**************************************************************************** vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - WHY SHOULD WE REJECT - - RELIGIOUS WRITINGS - - OTHER THAN THE BIBLE? - - - - - - - - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ **************************************************************************** Islam, Hinduism, Morminism, Jehova's Witnesses, the New Age Movement, Christian Science, the Unification Church. What do these religious move- ments, as well as others, have in common? They all believe their writings are superior to the bible. They may sometimes include the Bible in their list of acceptable religius books, but they will hold on to their belief that their writings significaly expand on, if not correct, what the Bible teaches. Are they right? Is it possible that the writings of non-christian rel- igions are inspired by God and thus equal in authority to the Bible? Some of these same religious groups, including christian ones, also argue that some God-inspired writings have been lost or that those in the Protestant Bible are only a partial listing of the existant books that God inspired. Are they right? ARE OTHER RELIGIOUS WRITINGS EQUAL TO OR SUPERIOR TO THE BIBLE? --------------------------------------------------------------- One of the most common denominators of non-Christian religions is that the Bible is not God's final revelation. Many groups teach that their par- ticular prophets have been inspired by God to write "new revelation" that is suppose to supercede scripture. *** The Christian response to this claim takes four steps; *** (1) Define the qualifications of a prophet, (2) Determine the source of the prophets revelation, (3) Examine what the Bible say's about "new revelation", (4) Compare the Jesus of scripture to the Jesus promoted by their prophets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) A PROPHETS QUALIFICATIONS: I must establish first that the Bible IS GODS writen revelation. So now we canturn to scripture to see what it say's about the qualifications of a prophet, then we can take the bibkical evedence or qualification and try to see if we can match it up with the long list of those claiming to be God inspired prophets or writings. If they don't meet up with these qualifica- tions, then they are false. I would be so bold to say that Joseph Smiths doctrine of Morminism, Charlse taze russell of Jehova's Witnesses, Mary Baker Eddy of the Christian Science movement, Muhammad of Islam, or any other self proclaimed prophet, that if they fail this test then they are false. Now at this point many of you are probably thinking, "here we go again, another one of those crazy, unintelligent Christian finaticts giving his point of veiw as the only way. How narrow minded he is." Did you think something kind of like that. Well thats Ok, and I will not hold it against as long as your as fair as I have been to read on and weigh out the facts. You see I've already done this, I mean been a liberal doubter. In the years that I have been searching out the truth in a world that so emphatically takes a stand against Conservative Christianity, I've found out that the only religion that withstands any doubt, scientific thought, historical proof, guts -to dare to predict the future of the whole world including non believers and not fail, and also can suffer such a violent rejection by some and even cause its believers to be handed over to death in times past is THE SCRIPTURE OF THE HEBREW GOD JEHOVA (YAH-WEH) FOUND IN THE BIBLE! Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:20-22 ; God reveals what counts as the use -------------------------------- and misuse of prophesy and who shall prophesy. (1) A false prophet could make true predictions and still not be apointed by God. (see Acts 8:9-25, Simon the sorcrer.) (2) If a prophecy ever failed to come true, even if it was prophe- sied in the name of the Lord, then the one who uttered it was considered a fraud. All non-Christian prophets have failed the second test and thereby demonstrated that God was not inspiring them. For example; vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv *** Doctrine of Covenants 84:1-5, 31 ; >>> September 1832 <<<< ----------------------------------- By: Joseph Smith "Mount Zion which shall be the city of New Jerusalem... shall be built, begining at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundries of the state of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. ..which temple shall be reared in this generation." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Likewise, the official writings of the Jehova's Witnesses proclaim nume- rous unfullfilled prophesies. One well-known example is their prediction that the battle of Armageddon would occor between 1874 and 1914: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv *** "In view of this strong Bible evedence concerning the times of the Gen- tiles, we consider it an established truth, that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God will be accomplished at the end of A.D. 1914." ( "The Time is at Hand"; in THE STUDIES OF SCRIPTURES, Series 2 from the Watchtower Scociaty. ) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A more recent example of false prophecy concerns "Moses" David Breg, founder of the Children of God, also known as the Family of Love. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv *** In 1973, he prophesies; "I believe God means what he says in this shoc- king revelation above! You in the U.S have only untill January to get out of the states before some kind of disaster, destruction or judgement of God is to fall because of Americas wickedne- ss!" ^^^ This refering to the passing of the comet Kahoutek in 1973. ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thus the religious writings of these false prophets and all other "pro- phets who have failed prophecies are disqualified as revelations of GOD. On the other hand, look at the prophecies that are recorded in the Bib- le. All of the predictions of the coming of the Messiah, the nation of Isreal, Major world powers and also current events leading up to the return of Jesus Christ HAVE NOT FAILED. Not one of them has come up short of being fullfilled, except the ones that still concern our future. What other religious writing in the history of the world can stand the test of the Bible. Some of the prophecies concerning the day that we live in now go back as far as Moses, which is between 3,000 and 4,000 years.\ Dare to compare!!! In my view this evidence would qualify the Scripture of the Old and New Testement as solid, profound, inspired word from GOD. The proof is in the test of trurh -prophecy. The scientific odds that the prophecies concerning Jesus alone being fulfilled in one person is a sheer fraction of 1% .----- --- 1/84 with 123 zeros. THOSE ARE ODDS ONLY GOD COULD FULFILL!!!!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (2) DETERMINATION OF THE SORCE OF THE PROPHET'S REVELATION: -------------------------------------------------------- Another area that disqualifies so many so called "prophets" is the use of objects of divination. Many New Age prophets use crystal balls, mediums, tarot cards, and other "mystically empowered" objects to communicate with spiritual forces. What does GOD say about their methods? *** Deuteronomy 18:10-12 , "Let no one be found among you that sacrifices son or daughter in the fire, who practices divin- ation or sorcery, interpets omens, engages in witchcraft, of casts spells, or who is a medium or a spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you." (NIV) What we must understand is that the whole reason why God had to have a chosen people, namely Isreal and the Church, is to raise up a standard aga- inst these types of things, false doctrines other than his divine doctrine given to His chosen people, the nation Isreal then to the nation of the Church (1 Pe 2:9). In the scripture we just read (Deut 18:10-12) we can see that these modern day New Age "prophets" practice exactly what Gods law forbids. So that could only mean that is not from God or in harmony with God. On these grounds alone -there are many other scriptures relating and agreeing with this- this would dismiss multitudes of prophets as FALSE. (3) EXAMINE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT "NEW" REVELATION: --------------------------------------------------- This test revolves around the biblicle statement not to add to or take away from Scripture (Deut 4:2, Rev 22:18-19). In other words, the Bible is GOD'S complete and final revelation, so any other religious writings claim- ing the same or greater authority as scripture is false revelation -it is not from God. This includes what The Book Of Mormon tries to glue in as additional revelation or claims by The New Age Movement to contain spiritu- al trurhs contrary to the Bible. THEY MUST BE REJECTED! (4) COMPARE THE JESUS OF SCRIPTURE WITH THE JESUS PROMOTED BY THEIR PROPHETS : ------------------------------------------------------------------- It is very important that we see how Jesus is depicted in a religius writing. For an example; the Jesus of the New Testement fits perfectly with the picture of the Old Testement Messiah. So, if there is to be any other writings about Him they must agree with the Old Testement and the New Test- ement scriptures or they would be false -I mean even the stuff in our churches. However, in every case, none of the other religions or spin-off cults from Christianity bears witness to the Jesus of the Bible. They all reject him as part of the triune Godhead -one in essence, power, and authority with the Father and Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:1-2 ; "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how we can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that aknowlages that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God." John 1:1, 14 ; "In the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." In other words, the agreement must be made that Jesus, who is God in the flesh, came and died on the cross as the Passover Lamb of God for the remission of sins for the world and he was resurected from the grave and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Ther has to be this connection or else, according to what the Bible declares, all other is False. And even more than that, the scripture in 1 John chapter 4, goes on to to say that if religious writings, doctrines / beliefs, and people who don't line up with this are of the Anti-Christ Spirit! WOAH! Heavy duty, isn't it? ============================================================================ ============================================================================ DO OTHER ANCIENT WRITINGS BELONG IN THE BIBLE? : -------------------------------------------------- Now this is getting deaper and more contreversial than all of the pre- vious. The focus of the Jewish and Christian faith is salvation or redemp- tion from mans own sinful nature, and a Messiah to accomplish this task. In the case of explaning this matter futher, if I need to, I will attach an outline explaning this salvation at the end of all this. I personally have debated this subject with people of other religio- ns and also with students of anthropology and archeology, who according to their proof differ with some of my views. But take into an account that some of these anthropology students do not even believe in a monotheistic