Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Life and Times of King David

The Life and Times 

Of King David

  

David, Israel’s greatest leader, defeated the Philistines and subdued them, breaking their power forever. His gifts as a poet, soldier and statesman make him, of all Israel’s kings, the most beloved by his people and the most respected by his enemies.

A brilliant leader, decisive and just, David transformed Israel from a weak and divided kingdom into a formidable empire. This transformation paralleled his own progress from shepherd to king. Throughout his life he was loyal to the Lord and the prophets, a fact that brought him victory against his foes and forgiveness for every human weakness, His colorful court history, written by a close friend, makes him better known to us than any other Old Testament person.

David was indeed, the Lord’s anointed one.

Toward the end of the eleventh century B.C., Israel was finally getting a leg up on its hated enemies, the Philistines. Under the direction of King Saul, several victories had given them the advantage in the foothills and valleys of central Canaan. Saul, however, butted heads with the prophet Samuel more and more. Samuel felt that all too often the King had ignored the special privileges of the prophet’s position. Samuel was soon told to anoint a new monarch for the young kingdom of Israel.

“I repent that I have made Saul king,” said the Lord to Samuel, “for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commands.” He ordered Samuel to go to the land of Judah “to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

Samuel feared that Saul would kill him if he learned of the selection of a new king. The Lord reassured him and Samuel then headed for Judah. When he arrived the people were alarmed to see him. The elders came to him asking if he did indeed come in peace. He told them he had come in peace to sacrifice to the Lord, and requested that Jesse and his sons be present.

But when he saw the seven boys that Jesse brought with him, he told them that the Lord had not chosen any of them.

“Are all of your sons here?” Asked Samuel.

“There remains yet the youngest,” responded Jesse, “but he is keeping the sheep.”

“Send and fetch him,” ordered the prophet and David, who was “ruddy... had beautiful eyes, and was handsome,” was brought in.

“Arise, anoint him... this is he,” said the Lord to Samuel. The prophet did as he was commanded and... “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”

The Negeb landscape where David hid from Saul

David was then sent back to the hills, where he wandered with the flock of sheep and goats during the day seeking good pasture. The wells in the hills provided the water the animals needed.  In the summer he would sleep with his animals under the sky, curled up in a sheepskin coat. The winter months were guarded against with a tent, cave or stone sheepfold. He ate lots of bread, cheese and olives. The hours were long and lonely and David used this time to play his lyre and write songs. He also gained a widespread knowledge of the territory and rugged terrain of Judea.

As a shepherd he carried a studded club, almost three feet long to protect the flock from predators, and humans alike. He also carried a leather sling which he had made himself. He could throw stones for a considerable distance with it, and developed a great accuracy. With it he could warn an errant sheep of going astray or fell a wolf, bear and even a lion. In his day this is a close as one came to missile defense systems, but it was accurate nonetheless.

David continued his life as a shepherd even after his anointing by Samuel, while at Gibeah, only seven miles away, Saul, unaware of David, continued to war with the Philistines. Breaking with Samuel he fell into deep depression. At times, he approached madness, for the Spirit of God had left him and an evil spirit tormented his mind. His servants suggested that music may indeed clam his mind.

“Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me,” ordered Saul.

One of his men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse who is skillful in playing and the Lord is with him.”



David was sent for and brought to the castle at Gibeah. It was more of a fort than a royal palace in design and was only two stories tall and rather plain in decor. David played his lyre and sang for the king, and, as his servants had hoped, “Saul was refreshed and the evil spirit departed from him.”



Saul came to love the young musician, in a way of admiration and gratitude, not philio. He then appointed the young boy armor bearer. But David never forsook his families’s duties and traveled back and forth from the palace to his father’s home to care for his sheep at Bethlehem.

Valley of Elah



David was then attending to the flock while Saul was arrayed for battle against the Philistines at the Valley of Elah, in the foothills of the Judean mountains. Three of David’s brothers were in the army of Saul. David’s father sent him to them with some parched grain and ten loaves of bread as well as 10 cheeses for their commander. “See how your brothers fare,” charged Jesse.

As David arrived he could hear the clamor of the Philistines as they lined up for battle. He left his gifts with the keeper of the baggage and searched out his brothers. He ignored their commands to leave and when Goliath stepped out to challenge the army, David was in its ranks.

Goliath challenged them to send their best man out to go mano a mano with him. The bet was for the victor of the fight to the death to lead his people into mastery of the populace.

These sorts of duels between warriors, to decide  the victory between two armies were common place. Sometimes the duels were only between two men, as the term duel would suggest, but at other times they involved groups of elite fighting men who would face each other. The soon to be King David would himself have a group of three men who were such a team. They were known as his greatest warriors. Commanders often loved this sort of thing for it cut way down on military attrition of soldiers. When one considers that an army may have only 12,000 soldiers, it is easy to see why this was the case. The Israelites however, rarely practiced this custom.

David and the slingshot

Goliath was about nine feet eight inches tall. He had the best armor, a bronze helmet and had chain mail that weighed 150 pounds. Greaves of bronze adorned his legs and a huge spear was slung between his shoulders. The spear was so large that its head weighed 20 pounds or so. Just image how long and thick this rod had to be in order to be effective.

No one answered Goliath’s challenge. But David, standing close by, wondered aloud who the hell this Philistine with a foreskin was who dared to challenge the armies of the living God! Saul himself warned him to check his mouth and get back to daddy, but David instead ran out to meet the giant.

