Signs And Plagues

Part 1 of 8
We are used to thinking that Yahveh struck Egypt with ten plagues. It is interesting, therefore, to discover that this number is mentioned nowhere in Torah, unlike the Ten Commandments, whose number is explicitly noted.
At the burning bush, Yahveh gave Moses three signs: the staff turning into a serpent, the hand that became leprous, and the water that turned into blood. These signs were given, originally, so that Israel will believe Moses, but Yahveh commanded him explicitly to also display them before Pharaoh: "See all the wonders that I have placed in your hand - and you shall perform them before Pharaoh." Exodus 4:21

Surprisingly, Moses showed Pharaoh only the signs of the staff and of the blood. Moses never showed him the sign of leprosy, and even the two signs that were displayed did not match the command concerning them. At the burning bush the staff turned into a snake, while before Pharaoh it became a crocodile. At the burning bush Moses was commanded to take some of the water from the Nile and to pour it onto the dry land; when Moses actually carried out the plague of blood, all the water of the Nile (and all the other water in Egypt) turns into blood.

Hope Of Israel Websites:

Torah Studies:
http://rinahshal. tripod.com/

Times of Refreshing:
http://rinah- -shalom.tripod. com/

Wisdom For Living:
http://rinahshal. tripod.com/ wisdomforliving

Step By Step:
http://rinah- -shalom.tripod. com/stepbystep/

Moadim - Jewish Holidays:
http://rinah- shalom.tripod. com/
cclose1944e

Confidence

3John12 When others speak well of you, you have acceptance; but when
the truth speaks well of you, you have character. Character is
simply confidence dressed in humility. It keeps its work, its temper,
and its friends.

(Quote taken from a daily devotional titled When the Truth Speaks
Well of You)

I'm learning that confidence has the ability to become stronger and
better everyday. I'm also able to see, experience, and best of all…
accept my own lessons in self-confidence; which continues to become
stronger and better every day. I believe of my confidence – at least
some of it - is definitely "dressed in humility." Through the various
areas God has taken me, I'm a gaining a confidence in myself. And
more than that, God's ability to provide for my areas of weaknesses -
areas where I am not comfortable enough or feel I need … to learn
more, work harder, etc. Most especially because these areas are not
at a greater level than I feel they should be, I know I must get out
of the boat and walk on the water. I must, to put it simply, trust
God's will and do as He commands and trust that He will provide
through me. I believe this is a healthy humility in Christ and is
available for all. I also believe that God wants this for all of us…
to be able to look upon ourselves in honesty, see our strengths and
weaknesses, gifts and the areas we need to grow and then trust in Him
to provide the rest. It's about realizing that it's not about us,
but about the God of glory that we serve.

You may wonder where such confidence can come from or how it comes
from within. It comes when God has taught you that loving yourself
for who you are is a good thing…something which glorifies Him. After
all, He took special care to create you. You cannot have a God-
glorifying self-confidence without that most important ingredient.
For some, it may be hard to come by. But I believe that for those of
you that struggle with this very issue, it is imperative that you
begin to listen to the voice of your loving Father and choose to
refuse those thoughts that haunt you only to bring you down. Little
by little it may come, while for others it may be instantaneous.
It's ok. However you get there…go!

So, come on, take His hand; trust in Him. Take His hand and let Him
lead you out of the boat of safety onto unknown waters, where you can
walk with Him side-by-side.

Father, Help us to know and understand Your love for us. Give us the
ability to love ourselves truly. Mostly, Lord Jesus, fill us with
our own sense of self-confidence, knowing You will never let us sink
or make us swim. You will provide, and through You, we can – faults
and all – glorify Your name. It is in Your most precious name we
pray, AMEN.

