The Bible is a Historic, Reliable Truth Source with Predictive Power

Biblical inerrancy means that the Bible is without error or fault in all of its teachings. Scriptures from the original manuscripts are considered to be the Word of God and the absolute truth. The Bible declares that its words are inspired by God through whom it is impossible for Him to lie or deceive, therefore His word must mirror His true character and the facts of nature must also agree. The Bible has passed the truth test for thousands of years. If the Bible was in error, it would have been exposed by countless skeptics throughout history who have tried to discredit its inerrancy, and all have failed. If a single untruth or error in any of the original manuscripts existed, it would be a first. If the Canon were inspired by man, it would be full of errors, inconsistencies and contradictions as you will see below with many of the manuscripts found in performance-based religious faiths. 

Jews and Christians have spent centuries establishing and forming the Canon. The Canon contains 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament written by 40 different authors. Preservation of the Bible for the first 1,500 years before Christ has strictly been a Jewish activity. Every book in the Bible was written or inspired by a Jew except one...the Book of Job. The only chapters in the Old Testament that were not written in Hebrew are Daniel chapters two through seven which were written in Chaldean language for the times of the gentiles. Chaldeans (Gentile) are a Catholic ethno-religious community from northern Iraq who spoke dialect of Aramaic in their villages. The Gospel of Luke was physically written by Luke, but the actual story source came from the Apostle Paul. The same goes for the Gospel of Mark where the actual story source was Peter's version.

Jews made up some rules for both books in that the content had to be consistent with the Ten Commandments. For example, The Books of Maccabees 1 and Maccabees 2 both give a true account of the intertestamental period between the last of the Old Testament and the New Testament books with an accurate history, but there are a couple of passages that condone murder as opposed to allowing the State to be the ones that have authority. Did the book come from an acclaimed author? Maccabees 1 and Maccabees 2, we know the author was Jewish, but the author's names were unknown. These books violated the Ten Commandment principle, so they were excluded fro m the Canon. Another principal would be, does the book actually speak from the authority of God himself, meaning does it say, “Thus says God”? Does the book have that claim of authority?

Another test would be, does the book have predictive power? For example, does the book make any predictions of future historical events or scientific claims? Does the book have evidence of predictive power (prophesy) which helps solidify its authenticity. The predictions must be 100% accurate in what it says about history, geography or science. Moses verse below warns us of false prophets and how to know if they are fake. If they make any future prediction about history, geography or science events and they are not 100% accurate, then you can be absolutely sure they are a false prophet.

• "But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’ 21 “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ 22 If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared." Deuteronomy 18:20-22

There was a dispute 35 years ago on the Book of Isaiah where scholars took computer analysis of the book and thought that it was written by four different authors even through the book is loaded with predictive power and passed the test. It was later proven that Isaiah was written by one person at four distinct times of his life where each part was separated by at least a decade. The Book of Isaiah was written over a 40-year period.  For a more comprehensive reading on the Canon please read: F. F. Bruce, The canon of scripture, 19-22.

The Bible has proven to be a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses recording supernatural events that took place to fulfill specific prophesies and claim that their writings are from a divine source rather than human in origin. 1st Corinthians was written at the time when 301 of the book's eyewitnesses were still living. This needs to be considered as evidence that it was not fabricated.

The Bible is a miracle book. It's a miracle that takes place when a skeptic becomes a believer in Christ through hearing the scripture (Romans 10:17). God will provide a specific word to a specific person in a specific situation to reach us during our life.

There is a special warning to those Preterists (Preterism), Dominionist (Dominionism), Cults and False Prophets who attempt to alter or exclude the God's Word from the Bible will be excluded from the Tree of Life which means they will be banned from entering eternity in The New Jerusalem (The Second Creation). God is especially serious about the teaching of Revelation if anyone distorts it's meaning. A good example of false preaching is the Jehovah Witness  who claims to be 144,000 evangelist in Book of Revelation, not the Israelites.

• "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

An interesting story is that of David Harold Chilton who was a Preterist that preached Christian eschatology (end times). David falsely interpreted end times prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. He suffered a massive heart attack while preaching in the pulpit and went into a six-week coma where he later died at the age of 45. 

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress."

