Where was God Sept. 11, 2001?

He watched what sinful man chose to do and was grieved

By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com

When we are struck by a tragedy, we often hear non-Christians and Christians raise the age-old question, "Why would a caring God allow that to happen?"

For example, we hear grumblings that God could have forced the Islamic terrorists of Sept. 11, 2001, to miss the Pentagon in Washington, The World Trade Center buildings in New York, and prevent the plane crash in rural Pennsylvania, but He didn't. The net result was 3,000 innocent deaths. Why didn't He intervene?

God chose not to intervene because God gives us freewill. That freewill allows us to help or kill one another. It allows for cruelty to the maximum degree. It allowed us to crucify our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that God is grieved when they happen. It is not what He wants for us.

Although saddened, God seldom interferes with what fallen man conspires.

There are several times in the Bible when God expressed sadness and anger over the conduct of His creation.

1.He was grieved to have brought on the great flood which drowned all but Noah and his family who were saved by the ark he built.

Genesis 6:5-10 is sobering: "When the Lord God saw the extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men's lives were only toward evil, he was sorry he had made them.”  It broke His heart.

"And he said, 'I will blot out from the face of the earth all mankind that I created. Yes, and the animals too, and the reptiles and the birds. For I am sorry I made them.'

"But Noah was a pleasure to the Lord. He was the only righteous man living on the earth at that time."

2. God was grieved about the whining Israelites after He led them out of slavery in Egypt to Canaan (Israel) with Moses at the helm. Psalms 95:10-11 states, "For forty years I watched them in disgust. They were a nation whose thoughts and heart were far away from me. They refused to accept my laws."

3. God became upset with the holy-Joe Pharisees as told in Mark 3:5. Jesus is talking: "Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need..."

4. Jesus was despaired in the Garden of Gethsemane before his betrayal and crucifixion as Matthew 26:37 notes, "He took Peter with Him and Zebedee's two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair."

5. Jesus was vexed over Jerusalem. Luke 13:34 reports Jesus as lamenting, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her brood under her wings, but you would not let me."

6. When Jesus saw the wailing at the news of the death of Lazarus and seeing that Mary nor the Jewish leaders exhibited no hope that Jesus could (but did) bring him back to life, "Jesus wept." That, the shortest verse in the Bible, is found in John 11:35.

7. God became fed up with the sinfulness of Sodom and, in this case, took direct action and destroyed the city by fire. Genesis 18:19 says, "Their sin is very grievous."

Anne Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and a renowned author/speaker, offered the following thoughtful insight about God and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a TV interview.

"I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of government and to get out of our lives," Graham said.

"And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"

Essentially, we have only ourselves to blame for this because we have many times ordered God out of our lives, thus leaving a vacuum for Satan and his followers to sweep in.We have demeaned God to an "X", as in Xmas.

The following are observations that have been circulated widely amongst Christians on the Internet. The writer is not named.

“We (the US) watched in the 1960s as atheist Madeline O'Hare successfully had prayer banned in public-funded schools.

“Next, the Bible was excluded from the classroom.

“Then we went along when Dr. Benjamin Spock who said we shouldn't spank children for misbehaving because we might damage their self- esteem. (Spock's son committed suicide, by the way.)

“Some parents said teachers and principals shouldn't discipline their children when they misbehave. The action wasn't spawned because of abuses. Still, we said okay.

“Then someone suggested that pregnant students be allowed to have abortions and their parents need not be informed. We went along with it.

“Free condoms became available at schools in confidants. Parents shrugged. We bought the argument that pornography is simply appreciation of the female body.

“Hollywood began to serve up more and more TV programs and movies where casual sex and use of illegal drugs are exploited to the point where we are no longer alarmed.

“Rap and rock lyrics praise Satan, applaud drugs, rape, murder, and suicide. We put up with it.

“And we wonder why many kids—and adults—today kill their classmates and strangers for no apparent good reason.”

The Bible is bang on when it states that, "We reap what we sow." We have indeed sold out.

If a student today were to ask God why He didn't save the child shot in a classroom, God would be justified in replying, "Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God."

Bizarre, isn’t it?  Apply the logic of cause and effect, and this we-get-what-we-chose scenario computes nicely.