SATAN’S WORK AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT.... (FATIMA)

During the last days Satan will fight by any means so that souls will commit themselves to him and go astray. And his trick is to involve them in error, to let them believe that they are on the right path, and yet to entangle their paths such that they do not notice that they will lead into the abyss, because they do not really desire to take the path of ascent. People are satisfied with being told that ‘the path is ascending….’ but they do not pay attention to it themselves or they would certainly notice that it is descending. And he uses many means for deception, all divert from the truth, all are but a tangle of fraud yet so well camouflaged that a person has to be attentive as not to be taken in by him. And he deems the mother of Jesus to be the best means, which he first puts into the forefront of people so that they, due to their veneration and glorification, forget their real purpose of earthly life: to attain the bond with Jesus Christ Himself, which is the only guarantee for the person’s salvation of soul…. Thus people carry out an apparently righteous act of love for the mother of Jesus, but Satan’s intended result is less love for the divine Redeemer Himself, Who more or less takes second place. But a lifetime on earth is too short to take detours in order to reach the goal, and people who do not take refuge with Jesus every hour of the day take long diversions…. The contact with Him is so extremely important that it cannot be established often enough, and for this reason alone every glorification of the mother of God means a deviation from the actual objective of life to establish this very contact, on which a person’s salvation of soul depends. And thus it is this bond which God’s adversary tries to prevent by all means, and he succeeds best by turning people’s thoughts towards Mary. He is able to do so through unusual apparitions initiated by himself, but he makes himself visible in the guise of an angel of light to people who are particularly suited to perceive psychic phenomena. Through these apparitions he predicts forthcoming events to people, which he indeed knows will happen, and thus he creates an impression of credibility even though it is a strategy of disguise in order to cause even greater confusion. He will always wrap himself in the cloak of mystery, always making claims about concealed things, always prohibiting public disclosure, because then his fraudulence could be revealed…. He will only ever provide veiled information because he lacks precise knowledge, but in bright moments even he occasionally recognises the seriousness of the times when he himself will also be dealt with…. But he cannot stop himself from demanding honour and fame, and does this through the mouth of those camouflaged beings of light by demanding the building of churches and altars where homage should be paid to him, because he himself hides behind such apparitions. And the most obvious indication of an anti-spirit rests in the fact that people are demanded to pay homage before the world to those in whose garment darkness keeps itself imperceptible. A heavenly being of light will only ever draw people’s attention to Jesus Christ and mention his act of Salvation, a true being of light will not demand any formalities, no buildings of churches and altars, but encourage people to shape themselves through love into a temple for God, nor will it make concealed suggestions but proclaim what all people should be told: that the end is near and that people should change themselves…. A true being of light will not persuade people to perform formal prayers for hours either, but motivate them to establish a living bond with Jesus Christ, where only and forever salvation is to be found. You humans need not take such events seriously, for they are events which were embellished by people, they happened in a primitive manner and were only later presented as unusual experiences…. A good basis for this was prepared, because the mother-of-God- worship was already too deeply ingrained in people and even minor events caused feverish activity in them and created the foundation to believe in ever more improbable things. But they were by no means divinely-spiritual apparitions which were to reinforce people’s faith in worshiping the mother of God, for it is not her will to distinguish herself from her Son Jesus Christ, instead she will only ever call attention to Him and His act of Salvation, if ever she will make an appearance…. For the human being’s goal is the unification with God in Jesus Christ, which should be aspired to every hour and every day, and this is the true and only path which should be walked on earth.... Amen

