Faith is the only acceptable key to the Kingdom of God.  Without faith, Hebrews 11:6 states it’s impossible to please God.  Initial entry into the Kingdom of God as His sons and daughters requires faith.  Romans 10:9-10:

9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Faith is the currency of the Kingdom and the more you have, the more you’re able to purchase, unto the glory of God.  God did not choose intellect, beauty, strength, nobility, or power as the key that opens the door.  God chose childlike faith.  Faith is the gold standard and without it there is no hope of redemption.  The Bible’s definition of faith is Hebrews 11:1:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Jesus Christ is the source of the Christian’s faith.  Are you prepared to place your faith in the King of Glory?  Are you prepared to repent and turn from your sins?  Would you like to be born-again in Christ Jesus and begin the grand journey of faith?  We have good news!  Today is the day of salvation.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for instruction for immediate entry into the Kingdom of God via childlike faith.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

GOD SAID, Psalms 119:160:

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

MAN SAID: The Bible is a book of ancient fables, and simple-minded, uneducated Christians cling to it.

Now THE RECORD.  Thank you for coming.  May God bless you and your house with Light and Truth.  Knowing that God’s Word is the inerrant and very source of truth, and the authority on every issue addressed, is essential to life and life “more abundantly” (John 10:10).  Listed on the navigation bar on your left are the four proof categories used by GodSaidManSaid, which prove scholastically and pragmatically that God is, that He authored the Holy Bible and will hold all men accountable to it at a soon-coming judgment day.  There are presently 380 feature articles on this website archived in text and streaming audio.  This number grows by one, God willing, every Thursday evening.

The first scientific proof category listed is “Archaeology.”  In this category, we also employ ancient secular history and paleontology.  In this section, the impeccable reliability of the Bible’s historic account is proved, miracles and all.  Magnificent accounts laid down by God from the age of the earth (which is accurately chronicled by Bishop Ussher to have begun October 23, 4004 B.C.) to the Garden of Eden, Noah’s ark, the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, giants, Moses, Joshua and Jericho, dinosaurs, and much more, are covered in the “Archaeology” section.  This week’s feature is the 35^th archaeology topic.

God’s Word is a reliable eyewitness record.  Genesis 23:1-20:

1  And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.

2  And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

3  And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

4  I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

5  And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

6  Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

7  And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

8  And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

9  That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.

10  And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,

11  Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

12  And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.

13  And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.

14  And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,

15  My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

16  And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

17  And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure

18  Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.

19  And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

20  And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

This great man of God, Abraham, the very patriarch of faith, lived about 4,000 years ago.  Is the Genesis account given by God unto Moses accurate?  Is there any existing record or monument?

Two thousand years ago, King Herod built a colossal monument that enshrines the burial place of Abraham and his dead.  The following excerpts are from an article in Biblical Archaelogy Review, titled, “The City of the Patriarchs Slowly Yields Its Secrets:”

When modern tourists visit Hebron, they focus almost exclusively on the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a magnificent shrine built 2,000 years ago during the Herodian period over the traditional site of the Cave of Machpelah.  The Bible tells us the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah were all buried there.  The relative dimensions of the structure, and even the style of its ashlar masonry, are similar to the great Temple Mount enclosure wall that Herod built in Jerusalem, on the site where Solomon had built the First Temple and where the exiles returning from Babylon built a more modest structure that Herod replaced.

More visitors depart unaware that just a thousand yards to the west, easily visible from the shrine, is the mound that was the site of the ancient Biblical city of Hebron.  The hill, called Jebel er-Rumeide in Arabic, rises prominently above the surrounding buildings in the center of the modern city.  [End of quote]

The record says YES to Father Abraham and the Cave of Machpelah.

Approximately 3,000 years ago, a young lad named David slew a nearly 10-foot-tall giant named Goliath.  As you should expect, the skeptics totally discredit this scriptural account.  Now a pottery discovery in Gath, the home town of the Bible’s Goliath, has raised some eyebrows.  The following paragraph is from Biblical Archaeology Review of March/April 2006:

Two names scratched onto a small sherd of pottery are all that appear in the oldest Philistine inscription ever found.  Though the names are Philistine—the one on the right may be the equivalent of Goliath—the letters themselves are Semitic, thus demonstrating that the Philistines (a sea-faring people from the Aegean) absorbed aspects of Semitic culture once they settled on the coast of modern Israel.  [End of quote]

The headline in Biblical Archaeology Review reads, “Tel Halif: In the Path of Sennacherib.”  This king of Assyria, an enemy of the children of Israel, waged war against them in the days of Hezekiah.  The Bible tells the story that took place approximately 2,700 years ago.  The following paragraphs are from the article mentioned above:

“I laid waste the large district of Judah and made the overbearing and proud Hezekiah, its king, bow in submission,” boasts Sennacherib, monarch of Assyria, in a preserved cuneiform inscription.  “I laid seige to 46 of his strong cities: ... and conquered (them),” Sennacherib elsewhere claims, obviously hoping to secure his place in history.  And indeed he has.

The Bible records this campaign in two separate accounts, once in the Book of Kings and again in Chronicles.  “King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified towns” (II Chronicles 32:1).  Sennacherib’s hordes attacked Judah, according to II Kings 18:13 “in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,” probably 701 B.C.  The Bible texts conform to Sennacherib’s own description by admitting that “King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified towns of Judah.”

Both Sennacherib’s account and the Biblical accounts are clear, however, that Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) was unable to capture the prize, although he had it under siege: Jerusalem.  According to the Bible, Jerusalem was saved by a miracle.  No explanation is given by Sennacherib—only that he “made [Hezekiah] a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.”  Sennacherib apparently was unable to break into the birdcage, however.  [End of quote]

Archaeologists discovered the ancient prism of Sennacherib that makes his boast of his exploits against the Jews.  It reads in part:

As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered (them) by means of well-stamped (earth-)ramps, and battering-rams brought (thus) near (to the walls) (combined with) the attack by foot soldiers, (using) mines, breeches as well as sapper work.  I drove out (of the villages) 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered (them) booty.  Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.  [End of quote]

It’s true that much of Israel, because of their sins, fell to the Assyrian king, but God delivered the Godly Hezekiah by His Holy hand.  The record reads in II Chronicles 32:1-8, 15-22:

1  After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

2  And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

3  He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

4  So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

5  Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

6  And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,

7  Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

8  With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

15  Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?

16  And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.

17  He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.

18  Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.

19  And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.

20  And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.

21  And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.

22  Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.

Then again in II Kings 19:35 it reads:

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

God’s Word and ancient history agree perfectly.

GOD SAID, Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

GOD SAID, Psalms 119:160:

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

MAN SAID: The Bible is a book of ancient fables, and simple-minded, uneducated Christians cling to it.