The Inspiration of the Scriptures #1

The Bible is a book which makes many claims. It claims there is a spiritual being known as God, who is all knowing, all powerful, all good, all merciful and all loving and that He is the only God who ever has been, now is, or ever will be.

It also claims that this one God is its author and that He created the world and all things therein.

It says that man unlike all other living things created by this one God was given a spirit or soul which will never die. Then it reveals a time will come when this one God will destroy all that He created except the soul of man (2 Peter 3:9-10).

After this it declares that some of the souls will be permitted to dwell eternally with this one God in heaven, but others will be rejected and have to dwell eternally in a place called hell (Matt 25:31-46; Revelation 20:12-15, and Revelation 21:3-8).

In giving a description of these two places it describes heaven as an eternal place of abode where there will be no more tears, death, sorrow, crying or pain; and hell as an eternal dwelling place for those who shall be punished day and night forever and ever in a lake of fire and brimstone (Matthew 25:31-46, Revelation 21:3-8, Revelation 14:10).

It then sets forth the fact that those who accept God's plan of redemption from sin offered through Jesus His Son, will be granted an inheritance into heaven and all who reject it, shall become the inhabitants of torment (Deuteronomy 18:18-10, John 5:40; John 6:67-68; John 14:16 and many other scriptures).

The Bible also claims that those who accept God's plan as recorded in it, will have a much better quality of life while dwelling here than those who reject it (Matthew 19:29; 1 Timothy 4:8).

My friends, if these claims made by the Bible are true, then we have cause for great rejoicing; because when we come to the end of this life, we unlike the beast of the field will not be coming to the end of all that is and as nothing going away to the land of nowhere. The end of this life will be nothing more than moving from one life and place into another life which will be an infinite number of times greater.

It will be as a weary traveler finding a wonderful place to rest. (Matthew 11:28 and Hebrews 2 and 3), or as one moving from a run down shanty into a magnificent mansion ( John 14:1-3), or as one from a small vanishing village taking up an eternal abode in a city which is so great that the foundation of its wall is garnished with all manner of precious stone and its wall is jasper and its twelve gates are twelve pearls and its streets are paved with pure gold (Revelation 21:18-21).

Then, too, if all of these claims of the Bible be true we should find it no surprise to hear Jesus in Matthew 16:26 say "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Neither should we be amazed when we read from Hebrews chapter eleven of a great host of people who were willing to pay the price of making tremendous sacrifices and enduring unjustifiable, harsh and cruel punishment for the right of citizenship in that great and wonderful city whose Builder and Maker is God.

In Revelation 3:20 we hear Jesus say "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me."

My friend, if for some reason you as one who believes in the claims of the Bible have not opened that door, I hope your reading of this articles has some small way helped you realize you should.

With all my heart I believe the Bible is a book of truth, and also with all my heart I want you to believe this. So the purpose of the next few articles will be to present evidence which I believe will remove all doubts about its authenticity. You are cordially invited to read them.

By: Tommy Hodge

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