Battle!

This week I was in a battle for the Gospel. A friend of mine is now in Israel and, somehow, ended up in a school of Rabbi's. He told me that he had lost his faith in Jesus Christ. I suspect he'd been convinced, by current company, that the Messiah is still to come, rather than still to come ........... BACK. After reading his long diatribe about how he has now found the real truth, I prayed for God to help me defend the Gospels. Following is my response.

Well Michael, my first reaction to your email was that you had made up your mind and just to let it go. I did, however, pray about it and I believe that God wants me to answer you comments about Christ’s death specifically. Rather than letting God reach you by someone else, God gave me Luke 15:4-7 as an answer.

4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

First let me say that I have no problem spelling out God. The bible tells me that I am a Priest and King through Christ Jesus. It also tells me that I can, Go boldly before the Thrown of God with my petitions, Heb 4:16. If I’m not sure what to say God promised that His Holy Spirit will give me utterance. So you see I don’t have to convince you of anything, God does. I’m not selling anything and there isn’t anything in it for me.

Let me start this off by asking you a very simple question. What if you are wrong? What if John 14:6-7 is true?

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

7 If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.

What if Luke 12:8-10 is true?

8 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

Lets start with a question you asked me. Your email was a run on of thought, fractured and hard for me to follow. That said, I was able to dissect one discernable question you had for me. This one got my attention.

Ask yourself this question Brad -

There is no extant record of any witness of Jesus. All extant works are stories written down by people who heard other people talk about Jesus 6 to 8 generations later..... The four gospels are not by any actual witnesses. They are accounts by people who knew other people who had heard Jesus.

Put in simpler terms; are the Gospels true, can we trust Mathew, Mark, Luke and John as historically reliable? Is Jesus a Liar, Lunatic or Lord.
So then lets begin.

You are correct there is no original copy of the New Testament. I don’t see that as being problematic and here is why. I would contend that there really are two questions here. One is the New Testament an accurate account of what the disciples of Jesus said and two is it an accurate account of the truth or a lie?

First why don’t we have the original?

If the original existed and one man had possession of it he could in effect change the word of God. We might see it as a relic and worship it, you know how people are. Finally, maybe we have not found it yet.

Is the New Testament an accurate account of what happened?

There are early, undisputed, manuscripts. One, called John Rylands fragment, is dated from approx. 114AD and contains verses from the book of John. The Magdalene fragment, containing verses from the book of Matthew, dates back to as early as 60AD.

There are as many as 5686 hand written manuscripts from within 25 years of the death of Jesus. Compare that to other historical writings such writings as:

Homer, earliest manuscript 500 years and only 643 have been found.
Herodotus, earliest manuscript 1400 years and only 8 found.
Plato earliest = 1200 years and only 7 manuscripts found.
Caesar = 1000 years and 10 found, and so on.

People don’t have a problem believing the writings of Plato, do they? However, the earliest manuscript of Plato is 1200 years after his death and there are only seven of them. By all accounts we should not believe that Plato ever existed, right? By the way I’m only listing the Greek “hand written” new testaments. If I added in the Latin, Syrac and the Coptic I could come up with more than 20,000.

Even if we didn’t have any of these manuscripts we could reconstruct the entire New Testament, with the exception of 11 verses, mostly from 3rd. John, based on the writings of the early church fathers, because they referred to it so much in their own writings. All of these hand written manuscripts have an accuracy rate of 99.7% or greater. The Monks who transcribed the bible, by hand, were only allowed two mistakes, Period! And while I’m thinking of it, Diocletianus, emperor before Constantine, ordered all new testaments burned. Maybe that’s why we don’t have the original?

You are probably going to ask for my “Proof” of how I can say we have hand written manuscripts from as early as 60AD. I have to qualify my answer by giving you some insight into how I think. I listen to what people do, rather than what they say.
No I didn’t type that wrong. What people “do” tells me more then what they say. Lets start with one we both know. Is O.J. Simpson guilty? Not was he found guilty, is he guilty?