Using his field tested missile defense system to the amazement of the armies surrounding him and the giant, he actually felled the Philistine.  He then ran over and beheaded the giant. In the time it takes to throw a stone, the Philistines had lost the battle and a hero was born.

David beheads Goliath

Jonathan, the prince of Israel, was deeply impressed and gave David his best sword, girdle and bow. They made a covenant of friendship that day which would stand the test of time.

more on David and his lifetime in the next segment.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Ignoring Israel Part 3

Ignoring Israel

Part 3: Israel, Like No Other

Many out there in the world are sure to disagree with the idea that there was a Holocaust. This horrific event is considered by many to have been a Semitic creation, despite war time photos and films that would argue to the contrary. The whole idea that over 6 million Jews were annihilated by the forces of Nazi Germany in war camps, where Jewish citizens, often citizens of Germany herself, were sadistically tortured and killed is dismissed by a large portion of certain parts of the world as nothing more than propaganda.

The problem with this point of view is the resultant historical significance of the Holocaust. For one thing, the United Nations certainly believed there was evidence enough for this tragedy, so much so in fact, that they made it a point to “find reparations” toward the Israeli people by working to re-instate them as a nation. But from a Biblical standpoint, there is also prophetic evidence of this event as seen through the eyes of the prophet Ezekiel some 2,600 years earlier. Jewish historians recognize this idea as fact, and those who of course support Israel don’t have a problem with it either. It would be safe to say, I believe, that the event is either supported or denied based solely on the position one takes on the Jewish state itself.

Painful to Look At

According to Ezekiel, the nation of Israel would be a “valley of dry bones rising out of their graves to live again.” Scholars tell of this prophecy as indicating a time when the nation would be on the point of annihilation, but instead would rise from the grave and return to their land, they would then form a great nation and a mighty army. (Ezekiel 37:10-12) If anyone has ever seen the horrific photos of heaps of human bodies all piled up on one another or of the emaciated living skeletons kept in death camps, it is not difficult to see that the Nazi led Holocaust was no mere minor bump in the road for the Israeli people.

Moses too, warned of severe persecutions for the nation. When the blessing and the curse of the law was established, there was then no getting around a cause and effect for those who belong to the Israeli nation. There would be blessings for following the law, and rotting of those blessings for disobedience. Blessings would make Israel the big gun, the BMOC, if you will. God would indeed show his favor on the nation by covering them with unheard of and seemingly impossible good fortune and blessings if the law was followed. Conversely, if they disobeyed the law, they would have sickness, drought, poverty and captivity. As a result, the nation would be few in number. (Deuteronomy 28:62)

And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shall fear day and night, and thou shall have no assurance of thy life. (Deut 28:66)

Eight hundred years later the Kingdom of Israel was invaded by Assyria. They were exiled and scattered throughout the Earth. Just like Moses had warned them. One hundred and fifty years later the Babylonians came and took Judah away. They destroyed the first temple and looted the land, leaving it open to the sorts of citizens that had at first been cast out by Joshua and his men in the beginning.

Six hundred years later, the Romans did it again. They slaughtered the Jews and burned the second temple. For the next 1900 years the people of Israel existed outside the land, in what is known as the Diaspora, or Galut, meaning “exile” in Hebrew. These are all historical facts, and to doubt the history books on these events, as some do in the case of the Holocaust, is to doubt in the face of recurring events that are germane to the people of Israel. Think about this,  can you see anyone else among the nations of the world with such a history?

Of course, there are those suffering nations that lay at the feet of bigger powers, like those of the Ukraine that suffered beneath the Russian bear, or the Pacific Rim small nations that suffered below the heel of China, but Israel has suffered uniquely in that they have existed as a people without a nation to call their own for an impossibly long time. Surely, they would have disappeared into the genealogy of those nations that they were dispersed into by now. You and I, though we may be from European descent, or South American descent, or Asian descent, may indeed have Jewish blood in our lines and not even be aware of it. Without a place to call home, how can a people continue as a people?

Auschwitz Crematorium

  

Hitler and the Holocaust are not all that far fetched when one considers the long term history of the Jewish nation. I started this post talking about Nostradamus and his prophecies and one thing he does indeed mention is the re-occurrence of seemingly obscure figures who appear from out of nowhere and go on to infamy. One of these persons was indeed Adolph Hitler.  Hitler was so incredibly effective in his persuasion, that a huge portion of the European citizenry was literally brainwashed to believe that the Israelis were sub-human and deserved to be exterminated.

A Jew named Karl Marx was one reason for Hitler’s hatred of the Jews, but the citizenry was already primed for fear and loathing toward them due to the belief that the Jews had been responsible for the defeat of Germany in World War I, and the continued economic crisis that existed just before the onset of World War II.  It didn’t help that the allies of the day were demanding Germany pay up for all the destruction it had caused in the early 1900’s and the resultant economic crisis was one of hyperinflation and loss of value in the German dollar. (Sound familiar, America?) By the time 1923 rolled around, it took 4.2 trillion German marks to buy one American dollar. German paper money was only useful for kindling wood.

The hyperinflation created an atmosphere of doom and desolation that made it easy to finger Jewish bankers as the “Henry F. Potter” who is only motivated by greed and avarice. (The banker in the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life) In a panic mode, the people of Germany were primed for an emotional talker who filled them with hope and focused them all on a common enemy, be he real or imagined.

