I was wondering if you could clear this up for me. So… argues that Christ’s suffering was equivalent to our eternal damnation on account of the infinite dignity of Christ. So he appeals to the divine nature of Christ and that absolves the issue. But earlier this morning you mentioned that when Christ experienced the
Loss of fellowship with the Father it was through his human nature and not the divine, and so what I’m having a difficult time understanding is how we can appeal to the divine nature of Jesus in order for the sacrifice to be sufficient, while denying that it is the involvement of his divine nature.
This is a tremendous subtlety of Chalcedonian orthodoxy concerning the two natures of Christ. And that is that there is only one person who Christ is, and that is a divine person. It is the second person of the Trinity. There is no
Human person who is Jesus of Nazareth. There is a divine person who has a human nature as well as a divine nature. So it’s not that in virtue of his divine nature that Christ makes atonement; it is that you have a divine person who in his
Human nature bears our sin and punishment, and it’s the person that is divine and is the one who suffers and dies and so forth for our sins, but he does so with respect to the human nature.
Foreign I want to go through a little bit of my testimony just because I I don’t recognize a lot of you I mean I recognize some of you some of you might know me some of you might know me as the guy that plays the guitar right that’s
Not who I am I’m a child of God and I have a story and I also have a lesson for you today and I actually want to take you kind of deep in the word this is uh not the milk this would be the meat this is something that requires
Faith for you to understand there’s teachings in the Bible that are called Mysteries and I think the reason they’re called Mysteries is because they require faith for you to understand you can’t analyze them through science you can’t analyze them through human reason and your intellect will do you no good okay
So but before I get to there my name is Jim I did 10 10 years four months in federal prison for manufacturing methamphetamine that’s who I was in the world in the world I was a dope cook I ran around sold drugs and destroyed people’s lives and myself and my family
And everything that was around me um uh the law got me they threw me in prison I dedicated myself to the word you know I tried to make all sorts of deals with God as you do when you’re locked up and you have nothing and you’re stuck and you try to make a
Bargain with them and you know I said you give me 10 years or less and I’ll serve you with all my heart he gave me 12. so now but that one I said you’re going to serve me for the twelve and the reason why I had to do
Such a long sentence was number one that I had a really hard heart and I had a lot of Pride and I know that all of us struggle with those things it’s just a natural thing I think that we’re born with pride even small children when you
Give them toys and they haven’t learned much yet they’re still just little kids and then they got two toys you know that’s my toys you know they’re greedy by Nature they’re prideful and and so that’s one thing that only the Holy Spirit can overcome in us okay it’s only
By Divine appointment It’s Only Life divine inspiration and the Holy Spirit and we can overcome those things but as I’m sitting in prison and I’m going to the chapel I had a buddy that was there in prison with me and he was a Mormon and he said
We go to church with me and he said yeah I said I take what I’ll go to church with you if you’ll go to church with me and I said you bet you know I’ll do that so we went to my church and we’re having a good time and had great things they’re
Pretty good for you enough you got to come to mind so I went to the Mormon service and I sat down and I had kind of long hair back then this was about 2 000 and my hair was a little bit long in prison you know and the Mormon looked at
Me you know in his black pants and his white shirt because they all work pretty much the same thing I’ve never noticed that but yeah there’s two you know that’s what they wear just like the guys in the bicycle anyway he looks at me and he goes to
Obviously you’re not a Mormon right and I know it wasn’t because of the clothes it was because of the hair you know and I said you know you’re right sir and so he said well I’m going to explain to you what we’re all about and so in 15 minutes he explained to me
From pre-mortal existence to the end of time and what the Mormons believe okay and I was just amazed I was blown away you know they were so formulated when I go to church I get a small piece of a puzzle and I take that small piece of
The puzzle back to the sale and I try to fit it in with all the other pieces that I’ve gathered and so I began to ponder why is it that my denomination or my church whether it just be Protestant is more Christian can’t do that same thing
For me so I began to study that with a real passion okay and that study is called Systematic Theology and if you know you went to Theologian school that’s what you would say it’s very technical and all that great stuff but it really doesn’t have any meaning but
Doesn’t have Jesus and the Holy Spirit in it so yeah there’s a lot of things you can do with the Bible you can you can destroy a lot of things with the Bible if you don’t have the spirit of God and so uh so I prayed earnestly and
I studied and I read and I study and I came across this teaching that I want to share with you okay and I came across the answer that I discovered which is the reason why you don’t get a lot of that today in church the whole
Picture so to speak is because there’s a lot of controversy about a lot of the Peace and and pastors don’t want to add even more confusion to confusion so that’s why you don’t get the whole picture a lot of times you’ll get enough of the picture the most important picture that
You need is a picture of Jesus and salvation amen right amen that’s if as long as you get that right you’re good all the other theologians can squabble about all the other details all they want but the teaching that I want to share with you the name of the teaching is called the
Two majors of Christ and the reason why the Holy Spirit led me to this is because once I grasped this teaching it really opened God’s word up to me about Jesus if it made me understand Jesus in a way that I didn’t understand him before not for confusion okay so if if
This teaching confuses you at all okay don’t listen to it if you don’t grasp it if you’re not ready for it it’s okay just ponder it a little bit just focus on Christ that’s our main thing so the the teaching is the two Natures of Christ
And we want to start in Isaiah chapter nine and you ask the people that like to read or the readers read my podcast what verse uh Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. for to us a child is born to us the son is given and the government shall be
Upon his shoulder and his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor Mighty God Everlasting father Prince of Peace now obviously you can see from the scripture they’re talking about Jesus unto us a son is born and it shows the titles that Jesus carries and you either said Mighty
God is in there okay so what I want to really stress here is that Jesus is God nobody’s ever told you that if nobody’s ever said hey that Jesus is God that’s one of the first things that you’ve got to come to realize Jesus Is God he’s one
Of the three persons of the Trinity right another really deep teaching Trinity is a really really deep teaching but Jesus Is God okay he is divine some religious bodies uh say for example the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t accept that Jesus is God they accept Jesus as a human being without a problem but they
Can’t accept them as God okay but the the scriptural proof that Jesus is God is undeniable I’ve only got like three scriptures to prove it but there’s I’ve got a list in here that’s like it’s huge it’s huge okay by the same token you can make the same mistake and not have Jesus
As a human okay and it’s very important that Jesus be divine and it’s very important that Jesus be human for many reasons number one he needs to be divine in order for his atonement to hold infinite power okay did you grasp that in other words ask God whatever he does because
Everything that God does is infinite he’s an infinite being hell is infinite Heaven is infinite he lives infinitely his knowledge is infinite everything about God is infant and so as as Jesus has gone when he does his atonement the power of that atonement is infinite you understand it’s not limited it’s not
Limited by anyone or anything okay so let’s look at one more scripture for Jesus’s Divinity uh Jeremiah 23 and 6 and then if we want we can read John 1 1 you know which is a New Testament scripture that and with 14 of course and then we’ll look at this Humanity
Someone got Jeremiah 23 and 60. in this days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely now this is his name by which we be called the Lord our righteousness all right there’s Jesus Jesus came from the tribe of Judah right and he was the Savior right and he
Was also God okay there’s several texts here I’ll read John 1 1 and 114 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the word loves God so the question is well who’s the word right and I’m just saying well that’s that sounds great but that really confused me
I don’t know how many times I read that scripture in prison I read that John 1 1. I for a year I read that before God revealed what that meant to me right so let me join 14 with it in 14 it says and the Word was made flesh so the word is
Obviously Jesus and dwelt amongst us and we behold his glory the glory of the only begotten of the father will embraced and full of Truth so what I want to really emphasize here is the Divinity of Jesus that Jesus is holy God okay is he the father no there’s the
Father the Son and the Holy Spirit all of them are equal in power in essence okay I know that our human Minds when we think about that when we think about three persons in one being we’re like it’s too much for me so much you know the Jehovah’s Witnesses say it’s too
Much the unitarians say it’s too much I can’t handle that but there are many things that you’re going to discover about God if you can think about that you can try to rationalize and they’re not going to make sense why does God do Miracles why do I exist and stand here
Why do these millions of cells that are in my body choose to live together just the Miracle of Life that your body functions the way it is is a miracle beyond belief the way A Tree Grows is baffled Sciences for years okay they’re still looking at that so there’s a great
Many things that God does that require okay as a matter of fact everything that God does requires Faith every time you read in the scripture where there’s a miracle then Jesus says and your faith has made you whole wow you got any faith faith is that is
The substance from which we grasp God okay and so for us to truly understand that Jesus is divine that he is actually God requires Faith okay so let’s look at Jesus’s Humanity the first question is why is Jesus have to be a human why can’t he just be a spirit that looks
Like a human right and then when he suffers it don’t hurt and when they do all those things it doesn’t really affect him because there are religious denominations that believe that Jesus appeared that he was just an angel that appeared as a human being but it’s incorrect we know that Jesus was
Actually a human being he even refers to himself as the son of man right he cares the title Son of God which emphasizes his divinity and he also carries the title of the son of man which is his humility or Humanity John 8 40. let’s
Take a look at that one and then we have Matthew 26 28 I’ll grab that one Matthew is 26 28 and but now you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God this is not what Abraham did now if you
Can’t accept somebody else’s testimony right which you know when I go to talk to people and they start to explain something to me and I start to listen to what they’re saying and I start to analyze what they’re telling me right the first thing that I have to consider
Is that they’re a human being right and that as a human being their ability to be honest sometimes is not what it should be right my ability to be honest with myself is sometimes hammering sometimes I tell lies I don’t even know why I told the LIE until I’m caught anything the
Guy’s just look hey check oh yeah well you’re right man I didn’t even realize I was like well this is the words of Jesus Jesus refers to himself as a man okay Jesus who is God is saying that he’s a man okay if we can’t take the testimony
Of man we can take the testimony of God Amen Matthew 26 26. 26-28 this is my blood of the New Covenant which ratifies the agreement and is being poured out for many for the Forgiveness of sins amen so okay if he’s just a spirit and he’s not made of flesh and blood
Right and how is he there’s no blood if he’s just a spirit there’s no blood okay and the reason that Jesus Christ must be human is because he’s making an atonement for the sins of the human race okay it talks about Jesus being the second Adam okay
What we mean is that as Adam was made perfect in the garden and sinned and brought a curse of sin upon all human beings so the second Adam which is Jesus Christ was also born of the flesh okay and brought atonement for us okay it’s by our faith in Jesus Christ in his
Shedding of the blood that we have the remission of sins so if he wasn’t really a human being how could he atone for the sins of human beings right how can a spirit atone for Humanity that wouldn’t make sense it wouldn’t equate in God’s justice right we serve a just God and if
A human being commits a sin or Humanity in general then by Humanity will that have to be justified so it was very important that Jesus be divine in his atonement and be human in his atonement otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to atone for our sins okay so so we see
That Jesus is both Divine and that he’s human but he’s not half human right and he’s not half divine he’s a man and he’s God all in one being here this is the mystery that’s hard for us to comprehend it comes back to the like the
Trinity we’re like man how can that be but we’re going to look at some scriptures where Jesus is going to speak from his human mind and where he’s going to speak from his Divine mind and you’re going to see that there’s times where Jesus Christ will speak and you’ll say he’s not God
And this is where a lot of Errors come in religious denominations but they say we can’t how could God say that right how could God make that statement because that statement is made by a human being and the answer is because Jesus is a human being and he does speak
Just like a man just like you just like me and sometimes he does say things right that would make you think well he can’t be God to say that and so let’s look at a few examples of Jesus speaking in humanity and speaking in his divinity
Okay and there’s even times and I didn’t go that far in his teachings I didn’t think he would have times time to do it where the human part of Jesus speaks of the Divine and the Divine speaks of the human but I don’t think we have time to go that far so
Um let’s go to mark 11. and there’s you know when I first grasp this teaching it was like wow that makes sense you know I mean I can make sense of why Jesus says this sometimes and this other times and there is no contradiction there’s no contradiction
In the word of God amen amen it’s invaluable it’s the book that has withstood the test of time and the scrutiny of every intellectual of every century without blemish okay Mark chapter 11 and we’ll start in verse 12 and we’re going to compare verse 12 with 11 20.