If we take into account what he said; “I didn’t do it”, then no he’s not. But were his actions right after his wife was murdered, the “Normal Actions” of an innocent man?
I suggest that hiding in the back of a white Ford Bronco, threatening to commit suicide while being chased by the police down an L.A. freeway, is the natural reaction of a guilty man, not an innocent one. I would also suggest that if my wife had just been murdered and the police wanted to talk to me about it I would be telling them they better find who ever did it before I did or I would save them a costly trial by dispensing justice myself. I don’t think I would be threatening to kill myself ………….. that is unless I was guilty. The same logic can be applied to the disciples to see if they are being truthful or are lying.

Now that you have a foundation of how I think let me continue.

How do we know that we have an accurate account of actual events in the New Testament, rather than a myth? First in any public library there are early (90’sAD) commentaries on the New Testament. How can you have a commentary on something that has not been written yet? As you know the Jewish culture back then and even today is, and was, a very oral culture. Maybe when they were getting to the end of their lives they figured they better write these important events down.

Secondly, theologians agree that 1st. Corinthians was written by the mid 50’s AD. Why is that important? 1 Corinthians has eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ resurrection. Read 1 Corinthians 1:8 and you will see that Paul is an Eye Witness to Jesus’ resurrection. You say that the N.T. is just a story, a lie, passed from one person to the next. Well there is an eyewitness for you.

Colin Hemmer, a highly respected classic scholar and researcher did a line-by-line study of the book of Acts. He determined that the accounts of Paul in the book of Acts could be independently verified by other writings to a level of 99.9+ %. Also, that Acts was written in 62AD. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Thirdly, if I were one of the disciples and I were writing down the events of my life, including my time with Jesus, I would include things like when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70AD. Why is there no account of that anywhere in the Gospels? Could it be that it hadn’t happened yet? Let me give an example. Lets say that you were reading a book about the history of Manhattan. When you get to the end you hadn’t read one word about the terrorist attack on 9/11 or twin towers falling. Wouldn’t you contend that the book had been written prior to those tragic events? Wouldn’t a logical man make that assessment?

I just proofread my answer so far and it seems to have a “Defensive Tone” to it. Well I am commanded by my faith to Defend my faith. So rather than go back and change the tone, I’ll offer that as an explanation. I offer no apology for defending my faith.

Fourthly, why would you intentionally write a book that made you look stupid or uncaring? There are many accounts where the disciples admit they didn’t know what Jesus was talking about, wouldn’t you correct that before you wrote it for the entire world to see?

And while I’m on it why would you say that the women found Jesus gone from His tomb. Back in those times anything a woman said held no weight what so ever. Just to make things easier, since they were just making this all up anyway, wouldn’t you say that You found the tomb empty? That way people would put more stock in the story you were trying to sell.

Finally, the disciples were cowards even up to the night of Jesus’ arrest. Big tuff Peter, who claimed he would go to the death with Jesus, wimped out not once, but three times. This begs the question. How did the remaining disciples die? They were martyred for their faith. Why, what changed? If this was some elaborate conspiracy I have to ask what did they get out of the deal? Why hold to this lie for the remainder of their lives. Did they want to be in some exclusive club? A club that kept you broke, persecuted and in the end killed, for what?

No, I offer that something happened between the time Jesus was crucified on the cross and when they started the church. Something earth shaking happened in all of their lives to make them “Change” like they did. Something that shook them to the very core of who they were. Something that happened, not to a few of them, but ALL of them. Something like seeing Jesus resurrected.

You could offer that people die for the wrong reasons all the time. However, there is a difference from the schahid (suicide bombers) of the Muslim faith and these disciples. A young man in the Muslim faith will die for a lie if he believes it to be the truth, but Nobody will die for something they know is a lie! The disciples would have been in a position to know the truth of what they were claiming. Don’t you think that if this were a lie when it came down to the end one of them, just ONE would have admitted they had made it all up? I know some really strong people and I can tell you that even the best conspiracy will not hold water the more people you have involved. Someone is going to give in. Someone always breaks. Heck even in SEAR school you’re taught that you will eventually break down. It’s a fact that nobody holds out forever. How much more so when it’s a lie? Am I to believe that all eleven never broke? What would that pay off have been? Did their families get something out of it? All the disciples got was dead, in the world’s eyes.