When Hitler came to power, he made good use of the “them against us” gospel, and included  Communists and Slavs in his chastisement of the Jews. Historians believe that the Reichstag fire of 1933 was actually set by the Nazis but blamed on the Communists. This in much the same way as many feel the 9/11 terrorist attack was an inside job created to fuel the people into a common enemy mode. The fire led to a suspension of civil liberties (sound familiar?) including freedom of speech and of the press. In 1935, Jews were deprived of their rights as citizens.

Hitler was definitely after the nation of Israel and in something called the Crystal Night, he proved it beyond a doubt. That night the Nazis literally attacked the Jewish people, and their property located on German lands. In one single night 91 Jews were murdered and over 25,000 were dragged from their homes, thrown out of the country and placed in concentration camps. Go on Google sometime and look for “secret government camps” that have been built right here in America, which are empty but surrounded by barbed wire. There are some videos on YouTube also. What are those empty camps for?

The Crystal Night also saw the pillaging of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. This was the marker for the beginning of the elimination of the Jewish influence from German society. This policy then evolved into the “final solution”, for which Hitler is also famous for coining. The estimates are that in the next seven years, the Nazis had killed about 11 million men, women and children by starvation, beatings, shootings and gas chambers, not to mention the human baking ovens of Auschwitz. Two thirds of the Jewish population in Nazi controlled lands, about 6 million Jewish persons, were exterminated over this period. Moses had said it, they were made few in number.

According to Nostradamus, Hitler was one of three Anti-Christs, and indeed many at the time believed he was THE Anti-Christ. In this, we may find a “leak” of information, as I have referred to before, in that Hitler may have been one type of Anti-Christ. Keep in mind the collapse of the stock market here in America that sent shock waves all around the world. The Great Depression hit Germany especially hard and paved the way for a leader like Hitler. A leader like an Anti-Christ. October 29, 1929 is on the Hebrew calendar as Tishri 25, 5690. A democratic Germany gave dictatorial powers to Hitler on Adar 25, 5693 (March 23, 1933). That’s about three and a half years or forty two months. Sound Biblical? Sound like the Tribulation time line? Can it happen again?  

  

More on this next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Ignoring Israel Part 2

Ignoring Israel


Part 2: Israel Returns

A long time ago, in an era far, far away, the Roman army occupied the Holy Land and the city of Jerusalem. Six hundred years earlier the temple of Solomon had been destroyed and then later the temple was restored by the likes of Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai. All good Old Testament Prophets.

Centuries later a Gentile ruler named Herod, built huge additions and gates for the temple.  One of these gates was named Huldah, after a female prophetess. This is the same place Jesus and his disciples used to gather for the Jewish feasts.

During many of these feasts, Jesus revealed himself to be the promised Messiah. The disciples, themselves being good little students of the Old Testament, understood that the Messiah, when he came, would rule his Kingdom on Earth from Jerusalem. He would also restore Israel to its spiritual and national grandeur. The twelve tribes of Israel had been scattered ever since the Assyrian invasion in the 7th century B.C., and consequently, when the Messiah appeared, the tribes would return.

Many of Jesus followers understood the direction things were going and this frightened the  Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, into thinking that all men would follow Jesus and they would lose their state and their place as a nation to the Romans. Even the high priest tried to tell them that it would be better for one man to die for the nation than for them all to be wiped out, thus predicting the history of Christ. In the same breath he spoke of gathering together the nation, as was expected of the coming of the Messiah.

Even the disciples asked Jesus if this was the time when he would restore the nation of Israel. (Acts 1:6) That would have been the litmus test for the Messiah. What they were looking for was a rebellion to be initiated against Rome, and a revolutionary army to repel the occupiers, so that the nation could be restored and a “Throne of David” set up for ruling the nation.

His disciples looked forward to serving at his side in high positions of authority, a few even asked for posts at his right and left hand. They squabbled among themselves as to who was the greatest, no doubt jockeying for position in some future GLOBAL government. This is no real surprise as many of the prophets had told of the time when all Israel would return to the land from the “four corners of the globe.”

Isaiah 11:11

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the sea.

Their questions were deferred by Jesus himself who told them “that it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which God the Father has put under his own power.” (Acts 1:7)

Notice this, Christ never said that he had NO PLANS for Israel, nor did he say he was going to replace them with another church. Jesus knew the old prophesies they were waiting expectantly for and he told them flat out that the plan to restore Israel and also the global Messianic Kingdom that was coming was off in the future and under God the Father’s control. In fact, before the visible Kingdom would rule from Jerusalem, the city would again be taken over by  invaders and the people once again scattered to the four winds. Jesus let them know of this by pointing out the white limestone buildings and notifying them that not one stone would be left upon another. (Matthew 24:2)

Indeed Jerusalem was invaded by an army and the Holy Temple was indeed destroyed a second time. The Babylonians had done it the first time, and they carted away everything, literally raping and pillaging the city and its people. It was a national disgrace for such a people, and subsequent generations had to live with the historic shame of their ancestor’s actions. Though they were permitted to return after 70 years, the concept that this would happen again was a big let down to anyone who was proudly Israeli.

There would be a set time for Israel to be established as the home base for the global rule of the Messiah (Psalms 102:13), but it wasn’t going to happen in the disciple’s lifetime.  They would instead become empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the Good News of God and be a) Proclaimers of God’s message to the world, b) Preachers that the messiah is savior of all mankind, c) A light to the nations, d) An example of God’s love to the poor and the needy.

