Randy Bell
4 Dec 2017

StraightTalk Articles

Believe It or Not, The Bible is True and Accurate So What Would Make You Listen to the Bible?

There’s a lot of voices telling you everything about life and its meaning. Science wedded to the universities and media tells you, you are an accident of nature evolving upwardly, but life has no meaning and soon you will just die and become dirt again. Others tell you, you do have meaning and are evolving upwardly spiritually and if you play your cards right you will be wonderful some day through many life and death cycles. Others tell you, yes you die, but it is just passing into another realm and there is nothing to worry about because you still live on.

The Bible has a different story. It starts with God creating everything, including mankind. It tells you God wants a relationship with you, but our ancestors refused to play by God’s rules and rebelled from Him, leaving us an estranged and destructive people deserving God’s wrath. Through God’s master plan He justly paid the criminal charges because of our treason through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth 2000 years ago.

Who do you believe? Why would you believe it? Does life have meaning?

What Would Make You Listen to the Bible?

The Bible has been criticized and analyzed more than any other book in the history of mankind. Sir Isaac Newton said, “I find more marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatsoever.” Now this man developed the laws of motion and calculus. He was a powerful famous scientist and was not a religious fool. He listened to the Bible because it was found to be accurate and true.

It contains knowledge about science and prophecy that cannot be explained away. Far before mankind “discovered” many advancements in science the Bible already states them as facts. How can “evolved cavemen idiots” know scientific knowledge that we modern men have just discovered in the last few hundred years.

The Bible Contains Medical Knowledge Before It’s Time

Although the Egyptians were famous for treating diseases and were looked up to by the Greeks and other cultures, the sad fact is they thought all diseases came from evil spirits and dung mixed with other ingredients was great medicine. The average life span of these Egyptians was only 30 years. Well about 400 BC men discovered the natural cause of disease and the role of germs was not known until the 1800’s.

Yet if you read the ancient records of Genesis to Deuteronomy and you will find quarantine laws ordered by God protecting the people from germs and the spread of disease. Also examine their dietary laws [Exodus 15:26] that promised to keep the Jews free from the diseases that plagued the other nations. And know this, modern science has found much evidence proving how true the promise was. Read of their long lives compared to the scientifically advanced Egyptians. They lived 3-4 times longer than the other people.

Now explain it! The Bible has advanced knowledge only explained as insider information. Yes, Israel received information from God before scientists could catch up, understand, and follow it’s wisdom. God gave the people divine revelation to protect them and keep them healthy. Many today would rather believe in empty theories of space aliens visiting us instead of the amazing revelation of the Bible.

The same type of unusual knowledge is found in incredible prophecy fulfilled hundreds of years later in Jesus Christ. Prophets spoke with 100% accuracy, not like the psychics of today with their less accurate rate of below 10%.

What does this mean? Simple! Here where I live you are more likely to be hit by lightning than win the Florida lottery. So if a person announced to you they could pick the number and win this week you would doubt. If they actually did it, [approximately 1 in a 10 million chance] you would be impressed, but that does make him God. But if he did it the following week also, he would have to have had inside information because it is impossible to make that happen by chance.

Now look at Jesus Christ. The odds of Jesus fulfilling all the prophecies he did are far more incredible and impossible to have just been a coincidence.

Here are the odds of all of them being fulfilled by chance. Fill the state of Texas with silver dollars 1 foot deep and have someone put a red X on one. Then parachute a blind person into the state. Have them walk as long as they want and bend over on the first try and pick the red X silver dollar. This is just the odds of Jesus fulfilling 7 of the many prophecies proving Him to be the salvation of man.

The one who died for the crimes that we committed against God is not just a mythical story but a prophetic plan of God foretold hundreds and thousands of years before it came to pass exactly as God said it would be.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem as prophecy foretold. He was born of a virgin as many eyewitnesses verified. He was crucified and buried as foretold. Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw him raised from the dead. They were killed for their story and never recanted claiming it was a conspiracy. History, true history recorded it.

Who do you believe?

The Bible contains over 1000 prophecies. 668 are known to have been fulfilled. The unfulfilled are telling us Jesus is coming back to this earth and it says it would be a long time before it happens. It has been about 2000 years since Jesus died for mankind. The Bible has been proved to be accurate historically and scientifically. Prophecy proves special divine information.

Will you listen to God? Turn from your rebellion and start a new life of obedience to Him today! You must be born again!

Believe it, the Bible is the true accurate revelation of the one and only true God. His power is infinite and He is more than able to preserve His story in book form so that any person on the planet earth can get to know Him.

Think hard, is there any part of the Bible that you can really prove wrong? I dare you to try. Why? Because if I am wrong laugh at me all the way to the grave, but if you are wrong, well, you will suffer forever! God does not want that! Instead He wants you to be a part of His family.

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Randy Bell
4 Dec 2017

StraightTalk Articles

Why Does God Allow “Bad” Things To Happen To Me?

