Undeniable Proof—Every Jot & Every Tittle (XXXIV)

I Thessalonians 5:21:

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

How is this done in the light of a universally common problem described in Proverbs 14:12:

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

The confusion is enormous, so how do I know?

The proof of all things begins on a spiritual platform.  The invisible God who created all physical things is a Spirit; therefore, as a matter of seniority and authority, the spirit reigns totally and without exception over all-natural analysis. 

The believer knows he or she is a child of God—not because of great analytic skills or because he or she belongs to a particular church, but rather because he or she has been born in the Spirit unto God.  The believer’s pedigree is an internal, spiritual endorsement that is not dependent upon any outside, natural source.  Romans 8:14-16:

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Proof and truth are kinsmen.  Jesus speaks of Himself in John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus Christ is the truth, and that claim can only be proven through faith that worketh by love.  Christ must be embraced through faith, not analytics.  But, be assured all the analytics desired will follow, as this website demonstrates weekly. 

Have you found Jesus Christ, the truth and the proof of the Gospel of life?  Have you been born again?  Will today be the day of your salvation, where all your sin and shame are expunged, and where all—and I mean absolutely all—of Satan’s bondages broken?  Today, you are in the “valley of decision” and just minutes away from the greatest miracle of all time if you’ll follow me in this simple prompt.  Here it comes:  Click onto “Further with Jesus”  for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 1:27:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

GOD SAID, Psalm 139:16:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

GOD SAID, Matthew 17:27:

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

MAN SAID: God is dead!  Evolution proves God and His Bible are no longer relevant in this enlightened and erudite world.  Hit the bricks, God! 

Now THE RECORD:  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 954 that will again prove the marvelous inerrancy of God’s supernatural, beautiful Book.  All of these magnificent features are archived here for your edification and as ammunition in the battle for the souls of men. Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.  Thank you for coming.  May grace and truth be multiplied unto you. 

When one approaches the Holy Bible in faith and obedience with ear bowed down, the marvels of  the Book emerge.  Remember, truth comes by faith, and the proof—all the proof you could ever need, follows.  This is feature 34 in the GodSaidManSaid “Jot and Tittle” series where, in rapid fashion, we list proof after proof.  Today, we offer God-proofs 250 to 256.

250. Psalm 139:14:

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Men marvel at the wonders of nature and then attribute this most marvelous creation to the most inglorious and ridiculous events. 

The following sentence is from R.O. Muncaster’s book, Examine the Evidence:  It would take a minimum of 100 years of the Cray Supercomputers’ time to simulate what takes place in your eye every second.Psalm 14:1:

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

251. Matthew 17:24-27:

24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?

25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.

27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Of course, it seems absurd to the skeptics—to those who can’t imagine that God interacts in the daily affairs of men—but it is true, of course:

God intervenes in the lives of men, many times demonstrated by the unnatural use of natural things. The following excerpt is from thebook Evidence for the Historical Jesus:

Even some of Jesus’ strangest miracles are at home in this setting around the Sea of Galilee. One family of fish dwelling in this sea is called Cichlidae—or mouth-breeders. It is found only in Lake Victoria (Uganda), along the Nile River and in the Sea of Galilee. Cartographer Dr. Jim Fleming, who teaches classes in archaeology and historical geography at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, explains its significance:

The female keeps the eggs in her mouth until they hatch. As the brood begins to grow, she lets them out from time to time on an "outing," but quickly scoops them up when danger is near. The mother will fast until near starvation in order not to swallow her young. These strong instincts have given the Hebrew name of the fish "The Mother-Fish." After the young are off on their own the mother often keeps a substitute in her mouth. They are sometimes caught today with pebbles or Coke bottle caps in their mouths! The popular name for the fish is "St. Peter’s fish" because of the gospel story in Matthew 17:24-27 about Peter catching a fish with a shekel coin in its mouth. [End of quote]

The ministering angels of the Lord very clearly affect physical things, as demonstrated in acts of judgment as well as in acts of ministry to God’s children, and Matthew 17 is a perfect example of the unnatural use of natural things.  Of course, God first created the appropriate fish, and then coordinated the dropping of the coin in the water, the designated fish gobbling up the coin in its mouth, and finally Peter to drop the hook in the right place and time. 

