Independent Baptist Connection
A More Sure Word of Prophecy
The one thing we can count on today is that there just isn’t much we can count on. While we say some things are a certainty, we know they usually aren’t as certain as we think they are. That’s because we live in a world of constant transition. However, there are still some things we can count on. This makes me think of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. Come rain or shine, clouds, sleet, snow, political parties, you can count on Old Faithful to erupt about every 90 minutes.
Another couple of certainties in modern times are two things we are more familiar with: death and taxes. But have you noticed that the issues of taxes seems to come and go depending on who you are and who you know? For the Christian, not even death is a certainty.
It’s hard to beat experience. Nobody has had the experience I have had. We see it in the work place every day. There’s a struggle between training/education and experience. Who would you rather have working for you? Someone with the ability to do things, or someone who has already had the experience of doing the work? Many people find that nothing beats experience. Many consider experience the most reliable teacher.
What gives experience such a strong foothold in our lives? Part of it is that we have actually seen things with our own eyes and heard them with our own ears. Here’s a word of caution for you, though. Our eyes can deceive us and our ears can play tricks on us. Maybe sight and hearing aren’t as reliable as we thought they were.
When I was in the boy scouts, we always looked forward to a good story around the campfire at night. There was just something about hearing the speaker in the dark with an occasional flicker of light flashing across his face. The crackling of the fire seemed to confirm the accuracy of whatever the story-teller said. If there was a crazy man wandering the woods that had never been captured, I worried about an encounter with him all night long. It was just a story, but it seemed so real. My attention focused itself on every word said, but that didn’t make those words true, did it?
Then I put my trust in what other people said in person. Why would any person in authority not tell me the truth? That’s when I learned that speakers with their own agendas often say only what listeners want to hear, things that may or may not be true. Some of their statements may be only partly true. Haven’t we all learned in modern times to take what many people say with a grain of salt
Growing up, I learned that I couldn’t believe everything that was in the newspapers. Some people have yet to learn this lesson!This lesson also applied to magazines like Newsweek, Time, Life, People, and included the Washington Post and the Times. It may have been all the news that was fit to print, but it wasn’t always true.
The same thing applies to television and radio: CNN, the History Channel, and others I often speak about. Many consider these completely reliable sources of information. Though some things they say are true, not everything is true.
Many things we learn to count on as certainties really aren’t reliable at all. The school of experience, as good as it is, isn’t always the best school. We can’t always believe what we see and what we hear. Other people sometimes lie to us. Printed material isn’t always true. Neither is television or radio.
Let’s turn back our clocks to New Testament times. What government or political power was in control at that time? It was Rome.
Along with Rome came a series of pre-conceived religious beliefs that some people still cling to today. Two centuries before the appearance of Christ, there was a character called Mithras. He was supposedly born of a virgin in a cave on December 25. If that isn’t enough, shepherds were also supposedly there at the birth. If you were to follow the life of Mithras, you would see amazing similarities to the sacrifice of Christ and his passion week. Many people living in New Testament times were raised hearing the stories about Mithras. But they were just that…stories. And nothing more.
The Egyptian God Osiris was also born on December the 25th. Could Christ have been the reincarnation of Osiris? What a tale!
The Roman God Dionysius was also born on December 25 and was considered the Son of God with a heavenly Father and an earthly mother.
Did you know that Roman Emperor Augusts was also considered the Savior of the human race and that his father was the god Apollo?
The world abounded in myths at the time Christ entered the world. There were so many myths in Rome that some people today feel the entire life of Christ is nothing more than a cunningly devised fable.
Nearly all of the people of those days were raised hearing (and some believing) one or more of the many fables they heard. It was no easy task sorting out the truth from the lie. It wasn’t any easier for them two thousand years ago than it is for us today.
But look what Peter said in 2 Peter 1:16.
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty."aborate hoax or a concoction of cunningly devised fables and they have duped millions into believing their claims.
Another couple of certainties in modern times are two things we are more familiar with: death and taxes. But have you noticed that the issues of taxes seems to come and go depending on who you are and who you know? For the Christian, not even death is a certainty.
It’s hard to beat experience. Nobody has had the experience I have had. We see it in the work place every day. There’s a struggle between training/education and experience. Who would you rather have working for you? Someone with the ability to do things, or someone who has already had the experience of doing the work? Many people find that nothing beats experience. Many consider experience the most reliable teacher.
What gives experience such a strong foothold in our lives? Part of it is that we have actually seen things with our own eyes and heard them with our own ears. Here’s a word of caution for you, though. Our eyes can deceive us and our ears can play tricks on us. Maybe sight and hearing aren’t as reliable as we thought they were.
When I was in the boy scouts, we always looked forward to a good story around the campfire at night. There was just something about hearing the speaker in the dark with an occasional flicker of light flashing across his face. The crackling of the fire seemed to confirm the accuracy of whatever the story-teller said. If there was a crazy man wandering the woods that had never been captured, I worried about an encounter with him all night long. It was just a story, but it seemed so real. My attention focused itself on every word said, but that didn’t make those words true, did it?
Then I put my trust in what other people said in person. Why would any person in authority not tell me the truth? That’s when I learned that speakers with their own agendas often say only what listeners want to hear, things that may or may not be true. Some of their statements may be only partly true. Haven’t we all learned in modern times to take what many people say with a grain of salt
Growing up, I learned that I couldn’t believe everything that was in the newspapers. Some people have yet to learn this lesson!This lesson also applied to magazines like Newsweek, Time, Life, People, and included the Washington Post and the Times. It may have been all the news that was fit to print, but it wasn’t always true.
The same thing applies to television and radio: CNN, the History Channel, and others I often speak about. Many consider these completely reliable sources of information. Though some things they say are true, not everything is true.
Many things we learn to count on as certainties really aren’t reliable at all. The school of experience, as good as it is, isn’t always the best school. We can’t always believe what we see and what we hear. Other people sometimes lie to us. Printed material isn’t always true. Neither is television or radio.
Let’s turn back our clocks to New Testament times. What government or political power was in control at that time? It was Rome.
Along with Rome came a series of pre-conceived religious beliefs that some people still cling to today. Two centuries before the appearance of Christ, there was a character called Mithras. He was supposedly born of a virgin in a cave on December 25. If that isn’t enough, shepherds were also supposedly there at the birth. If you were to follow the life of Mithras, you would see amazing similarities to the sacrifice of Christ and his passion week. Many people living in New Testament times were raised hearing the stories about Mithras. But they were just that…stories. And nothing more.
The Egyptian God Osiris was also born on December the 25th. Could Christ have been the reincarnation of Osiris? What a tale!
The Roman God Dionysius was also born on December 25 and was considered the Son of God with a heavenly Father and an earthly mother.
Did you know that Roman Emperor Augusts was also considered the Savior of the human race and that his father was the god Apollo?
The world abounded in myths at the time Christ entered the world. There were so many myths in Rome that some people today feel the entire life of Christ is nothing more than a cunningly devised fable.
Nearly all of the people of those days were raised hearing (and some believing) one or more of the many fables they heard. It was no easy task sorting out the truth from the lie. It wasn’t any easier for them two thousand years ago than it is for us today.
But look what Peter said in 2 Peter 1:16.
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty."aborate hoax or a concoction of cunningly devised fables and they have duped millions into believing their claims.
We have not followed fables