I’m sure it’s not an original idea – using the holiday Easter as a springboard to talking with people about the things of eternity. In fact, I’ve heard Todd Friel, from Wretched Radio, do it many times. If you’re not a regular listener of Wretched Radio, here is a link to a free segment of the show where Todd uses Easter as a springboard into talking to people about the things of GOD.This video is a collection of clips of recent encounters where I was asking people about Easter. This is an easy way to move from the natural to the spiritual. I thank GOD that most of these individuals heard the Law and Gospel using the holiday Easter. Christian, you can do this too. Don’t let Easter week go by without asking unsaved family members, friends, or strangers, “What is Easter?” And then share the Law and Gospel with them. Preach Christ crucified!
I hope this video encourages you to go for it.
Why are you doing this if you say it's impossible for anyone to get to heaven, including yourself?
ReplyDeletetaylorska2 - thanks for your comment. And good on ya for asking such a great question.
ReplyDeleteWhat is impossible for us (getting to Heaven) IS all together something that GOD alone can, does, and will do for sinners. You, like me, by ourselves have earned GOD's just judgment - we deserve death and eternal punishment in Hell because we've broke GOD's Law. Not only is GOD just, good, and holy, He's merciful, kind, and loving.
I'm sorry that I failed to make it clear in the video. It is JESUS CHRIST that you need. It's is HIS righteousness that can make you right in the sight of GOD. You can be saved from the holy wrath of GOD and taken to Heaven when you die because of what CHRIST has done. It is He who lived a perfect life and died on the Cross paying the debt we owe GOD for breaking His Law.
When He rose from the dead it proved that GOD accepted the payment that Jesus made for sinners.
Here's how you can be saved. You must be born again. This is what Jesus said in the Bible, GOD's Word. Read John chapter 3. He said unless you are born again, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God. You cannot make yourself born again. It is a miracle only GOD can do in the heart of a sinner.
Know this my friend - you are a great sinner and deserve GOD's wrath. But the Lord Jesus Christ is a GREAT Savior who can, does, and will save sinners like you. Because of His perfect life and sacrificial death in the place of sinners, you’re sins can be forgiven (past, present, and future). You can have peace with GOD now and in eternity. You can be a friend of GOD instead of an enemy of GOD.
But again, this is ONLY possible if GOD makes you born again. If GOD causes you to be born again, it will be evidenced by two things. You will repent (turn from your sins). You’ll no longer love to sin. You’ll begin to hate sin (as GOD does) and turn away from it in your heart, mind and actions. The second evidence that a person is born again is that the sinner begins to believe the gospel – that the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus alone is the only way for you to be saved. This is what it means to “believe in Jesus.”
Demons believe in Jesus but they are not right with GOD. The belief that saves is faith that comes from GOD – granted to the sinner – when the sinner is born again.
You see friend – GOD alone can save you. A person is born again (saved) by GOD’s GRACE. Grace means – undeserved favor. GOD, because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus (His life, death and resurrection), gives you the exact opposite of what you deserve. The Bible says, “by grace you are saved, through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”
Please, get a Bible and begin to read the book of John in the New Testament. You’ll see there is MUCH hope for the sinner. If you don’t have a Bible, email me your mailing address and I would be glad to send you one for free. Please watch the video again and begin to cry out to GOD for mercy – REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.
Again, thank you for your comment. I’ll be praying for you tonight.
Thank you for your response, Allen, and your prayers. It's hard for me to read a book that has been translated and mistranslated so many times and has dubious origins. Do you know who wrote the Bible?
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't mean it was hard to read, but that it would be very difficult for me to base my outlook on life on this book.
ReplyDeleteTaylorska2, I understand that it’s difficult for you to base your worldview on a book that you don’t believe is the actual WORD OF GOD. But let me ask you this. What’s more important? What you believe? Or whether or not what you believe it true?
ReplyDeleteYou see, you can reject the Bible as the Word of God and form your worldview based on something else – say maybe evolution. Many choose to do that. But again, what matters most? What a person believes? Or whether or not what a person believe is true? If you say, “What matters most is what a person believes,” this can easily be proven to be error.
Take for instance, Hitler and the German people. The German people believed they were right. Hitler no doubt believed he was right too. They were sincere in their belief that German, blond-haired, blue-eye, Arian people were the “Master Race.” But they were sincerely wrong. You can see this down through history. Many people and people-groups have been sincere about their beliefs but many have been sincerely wrong.
To further illustrate, please accept this hypothetical example. A drug addict strung out on an illegal substance may make him believe that he can fly. No matter how much he believes he can fly, when he attempts to jump out of a ten-story window, he will fall to his death. Why? Because the TRUTH is there is the Law of Gravity.
You see friend, no matter how much you believe or disbelieve, no matter how sincerely you say that the Bible isn’t God’s Word – it doesn’t change the truth. So what matters most is whether or not what you believe it TRUE. See the distinction? I hope that make sense.
