I believe the Holy Spirit exists because the Bible exists. Not just claiming to be the Word of God, the Bible claims to be written by men under the influence of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21). If there is no Holy Spirit, the claims would be lies, the Bible a fraud. Either this is true, or it is false; there is no other option. How then, would we know for sure if the Bible were written by mere men, or “holy men of God moved by the Spirit?” We would have to prove the Bible contains certain information, and use that information in such a way to leave no doubt that the Bible is beyond human invention. If it does contain such peculiarities, then we can know it came from God. If it came from God, it must be true; and if it is true, its claim of being the product of inspiration of the Spirit must be true. Obviously, if the Bible is the product of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit must exist. There are several ways to show the Bible came from God, but one will have to suffice for lack of space. The predictive prophecies of the Bible have no equal in human literature; consider this one by notorious Nostradamus: “The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt, The evil deed predicted by the bearer of a petition” (Nostradamus’ Centuries, C1Q26). Some are adamant to say this …

David appreciated what God had done for him before he was born: You created the organs inside of me, and you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully and marvelously made! Your works are wonderful! That I know so well! My bodily form was not hidden from you, being made privately in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me as an embryo, and in your book all its parts were written, and even the time ordained for me before day one. (Psalm 139:13-16) One wonders what the phrase “in the depths of the earth” in verse 15 means until one notices that the same preposition “in” (be, in Hebrew) in verse 13 precedes “my mother’s womb.” Somehow the two phrases are synonyms. But still one wonders how such a strange phrase “in the depths of the earth” could refer to a womb. One commentator says the phrase points to “the remotest recesses of the womb” (Leslie), while another says that it is a “poetical description of the darkness of the womb” (Cohen). And the context shows that the “in” location can be nothing other than David’s mother’s womb. How David was formed in the womb got the best of him emotionally: “I am fearfully and marvelously made! Your works are wonderful! That I know so well” (v. 14). By the inspiration of the Spirit (2 Samuel 23:2) David knew that God had formed his “bodily form,” and “embryo,” in his mother’s womb, and that “all …

One of the favorite tricks of the relativist is to use logic when it suits them, and then speak against the use of it when it defeats them. Often people will say that you cannot depend on logic since it is just man’s way of thinking about anything. The amazing thing about such a statement is that it represents some person’s way of thinking about something. It never ceases to amaze those who are capable of serious thought that many of those who want everything to be relative and want nothing to be absolute will use the very tools to deny the absolute that others use to advance it. However, in so doing they will cry “foul” when someone uses the kind of thinking they are using to show that they are not thinking correctly. An Anglican clergy person, some months back, left the Anglican Church and became a Buddhist. He reasoned, that is, his logic told him, that Christianity was incorrigibly theistic and invincibly self-righteous. How did he arrive at that conclusion when he traded the religion that believes in one true God for one that has no god at all? Why, my friends, he used logic! Now the amazing thing about this is that this clergyman claimed one could not use logic, but he used it when he measured Christianity beside Buddhism and decided that Christianity was false and Buddhism was true. However, he would tell those who clung to Christianity that it was true for them but not for …

Ignatius, an elder of Antioch and a Christian martyr, in 110 A.D. wrote that Jesus was “begotten and unbegotten” (gennetos kai agennetos, Ephesians VII 2, B-G-D, 126). I. Begotten Physically Jesus was “begotten” in Mary’s womb “by the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20). Figuratively, on a special “today” (Psalm 2:7), Jesus was “begotten” three ways: (1) on his resurrection day; (2) on his coronation day and (3) on his ordination day. 1. Begotten on his resurrection day. In heaven, a thousand years before Jesus died on the cross, he was already rejoicing that he would not stay dead, saying, “I will celebrate the decree of Yahweh. He said to me, ‘You are my Son. Today I have begotten you’” (Psalm 2:7). The apostle Paul explains why Jesus was so happy, writing, “God raised him from the dead…as it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. I have begotten you today’” (Acts 13:30-33). So we learn that the “today” of his resurrection (April 9, A.D. 30) was figuratively portrayed as his being “begotten.” As the word “begotten” points to the beginning of new life, so the resurrection of Jesus pointed to the beginning of Jesus’ new life as a king and as a priest. 2. Begotten on his coronation day. In God’s wisdom, the “today” prediction of Psalm 2:7, of Jesus being “begotten,” not only referred to Jesus’ resurrection day, April 9, A.D. 30, but also to his coronation day as “King of kings and Lord of lords,” on …

