"Everyplace that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you" Joshua 1:3 (you just have to step out in faith)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Fortune Teller

People came from all around. They had heard of the special talent or gift that she had. The rumors were she could gaze into the future and tell you of things that were yet to come. "I heard she told Betty that there was romance in her future and now she has a new boy friend", one lady said. Another story had her predicting correctly someones good health. Yet another financial successes. Soon everyone wanted to have their fortune read.
If you could make accurate predictions of the future it would get peoples attention for sure. If I had that proverbial crystal ball and could for tell events in your life and then they happened. And then I could repeat this twice, and then a third time would you start paying attention to what I had to say? What if I told you there was a book that has told the future and it has come to pass and it has done it over and over with amazing accuracy, would you be interested?
Well there is. . . . . . . . That book is the Bible. Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10 to the 2000 power (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)! I can't even wrap my brain around that number. A 1 with 6 zeros is a million or the odds being one in a million. But were talking something far beyond that.
Here are just a few examples of the Bible’s Prophecy
Isaiah 44:25 and 45:1
This was written around 700 B.C. Isaiah said that someone named Cyrus (he even picked the name) will rebuild the temple. At the time Isaiah wrote this
the city was intact and the temple was standing. The temple was later destroyed in 586 B.C.
by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Then after Persian take over in 539 B.C.
A Persian king named Cyrus gave orders to re-build the temple around 444 B.C.
Daniel’s vision of four beasts in Daniel 7
Daniel saw all this while in captivity in Babylonia long before Persian takeover.
First Beast: Babylonian empire. He sees a Lion who’s heart is changed to a mans heart.
Under king Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom became more humane and kind.
Second Beast: The Medo Persian Empire. He sees a bear and three ribs
This empire had three parts. Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt.
Third Beast: Greek empire. He sees a leopard with four heads and four hearts.
The Greek empire was divided into four parts after Alexander’s death.
Fourth Beast: The Roman Empire. Dreadful and terrible and exceedingly strong.
The Roman Empire was the strongest the largest and the most destructive.
Daniel’s Vision in Daniel 9:25 and 9:26
The sixty nine- weeks: Daniel pinpoints the exact day of the coming of the Messiah.
The sixty-nine weeks of seven years equals 483 years or 173,880 days. (using 360 day prophetic years). That they used back then.
The command to rebuild the temple was on March 4th 444 B. C. (see Nehemiah 2:1-8).
The triumphant return by Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey was on March 29th 33 A. D. Exactly 173,880 days latter. Now thats some serious fortune telling
Ezekiel’s Prophecy of a new nation of Israel. Ezekiel 37:21
In the first century the Israelites revolted against Roman rule and the uprising was put down with extreme vengeance by the Romans. The temple was destroyed and the people were scattered. The Jewish people were spread all over the world. Almost 2000 years later in 1947 the nation of Israel was restored. The book of Ezekiel was completed in 565 B.C. around 600 years before the uprising and 2600 years before the reformation of the nation of Israel as we see it today
Now these are just a few of them but they should get your attention. And that was the idea so people would pay attention when a guy came along that many of the prophecies were about so there would be no doubt. That man is Jesus of Nazareth. And in His life he fulfilled hundreds and hundreds of bible prophecies (over 300 in one day). So there would be no doubt. Up to the right is a page with a list of many of the most striking ones. A college professor who taught probability once figured out the odds of some one fulfilling just eight of the over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled was 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That 10 to the 27th power. To wrap your mind around it. Take the state of Texas and cover it with silver dollars up past your knees. Paint one red and then blind fold me and I just happen to pick the one. It just can't happen without Devinne intervention.
That's why I pay attention to the Bible. It is not an ordinary book!




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