god anymore. Who has screwed up there heads? Even though they cannot deny the historical and tangeble archeological proof found in many digs of the Bible, they come up with this "new found revelation of contradiction" that many see in the Dead Sea Scrolls. I will attempt to wiegh some of them: >>>>>>> ARE MY TYPO'S GETTING TO YOU YET? I HOPE NOT, I'M GOING AS FAST AS I CAN TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE SPIRIT AND THE EXCITEMENT OF MY EMOTIONS!!! <<<<<<<<< ============================================================================ The first thing ( I have no written documentation of this, yet ) is the subject of a "Gosple of Thomas" that I recently spoke to someone about. This book was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is believed to be the property of and possibly written by the ancient Essenes (this was a denomi- ation of Jew in the time of Jesus' ministry on earth). One thought that grips me is that the Jews did not beleive in Jesus as their messiah. I know this for certain because if they did they would then be a Christian and not a Jew anymore. Just like the apostles, who were Jews. Including the Apostle Paul who was a Jewish priest belonging to the Pharisee sect before his con- version (acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah of the ancient prophecies). Why then would they posses a copy of a Gosple? I would think to disprove the account of Jesus as told by His dicsiples, spelling it out as a myth in order to save their own religious theology. This in itself gives me a clear understanding why this "Gospel of Thomas" is not included in the Bible. It probably was just as controversial in the days of the first century church. Even though I was told that the contents of the book were close to that found in the Gospel of Mark, I personaly will not put my faith in it! The Gospel of Mark has been picked and proded at for authentisity for ages, and I will put my faith in that one. See my point? God knows what is best. In proof, in faith, He has keeped all of it unadulturated for thousands of centuries. Hey, thats good enough for me. Word also has it that some of these books from the Dead Sea Scrolls are being interpeted and studied just a few miles from my home at the Univer- sity of Alabama, Birmingham. Maby in the near future, if God allows, I 'll be able to gather mare current information on this stuff. I know it will be a tough fight since most who study these books are non-Christian people -as I stated earlier- so I feel I cannot trust their view. It seems that everywhere you turn your head to look now days somebody is blasting Jesus or the literal acuracy of the Bible. I just say forget it, it has never defeat Gods work in the past and will not do it in the future, except for in the tribulation times when the power of the enemy -Satan- is revealed and judged by GOD. Hmmmm , could this possibly the att- empt of the devil to try and discredit the Word of God and decieve the whole world into following him as forseen by the biblical prophets. Well that is an entirely differnt subject that will take another time to expound on it. Now don't get me wrong, there are some finds and some people involved with the Dead Sea Scroll controversy that are in harmony with the Bible as well. And I'm not trying to down them along with this other issue. These people are trying, and doing a good job of it, the authinticity of the Bible. And for their work I know God will Exalt them in all that they do. Please note that very soon I will be doing a much futher in depth study on the Dead Sea Scroll issue by itself. Because the Lord knows it will need pages upon pages of work all by itself. Now back to the differences in religions; ============================================================================ ============================================================================ What about Islam? Islam is in no doubt the nearest religion to Judaism- Christianity. When I say it relates I mean in historical origen only. The god of Islam, Allah, is a very impatient uncaring god. He is very unlike JHWY, Jehova -as we call him in english, who is a "God of love" and a car- ing God who "cares for you" (1 Pe 5:7). The story in history that connects the two is in Genesis chapter 16. This is where Abrahams wife, Sarah, was impatient with God and gave her servant to Abraham to give birth a child for him. Her name was Hagar and the child she gave birth to was Ishmael. As the story goes on, when Sarah had finally recieved the promise of God and gave birth from a barren womb in her old age, she gave birth to Isaac. Ishmeal as well as his mother had a jelious hatred for Isaac becuse Abraham was going to give him all that he had and Isaac would recieve the blessing or promise of God and the covenant which God ordained for him to have. If you will resd on in Genesis for yo- urself you'll see that finally a fight broke out and Hagar and Ishmeal had to leave. God is merciful, so He did give Ishmeal land and offspring. But He also gave him a hatred for Isaac and his offspring. And there is where the connection is and still is there today until the end. Ishmael is the father of the Arab Islamic nations. In fact, in their holy book, ther Koran, the Moslems have some of the same Old Testement as we do and have record of Jesus, but only regard him as a prophet. What a shame that they would neglect such a salvation to follow a false messiah, Mahommad. We as Christians should pray for those people that maby God would open their eyes to the truth. As for other religions, how rediculous! The Bible does not agree with the theory of reincarnation, and that alone nocks most of them out of the water with one blow. This includes Budism in all its various