SupernaturalWarfare

December - 2006

Trapped

Trapped is a fictional short story illustrating that we need to let go of everything, and hold on to God with ALL our heart, soul, and mind.

Do New Things - Part 2

Do New Things is an article on The Rebelution written by Marshall Sherman of Advancing His Kingdom. Do New Things encourages you to get out in the world and try new things - for Jesus.

Featured | January 2007 »

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[digg=http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Is_the_Bible_Reliable] Christianity’s foundation is the Bible, plain and simple. Christianity stands or falls with its Scriptures. To disprove Christianity, many different nations and peoples have repeatedly attempted to discredit the Bible, but to no avail. Due to the constant attacks on the Bible throughout the years, Christians have meticulously researched and have discovered a sound way to uphold the Bible.

In an attempt to demonstrate that the Bible is the Word of God, the original manuscripts must be proven to be authentic. For if the original manuscripts are forged or altered, then no other argument can prove the Bible is the Word of God. Next the content must be examined. If the text changes from manuscript to manuscript, then how can we be sure to have the correct document? Or if the facts of the Bible are false, then again, how can the Bible be true? And finally, the events in the Bible must align with history. Again, if the events of the Bible don’t parallel history, then how can the Bible be true?

First of all, there are approximately 24,970 manuscript fragments of the New Testament within 226 years of the originals, and, except for some style and spelling differences, all 24,970 are identical (with an exception of two portions of text that was not in the original copies, but common in later manuscripts - which is noted in most Bibles). The Jews have kept part of the Old Testament in their Torah over the years, which wouldn’t have changed. Even so, those books couldn’t be proven to be the original text until the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Old Testament was finally confirmed to have stayed the same since the days before Christ. Finally, the books in the New Testament were written between 50 AD and 95 AD, a 45 year difference. During that time, legends and falsehoods would not have been able to spring up. For, the eyewitnesses would have squashed these distortions of the truth.

Even if the Biblical manuscripts are authentic first century documents, the text must have a legitimate source to truly be the Word of God. For why would we have trusted someone from the Orient in 50 AD to write about Jesus’ teachings when the Gospel hadn’t reached the Orient? Eight different men wrote the New Testament. Their names were James, John, Jude, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Paul, and Peter. Out of those eight men, six had direct contact with Jesus, the two who hadn’t been with Jesus traveled for years with someone who had.

Since we have the original text, and the authors of the New Testament are legitimate authorities on the subject, the events of the Bible align with history. However, the events of the Bible align with ‘pagan history.’ The events mentioned in the Bible are genuine events, the places of the Bible are real places, and the people in the Bible are real people, including Jesus. Many ancient non-Christians agree in their writings that Jesus was actually a man and claimed to be God, such as Tacticus (The Annals of Imperial Rome), Suetonius (Life of Cladius, Lives of the Ceasers), Roman governor Pliny the Younger (Epistles), Greek satirist Lucian (On the Death of Peregrine), Syrian Mara Bar-Serapion (a letter). Even the Jewish Talmud mention’s Jesus! Finally, modern archeology has produced evidence for the authority of the Bible. The events, places, and people are verified from non-Biblical sources through examining the remains of past cultures.

Since the Bible is proven to be the same text back then as it is now, the writings to have come from legitimate sources, and the Bible’s events to align with history, we can conclude that the Bible declares genuine history. Now whether the Bible is the Word of God or not is a totally different matter, but even more so important. Man physically wrote the words of the Bible, there is no doubt about that. But, did God speak to humanity through them? Or were the authors of the Bible writing lies?

According to the Bible itself, the Bible is the Word of God. That is clearly stated by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16a: “All Scripture is inspired by God (God breathed)…” But does what the Bible mean anything to some? No. But, the Bible is full of prophecy. Many of that prophecy has been fulfilled, some is yet to be fulfilled. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah both predicted the destruction of Babylon (Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 51). And Babylon did indeed fall. Cyrus the king of Persia conquered Babylon the great in 539 BC. But, a good portion of the Bible’s prophecy is concerning the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament has four hundred twenty five prophecies on Jesus alone, and Jesus fulfilled every one. Some of the prophecies are made to the date. For example, in the book of Daniel, Daniel predicted the exact day the Messiah would enter into Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). Daniel claimed that 438 years after a decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, the Messiah himself would enter into that Holy City. Since the Babylonian calendar consisted of 360 days, there are 173,880 days in 438 Babylonian years. On March 5, 444 BC, the Persian king, Artaxerxes Longimanus, decreed that the city of Jerusalem should be rebuilt. Exactly 173,880 days later, on March 30, 33 AD (after accounting for leap years), Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Even the uniqueness of the claims of the Bible suggests its truth. No other religion in the world truly claims eternal life by faith alone. All religions require some form of “works” (having more good deeds than bad deeds - for example) in order to get into heaven. Some are more extreme than others, but they all still require some form of earning your way into heaven. The desire to work for something is human. Many people find it hard to accept large gifts for no reason. So man-made religions that are works based to feel adequate. But really, can a sinful, mortal man earn his way to be with a perfect God?

It is proven that we have the original text of the Bible, the authors of the Bible are legitimate sources, and the events in the Bible really happened. We have also made it clear through the prophecies and their fulfillments that some divine power has made itself known through these writings. Why shouldn’t it be the God that the Bible claims it to be? Why shouldn’t God’s Son, Jesus Christ, really be our Lord and Savior? Why shouldn’t He have really come to earth, died for our sins, and rose again? Since that is the case, it can be concluded that the Bible is true. And since the Bible is true, then Christianity is the Truth.