Jesus Christ Prays In The Garden Of Gethsemane : Jon 17:1-26

1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is the place which is known as "Olive Press" and was a garden east of the city near the western slopes of the "Mount Of Olives" Jesus Christ often resorted there for His own peace and quiet.(Joh.18:1,2; Luke 22:39,40). The "Temple" lay directly opposite it across the "Kidron Valley." He took some of the inner circle as at the "Transfiguration" (Peter, James, John ) futher into the garden. His own soul as He prays His soul was in heavy anguish in His travling for His people and in what was coming in His own life as He cried with the Father on this night in what was going to happen to Him by evil men whom would help bring to the Cross of "Calvery" in such agony that our precious Jesus would have to bear , because of the "Will " of His own Father God in surrendering everything unto Him. He knew what His future in what was coming for Him and whom they were and what was prepard for Him. He has so much "Passion" inside of Himself yet He suffered more than anyone of could have done in our own life time. Our precious Jesus was exceedingly sorrowful and He wanted "This cup to pass" as He had questioned His Father of such in the necessity of drinking that Cup. which had been like the taste of death in many ways but it was in the sins of human beings as He was our sin bearer in his very awful grieving of what was going to the world was being poured right out of Jesus Christ only because He's our substitutionary death for all man-kind.
"This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent." John 17:3
We believe in one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,Ever present help in need, praised by all the heavenly host;By Whose mighty power alone all is made and wrought and done.
We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Mary's Son,Who descended from His throne and for us salvation won;By Whose cross and death are we rescued from sin's misery.
We confess the Holy Ghost, Who from both forever proceeds;Who upholds and comforts us in all trials, fears and needs.Blessed and Holy Trinity, praise forever be to Thee!
"The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are One." John 17:22
Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless roundOf circling planets singing on their way,Guide of the nations from the night profoundInto the glory of the perfect day,Rule in our hearts, that we may ever beGuided and strengthened and upheld by Thee.
We are of Thee, the children of Thy love,The brothers of Thy well belovèd Son;Descend, O Holy Spirit, like a doveInto our hearts, that we may be as one;As one with Thee, to Whom we ever tend;As one with Him our Brother and our Friend.
We would be one in hatred of all wrong,One in our love of all things sweet and fair;One with the joy that breaketh into song,One with the grief that trembleth into prayer,One in the power that makes Thy children freeTo follow truth, and thus to follow Thee.
O clothe us with Thy heavenly armor, Lord,Thy trusty shield, Thy sword of love divine;Our inspiration be Thy constant Word;We ask no victories that are not Thine;Give or withhold, let pain or pleasure be,Enough to know that we are serving Thee. catcmo2006

BEHOLD, I MAKE EVERYTHING NEW!

You people who do not yet have this recognition, who have not yet awakened the spirit within you, you do not know what is the meaning of these My Words; for you do not believe in the reshaping of this earth, you do not believe in the last judgment as the conclusion of an evolutionary period and the beginning of a new one.
You do not know anything of My salvation plan since eternities; wherefore, you do not understand My Words:
"Behold, I make everything new!"
Each of My words has a manifold meaning, which even My awakened ones do not know, because this recognition is still too high for the people of this earth. But clear to them is the simple meaning, namely, that I will revive what has left My everlasting Order. I will cause a change to come about, since the people of this earth are no longer striving for it, thereby failing in the purpose of their earth-life. They have failed by not using their lives for eternity.
Nevertheless, I will not let them get lost; I will give them another opportunity to walk once more upon the neglected course of evolvement.
For another course of evolvement means receiving a higher grace, that must be acquired by a raised effort, for which only new creations can offer the possibility. First of all, I will renovate the schoolhouse of the spiritual, My earth, which shall further the upward evolution till man. I shall provide the earth with entirely new creations of manifold kind and form, whereby new possibilities will be given to the most numerous spiritual entities to stand the test.
I shall cause a new kind of humanity to arise composed of human beings blessed by Me, who have consummated their spiritual evolvement in love and faithfulness to Me, who have attained to a degree of maturity, which makes possible a high, spiritual ministration so that the new humanity has all the guaranties for the highest possible perfection and that the spiritual, still bound, can quickly attain to an upward evolution through the most good influence which the people exercise upon all creations surrounding them.
" I make everything new!"
I will also soften the conditions for the release of the spiritual, however, not deviating from My law of the "everlasting order", only in deepest LOVE and COMPASSION caring for what is still living within compulsion.
All that oppresses will fall off from men; they will strive upward in fullest force because I alone am the most desired one for them and because they cannot be drawn into the deep by My opponent who is in fetters for a long time.
I shall make a new heaven and a new earth, that is, I make happy spiritually and materially the people who belong to Me and are expected to clear the way to Me also for their successors.
Who of you can comprehend this? And who of you believes firmly and without doubt that the old ceases to be?
Who believes that there will no longer be people who are still distant from Me, that only the small flock, which faithfully follows Me, their shepherd, will not lose its life, because I have blessed this small flock and destined it for a continued life in the paradise of the new earth? Who believes that a new chapter of release begins according to the salvation plan since eternities, which My LOVE and WISDOM have determined in order to guarantee everlasting life for all that is spiritual?
"Behold, I make everything new!"
You, who believe in Me, be conscious of these words, activate them in your hearts and know that the time has come when this Word will be fulfilled.
Believe in it firmly, be hopeful and bear all hard times which are still your lot until the end, do it with patience and devotion to My Will.
For the day will very soon come when I fetch the ones that are Mine in order to reveal to them of what is written: "I will make a new heaven and a new earth" and "I shall be in the midst of the ones who are Mine and will guide and teach them as I have promised."
Amen

