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ANSWERS to YOUR QUESTIONS! PART 3  STATEMENT # new 1 Isn't it true that there is really only one god? This is a very interesting question and very important to us in this day of Ecumenism, where everyone is claiming that everybody worships the same God- but only under different names. Is this really so? We hear the statement "There is only one god". Is this true? Does the Bible teach there is only one god? You might be surprised to find out it does not teach any such thing. 1Corinthians 8:5,6 "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." For Christians, there is only one God, but in the world there are gods many and lords many. 2Corinthinans 4:3,4 "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." So here we see there is a 'god of this world' and it is not the same as the God of Heaven. It also shows us that this god wants to deceive, and blind men to the truth, so that people are lost. Who is this 'god of this world'? John 12:31 "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." These are the words of Jesus just as he was entering upon His great sacrifice. He knew that His death would sign the death warrant for the prince or god of this world. Who was this 'prince'? Jesus tells us clearly here: Luke10:18 "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." By the way, if you claim to believe in Jesus Christ in any way at all, you cannot claim that Satan does not exist, for Jesus Christ stated clearly that he most certainly does and also that His own sacrifice was for the purpose of defeating Satan! The god of this world, and the prince of this world is Satan, the fallen angel once known as Lucifer, the light bearer. And the 'god's many and lords many' are the angels that fell with him and work for him. Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" Here is another term for the god of this world- 'Prince of the power of the air'. Another name for him is 'Baalzebub'; this means ' Lord of the Files' or 'Lord of the restless ones'. The Greek form 'Beelzebub' also meant 'dung god'. Here is more evidence that there are others that claim to be gods and it is not just another name for the God of Heaven. See the story in 2 Kings 1; Ahaziah, a king of Israel had an accident and wanted to know if he would recover OK. So instead of calling on the God of Heaven, the God of Israel, he sent servants to ask of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, is he would get well or not. The true God of heaven send His prophet to meet the servant and send him back to the king with this message: 2Kings 1:3 "But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?" Then the Prophet told them to tell Ahaziah he would surely die, because he had presumed to call upon another god. Here is another place that talks about other gods. Jeremiah 16:13 "Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour." Now God gives us some interesting information: Isaiah 44:8 "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." So why is He saying there is really no other God when the Bible says there are others? It is plain and simple, the 'other gods' are IMPOSTORS! They are the rebel angel and his hosts, they are out to deceive and those who trust in them will be lost. God doesn't want His dear people lost and so he warns us away from these lying spirits. Isaiah 45:20-22 "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." Here again the God of Heaven, the Creator, is telling us that no other 'god' can save us. If we reject Him we have thrown away our only source of life and salvation! The purpose of our website here is to try and give you the information to recognize and turn away from false gods, the 'gods of this world', how to see through their tricks and lies, and how to recognize and follow that only real God Who can actually preserve your life. What about Jesus Christ? Surely there is only one Christ? Nope; there are false Christs also. See this: Matthew 24:24
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Notice that these false Christs, just like the false gods are quite capable of performing at lease a certain amount of miracles. Miracles are not the sign of the True God of Heaven.
