Hello and welcome to our broadcast. Today we're going to start a series of messages in the book of Genesis. I think you'll enjoy it. We'll try to make it plain and simple. Stay tuned. Well, we're going to begin a series of messages in the book of Genesis, and the Bible starts out with a simple little phrase, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now, if you can believe that, you can believe the whole Bible. But should I believe the Bible? Some people will say, well, why should I believe the Bible? Well, you don't have to. You have a choice. We're all free will agents. We can choose to believe it. We can choose to reject it. But give it some consideration. For example, in Luke chapter 17, verse number 30, we read this. Jesus said, Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house. Let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. And I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed, one shall be taken and the other shall be left." Now, interestingly, nobody in Luke's day thought it could be day and night on this earth at the same time. They thought the earth was flat. Luke was written around 65 A.D. How did Luke know something that the scientists didn't figure out until the 16th century? Well, because the Bible is inspired to God, that's why. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 22, it refers to the circle of the earth. Isaiah knew the earth was round over 2,000 years ahead of our scientists. How did he know that? Well, it's very simple, God told him. Job 26 and verse 7 plainly tells us that God hangeth the earth upon nothing. This was written over 3,500 years ago. How did Job know that? All scriptures inspired of God. It says in Genesis 2, 7, "...and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then became a living soul." The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. November 1982, Reader's Digest had an article entitled, How Life on Earth Began. It stated that according to scientists at NASA, the ingredients needed to form a human being can be found in clay. The article said, quote, the biblical scenario for the creation of life turns out to be not far from the mark. Reader's Digest, November 1982, page 116. Not far from the mark? Oh, you're far from the mark, but you finally figured it out, what God knows what he's talking about. The Bible and true science are always in complete harmony. And then in Psalm chapter 8, verse number 8, it refers to the paths of the sea. After reading this, Matthew Murrell, a U.S. naval officer, set out to locate these paths in the seas. He discovered the oceans have paths which flow through them. He became known as the Pathfinder of the Seas. Interesting, David knew this over 2,000 years ago. Ecclesiastes 1.7 says, All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come, thence they return again. The writer Ecclesiastes knew about the water cycle of condensation and evaporation 2,500 years before our scientists figured it out. How did they know that back there? Well, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Leviticus 1711 says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. Well, that is the most accurate scientific statement ever written about the blood. The blood carries all the life processes of the body. The blood causes growth, builds new cells, grows bones and flesh, stores fat, and makes hair and fingernails. The blood feeds and supports all the organs of the body. If the blood supply is cut off from an arm, that arm will immediately begin to die and rot. The blood repairs the body. It is the blood that clots wounds, that grows new flesh, new skin, and even new nerves. The blood fights diseases. When they give you a vaccine against a disease, they give you a shot into your bloodstream. Doctors once treated people by a practice called bleeding. They thought illness could be cured by removing blood. Because of this practice, George Washington was literally bled to death. It wasn't until the early 1900s that a man named Dr. Lester discovered that the blood provides the body's immune system. The life of the flesh is in the blood. That's what the Bible said. Moses wrote that 1,490 years before Christ. The brightest minds that ever can be produced are just now discovering things that Moses knew about nearly 1,500 years before Christ. How can that amazing book, written thousands of years ago by men with such limited knowledge, be so far ahead? Well, it's simple. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. There were over 300 prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Many were written thousands of years before Jesus was born. Precise, detailed prophecies such as where he would be born, Micah 5 and 2, how he would be born, Isaiah 7, 14, how he would die, Psalm 34 and 20, and a whole lot of others. And history has proven without any doubt whatsoever They were fulfilled as prophesied, and they were prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before it happened. It's only in recent days that we have turned against the Bible. Noah Webster, who wrote the Webster's Dictionary, said, Education is useless without the Bible. God's Word has furnished all the necessary rules to direct our conduct. George Washington said, it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. Abraham Lincoln said, in regard to this great book, I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in the Bible. George Washington Carver said, the secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible. He then quoted Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, and all thy ways acknowledge him. and he shall direct thy paths. John Quincy Adams said, so great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children began to read it more confidently will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. Andrew Jackson said, The New Testament is the very best that ever was or ever will be known in the world. The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests. Theodore Roosevelt said, if a man is not familiar with the Bible, he has suffered a loss that he had better make all possible efforts to correct. A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. Sir Isaac Newton devoted a