Okay so here’s Jesus right on the morrow then they were coming from Bethany Jesus was hungry so here’s Jesus he’s walking back from preaching and doing you know doing God’s work and he’s hungry obviously he’s a human right he’s hungry like we were before we had breakfast this morning
And seeing a fig tree afar off and it having leaves he came if happily now this is the King James version so yeah with you the terminology kind of is the first most we have an NIV right I started with the Contemporary English version yeah the sacred box of God you
Know the Ark of the Covenant the sacred walks of God very plain terms that’s what I needed at first having leaves he came if happy he might find anything there on and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves for the time of figs was not yet now
Here’s Jesus who’s hungry he sees a fig tree just like I would I’m gonna go grab me a fig a fig tree got leaves looks like I might have some tasty fruit okay now you’ll see that he gets to the tree and there’s no fruit now we know that God
Knows all things so why didn’t Jesus just you know tap into the Divinity you know I can check it out before he wasted all the energy to go over there and get mad at it right okay and and there’s some controversy as to why Jesus does this some people
Believe that Jesus chooses right to not use his Divine mind in certain instances to relate to our experiences okay he says that Jesus has uh not only bore infirmities but it was tempted in every way that we were tempted okay and so there’s certain times where and and I
Think that it’s pretty accurate to believe that that he actually shuts off his Divine mind and just operates in the human just goes with it right just like me and you in this case it gets to the tree and guess what there’s no figs so what does he do that’s right
And Jesus answered uh there was no fruit and Jesus answered and said unto it no man eat fruit of thee henceforth and his disciples heard it so Jesus curses the fig tree okay we read in chapter 20 right where the tree is withered so here we see Jesus demonstrating his divinity in that
He has the power and authority over nature that he tells a tree to die and it dies right he tells a man to rise up and live the man rises up and live whether it be spiritually dead or physically dead it doesn’t matter so we
See that in his Humanity Jesus goes to a fig tree and in his divinity he curses the tree that will produce the fruit for his Humanity amen amen kind of deep too deep for you guys all right let’s go to the next one Luke 22 42 22-42
Okay here’s Jesus in the garden right in this scripture right here baffled me for a long time when I first read this but the first uh I’ve been a Christian since uh 2000 so you know I it’s I’ve studied a lot that’s really really studied a lot
That and not that that makes me any better than anybody else sometimes after all this study I wish that I wish the Christian I was on the very second day was the day that I got saved man you know what I mean sometimes I wish I
Could just go back and just make it like that sometimes I think that the more I know the worse off I am but that’s not the case it actually brings us closer to Christ but there’s something that that childlike love when you have across from the very beginning it’s a very very
Special time amen and it was for me anyway on my face uh so here we go we got Luke 22 42. and this is the words of Jesus and he’s in the garden and he’s praying he’s about to be crucified and he knows what’s coming right and he says father
If thou be willing remove this cup from me nonetheless not my will but die will be done okay we can see where Jesus speaking in his Humanity right and in his prayer and in his Union with the father is asking just like we do some days right I’ve had days like that you
Had days like that where you say God man just don’t let me go through this I can’t handle it you know don’t let me get divorced don’t let you know me lose my job uh my finances are a mess or anything physical that we experience whether it be an ailment or pain you
Know your back is thrown out whatever I don’t know how many times in my life especially being in prison I say God and can you just let this cup pass just let it slide by just let me sneak through you know and I didn’t put the put as your will on
The end though most of us don’t most of us just pray for what we want but let your will done let your will be done part doesn’t come till way later when we’ve matured as a Christian and we really trust God you know when we really really have faith in
Him and we’re walking in that Faith right and that’s a growing that’s a growing thing but that in my Humanity I’m asked just like Jesus you know what God just take this away from you just don’t let me experience this right and God says you know what my will stands
You will pass through the fire and you will pass unscathed or you’ll pass through the fire and you’ll experience what I wanted you to experience then you’ll learn what I want you to learn that that’s my job as their father is to teach you all things okay so here we see Jesus
As a human he’s down on his knees and he’s praying to God just like we do and he’s asking God to prevent the tragic things that happen in life from happening to him if it’s possible so let’s look at 11 20 now same oh I’m sorry I’m sorry
Let’s look at John 18 36 sorry about that John 18 36. Jesus answers now this is where Jesus is being questioned by Pontius Pilate and and I think that this particular scriptures only found in John but for sure anyway so Jesus is giving an answer as to who he is okay conscious
Mind says well who are you you know and he says my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would not my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence in
Other words what Jesus is saying is I’m not from this world I’m from heaven right that’s where I came from if if my people were here right now they would smash you like it’s done in heaven but I’m not from this Kingdom so we see Jesus saying in his divinity I’m Divine
I’m a Divine being that was sent here right and as my mission is not to fight you there’s another scripture and I think that it’s also in John where he says that no Authority was given unto you unless it was given by my father right Pontius Pilate tells him hey don’t you
Know that I have the power to have you killed or let you live and Jesus says you know what you don’t have anything on me you don’t have anything that wasn’t given by my father who my trust completely right so we see that Jesus speaks in the humanity just like you and
Me and he speaks in his divinity okay so one more I got one more for you Matthew chapter 4 verse 1. I think okay so here we are and Jesus is being tempted by the devil okay I I don’t know about you guys but when you first read
The Bible right and you said okay Jesus is gone right well then what’s the devil doing there right what does God and the devil have to do with each other and Jesus is really God why is the devil there tempting and that’s just not possible everybody knows that the
Picking order in Heaven Is God angels and demons humans so this provides logic but the reason is because Jesus must be tempted because he’s in his Humanity now whether the devil knows that Jesus is being a God or not I don’t know I’ve never really answered that question I’ve never really
Pursued that question in the Bible to find out but I’ve always thought that he didn’t or I don’t think the devil would be there I don’t think the devil would waste his time he would have died before Dr cross yeah yeah so um so here’s Jesus and let’s read
Starting one then when Jesus was left in the spirit Into the Wilderness to be tempted by the devil and he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights and the temperature came to him and said that if you’re the Son of God command these stones to be made bread so here we see
That just like you and me right Jesus and his humanity is being tempted by the devil and you’re going to experience this if you don’t know this or I know you know this already but you have an enemy the word declares that there is opposition
Stand for to what you believe in to all that you’re about and that enemy is the devil okay and he’s come to kill steal and destroy I know that you guys have heard that okay but just as Jesus was tempted so you’re tempted in your Humanity okay and in your Divinity in
Other words if you truly possess the Holy Spirit don’t we also share in Christ in the fact that not that we’re God I would never claim that but that we have a peace of God in us and that we are clothed in humanity and that we share more with Jesus than we thought
That yes sometimes we speak like a man sometimes we speak the word of God huh amen and sometimes in our infirmities we cry out and let this cup pass and sometimes in our divine strength we say we’re not from this Kingdom right that we’re from the kingdom of God okay okay
I want to read one more scripture dear I can’t see the clock so I didn’t bring my watch all right you got 20 minutes 20 minutes uh let’s go to John 18 and 4. you know all those 10 years in prison I got stuck on the gospels I literally was
In the gospel for like 10 years I just couldn’t get out of the gospels I couldn’t get to the Epistles I couldn’t I mean I did a lot of Correspondence courses through the mail and uh so like they sent me the uh Old Testament you know two-year old
Testament study so I did the two year old testament study and I did the two-year New Testament study and I just kept getting drawn back to the gospels especially John I don’t know what it is about the Gospel of John but when I was a man it’s all that
All right eighteen and four Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto them whom seek ye okay so here’s Jesus in his human form right Jesus is a man using his divinity to know all things okay so so this is where we differ with
Jesus okay there there’s a lot of things that you’re going to read in the word of God and you’re going to say you know what I’m just like Jesus right and it’s Humanity I’m just like Jesus and and his divinity sometimes I’m just like Jesus sometimes I can be super
Spiritual sometimes I can be filled with the Holy Spirit and I’ll get pumped up and I’ll pray and I’ll share I’ll get the word in me and I’ll go out and God will send someone to me and they’ll say something and I’ll know exactly what to
Say I’ll know that God wants to speak through me wants to speak life into this person right then and there I don’t know how many times it I went to the Walmart right by my house right around 40th and Thomas and there’s a Walmart right there
And there right this big this guy from our church and he’s sick I mean he’s sick sick he’s and he’s trying to work in the Walmart is the greatest they say him not to be the greeter in the sick but it’s okay it was in my appointment
Amen that’s where he was supposed to stand or I wouldn’t have found him in the Walmart so he’s standing there now remember what’s up I’ve been sick for two weeks I spent all my money on the doctor you know I said man let me pray with you so
I prayed with him I went into Walmart I did my shopping and God said you know what you need to give him some money the prayer was great fantastic idea however that’s not what he needs right he needs money he just spent all his money on the doctors he
Told you that hello wake up McFly you know me and my wife blessed him with some money right and so there’s there’s times where those Divine appointments we share with Jesus and we have to recognize those and we have to recognize our Humanity right just like Jesus okay uh
So we got one more that joins with that scripture okay Jesus whom do you seek and they answered him Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus said unto them I am he okay this this particular passage in scripture but let me finish the reading and then I’ll uh and Judas
Also which betrayed him stood with them as soon as he had said unto them I am he then all the people around fell backwards to the ground okay this particular piece of scripture is where Jesus is talking about his divinity a matter of fact he is emphasizing his divinity in a way that
Is causing a physical reaction that the people that are around him because of the command when he’s saying I am God I am he I am who I am I am the I am I am Yahweh that the people fell down so here we see Jesus using his authority right to not
Only demonstrate that his humanity is ineffective he’s a human being but that he’s also a Divine it is also Divine uh everybody fell down this particular passage of scripture is all and it’s only in John when you read it you’re like wow you know Jesus they come up to
Arrest Jesus and you Jesus I am and everybody falls down what a great passage I think this has an authority you know I keep trying but it doesn’t work for me I know nobody Falls can you repeat that passage please okay I’ll read it the address uh 18 uh John 18.
And starting in four okay so it’s four fives and six seven four five and six the reason that I share this particular teaching right is because you’re going to encounter people that have a different view okay and they’re going to come to you and I used to debate
Um with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons in prison just because they were lost souls you know and they were like the hardest ones to get so I went after the hardest one I said God sent me after the hardest ones and God said go to the Jehovah’s Witness for a little while
Right okay and that’s an experience let me tell you because you know what no religious body equips their people to defend against you than any other denomination most people that aren’t experienced will go with them and they’ll get chewed up you’ll come out of there and you’ll be
Feeling raggling it’s like man I gotta go study some more this guy just ate me up right but what you need to understand for yourself not the ear do after the Jehovah’s Witnesses and I found out later that really wasn’t the way to go I mean I did it very softly you know
Because these were my friends I told them look let’s have a Bible study together I said okay so we all brought our Bibles you know they brought their New World Translation and I brought my Bible and we came to an agreement that we were using the same book but we
Didn’t come to the same conclusion right and so I got to the point I said okay well okay well we’re using the same book but we don’t have the same conclusion so we need to come to a conclusion about who Jesus is that’s the only thing that
I really focused on because I figured if they just got the Jesus was God then everything else would fall into play and so I said okay I tell you what uh this week you bring the scriptures that you tell me that Jesus isn’t God and then
Next week I’ll bring the lunch so they brought theirs and I listened to it I said very interesting it’s very interesting and you know I’ll have mine actually they never showed up again but anyway the reason that I share this is so that number one you’ll have a
Deeper relationship with Jesus knew his word that when you read his word and when he says something right it doesn’t sound Divine don’t be surprised okay because Jesus is a man right he’s a man just like you just like me the one exception that you might find to that is
That you know the Holy Spirit on his conception it says that the Holy Spirit hovered around his conception so whether he had a sin nature or not is kind of debatable you know if in order for him to be the first Adam I would think that
He would have to have been like Adam without that sin nature you know that it would be like that but that he’s a human being just like you and me and there’s going to be times where he speaks in his humanity and then there’s going to be
Times where he speaks in his divinity and if you don’t have a good balance of that right if you don’t have a good balance of that then you’re going to fall into one of these calls and that’s where these Cults are going to come at
You from they’re going to come at you I had a guy in prison I don’t remember what denomination but he come to me and he says hey you clean the train I suggest I do he said can you explain it to me I said well certainly I
Can so I began to expound on the Trinity for him and he started hackling me and I said you know hold up did you really want to understand this or are you just trying to bash me you know and he said and he wasn’t the same sky in the world
But he said uh well he said you know at the Jordan River when Jesus is baptized if Jesus Is God what is he Evangelical sin because who’s that voice in heaven I said I said no that that’s the Trinity that they’re all three there there’s Jesus in the water the holy spirit’s
Coming down to the father’s and what better example do you need of this tell me that you know but he was quite a character so you should have a good balance of of Jesus as humanity and a good balance of Jesus Divinity there’s even other scriptures where it talks
About the blood of God all right we’ll come across that wow how can God have blood God can’t but Jesus did and Jesus was God Amen and so when when you read your word and and I assume that all of us read some of the gospels right are we all official people
I’m gonna have still stuck in the gospel it’s like I’m here later it’s good news it’s all there when you’re in the gospels and you’re reading about Jesus and Jesus is speaking when you hit those red letters right you get those red letters okay think to
Yourself okay Jesus is a man and Jesus Is God and he’s both people and one being and that he can speak from his human human mind and he can speak from his Divine mind that he can speak from his human consciousness and that he can speak from his Divine Consciousness and
That he can even speak from his Divine towards his humanity and his Humanity towards his new Divine and at that point it gets a little crazy you know but in us and likewise we also are human being and as born-again Christians we are also Divine we’re not
God and we can never throw the thrill of God obviously but we have the Holy Spirit in us and so there’s times in your life and in my life where we’ll come to a situation and no matter how spiritual we’ve been the week before no matter how much we’ve prayed and you
Know done all the stuff that we come up and something snaps in us and we speak in our humanity and you know what all we can do in those instances is repent and say you know what God I don’t want to be like that I want to
Be more like Jesus give me more of the Divine Right give me more of the Divine all right and there’s going to be times where you have a Divine appointment and you’ll roll up somewhere and God will speak nice and clear to you and tell you
What to do right and then you’ll find that you’re also human and that you’re also a divine sometimes you’ll speak from your human mind sometimes from your Divine sometimes you’ll speak from your Humanity about your Divinity and sometimes from your Divinity about your experience but that you’re just like Jesus amen
Amen any questions too deep okay that was awesome yes brother and when I was in federal prison I had to be a threatened too long sometimes when they’re running around saying alive yeah I mean not everybody was supposed to have guidance but these guys were trying to teach that we were little guys
That was like you know yeah I mean yeah um basically the way that they get away from that scripture in John 1 1 right is that they don’t capitalize the G okay and and the and and how that came about was when they when they translated the New World Translation the scholars that
