By Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

If you are going to get anywhere in this spiritual walk you must be convinced that The Holy Bible is THE Word of God. There must be a standard, a measuring stick to judge all other so-called holy books and words from the mouths of those who claim to be the oracle of God, otherwise we are left to the mercy of every whim of anyone who claims to be the mouthpiece of God. Many of the wars past and present are fought because of disagreement with this one point. Why do I believe the Holy Bible is THE Word of God? Let’s think about it.

The Bible isn’t like any other book that’s ever been written. The Bible is a living, breathing book. It is THE Word of God. If you don’t approach it right, it won’t change you, it won’t strengthen you. James 1:22-25 speaks of how most people approach the word of God. He says it is like looking into a mirror and seeing something that needs changing but doesn’t do anything about it. You can’t just read this book like any other book. You have to let it speak to you and then you have to do something about it.

Let me see if I can explain what is meant by the Bible being THE Word of God. Well, it is inspired by God. Did God tell its authors word for word what to write? No, but God made sure the human authors, using their own individual personalities and even their writing styles, composed and recorded His word without error. The Bible is His revelation to man in the words He wanted written. The Scripture is ‘God-breathed’ (2 Timothy 3:15-17). We read in Scripture that truth is an attribute of God (Jeremiah 10:10; John 1:14; 14:6; 17:3), and that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:2; Romans 3:3-4). The Word of God, then, is true (John 17:14,17; Psalm 119:142; 151; 160; Revelation 21:5; 22:6).  Think about this. Do you not think that the almighty God who created all things is not able to protect the translation of His Word to man knowing that an entire people will be depending on an accurate word from Him that will determine where they will spend eternity? Of course He is! The Word of God is THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. HIS WORD IS FOR ALL PEOPLE FOR ALL TIME.

Here are some facts that will be valuable for anyone with an open heart. Now, you don’t have to throw your mind away in order to believe these facts, but if you don’t want to believe, nothing will convince you. Mark Twain said, “It’s not the things I don’t understand in the Bible that bother me, it’s the things I do understand!” Face it. The real reason most people are afraid to study the Scriptures. They’re afraid they might meet the Author, and they know they’re not ready to do that.

Let’s look at this book’s credentials.  In the various world religions, there are 30 or 40 books, each one claiming to be a superior revelation. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35) The Bible never attempts to defend itself that it is the Word of God. It opens up in Genesis with the words, “Thus saith the Lord”. From Genesis to Malachi “The Lord spoke” appears 560 times in the first five books of the Bible and at least 3800 times in the whole of the Old Testament! Isaiah claims at least 40 times that his message came directly from the Lord; Ezekiel, 60 times; and Jeremiah, 100 times! Jesus himself quoted from at least 24 different Old Testament books.

In the mid-1700s Voltaire, one of the most influential writers of his day, held a copy of the Bible in his hand and stated that within 100 years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and would pass into history. What’s hilarious is that merely 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his house and press to print and distribute stacks of Bibles! They even made his house their headquarters! God has an incredible sense of humor, don’t you think?

Could You Write The Bible? Winkie Pratney, a Swedish biologist, says it well in his article Holy Bible, Wholly True: “Say you were going to write a book, and this was how you had to write it: for a start find 40 different writers—totally different writers. Get some who are highly educated, even doctors, then get some farmers. Go dig a guy off a ranch somewhere and say, “I’d like you to help me write a book.” Then find some fishermen. Go down to the wharf and find a couple of guys from San Francisco and say, “Hey! listen, Help me write a book.” And they say, “Sure, fine… we’ll help you.” And then you get all of them to write on the following things: religion, poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, the creation  of the universe and where it’s going and ask them to throw in a few things about where they think it will all end. Next, you need to collect all that information, and then… oh, by the way, you have to separate these people so they can’t communicate by phone or telegraph…only possibly word of mouth, passed down over the years. Ah yes, years… you collect all this stuff over about one and a half thousand years, and compile the whole thing in one book. What would you have? I know what you’d have, you’d have the most motley junk you’ve ever seen in your life, with people totally contradicting each other! I suggest you take a biology textbook from 60 years ago, and compare it with one today. And that’s just 60 years! But that’s not what you have when you read your Bible. The more you read this book, the more you see the incredible unity of it. Because the more you get into it, the more incredibly detailed it is, and you find there are not 40 people who wrote it, but One Person.”