In the book written by Jewish historian Josephus called, The War of the Jews, he documents how in just forty years after Christ’s prediction the Roman tenth legion surrounded the city in an attempt to squelch a rebellion. They basically cut them off from entering and exiting, a classic move in those days. Famine ravaged the land as the people began to starve to death. Crime ran rampant. Jew on Jew violence reached beyond levels of some of out worst inner city crime scenes of today. Not only did roving bands of raiders go from house to house looking for food and water, but they began to eat each other. Babies were shaken upside down to see if there was food inside them. Rich citizens would swallow any gold they had to protect their wealth. They then tried to escape the city through underground tunnels only to have the Romans catch them in the act and then rip them open for the gold they had in their bellies.

Romans, of course, loved crucifixion so many of the escapees were crucified on the walls of the city as an example. Dead bodies lay everywhere on the open ground and the putrification that was happening made the Roman generals ill.

The Romans dickered over the fate of the temple itself, whether to destroy it or leave it intact as a monument to the Roman rule. Titus wanted it saved but it was accidentally torched and as it burned down, the gold melted and covered the limestone blocks. Thus the stones were toppled in order to get at the gold that had melted around them. Therefore, not one stone was left upon another.

In this same time before the destruction of the temple there had been many reports of strange happenings and visions that appeared concerning the temple. These things were considered signs of God’s favor with the nation and his anger at Rome, and thus a rebellion was considered an apt response to these “signs and wonders”.

Despite false prophetic words to the contrary, the temple was indeed razed, the walls destroyed, and thousands of the people were killed. The year 70 A.D. marked the end of the city of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel and also any control of the city that the Jewish people might have hoped for.

For those of you who are looking for the 12 lost tribes of Israel, and maybe you think that the Throne of David is in England, sitting on top of the Joshua stone, having been planted there by Jeremiah and Tia Tephia, the daughter of the last king of Judah, don’t ignore this prophesy from Hosea:

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without and ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.      Hosea 3:4-5

In 71 A.D., the Romans plowed Jerusalem with salt. They did this as a statement that the city was gone for good. Sixty years later the Emperor Hadrian, designated the site of Jerusalem as a Roman "Polis" and called it  Aelia Capitolina, after the Roman god Jupiter. (Who is Thor to the Scandinavians). Jupiter’s temple was then built on that very site of the former temple.

Israel was then called Palestine, and the land of Jerusalem would change hands every time a new power took over. The Romans were followed by the Byzantines, whose headquarters were located in Constantinople. Then the Muslims took over for 450 years, and then the Crusaders in 1011, then the Turks in 1071, then the Muslims returned in 1187, then the Ottoman Empire took over in 1517 for 400 years. In 1917 the British took over.

In 1948 the British mandate ended and the United Nations divided up the Holy Land and gave the Jews the section that would be called Israel. May 14, 1948 was the rebirth of this nation, and many attribute the Holocaust as the main trigger for this occurrence. This event had been prophesied by the Prophet Ezekiel  some 2,600 years earlier.

More on 

this next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament Part 2

Historicity 

of the 

Old Testament

part 2

Present Old Testament scriptures consist of 39 books, and there is little doubt that these books are one and the same as books that were accepted by the Jewish peoples of Christ’s day as the inspired word of Holy Scripture. These books were not only accepted by the early Christian’s as the authentic article, but the concept was also supported by many other venues, namely; Josephus, the Jewish Historian, various statements in the Talmud, and numerous references in the New Testament. I do realize that there are doctored and decorated college professors all over America who will tell you that Josephus was wholly unreliable, but those people are usually secular and not inclined to support evidence that would interfere with their world view, and the world view that they would have their hundreds of young, impressionable students believe. People are rarely committed to the truth.

Josephus

Whether or not all these sources were mistaken in their support for the veracity of scripture, is fodder for another blog at another time. At the time however, this was indeed the belief , by both Christians of the early church and also their Jewish adversaries. Most importantly to the early Christians, this was the Jewish Bible, accepted by Jesus Christ.

Division of the books went as follows: The Law of Moses, or the Torah; The books of the Prophets, including historical books; “Writings” of the other books, poetical writings of which the Psalms is a great part. Christ even mentioned this division when he spoke of prophecies devoted to himself in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Canonization of books usually comes from self authentication. They were acknowledged by the people of God as the Word of God by the witness of the Holy Spirit right from the beginning, this witness also included the authoritative character of the writings. Despite what many will tell you, it is the authoritative character and witness of the Spirit that leads to the selection of canonized books, not some council of church fathers who wanted to control society.

How could the scriptural writings have become so universally accepted over hundreds of years if indeed they were not authentic? If Moses didn’t write the books of Moses, and Isaiah was only one of several who wrote the book of Isaiah, if Daniel was not the author of the book of Daniel, then how did such opinions become the regular belief of the people who used them? 

There is little doubt that the books we have today are the same books that were used by Christ and his followers in his day, and also the Jewish scribes of the first century. However, can we say that the original text was transmitted to them in the original form as was the intent and meaning? One must keep in mind that if we possessed no support for the Old Testament from the New Testament, then we could have NONE of the Old Testament. 

Textural criticism, or the “lower criticism” is the science by which we attempt to judge the veracity of original scripture. I have already posted a blog here about the veracity of the New Testament, in all its glorified correctness, and work from the position that indeed we as mankind do have the authentic New Testament. 

