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The Bible’s Proof

Copyright 2002 by David Cloud
ISBN 978-1-58318-124-9
April 2018

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 Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................5
The Person of Jesus Christ ..........................................6
The Testimony and Resurrection of Jesus Christ ........7
The Bible’s Unity ......................................................24
The Character of Its Authors .....................................28
Fulfilled Prophecy .....................................................29
The Bible’s Accuracy ................................................33
The Bible’s Candor ....................................................38
The Bible’s Indestructibility ......................................39
The Bibles Appeal .....................................................43
The Bible’s Doctrine ..................................................44
Way of Life Literature Publications ..........................46

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The Bible’s Proof
David W. Cloud

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 Introduction
The individual must accept that the Bible is the Word of
God by faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews
11:6).
At the same time, Bible faith is not a blind leap into the
dark. It is confidence in the Record that God has given, for
“faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God” (Romans 10:17). The writers of the Bible explain to us
that they were not delivering cunningly devised fables but a
divinely-inspired record based on “many infallible
proofs” (Acts 1:3; 2 Peter 1:16).
Following are some of the objective, time-proven reasons
why we can have complete confidence in the Bible.

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 The Person of Jesus Christ
One of these reasons is the Person of Jesus Christ who is
presented in the Bible.
Everything about Him is unique: His virgin birth, His
sinless life, His amazing miracles, His wonderful teaching,
His brilliant answer to every question, His compassion even
toward those who hated Him, His sacrificial death on the
cross for man’s sin, His bodily resurrection, His ascension
back to Heaven, His offer to grant forgiveness of sins and
eternal life to any sinner of any nation who believes on Him,
His power to change the lives of those who believe.
The Jesus presented in the Bible is altogether lovely and
unique. He claimed to be the only God and Saviour, and He
proved it by His miracles and by His resurrection from the
dead.
No novelist could create the Christ of the Bible!
Thus one reason we believe the Bible is the Word of God is
its central figure, Jesus Christ.

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 The Testimony and
Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The testimony and resurrection of Jesus Christ prove that
the Bible is the Word of God.
Christ taught that the Bible is the infallible Word of God.
He quoted from every part of the Old Testament as the
Word of God. Some of the Old Testament people and events
that Christ referred to are the creation (Mk. 13:19), Adam
and Eve (Mt. 19:4-6; Mk. 10:6-7), Cain and Abel (Mt. 23:35;
Lk. 11:50-51), Noah and the flood (Mt. 24:37-39), Abraham
(Jn. 8:39-40), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Lk.
17:28-29), Lot’s wife turning to salt (Lk. 17:32), Moses and
the burning bush (Mk. 12:26), manna from Heaven (Jn.
6:31-32), the brazen serpent in the wilderness (Jn. 3:14-15),
Jonah and the whale (Mt. 12:39-41; Lk. 11:29-32), Nineveh
repenting at Jonah’s preaching (Lk. 11:32), Solomon and the
queen of Sheba (Lk. 11:31).
Christ often quoted from the book Isaiah and said the
historical prophet Isaiah wrote it, not an unknown group of
men as some critics claim. In John 12:38-41, Jesus quoted
from both major sections of Isaiah and said both were
written by the same prophet named Isaiah.
Of the authority of the Old Testament, Jesus said,
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled” (Mat. 5:17-18).
In this passage Jesus taught that the Old Testament is
perfect even to the very letters.
He further said that “the scripture cannot be
broken” (John 10:35). He was saying that nothing written in

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the Scripture can be set aside or ignored. It is authoritative to
every detail; it is a chain with no weak links.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, and His resurrection
gives infallible witness to this claim.
The Bible says there are “many infallible proofs” of
Christ’s resurrection (Acts 1:3). In fact, it is one of the best
documented events of ancient history. Bible-believing
Christianity is not blind religious faith!
Jesus and the Bible and Christianity rise or fall on Christ’s
resurrection!
The Bible’s accounts of Jesus claim to be historical,
eyewitness accounts (Luke 1:1-4; 2 Peter 1:15-16; 1 John 1:3).
If the accounts are not historically accurate, then they can
rightly be rejected.
Christ staked His authority on the resurrection (at least
seven times He said He would die and rise from the dead --
Matthew 16:11; 17:9, 22-23; 20:18-19; 26:32; Luke 9:22-27;
John 2:18-22).
Paul said that the Christian faith depends on Christ’s
resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:14-17).