It's odd that we trash God and then wonder why the world is going to Hell. It's strange why we believe what TV and the newspapers say, but deeply question what the Bible says.

It is odd thinking how everyone wants to go to Heaven provided we do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.

It's ridiculous how someone can say, "I believe in God", but follows Satan who, by the way, also "believes" in God but is going to Hell.

It’s strange that we forward thousands of jokes to e-mail acquaintances, but hesitate about passing along thoughtful messages regarding God.

We trade Christmas cards which call for "Peace on earth," failing to include the preface to that verse which, in full, reads, "Glory to God in the highest", then "peace on Earth and good will toward men."

It makes no sense that we will not forward stories like this because we are concerned that friends might think we're sensational. It seems we are more worried about what people will think of us than what God will think of us.

We would rather sit back and continue complaining about the bad shape the world is in and wonder why no one is standing up for the truth?

We must not forget that God cares for us despite what we cause in this sin-ridden, God-rejecting world. He paid our sin debt with His blood and rose from the dead. He provides the only Way to Heaven. He gives us free choice where we will spent eternity.

YES, JESUS DIED AND AROSE

   
By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com

Recently, I had a brief Internet chat exchange with a friendly stranger from Toronto, Canada.

I’m not one to argue or debate, but this guy slowly edged me into the ring with his insistence that the Bible does not support the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ died and arose again from the dead to pay for our sins.

Like other Muslims, he insisted that Jesus was just a heralded prophet and not the Son of God who paid for our sins.

“I have read a lot of your Bible,” he said. “I have not seen anywhere where it says Jesus died on a cross and came back to life.”

“Oh,” I responded. “You may have surfed over a few dozen passages.”

He then posted this website which he said proves that the body of Jesus Christ reposes in the Kan Yar section of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, India: http://www.tombofjesus.com/

I wrote him a day later with this website which shows many verses in the Bible that point out that Jesus did die and come back to life: http://www.jesusemptytomb.com/the-resurrection/jesus-resurrection/scripture-reference-guide-to-jesus-resurrection.html

The photo above of the tomb in Jerusalem is likely where the body of Messiah Jesus spent three days following His crucifixion and from where He arose from the dead.

It is located next to a hill where most scholars believe is the location of His death.

Just One Way to Heaven? C'mon

By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com

Perhaps the mother of all questions when it comes to religion is: Does it really matter which belief system one chooses to plug into, because all roads lead to Heaven, right?

The answer is terribly important, of course, because if only one road leads to eternal Heaven we had better make sure we're on it.

Popular thinking would have us believe that an all-loving God will welcome everyone into Heaven providing we do our best while on earth. Broader still, God will embrace even the atheist who, while alive, may have loudly blasted that there is no God. God is all-forgiving, all-merciful. He's a sponge of love. Hmm.

The Bible says Jesus is the only way to Heaven. John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.”

I recently overheard a conversation between a Bible-believing evangelical and a guy who maintained that God is not so narrow as to restrict Himself to one Book, one Way. The conversation went like this:

Broad-is-the-way Guy: “The route we choose is not determined by us, really. I have to believe that Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, the lot, will all be welcomed to some kind of a great after-life. Don't expect me to believe that those who don't accept your Jesus are doomed to an eternal Hell. Many other books are considered as sacred as your Bible.”

Bible guy: “I do base my spiritual beliefs on the Bible and that it is the one-and-only inspired Word of God. The Bible claims that it is God's way to Heaven, and is the only way to Heaven. It describes the Way to Heaven as being narrow and the road to Hell as being broad. God's route to Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for all mankind. 

"Under freewill, He allows us to accept that or reject it. Because of that absolute position, Christianity cannot be part of a religious smorgasbord alongside the teachings of eastern philosophy, cult propaganda, or other man-made, feel-good thinking. Christianity is all about Christ being the only true way.”

Broad-is-the-way Guy: “We all have our own truth.”

Bible guy: “There can only be one truth. The Bible is replete with the statement, ‘Thus saith the Lord’.” Proverbs 14:12 in the Old Testament states "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” It matters little what we think. If we reject what the Bible states, we face the consequences of what the Bible warns about—a literal, eternal Hell. Our eternal salvation can be determined right now. It may sound simplistic, but Christ did say we must come as a child and simply call upon the Lord.”