― Ronald Reagan

40th U.S. President

Major archaeological discoveries in the last 150 years have done more to substantiate the accuracy of the Bible more than any other single thing has done to date. There have been over 25,000 archeological digs that relate directly to the subject matter of the Bible at not one of them has contradicted anything in the Bible. Throughout history Bible myth's have been concocted by skeptics that have since been proven false by archaeology. We could have listed hundred's, but below are just a few. Critics of the Bible once said (examples):

1. Moses couldn't have written the first 5 books of the Bible (Torah) because writing was unknown in the near east around 1,500 B.C.E. We now know from archaeology that people could write in the near east over 3,000 B.C.E. The cuneiform script were created in Mesopotamia (Iraq) around 3,200 B.C.E. The Epic of Gilgamesh (pictured left)is a poem written on clay tablet 1,900 B.C.E. describing a great flood that wiped out civilization except one man. There are now thousands of example of these ancient clay tablet writings. There's evidence that slaves in the mines wrote on the caves walls, so certainly Moses who was raised in Egypt as a wealthy prince could write too.

2. Abraham of the Bible never existed or if he did exist, the Bible account of him are greatly distorted. For example, Moses hometown, Ur of the Chaldeans, never existed. In 1927, Archeologist, Leonard Woolley, excavated the site and identified it as a Sumerian archaeological site where the Chaldeans were to settle around the 9th century B.C.E. 

3. The Bible verse about Jordon Valley being lush and green with various cities in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah could never have happened. Nelson Glueck, an American rabbi, academic and archaeologist who discovered over 1,500 site during his life dug up 70 different cities in the Jordan valley and proved that in the time of Abraham that the area was lush and green exactly how the Bible described it: "Lot raised his eyes and saw all the vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt going toward Zoar." Genesis 13:10

4. The customs that Abraham practiced in the Book of Genesis were completely foreign to the culture in the time the Bible says that Abraham lived. The Nuzi tablets discovered sometime between 1925 to 1931 confirms all the customs at the time of Abraham recorded in the Bible. For example, they found if your wife couldn't have a baby, it was custom for the handmaiden to have the baby for you. The tablets also say if your wife gets pregnant, it was permissible for you to send the handmaiden and child away. About 20,000 Akkadian cuneiform clay tablets were found in Nuzu just east of ancient Asshur (modern dY Iraq). Scholars believe that they help shed light on their customs the Horites (or Horim) mentioned in the Pentateuch (Genesis 14:6; Deuteronomy 2:12). The Nuzi tablets revealed that they were a significant ancient people who played a major role in ancient Near Eastern culture. Abraham had contact with the Horites when he lived in Haran. David E. Graves, Key Themes of the Old Testament: A Survey of Major Theological Themes

5. There was never that much gold that Moses brought out of Exodus (Golden Calf, Exodus 32) because there wasn't that much gold in all of Egypt at that time. This could not be proven because just about every tomb in Egypt had been looted. It wasn't until 1922, by accident Howard Carter, an English Archaeologist and Egyptologist, unearthed the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh, Tutankhamun (King Tut) in the Valley of the Kings containing hundreds of pounds of gold items including his solid gold inner coffin that weighed 243 lbs. King Tut only ruled only 8 years...imagine how much gold was buried in the tombs of the greatest pharaohs.

6. The account of the capture of Jerusalem where the Bible tells us that Joab crawled through a water shaft got into the city secretly at night to unlock the gates to let David's troops in was preposterous. That was until Charles Warren entered through the Gihon Spring and crawled through Hezekiah's Tunnel where he discovered a shaft that rises to the upper "secret" tunnel, the Ancient water system that has been called the “Warren's Shaft System” ever since apparently used to get water from the outside when the city was under siege. "On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies. That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.” 2 Samuel 5:8

7. The character King David in the Bible never existed because there has never been any proof. In 1993  a stone dating 830 B.C.E. was discovered in the excavation in the city of Tel Dan and what’s significant about this stone is its inscription, the earliest extra-biblical reference to the "House of David."

8. The governor of Rome, Pontius Pilate, in the province of Judaea mentioned in the bible never existed, neither did  Caiaphas the High Priest who condemned Jesus. The Pilate stone is a damaged block of carved limestone with a partially intact inscription attributed to, and mentioning, Pontius Pilate, a prefect of the Roman province of Judea from 26 to 36 A.D. It was discovered at the archaeological site of Caesarea Maritima (Roman HQ's) in 1961. The artifact is particularly significant because it is an archaeological find of an authentic 1st-century Roman inscription mentioning the name "Pontius Pilatus". The Caiaphas ossuary is one of twelve ossuaries or bone boxes discovered in a burial cave in south Jerusalem in November 1990, two of which featured the name "Caiaphas".