Four great evidences for the resurrection of Christ

1. The character of the Gospel accounts
The Gospel accounts themselves give every evidence that
they were written by eyewitnesses who believed what they
wrote and who were speaking the truth without
embellishment and myth-making.
Consider the details of the accounts.
“John’s Gospel is characterized throughout by the
personal touch; it has all the marks of the evidence
not only of an eyewitness, but of a careful observer ...
The running of the disciples, the order of their arrival
at the sepulchre and their entry, the fact that John
first stooped down and looking through the low
doorway saw the linen clothes lying, while Peter,

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 more bold, was the first to enter ... the description of
the position of the linen clothes and the napkin ...
this can surely be nothing else than the description of
one who actually saw, upon whose memory the scene
is still impressed, to whom the sight of the empty
grave and the relinquished grave-clothes was a
critical point in faith and life” (E. Day, On the
Evidence of the Resurrection, pp. 16-17).
Consider the candor of the accounts. When someone
invents a religion, he glorifies its leaders, but the Gospels
paint the founders of Christianity as very weak (e.g., Peter
having to be rebuked by Christ as Satan--Mat. 16:23; Peter
denying Christ thrice; the disciples fleeing and hiding;
Thomas and others doubting Christ even after He appears to
them).
Further, if men had made up the accounts of Christ’s
resurrection, they would not have said that the women were
the first to believe. In that day women had no authority in
the eyes of society. They could not even testify in a court of
law in those days, except on rare occasions (J.P. Moreland,
Scaling the Secular City, p. 168). The account of the women
believing first is not something that would have been written
unless it actually happened and the writers were committed
wholeheartedly to recording the truth and nothing but the
truth. This striking candor is powerful evidence that the
Gospels are true, unvarnished accounts.
2. The empty tomb
That the tomb of Jesus was empty is proven by two facts:
First, the Jewish leaders had to invent the lie that the
disciples had stolen His body (Mat. 28:11-15). If Jesus’ body
was located anywhere, they would have searched it out and
produced it.
Second, just weeks after the crucifixion, only a stone’s
throw from the empty tomb itself, Peter publicly proclaimed
the resurrection and 3,000 believed, followed a little later by
“a great company of priests” and “a great number” more
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(Acts 2:37-42; 6:7; 11:21). If anyone could have produced the
body or come up with a reasonable account for it being
missing, they would have!
The following are theories that have been proposed to
account for the empty tomb:
“The field of biblical criticism resembles a vast
graveyard filled with the skeletons of discarded
theories devised by highly imaginative skeptics. ...
One might think that so many repeated failures ...
would lead the opposition to abandon their efforts,
but not so. They continue unabated, and men are still
wracking their brains, working their imaginations
overtime, and parading a vast amount of erudition
and ingenuity in their, to us, futile attempts to
destroy the impregnable rock of historical evidence
on which the Christian faith in the resurrection
stands proud and unshaken” (John Lilly).

Some say Jesus just swooned and recovered in the cool

of the tomb.
This is refuted by the fact that the professional soldiers had
ascertained that he was dead (John 19:31-34).
Further, how could a near-dead man remove the heavy
stone and convince his followers that he had risen from the
dead? Consider what Christ endured: severe beating; nails
piercing His hands and feet; spear piercing His side (John
19:34); great loss of blood and bodily fluids.
Some say that the women went to the wrong tomb.
In The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ, Kirsopp Lake claimed that the women were confused
in the dark and went to the wrong tomb. Not only is this
contrary to what the Gospel accounts say, it makes no sense
whatsoever. If the women had gone to the wrong tomb and
reported that Christ had risen based on that mistake, the
matter would soon have been cleared up. First, the disciples
were not stupid. They would not have given their lives for the