In your previous comments you basically assert that it would be difficult for you to base your worldview on a book that has been translated and mistranslated so many times and has dubious origins.
This is your belief friend. You believe that the Bible has been translated and mistranslated and has dubious origins. That is your claim. Again, the important question you need to ask yourself isn’t “what do I believe,” but “is what I believe TRUE or not?”
You asked me, “Do you know who wrote the Bible?”
Please allow me to share with you what I’ve learned. I hope that you’re a freethinking individual and open to this. Just as you have made a claim (the Bible is mistranslated and has dubious origins), the Bible itself makes a claim. Who’s right? According the laws of logic, either you are wrong and the Bible is right or you are right and the Bible is wrong.
The Bible claims, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…” The claim of the Bible is that its origin is GOD Himself. Remember, don’t ask yourself whether you believe the claim or not. The question is, is this claim TRUE? The Bible goes on to claim that “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
The Bible claims that – “holy men of God” wrote the Bible (of course it didn’t evolve). It also claims that they were moved by the Holy Spirit (GOD).
In summary, the claim of the Bible about its origins, inspiration, and who actually wrote it is this:
1. Every word of the Bible is GOD’s actual Word.
2. Holy men of GOD wrote the Bible.
3. It was GOD Himself (the Holy Spirit) who inspired the various writers of the Bible to record His Word.
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ReplyDeleteIs it true? I say yes. This isn’t the BEST evidence. I would like to share that with you later if you wish. But this is solid evidence that I hope will help you. The evidence below is presented in its simplest form. It is a concise presentation of what I think addresses your claim that the Bible has been mistranslated and has dubious origins.
I can’t take credit for all of this. I’ve pulled some of this out of a book that purchased back when I first became a Christian. It really helped clear up a lot of things for me. At the end of this comment post, I’ll reference the name of the book and its author. I pray that you take the time to read through this and that you’ll be open-minded about it.
It’s true! And you and I agree about the first part of this – the Bible has been translated into hundreds of different languages down through the centuries. However, based on the evidence, it is clear that the text of the Bible has been accurately preserved all the way through.
MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE
Today, there exists several thousand partial and complete, ancient handwritten manuscript copies of the Bible, some dating as far back as the third century B.C. These manuscripts have allowed textual critics and scholars to verify that the Bible we have today is the same Bible the early church had.
In addition, there are writings of the church fathers. By church fathers, I am referring to leaders in the early church. In their commentaries on the Bible, their letters to one another, and their letters to other churches, these men quoted the New Testament Scriptures alone more than 86,000 times. There quotations have allowed scholars to reconstruct 99.86% of the New Testament. There are only eleven verses in the New Testament that there church fathers never cited.
These two evidences, the manuscript evidence and the writings of the church fathers, verify conclusively that that original text of the Bible has been accurately preserved.
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ReplyDeleteFULFILLED PROPHECIES
The Bible, unlike any other religious book, has demonstrated itself to be the Word of God through its ability to rightly predict the future. There are literally hundreds of very specific prophecies in the Bible that were spoken hundreds of years before their fulfillment that have already come to pass. No other religious book can verify itself in this way.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES
The Bible has also been proven to be historically reliable by numerous archaeological discoveries. To date, there have been more than 25,000 archaeological discoveries that have verified the name of persons, places, events, and customs mentioned in the Bible.
UNITY OF THE BIBLE
There is the Bible’s amazing unity. Here is a book that is actually a collection of sixty-six different books, written down by more than forty different authors, over a period of 1,500 plus years, on three different continents, in three different languages, and it addresses life’s most controversial topics from beginning to end. You would think there would be chaos, confusion, and contradictions, yet the Bible miraculously remains absolutely consistent and internally harmonious from beginning to end.
Friend, if you are open-minded, these four evidences (manuscript evidence, fulfilled prophecy, archaeological discoveries, and the Bible’s amazing unity) build a compelling case for the divine origin and historical reliability of the Bible.
Some of this material is from: One Minute Answers to Skeptics – Charlie H. Campbell
Friend, God, our Creator has given light to every man. You have a conscience – you know right from wrong. You know He exists and that He’s going to hold you accountable for every time you’ve violated His Law (which is written on your heart). It is entirely possible that you will remain hard-hearted, and you’ll deny what you know is true, and not bend the knee to Jesus Christ on this side of death. However my friend, every knee will bow when they come face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ on Judgment Day. Please, turn to Him while you can. Beg Him for mercy, beg Him to make you born again, that you may have life, and repent (turn from you sin) and begin to trust the risen Savior Jesus Christ. Friend, according to Who He is and what He’s done – HE WILL SAVE YOU! I’ve never heard of a kinder offer to guilty sinners! God commended His love toward us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. I pray that your heart would be broken and you’ll see the beauty and your desprite need of the Lord Jesus Christ.