For the Old Testament text, we are limited to the Masoretic text, the Septuagint version, the Latin Vulgate, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac version, and also the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is the Masoretic text that is considered authoritative by both Christian and Jew  in our day. The Masoretes were a group of Jewish scribes who around 500 A. D. developed an official text from the various texts that had come down to them over time. In the margin of this text they recorded all the variant readings of the texts that had “come across their desks” in the exercise of this cumulative work. There are only about 1200 in number, less than one per page of the Hebrew Bible. 

Masoretic

Transmission of the Masoretic text, prior to 1526 A.D., the date of the first printing of the Hebrew Bible, consisted of about 1,000 manuscripts. The oldest is dated 916 A. D., and of those available to us, there are scant differences between them. Due to such a large amount of scriptural copies being around 96% consistent with each other, we can have good confidence in the final product that comes from their compilation. 

Originally the text of the Old Testament consisted only of consonants. Vowels were considered understood by the reader. The present Hebrew Bible has something called “vowel points”, which guide the reader in the use of which vowels go with which consonants.  These were added by Jewish scholars around 700 A. D. , and if indeed they proved to have incorrect judgement as to their usage, due to textural criticism, then they would indeed have to be adjusted. 

Septuagint

As a back up check on the Masoretic text, the Septuagint is the next link in the chain. The name Septuagint comes from the seventy scribes who compiled the text in about 280 B. C.. These scribes translated the Hebrew text into Greek for use by the diaspora, the Jews cast into dispersion who would become the lost tribes of Israel. It is highly likely that the Greek version was used by the Christians of the early church. 

Latin Vulgate

The Latin Vulgate was translated by Jerome    from Hebrew and Greek into Latin about 400 A. D. . The Syriac version was translated  from Hebrew about 200 A. D. . The Samaritan Pentateuch, written by those who do not accept the rest of the Old Testament, had been handed down independently of the Jewish family line since the time of Nehemiah, about 400 B. C. 

(I realize that the A. D. and B. C. designations are to be written differently as A. D. 200 and 400 B. C., but this is MY blog.)

Although there are variations in all of these writings, the variations themselves are not so important as to make any major changes in the final product. The differences often lose out to a vote of the texts themselves as only one or two may have a variation and therefore would not be included in the final text. 

There are also numerous other books that refer to and also include the writings of the Old Testament. These books include, Jubilees, Ecclesiasticus, Josephus and Philo, the Talmud, the Zadokite fragments (Zadok being the priest of Solomon), the Targums, and also many quotes included in the New Testament.

All these sources show us that what we have today as the Old Testament is also what has been around as far back as any direct evidence can take us. I am willing to bet you have never heard an atheist tell you that.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls also threw its hat in the ring so to speak in supporting the veracity of scripture. Discovered in 1945, these documents are dated from the time of Christ and beyond, and are actually the oldest pen to paper manuscripts of ANY scripture to date. 

Many scrolls have been found, and in one scroll or another, the entire text of the Old Testament has been found. All of these agree to such a convincing degree with the Masoretic text, that any variations have been deemed trivialities. 

There is, therefore, no reasonable doubt that the text we have of the Old Testament is practically identical with the text in use several centuries before Christ, extending back to the time when the last books were originally written. Scribes who copied the manuscripts were known to have taken great pains to ensure the correctness of their copies. Many numerical devices were used counting letters and gematria (numerical equivalents) in the various books as cross checking devices. These scribes were men who not only believed God, but loved God, and were not those who were seeking public conquest and social power for themselves or their “King”. They were doing Holy work for the Kingdom of God, and it was their calling.

It is historically significant, that the veracity of the Old Testament scripture, being based upon such unheard of fanatical consistency, is alone in its superior existence in comparison to any other ancient writing from the same era or beyond. If the ancient writings of ANYTHING can be relied upon, it is the scripture of the Old Testament.

I’ll discuss the arguments of so called “higher criticism” in the next segment.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: God Favors Our Righteous Cause

God Favors Our Righteous Cause  

by Lizzie Ducking

Can we be sure that God will bless the things that we do? Yes, we can be sure if it is according to His word.

The Bible said that Jesus went about doing good. He had favor from God and man and if we would imitate what He did then we can be assured of God's blessing.

What are righteous causes? They are things we do that please God. It could range from giving a Child a cold drink of water to starting a Ministry. These are only two examples but both are righteous causes. The Lord fills our day with opportunities to be blessed by righteous causes.

I use to hate when the phone rang while I was busy doing something, it really frustrated me until I realized that the People who were calling did not know that I was busy so I had to make an adjustment in my attitude and become patient, this was a righteous cause for me because having patience is a blessing. Every time the phone rings when I am busy and I patiently answers it I have a blessing coming. Blessings followed Jesus everywhere because He went about taking advantage of righteous causes that was presented to Him.

If what we are doing or want to do is right, that is a righteous cause and God will perform all that we ask of Him. We would not have to try to figure out what to do it will be given to us by the Holy Spirit, all we would need to do is to follow His instructions.

Psalm 35:27 says, let them shout for joy and be glad who favor my righteous cause and let them say continually let the Lord be magnified who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Not only will God favor us but He will also bless those who rejoices in the thing that we are doing and give Glory and Honor to Him.

Instead of being jealous of what a Person is doing, we should rejoice in the Lord over it and the Lord will bless us for doing that.