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testimony of a few geographically-challenged women. They
would have checked out the story thoroughly and would
have come to the truth of the matter. Further, the Jewish
leaders would have made certain that the matter was cleared
up by producing the right tomb, and the body!
Some say the disciples were hallucinating.
If they were hallucinating, it was a mass hallucination,
because Paul said that the resurrected Christ was seen by
above 500 people at once (1 Cor. 15:5-8)!
When Paul wrote the epistle of 1 Corinthians, most of
these eyewitnesses were still alive. Paul was not writing about
things that had happened long ago.
Josh McDowell observes: “Let’s take the more than 500
witnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death and burial, and
place them in a courtroom. Do you realize that if each of
those 500 people were to testify for only six minutes,
including cross-examination, you would have an amazing 50
hours of firsthand testimony? Add to this the testimony of
many other eyewitnesses and you would well have the
largest and most lopsided trial in history” (“Evidence for the
Resurrection”).
It has been rightly said that “this theory makes Christ a
fraud and his disciples near idiots.”
“Somehow the rugged fisherman Peter and his
brother Andrew, the characteristically doubting
Thomas, the seasoned and not too sensitive tax
gatherer, Matthew, the rather dull Philip, intensely
loyal but a little slow of apprehension, do not fit
easily into the conditions required for an absolutely
unshakable collective hallucination. And if it is not
both collective and unshakable it is of no use to us.
The terrors and the persecutions these men
ultimately had to face and did face unflinchingly, do
not admit of a halfhearted adhesion secretly
honeycombed with doubt” (Morison).

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 Some say they saw someone disguised as Jesus (e.g.,
Hugh Schonfield, The Passover Plot)
This is too ridiculous to waste time refuting. Having spent
three years with Jesus, wouldn’t the disciples know Him?
They might be confused for a moment or even a short while,
but eventually they would recognize that the individual was
an impostor.
Some say the body was stolen.
This was the story invented by the Jewish leaders. They
paid the guards to lie and to say that the disciples stole Jesus’
body (Mat. 28:11-15). This is an impossible story.
First, if they were asleep how could they know what
happened to the body, or if stolen, who stole it?
Second, sleeping on guard duty brought the death penalty
in that day. That one of the guards might fall asleep is
perhaps conceivable, but that all of them would fall asleep is
not. As Richard Dickinson observes: “That without an
exception all should have fallen asleep when they were
stationed there for so extraordinary a purpose, to see that
that body was not stolen, lest it should be said that the
crucified Jesus had risen from the dead, may be possible; but
it is not credible: especially when it is considered that these
guards were subjected to the severest discipline in the world.
It was death for a Roman sentinel to sleep on his post. Yet
these guards were not executed; nor were they deemed
culpable even by the rulers, woefully chagrined and
exasperated as they must have been by the failure of their
plan for securing the body” (The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Historically and Logically Viewed, 1865).
(That the guard was a Roman guard is clear from the
passage. The Greek word for “watch” in Matthew 27:65,
koustodia, is the word for a Roman sentry. A.T. Robertson
says that “ye have a watch” is present imperative and refers to
“a guard of Roman soldiers, not mere temple police.” In
Matthew 28:12 they are called “soldiers,” which would not be

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the case if they were temple police. Further, Matthew 28:14
indicates that they were Roman guards, because they were
afraid of what Pilate would do if he heard of the matter.)
Third, by their actions it is evident that the Jewish leaders
didn’t believe their own story. They didn’t call the disciples
to examine them when they found out the body was missing,
and they made no effort to find the body. John Chrysostom,
in the fourth century, observed that the story of the stealing
of the body actually establishes the resurrection. “For this is
the language of men confessing, that the body was not there.
When therefore they confess the body was not there, but the
stealing is shown to be false and incredible--by their
watching by it, and by the seals, and by the timidity of the
disciples--the proof of the resurrection even hence appears
incontrovertible” (The New Evidence that Demands a
Verdict, p. 264).
Further, who could have stolen Christ’s body?
The Jews certainly didn’t steal it, because they wanted to
prove that He did not rise.
The Roman government certainly didn’t steal it, because
the government sealed the tomb and had no reason to steal it
and thus allow the Christians to say He had risen.
Joseph of Arimathea certainly didn’t steal it. He was Jesus’
disciple and had no motive to steal His body. Further, he
couldn’t have stolen it alone, because he couldn’t have
removed the great stone, so he would have needed help, and
doubtless someone would have reported the deed sooner or
later.
The disciples certainly didn’t steal it. First, they were hiding
in fear for their lives. Second, they had no opportunity,
because the tomb was sealed and guarded. Third, they had no
leader who could have envisioned and accomplished such a
thing. Their leader, Peter, was a broken man at that point
and had given up his discipleship to Jesus to go back to
fishing (John 21:3). Fourth, they would have been fools to
have suffered and died for a lie! The disciples didn’t suffer for