forms and the ever popular hinduism that even New Agers hold on to along with their funky Christian type beliefs. ============================================================================ vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv **************************************************************************** Hebrews 9:26-27 ; "Then Christ would have to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is de- stined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will apear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him." (NIV) **************************************************************************** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ============================================================================ I hope you see that it is very plain that reincarnation is unacceptablr to the Christian faith. God seems to think that we all live and die but one time. I wonder if He Knows? Of corse He does!!! So who are you going to believe? WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE? In closing, I would like to add, as I told you earlier, an outline on what the salvation believed by Christians is all about and how it is obtai- ed. Look for more information soon. Signed, Mike Erwin ============================================================================ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv THE GOSPEL outlined ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A GRACE: --------------- 1) Heaven is a free gift. (emphisize gift) 2) It is not earned or deserved; ( ROM 6:23 ) "The wages of sin is death but, the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." B MAN: --------------- 1) Man is a sinner. ( Rom 3:23 ) "...but all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." 2) Man cannot save himself. ( Eph 2:8-9 )"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no man can boast." (NIV) C GOD --------------- 1) HE is merciful- therefore does not want to punish us. ( 1 John 4:9-10 )"This is how GOD showed his love among us : He sent His one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love : not that we loved GOD, but that He loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 2) HE is just- therefore must punish sin. ( Ezek 18:4 )"For every living soul belongs to Me, the father as well as the son- belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die." (NIV) also see Hab 1:13 D JESUS CHRIST ----------------------- 1) WHO IS HE? - THE INFINATE GOD MAN. ( 1 JOHN 4:9-10 )"In the begining was the Word and the word was with GOD, and the word was God ... The word became flesh and dwelt among us." 2) What did he do? - He paid our debt. ( Isa 53:4-5 )"Surely he took up our infermities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But 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." (NIV) also see Romans 6:23. E FAITH --------------- 1) What it is not - Mere intellecctual assent. ( James 2:9 )"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demonds believe that and shutter." (NIV) 2) What it is - Following Jesus. ( John 14:6 )"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." (NIV) ============================================================================ *******~~~~~~ REQUIREMENT FOR SALVATION; ~~~~~~******* A TOTAL SURRENDER ------------------------ 1) Luke 14:33 , "In the same way, any of you who does not give up every- thing he has cannot be my disiple." 2) Luke 9:23-24,"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will loose it, but whoever loses his life for me save it." 3) Luke 18:29-30,"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one has home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." B COMMITMENT ---------------------- 1) John 3:3 , "I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 2) 1 Peter 1:13-16, ============================================================================ S A L V A T I O N WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT ANYWAY? **************************************************************************** The word 'salvation' from the biblical perspective comes from two main Hebrew and Greek words. The first of which is the Hebrew word YeSHUWA. YeSHUWA ( yesh-oo'-ah ) comes from the primary root word yasha'.This word yasha' means; "to open, wide." or "free". It is usually implied, "to be safe". Also, the name YeSHUWA ( yay-shoo'-ah ), which is translated into the english language as Jeshua, or better known as Joshua. The definition in the Hebrew language is, "He will save". The He being Jehova- which by the way is pronounced ( YeHOVA ), and is actually spelled without any vowels in Hebrew. Therefore rendering His name as; YHWH ( Yah-weh ). YeSHUWA is defined as, "something saved". An easier way of english tra- nslation is the defining it as "deliverence"- which is the common english translation- hence; aid, victory, prosperity. To sum it up, it means simply the act of; deliverence, health, help, salvation, saving ( health ), welfare [ definition reference: Strong's #3444 ]. The second of these two words is the Greek word SOTERIA. Soteria ( so-tay-ree'-ah ) comes from the primary root word SOTER. Soter ( so-tare' ) means "a deliverer" or a savior. In other words, Jesus- not his name but his function. So weather you are Greek or Jew, Jesus is Savior/Deliverer!!! Soteria is defined as such; "rescue" or "safety". It is commonly trans- lated into english as ; "deliverer, health, salvation, save, saving. To sum it up would be; "to make whole". [ definition reference: Strongs #4991 ] ROMANS 10:10 , "For it is with your heart you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved { made whole } ." (NIV) ============================================================================