9. The story  in Acts 13:4-14 where it says that Proconsul, Sergius Paulus, was lead to Christ by the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey to the Island of Cyprus. Sergius Paulus never existed.  In 1877 a Greek inscription was discovered at Soloi, on the northern coast of Cyprus, dating to 54 A.D., mentions a “proconsul Paulus.”

10. The Nation of Israel never existed unified in the State of Palestine before 500 B.C.E. In 1896 Flinders Petrie discovered the Merneptah Stele in Thebes, also known as the Israel Stele, which has an inscription by the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah from 1208 B.C.E. when he invaded the land of Israel. The monument contains a reference to his victory in line 27,"Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;"

It seems like the more artifacts we dig out of the ground, the more the Bible is proven to be historically accurate.

What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible

• Were Sodom and Gomorrah real cities, and were they really destroyed in catastrophic firestorms?
• Can we respond to the historians who have long claimed that King David was only a mythical figure?
• Is there archaeological evidence for Jesus' historical existence here on earth?

In the book titled "The Stones Cry Out : New Archeological Discoveries of the Bible", 1997, by Randall Price, Archaeologists have unearthed both surprising and substantial answers to these questions and others. Pottery shards, stone inscriptions, ancient scrolls, and other fascinating artifacts have shed new light on the people and events of the Bible, bringing them from the realm of mystery to the world of fact.

"It is now becoming increasingly clear that the traditions of the patriarchal age preserved in the Book of Genesis reflect with remarkable accuracy the actual conditions of the ancient near east."

― William Foxwell Albright 

American Archaeologist, Biblical Scholar, Philologist, and Ceramics Expert

There are a few reason why God wanted prophecy included in the Bible:

• To assure us that God knows the future and has everything under complete control.(Colossians 1:15-19)
• To deliver us from fear to hope. God knows what's best for us so there is no reason for fear.
• To give us proof that His word is 100% true in both short and long term predictions.(Deuteronomy 18:18)
• To focus our attention on the Kingdom of God in the next life, not this temporary world.
• To give us greater boldness realizing that the best is yet to come and to inform others about eternal Hell.
• To better prepare and equip us to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ in this world since it is not our home (Hebrews 11).
• To bind us closer to fellow believers and to stick together to accomplish Gods tasks Complete (Matthew 24:14).
• To increase our hunger for the truth of God's word for prayer and submission to our Lord Jesus Christ and deepen our commitment to God's purposes.

The best examples of the supernatural Word of God is in the Bible is in the form of prophesy. Prophesy scripture predicting future events makes up approximately 30% of the Bible text. No other faith based Holy Book even comes close to that amount of content dedicated to predicting future events. Other Holy Books make predictions, but they are focused on short term predictions a few generations in advance whereas the Bible does both making predictions thousands of year into the future. God chose specific men to accomplish His purpose by giving His Word a supernatural predictive power. He chose prophets to record these events before they happen so that no one could question His authority and to prove to us that He exists. 

• "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." Deuteronomy 18:18

It's impossible for someone other than God to guess future events with a 100% reliability. If a prophet makes any future prediction about history, geography or science events and their predictions are not 100% accurate, they are considered to be a false prophet. 

• "I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose," Isaiah 46:10

There are thousand's of prophetic prophesies in the Bible that provide evidence that the Bible has supernatural character. For example:

• Isaiah 13 predicts in great detail the fall of Babylon 200 years before it happened.
• Daniel 2 & 11 predicts the world empires 500 years before they happened, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman. It even predicts Alexander the Greats empire being divided into 4 divisions.
• The entire Book of Revelation (Future Predictions), Daniel, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, etc. (books by the Prophets)
• Hundreds of Messianic predictions on the life of Christ hundreds of years before His birth (link below). 

Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events in detail many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter with no errors. The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as we approach Christ's Second Coming. Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10^2000 (that is 1 with 2,000 zeros written after it).

What follows is a discussion of a few Bible predictions that exemplify a high degree of specificity, range of projection, and/or the “supernatural” nature of the predicted events. Readers are encouraged to select others, as well, and to carefully examine their historicity.