Men's Health

11 Ways to Live Longer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to beat the biggest man-killers.
Compiled By Geordie Brackin, Men's Health

Find More

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Get Your Beach Body Now!
Reveal Your Abs in Record Time

For us, the health of the American male is not just a weeklong pursuit. But in honor of Men's Health Week (June 11-17), we've compiled a list of our top tips for beating the biggest killers of men. Read them, follow our advice, and start living better year round.

Beat High Blood Pressure
Eat meat. In a recent Australian study, people with high blood pressure who replaced 8 percent of their daily calories from bread, cereal, potatoes, or pasta with lean red meat experienced a four-point drop in their systolic blood pressure in just 8 weeks.

Arginine, an amino acid in red meat, may help dilate blood vessels, lowering blood pressure. Plus, limiting starches lowers blood sugar and makes your body more efficient at burning fat.

Save Your Skin
Melanoma feeds on modesty. If you don't strip for a yearly skin screening, the cancer can spread undetected.

Made an appointment? Now make one with your honey. A Northwestern University study shows that when people learn how to do skin self-exams with a partner, they're more likely to check themselves (and each other) in the future.

Have a Healthy Heart
Eat more dairy. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, consuming three or more servings of dairy per day can slash your risk of heart disease by 31 percent.

"We don't know exactly how dairy lowers heart-disease risk, but other studies show that the calcium and magnesium in it can lower blood pressure," says study author Donna Spiegelman, Sc.D., a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard school of public health.

Want even more protection? Seek products fortified with vitamin D. British researchers found that daily D supplements lower blood levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of arterial inflammation, by 23 percent.

Lose Weight Over the Phone
Pick up the phone and ask for help dropping the pounds.

Researchers at the University of Kansas recently had 96 overweight people follow weight-loss counseling programs and discovered that the programs conducted by telephone were just as effective as face-to-face clinical counseling. On average, members of both groups lost 28 pounds in 26 weeks.

"Telephone-based programs have the benefits of convenience, lower transportation costs, and accountability with anonymity," says study author Joseph E. Donnelly, Ph.D.

Our pick: The phone program offered by John Berardi, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., co-author of Scrawny to Brawny. Go to johnberardi.com and receive a Men's Health reader discount.

Drink Coffee for Your Colon
Drink decaf coffee. A recent study at the Harvard medical school surveyed the tea and coffee consumption of men and women for 18 years and showed that drinking two or more cups of decaf coffee per day can slash colon-cancer risk by 52 percent.

Decaf coffee may have a positive effect on bowel motility. It keeps things moving which is an effect that the caffeine in regular coffee may cancel out.

Kick the Sticks
Go spit. A 2005 study in the British Medical Journal found that smokers who saw their results from a saliva-based nicotine test were 17 percent more likely to quit. The test, which involves spitting in a cup and measuring the amount of tobacco-derived toxins in the saliva, was used in conjunction with antismoking counseling.

Researchers believe that being able to see progress in the quest to quit in much the same way one can see the results of a cholesterol-lowering regimen helped motivate the participants.

Check a local drugstore for NicAlert, a saliva-based nicotine test ($15, also available at www.nymox.com).