substantial portion of his time to study the Bible. He read the scriptures daily and wrote over a million words of notes regarding his study in it. He said, there are more marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history. Woodrow Wilson said, When you read the Bible, you know it's the Word of God because you have found it the key to your heart, your happiness, and your duty. Charles Dixon said, The New Testament is the very best that ever was written or ever will be known in this world. Christopher Columbus made his fateful trip of 1492 on the strength of the Bible. He read in Isaiah 40 and verse 22 about the circle of the earth. He determined that if the earth was round rather than flat, as was commonly believed at that time, it was the Bible that led the discovery of the United States of America. No other book has influenced people like the Bible has influenced people. The Bible has been read by more people than all other books combined. It has been published in more languages and affected more people than all other books put together. Over 7 billion copies have been printed since the printing press was invented. The Bible is unique in its construction and in its ability to survive. The Bible foretells scientific discoveries. It reveals what God is like and gives us a history in advance. History is simply His story. The Bible has never ceased to influence every person on this earth in one way or another. Even little children can name some Bible stories and tell something of the stories that are in it. Everyday expressions that are used around the world come from the Bible, all kinds of them. I'll give you just a few. Raising cane, a drop in the bucket, a house divided, a man after my own heart, you could feel the darkness, mist by a hair, a thorn in the flesh, my hair stood on end, the straight and the narrow, out of the mouth of babes, labor of love, going the extra mile by the skin of your teeth, at his wits' end, as old as Methuselah, the apple of my eye." That's just a few of hundreds of phrases that we take and expressions that came from the Bible. Western civilization was founded on the Bible. The seven-day week, the yearly timetable, the calendar, and many major holidays were founded on the Word of God. Famous authors such as Longfellow, Shakespeare, Ruskin, and Irwin wrote thousands of Bible verses. Art has been influenced by the Bible. There are more than 50 famous paintings that hang in every important museum in the world that are paintings depicting stories from the Old Testament and 65 different paintings from the New Testament. Music has been influenced by the Bible. There's many things like Handel's Messiah that quotes from 15 different books in the Bible. Government has been influenced by the Bible. The English common law, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta, and the Constitution of the United States have all been influenced by the Ten Commandments. The American Revolution was underway in 1777 and the British cut off all shipments of Bibles to the USA because of the high esteem of the Bible in the minds of those in Congress. They imported Bibles from other European sources as a result. The Charter of the colonies in the USA included Bible language. Connecticut, the Charter reads, preserved the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salem, the Charter reads, we covenant with the Lord to walk in all his ways in his blessed word of truth. U.S. coins were emitted in God we trust. and stamped boldly on them. The Liberty Bell had the inscription, Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and all the inhabitants thereof. This is a direct quote from the Bible. The verse is found in Leviticus 25, verse number 10. Education has been influenced by the Bible. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were all founded as Christian colleges for the purpose of teaching the Bible. When the public schools were founded, the Bible was the main text It has only been in recent years that man has chosen to reject the Bible. We read in USA Today in 1985, they said that the top public school problems before removing the Bible was talking, chewing gum, making noise, getting out of turn, in line wearing improper clothing and not putting paper in the wastebasket. Then they said, after the Bibles were removed, the top problems were rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombing, murder, suicide, absenteeism, vandalism, extortion, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, gang warfare, pregnancy, abortion and venereal diseases. Yep, quite a change since they took the Bible out. Again, Noah Webster, Webster's Dictionary said, education is useless without the Bible. God's Word has furnished all the necessary rules to direct our conduct. He used the Bible to help give definitions of words in Webster's Dictionary. And so we ask the question, why should we believe the Bible? Well, there's just a few reasons. The Bible was inspired by God. That's it, plain and simple. There are 3,800 references in the Old Testament alone that tell us the Bible is the Word of God. We read in 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 2 Peter 1, 21 says, For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Well, the Bible is the inspired Word of God. You can choose to believe it. You can choose to reject it. It's entirely up to you. There was a man by the name of Robert Ingersoll. He hated the Bible and he hated God. He said, within 15 years I will have the Bible lodged within a morgue. Within 15 years of that statement, on July 21, 1899, Ingersoll was in a morgue. However, the Bible stands like a rock undaunted amid the raging storms of time. Voltaire was a French writer who was an atheist. He said within a hundred years the Bible and Christianity will be swept out of existence. Well within 50 years Voltaire was swept out of existence and following his death the Geneva Bible Society used his house and his printing presses to print Bibles. Well, there you have it, plain and simple. You can choose to believe the Bible or you can reject it. It's your choice. We're going to begin a series tomorrow in the book of Genesis. We'll try to make it plain and simple. Be sure and tune in.