STATEMENT # new 2 So how do you know what God you worship? 1Chronicles 16:26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. There are two ways that the True God of Heaven presents to us so we can know Him from false gods and the claims of fallen, lying spirits. The first one is that He alone is the ONE who CREATED ALL THINGS! This is the reason He has authority and deserves that authority and respect. He owns us because He CREATED us! Now the Creator God of Heaven has a sign that he gave His people as a symbol they were to keep to show that they do worship the True Creator God. What is that sign? Well it is His Law, His Commandments. He promises to be a God to those who keep His commandments. Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." But How do we know that the 10 Commandments is the Law of the Creator God? It is because He put His SEAL in the very heart of that Law. In the 4th commandment. Here is His SEAL- remember a legal SEAL has to have 3 parts- the Name of the Authority, His Title and the Area of His rulership. His Name = 'Lord thy God': His Title = Creator: His rulership = Heavens and Earth' Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Does God really say this is a sign of His true people who worship Him? He certainly does! Ezekiel 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. We may go to the heathen and say to them that we love the truth and serve the true God; and they will tell you that they worship the true and living God. We have no other way to tell who the true and living God is, only as we turn to this commandment. That God who made the lofty trees and every thing that is lovely and beautiful under the heavens, He that weighs the hills in the balances--that God is the true and living God; He created the whole universe. And these commandments tell us who the true God is. If Satan can get this fourth commandment out of the Decalogue, then you will not be able to tell who the true and living God is. Well, who is the true God? The God that created everything that is beautiful in nature. We are to look up through nature to nature's God. There we are to see the true God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth. The first four of these commandments show our duty to God, and the last six to our fellow men. We cannot break one of these first four and be in favor with God. Neither can we break one of the last six and be in favor with God. So if you have no use for or interest in the Law of the Creator God, or you do not believe that He Created you and all things; if you do not acknowledge His 7th day Sabbath in honor of His Creatorship, you really haven't become truly involved yet with worshipping the TRUE GOD of Heaven! The pagans are justified if they say of you, 'your god is no better than ours ! ' I invite you -- Get to know HIM today and "worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Revelation 14:7.
STATEMENT # new 3 How do we know the Bible is true? This fits in with the above question as the truth of the Bible hinges on the Authority and Truth of the God of Heaven, the Creator of all. Notice what He presents as the proof He is God. His first claim to authority is that He Created all things and so owns them all including each one of us. The other claim He gives is His Word and especially the Word of Prophecy. God makes it clear that no false God can foretell with 100% accuracy what things will happen on earth BEFORE they come to pass. But He claims to do this and He presents it as proof He is God. Isaiah 46:9,10 "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" He even promises that He will not do anything on this earth EXCEPT He first reveal it ahead of time to his true prophets! Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Jesus Himself also used His ability to tell what was going to happen ahead of time as a proof He was the Son of God and a Divine Being. John 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Notice the words of Peter: 2Peter 1:19 "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" Here he is telling about how he and the disciples knew Jesus personally but then he says there is even better proof! Even better than a personal testimony? Yes, it is the Word of God in the Prophecies given hundreds of years before Jesus was born and perfectly fulfilled by His life. Yes PROPHECY is the evidence God gives that His Word is true and we can depend on Him, and also the proof He gives that He is the One True God of Heaven and Earth! I cannot list the many amazing prophecies of the Bible here and show how not one has failed, even when people set out to break them and prove them wrong, they failed miserably! I invite you to read the online book, 'David Dare' as it tells many examples of the amazing Word of Prophecy that show the Bible to be what it claims, the Word of the Living God. You owe it to yourself to examine the evidence!