The Bible says:
1. We have all sinned.
2. Christ died for our sin and shed His blood to remove our sin.
3. Unless a person is born again he will not enter Heaven.
4. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
5. Jesus said, "No man can come to the Father but by Me."
If we choose to reject or ignore that, we must be prepared to face the consequences of eternal, wide-awake separation from God.

Broad-is-the-way Guy: “What about those who have never nor will ever hear this? How will they be judged?”

Bible guy:  “Good question. The Bible says that those who seek truth will find it. Matthew 7: 7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” God IS fair. He will direct a searcher to truth. The Holy Spirit is in the world to rush to seekers with truth regarding God's reality and saving power. This insight may come in many forms such as the written or spoken Word of God, through dreams or revelations, etc. God responds to every seeker, giving us the opportunity to be saved. God speaks of this in John 6:37 which says, "Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out."

“Well-meaning Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims must turn from their man-made religions and bow to Christ who died for all. Christianity is the only religion where God reached down to man and completed our salvation. But we must call out and embrace Christ.”

Broad-is-the-way Guy: “Why would any thinking person rest their future on the writings of 66 books that make up the Bible?”

Bible guy: “The Bible proves itself on many levels, from fulfilled prophecy to recently-discovered science. Such as…”

The Bible is miraculous in many ways because of its -
1. Human diversity.
2. Different authors, locations, languages, generations, audiences, occupations, writing styles, subject matter.
3. Divine Unity.
4. Same Messiah: Jesus Christ.
5. Message: Redemption of man.
6. Means: Atonement through the blood sacrifice.
7. Motive: Reconciliation of man to God.

Manuscripts
1. More than 24,000 handwritten copies of portions of the original manuscripts still exist.
2. By contrast, there are only 643 copies of Homer's Iliad (900 BC) available.
3. One fragment of Scripture dates back to within 25 years of the original writing.
4. There is a gap of 500 years between the oldest copy of the Iliad and the original.
5. There is more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts than any 10 pieces of classical literature combined.
6. The Biblical manuscripts we have today are in far better shape than Shakespeare's plays of the 17th century.
7. Without printing presses prior to 1450 AD, manuscripts were copied by hand. Jewish scribes were fanatically meticulous in copying and preserving the "oracles of God."
8. The Biblical manuscripts have miraculously survived banning, burning, criticism, cynicism, scrutiny, skepticism, vicious external and internal attacks. 
9.Accuracy:                                                                                                                          a) No recently-found manuscripts contradict earlier ones.
b) The "Isaiah Scroll," among the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave in 1947, predates the previous earliest Isaiah manuscript by 1,000 years, yet is exactly the same.

Canon means a standard or code of laws established by a church council. The Bible meets the following _
1. It is authoritative ("thus saith the Lord".)
2. Its prophecies are accurately fulfilled.
3. The manuscript are authentic.
4. Is it dynamic. It impress scholars as a true Word of God.
5. It is accepted as God's Word and used as such by God's people.
 
Adoption of the 27 New Testament books into the Canon took place at the Synod of Hippo in North Africa in 393 AD. This was a meeting of Roman Catholic bishops in church council. Before the Synod, the 39 books of the Old Testament were accepted as God's word.

Does the Bible itself claim to be inspired by God?
1. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." (2 Timothy 3:16)
2. "Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God." (Romans 3:2)
3. "Not...the word of men but...actually...the Word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
4. "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (1 Peter 1:21)
5. "The revelation came...by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 2:13)
6. "God spoke...through the prophets." (Hebrews 1:1)
(Throughout the Bible, the expression "thus saith the Lord" appears 434 times.)

Biblical prophecies
1. Approximately one quarter of the Bible deals with prophecy.
2. Many prophecies were recorded hundreds of years prior to the event. For example, the prophet Micah proclaimed in Micah 5:2, "O Bethlehem, you are but a small Judean village, yet you will be the birthplace of my King who is alive from everlasting ages past!" This was written over 700 years before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem!
3. Prophecies concerned
   a) individuals
   b) cities
   c) nations
   d) Israel
   e) the Messiah
   f) future events, etc.
4. Approximately three-quarters of the recorded prophecies have been precisely fulfilled.
5. One quarter remain to be fulfilled.
6. Israel
   a) No other nation can document its history in such astonishing detail.
   b) Scores of Bible prophecies predict its scattering among the nations (70 AD to 1948 AD), persecution, re-gathering in Israel (Israel declared statehood on May 14, 1948) and future glory (during the millennium).
7. Messiah
  a) There are more than 300 Old Testament prophecies predicting a coming Messiah.
  b) These predictions were recorded hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Jesus Christ.
  c)  While 40 other "messiahs" claimed the title, only Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies.
  d) The probability of only 48 of the 300 prophecies being fulfilled by pure chance is mathematically impossible.