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what others had seen, such as Muslims who die for the
Koran, but they died for what they had professedly seen
themselves (Acts 4:18-20). Fifth, it would have been
impossible for such a large number of people to have kept the
secret hidden. “Even if it had been possible, and the disciples
the men to do it, the subsequent history of Christianity
would have been different. Sooner or later, someone who
knew the facts would have been unable to keep them
hidden” (Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone?). Sixth, a
great moral religion like we find in the New Testament,
which exalts truth and honesty, could not have been founded
upon a despicable deception.
“It is the complete failure of anyone to produce the
remains, or to point to any tomb, official or
otherwise, in which they were said to lie, and this
ultimately destroys every theory based on the human
removal of the body” (Morison).
We must not forget exactly what the early Christians
suffered for their testimony that Christ had risen from the
dead.
They were denounced by family and friends, hated by and
considered the enemies of society, tortured, kept imprisoned
for years in dark, rat-infested cells. Their property
confiscated; they were crucified, burned alive, torn apart by
wild beasts, chopped into pieces, roasted on racks; their
tongues were torn out and their eyes put out. The also had to
endure the torture and death of beloved family members.
“Their master had recently perished as a malefactor,
by the sentence of a public tribunal. His religion
sought to overthrow the religions of the whole world.
The laws of every country were against the teachings
of His disciples. The interests and passions of all the
rulers and great men in the world were against them.
The fashion of the world was against them.
Propagating this new faith, even in the most
inoffensive and peaceful manner, they could expect

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 nothing but contempt, opposition, revilings, bitter
persecutions, stripes, imprisonments, torments, and
cruel deaths. Yet this faith they zealously did
propagate; and all these miseries they endured
undismayed, nay, rejoicing. As one after another was
put to a miserable death, the survivors only
prosecuted their work with increased vigor and
resolution. The annals of military warfare afford
scarcely an example of the like heroic constancy,
patience, and unblenching courage. They had every
possible motive to review carefully the grounds of
their faith, and the evidences of the great facts and
truths which they asserted; and these motives were
pressed upon their attention with the most
melancholy and terrific frequency. It was therefore
impossible that they could have persisted in
affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus
actually risen from the dead, and had they not known
this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. ... If
then their testimony was not true, there was no
possible motive for its fabrication” (Simon Greenleaf,
An Examination of the Testimony of the Four
Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in
the Courts of Justice, 1846).

Some say the disciples made up the accounts.

This would mean that they all suffered and died on the
basis of a lie, which makes no sense. It is one thing to found a
religion or cult when you will benefit from it materially, but
it is quite another thing to invent one if you will only suffer
for it.
Further, as we have already noted, it is obvious from their
very nature that the Gospel accounts were not made up. They
are filled with lifelike detail and they are too candid to be
mythical.
Some say Jesus rose spiritually but not bodily.
Jesus specifically refuted this by eating and letting the
disciples touch Him (Luke 24:37-43).
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 Frank Morison set out to discredit the Gospel accounts of
Christ’s resurrection, and instead he concluded that the only
thing that can satisfy the historical facts is that Jesus actually
did rise from the dead.
We agree and we find it much easier to believe in Christ’s
resurrection, than to believe in the attempts to discredit it.
“The simple faith of the Christian who believes in the
resurrection is nothing compared to the credulity of
the skeptic who will accept the wildest and most
improbable romances rather than admit the plain
witness of historical certainties.  The difficulties of
belief may be great; the absurdities of unbelief are
greater” (George Hanson, The Resurrection and the
Life).
The reason why there are so many theories that attempt to
discredit the Gospel accounts is that men are willfully blind
sinners who do not want to submit to God (2 Corinthians
4:4).
Further, the unbelief of “Christian preachers” such as
Kirsopp Lake was prophesied in Scripture.
“But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow
their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:1-2).
3. The eyewitnesses
Paul used the eyewitnesses of the resurrection as an
irrefutable evidence (1 Cor. 15:5-8). He says the risen Christ
was seen of more than 500 brethren at one time.
And it is not only the Gospels and the New Testament
Epistles that give eyewitness testimony of Christ’s
resurrection.