Protect Your Prostate
Carve a pumpkin, cut your prostate-cancer risk. Eating a large slice of pumpkin pie (or 13 baby carrots) daily will give you about 8,000 micrograms of beta-carotene, an amount research from Roswell Park Cancer Institute shows may halve a man's risk of the disease. Top with whipped cream to boost your absorption of the nutrient.

Defeat Depression
Ask your therapist how many patients he treats. If it's more than 25, beware. Research has shown that a therapist's effectiveness decreases as his caseload surpasses this number.

A Finnish study found that men who exercise and are exposed to sunlight experience a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those who work indoors. A CDC survey also found that people who exercise regularly feel less depressed.

Avoid a Car Accident
Cellphones make distracted drivers out of all of us, quadrupling a man's accident risk even hands-free.

One answer: Take a page from airline pilots. In a new study in Risk Analysis, researchers found that when pilots talked on a cellphone in a driving simulator, they caused 46 percent fewer virtual accidents than nonpilots did.

"They knew to disengage from the cellphone conversation at precise moments," says Jake Rose, Ph.D., the coauthor.

Decrease your own distractibility by hitting "hold" at the must-focus moments identified in the study: when merging, during stop-and-go traffic, and at intersections involving multiple turn lanes.

Ditch Diabetes
Eat to beat high blood sugar. When you consider that "glucose-intolerant" is another term for "diabetic," it's easy to see what you shouldn't eat. Namely, glucose-rich foods, such as bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes.

But Mary Vernon, M.D., prefers a more positive approach: "I like to emphasize what people can enjoy." So, use these guidelines to build a prescription diet.

One caution: If you're currently taking medication for high blood pressure or high blood sugar, consult your physician first, as this diet will cause both to drop.

Save Yourself from a Stroke
"Each daily serving of fruits and vegetables decreases stroke risk by 6 percent, so three servings decreases it by 18 percent," says James Bobenhouse, M.D., stroke-program director at BryanLGH Medical Center, in Lincoln.

No time to cook? Down a Tropicana Fruit Smoothie. One 11-ounce bottle equals 2 1/2 servings of fruit.

Provided by Men's Health


More on Men's Health on MSN Health & Fitness
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Superfoods: The Next Frontier
10 Foods That Are Tough to Digest
Ultimate Fitness Overhaul
Strong Men: Cancer Survivors