Most of you are probably aware that the custom of celebrating the birthday of Christ is not in the Bible at all, and the observance of Christmas as a Christian festival dates from the 4th century when it gradually superseded January 6th, the Epiphany, still kept as Christmas by the Armenian Church. You may also be aware that the keeping of Christmas as a religious holiday was repugnant to the Puritans and was forbidden under the Commonwealth in 1644. Although the Church of England revived the festival, the Scottish Presbyterians and English Nonconformists both refused the observance. There are still millions who still rejoice in what is known as “The Spirit of Christmas” but do it in the same spirit they do “Thanksgiving” without trying in some way to relate it to a religious activity. Probably most persons connected with the church of the Lord understand Galatians 4:10-11 to refer to religious observances of days, not things like individuals observing birthdays and holidays as a matter of rest, recreation and happiness with families. The fact that we are to give thanks at all times does not make Thanksgiving a religious holiday. Neither does the fact that we use the Christmas season to get with our families and exchange gifts make Christmas a religious observance. One may make it such. The Moravian church makes drinking coffee and eating a cookie a part of their religious ceremony. This does not mean it must be such to the rest of us. To most of us, …

The founder and first prophet of a large and wealthy American cult ridiculed the teaching that the three personalities of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make up one true and living God. He wrote, “Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow–three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization. …All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God–he would be a giant or a monster.” In this matter, these people join ranks with the Muslims who mock and make fun of Christians for believing in three manifestations of one God. The Muslims accuse those who believe what the Bible teaches about the nature of the Godhead or Elohim of being polytheists. However, while we are not polytheists, those who hold the view of the man whose words were quoted above, are. They believe there are millions of Gods on all kinds of worlds around the universe. They have a very anthropomorphic concept of God. They imagine that he is like humans, which he is not. Perhaps the magnificent Book of Isaiah offers more verses in defense of monotheism than any other book in the Bible. Throughout chapters 43, 44 and 45 of this grand book, the truth of the existence of one God, and one God only, …

Yesterday, I was sitting in my office at work along with the two other fellas, and we were visiting with each other trying to help a rather slow day pass by a little faster. As we were talking, the lady that works for the janitorial service came in to empty our wastebaskets. This lady is always friendly, and we all exchange pleasantries each time she comes by. My office partner asked where she’d been because he’d hadn’t seen her around for a week or two. She said that she’d been at the hospital with her husband. As she said that, I thought to myself, “Here’s an opportunity to let my light shine just a little bit,” so I asked her if he was all right. She turned to me and said rather reluctantly, “No not really, they’re only giving him six months to live.” There was silence, and then all I could come up with was, “I’m sorry.” She said, “Oh well, that’s just part of it, but thanks anyway,” and she turned and walked out the door. After she left, we all sat there without saying a word. Have you ever been hit in the stomach real hard? That’s what it felt like. Here I was ready to be “Super Christian” and show some genuine concern for my fellowman, and then when my chance came, I could only mumble two measly words. Jesus said that the person who would be the greatest is the person who thinks of himself …

“And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call thy name” (Acts 9:14). These words were spoken by the disciple Ananias to the Lord in reference to Saul, the former persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. Saul had authority to cast into prison “all that call thy name,” that is, the name of the Lord. But what was it and what is it to “call on thy name”? We can believe with confidence that it is not a mere repeating of the name of the Lord. On one occasion Jesus stated, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). In Luke 6:46 we read, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” One can readily see that whatever calling on the name of the Lord is, such is more than saying his precious name. The two passages noted previously greatly emphasize the need of obedience to the commands of the Lord. The first instance wherein we find an inspired man using the prophecy from Joel 2:32 was Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:21). That prophecy was, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Peter continued preaching to his audience that Christ had died and had been resurrected by the power of …