• Some time before 500 B.C.E., the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel’s long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 lunar years or 476 solar years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be “cut off,” killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. On March 5, 444 B.C.E. King Artaxerxes in his 20th year gave Nehemiah permission (decree) to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. 476 solar years later the ministry of Jesus Christ ends in Jerusalem. Also note that from 1 BC to AD 1 is just one year. Jesus’ crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in 70 A.D. came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^5)*

• In approximately 700 BC, the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel’s Messiah (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^5)

• In the fifth century B.C.E., a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem’s poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a “potter’s field,” used—just as predicted—for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^11)

• Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel’s King David and the prophet Zechariah described the Messiah’s death in words that perfectly depict that mode of execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10). Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify that he was, indeed, dead. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^13)

• The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. Isaiah said that the same man would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13). Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^15)

• Mighty Babylon, 196 miles square, was enclosed not only by a moat, but also by a double wall 330 feet high, each part 90 feet thick. It was said by unanimous popular opinion to be indestructible, yet two Bible prophets declared its doom. These prophets further claimed that the ruins would be avoided by travelers, that the city would never again be inhabited, and that its stones would not even be moved for use as building material (Isaiah 13:17-22 and Jeremiah 51:26, 43). Their description is, in fact, the well-documented history of the famous citadel. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^9)

• The exact location and construction sequence of Jerusalem’s nine suburbs was predicted by Jeremiah about 2,600 years ago. He referred to the time of this building project as “the last days,” that is, the time period of Israel’s second rebirth as a nation in the land of Palestine (Jeremiah 31:38-40). This rebirth became history in 1948, and the construction of the nine suburbs has gone forward precisely in the locations and in the sequence predicted. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^18)

• The prophet Moses foretold (with some additions by Jeremiah and Jesus) that the ancient Jewish nation would be conquered twice and that the people would be carried off as slaves each time, first by the Babylonians (for a period of 70 years), and then by a fourth world kingdom (which we know as Rome). The second conqueror, Moses said, would take the Jews captive to Egypt in ships, selling them or giving them away as slaves to all parts of the world. Both of these predictions were fulfilled to the letter, the first in 607 B.C.E. and the second in 70 A.D.. God’s spokesmen said, further, that the Jews would remain scattered throughout the entire world for many generations, but without becoming assimilated by the peoples or of other nations, and that the Jews would one day return to the land of Palestine to re-establish for a second time their nation (Deuteronomy 29; Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 25:11; Hosea 3:4-5 and Luke 21:23-24). This prophetic statement sweeps across 3,500 years of history to its complete fulfillment—in our lifetime. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^20)

• Jeremiah predicted that despite its fertility and despite the accessibility of its water supply, the land of Edom (today a part of Jordan) would become a barren, uninhabited wasteland (Jeremiah 49:15-20; Ezekiel 25:12-14). His description accurately tells the history of that now bleak region. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^5)

• Joshua prophesied that Jericho would be rebuilt by one man. He also said that the man’s eldest son would die when the reconstruction began and that his youngest son would die when the work reached completion (Joshua 6:26). About five centuries later this prophecy found its fulfillment in the life and family of a man named Hiel (1 Kings 16:33-34). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^7)

• The day of Elijah’s supernatural departure from Earth was predicted unanimously—and accurately, according to the eye-witness account—by a group of fifty prophets (2 Kings 2:3-11). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^9)

• Jahaziel prophesied that King Jehoshaphat and a tiny band of men would defeat an enormous, well-equipped, well-trained army without even having to fight. Just as predicted, the King and his troops stood looking on as their foes were supernaturally destroyed to the last man (2 Chronicles 20). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^8)

• One prophet of God (unnamed, but probably Shemiah) said that a future king of Judah, named Josiah, would take the bones of all the occultic priests (priests of the “high places”) of Israel’s King Jeroboam and burn them on Jeroboam’s altar (1 Kings 13:2 and 2 Kings 23:15-18). This event occurred approximately 300 years after it was foretold. (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10^13)

Since these thirteen prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the probability of chance occurrence for all thirteen is about 1 in 10^138 (138 equals the sum of all the exponents of 10 in the probability estimates above). For the sake of putting the figure into perspective, this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will be reversed in a given situation (for example, that a gasoline engine will refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body) that chance = 1 in 10^80. Stating it simply, based on these thirteen prophecies alone, the Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. Each reader should feel free to make his own reasonable estimates of probability for the chance fulfillment of the prophecies cited here. In any case, the probabilities deduced still will be absurdly remote.