10 Reasons to believe the bible

1. Its Honesty
The Bible is painfully honest. It shows Jacob, the father of its "chosen people," to be a deceiver. It describes Moses, the lawgiver, as an insecure, reluctant leader, who, in his first attempt to come to the aid of his own people, killed a man, and then ran for life to the desert. It portrays David not only as Israel's most loved king, general, and spiritual leader, but as one who took another man's wife and then, to cover his own sin, conspired to have her husband killed. At one point, the Scriptures accuse the people of God, the nation of Israel, as being so bad they made Sodom and Gomorrah look good by comparison ( Ezekiel 16:46-52). The Bible represents human nature as hostile to God. It predicts a future full of trouble. It teaches that the road to heaven is narrow and the way to hell is wide. Scripture was clearly not written for those who want simple answers or an easy, optimistic view of religion and human nature.
2. Its Preservation
Just as the modern state of Israel was emerging from thousands of years of dispersion, a bedouin shepherd discovered one of the most important archeological treasures of our time. In a cave of the northwest rim of the Dead Sea, a broken jar yielded documents that had been hidden for two millennia. Additional finds produced manuscripts that predated previous oldest copies by 1,000 years. One of the most important was a copy of Isaiah. It revealed a document that is essentially the same as the book of Isaiah that appears in our own Bibles. The Dead Sea scrolls emerged from the dust like a symbolic handshake to a nation coming home. They discredited the claims of those who believed that the original Bible had been lost to time and tampering.
3. Its Claims For Itself
It's important to know what the Bible says about itself. If the authors of Scripture had not claimed to speak for God, it would be presumptuous for us to make that claim for them. We would also have a different kind of problem. We would have a collection of unsolved mysteries, embodied in historical and ethical literature. But we would not have a book that has inspired the building of countless churches and synagogues all over the world. A Bible that did not claim to speak on behalf of God would not have become foundational to the faith of hundreds of millions of Christians and Jews (2 Peter 1:16-21). But with much supporting evidence and argument, the Bible's authors did claim to be inspired by God. Because millions have staked their present and eternal well-being on those claims, the Bible cannot be a good book if its authors consistently lied about their source of information.
4. Its Miracles
Israel's exodus from Egypt provided a historical basis for believing that God revealed Himself to Israel. If the Red Sea did not part as Moses said it did, the Old Testament loses its authority to speak on behalf of God. The New Testament is just as dependent upon miracles. If Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead, the apostle Paul admits that the Christian faith is built on a lie (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). To show its credibility, the New Testament names its witnesses, and did so within a time-frame that enabled those claims to be tested (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Many of the witnesses ended up as martyrs, not for abstract moral or spiritual convictions but for their claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. While martyrdom is not unusual, the basis on which these people gave their lives is what's important. Many have died for what they believed to be the truth. But people do not die for what they know to be a lie.
5. Its Unity
Forty different authors writing over a period of 1,600 years penned the 66 books of the Bible. Four hundred silent years separated the 39 books of the Old Testament from the 27 of the New Testament. Yet, from Genesis to Revelation, they tell one unfolding story. Together they give consistent answers to the most important questions we can ask: Why are we here? How can we come to terms with our fears? How can we get along? How can we rise above our circumstances and keep hope alive? How can we make peace with our Maker? The Bible's consistent answers to these questions show that the Scriptures are not many books but one.
6. Its Historical And Geographical Accuracy
Down through the ages, many have doubted the historical and geographical accuracy of the Bible. Yet modern archeologists have repeatedly unearthed evidence of the people, places, and cultures described in the Scriptures. Time after time, the descriptions in the biblical record have been shown to be more reliable than the speculations of scholars. The modern visitor to the museums and lands of the Bible cannot help but come away impressed with the real geographical and historical backdrop of the biblical text.
7. Its Endorsement By Christ
Many have spoken well of the Bible, but no endorsement is as compelling as that of Jesus of Nazareth. He recommended the Bible not only by His words but by His life. In times of personal temptation, public teaching, and personal suffering, He made it clear that He believed the Old Testament Scriptures were more than a national tradition ( Matthew 4:1-11; 5:17-19). He believed the Bible was a book about Himself. To His countrymen He said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40).
8. Its Prophetic Accuracy
From the days of Moses, the Bible predicted events no one wanted to believe. Before Israel went into the Promised Land, Moses predicted that Israel would be unfaithful, that she would lose the land God was giving her, and that she would be dispersed throughout all the world, regathered, and then re-established ( (Deuteronomy 28-31). Central to Old Testament prophecy was the promise of a Messiah who would save God's people from their sins and eventually bring judgment and peace to the whole world.
9. Its Survival
The books of Moses were written 500 years before the earliest Hindu Scriptures. Moses wrote Genesis 2,000 years before Muhammad penned the Koran. During that long history, no other book has been as loved or as hated as the Bible. No other book has been so consistently bought, studied, and quoted as this book. While millions of other titles come and go, the Bible is still the book by which all other books are measured. While often ignored by those who are uncomfortable with its teachings, it is still the central book of Western civilization.
10. Its Power To Change Lives
Unbelievers often point to those who claim to believe in the Bible without being changed by it. But history is also marked by those who have been bettered by this book. The Ten Commandments have been a source of moral direction to countless numbers of people. The Psalms of David have offered comfort in times of trouble and loss. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount has given millions an antidote for stubborn pride and proud legalism. Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 has softened angry hearts. The changed lives of people like the apostle Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Newton, Leo Tolstoy, and C. S. Lewis illustrate the difference the Bible can make. Even entire nations or tribes, like the Celts of Ireland, the wild Vikings of Norway, or the Auca Indians of Ecuador have been transformed by the Word of God and the unprecedented life and significance of Jesus Christ.