I am going to let Winkie Pratney continue as he discusses the scientific accuracy of the Bible. Keep in mind this is a scientist speaking.: “The Bible is scientifically accurate. The God of the Bible is the God who created the universe. True science and Scripture will always agree, they both have the same Author! No statement in the Scriptures is scientifically incorrect. Science can tabulate the “what,” analyze the “how,” and probe for the “why,” but it can’t tell us the “where from,” nor the reason for which the universe exists. It can’t say who you are or why you are here. It can tell us what we’re able to do, but not what we ought to do. At the same time the Bible was written, people thought the world was flat and held up by three elephants. Big elephants. Someone asked, “What holds the world up?” Another said, “Three elephants.” Then someone ventured to ask, “And what holds up the elephants??” Someone answered, “A big tortoise.” And so the early sciences grew. Now, listen to what God said. Remember, this wasn’t written in the last hundred years, or even the last thousand. This comes from over 2500 years ago… “Have you not known? Have you not heard? … Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth.” (Isaiah 40:21-22) The word “circle” is the word “sphere” in Hebrew. Also, “He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.” (Job26:7) Well, so much for elephants! There are many other astounding scientific facts in Scripture, presented centuries before it became part of man’s “knowledge.” Such as this… “Can you lead forth Mazzaroth in its season, and guide the Bear with her sons?” (Job 38:32) The great Bear, or “Arturus,” is a runaway star system. It moves at 257 miles a second while our sun only moves at about 12-1/2 miles a second.”

“ “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” (2 Pet.3:10) This very verse was used nearly a century ago to prove that the Bible couldn’t have been divinely inspired because, “How could there be a fire big enough to burn the whole world? Silly fisherman'” It took over two more generations for science to catch up to what God had spoken through Peter, that an atomic reaction could actually melt the basic building blocks of matter itself. God was prophesying how the world would end. In fact, two verses later we find these words, “… the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” (vs. 12) Do you know what the word “destroy” is’? It’s a Greek word that literally means to untie. That’s an atomic physics statement from a fisherman! These and countless other examples show us how the Lord has hidden unsurpassed knowledge and wisdom in His Word.”

Pratney goes on to discuss the Bible’s predictions as proof it is indeed THE word of God.: “If there’s one thing the Bible dares to do that no other book in the world does, it’s to accurately predict the future. God can arrange the situations and circumstances of history to bring about patterns laid down before the foundation of the world. The outline of many of these patterns is revealed in the Bible. There are about 3856 verses directly or indirectly concerned with prophecy in Scripture—about one verse in six tells of future events! God’s challenge to the world is “Prove Me now-I am the Lord. I will speak. and the word that I speak shall come to pass.” (See Jer.28:9: Ezek. 12:25, 24:14) Buddhists, Confucianists, and Muslims have their own sacred writings, but in them the element of prophecy is obviously absent. The destruction of Tyre, the invasion of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon and Rome-each were accurately predicted in the Bible and fulfilled to the smallest details. In the brief life of Jesus alone we see over 300 fulfilled prophecies. The odds that these would coincide by accident in one person are laughable. By the laws of chance, the conservative odds of even just 48 of those prophecies being fulfilled by one man are one in 10 to the 157^th power (That’s I followed by 157 zeros!!!) Let me try to give you an idea of how immense this number is. We’ll take a very small object. Let’s say an electron. (Electrons are so small that if you lined them up it would take 2-1/2 quadrillion of them to equal one inch.) Now let’s go back to our figure of 10 to the 157^th power. If you tried to put this many electrons into a big pile, it would be 10,000,000,000 times larger than the universe as we know it-which scientists calculate to be 6,000,000,000 light-years across. (A light-year is the distance that light will travel in one year moving at the speed of 186,000miles per second.) Now, take just one electron out and color it red. Stir it back into this pile for a hundred thousand years with all the others. Then blindfold a man and send him in to pick it out—first time! Impossible? These would be the same odds that one man would live and die according to only 48 of the prophecies about the Messiah, if it were only an accident. The Scriptures specifically predict events and happenings that are as modern as tomorrow’s news release.”

“No Other Conclusion. You can put any test you like on this book and nothing is even in the same category, not even in the same class. It’s not just a book-it is God who has spoken in history, and that’s why He says that His word is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword”! (Heb. 4:12). Only the 66 books of the Scriptures bear this divine seal. No other work of man in any language even faintly resembles the intricate structure and design of the Bible. The fact remains—only an Infinite God could have devised this Book of books. The Bible is a book with a universal message for all men. It’s the only volume that a child and scholar may find equal delight in. Its simple life related principles can work in any country, transcending barriers of culture and race to bring peace, love, joy, and forgiveness. Only the Bible can make bad men good inside, transforming the rebel into the saint. The greatest proof of the Bible is the difference its message can make in your life. If you haven’t done so will you ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of His power to your heart through its pages? But pray honestly, “God. I don’t know if this is Your Word or not, but if it is and You can help me, please show yourself to me as I read.” And God will meet you in a living demonstration of His reality.”

I know that is a long quote but it was so well put I saw no need to write something similar. There will be more ahead on why I believe the Bible is THE one and only Word of God and why we can trust it. Sure God has revealed Himself to many people who did not have the Holy Bible but if it is truly God and truly His word it will not contradict what is written in this holy book. Believe it. If any man, even an angel from heaven speaks anything contrary to this book then it is not of God. (Gal. 1:8-10). Stop fighting it. Take comfort in it. How great to have a standard you can refer back to when something is said to judge whether what is said is of God or not. And that includes the Christian church….especially the Christian church! I don’t care who they are or who they claim to be the Bible says they are accursed if they preach anything contrary to this book.

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