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 Clement of Rome (d. 99) was taught directly by some of
the apostles and we have his letter to the church at Corinth.
Polycarp (69-159) personally knew the apostle John and
other believers who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection,
and we have his letter to the church at Philippi dating to
about AD 115.
4. The changed lives
“Then the same day at evening, being the first day of
the week, when the doors were shut where THE
DISCIPLES WERE ASSEMBLED FOR FEAR OF
THE JEWS, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and
saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19).
Something dramatic happened to turn the disciples from
fear to courage.
Consider the testimony of Peter
After denying Christ the night of His arrest, Peter was a
defeated man. He determined to go back to fishing (John
21:3). A few weeks later, the man who had denounced Christ
before a handful of Jews on the eve of Christ’s crucifixion,
preached boldly to a multitude of them on the day of
Pentecost and 3,000 were converted. What could have
wrought such a mighty change other than that he had
become convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead?
Consider the testimony of James, Jesus’ half brother
Jesus’ brothers were opposed to Him during His lifetime
(John 7:7), but after Jesus rose from the dead, James believed
and became a leader in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 12:17;
15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19). James’ conversion was prompted by
Christ’s resurrection appearance to him (1 Cor. 15:7).
Consider the testimony of Paul
What converted Paul from being a bitter enemy of Christ
to being one of His most zealous followers? From an earthly
perspective, Paul had absolutely nothing to gain and
everything to lose by following Christ. He admitted that he

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had “profited in the Jews’ religion above many” (Gal. 1:14).
Paul testified that it was the resurrected Christ who
convinced him (Acts 22:3-21).
As a zealous Pharisee and leader of Christ’s enemies
among the Jews, Paul was in a position to know all about the
story about the disciples stealing the body. Had he thought
that Jesus’ dead body actually lay hidden somewhere, he
would never have believed in the resurrection. It is obvious
that even he did not give any credence to this story.
Consider the testimony of lawyers and judges
Thomas Sherlock wasn’t a lawyer but he was trained in law.
He was a Cambridge-educated theologian in the Church of
England, and he wrote a classic book that examines the
evidence for the resurrection of Christ from a courtroom
perspective. It is titled The Trial of the Witnesses of the
Resurrection of Jesus (1729). Sherlock wrote the book to rebut
Deist Thomas Woolston’s skeptical book Discourses of the
Miracles of Jesus Christ.

“Within the framework of a courtroom proceeding

in which the Apostles are on trial for faking the
Resurrection, Sherlock pits Woolston’s own
arguments against his own powerful defense of the
‘accused.’ Applying the logic and reason of the law to
the Bible, this is a provocative and original
interpretation of the story of Jesus' life and
death” ([Link]).
Simon Greenleaf, Royall Professor of Law at Harvard
University, was one of the most celebrated legal minds of
America. He was the author of the three-volume A Treatise
on the Law of Evidence, which is “still considered the greatest
single authority on evidence in the entire literature on legal
procedure” (Wilbur Smith, Therefore Stand, p. 463). After a
thorough examination, Greenleaf concluded that Jesus did
rise from the dead. In 1846 he published An Examination of

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the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence
Administered in the Courts of Justice.
“All that Christianity asks of men is, that they would
be consistent with themselves; that they would treat
its evidences as they treat the evidence of other
things; and that they would try and judge its actors
and witnesses, as they deal with their fellow men,
when testifying to human affairs and actions, in
human tribunals. Let the witnesses [to the
Resurrection] be compared with themselves, with
each other, and with surrounding facts and
circumstances; and let their testimony be sifted, as if
it were given in a court of justice, on the side of the
adverse party, the witness being subjected to a
rigorous cross-examination. The result, it is
confidently believed, will be an undoubting
conviction of their integrity, ability and truth” (An
Examination of the Testimony of the Four
Evangelists).
Lord Darling, former Chief Justice of England, said:
“The crux of the problem of whether Jesus was, or
was not, what He proclaimed Himself to be, must
surely depend upon the truth or otherwise of the
resurrection. On that greatest point we are not
merely asked to have faith. In its favour as living
truth there exists such overwhelming evidence,
positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that
no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a
verdict that the resurrection story is truth” (cited
from Michael Green, Man Alive, 1969, p. 54).
Lord Caldecote, Lord Chief Justice of England, testified
that,
“[A]n overwhelming case for the Resurrection could
be made merely as a matter of strict evidence. ...
[Christ’s] Resurrection has led me as often as I have
tried to examine the evidence to believe it as a fact

