Let's Examine: Vision and Dream Along with 21 Other Topics

By Pastor Fred Richardson

The conclusion to the whole matter, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). God's love is everlasting, and his wisdom is infinite. It doesn't matter who or what attempts to circumvent God's plan. Nothing in heaven, earth, or under the earth can deviate God's plan. Our decision to align our will with God's and to always trust him will be rewarded.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098011192

Book preview

Chapter 1

Let’s Examine

Atheism

Iwasn’t always a believer in any deity or supreme being. In fact, I just believed we just always existed. As a young lad, I would look into the heavens and wonder what was beyond the stars, never once considering the possibility of a deity or supreme being. As the years unfolded into adulthood, that changed.

My mother would force me and my siblings to attend church every Sunday morning. Once I came of age, I immediately stopped attending church. My complete and utter attention was on me focusing on my flesh. That would include sex, cars, and marijuana, just to name a few. Even though I had absolutely no interest in church of any kind, my mother, Margaret Richardson, would tell me about this Jesus after every conversation on the phone or in person. I became increasingly annoyed!

One day, I decided in my heart I would expose this false religion, exspecially this God called Jesus. The very first question I asked myself was, What separates the Bible from any other books? For example, the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God.

The Buddhist texts: Tripitaka (Pali Canon), Mahayana Sutras, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead are three major noncanonical Buddhist texts. The Pali Canon, which means the word of Buddha, includes some of Buddha’s discourse, but it also incorporates the teachings of his pupils.

Here’s one for you: Hinduism. Hinduism is often understood as being polytheistic, supposedly recognizing as many as 330, 000, 000 gods. It also has one god that is supreme—Brahma. Brahma is an entity believed to inhabit every portion of reality and existence throughout the entire universe. Brahma is both impersonal and unknowable and is often believed to exist in three separate forms.

Let me once again reiterate: What separates the Bible from any other books (prophecies)?

The Greek word translated prophesying or prophecy in both passages properly means to speak forth or declare the divine will, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any way the truth of God which is designed to influence people. It links mankind’s past, present, and future giving us a balance of the Lord’s whole and eternal purpose. Let’s examine some Bible prophecy.

Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:3 says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Fulfillment: John 1:10–11 says, He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Bible prophecy: Zechariah 11:12 says, I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14–16 says, Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.

The one prophecy that brought me to a complete stop was written between 701–681 BC:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6)

What is most astonishing is that the crucifixion was invented by the Persians in 300–400 BC. That’s three hundred plus years after the prophecy. It was developed during Roman times into a punishment for the most serious of criminals. The upright wooden cross was the most common technique, and the time victims took to die would depend on how they were crucified.

This prophecy was fulfilled about AD 31.

What is also astonishing is that there were about forty different human authors contributed to the Bible, which was written over a period of about 1,500 years. The authors were kings, fishermen, priests, government officials, farmers, shepherds, and doctors. From all this diversity comes an incredible unity with common themes woven throughout. The Bible was also written in three continents.

African continent of these writings, the Old Testament. Asian continent, the Middle East and majority of the writings; and the European continent, Apostles Paul and John’s writings.

The Bible’s unity is due to the fact that, ultimately, it has one author—God himself. The Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).

The human authors wrote exactly what God wanted them to write, and the result was the perfect and Holy Word of God. The Greek word theopneustos means (God-breathed) inspired by God due to the inspiration of God. But other scriptural passages support the basic premise of Scripture being inspired by God. In 2 Peter 1:21, we are told that prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Here, we see the truths of Scripture described as coming directly from God, not from the will of the writers he used to record them.

As a young lad I was told that a collection of well-educated and brilliant men wrote the Bible. I utterly reject those opinions! I believe that the Holy Bible was written by men supernaturally inspired—that it is truth without any mixture of error for its matter; and therefore, is and shall remain to the end of the age the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man. It is the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried. The Holy Bible is a collection of sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation which, as originally written, does not only contain and convey the Word of God but is the very Word of God.

Let’s examine: the Bible.

The Bible is divided into two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. In short, the Old Testament is the story of a nation, and the New Testament is the story of a man. The nation was God’s way of bringing the man—Jesus Christ—into the world.

The Old Testament describes the founding and preservation of the nation of Israel. God promised to use Israel to bless the whole world (Genesis 12:2–3). Once Israel was established as a nation, God raised up a family within that nation through whom the blessing would come: the family of David (Psalm 89:3–4). Then from the family of David was promised one man who would bring the promised blessing (Isaiah 11:1–10).

The New Testament details the coming of that promised man. His name is Jesus, and he fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament as he lived a perfect life, died to become the Savior, and rose from the dead.

What is the Bible (the central character)?

Jesus is the central character in the Bible—the whole book is really about him. The Old Testament predicts his coming and sets the stage for his entrance into the world. The New Testament describes his coming and his work to bring salvation to our sinful world. Jesus is more than a historical figure; in fact, he is more than a man. He is God in the flesh, and his coming was the most important event in the history of the world. God himself became a man in order to give us a clear, understandable picture of who he is. What is God like? He is like Jesus. Jesus is God in human form (John 1:14).

Let’s examine: Atheism

For the director of music. Of David. The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good (Psalm 14:1, New International Version).

The definition of vile is morally depraved, highly offensive, unpleasant, repulsive, disgusting, foul, filthy, and wicked. Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist!

Many atheists are very intelligent. It is not intelligence or a lack thereof that leads a person to reject belief in God. It is the lack of righteousness that leads a person to reject belief in God. Many people do not object to the idea of a Creator as long as that Creator minds his own business and leaves