Do you really want to know why God allows and does things?

Special wisdom about God’s ways is only given when we meet specific requirements. This is not a common or natural thing, because wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective. So to understand why God does things or allows things we must have supernatural discernment. It is a discipline that is developed in connection with various factors of spiritual growth.

Let’s look at a number of examples.

Psalm 25:9 in New King James Version states: “The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.”

To those who give up their rights over all things and accept His will in everything will learn why…

John 15:14-15 (the NKJV) adds: “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

To those Christians who obey God’s commandments, Jesus reveals why…

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

To learn why, we must consider the opposite of what is normal or natural to us…

Romans 8:28 promises: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

To those who really love God, eventually the answer to why will come …

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 explains, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

Those who want to know why must develop spiritual discernment.”

The way to develop discernment and have the ability to answer the question “why” is by asking yourself hard questions. As Psalm 25:9 proclaims, the “humble He teaches His way.”

So take the situation that is greatly bothering you and ask yourself, “How can God, or is God using this situation to produce humility in me? You must always remember God hates pride.

Read Job and you will find a godly man who stood spiritually taller than everyone. But, this did not mean he was without sin. He dared to angrily question God on why He killed his children, bankrupted him, and caused him to be diseased. Read the last few chapters and you will find God shutting Job’s mouth!

For example, let’s read this, Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; you said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6

True humility is so basic in achieving God’s purpose for our lives, that he tells us to humble ourselves, if we do not, God will humble us the hard way.

Read the story and see the heartbreaks of David. He was humbled through all kinds of disasters and problems to make him an effective king of Israel. That is why it is necessary to ask yourself in every situation, “How does this humble me?”

Next, deal with your heart and soul. You need to really seek to answer the question, “What character traits is God chiseling into me through this circumstance?” If I respond “His way” will I actually learn patience? Gratefulness? Forgiveness? How about endurance? You get the picture. Remember Romans 8 says: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, … to be conformed to the image of His Son, …”

Do you still want to know “why God?”

If so the next self examining question will be hard for you to face. Can you ask yourself, “Is God correcting and disciplining me for living wrong?” God has established clear cause and effect rules in the natural and supernatural worlds. For example, the Fifth Commandment of the Ten Commandments says in Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

If you disrespect your parents or have done so in the past the promise here is plain, things will not go well for you.

Another example comes from Proverbs 17:13, “Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.”

And also realize this, God will discipline those that He loves, read Hebrews 12:6 (NLT), “For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

The struggle with “why God?” can be answered as you are starting to see , but not without great soul searching and repentance on our part.

Can you continue with me to the final answers? Try. Did you ever consider that God is training you for future leadership? Read the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis (chapters 30-50). This young man suffered incredible hurt from his own family. Slavery and false imprisonment were handed to him by God. This was God’s school of preparation to became the second highest ruler of Egypt to save his family years later from famine and starvation.

Also, he learned in prison how criminals think and brought his brothers to repentance using this knowledge. Peter even tells us in 1 Peter 4:12-14 that suffering is normal for Christians to give us God’s glory and allow the Spirit to rest upon us.

1 Peter 4:12-19 New Living Translation reads,
“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.  Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.  So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.”

Finally, did it ever occur to you that the circumstance you have suffered under could be happening because of the sins of others?

Remember, we all are suffering death and living in a fallen, broken, world because Adam and Eve sinned. This is reality, whether we like it or not. Whether you think it is fair or not, reality demands that you do not have control over where or to whom you are born to, what nation you are from, and so on.

For example, if you were born in Nazi Germany in 1944 you would have been under a terrible destruction as Hitler was defeated and Germany crushed. Many babies died!

Did you know that when David was king in Israel he suffered from a three year famine and when he asked God “why?” God said in 2 Samuel 21:1, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” David quickly made restitution to these people and God supernaturally stopped the famine.

The “why” was from the past wicked king of Israel, but God acted in punishment years later.

Faith or trust in the Lord God means to believe in God’s integrity and goodness, in spite of the circumstances around you. Always believe and love God as a wise daddy who will allow many unexplained things to happen in our lives to test the genuineness of our faith.

We read in 1 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT), “And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.  So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

Remember, almost everyone in America thinks they are going to heaven. But, real faith in Christ is the only hope for eternal life, therefore God will allow almost anything so that you truly repent of your sin and are born again. “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Are you a narrow road follower of Jesus?

Those who have fake faith turn in bitterness from God’s trials and blame and hate Him for their circumstances. Remember the men of faith though. When Abraham was ordered to kill his son on an altar he did not turn from God in bitterness, instead he trusted in God’s character and promises. When Noah was ordered to build a ship in the middle of the nowhere, he did not turn in bitterness and reject God while he was mocked and laughed at, instead he trusted that God would make sense later.

True faith will always be tested.

Is today the time for you to get answers? Is it time for you to trust God and gain His wisdom?

I finish with Proverbs 4:5-9 (NLT).
“Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them. Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you. Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”

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