Well, I can tell you what they got. They received the promise of eternal life with Jesus Christ. They knew it ahead of time. That is why Paul says in Romans 8:18-19

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.

How did Paul know this? Not to a reasonable certainty, but with every fiber in his being? He knew it because God showed him and he believed in His Son Jesus.

Isn’t it strange that this lie from these eleven phonies has lasted for over 2,000 years? That seems amazing to me, almost like a divine force of some sort is protecting it. More than one Jew has set out to disprove the New Testament and ended up becoming a believer. Why is that? Many of these guys are brilliant, how could they be fooled by a 2,000-year-old conspiracy from a bunch of cowards?

I could go on with evidence, but I suspect it won’t make any difference. You either believe, or you don’t. That takes us full circle to my initial question. What if you are wrong? Yes God commands us to seek Him and I commend you for doing so. I am as well, but I have not turned my back on His Son. Turning your back on your faith in Jesus Christ is a fatal mistake.

Michael, I understand that you have had a lot of things happen in your life and not all of them good. I also get it that, woven into the fabric of who you are, you need to believe in something and that something has to have a pursuit to it. You tend to dive in with your entire being, making it part of who you are.

You know the truth, you even know the mathematical odds of anyone other than Jesus being the Messiah are impossible to reconcile. You quote from the Old Testament. I ask you, who does that point to? Who else in history do all of the prophecies surrounding the Messiah point to? You know the answer to that as well as I do.

You are right when you say that God’s ways of thinking are as high as the heavens are above the earth compared to our thinking. That is why He had to make it simple for us. God’s plan of salvation was made easy for all of us to comprehend. I know when I teach a class on tactics I have to gear it to the least trained person in the class. That is what God has done. He’s made it so easy the simplest among us can understand it. I think for you it’s too simple. You need a quest, a problem to solve. I know because I’m much the same way. I’m seeking God, we all are. However, when I find a new truth I don’t throw away what I have already known.

In closing I’ll tell you a story of something that happened to me recently. I hired a guy to do some wiring in my shop. We got to talking about religion and I gave him the book Case for Christ.
A week later I asked him if he had read it and if so what he thought. He said he had read it and thought it all, and I quote, “bunch of crap”. Shocked I asked what part? He said all of it. I asked him to explain. He said; “Take for example the Jesus coming back from the dead thing. Well it’s obvious how he did it”. Curious, I said, well you’re going to have to let me in on it. He went on to explain that Jesus had a twin brother who was hidden all those years and appeared on the scene (for a month or so) just to get this religion started.

Stunned I asked for what possible reason would Jesus and (his twin brother) do this? Again, what was in it for them? He said; “Attention, everyone wants attention”.

This guy found it easier to believe this impossible story that wouldn’t make sense to a fool, than to believe that God may have brought His Son back to life.
I guess it’s true that God remains a mystery to some while others gain a level of understanding through faith.

Just remember.

John 3:16-18

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

I’ll pray for you.

Brad

Planting Seeds

Not long ago I hired a guy to do some tractor work around the house. I was manning the shovel and we seemed to make a good team. I just wished I were the one SITTING on the tractor.

At about noon we broke for lunch and the inevitable conversation. I told Joe he sure knew how to run that tractor and asked how he had gotten into the business. He said that he use to be the one “manning the shovel” and decided it would be better to be the one on the tractor. Joe saved his money and took the plunge, buying his own tractor and starting his own business. He said he was almost out of business before he got started. Joe explained he spent everything he had to purchase a brand new tractor. He put an add in the paper, but no one was calling. Joe had remained friends with his previous employer so one day he called him to ask what he was doing wrong. Knowing Joe was a natural on the tractor, the quality of Joe’s work wasn’t in question. His prior boss asked how he was advertising his services. Joe explained he had taken adds out in all the local papers and had even advertised his services at $25 per hour, one third the going rate.