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 beyond dispute” (cited by Irwin Linton, A Lawyer
Examines the Bible, p. xxiv, xxv).
Edmund Hatch Bennett was dean of the Boston University
School of Law for more than 20 years, as well as a judge in
the Massachusetts Probate Court. In 1899 he wrote The Four
Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint. He begins by saying:
“... this paper is the result of an effort, on my own
part, to ascertain whether or not, independently of
the exercise of a devout Christian faith,
independently of any appeal to our religious
sentiments, the truth of the story told in the four
Gospels could be satisfactorily established by a mere
reasoning process, and by applying the same
principles and the same tests to the Gospel narratives
that we observe in determining the truth or falsity of
any other documents, or any other historical
accounts.”
Bennett makes the following argument:
“These stories began to be published not long after
the alleged crucifixion. Many persons were then
living who could have easily refuted the statements of
the evangelists had they been untrue. The enemies of
Jesus were still alive and active. The Scribe and the
Pharisee, the Priest and the Levite, still smarted
under his repeated denunciations. They had the
disposition, the opportunity, and the incentive to
deny the story of the miraculous birth, the spotless
life, the marvelous works, the sublime death, the
astounding resurrection, and the glorious ascension
of our Lord, had the then published description of
these events been totally fabulous. But so far as we
know, no person then living ever uttered a protest
against these accounts, and for two thousand years
they have been received and treated as veritable
history.”

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 Irwin Linton, a Washington D.C. lawyer who argued cases
before the Supreme Court, published A Lawyer Examines the
Bible: An introduction to Christian Evidences in 1929.
“Lawyers regularly sift through testimonies in order
to separate falsehood from truth. A unique feature of
this book is its weighing of testimonies in support of
the Bible. Linton points out that lawyers ask
witnesses seemingly trivial details because, while the
main outlines of false testimony can be agreed upon
in advance, the innumerable trifling details cannot.
Apparent contradictions between the Resurrection
accounts prove the absence of collusion, and the fact
that they can be resolved adds credibility to the
testimonies. So, far from being fatal, the apparent
contradictions between the Gospel accounts of the
Resurrection turn out to be support for the
authenticity of the event. On this, Linton cites Paley:
‘The existence of the difficulty proves the want or
absence of that caution which usually accomplishes
the consciousness of fraud; and the solution proves
that it is not the collusion of fortuitous propositions
which we have to deal with, but that a thread of truth
winds through the whole, which preserved every
circumstance in its place’” (A Lawyer Examines the
Bible, 1949 edition, p. 75).
J.N.D. Anderson (Sir Norman Anderson) is dean of the
faculty of law in the University of London and director of the
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. He wrote Christianity
the Witness of History: A Lawyer’s Approach (1969).
“The most radical theory of all is to dismiss the whole
story as deliberate invention. But there is scarcely a
single intelligent critic who would go so far. The
adverse evidence is overwhelming. Think, first, of the
number of witnesses. Paul tells us that in 56 A.D. the
majority of some 500 original witnesses were still
alive; and we must remember that most of the early
records went out, as it were, with the collective