If we are having a difficult time, we can work our way out of it by doing good, every single time that we do something good towards someone else there is a blessing in it and if we continue to do good towards others, we will find ourselves living a life of blessings. It will follow us jus as it did with Jesus.

A lot of People think that they will have to do something profound for the Lord to receive His blessing, this is not the case because He said when we have done it to the least one of these you have done it unto me. Simple things like helping to pick us items a Person dropped are a righteous cause. We were there at that time to help them so it was not a co-incident; it was a destiny trying to get a blessing to us.

About the Author

I am a Christian and a License Practical Nurse. I enjoy helping and encouraging others. I am a Wife, Mother and Grandmother. I am also President of the Parent Teachers Organization, President of the Parent Supporter Task Force and a member of the Parent Leadership Institute.

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Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 6

Historicity of 
the New Testament


part 6

In the other parts of this post we have seen that the New Testament writings are indeed authentic, written around the middle of the first century by men who were intelligent, stable and sincere in what they wrote about. They had full access to the facts that they were reporting and they were firmly convinced that the one about whom they wrote was God in the flesh. His words were uniquely perfect, the first time, and he performed mighty miracles, not the least of which was his victory over death by his own bodily resurrection. 

Now if none of this were true, then the only other explanation that fits is that Jesus himself was a great deceiver who so baffled them with bull that they believed he was perfect in word and deed. He also fooled them into believing he had walked on water, gave sight to the blind and raised Lazarus from the dead. He then concocted the “Passover plot” and fooled them into thinking he had been crucified, buried and then rose again from the dead. Then, outdoing David Copperfield’s best work, he rose from Earth into heaven. 

This is, of course, absurd on so many levels. If such great deceptions are really the way things happened, then Jesus is even MORE marvelous than what the disciples reported of him. Make no bones about it, if we are talking about deception here, then Christ was indeed the greatest charlatan and deceiver in all history. 

The truth is however, that even those who refuse to acknowledge his deity report him to have been one of the greatest teachers, by word and deed that the world has ever known. The “paper trail” that Christ has left us has been the greatest force for good that the world has ever known. Unless his character is exactly what is reported in the New Testament, then there is no way to find truth in this world. Life is devoid of meaning and God is truly dead if scripture is all a big put on. 

Christian churches everywhere practice two important ceremonies. These are the ordinance of baptism and the remembrance of the Last Supper. Baptism being a part of Christ’s integral great commission which is conferred upon all new believers, and the Lord’s Supper commemorates his sacrificial death. 

Down through the ages the churches have always practiced these two instructions. The New Testament authorizes this. These two have a particular witness of their own, not shared by other events recorded in the New Testament. These two practices actually come BEFORE the writing down of the New Testament, and are recorded historically, mostly due to the fact that Christ himself initiated their practice. 

Let’s just say for instance you and I are the church at Phillipi, the Philippians, if you will. This church existed for about 20 years after its founding before it began to receive epistles from Paul, and it would be another ten years before it received a copy of one of the Gospels. 

During this time it was guided by the teachings of its founder, and also by other teachers that God had sent their way as those who would feed his sheep. These teachings included baptism and also the remembrance of the Last Supper. Philip would have of course stressed the importance of following these decrees and then when they received epistles and then Gospels, they would have become even more resolute in their faith. 

However, let’s say that this was NOT the case, they had NOT been lead all this time to observe these two ordinances by the leadership of the church. Suddenly, they receive the Gospel of Matthew, or Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Their response would of course be to perceive the Gospel and epistle as fake and a fraud and reject them right out. These two ceremonies would NOT have been known ahead of time as something that had been established by Christ himself, and therefore would have appeared as fiction writing ever since. 

Authenticity of any writings about Christ could never have been accepted at all by any church from the beginning, and we would never have known the Bible we know today. There is no other way to have documented the practice of these two ordinances except as they are described in the New Testament. The churches would never have been persuaded to begin practicing these two ordinances by books or teachers who told them they had already been practicing them since the days of Christ, if in fact they knew that was not so. Therefore, the ordinances WERE established by Christ himself, and the New Testament writings which tell about them are indeed authentic. 

But what about the demonstration of truth in history itself? More on this in part 7. Oo! Seven! I like that number. ;-)

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 4

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Once it has been established that the writings of the New Testament are authentic historical documents, written by contemporaries and often eye-witnesses of the events described therein, we can then examine the persons and events with confidence so that the real nature and purpose can be ascertained. This is not the time for examination of elusive theological or philosophical questions, but the point of inquiry that deals with facts determined by objective investigation.

At this point, divine inspiration is a question for another time. The concern at this point is rather, whether or not the New Testament presents Christ as divine in origin and essence, or perhaps instead, as truly and only human.

If we find in the writings that he is indeed shown  to be deity, then there are a few options that need to be considered. Was this all just a big plot? Were the writers involved in a long term subterfuge to enable themselves to be leaders in some new religious movement? Or were they under the influence of some mass delusion? Did they think Christ was God only because they needed and wanted to believe and were experiencing a kind of group mental aphasia? If they were deceived, did Christ intentionally deceive them? Or perhaps he too was under a deception, either by the persuasion of others or from his own suffering at the hands of some mental illness that we can only guess about. We can study these possibilities within the writings themselves, once they have been found to be verified with authentic dates and authorship. Therefore, armed with intelligence and not just blind hope, we can decide objectively whether or not Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God and the only way to salvation, as Christians believe. 