Did that were not authorized to do that and that’s why it is printed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses people you know the Watchtower publication company and all that because they don’t have they wouldn’t have any other sponsors but basically you can change one letter in one of the Greek
Words and give it a totally different meaning totally different meaning from meaning of the same Essence to meaning a mix of something right and if you’re curious about that particular word I’ll pull it I I got that it’s in my study I have a big old thing if you want the whole
Thing of it I’ve got a huge bigger one it’s called a summary of Christian doctrine it’ll kind of give you a little overview of some of the the names of Christ and of what you know what his titles hold and what they mean and about some errors about that particular what
You’re talking about whether the word god should have a capital letter or a small letter and it all revolves off of one letter the letter i that they insert in the Greek word okay very crazy the biggest problem I had as a Christian in prison was this this they had this they
Have this saying in prison I don’t know if they got a mistake or if they had it in the beds basically a couple places I were at if you’re weak or if you’re scared go to church yeah so I had to deal with that the whole time you know I
Mean you know it’s like hey you know I’m just trying to and then once somebody’s family member was sick guess what they’d come and ask me to pray for them it’s okay though yeah yeah this was a just awesome teaching by the way um I read I think every time I read it
I go man that doesn’t really sound like Jesus is when the syrup Phoenician woman yes um wakes him up and he says why would I give right what’s meant to be at the king’s table the dogs and I’m like you know you know Jesus is Love man you know he just loves
Everybody you know we you know and so for me to read that with my mind I was like dick you know so I I’m trying to find it I can’t find it for the life of me but um at any anyways my knee says that and she says
Even the dogs eat from the scratch on the table yeah she just fires right back and I’m just saying hey even the even the little dogs eat the eat the scraps from the King stable kind of thing but I think that’s the one thing because I can
Say okay well he cursed the Fig Tree yeah he was hungry and he didn’t get what he wanted and he said you’re not getting no one will look from you and then um he uh had righteous indignation um which is Justified anger when he went and cleansed the temple right of the
Money changers and everything like that but but I mean you just straight up called this lady what he was calling there was a a gentile there you go so that you know I don’t know received any Revelation on that particular message no but you know what there’s a book lightness
You got a response yeah I actually do okay the significance seems to be for one thing that God’s a covenant God and um it’s a big deal because in this situation This Woman’s got no rights we’re talking about rights and privileges right we’re we’re seated at
The right hand of Christ right now we have rights and privileges we may not take advantage of them we may not realize them but you know the spiritual credit card in your wallet that’s Limitless it’s Limitless on getting everything you want to need if it’s in
Line with God’s word right we may not take advantage of it we may not use it we may not think about it in this case she had she didn’t have the credit card she didn’t have the perk she didn’t have the plan she couldn’t and she couldn’t sign herself up
She was outside of the will of God at that moment and and God for whatever reason allowed her to kind of like still humiliate herself or humble herself and still press in by faith and she’s one of the she’s like one of the first examples of someone who crossed as they say she
Crossed the line by the grace of God the God said I’m sorry but little dogs don’t get what my children get yeah and she’s like yeah the little dog still get to eat from the crumbs of that counter drop and he’s like you know what woman and you are stubborn you trust you
Acknowledge who I am you’re in and that was a big deal so that’s that seems to be was you as a gentile yeah and so was the Centurion he’s the Roman yeah and it was just too totally different reactions from Jesus yeah one was I’ve been seeing
Faith like this in all of Israel and Jesus marveled at him which and it’s a good thing when Jesus Marvels at you right yeah amen and then the other one was like broad get out of here you know what are you thinking yeah Jesus sees the heart of it yeah but he still
Humbled herself there’s a really good book uh it’s by a guy named FF Bruce it’s called the hard Saints of Jesus and it hits all of those you ever read that Tom man that’s a hard book right there it’s a really good book If you ever you could probably even PDF
It online but you know when he’s talking it’s a spirit though so you know when whenever you talk harshly or turn over tables and as simple because the people were you know selling some and all that people they love the principality that they right you know so that’s why when
You see it’s harsh words and my brothers there’s a time and place for everything yeah there’s nothing wrong with being angry uh the principality and as long as you as long as you you get it out but you know again it’s a word you choose
And as long as they’re uh out of love and it’s biblically directing us where you know there is something wrong with the Rage of course but yeah there’s again there’s there’s a time for that and that’s what’s so interesting we picture Jesus as a loving awesome you know kind of just just
Walking along and not in Beauty and Grace where she was but there’s also the that’s that lion and lamb too yeah that lion needs to come out once in a while so there was a time when the Bible was being formulated right and this is an iniquity and there’s a guy called
Marciano Marcel and marcion didn’t like the god of the Old Testament right but he liked the Jesus guy so he just kind of cut out all the mean stuff about Jesus and just left all the good fluffy stuff and made his own Bible and started
His own set yeah I mean and uh that’s what led to them formulating what’s in the Cannons or the Bible what it is today to prevent people from doing that from cutting out God’s justice in God’s commandment against sin and his demand for righteousness and just holding on to
His love and all the easy fluffy stuff you know so there’s definitely you know Jesus not that he ever sinned but there are times where Jesus had to draw a hard line too and then there’s times where his compassion is overwhelming you know where where he’ll say why don’t uh the
One without sin till the first time the great thing about it is he always will give us an escape yes so uh whenever you tip it don’t feel guilty or shameful just just listen to our god that tells you to go to yeah brother in the back did you have
Something you wanted to add I seen your hand up well I was gonna say uh Paul Paul always said you know the gospel is for the Jew first and then to the gym you know so Christ came to Israel first and uh and then it was after that that you know it was
It was given to us you know uh and the woman as well you know she wasn’t part of Israel and and actually when the disciples came back and saw Jesus sitting under well and talking to this woman they were like what are you doing talking to him you know what or
What what are you doing talking to her right you know what and because her people in Israel didn’t have anything to do with each other you know so there’s a lot there that you can find that would explain that you know it was like he’s staying at home
You know you call him a lady a dog well that’s you know it’s a Humanity in Christ and Christ being Jew talked to this woman but it actually it actually brings about the documents to the Gentiles it’s like um I forget where it was but Jesus called it too PR you name
Two people that were saved in the Old Testament and and the Pharisees were offended that he brought up these two names with us because they were gentile people back in the Old Testament you know what I’m talking about the right now Jesus was talking and he was saying how
Look back in this day the woman was visited by the prophet that had nothing to eat Elisha visited this one the name of the leopard was field and these were the only two that God had named last year that’s you know he just brings the gospel full round to not only until he’s
Used within 10 towels as well and he does that yeah his Humanity speaks any other questions uh I want to thank you Brothers for letting me share I’m sorry I’m not here every Saturday I work on Saturday mornings I work from seven to noon at a busy little Garage in Tempe
Uh working on cars and getting drinks and all that fun stuff these days yeah hey man but I’ll try to get here as much as I can you know I’d love to spend time and get to know some of you guys better I know most of you
But not all of you some kind of new basis and uh you know thanks for letting me share with you and I hope that that opens up God’s word a little bit to you that when you read the red red lettering in the Bible if you have read that
Arrival then you’ll hear Jesus speaking you know and with a little more depth and I hope that you’re a little more confident to stand behind the truth that Jesus is God and that Jesus is a human being amen amen that’s great thanks Jim thank you
The Gospel of Luke Luke investigated many of the earliest eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus and then composed this account. And the story begins up in the hills of Jerusalem. The place where Israel’s ancient prophets said that God himself would come one day to establish His Kingdom over all the earth.
In this city is the temple run by the priests and one of them, named Zacharias, was working in the temple when he had a vision that freaks him out. An angel appears and says that he and his wife will have a son. What’s this all about? Well Zacharias and his wife were told
Are very old. They’ve never been able to have children. And Luke’s setting up a parallel here, with Abraham and Sarah, the great ancestors of Israel because they too were very old and could never have kids. Yet God gave them a son – Isaac which is how the whole story of Israel began.
And so Luke’s implying here that God’s about to do something that significant for this people, once again. The angel tells Zacharias to name the son John and then he says that this son’s going to fulfill a promise of Israel’s ancient prophets that somebody would come one day
To prepare Israel to meet their God when He arrived to rule in Jerusalem because right now, Jerusalem is ruled by the Romans. Yes, specifically, it’s governed by a man named Herod who’s a puppet king under the Roman Empire. And so the Jewish people wanted nothing more than to
Be free and govern themselves in their own land. So this is shocking news. Everything’s going to change. God’s on His way. But how is he going to arrive? Well to find out, Luke takes us out of Jerusalem and then up into a a small town in the hills of an
Out of the way region called Galilee. There we find a young woman named Mariam or we call her, Mary. She was engaged to be married and then an angel appears to Mary saying that she’s going to have a son. She’s supposed to name Him, Jesus, which in Hebrew means, the Lord saves.
And He will be a King like David who will rule over God’s people forever. And then Mary asks, “Okay, well, how is this possible because I’m a virgin?” And she’s told that the same Holy Spirit that brought life and light out of darkness in Genesis, Chapter 1,
Is going to generate life inside her womb. God is about to bind Himself to humanity through the conception and the birth of the Messiah. And so Mary, goes from some back woods no name girl to the future mother of the King. Exactly. In fact, sings a song about
How this reversal of her own social status points to a greater upheaval to come. Through her Son, God’s going to bring down rulers from their thrones and exalt the poor and the humble. He’s going to turn the whole world order upside down. So, when Mary was really pregnant, she and her fiancé, Jospeh,
Had to go down to Bethlehem. There was a decree across the Roman Empire about new taxes. And so everybody had to go get registered in the town of their family line. There was so many visitors in Bethlehem. They can’t find a guest room.
And so the only place they can find, is a spot where animals sleep. Now, nearby, were some shepherds with their flocks. And an angel appears, which, of course, freaks them out. But, they’re to celebrate because tonight in Bethlehem, a Savior has been born. They’re told to go and find this baby.
And they’ll know that it’s the Messiah because He’s going to be wrapped up and laying in a grimy feeding trough. Then these shepherds, who aren’t very clean themselves, they go and find the newborn Jesus, in this really dingy place and their minds are blown.
They go home wondering, ‘What on Earth is about to happen?’ And this is all really strange. I mean, if God’s really coming to save the world, this isn’t how you would expect Him to arrive. Born in an animal shelter to a teenage girl, celebrated by no-name shepherds.
Exactly! I mean, everything is backwards in Luke’s story and that’s the point. He is showing how God’s Kingdom was first revealed in these dirty places, among the poor because Jesus is here to bring salvation by turning our world order upside down.
With 1 out of every 3 people on Earth identifying as Christian, it’s the single most important event in human history. But was Jesus of Nazareth really resurrected from the dead, and is there any evidence for it? To examine the question first we have to establish the historicity of Jesus himself.
While some doubt that he ever lived, no critical historian alive today doubts that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man who lived and died in the time attributed to him in the Gospels. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentions Jesus twice in his histories.
The first mention is widely regarded- even amongst Christian scholars- as having been doctored by a later Christian scribe to be more flattering, but still mentions Jesus as having been condemned and crucified by Roman authorities. The second mention of Jesus by Josephus is when he references the death of Jesus’s brother,
James, who was stoned to death for his belief in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus is also mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus approximately 86 years after his crucifixion, and affirms that he was in fact crucified by Roman authorities and that a sizable contingent
Of his believers were present in Rome at the time of his writing, which further strengthens the biblical account of Saint Paul. Next, we have to establish the reliability of the evidence used to argue that the resurrection was a real event- namely Paul’s letters and the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Today that material is together, along with other books, known as the New Testament, and a critic would be right in arguing that one cannot use one’s own source material to argue for the validity of his or her argument. Except that is a serious misunderstanding of what the New Testament actually is- or
What it originally was. Today the New Testament is considered to be the second half of Christianity’s ‘holy book’, the Bible. Yet before it was largely codified around 200 A.D., the New Testament was a collection of apocalyptic revelations, letters to various churches, and the formal writing down of oral
Tradition in the form of the gospels. Specifically, Paul’s letters and the synoptic gospels are considered to be valid historical documents, that due to their content were later turned into a ‘holy book’. In the words of historian and New Testament scholar Dr. Gary Habermas, if you don’t use
The historically accepted books of the New Testament to argue for the historicity of Jesus, then critics will use them for you. But have the gospels reliably preserved historical details through the ages, and are Pauls’ letters still in their original form and untampered with for the purpose of empowering a Christian agenda?
Historian, New Testament scholar, and textual critic Bart Ehrman- himself an agnostic leaning towards atheism- points out that we don’t have the original autographs by which to authenticate the modern gospels and Paul’s letters. At best we have copies of copies of copies of copies, with the earliest recovered fragments
Dated back to around halfway through the second century. Furthermore, there is clear evidence of tampering with the gospels, with some passages in modern texts today widely known to have been introduced into the text well after the originals. Perhaps the most iconic of these fabricated bible passages is John 7:53-8:11, the story
Of Jesus and the adulterous woman. This story tells of how Jesus came across a woman about to be stoned to death for the sin of adultery by the Pharisee authorities. Jesus however interrupts the process and simply asks that the first man without sin cast the
First stone, resulting in the accusers dropping their rocks and going home. Finally, Jesus comforts the woman and tells her that he does not condemn her, then encourages her to go forth and sin no more. It’s a wonderful anecdote and example of Jesus as what 20th century Atheist philosopher Antony
Flew called, “a first-rate ethicist”. Except it never happened, the story was fabricated and inserted by an unknown scribe into the text, and is only one example of several. In further questioning the historical reliability of the gospels, Ehrman also points out that
Between various surviving ancient copies of the biblical texts are thousands of errors, and that the first written versions of the gospels and Paul’s letters weren’t created until decades after Jesus’ death- leaving plenty of room for details to be omitted, forgotten, or outright fabricated.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church wasn’t written until 55 A.D., with the gospel of Mark being written in 70 AD, Matthew in 80 AD, and John in 95 AD. That’s a spread of 25 to 65 years after the death of Jesus.
So with made-up stories, thousands of textual errors in the earliest available copies, and such a massive time gap between Jesus’s death and his history being recorded, is there any reason to think the New Testament is historically reliable? It’s well established that teachings about Jesus spread far and wide very quickly after
His death- in fact within as little as two or three years after the crucifixion, Jewish authorities were already persecuting Christians across the near-East in a bid to exterminate what they viewed as a heretical cult. This wide geographic dissemination of the core Christian knowledge about Jesus and his
Life events makes it incredibly unlikely that major revisions could have taken place without them being discovered- if for example Christian leaders in Rome wished to greatly change a core fact of the life, death, or teachings of Jesus, believers in Africa- which has one
Of the world’s oldest Christian communities- would have immediately identified the manipulation. The simple fact that we today are able to know that the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman was a fabrication is testament to how difficult it can be to make even minor changes
To the text without them being discovered thanks to the wide geographic distribution of the original material. Further, while Bart Ehrman is correct in pointing out the thousands of errors and discrepancies across various ancient manuscripts, the fact is that the overwhelming amount of these errors are insignificant to the core theology.