252. II Kings 2:11-14:

11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;

14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

Is God’s history correct?  Are His described champions real and credible?

The following statement headlines a July 23, 2013 feature on CBN.com:  “Have Archaeologists Found Prophet Elisha’s House?”

Tel Rehov, Israel—During 16 years of excavating Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, archaeologists uncovered a 3,000-year-old, well-planned city.

They also found a unique building that might have been the house of Elisha the prophet. 

“The house was full of objects of unique types…two pottery altars that were used for burning incense,” archaeologist Ami Mazar told CBNNews.

Outside the backroom were incense altars that may have been used to make an offering to God before entering the house to hear the prophet’s message. 

During excavations, archaeologists discovered a special room inside the house with a table and a bench.  They also discovered a pottery shard with the name Elisha on it, dated to the 9^th century.

The discovery has led some to believe this was the room of the prophet Elisha.

“We found an ink inscription written in red ink on pottery, but it is broken, unfortunately,” Mazar said.  “But we reconstructed the name as Elisha.” 

The prophet Elisha was born about seven miles from Tel Rehov in Avel Mehola and went throughout the kingdom of Israel, from Jericho to Samaria to Shunam. 

“You know I cannot say for sure this particular Elisha that we found is the Biblical Elisha,” Mazar said.  “You know it is very difficult to say, but it is very tempting because it is exactly the period when Elisha acted—the second half of the 9^th century B.C.” 

Archaeologist Stephen Pfann calls the evidence compelling.

“With only six other people by the name of Elisha known in that time for a couple of centuries on either side, we can somehow believe that either this was just the luck that this holy man went also by the name of Elisha, or this was Elisha the prophet himself,” Pfann told CBN News.

Another discovery pointing to the prophet Elisha is two different inscriptions mentioning the family of Nimshi. 

For Cary Summers, who heads Nazareth Village, it’s even more special.

“Well, it’s like any other archaeological site, in essence…every scoop of dirt it proves the Bible, one scoop at a time.  And this site is absolutely magnificent dealing with the prophet Elisha,” Summers told CBN News.  [End of quotes]

II Kings 2: 6, 8-9:

6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

I haven’t counted, but one Bible commentator reports that Elisha performed exactly twice the miracles as Elijah the prophet. 

253. Mark 16:15-16, Romans 12:3:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

God did not choose IQ, beauty, strength, wealth, or power as the means by which men can find favor or communicate with Him—He chose faith.  Those who impress God are those who are strong in faith.  Satan, on the other hand, is also impressed with faith, but in a very negative way.  Satan does not fear man or his weapons.  He does not fear knives, guns, nor atomic bombs.  What does scare the hell out of the devil is faith that worketh by love:

Mankind was created with a spiritual interconnect that we might, through faith, interface with and communicate with God, our Creator.  Hebrews 11:6:

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Numerous GodSaidManSaid features address neuroscience’s recent discoveries that humanity is hardwired for faith, even as the Word of God declares thousands of years prior.  The following paragraphs are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Measure of Faith:”

Could it be possible that science is beginning to catch a glimpse of God’s creative plan?  Is it possible that God, in the original design of man, hard-wired him to function spiritually via faith, or, as the Word of God records, “as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”?  All believers understand, at one level or another, that faith is the only currency in the Kingdom of God.  Beginning with initial salvation all the way to eternal life, faith is required.  Nothing good in the Kingdom of God can be obtained without faith. 