A song we sometimes sing has a clause in the first stanza that often penetrates our heart with piercing pain. The first stanza reads like this: Years I spent in vanity and pride,Caring not my Lord was crucified,Knowing not it was for me He died,On Calvary. Think about it! “Caring not my Lord was crucified.” When we in deep and penetrating thought stand “at the foot of the cross,” really comprehending what occurred there, the terrible, terrible pain Jesus willingly endured, the nerves in our own body cause us to cringe! The thought of the penetration of those large iron nails alone is almost unbearable. Then to think about the hours of searing pain–we would shrink back from the thought of even a dog being so treated! But this happened to our Savior, God who became man in order to so suffer that we might be rescued from wrath, escaping eternity in hell. What love beyond comparison (cf. Romans 5:6-8). Then, suddenly returning in thought to where we are and what we are doing (how we are living and conducting ourselves), our consciences burn with the realization that all too often we are “caring not my Lord was crucified.” What shame! What a thoughtless and unthankful people we can become! After we revitalized our own lives, renewing our spiritual commitments and determining to be a dedicated Christians, then in thought we view and grieve the carelessness of so many, many people who live day after day with little or no concern as to …

Solomon wrote, “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). I might also add that of the rising cost of books there is no end. But, I love good books anyway. For over twenty-five years, I have been building a religious library. Occasionally I prune it, but it continues to grow with regular additions both old and new. How important are good books? Edwin Percy Whipple wrote, “Good books are the most precious of blessings to a people; bad books are among the worst of curses.” Paul wanted his books and parchments (2 Timothy 4:13). I have never wanted a book for the sake of having a book. I have always sought what I feel are good books. Some bad books, saturated with error, are having an adverse effect upon our brotherhood today. Book buying has long been a passion (some would say an occupational hazard) with me. Alice Williams Brotherton said, “Books we must have though we lack bread.” Thankfully, I have never had to go begging bread for the sake of a good book. Austin Phelps said, “Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” I’ve been blessed to do both. Why this attraction to books? Books are a Gospel preacher’s tools. Guy N. Woods believed that an effective teacher of the Good Book must be a student of many books. Amos Bronson Alcott wrote, “Books are the most mannerly of companions, accessible at all times, in all moods, frankly declaring the author’s mind, without …

In the 4th century, the “church year” with a cycle of regularly recurring annual festivals came into being. The purpose of such was to bring to bear upon people, by public festivals, the memory of Christ, great men and prominent events. It was patterned after the Jewish ecclesiastical year: Sabbath, Passover feast or harvest. The “Christian Calendar” centered in the person and Word of Christ. It is broken down into “The Christian week” (Lord’s Day, Wednesday and Friday [fast days] and Saturday); “The Christian year” (Easter, Pentecost and Ascension, Christmas and Epiphany). The original idea of the church year was a yearly representation of the leading events of the life, death and resurrection of Christ. It is a chronological “confession of faith,” a moving panorama of the great events of Gospel history. It served to recall the public to the most important events upon which salvation rests. It was developed after the pattern of the Old Testament with no direction from Christ or the apostles. The New Testament contains no traces of such observances. As early as the second century, we find observances of Easter and Pentecost in “the church.” In the fourth century, the three great festival cycles were Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. With regard to such feasts, the Catholic Church imposed penalties for failure to observe them. Ecclesiastics cautioned people against public parade, fancy dress, banqueting and drinking parties, preferring to leave such things to the Greeks. The “Christmas festival” is the celebration of the birth of the …

Teri Horton stopped in Dot’s Thrift Shop to browse around. During her junket, she stumbled across a bright abstract painting and decided that it might make a good gag gift for a disheartened friend. Teri shelled out $5.00 for the 66-inch by 48-inch canvas and then lugged it home. Teri’s friend, Theresa, got a big laugh out of the hideous present, but turned it down because it barely fit through her front door. Teri took it home again, but after a year, decided it was taking up too much space and so she offered it to yet another friend who was an art professor. The work turned out to be an authentic Jackson Pollock worth millions! Pollock (1912-1957) was a leader in the American expressionist movement of the 1940’s. He employed large canvases and then “painted” by pouring liquid pigment out of a can and dripping color with a brush. No one knows for sure how the masterpiece ended up at the thrift store. Some think it may have been purchased at an estate sale in Southern California; others believe it may have simply been given away by Pollock’s brother following his untimely death. In either case, “Untitled 1948” found its way to the little store near San Bernardino where it sat for years until Teri Horton happened along. Imagine. A multi-million dollar design sold for only five bucks. The storeowner had no idea what she possessed. Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but like Teri Horton, you have …