These errors are overwhelmingly misspellings and other textual errors, or errors so insignificant as to not affect the intended message of the scripture. While some may argue that over time errors can pile up, as in a game of telephone, the
Discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls proves the great diligence with which holy texts were copied and preserved by Jews. A medieval copy of the Old Testament compared with a copy discovered with the Dead Sea scrolls dating back to between the third century BC and first century AD showed that there were
Astonishingly few differences in the text- and once again, mostly copyist errors. The early Christians, being former devout Jews themselves, would have treated their religious texts with the same reverence and exacting care for precision. Further, while we don’t have the original autographs, we do have many preserved copies
Of some of the earliest church fathers’ writing on the gospels themselves. From their musings on these earliest versions of the gospels we can be confident that we do in fact, have an incredibly well preserved collection that if not perfectly, extremely accurately reflects the content and message of the autographs.
Professor Ehrman correctly points out to discrepancies in the gospel accounts themselves as proof that they are not reliable. On just the discovery of the empty tomb, the gospels vary in the telling. Matthew states that Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” went to the tomb.
There they found an angel, who told them that Jesus was risen and that they should tell the disciples and that they should go to Galilee to meet up with Jesus. Mark states that both Maries, and a third woman- Salome- went to the tomb and found
A young man inside who told them to tell the disciples to go meet the risen Jesus in Galilee. Luke states that “the women” went to the tomb, and entering the empty tomb they could not find Jesus when suddenly two men in bright clothes appeared before them.
They are not told to tell the disciples about the tomb nor to go anywhere. John states that Mary Magadalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance, so she went rushing back to Peter and one of the other disciples and
Claimed that the Jewish authorities or the Romans had removed Jesus’s body. Peter and the other disciple returned to the tomb to find Jesus’s burial clothing, while Mary somewhere outside the tomb and crying, sees two angels and Jesus- though is not allowed to immediately recognize Jesus.
So how can the various gospels be reconcilable if they differ so much in their re-telling of the empty tomb? It’s important to note that only one of the gospel acounts- John’s- actually differs in any significant way. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were not written side-by-side, but rather individually by different people,
Thus it’s unsurprising that they would slightly differ in their historical retelling. Neither of those three gospels contradicts the other, they merely mention details important to them. While Luke seems to state that a group of women went to the tomb, Matthew and Mark don’t
Omit the possibility- they simply focus on two of the women in that group important to the writer. Luke also does not say that the women are instructed to tell the disciples, or to tell them to go to Galilee to meet Jesus there, but the omission of this detail does not mean
It didn’t happen- the writer of Luke could have very correctly assumed that this part of the history was so well known, it was unnecessary to add it to his account. The presence of the angels is likewise complimentary, as Matthew and Mark may have simply chosen
To focus on the important angel- the one speaking. John is the only gospel that differs significantly, and is thus not considered a synoptic gospel- yet that is consistent with the overall theme of John which explores who Jesus was, not what Jesus historically did.
Most historians accept this fact and don’t consider John a purely historical document anyways, and neither should we. As we can see then, the differences in the gospel accounts are a) insignificant to the core facts, and b) largely an issue of focus, rather than irreconcilable discrepancies.
For comparison consider the accounts of the Titanic’s survivors- many of them swore that the ship sunk without breaking in two, while the rest swore that they saw the ship physically break in two. Nobody however doubted that the ship had sunk, or any of the events immediately after the sinking.
Further, if the gospel accounts had been perfectly accurate to each other, they would’ve almost certainly been collaborated, seriously damaging their value as historical documents. Lastly, while no serious historian objects to the time gap between the gospels and Jesus’s death as being cause for concern over inaccuracy, many non-historian critics do.
After all, how accurate can a historical account be if it’s written decades after the subject’s death? First, this is ignoring the strong oral tradition of ancient Jews. In the first century, very few people knew how to read or write, and thus most people
Would rely on oral retelling of history- and specially of their religious texts, with a very strong emphasis on accuracy. To a devout Jew, the thought of mangling holy scripture by poorly recollecting it was an unthinkable heresy. This strong oral tradition would have been present in the early Christians as well, themselves
Recently converted Jews. Next, while the earliest writings on Jesus date to 25 years after his death, the fact that we have at least 11 historical sources for Jesus within a century of his death makes Jesus of Nazareth the gold standard for ancient historians.
Take for example Alexander the Great, of whom there’s not a single history class in the world that doesn’t tell of his deeds. Yet the earliest available sources for Alexander date to over 300 years after his death. How about Tiberius Caesar then, the emperor of the Roman empire during the life and death
Of Jesus? Surely if anyone was to be well-attested to it would be the leader of the most powerful empire at the time. Yet while one contemporary source exists, it’s highly unreliable for historians as it speaks on an all-too personal note.
The best, and earliest, source for the life and times of Rome’s emperor when Jesus died is Publius Cornelius Tacitus, writing a full eighty years after Tiberius’s death. The next after that is Suetonius, 85 years after his death, and Cassius Dio almost two centuries later.
Simply put, to doubt the veracity of the historical account of the scriptures is to put into doubt every single event of ancient history, as the life, death, and teachings of Jesus are the best sourced histories in the ancient world. With the gospels and letters of Saint Paul accepted as valid historical documents, is
There then any evidence for the resurrection as a historical event? We can begin our investigation with the empty tomb. In the gospel accounts, the tomb is discovered empty by Mary Magdalene. Jesus’s burial clothes are there, but not the body. Critics have argued that the empty tomb was an early Christian fabrication, and presented
Various theories as to what really happened. The first is that the entire empty tomb narrative was a fabrication, yet this has been widely rejected by critical historians as the scriptures themselves record the Jewish authorities reacting to the empty tomb by claiming that the disciples had stolen the body, along with their own
Refutation to this claim. An obvious back-and-forth dialogue is preserved, showing that whatever the cause, the tomb of Jesus was in fact discovered empty. Next is the claim that the Jewish Sanhedrin was right, and the disciples did steal the body. This is frankly, an absurd proposition, as guards had been posted to the tomb.
In all likelihood these were actually Jewish temple guards, as it’s incredibly unlikely that Pilate would have bothered to involve Roman guards in what he saw as a purely Jewish religious dispute, and instead simply told the Sanhedrin to use the guards they already possessed themselves.
The idea of the disciples bribing Jewish temple guards successfully so as to perpetuate their heretical belief in a resurrected Messiah is incredulous to the point of sheer absurdity, let alone bribing Roman guards who would themselves face death for such a massive dereliction of duty when the tomb was found empty.
The next theory is the ‘apparent death’ theory. This theory states that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross, and instead survived his crucifixion, somehow slipped past his tomb guards, and returned to the disciples who celebrated him as the resurrected Son of God.
Once more, it is completely absurd to believe that a severely injured Jesus, who had just survived a scourging, then being crucified, and in need of critical medical care, could possibly return to his disciples and convince them that despite his utterly broken body, he had in fact defeated death, quote, “in glory”.
Secondly, crucifixion was simply not a survivable event unless the person was immediately rescued. The way that a person was crucified would lead to a slow but sure asphyxiation as the downward pull of gravity forced an individual to physically push against the nails embedded
In his feet in order to lift their chest up and relieve the pressure, allowing them to gasp for breath. This would have been not only an excruciatingly painful experience, but an exhausting one, compounded by the effects of blood loss and exposure. Additionally, Roman guards were quite used to crucifying Jewish would-be Messiahs and
Rebels by this time, and were under pains of their own death to ensure that their prisoner could not be rescued and did indeed die on their cross. Lastly, in the account of the crucifixion in John 19, we have a Roman centurion ensuring
That Jesus is truly dead by piercing his side with a spear, stabbing upwards and into the heart to deliver a killing blow. The scripture states that “blood and water” came out of the wound, which perfectly mirrors exactly what modern medical science would expect from such a wound on a person who died
After being crucified. Before death, fluid would have collected in the membrane around the heart and lungs due to heart failure- this is known as a pericardial and pleural effusion. Upon Jesus’s body being pierced by the spear, this fluid would have leaked out of the wound,
Followed by blood, exactly as reported in John 19, strongly hinting that whoever wrote the John account either was physically present at the crucifixion or had testimony from a witness who was. So is the empty tomb narrative accurate? There is no realistic reason to believe that Jesus’s body was stolen, or that Jesus survived
His crucifixion. Without an empty tomb, there could be no Christian narrative of a resurrection. As a well-known figure due to his perceived blasphemy and heresy, the site of Jesus’s burial would have been known to anyone looking to debunk the disciple’s earliest claims of
Resurrection, and all the Jewish authorities would have had to do to shut the entire Christian movement down as soon as it arouse was to simply unseal the tomb and show that Jesus still lay there, dead, and that the disciples were liars. It’s important to note who discovered the empty tomb as well- women.
In the very patriarchal society of the ancient Jews, women were not regarded as credible witnesses in court. Both Jewish historian Josephus and Jewish philosopher Maimonides made it clear that women were not competent to testify in court. As Josephus pointed out, testimony of a deaf, mentally incompetent, or young person, as
Well as women, was excluded in most cases. Despite women being ineligible to serve as witnesses in most Jewish courts, the early Christians publicly proclaimed women- the least trustworthy members of society- as the discoverers of the empty tomb. This would not just have been an incredulous, but hugely embarrassing detail for the early
Disciples, and the fact that the detail remains is strong evidence that the disciples were simply accurately relaying the discovery of the empty tomb- no matter how embarrassing it was for them personally. Next in our investigation of the resurrection is the appearances of Jesus after his death.
The majority of new testament historians affirm that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his death. In the words of Ed Sanders, New Testament scholar and former professor at Duke University, “The following is an historical fact: the earliest disciples saw the risen Jesus.
I don’t know how exactly they saw him, but they saw him.” Most critics, including 20th century atheist philosopher Antony Flew ascribe to the hallucination theory to explain the postmortem appearances of Jesus. This theory posits that the disciples were stricken with grief-inspired hallucinations,
And confused them as the real, bodily appearance of a risen Jesus. There are, however, serious problems with this theory. First, any belief in Jesus’s resurrection due to a hallucination could have easily been dispelled by Jewish authorities by simply checking the tomb and finding the body still resting there.
Second, as is established by medical science, hallucinations cannot create new ideas- they simply work within the preexisting mental framework. As devout Jews, the disciples had no belief, let alone an ‘idea’ of a bodily resurrection that predated the end of days.
In the Jewish faith, resurrection only occurred on the last day, as God cast his judgment and called the faithful to live in paradise- before this event there could be no resurrection of the dead. Revivification of the recently dead, much like happens in our modern hospitals every
Day, was certainly possible, but not a resurrection to a “glorified body” as described by the disciples of Jesus. Therefore a hallucination could not have convinced a devout Jew that an event for which he had no basis for believing in, had occurred.
Secondly, the odds of all of the disciples- or at least enough to jump-start the Christian church- all suffering from grief hallucinations are astronomical to the point of, once more, absurdity. There is not a single other recorded case like it in verified medical history.
Further, it’s well recorded that Jesus appeared to groups of the disciples at the same time, and hallucinations cannot be shared between individuals. One individual cannot see what another is hallucinating, and vice-versa. Lastly, there’s the case of Saint Paul. Paul was in effect, a religious terrorist.
As the early Christian church spread rapidly, Paul was tasked with finding Christians and imprisoning or killing them on behalf of the Jewish authorities. Yet two to three years after the crucifixion, Paul- by his own account- encountered Jesus.
At the time he was on the way to the synagogues in Damascus to request their aid in arresting Christians and bringing them back to Jerusalem to undergo trial and possible execution. While on the road, Paul encounters Jesus and is blinded, and remains so until one of the
Very Christians he was sent to arrest or kill finds him and heals him. In ‘The Psychological Origins of the Resurrection Myth’, Jack Kent argues that Paul suffered from conversion disorder, a very real psychological disorder that commonly affects soldiers, police officers, and prison guards.
Commonly, sufferers will experience physical maladies with no apparent cause while under severe psychological stress- thus Paul’s blindness is believed to be a psychosomatic syndrome of his conversion disorder, itself caused by his internal conflict in killing and imprisoning innocent Christians. However, there are as usual problems with this theory.
Conversion disorder is short-lived, and thus would not explain Paul’s dramatic and lifelong change from devout Jew and persecutor of Christians, to a champion of the early Christian faith. It’s also incredibly implausible that Paul experienced conversion disorder along with visual and auditory hallucinations which led him to believe that Jesus was talking to him
Personally- not to mention the Messiah complex that would arise as Paul took on the mission of spreading the Christian faith far and wide. In short, Paul would have had to have been one of the most mentally ill individuals in history to suffer from all four mental disorders simultaneously at exactly this stretch of
Road on the way to Damascus. Hallucination theory simply can’t explain why a sworn enemy of the Christian church would experience the same hallucination as Jesus’s own disciples, years after Jesus’s death. It also cannot explain the postmortem appearances to entire groups of people as recorded by the disciples, as hallucinations are a personal experience.
Finally, a hallucination could not have led the disciples to believe in something they had no concept of before the event- namely, the preapocalyptic resurrection of their former teacher. Next is the marked change in the disciple’s lives as a result of their postmortem encounters with Jesus.
As stated about Paul, hallucinations simply do not lead to lifelong ideological changes, and the disciples clearly underwent dramatic and unprecedented ideological and theological changes practically overnight as a result of their experiences after the crucifixion. Immediately after Jesus’s death, the disciples went into hiding, fearful that the Jewish authorities would crucify them next.
It can’t be understated how devastating the crucifixion was for the disciples- not only had they lost their teacher, but he had suffered a criminal’s death, one so abhorrent to Jewish society that it was believed those who were crucified would not experience resurrection on the final day.
