Five Lies of the Devil, Lie one

 The Bible is not real, nor important.

The Bible is not real, nor important. Don’t believe it. It was written two thousand years ago by men trying to control people. It is full of discrepancies and contradictions. Eyewitnesses did not write it, but rather tens or even hundreds of years after the ‘supposed crucifixion.’ It was never meant to be taken literally. It is no different than all other religious books.

None of this is true. Not a single thing told to you is accurate. These lies, or this lie, “The Bible is not real, nor important. Don’t believe it,” are significant to them because without it, there’s no concept of sin. No God. No hell. No judgment. If it’s “just a book written by man,” then God is a man-made idea; there’s no judgment, no condemnation. No one is wrong, and everything is fine. Live as you wish. Follow your heart, be a good person, and remember that you only get one life, so live it fully, however you choose. After that, there’s simply nothing. Do not judge others. Live and let live.

This is what we will be discussing today. Let us pray.

LORD God, we come before you today with thanksgiving for everything we have. From life to life everlasting, and all things in between. We thank you for your love and grace. Father, as we enter your Word, we ask that you give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and the spirit to understand its importance and to receive any revelations you wish us to see. We ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

There is not one single contradiction in the Bible. No, not one. There are misunderstandings, differing points of view, and poor translations, but zero contradictions. Then you are going to have those who honestly ask, “Why should we believe the Bible? Why should we put the Bible over every other religious book? How do we know for a fact that the Bible is true?”

One of the easiest ways to disprove the Bible is also one of the easiest ways to prove the Bible is the Truth. You see. There are 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament for a total of 1,817. This is according to “The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy” by J. Barton Payne.

If the Bible makes all these predictions, and they are proven false, then the Bible is indeed false. However, if the Bible makes all these predictions, some 26 percent of the total Bible is made up of prophecies, then predictions that have been proven correct prove the bible true. Here are some examples.

Generally, Babylon will rule over Judah for 70 Years. Jeremiah 25:11-12. Babylon then began to take many Jews as captives to Babylon and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. This domination of the Jews ended in 539 BC, when Cyrus, a leader of the Persians and Medes, conquered Babylon, thereby bringing an end to the Babylonian Empire. This was predicted in Isaiah 45:1, Jeremiah 49:15-20, and Ezekiel 25:12-14. They tell of how the luscious and beautiful land of Edom, today a part of Jordan, would become a desert and wasteland.

Israel itself is a prophecy fulfilled. Israel? As we know it today? The exact location and construction sequence of Jerusalem's nine suburbs were predicted by Jeremiah about 2600 years ago. Jeremiah 31:38-40, Ezekiel 37:21-22. Isaiah 66:7-8 describes this taking place in one day. This rebirth became history in 1948, in one day, and the construction of the nine suburbs has gone forward precisely in the locations and in the sequence predicted. 

Jesus and His life? Isaiah 53. To name one.

Is it scientific? Consider COVID-19: quarantine is necessary to keep the majority safe, as highlighted in Leviticus 13:45-46. Let’s focus on health for a moment. In Leviticus 17:11, we find that this text, written between 538 and 332 BC, reflects the historical belief that healing a sick person required bleeding them. This misguided practice aimed to remove their life force rather than actually cure the disease. 

Also, was Jesus sweating blood? This is mentioned in Luke 22:44. Commonly referred to as Hematidrosis or Hemohidrosis, this condition results in the excretion of blood or blood pigment in the sweat. Under conditions of great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can rupture, thus mixing blood with perspiration. This condition has been reported in extreme instances of stress. 76 cases of Hematidrosis were studied and classified according to causative factors. The most frequent causes of the phenomenon were found to be “acute fear” and “intense mental contemplation.” So yes, Jesus, facing all He was about to, including the Cross, did indeed sweat blood.

Then you have Yeshua or Jesus Himself. Who is He? Where does He come from? How does He live? How does He die? How does He rise from the dead? These are all in the Bible, some thousands, some hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. In extreme detail. If you have your Bible, and you wish to, turn to Isiah 53. We are going to read the whole chapter.

“Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
And no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And as one from whom men hide their faces,
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Now, remember this was written by Isaiah, some 700 years before Jesus was crucified.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
And with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned--everyone--to his way;
And the LORD has laid on him

The iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
Yet he opened not his mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
And like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
So he opened not his mouth.”

Do you see Jesus in this? It is as if Peter or Matthew were writing this after witnessing Jesus' life, ministry, and death. Yet remember, this is some 700 years before Him.

“By oppression and judgment, he was taken away;
And as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked
And with a rich man in his death,
Although he had done no violence,
And there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
He has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
He shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
The will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied;
By his knowledge shall the righteous one,
My servant, make many to be accounted righteous,
And he shall bear their iniquities.”

Who is it that bears our iniquities? Correct.

“Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many,
And he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet he bore the sin of many,
And makes intercession for the transgressors.”

There is no other figure in history that matches this so exactly.

The Servant came from unimpressive beginnings. “Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:46

The Servant was rejected by Israel. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John 1:11 

The Servant was condemned via oppression and judgment. Pilate declared Jesus innocent, and an angry mob demanded that Jesus be killed Luke 23:4-25.

The Servant submitted to his sentence without resistance. “But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.” Matthew 27:14

Are you following? Let's keep it going so there is no doubt.

The Servant suffered for the sins of others. “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Servant was beaten beyond recognition. “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.” Matthew 27:26  He was beaten, his flesh was falling off, and he was barely recognizable. 

The Servant died. “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” Mark 15:37 

The Servant will be raised from the dead. Read Matthew 28:1-10.

 

By knowing the Servant, many will be accounted righteous. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

Isaiah 53. This is just one chapter of one book. The entire Bible is all about Him. No other “religious book” can say this. Others are written telling stories of their leaders, teachers, and messiahs. But the Bible is Jesus. Therein lies the difference. Jesus is the Bible. He is The Word of God. He was with God, is with God, and IS God. There is no Bible, New or Old Testament, without Jesus.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1-3

"All things were made by him;" (The Word, or the Bible, is a Him.) "and without him was not anything made that was made." Without Him, nothing was made. Then, a little later, John makes it clear. Look here.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14.

Once again, this is just one of approximately 1,817 prophecies that have either already come true or are expected to come true. Make no mistake about it: the Bible is genuine, true, and represents The Truth.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Jesus said this.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35

You cannot separate God, the Son Jesus, and the Spirit of God, for they are all one. You cannot separate God, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, because the Bible IS the Word of God and Jesus IS the Word of God in the flesh. The Bible is the living Word of the Living God, and all other “religious books” are that, religious books. Any religion that does not have the Bible, or Yeshua, or Jesus, as translated in most English translations, is a false religion.

The Bible is indeed important, which is why the devil does not want you to read it. He seeks to prevent you from growing in your faith and understanding what God instructs you to avoid. Moreover, he definitely does not want you sharing God’s Word with others. This is why he wants you to believe that the physical world is more significant than the spiritual world. That will be the topic of our next discussion. Join us, won't you?

May the comfort of the Holy Ghost and the peace of our Lord Jesus be with you all. May God bless and be with you always.

Until next time, be blessed, be a blessing, and Jesus is Lord!