Archaeology
1. "Archaeology has confirmed the history of the Old Testament." (William Albright)
2. "Archaeology has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record." (Millar Burrows, Yale)
3. "The evidence of archaeology has been to establish the authority of the Old Testament." (Sir Frederic Kenyon)
4. The famous Dead Sea Scrolls refer to the Old Testament authors as "prophets."
5. Archaeology supports 85 very specific Bible events.
6. No archaeological discovery has disproved Scripture.

Science
Although written in pre-science times, scientific references are accurate.
1. Seaworthiness of Noah's Ark.
2. Sphericity of the earth (Isaiah 40:22).
3. Earth hanging on nothing (Job 26:7).
4. Innumerable stars (Genesis 15:5).
5. Mountains and valleys in the sea (2 Samuel 22:16).
6. Paths or currents in the sea (Psalms 8:8).
7. Hydrologic cycle (Job 26:8).
8. Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
9. Rules of health and sanitation (Genesis 17:9).
10. Second law of thermodynamics—things tend toward randomness (Psalm 102:25-26).

History
1. Acclaimed Jewish historian Josephus, who lived in 100 AD and documented many first-century events, declared, "No one is so bold as to add, remove, or change anything in them (Old Testament).We esteem those books to contain divine doctrines and would willingly die for them."
2. Historian Dr. Clark Pinnock states, "There exists no document from the ancient world so excellent a set of textual testimony and offering so superb an array of historical data...skepticism regarding the historical credentials of Christianity is based on an irrational anti-supernatural bias."
3. The Bible is supported by the testimony of ancient historians and bishops—Sophocles, Cicero, Virgil, Eusebius, Ignatius, Polycarp, Iraneus, Clement, et al.

HOW TO EARN YOUR WAY TO HELL

By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com
 
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves [it is] the gift of God not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
 
Perhaps the idea that one can earn his way to eternal damnation in a literal, horrifying Hell sounds totally nuts. 

We've all heard of the biblical truth that no one can earn his way to Heaven. Admittance to Heaven is by grace and not by works. But here is how a person can earn his way to Hell.

1. Be born a robust, blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby into a fine, upstanding family.
2. Grow up healthy and turn out to be a model kid.
3. Earn straight "A's" throughout high school and college.
4. Avoid drugs and the other pitfalls of youth.
5. Captain the football teams; excel in chess.
6. Be voted "Most Liked" and rack up a trunk load of scholastic and sports' honors.
7. Spend an hour a day reading for the blind.
8. Be loyal to the homecoming queen and other lookers you date. Marry Miss Perfect upon completing college, debt-free.
9. Quickly march up the corporate business ladder without trampling on anyone.
10. Correctly raise your 2.5 children, and assist them with their schoolwork. Serve as an encouraging assistant coach.
11. Attend your community church every Sunday. Become an active deacon and applaud your wife's work in all her activities.
12. Become active on numerous community-betterment committees.
13. Be named "Man of the Year" in your community by a landslide vote.
14. Be kind, gentle, forgiving, and a friend to all.
15. At age 85, die quietly in your sleep.
16. Over 3,000 people attend your funeral, and a statue is erected in the park in your memory.

You wind up in Heaven, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. You pushed all the right buttons in life and assumed it was good enough for God.

A major oversight. You failed to acknowledge that you were a sinner before God.

Your life was quite sterling, but you were born a sinner and you did rack up a few sins by your own choice.

The Bible points out -
"All our good works are as filthy rags... that all have sinned."

The only sinless man was Jesus Christ who took on our sins when He died for us and rose again.

We each must admit we are a lost sinner, and ask Christ for His forgiveness, which He freely offers to all who will ask.

Romans 10:13 says, "Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."