In the eyes of the disciples, Jesus had proven himself to be no different than the dozens of other self-proclaimed Jewish messiahs that came before, and after, his death. Yet we know that within months of the resurrection, possibly even weeks, the disciples were boldly proclaiming Jesus’s resurrection.
This is evidenced by two facts: the first is that the Christian church had spread so quickly that Paul was on his way to root it out in Damascus just two to three years after Jesus’s death. The second is what is known as the ‘Corinthian creed’, written down by Paul in 1 Corinthians
15, which reads: …that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. This creedial statement in Paul’s letter is authenticated as an early Christian creed
By the format it is written in the original Greek, which differs from the way the rest of Paul’s letter is written. In the ancient world, when you wanted to help someone who couldn’t read or write remember
Something, you put it in the form of a creed, and as Bart Ehrman himself attests, the Corinthian creed can be dated back to within one or two years of the crucifixion, with some historians dating it as early as mere months after Jesus’s death.
This means that within months after the crucifixion, the earliest Christians were already teaching Jesus’s resurrection- a concept that they had no ideological basis for prior to the crucifixion. And not only were the demoralized and terrified disciples coming to believe Jesus had risen
From the dead, but they were almost immediately spreading their belief to thousands of other Jews. Belief in the resurrection was far from the only heretical belief of the disciples however, as almost immediately after the crucifixion the young Christian church changed their celebration of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
This move was motivated by the day of Jesus’s alleged resurrection and discovery of the empty tomb, and to first century Jews, would have been the height of heresy. Handed down to them by God himself, and honored for two thousand years, the sabbath and God’s
Commands to keep it holy were of paramount importance to the Jews, and suffused nearly every aspect of their culture. For the early Christians to be convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead, and thus shift their sabbath celebration from Saturday to Sunday, defying almost two thousand years
Of tradition, would have required an incredible burden of proof. As observed across history, religious schisms simply don’t spring up overnight, and yet one of the immediate defining characteristics of the early Christian church was its adoption of Sunday as the new sabbath.
Belief in Jesus as the messiah also completely defied all Jewish messianic expectations. To first century Jews, living under the Roman yoke and having experienced no independence for hundreds of years, the messiah was supposed to triumph over Israel’s enemies and drive them out of the land.
The messiah was not supposed to be tried by his enemies and then sentenced to a humiliating death on a cross- let alone be resurrected three days later only to leave Israel’s enemies in power. For the early Jews, the messiah was a triumphant figure, leading them to victory- not an atoning
Sacrifice for the sins of the world. Explaining how so many 1st century Jews could come to believe in this radically different version of a messiah is difficult, unless the disciples had proof in the postmortem encounters with Jesus, and the instructions they received during those visitations.
Critics argue that the entire narrative was fabricated by the early church, yet fail to account for how truly difficult it would be to come to believe in Jesus as messiah when he defied centuries of messianic expectations within a deeply religious society by dying as a criminal and not driving out Israel’s enemies.
Lastly, we have the faith of the disciples themselves. Christian claims that all or most of the original disciples were martyred cannot be substantiated, but there are good sources for several of the disciples. Peter’s martyrdom is attested to by Clement of Rome, an early church leader elected from
Amongst individuals who personally knew the disciples. He was crucified upside down, not believing himself worthy to die the same way as Jesus. The apostle James, not to be confused with Jesus’s brother, was killed by King Herod in about AD 44.
The martyrdom is attested to in the book of Acts, but also recorded by Clement of Alexandria who was born 100 years after James died. Paul, the famous persecutor of Christians, is widely attested to by the earliest church leadership as having been beheaded by emperor Nero sometime before 68 AD.
James, brother of Jesus, is written about by Jewish historian Josephus, who writes that James was executed by stoning in 62 AD. James’ murder, according to Josephus, offended many of the citizens as it had been carried out by a hastily organized Jewish court during a lapse in imperial oversight of the region.
James’ martyrdom is particularly striking because as the gospels state, he believed Jesus was crazy while alive, and yet would later die for his faith that his own brother was indeed the messiah. While the rest of the disciples cannot be confirmed as having been martyred, the ones
Which can be confirmed paint a telling picture of a group of men who refused to give up their belief in Jesus as messiah despite the threat of death. Often painted as con artists by critics, there is no possible reason to believe that if the
Disciples were truly con men, they would have stuck to the con all the way up to their own execution- and yet history records no mention of their recanting of their beliefs. Simply put, men don’t die for false beliefs. The final argument for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as a historical event argues
That the crucifixion and resurrection account simply lacks legendary embellishments, as is present in nearly every other religion. This however is only mostly true, as there are clear signs of legendary-ism that creep into scripture. For example, when Jesus dies the gospels speak of a period of darkness, or of many of the
Dead returning to life briefly, or of the veil in the temple separating the holy of holies from the public tearing in two. While there is some evidence that an eclipse may have occurred on the day Jesus died, there is no evidence that the dead walked briefly through the streets of Jerusalem, or that
The earth shook and the temple was damaged in any way. These are almost certainly, simply legendary embellishments. However, when compared with other religious texts what immediately stands out about the New Testament is the starkness of the text. In fact, the entire account of the life, death, and postmortem appearances of Jesus is quite
Embarrassing to the early church. Even before Jesus dies, the scriptures attest to bickering, whining, and complaining from his own disciples. Jesus frequently rebuffs them for their lack of faith or foolishness, and even outright chastises Peter- the man on whom the church would be built- as having an ungodly way of thinking about things.
One of Jesus’s closest disciples is a tax collector for the Romans- men who were seen as traitors and were so reviled by Jewish society that they were not allowed to worship at the temple and were considered unclean along with various animals.
Jesus’s own family was no better, with the gospels recording that they believed he was crazy- this would be most telling for James, his brother, who would shortly after the crucifixion come to believe in Jesus as messiah and even die for that belief.
When Jesus is arrested, Peter- again, the most important of the disciples- denies Jesus three times, then flees along with the rest of the disciples to hide in fear and shame. When Jesus is crucified, most of the gospel accounts state that at best, only a few of the disciples watched from a great distance.
Only the gospel of John, least reliable in this matter, mentions that a single disciple was even near the cross- though what’s clear is that the disciples didn’t dare come close for fear of their own arrest. After Jesus’s death, none of the disciples believe in his promise to return after three days.
They are so demoralized by the crucifixion that they are hiding from the Jewish authorities, and even when Mary Magdalene brings them news of the empty tomb, they refuse to believe. It’s only when Jesus appears bodily to them that they believe, and even then at least
One of them, Thomas, refuses to believe Jesus isn’t a ghost until Jesus offers that he physically touch him. The picture painted by the gospels of the original disciples is that of scared, doubting, at times unfaithful men- exactly the opposite of what you would expect if the entire narrative
Had simply been created for the purposes of legitimizing a belief in Jesus. Rather than painting them as great patriarchs of wisdom and faith as would be expected, the New Testament is downright frequently embarrassing in its portrayal of the disciples- evidence that the scribes who penned the original gospels were more interested in recording
Truth than fictionalizing accounts and infusing them with legendary attributes. From a radical and sudden shift in deeply held religious beliefs, to the independently attested accounts of bodily postmortem appearances of Jesus, to the inexplicable explosion in growth of the early church, the question of if Jesus rose from the dead or not remains
Without a plausible naturalistic answer. While a naturalistic theory can be posited that answers one or more of the facts behind the early church, no one theory can explain all of them together. The truth is something significant happened in Jerusalem in the early 30s AD, an event
So incredible that it immediately split the Jewish faith in two and led to an explosion in belief in Jesus of Nazareth, executed as a blasphemer and criminal, as the risen Messiah. Now go watch most weird passages in the bible, or click this other video instead!
Who are the 144 000 in revelation The identity of the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation has been a subject of much speculation and interpretation throughout history. Found in Revelation 7:1-8 and 14:1-5, this symbolic number has captivated the imagination of scholars, theologians, and believers alike.
In the Book of Revelation, the 144,000 are described as a group of individuals who are “sealed” by God on their foreheads, symbolizing their divine protection and belonging to God. The number itself, 144,000, is derived from a multiplication of 12, which is often seen as a symbol of
Completeness or divine governance, and 10, which represents a fullness or totality. Therefore, the number can be understood as a symbolic representation of a complete and select group. One interpretation suggests that the 144,000 represent a literal number of Jewish believers who will play a significant role in the eschatological events leading up
To the end times. These believers, it is believed, will serve as witnesses and evangelists during a period of intense tribulation. This interpretation is rooted in the idea that God’s plan for the salvation of humanity includes a special role for Israel, and the 144,000 represent a remnant of faithful Jewish followers.
Another interpretation considers the 144,000 to be symbolic rather than literal. In this view, the number represents a broader group of believers, encompassing both Jews and Gentiles, who have been chosen and sealed by God. This interpretation emphasizes the universality of
God’s grace and the inclusion of people from all nations and backgrounds into the body of Christ. Furthermore, some interpretations suggest that the 144,000 represent martyrs who have endured persecution and remained faithful to God even in the face of extreme adversity. These individuals are seen as exemplifying the ultimate
Commitment to their faith and are rewarded with a special status in God’s final plan. It’s important to note that the Book of Revelation is highly symbolic and filled with imagery that can be challenging to decipher. As a result, interpretations of the 144,000 can vary significantly depending on one’s theological perspective and the
Broader context in which they approach the text. Additionally, the symbolism in Revelation often serves to convey theological truths rather than literal descriptions of future events. In conclusion, the identity of the 144000 in the Book of Revelation remains a topic of ongoing theological discussion and debate. While various interpretations exist,
They generally fall into two main categories: those that view the 144,000 as a specific, literal group with a distinct role in the end times, and those that see the number as symbolic of a broader and more inclusive body of believers. Regardless of the interpretation, the
Central message conveyed through this symbolism is the assurance of God’s protection, the call to faithfulness, and the ultimate triumph of God’s plan in the face of tribulation and challenges.
You’re probably familiar with the Nativity story. But the truth about Mary and Joseph, the two parents at the heart of the story, is often brushed aside when talking about Christianity’s main man, Jesus. But Mary and Joseph are interesting characters. Here’s the untold truth of Mary and Joseph.
In Mary and Joseph’s time, women’s purity was valued as a currency, something that would sweeten the deal between marriage negotiations in family. There were no paternity tests back then, if you wanted kids that you were sure were yours, the best insurance was marrying a virgin.
So imagine your girlfriend shows up after visiting her cousin for three months with a big ol’ baby bump. You can probably picture the reactions. “Pregnant? Holy crap!” Everyone, not just Joseph, was freaking out. Mary would have been considered damaged goods and not marriage material.
It didn’t help that she was claiming this was God’s baby. So Joseph planned to end their engagement. According to National Geographic, Joseph was just trying to not make the situation worse. But don’t think Joseph was insensitive for wanting to dump Mary because she was unexpectedly pregnant.
Breaking up was actually the classiest move Joseph could have made at that time. Think about the story of the Nativity as if it happened today: A teenage girl from an extremely conservative society gets engaged, visits her cousin, and comes back visibly pregnant.
Mary was an OG and kept to her story that the Holy Spirit had gotten her pregnant, but people were as skeptical of the idea back then as they would have been today. “I am the virgin Mary. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
Joseph tried to be nice about it, Matthew 1:19 describes how he planned to separate from her quietly so the public wouldn’t shame her. But “shame her” is a nice way to say “stone her to death.” Deuteronomy 22:21 and the surrounding verses lay down the law that if a girl got intimate
While unmarried, she would be stoned to death for bringing shame upon her family. But Joseph didn’t want this to happen to her. Later on, the angel Gabriel visited him in a dream and reassured him that yes, Mary actually was going to have God’s kid.
So Joseph doubled down on his Good Guy stance and took on Mary as his wife even though she was pregnant. Tablet describes how Joseph has taken on newfound popularity in modern times as people have realized just how important he was to keeping Mary safe.
People have realized that without him, the birth of Jesus definitely wouldn’t have happened. Shocking! “Sweet baby Jesus.” Once the angel visited Joseph and confirmed that Mary was really going to have God’s kid, Joseph got on board immediately. But this also extended to after the birth of Jesus.
God, perhaps impressed by how cool Joseph had been throughout this whole ordeal, sent another angel to Joseph telling him that they had to pick up and leave immediately. He obeyed, and they fled what turned out to be a massacre of all kids in Bethlehem younger than two years old.
King Herod, whose name you may remember as one of the more popular Sunday School villains, had sent people out to kill any child who might be the Messiah after running into the three kings on their way to visit Jesus.
Apparently he was worried about another king trying to take his place, and you know how kings are about being kings. “I am the KING!” Joseph has been shoved aside in favor of the Virgin Mary in the eyes of a lot of believers,
Since she had to carry Jesus and bear the social stigma of the pregnancy. But that’s beginning to change. In 2003, Pope John Paull II spoke about Joseph setting an example as someone who believed in the messages he received from God but also stayed humble and didn’t seek attention as God’s stepdad.
The National Catholic Register sang his praises in 2011, recommending him as someone Catholics could go to for divine help in parenting. It’s explicitly stated in the Bible that Joseph and Mary didn’t consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born and they bailed to Egypt.
Which makes sense, since Mary was pregnant most of the time they were initially together. But even this viewpoint is pretty revolutionary in terms of how believers view Mary. There’s a healthy group of people, mostly Catholic, who believe that Mary never lost her virginity. Ever.
The “perpetual virgin” view of Mary is used as a way to honor her alleged holiness and purity as the mother of God. National Catholic Register points out that people who believe this theory do so partly because of the lexicon surrounding families at the time.
Whenever men are referred to as Jesus’s “brothers” in the Bible, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re Jesus’s brothers by blood. They could be his cousins or other family members, or maybe even just his friends. This is another story about the life of Jesus that may have been altered through the lens
Of pop culture. It’s quaint to picture Jesus learning how to build things out of wood with his dad. It’s like they’re alluding the imagery of the stable of his birth and his future death on a cross. It also fits the idea of Jesus’s beginnings being humble.