STATEMENT # new 4 What about the fact that wars and bloodshed have happened over Christianity? Let us
pass directly to the greatest of all prophets -Jesus. Christ outlined
graphically the religious history of all time in Matthew 24:9,10: "Then
shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be
hated of all the nations for My name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and
shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another." Let history speak. Have Christians been in tribulation? Let the unanimous reply of historians from Tacitus the heathen to Gibbon the infidel tell us. Have Christians been killed? Let the blood of millions of martyrs testify. Have the nations hated the Christians? Again let the pages of the past bear witness to the universal execration in which they have been held. But
saddest of all, besides being hated of nations and killed by hostile powers,
have Christians hated and betrayed one another? What infidel does not taunt the
Christian with the obvious, infinitely sad fact? What Tom Paine lets slip an
opportunity to ridicule, denounce, revile, and hold up to fiendish contempt the
Christianity that saturated the soil of Europe with the blood of its professed
brothers, in the name of the gentle Jesus? How strangely true, in the light of
history, are those mysterious words of Jesus, "I came not to send peace,
but a sword." But let not the
Christian's faith in Christianity falter and faint when some all too ready
skeptic, whether in the church or out, sneers at Christianity because of
Christians' betrayal and slaughter of one another; but let him see therein only
one more evidence of the exact truthfulness of the Scriptures. Every taunt of
the unbeliever against Christianity, based upon the grounds of its bloody past,
is an unconscious, unwilling, and therefore valuable testimony to the unaltering
fact that the Bible is not only true in its accounts of the past, but minutely
accurate in its forecast of all ages. The Christian may well blush at the fierce hatred displayed by his ancestors toward one another; but when mocked with it, he should rejoice that in the very fact of Christianity's greatest shame lies one of the most impregnable proofs of the divine origin of the Christianity that is derided -a proof which even his enemies never tire of thrusting into his face. Instead of blushing and stammering and apologizing, then, let him arouse, and grasp firmly the proof so openly offered by his enemies, of the truth of Christianity, and upon the impregnable rock of the Saviour's fulfilled words build a victorious faith. Let him grasp firmly, gladly, aggressively the weapons thus put into his hands by the enemies of the gospel. Let him rejoice whenever higher critics or infidels pile up books telling of the world's hatred of Christians, of the Christians' hatred of one another; for they are only adding proof upon proof that as Jesus said upon this very occasion, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
STATEMENT # new 5 What about this or that typo in the Bible? Doesn't that prove it is not the Word of God? Please notice these texts: 2Peter 1:21 "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Luke 1:70 "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:" After sin entered this world, God chose to communicate to man by choosing prophets and giving them a message to pass on to the others, either by writing or speaking that message. God knew that we as erring humans can't understand Him very well, so He told the message to a human and helped him through the Holy Spirit to know how to write it down in human words. Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." God promised to always protect His Word and He has done it, but even when honest scribes copied the Bible a few typos have occurred. Do you ever make typos when you write or copy? I sure do! But if I sent you a letter and I was a dear friend of yours, would your tear up my letter to you if you found a typo in it? Oh course not, you would still be able to understand the meaning of my letter and would not be bothered much about that typo. So it is with the Word of God; once a Bible was printed that had a serious error in one of the commandments- the next issue certainly corrected the error. But the fact this error occurred, did it prove the whole Bible was not good? Certainly not. In fact if you had that Bible, you would recognize the error and correct it yourself and still use it. Human errors do not justify one for rejecting the Word of God.
STATEMENT # new 6 What about contradictions and things hard to understand? God's Word is holy, just as He is Holy; we are sinful erring humans, it is impossible for us of ourselves to fully understand the Holy Bible! God knows this so He promises to send the real Author of the Bible to help us understand it when we truly want to know His message to us. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the real Author of the Bible and if we remember to ASK God, in the Name of Jesus to please send the Holy Spirit to help us, then we will find we can understand the Bible and we will be surprised at the wonderful things we will keep finding in it. Yes we can study for all our lives and still find new and wonderful things to learn about God in the Bible. There is another fact that has to do with understanding God's Word, and it explains why sceptics and unbelievers who hate God's Holy Word, seem to find so many problems in it. John 7:17 "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Only those who have a genuine desire to learn about God and to obey Him will really understand the Bible. If you take that book and treat it like any other book, and you have no interest in coming to know God or doing His will; you will never really understand it. Even a little child in grade school, who takes the Bible and really wants to understand it and follow the way of the Lord, will understand it more than a University professor who does not believe in God.
STATEMENT # new 7 I worship Nature and the forces of the universe, isn't that the same as worshipping the Creator? Suppose you had a very good friend, or a beloved family member and you gave them a nice gift for some occasion. How would you feel if the person focused full attention on the gift, expressing thanks to it and telling it how much they loved it; while at the same time they totally ignored you who had given them the gift? Does it seem reasonable to worship the gift and ignore the Giver? Romans 1:25 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." Through the ages God has opposed man's tendency to worship the sun, moon and stars, as well as the other things of nature. Jeremiah 8:2 "And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth." |