It is, of course, not possible to free oneself from  subjective factors on an issue like this. Even though we may be able to prove that all the witnesses to stated events agree on the ground floor concept behind the deity of Christ, one can still choose on his own initiative not to believe it. And ultimately, even with glaring evidences on both sides of this kind of issue, it is always a final decision for the person as to whom they are going to believe.

To any argument, a further question or objection can always be devised, if a person is clever enough, and there are many clever ones out there. Even though we can back an objector into a corner from which there is no escape, the person can always become emotional and avoid the issue anyhow, or perhaps delay a decision until further thought can be applied. They can also take a kind of refuge and satisfaction in the position of many who do not believe also, or perhaps simply stand on an issue of relevance. On the other hand, if you are a person who is interested in solid Christian evidence on this subject, there is plenty to go around for everyone who will lend an ear. 

So let’s get started next time in part 5.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Apostasy and Power part 2

Apostasy and Power

part 2

The Fourth Dimension

I realize that it sounds a bit like micro management, but the facts are the facts. Claiming such a thing as the Fourth Dimension brings with it the erroneous designs that lead to ideas such as The Spirit of God, angels, demons, and man’s spirit all inhabiting the same dimension. The transcendence and unequaled superiority of God is once again questioned. Satan wanted to believe this also, that he could be equal with God, and his treaties toward Eve contained this same machination; namely, that God had something to worry about when they became equal with him. 1 Timothy 6:16 relates: “...who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see”.

Man’s spirit has the place and function for operating within his own body, it operates within the physical universe and is subject to the natural laws that dictate prescription. God is not pleased when we attempt converse with disembodied wraiths. Such beings live in another place that is bound by its own laws, which we cannot measure with physical accoutrements nor understand based on our own material experience and much less take superintendence of by directives or wrote activities. When these revenants penetrate into the physical world in the form of psychic phenomena, the things they do seem like hyper reality but are in fact, as natural to that realm as the physical world is to us.

God is just not there. He no more inhabits the spirit world than we in the physical world do and he no more inhabits this spiritual dimension in similitude. He has a pure seminal existence like none other. Creator and creation, whether physical or spiritual are exclusive in their existence. The true supernatural, superior to either existence by physical or spiritual, only comes from God. Psychic phenomenon comes from the secondary spiritual place and from those who would attempt to hoodwink us into believing that we have indeed made contact, by our own means or methods, with the divine.

If You Can See it....

Indirectly and mistakenly, Pastor Cho has laid out the basic diagram for occult theory, nature religion, and/or witchcraft. His claims that God inhabits the physical universe allow him egress into the idea of the Almighty making reality from parts of himself. This is done by “incubating”, like a hen sitting on eggs. “Incubating” is the term substituted for “visualization”. There is no suggestion whatsoever of any type of technique used for creation by God in Holy Scripture. To make a suggestion as to any method of creation used by God is to limit him to our understanding, and since he is infinite, all encompassing, eternal and omnipresent; just to use a few superlatives, he cannot be marginalized. You may make the claim that “God said...” is a method, but since when was the whole of the universe at your beck and call to do the same, or how can limited man correctly identify this action as being on a par with our own abilities?

One can see the slippery slope of such directives. If God and man inhabit the same “fourth dimension”, then we can visualize, incubate, and create reality just as God does. But knowing mankind like you and I do, would we want to live in such a reality? A reality where any person or small group can intrude upon others reality with the power of the mind. We already go to war with tanks and guns over territory and possessions, what would we do with such an ability as this? And honestly, if it were indeed possible, wouldn’t we have seen it by now? The real reason such clap trap comes and goes like it does, is death. If generations didn’t die off, if we were all 500 years old, one would never see such ridiculous supposition. Why? Because we would have lived long enough to know the truth of reality.

Here is what Cho says in his book, The Fourth Dimension:

“We’ve got to learn how, to visualize and dream the answer as being complete as we go to the Lord in prayer. We should always try to visualize the end result as we pray. In that way, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can incubate that which we want God to do for us....

God used this process of visualizing the situation to help Abraham... By that visualization through the associated thought... Abraham could incubate his (future) children and dispel doubts from his heart. The main thing is to know the importance of visualization.”

If this imagination power is so paramount to God’s operation with mankind, one would expect that the Bible would treat it with titular importance. But visualization is never mentioned in the Bible, nor is it taught, it is more of an term of the last 300 years of man’s existence here upon the Earth, and that is the genesis of its origins. (I refer to the “intellectual elite” revolution of the 1800’s) The action of holding a mental image in the mind in order to manipulate reality goes way back in time to the earliest occultic practices. It is, not coincidentally, one of the most basic shamanistic practices. Paradoxically, this method is being taught by Christian organizations, psychologists, success motivation and healing practices. I see ONE Bill Gates, gifted with intelligence and education, and wonder where are all the millions who could be his equal if they only had visualized similar success.

Power Man

A wise man once told me that the sin of the young man is sex, the sin of the middle aged man is power, and the sin of the old man is greed. Considering the amount of weight in society that those in their middle years hold over their counterparts on both sides, it is not surprising to find that mankind has a long history of the pursuit of power. Despots, alchemists, modern science and mystics have all sought it. The myth that the greatest power is the one that lies within is the magic bullet of the day. The idea of the “Great Unconscious”, the part of ourselves that would open up the universe for us if we could only access it, is a type of “Holy Grail” toward attaining power. Our conscious mind is now considered the “red headed step child” of our being and is actually a viral hindrance toward our own self fulfillment.