The Bible even tells a story of when Jesus was roasted in his hometown of Nazareth when he came back as an adult to perform miracles. They said things to the effect of, “Wait, how does the son of a carpenter know all these things?”
In the Ancient Greek that the Bible was translated from, Joseph is referred to as a tekton. According to A Greek-English Lexicon, tekton can mean a carpenter or wood-joiner but is commonly used to describe any craftsman or woodworker. Some theories allege that this means Joseph may have actually worked with stones or larger materials.
An author cited in the Telegraph claimed that Joseph may have even been a master architect who provided Jesus a comfortable upbringing. Sorry to disturb anyone’s assumptions, but Christ was not white. Jesus may have been played by white actors in a lot of films, but that’s definitely not
How it went down in real life. A breakdown from Live Science suggests that if Jesus took after Mary at all, he would have had olive skin and was probably of average height for the time. Mary probably looked like other Israeli Jews, or maybe with a slightly darker complexion.
She also would have been pretty average looking, since the Bible goes out of its way to specifically mention whenever someone is particularly attractive, and it didn’t do that with Mary. “I’m painting the birth of Jesus, as it was and always will be.” “Uh, no. Here’s how you’re going to paint me.
Serene, and gorgeous.” James Martin wrote in Slate that we can’t forget that Mary was probably 14 years old at the time when she gave birth to Jesus, something that was common for the time. She probably would have been arranged to be married around the time of her first period.
Just in case you needed your Nativity scene to be even more awkward. Mary had it harder than most women when it came to childbirth, even when you consider the time period. She presumably had Joseph to help her. But she had no experienced midwives, which were available to expecting mothers back then,
According to The Jewish Woman. Mary also, thanks to circumstances, had to give birth in a smelly place outside of her own town away from her family. That would be hard on anyone. But add on a difficult labor and it becomes a whole other story: In the Quran, Mary has
To give birth with her back against a palm tree for support. She says out loud, quote, “Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.” “Congratulations Mary, it’s a boy.” “And you didn’t die during childbirth like most women during this time. It’s a miracle.”
Mary has a whole chapter about her in the Quran and is the only woman mentioned by name, according to the BBC. Her chapter talks about the birth of Jesus and the immediate aftermath. According to PRI, it also features a story about baby Jesus speaking up in his mom’s
Defense when people said she wasn’t a virgin. Guess if you have all the knowledge in the world, you really have all the knowledge. In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of paintings of Mary. The young mom of Jesus has been featured in probably more paintings than anyone who ever lived.
In a lot of these paintings, Mary’s portrayed wearing a light blue shawl or hijab. It’s a light, airy color, not unlike the robe worn by her son in the most expensive painting on earth, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. But is Mary’s blue covering accurate to history? Probably not.
The Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge confirms that clothing for women Israelites was lighter and more brightly colored than men’s clothing. Assyrians of the time wore blue tunics as undergarments, but that was relatively far from Mary’s ‘hood. Aleteia describes how Mary’s blue covering is really an allusion to her purity and closeness to God.
She doesn’t wear the white of a saint or the red of a Jesus-killing emperor. Blue is the color of special woven tassels worn by Jews in that time to remind them to follow the Commandments. In short, Mary wears blue in paintings to symbolize that she is just that much holier
Than anyone else painted with her. In Catholicism, there are lots of books beside the Bible that people debate over in terms of authenticity. Some people dismiss them outright. Other people take them in consideration alongside the Bible. Some of these extra texts for Catholicism are called the apocrypha writings.
Catholic Culture describes them as documents that didn’t make it to the Bible compiled by people who wanted to know more about Jesus. Even if they’re not true, they say a lot about what people thought about Jesus and his place in the culture not long after he was alive.
If these writings can be believed, Joseph had a first wife named Melcha. According to The Catholic Dictionary, the apocrypha states that Joseph was a widower with six children, who asked to marry Mary after his wife died. This fits the pop culture image of Mary being much younger than him.
It also fits with the idea of Mary being a perpetual virgin but Jesus still having brothers and sisters. They could have been step brothers and sisters. If it’s true, it provides a very different image of Joseph: An older guy who’s already
Done the marriage and babies thing who has this new wife who’s pregnant somehow. But he still steps up to be stepdad of the year. One of the most consistent parts of the Nativity story is that Mary had to give birth to Jesus in a stable full of animals.
The town was full of people coming to Bethlehem, and apparently no one was nice enough to let a heavily pregnant woman take their adjoining suite. So they took the only space available. Now, people of that region at this time didn’t keep animals in stables the way we do today.
Think of a home in biblical times as the ultimate open concept home: People would sleep up in what was essentially the second floor while doing chores and other everyday work on the base floor. The base floor was also where the animals were brought in at night.
Newsweek reported that this was likely where Jesus was born, not in an entirely separate structure built outside of a house. What most likely happened was that Joseph showed up at his extended family’s house, was told that there wasn’t enough room in the sleeping quarters for Mary to give birth,
And so they had to make do with the gross basement where the animals hung out. It wasn’t so much people being monsters to a pregnant woman as much as Joseph’s cousin Fred arrived early and scored the last couch. Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about Bible stories are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don’t miss a single one.
This is Spoken Gospel. We’re dedicated to seeing Jesus in all of scripture. In each episode, we see what’s happening in a Biblical text and how it sheds light on Jesus and his gospel. Let’s jump in. In most English literature, the climax of a story comes near the end.
But in Hebrew literature, which is what the Old Testament is, the main point often comes in the middle. The middle point of Leviticus is the Day of Atonement. And since Leviticus is the middle book of the Torah, this chapter is the middle of the middle.
The Day of Atonement is so important because that is the day a human got to go into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. This is the center of the tabernacle, behind the innermost veil, where God’s actual presence was. There are two main sacrifices made on this day.
The first is a bull for the priest’s sins and the cleansing of the tabernacle. Its blood is brought into the Holy of Holies behind the veil and put on the mercy seat, which is like God’s kingly footstool. The second sacrifice involves two goats.
One goat is a sin offering for all the people. Its blood is also brought into the Holy of Holies to cleanse it on behalf of all the people’s sins. The second goat was brought in front of the tent where the high priest
Would lay his hands on it and confess the sins of all the people. The goat was then taken outside the city and released into the wilderness, never to return. The picture is a powerful one for the people of Israel. Their sin has literally been taken away from them.
As Christians, we have an even better Day of Atonement because Jesus is our new high priest. What the High Priest had to do every year, Jesus was able to do once for all. Now, we only need one Day of Atonement: The day Jesus died on the cross.
The Day of Atonement brought one priest behind that curtain once a year. But after Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. Jesus’ sacrifice gives eternal access to all who believe. Israel had to be constantly reminded of their
Never-ending problem of sin by this and other rituals. But because Jesus has offered the last and final sacrifice, we can be sure that our sin has been dealt with permanently. That is why we no longer have to practice any sacrifices. It is finished!
So why is this in the middle of Leviticus and in the middle of the Torah? Because one of the Bible’s main points is God’s desire to live with his people. And the Day of Atonement shows us how he makes this possible.
It also tells us that, in Jesus, the cross now sits at the middle of everything we do. I pray that the Holy Spirit would show you the God who makes a way to dwell with us and forgive us. And that he does this finally and fully through
Jesus dying for us on the cross – our once-for-all Day of Atonement.
Welcome to “Real Truth. Real Quick.” My name is Rick Smith. I’m here with Todd Wagner. How you doing Todd? Hello buddy! Hello friends! Well listen. So this question came to my mind recently. I was watching the one of the interface services for a new president
And it just got me thinking, “How should a Christian responded to interfaith activities and we are, you know, different religions are together?” Yeah. So whenever somebody asks me a question like that I want to say first of all explain interfaith activity. Ok? Everything I do with a non believer
Is an interfaith activity. So Jesus was known as a friend of sinners but he was never known as a companion of sinners. So “A friend speaks the truth at all times, a friend loves somebody for who they are and who they want them to be, and a
Friend is going to spur you on to love and good deeds, and is going to give you an open rebuke,” Proverbs 27 says “as opposed to deceitful kiss.” So everything I do in one sense with non-believers is an interfaith activity. I’ll partner with anybody who wants to
Get involved to advance what is good and just and right and true no matter what the basis for their motivation is. If they want to stand for the dignity of life I don’t care if they’re a Muslim, I don’t care if they’re Mormon, I don’t care if you’re an atheist, but they
Believe in the dignity of human life I’m going to stand with. So if somebody is against human trafficking and child sex slavery and that kind of craziness and they want to do justice and love kindness with me I’ll partner with them all day long. I don’t care if they want to walk humbly
With the Lord as it relates to that good and just cause. I care deeply about whether or not they know the Lord because God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. Ok? And uh or the fool who doesn’t believe that he is the Lord God
But I can separate those two things. I can partner with you towards good and I can talk to you about what is ultimately good. Rick I signed this thing called the Manhattan Declaration but before I did I was talking to my friend Chuck Colson who had
Asked me to be one of the original signers about some of the language we use because it talks about Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical believers or brothers. I feel like there needed to be a clarity and distinction between the fact that we’re not saying that Orthodox and Catholic and
Evangelicals all believe the same thing. We have very different views still on the issue of justification but there are things that we can stand on. So we agree on marriage, we agree on the dignity of human life, we agree on religious liberty, so I gladly stand with
Them and look at the differencse between us are much more nuanced than that we had Mormons and Muslims and others sign that. So it was specific to those but we tried to bring some clarity about people who have Catholic belief, Evangelical belief, and Orthodox belief, we stand together on these things.
Now when you get to just a basic service that we’re trying to co-exist and we should coexist. Alright? “We should do good to all men” Galatian says “but especially to those of the household of faith.” We have to be very careful when we worship God that
Were worshiping the God of the bible. We did a “Real Truth. Real Quick.” on “The Shack” and some people said “When I read the book ‘The Shack’ I felt a lot closer to God.” And I said “Well what God did you feel closer to? God as you rightly understand him or
God as you made him out to be based on reading ‘The Shack’?” And the same thing I would say to other people who go “I want to pray to God.” I always want to know you know what you mean by God. So if I’ve got a friend who’s Arab and uses the Arabic
Word for Lord, which is Allah or God, and he means the God of the scriptures when he uses the word Allah in a prayer probably no problem if I’m talking to an Arab or a person is an American who’s embraced Islam and they use the Arabic word for
God I’ve got to make sure that I don’t think that we’re worshiping and pursuing the same God. And so that’s a completely different God and I don’t want to confuse people. One of the things that we want to make very clear is that Jesus, two different times, says things that appear to be
Contradictory. In Matthew 12 when he’s talking to the Pharisees he says “If you’re not with me you’re against me.” In Luke 9 talking to his disciples he says “Hey if they are not against us they’re for us.” And those are two very different things. What he’s saying the Pharisees is “Hey
Look at me. You’re not about what I’m about. Which is the advancement of how men can be reconciled to God through the Messiah, through the son of god, which is who I am and you’re denying that.” To the disciples Jesus said “Look, if they are not against you there for you. There were
People that were doing the work of casting demons out of people that weren’t a part of that specific little band.” Jesus says “Let them alone. They are not against you.” Ok? So they’re accomplishing good even they want to part of that little band. Paul mentions this in Philippians
Chapter 1. He says “There’s some that preach the gospel out of selfish ambition. There’s others that do it out of love.” He said “I’m just glad to preaching the gospel.” So what I tell people all the time is I’ll lift up Jesus with anybody. I will not encourage you to follow Jesus with
Anybody. I’ve been on some platforms with some guys that have very different understanding about some specifics of the character the Spirit then I do. And one of the things I’d love to say is “Listen, hey we disagree on some issues of some importance here but we agree on these
Other issues”. And you’ve got to be discerning about just because we’re both speaking the same platform that doesn’t mean we agree on all things I’m not endorsing every bit of that person’s worldview. This is even within not just interfaith activities but interdenominational opportunities. And so you’ve got to be discerning. Ecumenicalism,
In the sense that hey there’s a lot of different roads that all go up the same mountain that end in the top. That’s heresy. Ok? And so you must be discerning. I think it always is helpful to provide clarity and if all we did is do things for people
Who agree with us in every jot and tittle, we’re not going to do very many things with very many people. Ok? So stay humble, be clear. Make sure that is best you’re able that you don’t lend the confusion, that you’re endorsing an idea which is unbiblical, which is all
Paths lead to God. And I would have to say that with every opportunity one by one and I’m as specific as clear as I can about who I am when I’m involved in any kind of effort either for social good or certainly for appealing to God.
Let me ask you this question. So let’s say you’re out there in your maybe you work for a company that has an interfaith service. Have you ever been part of an interface service where other not denomination but other faiths are praying and then what do you do
During that time? Do you pray with them? Do you close your eyes and bow your head? What do you do in that situation? Yeah. Listen, men are going to seek God as best they’re able to understand and what I don’t ever want to do is be a part of
Something that is going to compromise who I am or what I believe. And if somebody would ever ask me, “We want you to come. We want you to back off. Who you are?” I’m going to say “Listen I’ll come and be around you but I’m not going to
Not be who I am. You asked me to be a part because I believe that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life.” And so I I think that’s important. I can’t in any way participate in something that is going to make other people think I don’t
Think that’s a big deal because I’m a servant of Christ and the steward of the mystery of God. And so don’t ask me to come there not be a servant of Christ. So if I’m around places where I haven’t been asked to participate in lead and somebody’s
Praying to a god that I have the scripture, Ill pray for people that are listening. That God would break through that, Ill pray for the folks who are actually praying to a false god. That God would reveal himself to them in a very vivid way. And if I’m ever in a
Position where I prayed after that person it’s going to take extreme discernment and as much clarity as I can when I’m offering prayer to make sure that folks understand who I am and that I don’t do anything to add further to their confusion. It takes a lot of wisdom, a lot of
Discernment. Sometimes you’re thrust into stuff you can’t avoid and you do your best you can. So be discerning and be prayerful at all times. Awesome, Thanks Todd! Alright, well hey. Thank you for checking this episode out and we will see you next week on another episode of “Real Truth. Real Quick.”