Given that the Bible proves so reliable a document, there is every reason to expect that the remaining 500 prophecies, those slated for the “time of the end,” also will be fulfilled to the last letter. Who can afford to ignore these coming events, much less miss out on the immeasurable blessings offered to anyone and everyone who submits to the control of the Bible’s author, Jesus Christ? Would a reasonable person take lightly God’s warning of judgment for those who reject what they know to be true about Jesus Christ and the Bible, or who reject Jesus’ claim on their lives?

*The estimates of probability included herein come from a group of secular research scientists. As an example of their method of estimation, consider their calculations for this first prophecy cited:

• Since the Messiah’s ministry could conceivably begin in any one of about 5,000 years, there is, then, one chance in about 5,000 that his ministry could begin in ~29 A.D. (Luke 3:23)
• Since the Messiah is God in human form, the possibility of his being killed  is considerably low, say less than one chance in 10.
• Relative to the second destruction of Jerusalem, this execution has roughly an even chance of occurring before or after that event, that is, 1 chance in 2.

Hence, the probability of chance fulfillment for this prophecy is 1 in 5,000 x 10 x 2, which is 1 in 100,000, or 1 in 10^5.

God is not the only one, who uses forecasts of future events to get people’s attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritist and others come close with their predictions, though rarely with more than about 60% accuracy and never with 100% accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance. 

Hugh Ross

Reasons To Believe, P7501, 1975

Revised 08-22-2003 by Krista Bontrager

There are some prophecies that have two predictions. There is a clue that tells us that the prophecy is double when there are two specific time marks in the text that will identify that this particular prophecy will be fulfilled at time mark one and time mark two. For instance, in Isaiah 7 the prophecy first son that is born within a few years of the prophecy is named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz and the son that is to be born many generation later is named Immanuel. The clues of a double prophecy are very subtle. Isiah also gives the son two names, not just one. 

Double prophecies became an issue with the Jews and the coming of the Messiah. Jesus only fulfilled 105 of the 400+ Messianic prophecy's so Jesus can't be the Messiah. The Jews were convinced that He was going to fulfil them all in one coming and this is why many Jews don't become Christians. This is incorrect because there were two time marks meaning the Messiah was coming twice leaving from and returning to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).

• "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (Jesus Christ)." Isaiah 7:14

• "Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz."  Isaiah 8:3

After Alexander the Great destroyed the Phoenician army and the city of Tyre (Lebanon) because they fled to an Island about a mile away (as prophesized in Ezekiel 26:1-6), Alexander the Great marched on to Gaza to conquer the rest of the Phoenician's and on the way he realized his flank would be exposed to another people called the Judeans whose capital city was Jerusalem. As Alexander entered Jerusalem to conquer them, the high priest asked to meet him waiving the white flag of surrender. The high priest said that he had a message for Alexander from the God of Heaven. The high priest also had a scroll of the Book of Daniel in his other hand. He proceeded to interpret the Book of Daniel to Alexander at the gates of Jerusalem where Daniel predicted his entire career over 200 years before it happened. The high priest said to Alexander, you are destined to conquer the world though your life will be short, it will be great (Alexander died at the young age of 32 years). According to the historian Josephus, Alexander fell on his face in front of the high priest and declared there was no God like the God of Israel. Alexander declared the city free and did no harm to it. From that day forward Alexander saw himself as invincible because of this prophesy. We know that this account must of happened otherwise he would have conquered Jerusalem. 

In every major battle Alexander displayed reckless bravery by riding in the front of his soldiers. He was never killed much less injured in battle to the point where his people started wondering if he was a god. This struck fear in the hearts of the enemy and he finally destroyed the Persian Army and empire at the Battle of Gaugamela. He was eventually killed by one of his own in 332 B.C.E. in the city of Susa in Persia . They say he was either poisoned or drank himself to death because he wasn't able to enter and conquer China. He never named one of Roxanne's (wife) young sons as his successor to the throne and instead, on his death bed he said defiantly; "Give it to the strong" leaving the Kingdom to his four field marshals who divided it up .You won't see this story in any of the secular History books. Below is the verse which described a mighty Greek king who would conquer the Persian Empire.

• "And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these." Daniel 11:2-4

• "As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power."

"In battle, plans are immediately useless, however planning is everything."

