forgiven by God. The other group will be judged according to the evil that they have done, and their good deeds will not keep them from their punishment. God says, "When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die." But "when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. …Therefore, repent and live."9 In this way, God will see that justice ultimately prevails, but that mercy is given to the humble and the repentant. God has made a provision for those who want to repent, a provision to atone for the sins of those who want to be made right with Him. He sent a "Messiah," a Servant who willingly suffered and died a vicarious death in order to pay for the sins of those who would repent and trust in Him. The Scriptures say, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?…Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.…it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.…he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." 10
Is Jesus God? The Historical DisputeIs Jesus God? The answer to this question is the only real dispute surrounding the historical Jesus. No legitimate scholar today denies that Jesus is a historic figure that walked on this earth about 2,000 years ago, that he did remarkable wonders and acts of charity, and that He died a horrible death on a Roman cross just outside Jerusalem. The emotionally-charged dispute focuses specifically on whether Jesus was God incarnate who rose from the dead three days after His Crucifixion.
Is Jesus God? The Only AlternativesIs Jesus God? Many people have dealt with this "spiritual" dispute by intellectually accepting Jesus as a great man, great teacher, or great prophet. However, Jesus and His inspired followers didn't mince words when they declared Him to be God (John 10:30-38, Matthew 16:13-17, Mark 14:61-64, John 14:6, Hebrews 1:8, Colossians 1:16, John 12:40-41 [quoting Isaiah 6:1-10]). Therefore, any type of intellectual compromise calling Jesus a "good man" is logically inconsistent. Why? Because there are really only three legitimate alternatives for the identity of Jesus Christ. He is either a liar, a lunatic or our Lord and God. Since Jesus claimed to be God, His claims are either true or false. If false, He must have been a liar, deliberately misleading the multitudes. Or, He was a lunatic, sincerely believing Himself to be God, when in reality He was just a man. However, if Jesus was a "good man," as most people now agree, how then could He be both good and crazy, or good and a liar? There is only one logically consistent alternative - He must have been telling the truth. In addition to the logical inconsistency, the remarkable historical, archaeological and manuscript evidence shows that Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic. Again, the only position left is that His claim is true. Jesus is Lord and God. The only real argument that remains, is that Jesus was just a legend or myth. There is little likelihood that Jesus' claims are legend. There just wasn't enough time for any legendary development of the story to replace what really happened. For instance, we now know that the Gospels were written 30 to 50 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. More dramatically, we now date some of the early Christian creeds, proclaiming the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, to 3 to 10 years after His crucifixion. This includes Paul's letters to the Corinthians, Romans and Galatians. Finally, if Jesus' claim of deity was a myth, the early Jewish opponents of Christianity would surely have presented the fact that these claims never happened. Unlike modern skeptics, the Jewish rabbis never denied that Jesus made the claim that He was God. Instead, they called Him a liar, and tried Him for blasphemy.
Is Jesus God? The Only AnswerIs Jesus God? Once you have asked all your questions, weighed all the evidence, and tested all the arguments, you will ultimately be confronted with this question. In Mathew 16:15, Jesus put it this way, 'But who do you say that I am?' One of His disciples, Simon Peter, replied: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' What is your reply?
Who is Jesus? Why It’s Important to Know!Who is Jesus, and why is it important for us to know? We live in an age of religious pluralism and moral relativism. The popular spiritual philosophy, especially after the events of September 11th, is that all religious belief systems, as long as heart-felt, are equal. Pick one and follow it sincerely, and you’ll get to Heaven. That’s what the world believes, but Jesus teaches otherwise. Therefore, we need to examine who Jesus is by looking at some of the questions people frequently ask about Him. The answers are found in the Bible, the historical evidence people have trusted for over 2000 years.
Who is Jesus? He Was 100% Man
According to John 1:14, Jesus became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Why is His humanity so important? In Hebrews 4:15, Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are. As such, Jesus can sympathize with our weakness as humans. What can we learn from the way Jesus handled temptation? According to 1 John 3:5, Jesus came to earth in human form so that He could die a physical death and take away our sins. How would we all be affected, if we had no potential for escape from our sins?
Jesus is the key to membership in God’s family. When He stooped to our level by becoming a man, He made it possible for us to relate to Him and for God to relate to us through Him.
Who is Jesus? He Was 100% GodWho is Jesus, and how was it possible that Christ’s human body held the whole deity and glory of God?
According to John 1:1-3, Jesus existed from the beginning. From the beginning, Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Here, the Bible establishes the inseparable nature of Jesus and the God of the Universe. The following verses provide further evidence that Jesus is 100% God:Highlights of Christ's Time on Earth & the verses: · Miracles: Luke 7:22 · Eyewitnesses to His perfect life: Matthew 16:13-17 · Fulfillment of Prophecy: Matthew 13:14, Luke 24:44 · Jesus' own identification/claim: John 10:30-38, Matthew 16:13- 17, Mark 14:61-64 · Claims of Christ's followers: Hebrews 1:8, Colossians 1:16, John 12:40 (quoting Isaiah 6:1-10) · Resurrection: Luke 24:39, Mark 8:31, Acts 17:32
Jesus is the key to membership in God’s family. When He established His deity by rising from the grave, He made it possible for us to have forgiveness from sin and a renewed relationship with God.