//Bring it World
-Brian Purkiss

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Imagine for a moment, that fateful day in AD 33. Imagine the day when the Son of God took upon Himself the burden of mankind’s sin. Imagine the enormous load He took when he willingly shouldered the yoke of our sin. Imagine the pain he felt when he was beaten, whipped, abused, and nailed to the cross. Imagine that fateful day in AD 33…

His breath came in gasps, blood dripped from His body, the weight of the cross bore down on Him. Pain wracked His body from the innumerable whiplashes, cuts, and bruises; He was hardly recognizable. He could barely force His feet to move; with each passing moment, the energy drained from His body. But His Will was set; nothing could keep Him from the task at hand.

As he crawled forward, one of the Roman guards yelled and the whip snaked through the air. As it came down, an ear splitting crack split the air. The whip made contact with the back of Jesus’ legs and He cried out in anguish and pain, collapsing to the rocky ground. The man on the other side of the cross grunted and came down to his knees. Simon gasped in pain and tried to stand up, but the weight of the Cross was too much for him. The soldiers yelled, whips cracked, and the crowed jeered. After a few agonizing moments, two Roman soldiers stepped forward. One of them seized Jesus and jerked Him to His feet; the other lifted the Cross. In His pain, Jesus groped for the Cross, grabbed it, and shouldered the burden again. With grunts and groans of pain, the cross drug forward again.

As they moved forward, two other men, each bearing crosses themselves, began jeering at Jesus. “Why are you so willing to take your cross? Are you so eager to face the pain of the Cross? Curse God and die now!” Jesus made no reply, but looked them each in the eye in turn; they fell silent after a few moments under His gaze. Gradually, wailing could be heard. He stopped and turned. Following Him was a group of women, mourning for Jesus’ pain. Through the pain and gasps, Jesus spoke to them in a raspy voice, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘cover us.’ For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Jesus turned back to His task and slowly, the ground began to slope upward and the city began to fall away.

Continued on // The Cross - Part II

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What is rain? What are hard times? What is pain? What are tribulations?

When we encounter these storms, what do we do? We cower and whine to God. Why? We’re selfish and want “the good life.” We don’t want to face pain or trouble. But if we don’t face them, then we will never grow. Think about it. If God blew the storm away every time it came, we would be worthless. Even so, the only way we are worth anything is through His power, not ours. We wouldn’t be able to stand on our own two feet. We wouldn’t be able to be living sacrifices (Romans 1). We wouldn’t bring glory to God. So what are we supposed to do in the face of these storms? Or even constant rain?

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
-James 1:2-3

We are supposed to turn our face to the storm and laugh. Our God is bigger than any storm you could possibly imagine. The storm will fade away, whether here on this earth, or with our death and life in Heaven. No matter what we encounter, God will be there for you. No matter what happens, God is watching over you. Even if the storm destroys what you wanted so much to be left unharmed, so be it. It was in God’s will for such a thing to happen. No matter what happens, if you trust in God, He will bring you through it, no matter what the outcome is. Even if you are left without a single penny, posession, or friend; God is there for you - ALWAYS.

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
-James 1:12

…prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
-James 1:22

//Bring it World
-Brian Purkiss

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Trapped, and no way to run. In frustration, I scream and strain against the ropes holding me down, but to no avail. Panting, I look up at the rope dangling just within reach, that is, if I could reach out. Following the rope with my eyes, I glimpse daylight from a hole in the roof. Lowering my eyes, I look at the water that is filling the dark room. Yelling again, I throw my weight against the ropes, trying to grab the lifeline just above my upturned face. Some of the ropes begin to pop, and then a great snap fills the air, then another, the ropes are beginning to break. My heart filling with a new hope, I push even more and more ropes snap. Freed from those ropes, I stand up a little farther, closer to the rope to get out.

Suddenly a large crash rebounds through the closed room, followed by the clinking of a chain. Startled, I collapse, reeling from the blow. I look around, and a chain is now keeping me down. As I sit in the water, despair replacing the hope I had, the broken ropes fuse back together, like they never broke. Tears filling my eyes, I cry out in desperation to God. As the echoes of my voice die away, a breeze stirs the surface of the water, and I can just hear, or think I hear, a voice whisper, “Let go.” I scream in frustration, “No!!! Never! Why? No!!!” Sobbing I begin to plead, “No Lord, this is not the way You are supposed to do this! You’re supposed to save me with a miraculous life-changing event! One that causes these ropes to break! I created them strand-by-strand with my own hands; I would never let them go! Why?!? Save me Lord! Don’t make me let go! Take them away from me!” With that, I collapse into the ever-rising water.

Sobbing uncontrollably, I look down at the ropes and chains holding me down. Looking closely, each rope and chain has something written on it. Looking closer at one of the ropes, I see a single word, pride. Curious, I begin looking at the other ropes. Each one has a word on it, words like jealousy, idolatry, love, friendships, selfishness, lust, greed, over-confidence, excuses. Shocked, I realize that the countless cords all have similar words on them. Following the bindings to the floor, they are attached to a single bracket in the floor, labeled sin. Following the cords the other way, expecting to see them wrapped around a portion of my body, I realize they are not tied to me. Instead, every single one of them is being clenched in my hand.

Realization floods through me; all I have to do is let go. With a slight grin, I stand up, the rope dangling from the ceiling inches from my face. On it are two words, Jesus Christ. Suddenly I laugh and open my hands and the ropes and chains fall into the rising water with a splash. I grab onto the rope, still laughing. The instant my fingers close on the rope, the rope rises, pulling me out of the water and darkness, and into the light.

//Bring it World
-Brian Purkiss

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