AS A YOUNG GIRL GRACE WILLIAMS HAD A DESTINY VISION FROM GOD. SHE SAW MUSICAL NOTES LITERALLY ENCIRCLING THE EARTH NOW GRACE IS RELEASING THE SOUND OF HEAVEN AROUND THE WORLD THROUGH THE MUSIC GOD GIVES HER, BRINGING SUPERNATURAL HEALING AND DELIVERANCE TO PEOPLE. DO ANGELS EXIST? ARE HEALIING MIRACLES REAL?
IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? CAN PEOPLE GET SUPERNATURAL HELP FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION? HAS THE FUTURE BEEN WRITTEN IN ADVANCE? SID ROTH HAS SPENT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS RESEARCHING THE STRANGE WORLD OF THE SUPERNATURAL. JOIN SID ON THIS EDITION OF, “IT’S SUPERNATURAL.” HELLO, SID ROTH HERE, WELCOME TO MY WORLD WHERE IT IS NATURALLY SUPERNATURAL.
I WOULDN’T WANT TO BE ANYWHERE ELSE AND THE OXYGEN HERE ISN’T OXYGEN, IT IS FROM THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. IT IS SUCH A WONDERFUL ATMOSPHERE BECAUSE WE HAD GRACE WILLIAMS REHEARSING. I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. I HAVE HER CD HERE “FIRE FALL, I HAVE NEVER HEARD MUSIC THAT BRINGS SUCH AN
ABUNDANCE OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN AND WHAT I CALL SUPERNATURAL PEACE, I ALSO HAVE GRACE’S MOTHER GERRI HERE, AND GRACE I HAVE TO ASK YOU A QUESTION, DO MANY PEOPLE TELL YOU WHAT I’VE JUST SAID ABOUT THAT PEACE? YES, THAT IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY THINGS WE
HEAR, OVERWHELMING PEACE, PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, PEOPLE ARE RECEIVING JUST DEEP COMFORT, HEALING, A LOT OF INNER HEALING, DELIVERANCE FROM REALLY ABUSIVE THINGS AND SOUL ISSUES THAT THEY HAVE BEEN HURTING IN THEIR SOUL, THIS CD HAS HEALED THEM IN THE DEEPEST PARTS OF THEIR SOUL.
YOU KNOW GERRI, WHAT I FIND IS THE DEVIL, I BELIEVE, HAS INSIGHT OF SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT IN A BABY’S LIFE, AND MANY THAT ARE CALLED TO HAVE VERY, VERY SIGNIFICANT ROLES IN THE KINGDOM THE DEVIL TRIES TO SNUFF THEIR LIFE OUT AND THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED WITH GRACE, TELL ME ABOUT THAT.
YES, GRACE WAS BORN PREMATURE AND SHE HAD WATER ON HER LUNGS. ISN’T IT INTERESTING SHE USES HER LUNGS FOR SINGING AND THAT’S WHERE SHE WAS ATTACKED. YES, TOTALLY ATTACKED IN HER LUNGS, HER LITTLE CHEST WOULD CONCAVE TWO OR THREE INCHES JUST GASPING FOR BREATH,
AND AFTER SHE WAS BORN MY HUSBAND WENT DOWN TO THE NURSERY TO SEE OUR NEW LITTLE BABY GIRL BUT HER BED WAS EMPTY, SHE WASN’T THERE AND THE NURSE SAID THE DOCTORS NEED TO TALK TO YOU, AND SHE WAS HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING. SO THEY PUT HER IN INTENSIVE CARE AND IT WAS
A FIGHT FOR HER LIFE, EVERY HOUR THEY WOULD CHECK HER BLOOD TO SEE IF SHE HAD ENOUGH OXYGEN AND SHE WASN’T GETTING ENOUGH OXYGEN SO EVERY HOUR HER BODY WAS LOSING WEIGHT, SHE LOST UP TO A THIRD OF HER BODY WEIGHT JUST TRYING TO BREATH,
AND IT WAS A TREMENDOUS TIME OF PAIN AND GREAT WEEPING. BUT AT THE TIME I DIDN’T BELIEVE IN GOD, I WAS AN ATHEIST AND I THOUGHT, GOD I CAN’T PRAY TO YOU NOW, I CAN’T BE A HYPOCRITE, I DON’T BELIEVE IN YOU.
SO I JUST CRIED THAT WAS ALL I COULD DO AND ONE DAY THE DOCTOR CAME IN, TWO DOCTORS, WE WERE IN A CHILDREN’S SPECIALISTS’ HOSPITAL, AND THEY CAME AND SAT ON THE SIDE OF MY BED AND THEY SAID, “PREPARE, YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOING TO MAKE IT.”
AND I REMEMBER SUCH A, KIND OF A COLD STONE FEELING, I THOUGHT GOD THERE IS NO HOPE WITHIN. AND LIKE I SAID I NEVER REALLY PRAYED BECAUSE I STILL DIDN’T BELIEVE, BUT GOD IN HIS GREAT MERCY HE VISITED THAT HOSPITAL. AND WE FELT JUST AN AMAZING ATMOSPHERE,
A SHIFT IN THE ATMOSPHERE LIKE ENERGY AND STRENGTH AND GREAT LOVE, AND SHE WAS TOTALLY HEALED. AND SHE LEFT THE HOSPITAL WITHIN A WEEK. WHAT WAS THE PROGNOSIS OF THE DOCTOR’S BEFORE SHE WAS HEALED, DID THEY THINK SHE WOULD MAKE IT? NO, THEY CAME TO MY BEDSIDE AND THEY SAID YOUR
DAUGHTER WILL NOT LIVE AND JUST PREPARE YOURSELF FOR HER DEATH, THEY SAID WE HAVE DONE WHAT WE CAN DO AND SHE IS JUST TRYING TO BREATHE AND IT IS EMACIATING HER BODY AND SHE IS WITHERING AWAY JUST TRYING TO GET A BREATH. WHEN SHE WAS JUST AN INFANT YOU SAW AN ANGELIC
VISITATION, TELL ME ABOUT THAT. YES, AT THAT TIME IN MY LIFE I WAS VERY DISHEVELED AND BROKEN IN EVERY WAY, COME FROM A VERY DARK, ABUSIVE FAMILY, AND I WAS JUST REALLY CRYING OUT TO GOD, I SAID GOD I DON’T KNOW HOW TO RAISE A CHILD,
I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS THAT I COULD DO, I FEEL SO OVERWHELMED AND I FEEL SO UNDERNEATH THE SITUATION AND AS I, HER CRIB WAS IN OUR BEDROOM AND I FELT THE AIR BECAME ELECTRIFIED AND RAREFIED, AND I FELT LIKE MYRIAD WINGED CREATURES IN THE
AIR AND I LOOKED OVER AND IT LOOKED LIKE KIND OF THE MILKY WAY, THEY WERE JUST LITTLE FLASHES OF LIGHT AND I FELT THE WINGS OF THE ANGLES LIKE MINISTERING TO HER IN HER CRIB AND IT WAS JUST LIKE THE LORD SAID I AM GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THIS,
I AM GOING TO CAUSE YOU TO BE ABLE TO BE THE MOTHER, I AM GOING TO CAUSE YOU TO KNOW HOW TO RAISE THIS CHILD, JUST SUPERNATURALLY. AND YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK IS SO FASCINATING IS GRACE, WHEN YOU WERE SEVEN YOU HAD A VISION, A VISITATION; TELL ME ABOUT THAT.
I DID AND IT WAS REALLY A DESTINY VISION, AND I SAW MY MUSIC LITERALLY ENCIRCLING THE EARTH AND KEYBOARD NOTES AND PIANO LITERALLY CIRCLING AROUND THE WORLD, AND AT THAT MOMENT I WAS LIKE THIS IS WHAT I AM CALLED TO DO, THIS IS WHAT THE LORD HAS CALLED ME TO DO,
TO COVER THE EARTH WITH HIS GLORY AND TO RELEASE THAT SOUND OF HEAVEN. IT REALLY IS A SOUND OF HEAVEN; IN FACT YOU TOLD ME THAT EVERY SONG THAT GOD GIVES YOU COMES FROM HEAVEN. YES, I AM JUST AN INTERPRETER, I JUST SAY JESUS FLOW THROUGH ME,
LET YOUR SONGS BE SUNG, YOU KNOW IT TALKS ABOUT THAT IN HIS WORD, THAT HE SINGS OVER US SONGS OF DELIVERANCE, SONGS OF HEALING, AND THAT IS BASICALLY, I AM A CONDUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SAYING HOLY SPIRIT WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SING OVER YOUR PEOPLE?
YOU KNOW I INTERVIEWED A MAN BY THE NAME OF GARY WOOD WHO DIED AND WENT TO HEAVEN AND A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL STORY BUT THIS IS WHAT HE SAID AND IT WAS SO AMAZING AND IT HAS NEVER LEFT ME GRACE, HE SAID THAT HE HEARD SONGS IN HEAVEN AND
THEN MAYBE A DECADE LATER ON EARTH THE SONGS WOULD BE RELEASED, THAT IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU. YES, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS TO ME AND IT IS GETTING EVEN GREATER, I WAS IN A SERVICE ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND THE LORD POURED OUT A PROPHETIC SONG AND
IT WAS SIMPLY HE IS HOLY, HE IS WORTH, HE IS MIGHTY AND DURING THE SERVICE I WAS MINISTERING AND WE HAD A PROPHET IN TOWN AND SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE SAW AN ANGLE STANDING BEHIND ME DECLARING THE LORD IS HOLY, THE LORD IS MIGHTY, THE LORD IS WORTHY,
LITERALLY AS I WAS SINGING THIS FORTH AND THERE WERE MANY PEOPLE AFTER THE SERVICE THAT SAID THEY LOOKED UP AND SAW WARRING ANGELS IN THE ATMOSPHERE, IT WAS MIGHTY, MIGHTY AND THAT SONG WILL BE ON MY NEXT CD, I MEAN I AM JUST BIRTHING WHATEVER GOD IS SAYING, BLESS THE LORD.
LISTEN, I WANT YOU TO EXPERIENCE THIS SUPERNATURAL PEACE, BECAUSE GRACE IN JUST A LITTLE BIT IS GOING TO [MUSIC♪] PLAY “NEVER LET ME GO.” HE WILL NEVER LET YOU GO, BE BACK IN A MOMENT. [MUSIC♪] WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK TO, “IT’S SUPERNATURAL.” [MUSIC♪] WE NOW RETURN TO, “IT’S SUPERNATURAL.”
I JUST WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU HOW THIS SONG CAME ABOUT, I BELIEVE THIS IS A MELODY FROM HEAVEN, IT IS GOING TO RELEASE COMFORT INTO THE EARTH, AND ONE NIGHT I WAS UP LATE AND I HAD JUST BEEN THROUGH A REAL DESERT SEASON IN MY LIFE PERSONALLY.
I WAS CRYING OUT TO GOD, AND I WAS IN PRAYER, AND I SAID, “JESUS,” AND I FELT THIS OVERWHELMING PRESENCE COME INTO MY STUDIO, AND I STARTED WEEPING AND AS I SENSED THIS HOLY PRESENCE AND I LITERALLY FELT JESUS, HIS ARMS EMBRACED ME AND HELD ME FOR SEVERAL HOURS
AND I SAID JESUS DON’T EVER LET GO, IT IS SUCH A SAFE PLACE, IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE, A PLACE OF COMFORT, AND PEACE AND AMAZING LOVE, AND GOD POURED OUR HIS AMAZING LOVE TO ME IN THAT MOMENT AND I WENT OVER TO THE KEYBOARD AND I
BEGAN TO WRITE THIS SONG AND FLOW. AND I BELIEVE THAT THE PRESENCE OF HEAVEN IS COMING TO YOU RIGHT NOW AND HIS AMAZING LOVE IS GOING TO HOLD YOU IN THAT BEAUTIFUL PLACE. [KEYBOARD MUSIC♪] [♪GRACE SINGING] HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD LET ME FEEL YOUR LOVE
♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ WRAP ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD I FEEL YOUR WARM EMBRACE ♪ ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ BEING IN YOUR ARMS IS LIKE DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ BEING IN YOUR ARMS IS LIKE
A DREAM ♪ CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S FOR ETERNITY ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD LET ME FEEL YOUR LOVE ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪
WRAP ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD I FEEL YOUR WARM EMBRACE ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ I FEEL CLOUDED BY YOUR MYSTERY ♪ SOMEDAY I’LL KNOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪
DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ ♪
[INSTRUMENTAL ♪] [FOR OUR CAPTION READING FRIENDS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO THE SPEAKER OF YOUR T.V. AND FEEL THE VIBRATIONS OF THE MUSIC, AND LET MESSIAH HEAL YOU AND TOUCH YOUR SPIRIT!] JUST SEE THE LORD HOLDING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪ IN HIS
EVERLASTING ARMS OF LOVE ♪ ♪ HE IS HOLDING YOU RIGHT EVERLASTING ARMS OF LOVE ♪ ♪ HE IS HOLDING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪ TOUCHING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪ EMBRACING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪ HE IS HOLDING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪
IN HIS ARMS OF LOVE ♪ ARMS OF LOVE ♪ LET HIM HOLD YOU IN HIS ARMS ♪ THERE IS SAFETY IN HIS ARMS ♪ THERE IS MERCY THERE IS GRACE ♪ THERE IS SAFETY IN THIS PLACE ♪ ♪ HIS EVERLASTING LOVE HIS
MIGHTY ARMS OF LOVE ♪ HE WILL NEVER LET YOU GO ♪ HE WILL NEVER LET YOU GO NO, NO, NO. ♪ HE WILL NEVER LET YOU GO NO, NO, NO ♪ HE IS HOLDING YOU IN HIS ARMS,
♪ HIS MIGHTY ARMS OF LOVE ♪ YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ALONE ♪ YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AFRAID ♪ YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ALONE ♪ HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD ♪ LET ME FEEL YOUR LOVE ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪
WRAP ME IN YOUR ARMS LORD ♪ I FEEL YOUR WARM EMBRACE ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO ♪ ♪ DON’T EVER LET GO [MUSIC♪] WE NOW RETURN TO, “IT’S SUPERNATURAL.” HELLO, SID ROTH HERE WITH GRACE WILLIAMS.