Joe’s ex boss laughed and said, you’re problem is you are not charging enough. No one is going to hire you at such a low rate. Puzzled, Joe asked why, he knew he was good on the tractor, actually one of the best in the area. He certainly was available to work immediately and he was offering to work at 1/3 the going rate. What’s the problem? Joe’s old boss went on to explain that people wouldn’t think you are any good unless you charge more. It’s called "perceived value" and people think the more they pay, the more something is worth. Consequently, the less someone has to pay for something the less it’s worth, it’s the way people are wired. Joe’s wise old boss told him to raise his price to $75 per hour and he will have more work than he can handle.

Bewildered, Joe raised his price and the work started pouring in.

It was at this point that I said, you know God has the same problem? Joe said, what, who? I could see Joe was immediately confused. I explained that God send his Son Jesus down from heaven to be a sacrifice for man’s sins, so that we may go to heaven when we die. God even sweetened the deal by making it a free gift. All we have to do is accept the fact that Jesus is God’s Son and He willingly died as payment for our sins. Three days later He rose from the dead and is currently in heaven “preparing a place for us” (John 14: 2-4). If we acknowledge that, God has promises us eternity in heaven. I told Joe that since God made this deal “Free” people think there must be more to it, or that it’s too good to be true. Something for nothing just doesn’t happen now days, there is always a price. Just like Joe, people have a “perceived value” problem with what God is offering. If God had said; Be real good, give to the poor, go to church every Sunday etc… and I’ll let you into heaven, then we could justify it in our minds. However, since God said; Believe in My Son Jesus. Establish a relationship with him as your Lord and Savior and that’s it. No strings attached.

Joe left that day wondering. I had planted a seed because as a minister of the gospel, that’s now my job, plant seeds. It’s not up to me to make them grow, God said he’ll take care of that.

I’m not sure what impact my analogy had on Joe, if any. I just remember one day when I was manning a shovel, God showed up to remind me to “plant a seed”.

Checkmate!

The story goes that in the painting entitled "Checkmate!" a young man, has bet his soul in a game of chess with the devil. He has a look of dread on his face whereas the devil grins smugly across the table. Everyone who comes to look at the painting sees that the devil has reduced the young man to his King, a night, and a few scattered pawns. The young man is in the depths of dispair feeling that checkmate is inevitable.

The story continues that an old Chess Master comes and stares intently at the chess board. Suddenly he cries out, “It is a lie! The King and the Knight have another move!” The old chess master offers to take the place of the young man and finish off the devil.

This story is told to inspire hope that Christians always have another move, even when the devil has them cornered. In my mind there is even more to this story. I think it's obvious that the old Chess Master is really Jesus Christ. When we feel we have lost to the devil, Jesus offers to take our place in the game. When we feel like all is lost and the devil has won, the only move we have left is to step out of the game and let Jesus finish off the devil for us.

I'm off to the 2009 FCSA World Championships, wish me luck.

Stay Safe and God Bless you all,

Brad

Salvation is Free, Discipleship will cost you everything.(Billy Graham)

Promises

Did Moses ever enter the promise land? The standard answer is No. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone who has read the account of Moses would say that he made all of these sacrifices in his life and God wouldn't let him set foot into the promise land. Come on now is that fair? I hear all the time how there can't be a God because life is not fair. If there was a God there wouldn't be all this evil and suffering. To be honest I have had those same questions throughout my journey.

I notice that most Preachers, Pastors, Ministers etc... avoid that one like the plague, because the answer is tuff. How can we love a God that allows us to be hurt? We all tend to measure others, including God, by our own yard-stick.

So before I explain why you should believe in a God that allows evil I'm going to ask that you participate. My question is: Has Moses entered the promise land?

Spreading the Gospel to the Long Range Rifle Community

My first Blog.

I'm sitting here thinking about the world, God's Kingdom, the past and the future. My mind goes to Saul and his Damascus road experience with the risen Jesus. I think about how he must have felt ordering the stoning death of Stephen and hearing Stephen forgiving him as he lay dying. Saul, the persecutor of the Christians who became Paul, returned to the Jewish leaders that had sent him to exterminate the remaining Christians.