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

 34th U.S. President

The Church never determined which new testament books would appear in the Bible. Many people think that the First Council of Nicaea was when the Canon of scripture was finally determined. This is a fallacy. The books of the New Testament were received as the inspired Word of God when they were written. The authors of these books had already proven that they were inspired by God by revelations from God and from fulfilled prophesy that were made. When, the impact from these books were much different from the impact from other books. Furthermore, all these books agreed with one another on doctrine and everything else. All that the First Council of Nicaea achieved in 325 A.D. was to recognize what had already been recognized all along. They just ratified the Canon of scripture.

The International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) was founded in 1977 to clarify and defend the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. The Council sponsored three major "summits," each producing an important statement.  Summit I met in Chicago on October 26–28, 1978. Over 300 Christian leaders, theologians and pastors attended and adopted the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, consisting of nineteen articles with brief exposition. The copy of the Statement mailed to participants of the Summit on Nov. 7, 1978, just a week after the meeting, was relatively free from typographical errors. Papers delivered at the conference were published as Norman L. Geisler, ed., Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980). Dr. Jay Grimstead, one of the organizers of the ICBI, describes the statement as: "a landmark church document" created "by the then largest, broadest, group of evangelical protestant scholars that ever came together to create a common, theological document in the 20th century. It is probably the first systematically comprehensive, broadly based, scholarly, creed–like statement on the inspiration and authority of Scripture in the history of the church."

The ICBI convened Summit II on November 10–13, 1982, in Chicago to discuss guidelines for principles of interpreting the Bible. Approximately one hundred people attended and adopted the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics, comprising twenty–five articles and a brief exposition. Papers read at the conference were published as Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Preus, eds., Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984).

The final ICBI conference, Summit III, met on December 10–13, 1986 in Chicago. The participants adopted the Chicago Statement on Biblical Application, composed of sixteen articles with a separate introduction. Papers read at the conference were published as Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed., Applying The Scriptures (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987).  

One of the last actions of the ICBI was to transfer records of the organization to the archives at Dallas Theological Seminary to preserve them for future research. The ICBI files date from about 1978 to 1989 and fill sixty-nine linear feet. The records include correspondence, files regarding publications, documents about seminars and lay congresses, financial records, and copies of the statements adopted at the three conferences. The collection also has some scrapbooks and preservation copies of books published by the ICBI.

ICBI Statement: We affirm the harmony of special (Bible) with general (Nature) revelation and therefore of biblical teaching with the facts of nature. We deny that any genuine scientific facts are inconsistent with the true meaning of any passage of Scripture.

God had a plan for Alexander the Great. Alexander would show mercy to the people he conquered and had a great passion to covert them to the Greek culture. He opted not destroy them like most victors, but instead to win them over. God put this on his heart. Back when Alexander conquered all the tribes of Greece, he put the passion in the Greek people of how great they could be as a unified people under one language. At the time the Greeks spoke a lot of dialects such as Athenian, Ionian, Doric, etc.. How could Alexander give orders to an army if they all had different dialects? Alexander wrote the syntax down of his own language  Koine or common Greek. Alexander constructed a new dialect that every Greek adopted as the common dialect. So every place Alexander's Army conquered he converted the people to the Koine Greek language. Guess what language the New Testament was written in...Koine Greek. God planned this so he could take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the four corners of the ancient world so the people could understand it. When the Romans conquered the Greeks guess what language was adopted by the Romans wasn't Latin, but the Koine Greek language.

Athanasius Contra Mundum is Latin for "Athanasius against the world". He was also tagged with the nick name "Black Dwarf" by his enemies for being a short, dark-skinned Egyptian bishop who had plenty of enemies. In 325 A.D. at the age of 27, Athanasius of Alexandria began his leading role against the Arians as a deacon and assistant to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria during the First Council of Nicaea. Most often the problem was his stubborn insistence that Arianism, the reigning "orthodoxy" of the day, was in fact a heresy. The dispute began when Athanasius was the chief deacon assistant to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. While Alexander preached "with perhaps too philosophical minuteness" on the Trinity, Arius, a presbyter (priest) from Libya announced, "If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the Son was not." The argument caught on, but Alexander and Athanasius fought against Arius, arguing that it denied the Trinity. Christ is not of a like substance to God, they argued, but the same substance. Athanasius was exiled five times by four Roman emperors, spending 17 of the 45 years he served as bishop of Alexandria in exile. Yet in the end, his theological enemies were "exiled" from the church's teaching, and it is Athanasius's writings that shaped the future of the church.

 "The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us." 