WELL WAS I RIGHT, DID THAT PEACE JUST TOTALLY INVADE YOUR PRESENCE? I TELL YOU ALMOST EVERY DAY I AM LISTENING TO THIS CD AND THE PHYSICAL MIRACLES THAT ARE HAPPENING. THERE ARE PLACES, THEY CALL THEM HEALING ROOMS AND THEY PLAY THIS AND THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN COMES IN AND MAJOR HEALINGS ARE HAPPENING,
TELL ME ABOUT THAT WOMAN THAT WAS SO FEARFUL. SHE HAD WHAT IS CALLED AGORAPHOBIA, AND IT IS BASICALLY WHERE YOU ARE CONFINED TO YOUR HOME, YOU CANNOT LEAVE THERE IS SUCH FEAR AND PANIC ATTACKS, SHE HAD CLOSED THE SHADES, SHE LITERALLY COULD NOT LEAVE HER HOUSE AND A
FRIEND GAVE HER THIS CD AND SHE PUT IT ON, BASICALLY LOCKED HERSELF AWAY FOR TWO DAYS LISTENING TO THIS CD NONSTOP, WAS COMPLETELY SET FREE, SHE NOW GOES OUT OF THE HOUSE SHOPPING, SHE IS A NEW WOMAN THAT GOD HAS SET HER FREE FROM EVERY SPIRIT OF FEAR AND EVERYTHING.
SOME AMAZING SUPERNATURAL THINGS ARE HAPPENING WHEN PEOPLE LISTEN TO THIS MUSIC; TELL ME ABOUT THAT PERSON WHO HAD THE AROMA OF HEAVEN. YES THEY WERE IN A SERVICE I GUESS AND THEY WERE PLAYING MY CD AS LIKE SOAKING MUSIC AND JUST WORSHIPPING BEFORE THE LORD, PEOPLE WERE LAID OUT, PEOPLE WERE JUST RECEIVING
DEEP INNER HEALING TYPE OF MINISTRY AND SEVERAL PEOPLE SAID THAT THEY LITERALLY SMELLED THE FRAGRANCE OF THE LORD COME DOWN THE MIDDLE AISLE AND JUST LINGER AT THE ALTAR WHERE PEOPLE WERE RECEIVING MINISTRY, AND A LADY EMAILED ME AND SAID I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW WHAT THIS CD IS DOING,
IT IS CHANGING PEOPLE’S LIVES, WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME, AND SHE SAID THEY ARE ADDICTED TO IT. THEY CAN’T STOP PLAYING IT; IT IS PLAYING CONTINUALLY ACTUALLY IN THEIR PRAYER ROOM. WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT CHURCH IN ALABAMA YOU WERE AT? THEY HAVE AN AWESOME MINISTRY TO RECOVERING ADDICTS, PROSTITUTES,
DRUG ADDICTS, AND THINGS LIKE THAT AND THEY USE IT AS A TOOL FOR MINISTRY AND PEOPLE WERE GETTING TOTALLY COMPLETELY SET FREE, CHAINS BREAKING, THINGS THEY HAD DEALT WITH FOR LOTS OF YEARS, A LOT OF WOMEN. PEOPLE HAVE HAD DELIVERANCE FROM YOUR MUSIC? THEY PUT THIS MUSIC ON AND IMMEDIATELY YOU KNOW GOD
WILL SET THEM FREE OF THINGS MAYBE THEY DIDN’T KNOW THEY HAD OR CHAINS THAT HAVE BEEN ACCUMULATING OVER THE YEARS, A LOT OF BROKEN HEARTS MENDED AND DEEP SOUL WOUNDS THAT ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT COULD SUPERNATURALLY TOUCH THAT AND SET THEM FREE. WHEN YOU MINISTERED AT THAT ALABAMA CHURCH WHAT HAPPENED?
WELL IT WAS MIGHTY, WE HAD PEOPLE JUST FILLING THE ALTARS IN WORSHIP CRYING, I MEAN PEOPLE WERE LAID OUT ON THE FLOOR SAYING I FELT LIKE I WAS LITERALLY IN HEAVEN, I WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND PEOPLE WERE SEEING ANGELS AND HEARING, I HAVE EVEN HAD PEOPLE SAY I HEAR
ANGELS, SINGING, THAT HAS TO BE THE LORD. YOU KNOW I FEEL SUCH AN ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN IN THIS STUDIO NOW, IT JUST KIND OF FLOODED IN. AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I BELIEVE OCCURS WHEN HER MUSIC IS SUNG OR PLAYED IS IT MAKES YOUR AREA A DEMON
FREE ZONE, I GUESS THAT’S WHY PEOPLE SLEEP SO WELL. YES AND THEY PLAY IT IN THEIR CARS, I HAVE HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE EMAIL ME AND SAY YOUR CD IS PLAYING 24 HOURS A DAY IN OUR HOME AND OUR CHILDREN’S ROOM BECAUSE LIKE EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID
IT KEEPS THE ATMOSPHERE CLEAR AND FREE AND IT CREATES THAT OPEN HEAVEN SO IT IS EASY TO BREAK THROUGH INTO THAT SECRET PLACE OF WORSHIP. GRACE YOU HAVE AN UNUSUAL ANCESTRY. LET’S SEE IF I GET THIS RIGHT, YOUR GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER, PEOPLE SAID THAT WHEN HE WOULD SPEAK GOD’S WORD,
RATHER THAN ME SAY IT, WHAT DID THEY SAY ABOUT HIM? WELL HE WAS AN AMAZING MAN AND IT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM THAT HE LITERALLY CARRIED THE FIRE OF GOD AND PEOPLE WOULD SEE BURNING FLAMES IN HIS EYES AND HE PRAYED IN SOME OF HIS JOURNALS THAT HIS
SEED AND HIS CHILDREN’S CHILDREN CHILDREN WOULD CARRY THIS FIRE AND WOULD CARRY THE MANTEL AND IT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT HOW HE WOULD LITERALLY GLOW IN THE PULPIT AND SO I KNOW THAT WHAT HE PRAYED I AM WALKING IN THAT, THE GENERATIONAL BLESSING THAT
I AM WALKING IN AND I AM SEEING HIS PRAYERS COME TO PASS, IT IS AWESOME HE WAS LIKE A CIRCUIT RIDER PREACHER, EVANGELIST, HE WAS MOVING IN SIGNS AND WONDERS IN A TIME WHEN THAT WAS VERY, VERY UNHEARD OF. NOW PEOPLE SAY THIS ABOUT YOU,
TELL ME THAT LAST PERSON THAT SAID I SEE FIRE IN YOUR EYES. WELL I WAS AT AN AZUSA MEETING A FEW WEEKS AGO AND WE WERE CELEBRATING THE AZUSA EVENT AND I WAS WORSHIPPING AND PEOPLE WERE JUST GETTING SO BLESSED AND A LADY CAME UP
TO ME AFTERWARDS AND SHE GRABBED MY HAND AND SHE SAID I HAVE ALL YOUR CD’S, SHE SAID I AM SO GLAD TO KNOW YOU, AND SHE LOOKED IN MY EYES AND SHE SAID I SEE THE FIRE OF THE LORD IN YOUR EYES AND SHE SAID I SEE HIS BURNING LOVE.
THERE IS SUCH A PRESENCE OF GOD THAT I BELIEVE IN THIS ATMOSPHERE ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, I AM GOING TO ASK GRACE TO SING WITHOUT ANY MUSIC BUT JUST SING AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD TELLS HER WHAT TO SING, BUT I HAVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOU,
I GIVE ORDERS YOU KNOW, I DON’T KNOW IF YOU HAVE NOTICED OR NOT, I GIVE ORDERS, I ORDER YOU TO OPEN YOURSELF UP TO LOVE, NOW THAT IS NOT A TOUGH ASSIGNMENT, OPEN YOURSELF UP TO HEALING, OPEN YOURSELF UP TO THE MIRACULOUS, OPEN YOURSELF UP TO, YOU THAT ARE WEAK,
SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH, GRACE WOULD YOU SING. I SENSE THE LORD IS HEALING A WOMAN RIGHT NOW, YOU HAVE HAD, IT IS LIKE WHAT I AM GETTING IS LIKE A CHRONIC BROKEN HEART, YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH TRAUMA AFTER TRAUMA AFTER TRAUMA AND YOU HAVE BEEN EVEN TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE SUICIDAL RIGHT
NOW, AND YOU ARE WANTING TO TAKE YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE JUST WANTING TO END IT BECAUSE YOU CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE. AND RIGHT NOW GOD SAYS THAT IT IS NOT OVER, IT IS NOT OVER, HE IS FILLING YOU RIGHT NOW WITH HOPE FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE, JUST REACH OUT TO HIM
RIGHT NOW AND RECEIVE THAT, RECEIVE THAT LOVE RECEIVE THAT HEALING AND RECEIVE THAT HOPE, THAT SPIRIT OF HOPE IS COMING TO YOU IT IS LIKE IT IS INFUSING YOUR SPIRIT RIGHT NOW. IN JESUS NAME BE FREE, BE FREE TO LIVE, BE FREE TO LIVE AND WE THANK YOU LORD. [GRACE SINGS♪]
♪ THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN IS IN THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW ♪ THE PRESENCE OF HEAVEN IS TOUCHING YOU RIGHT NOW ♪ IT’S HEALING YOU RIGHT NOW, RESTORING YOU RIGHT NOW, ♪ ♪ AND IT IS FRESH OIL, FLOWING FROM HEAVEN ♪ IT IS FRESH OIL FLOWING FROM
HEAVEN ♪ JUST RECEIVE THAT FRESH OIL RIGHT NOW WHERE YOU ARE, ♪ IT IS TOUCHING YOU, CHANGING YOU MAKING ALL THINGS NEW ♪ THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN IS HEALING YOU RIGHT NOW. ♪ RESTORING YOU RIGHT NOW, YES IT IS, JUST RECEIVE IT,
♪ RECEIVE IT, LIFT YOUR HANDS AND RECEIVE IT, RIGHT NOW, ♪ RECEIVE IT RIGHT NOW, RECEIVE IT RIGHT NOW. ♪ HALLELUJAH, THANK YOU GOD. IF YOU EVER EXPERIENCED THE LOVE OF GOD YOU WOULD SAY GOD NEVER LET GO, THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS EARTH TO COMPARE WITH THE
LOVE OF GOD, YOU GET THE LOVE OF GOD BY A FREE GIFT FROM GOD, JESUS DIED IN YOUR PLACE, JUST SAY JESUS FORGIVE ME OF MY SINS, I BELIEVE YOU DIED IN MY PLACE, I MAKE YOU LORD OF MY LIFE, JESUS COME INSIDE OF ME, BE THE SHAR SHALOM,
THE PRINCE OF PEACE IN MY LIFE, AND JUST BASK IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN. JESUS, NEVER LET GO, JESUS NEVER EVER LET GO, [MUSIC♪] NEVER LET GO OF YOUR PEOPLE, NEVER.
We are all well aware of the suffering and evil in the world: horrific suffering, unthinkable evil. How then can anyone believe in the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God? And if God does exist, why would anyone want to worship Him? Epicurus framed the logical problem of suffering and evil like this:
If God is willing to prevent evil but not able, then he’s not all-powerful. If he is able to prevent evil but not willing, he is not good. But if he is both willing and able, how can evil exist? And if he is neither
Able nor willing, then why call him God? In other words, it’s logically impossible for God and suffering to both exist, but we know full well that suffering exists. Therefore, God does not. Is this a good argument? Let’s look at it more closely.
Are these two statements logically inconsistent? No; here is an example of two logically inconsistent statements. David can’t be both married and a bachelor, but there is no explicit contradiction between these two statements, so there must be hidden assumptions behind this argument that
Would bring out the alleged contradiction. Here they are. If God is all-powerful, he can create any world he wants, and if God is all-loving, he prefers a world without suffering. So if an all-powerful, all-loving God exists, it follows that suffering does not exist. Since suffering
Obviously does exist, the atheist concludes that God must not exist. But are the atheist’s two hidden assumptions necessarily true? Consider the first assumption. Can God create any world he wants? What if he want a world populated by people who have free will? It’s logically impossible for God to force
Someone to freely choose to do good. Forcing free choices is like making a square circle; it’s not logically possible. It’s not that God lacks the power to perform the task; it is that the supposed task itself is just nonsense. So
It may not be feasible to create a world populated by people who always freely choose to do what is morally good, so the first assumption is not necessarily true. Therefore, the argument fails, and what about the second assumption? Is it necessarily true that God would prefer a world without suffering? How could we
Possibly know this? We all know of cases where we permit suffering in order to bring about a greater good. If it’s even possible that God allows suffering in order to achieve a greater good, then we cannot say this assumption is necessarily true. For the logical problem of suffering to succeed, the atheist
Would have to show that it’s logically impossible that free will exists, and that it’s logically impossible that God has good reasons for permitting suffering. This burden of proof is too heavy to bear. It’s quite possible that God and suffering both exist. This is why philosophers, even atheist philosophers,
Have given up on the logical problem of evil. We can concede that the problem of evil does not after all show that the central doctrines of theism are logically inconsistent with one another. Some philosophers have contended that the existence of evil is logically
Inconsistent with the existence of a theistic God. No one I think has succeeded in establishing such an extravagant claim. It’s now acknowledged on almost all sides that the logical argument is bankrupt. But this is hardly the end of the discussion. We still need to explore the probability version of the problem of evil.