He tried to tell them the truth about Jesus and how His followers lived their faith to the end, but they turned on him and ordered his death. He then went back to the Christians, but they remembered how he had persecuted them and for the most part rejected him too. At this point Paul seems like a man without a country and without a people. Kind of like how I feel sometimes. I no longer fit into my previous world and I don't seem to fit into the generic Christian world either.


God saw this and sent Barnabus to walk with Paul on his path to spread the Gospel. I'm pretty sure that if God had not sent another Christian to trust Paul, he would have lost faith. After Paul's Damascus Road meeting with Jesus he lived in this "limbo state" for 9 years. Surely Paul's short time with Jesus impacted him enough to keep his faith strong for those 9 years.

What an honor for Stephen to have the privilege to die for his faith in Christ. I sometimes wonder if God will give me the honor of dieing for my faith? I always thought I would die in the service of my country and the people I had sworn to protect, but it seems God has other plans for me.


When Paul and Silus were thrown into jail God sent an earthquake to open the doors. Paul was brave enough to stick around, thus converting his jailer. Would I have thought about that, or seen it as an opportunity to escape? Will I be brave enough Not To Fight? Looking at Pauls life I have to wonder at what point did he know he was being blessed by God? I see this world and in particular, this country, slipping quickly into a culture without God, His influence or protection.


When a contestant for Ms. America is attacked by everyone for saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman and nobody, or very few, come to her defense. Worse yet, they think and say there is something wrong with her. People need to remember that the institution of marrage was first created by God Himself. How errogant to think we can change God's grand design?


If things go like they appear to be going in this country it will soon be a "Hate Crime" to teach from Romans and many other books of the bible. Will Men of God stand firm in the days to come? Will we be the men of honor? Will we draw a line in the sand and say; "This far and No farther"? What will the tipping point be?

Personally my weakness is my wife. If you want to get to me, go through her. Hurt my wife and you can hurt me worse than any torture. Satan seems to know that too. I could go on, but what would be the point. I think most men who love their wives can be manipulated in this way.


There is an old Chinese saying that goes; "May You live in interesting times" Well there is that, we do live in very interesting times. Like Paul at the end of his life, are we on a path toward Rome, to the end? Is there a Nero waiting for us? Can we stand firm in my faith to the end? Will I be able to say, like Paul, I have fought the good fight? Will I hear the words I long to hear; "Well done good and faithful servant"?

I have lived a full and action packed life and, for the most part, come out the other end a better man for it. I now see my goal, in addition to spreading the Gospels to the competitors of the Long Rifle Community, to lead others along this path to Salvation. So many people have been living on the fence for so long, refusing to take a side. Well that fence is dissolving and everyone is going to fall on one side or the other. No longer will people be able to "Not Make A Decision" because in doing so,....................... they have made a decision. Like the old country & western song says; "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything".


I remember a conversation I had with a very intelligent atheist. After giving me all his reasons why God didn't / couldn't exist I was at a loss to counter point his arguments. He seemed to know more about God, Jesus and the bible than I did. It was then that I decided that I needed more formal training in God's Word if I was ever going to be able to defend my faith.

However, I said a quick prayer and this is what God gave me to say. "Well John if you are right we both have no hope. If I am right and their is a God and His Son is Jesus and he lived, died and rose from the dead for my sins, then you have no hope. Either way YOU have NO hope. After a long moment he said; "Well done, that has given me a lot to think about". Now where did that come from, except from God's Holy Spirit?

I pray that God will bless you all with the knowledge that their is peace and tranquility available through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Like I said, we live in stressful times and we could all use some peace and comfort. Jesus promises that the "Peace that passes understanding" is available through a relationship with Him. If you want to know more about God's word or how to have a relationship with Him, please let me know because I can help. As the fence slowly desolves we all are being forced to choose.

Dig out your bible and read Paul's story for yourself. If you don't have a bible, it would be my honor to send you one. Just drop me note at ChiefBDT@gmail.com




God Bless,


Brad