Who is Jesus? He is the Way to HeavenWho is Jesus, and why is He the only path to salvation?
In John 14:6, Jesus declares: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Why is it important to know that NO other religious leaders throughout history have ever made these claims? According to 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 - not by works, so that no one can boast.” How does this contrast with other world religions which are based on “works” versus faith in Jesus and the resurrection? If we can’t build a relationship with God by doing good deeds or repeating rituals, what must we do? Acts 4:12 is clear, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Christianity: Simple TruthChristianity rises to the top when you earnestly investigate the other theories, philosophies, movements and religions of the world. Yes, as hard as it is to hear in our pluralistic world community, Christianity is different than all the others. That may sound terribly dogmatic and narrow-minded, but the simple truth is that Christianity is the only true religion.
Christianity: Why Believe It’s the Only WayChristianity is not based upon evidence...but it is backed by evidence. Obviously anyone could “claim” to be God. The difference with Jesus is that His life completely backed those claims. Check out the history, check out the claims – it’s an absolutely phenomenal study. A primary focus for your study is that Jesus fulfilled over 300 messianic prophecies written in the Old Testament scriptures. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the reliability of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, both of which have been proven to exist prior to the time Jesus walked on the earth, you can be assured that these prophecies were not “conspired” after-the-fact. They were truly fulfilled by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Examine the probability of one man fulfilling just a handful of the most specific prophecies, and you’ll be amazed. “And He [Jesus] said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.” Luke 24:44 Another focus for your study is to understand what Jesus said and did as a historical figure. No legitimate scholars today will deny that Jesus lived about 2,000 years ago, was a great teacher and doer of good works, and that he was crucified on a Roman cross for the crime of blasphemy among the Jews. The only dispute is whether Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion and that He was, in fact, God incarnate. This is where everyone must test the evidence for the resurrection, examine their hearts, and make a decision about who Jesus really was. Jesus said that He alone was the way to the Father (John 14:6), that He alone revealed the Father (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22). Christians do not go around saying Christianity is the only way because they are arrogant, stupid or judgmental. They do so because, based on the evidence, they believe what Jesus said. Christians believe in Jesus, who claimed to be God (John 8:58; Exodus 3:14), who forgave sins (Mark 2:5; Luke 5:20; 7:48), and who rose from the dead (Luke 24:24-29; John 2:19f). Jesus said that He was the only way. Jesus is unique. He was either telling the truth, He was crazy, or He was a liar. But since everyone agrees that Jesus was a “good man,” how then could He be both good and crazy, or good and a liar? He must have been telling the truth. He is the only way. Buddha didn't rise from the dead, nor did Confucius or Zoroaster. Muhammad didn't fulfill detailed prophecy. Alexander the Great didn't raise the dead or heal the sick. And though there is far less reliable information written about these “religious” leaders, they are believed in and followed by millions.
Christianity: Not Religion – A Relationship Christianity is not really a religion; it is a relationship with God. It is trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross for you (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), not on what you can do for yourself (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christianity is not about ornate buildings, flamboyant preachers, or traditional rituals. Christianity is about truly accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Become a Christian Today!How do I become a Christian? Once you have asked all your questions, weighed all the evidence, and tested all the arguments, you will ultimately be confronted with the basic question Jesus asked his own disciples in Matthew 16:15: ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ What is your reply? If you have come to the same conclusion as Simon Peter, you are a few steps away from having a personal relationship with our loving God. It is our sincere hope and prayer that each of you reach this conclusion, for we know that true happiness, joy and peace only come when we recognize our purpose for existing and yield our wills to our Creator. As you will see, Christianity is not based on a religious building, formula or ritual, it’s a matter of what you truly believe in your heart.
Become a Christian: Step through the Gospel First, you can be sure that God loves you unconditionally and desires to have a personal relationship with you. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Second, you need to admit your sinful nature to God, because this is what separates all of us from Him. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). Third, you should stop trying to please God through your own efforts, and realize that salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ is a gift that none of us deserves. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Finally, you just need to step in and truly accept God’s gift -- His Son, Jesus Christ. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). So, now you know the basic steps to become a Christian. As a result, if you desire God’s gift of eternal life and fellowship with Him, you are as close as a sincere act of faith. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Jesus also says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20). Receiving Jesus is a matter of truly asking Him to come into your life, to forgive your sins, and to become your Lord and Savior. It’s not merely an intellectual undertaking, but rather, an act of sincere faith and heart-felt will. If you want to receive Jesus now, and accept His gift of salvation, it's a matter of believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins, and turning the rest of your life over to Him. This is not a ritual based on specific words, but rather, a prayerful guideline for your sincere step of faith.
“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38) If you decided to become a Christian today, welcome to God's family. Now, as a way to grow closer to Him, the Bible tells us to follow up on our commitment.
Get baptized as commanded by Christ.
Tell someone else about your new faith in Christ.
Spend time with God each day. It does not have to be a long period of time. Just develop the daily habit of praying to Him and reading His Word. Ask God to increase your faith and your understanding of the Bible.
Seek fellowship with other Christians. Develop a group of Christian friends to answer your questions and support you.
Find a local church where you can worship God.