For years, academic unbelievers claimed that man created God and not the other way around.  Their position was that faith in any god was a societal crutch used to answer the hard questions of what lies beyond life, and that the IQ-challenged find the concept of God rewarding.  The headline of the October 25, 2004 issue of Time magazine reads, “The God Gene,” and the subhead reads, “Does our DNA compel us to seek a higher power?   Believe it or not, some scientists say yes.”  [End of quote]

Jeffrey Kluger authored the article in Time magazine titled “Is God in Our Genes?”  This is one excerpt:

“Even among people who regard spiritual life as wishful hocus-pocus, there is a growing sense that humans may not be able to survive without it.” 

Kluger continues:

Nowhere has that idea received a more intriguing going-over than in the recently published book The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into Our Genes, by molecular biologist Dean Hamer.  Chief of Gene Structure at the National Cancer Institute, Hamer not only claims that human spirituality is an adaptive trait, but he also says he has located one of the genes responsible, a gene that just happens to also code for production of the neurotransmitters that regulate our moods. [End of quote]

Again, Kluger writes:

Those religious believers who are comfortable with the idea that God genes are the work of God should have little trouble making the next leap: that not only are the genes there, but they are central to our survival, one of the hinges upon which the very evolution of the human species turned.  It’s an argument that’s not terribly hard to make.  For one thing, God is a concept that appears in human cultures all over the globe, regardless of how geographically isolated they are.  When tribes living in remote areas come up with a concept of God as readily as nations living shoulder to shoulder, it’s a fairly strong indication that the idea is preloaded in the genome rather than picked up on the fly.  If that’s the case, it’s an equally strong indication that there are very good reasons it’s there.  [End of quote]

Michael Persinger, professor of behavioral neuroscience at Laurentain University in Sudbury, Ontario, had this to say on the subject:  “Anticipation of our own demise is the price we pay for a highly-developed frontal lobe.  In many ways [a God experience is] a brilliant adaptation.  It’s a built-in pacifier.”  [End of quote]

God created man with the ability to communicate and function in the realm of faith.  It’s man’s choice whether he’ll participate.  Thousands of years before man begins to understand the reasons why, God declares it in His Word.  This is proof that God is.  Seek Him while He may be found. [End of quotes]

254. Genesis 1:26-27:

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Was Adam a Sunday school illusion?  Was he a grunting caveman? 

One of the most read of all ancient historians is Joseph ben-Matthias, more commonly known as Josephus.  He was born in 37 AD, just a few years after the crucifixion of our Lord.  He was present at the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.  He asked for the records and books in the temple and his request was granted.  In Book One of The Antiquities of the Jews, in chapter two, we find the following concerning Adam and Seth:

Now Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth, (for our discourse must now be about him,) after Abel was slain, and Cain fled away on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a vehement desire of children. He had indeed many other children, but Seth in particular.  As for the rest, it would be tedious to name them; I will therefore only endeavor to give an account of those that proceeded from Seth.  Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, became a virtuous man; and as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his virtues.  All these proved to be of good dispositions.  They also inhabited the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes falling upon them, till they died.  They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order.  And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam’s prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars; the one of brick, the other of stone:  they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them.  Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.  [End of quote]

Was Adam a grunting caveman?  The following is from T. Mortenson’s book, Searching for Adam:

God also provided Adam with language and understanding.  He spoke to Adam and Adam understood and was able to communicate as well.  Furthermore, when God presents Eve, the first woman, to Adam, he breaks out in poetry (Genesis 2:23)!

This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.

Adam was created in all the splendor of God’s perfect creation, blessed and loved by God, and pronounced “very good” by the Creator of the world. We have good reason to conclude that he was indeed an incredibly intelligent man—no doubt Eve was as well. [End of quote]

255. Genesis 11:1-9:

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another''s speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

A fairytale?  Not hardly!  Earlier in this series, GodSaidManSaid addressed the Tower of Babel, where men decided to rebel against God’s instructions, deciding to build a tower unto Heaven.  At this time, all the world spoke one common language.  Josephus wrote the following concerning Babel in his book, The Antiquities of the Jews:

Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work; and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than anyone could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them divers languages; and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon; because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion. The Sibyl also makes mention of this tower, and of the confusion of the language, when she says thus:—“When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to heaven; but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower, and gave every one his peculiar language; and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon.” [End of quote]

256. Psalm 139:13-16:

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother''s womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

In the “Jot & Tittle” series, we discussed Psalm 139, written about 3,000 years ago, which gives a perfect description of DNA, which only began to be opened up to scientific understanding in the 1950s.  The following additional information comes from Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for a Creator; Mr. Strobel interviews a converted evolutionist, Dr. Michael Behe.  Dr. Behe’s bio boasts the following:

Behe grew up on the other side of Pennsylvania.  He received a degree in chemistry with honors from Drexel University and a doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.  After post-doctorate research at the University of Pennsylvania and the National Institutes of Health, he joined Lehigh’s faculty in 1985.  He also served on the Molecular Biochemistry Review Panel of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at the National Science Foundation. 

He has authored forty articles for such scientific journals as DNA Sequence, The Journal of Molecular Biology, Nucleic Acids Research, Biopolymers, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Biophysics, and Biochemistry.  He has lectured at the Mayo Clinic and dozens of schools, including Yale, Carnegie-Mellon, the University of Aberdeen, Temple, Colgate, Notre Dame, and Princeton.  He is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, and other professional organizations. 

Behe has contributed to several books, including Mere Creation, Signs of Intelligence, and Creation and Evolution.  He was catapulted into the national spotlight, however, by his enigmatically titled and award-winning bestseller, Darwin’s Black Box.  According to David Berlinski, author of A Tour of the Calculus, Behe’s book “makes an overwhelming case against Darwin on the biochemical level” through an argument “of great originality, elegance, and intellectual power.”  Added Berlinski: “No one has done this before.” [End of quotes]

Behe, once an evolutionist, began to question Darwin; reading Michael Denton’s book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, confirmed his skepticism.  Denton, by the way, was an agnostic.  Strobel’s interview with Behe reveals the following:

Spurred on by Denton’s book, Behe began scouring the scientific literature in search of the detailed Darwinian explanations he had always assumed were there.  Time after time, he found scientists describing complex, interlocking biological systems and basically saying, “Isn’t it wonderful how natural selection put this together?”  The howwas always missing. 

That’s when Behe realized that as a biochemist, he was perfectly situated to investigate whether the evidence points towards Darwinism or God as the source for living organisms.  After all, life is essentially a molecular phenomenon. If Darwinian evolution is going to work, it has to succeed at the microscopic level of amino acids, proteins, and DNA.  On the other hand, if there really was a designer of the world, then His fingerprints were going to be all over the cell.

And the cell is Behe’s world—an incredible, intricate, Lilliputian world where a typical cell takes ten million million atoms to build.  Once scientist described a single-cell organism as a high-tech factory, complete with:

Artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory banks for informational storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving the principle of prefabrication and modular construction … [and] a capacity not equaled in any of our own most advanced machines, for it would be capable of replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours. 

Shaking off his preconceptions as best he could, Behe began to scrutinize the molecular evidence with new eyes.  Ultimately, he would summarize his stunning conclusions in what the National Review would call one of the most important non-fiction books of the twentieth century.  [End of quote]

Science calls DNA “the book of life,” and so does Psalm 139.

Proverbs 23:23:

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

GOD SAID, Genesis 1:27:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

GOD SAID, Psalm 139:16:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

GOD SAID, Matthew 17:27:

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

MAN SAID: God is dead!  Evolution proves God and His Bible are no longer relevant in this enlightened and erudite world.  Hit the bricks, God!

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

GodSaidManSaid, “All The World Once Spoke One Common Language”

GodSaidManSaid, “Archaeologists and Elisha’s House”

GodSaidManSaid, “Atheists Do Not Exist!”

GodSaidManSaid, “St. Peter’s Fish”

GodSaidManSaid, “The Critics and Adam’s Penmanship”

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