I would love to see the evidence of this untapped and unlimited power potential that is sold to mankind on a mass scale. I see the books on the bookshelf, the authors driving Bentleys, but where is the evidence from their readers? How many books and tapes does it take to release this power of the mind before the public that buys this clap trap wakes up? I suppose hope springs eternal. Next time you see your Grandpa, if he is able, or even your great grandpa if you have one, ask him if these ideas are anything new and if he has ever seen anyone who can perform mind power on call. Surely, if something actually worked like this, wouldn’t a great author of the past have written about it? Wouldn’t Charles Dickens, or someone comparable, have novelized this success story in some way? Why wouldn’t they have? Are we this egotistical that we think progress has automatically opened ALL doors once unknown to the common populace? It would seem so.

But it’s not just the bleeding crowd that has been effected. Here is a quote from a Christian book:

“Would it shock you to learn that God’s healing power is available through your own mind and you can trigger it by faith? If you had direct access to your unconscious mind, you could command any disease to be healed in a flash. That’s how much power is at hand. Jesus obviously had access to it, for he produced command healings.

But God has purposely placed this power beyond our awareness. That way fallen man can’t tamper with it. However, there is a way to get to it, indirectly... by faith. (Yes, he has discovered a loophole. Oops! And we thought God had everything covered.)

Does that sound like Mind Science? Yes it does. It’s true that the cults have discovered certain of God’s healing laws and use them to lure people into their webs.... But let me ask, should born again believers be denied healing simply because certain cults exploit these laws?

That’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s ridiculous to say: “I can’t use these laws because the Science of Mind people use them.”*

*Personal Christianity Newsletter, Aug. 1979, C.S. Lovett, “The Medicine of Your mind.”

Seems funny how Pastors like this have strict knowledge of Jesus saying to have faith in God, but here faith in the human unconscious is the focus. Seriously, Christ was either who he said he was, God come in the flesh, or he was the biggest lunatic ever to walk the Earth. Would God at present in the flesh have need of “the human unconscious”? Strange logic.

But aren’t we made in the image of God?

Genesis 1:26,27 tells us that we are indeed made in the image of God. An image is a reflection like one in a mirror. In the same place as a mirror reflects an image before it, mankind was designed to reflect a reality other than his own. How can a mirror develop a good self image? If the image is distorted, then the mirror needs to be corrected to match the image reflected by it. To pursue its own self improvement and self confidence is to deny the ultimate reality of the relationship. It is a direct attack upon mankind’s pride to think that a correct personal position in reality is totally dependant upon God. We were designed to show the goodness of God, not some “superman- boy scout” heroism of our own.

If Eve had had “Godlike” powers within herself, then the idea of “being like God” would have been erroneous clap trap to her, and a waste of everyone’s time. We now know, after centuries of pain and anguish, that this promise was a lie. Since she did indeed eat of the forbidden fruit and didn’t become like God. Instead, the promise of God is that one would die, first spiritually, and then later physically if the forbidden fruit was taken. This DID happen and continues to this day. No matter how much progress mankind makes, he is repeatedly, down through history, hamstrung by the same problems which began right here in the garden of Eden. To deny that the events contained within this book really never happened, is to ignore the “cancer that came from living next to the nuclear plant”, so to speak.

Psychic Powers?

Psychic powers are not something that is tapped into inside of man. It is a penetration from another realm. A place where those that live there would love you to believe that reality is not ALL ABOUT GOD, but you can indeed access power from inside yourself. Mankind therefore becomes a slave to the temptation of power at the expense of the true reality of his position before God.

Even worse, Christians are now practicing Holy Spirit perception, a version of ESP that has been rewired for the Christian community. (Really, what would the “great falling away” look like?) Ralph Wilkerson of Melodyland Christian Center in Southern California writes in his book, ESP or HSP? Exploring Your Latent Seventh Sense:

“Why are some more gifted with HSP - hearing the voice of God, discerning demons, speaking words of wisdom and knowledge - and others less so, only manifesting it occasionally? Certain people appear to be more naturally sensitive that others to the seventh sense.

Those with American Indian ancestry, such as Oral Roberts, often exhibit a certain openness to both the sixth (ESP) and seventh (HSP) sense. I believe this can be traced to the keenly developed perception necessary for the primitive Indian’s survival...

Women are apparently more aware of hidden realms beyond .... Perhaps this explains why so many psychics are female.”

*Ralph Wilkerson, ESP or HSP? - Exploring Your Latent Seventh Sense. 1978, pp. 258-259

If Adam, in the garden, had psychic powers before the fall, and he would have been sinless at this point, then Jesus, who was sinless also would certainly have displayed them. But he always claimed that he was only doing the work that God the Father was doing through him. When Jesus told Nathaniel that he had seen him under the fig tree, Nathaniel claimed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. Jesus didn’t correct him and say that it was some postulate of clairvoyance made possible by psychic powers. Unlike church leaders of today, he also didn’t recommend to anyone who followed him that they develop psychic powers.

Jesus was a pretty straight up guy. John 14:2 says:
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” He has nothing to hide, and isn’t afraid of some coo by mankind getting his hands on information that would threaten his position. (Not only that, but he would not withhold anything that would benefit you.)

More on Psychic powers and Miracles in the next segment, part 3