— Billy Graham

God wants us to test Him and His words found in the Bible. Another name for the Biblical Testing Method is the Scientific Method which originally came from the pages of scripture. This has been well documented by the Scottish Academic Press found by Thomas Forsyth Torrance, a Scottish Protestant Theologian and Minister. He gathered together a group of theologians and scientist which produced a 28 volume set published by the Scottish Academic Press that documents how the Scientific Method was derived from the pages of scripture, the creation text and in particular, Reformation Theology. It describes how Protestant Reformation Theology gave birth to a new way of analyzing scripture and duel revelation. Duel revelation is how we are to use the book of nature and the book of scripture to discern truth from God. This is what gave birth the what we call the Scientific Method today. Here are just a few Bible verses that established the origin of Scientific Method; Luke 16:31 1 John 2:16-17 1 John 2:18-19 1 John 2:22-23, 1 Corinthians 14:29,32.

• "You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:9-10

Another way to describe this biblical testing method is as a series of steps and apply it to Genesis 1 below. Initial conditions are; Step 1 is the physical creation of the heavens and the earth, Step 2 the point of reference which is "hovering over the waters", Step 3 the earth was formless, empty, dark surface covered with water and unfit for life, Step 4 describes the creation days in great detail in the correct sequential order and all the "day" events are described accurately and according to the scientific record.

1. Identify one or more of the physical phenomena that the particular biblical text investigates, describes, and/or explains. Genesis 1:1
2. Identify the frame(s) of reference or point(s) of view to be used in studying and describing the phenomenon or phenomena. Genesis 1:2
3. Determine the initial conditions for the phenomenon or phenomena. Genesis 1:2
4. Take note of the description of the phenomenon/phenomena and determine what takes place when, where, and in what order. Genesis 1:3-31
5. Note the final conditions for the phenomenon/phenomena. How do they differ from the initial conditions when you began experimenting? Please avoid interpreting in the first five steps. Genesis 1:3-31
6. Form a tentative explanation, or hypothesis, for how and why things transpired as they did. This explains what occured. (see section Creation: Ordered Events Essential for Life)
7. Test the hypothesis with further observations, experiements or additional biblical texts that address the same phenomenon/phenomena. (This was cover above "Scientific Method Test Holy Books")
8. Revise or refine the hypothesis accordingly.
9. Determine how well the hypothesis fits with established understanding of related phenomena or texts.
10. Repeat all steps for futher insights, validation or revision of the hypothesis.
11. Keep on cycling through steps 1-10.

Step 8 is not the end of the biblical testing method. Since only God knows everything, the human investigator needs to return to steps 1, 2, and 3, for example, and determine if there is any need of revising, augmenting, and/or subtracting from one’s initial identification of the physical phenomena, the frame(s) of reference or point(s) of view, and/or the determination of the initial conditions. That is, the biblical testing method works best when practiced continuously and cyclically. It moves researchers closer to the truth.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (universe).

2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (frame of reference).

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse (canopy) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

7 And God made[b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.

8 And God called the expanse Heaven (sky). And there was evening and there was morning,—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants[e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening and there was morning,—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 

15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

16  And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19 nd there was evening and there was morning,—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,     in the image of God he created him;     male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning,—the sixth day.

"Not one change of species into another is on record...we cannot prove that a single species has been changed."

― Charles Darwin

My Life & Letters, 1887

Today, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet near the south-east part of the Persian Gulf. To the left is a map of all 4 river locations. The Pishon and Gihon locations are based on the dried up river beds that can still be visited today.

• "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush (Ethiopia).14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates." Genesis 2:10-14

Eden is where sin was committed and addressed. At the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 2:7-10 when Adam is created, he lives in paradise in the Garden of Eden where the fall of man transpires (sin). In the Second Creation paradise is restored with a new earth and the curse of sin will be abolished forever. Our sin was paid in full by Christ on the the cross, but no action was taken. God has delayed this action for 2,000+ years so He could redeem more people. In the Second Creation we only see the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is absent. As man is restored by God, so is His paradise called Eden.

• "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse." Revelation 22:1-3

The reason why God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is because He could not allow them to also eat from the Tree of Life too because if man did, he would have lived forever in a fallen state and nothing would have been as horrible than that. In order for man to be freed from the nature of sin that replaced the spiritual nature we were originally created with, man must die. We cannot be delivered from our sin nature unless we die or if we are transformed in the rapture.

• "And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:22-24

"Little Strokes, Fell great oaks."

― Benjamin Franklin

Statesman, Author, and Inventor (17 Jan 1706-1790)