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 authority of the primitive Church. Think, too, of the
character of the witnesses. Not only did they give the
world the highest moral and ethical teaching it has
ever known, but they lived it out, as even their
opponents were forced to admit. Again, think of the
phenomenal change which these men underwent
because of this alleged invention. Is it conceivable
that a deliberate lie would change a company of
cowards into heroes, and inspire them to a life of
sacrifice, often ending only in martyrdom? Surely
psychology teaches that nothing makes a man more
prone to cowardice than a lie which preys on his
conscience? Is it likely, moreover, that even in
disillusionment or agony not a single one of these
conspirators would ever have divulged the
secret?” (Anderson, “The Evidence for the
Resurrection,” London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship,
1950).
Albert Roper was a prominent Virginia attorney, a
graduate of the University of Virginia law school, and one-
time mayor of Norfolk. He made a thorough investigation
into the evidence for the resurrection of Christ, asking the
question, “Can any intelligent person accept the resurrection
story?” At the end of his research he concluded, “Can any
intelligent person deny the weight of this evidence?” He
wrote the book Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
Consider the testimony of those who have been converted
trying to refute the Bible
The following are a few examples:
Gilbert West (poet): Observations on the History and
Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1747)
George Lyttleton (English statesman): Observations on the
Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul (1747)
William Ramsay (Scottish archaeologist): The Bearing of
Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New
Testament (1915)
Frank Morison (lawyer): Who Moved the Stone? (1930)
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 Josh McDowell: Evidence That Demands a Verdict (1972)
Lee Strobel (journalist for Chicago Tribune): The Case for
Christ (1988)
(For the testimony of these men see the report “Men Who
Were Converted Trying to Disprove the Bible” at
[Link].)
Conclusion
As we have seen, Christ testified that the Bible is the
infallible Word of God, and on His authority alone we would
trust the Bible and reject the skeptics.

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 The Bible’s Unity
The Bible’s unity proves that it is the Word of God.
The Bible was written by at least 40 different authors
representing some 19 different occupations (shepherd,
soldier, farmer, fisherman, tax collector, medical doctor,
king, etc.) who lived during a period covering some 1,600
years. That is approximately 50 generations. The first 39
books of the Bible were written in the Hebrew language over
a period of about 1,000 years. There was then a 400-year gap
when no Scriptures were written. After that, the last 27 books
of the Bible were written in the Greek language during a
period covering roughly 50 years. The writers of the Old
Testament could not have collaborated with one another and
the writers of the New Testament could not have
collaborated with those of the Old Testament.
Yet the Bible is one book that fits together perfectly, has
one all-encompassing theme, and contains no contradictions
or errors. There is nothing else remotely like this in all of
man’s history.
The one message of the Bible from beginning to end is the
eternal plan of God in Jesus Christ.
The earliest books of the Bible teach the same doctrine
about God, creation, man, life, death, salvation, and
judgment as the last books of the Bible.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ appears in the first book and
can be traced throughout the rest of the Bible.
Prophecies of Christ begin in Genesis and appear
throughout the Old Testament. As we will see, His entire life
was pre-written in Scripture thousands and hundreds of
years before His birth.
The first prophecy of Christ appears in Genesis 3:15. God
said to the serpent,

24
 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Note some lessons:
First, Christ will be the Seed of the woman. This is a
prophecy of the virgin birth. It refers to something
supernatural. A woman does not naturally have seed and
cannot naturally bear a child without the seed of the man.
Normally children are called the seed of their fathers, but
Jesus had no earthly father. Compare Galatians 4:4, which
says Christ was “made of a woman.” It was through the
virgin birth that Christ came into the world as a sinless man
to make atonement for sin. Sin entered the world through
the man Adam (Rom. 5:12), but Christ is not a son of Adam.
Second, Christ will be bruised in His heel by the serpent,
who is the devil. This is a prophecy of Christ’s first coming
and His death on the cross. It is described as a bruising of the
heel because it was not permanent, since Christ rose from the
dead. The prophecy of Isaiah 53:5 says that Christ was
“bruised for our iniquities.”
Third, Christ will bruise the serpent’s head. This is a
prophecy of Christ’s second coming. A head wound refers to
a deadly wound, which signifies the complete defeat of the
devil’s program and his eternal judgment. “The Messiah, the
eminent seed of the woman, should bruise the head of the
old serpent the devil, that is, destroy him and all his
principalities and powers, break and confound all his
schemes, and ruin all his works, crush his whole empire, strip
him of his authority and sovereignty, and particularly of his
power over death, and his tyranny over the bodies and souls
of men; all which was done by Christ, when he became
incarnate and suffered and died” (John Gill).
After Christ first appears in the prophecy of Genesis 3:15,
He is revealed ever more fully as other prophets added to the
Scripture through the centuries.
• He will be of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:8-12).

25
 • He will be of the seed of David (2 Samuel 7).
• He will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
• He will be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
• He will be rejected by the Jewish nation (Isaiah 53:2).
• He will bear the penalty for man’s sins (Isaiah 53:6).
• He will be crucified (Psalm 22:16).
• He will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9).
• He will rise from the dead (Psalm 16:10).
All of these prophecies, and many more, were fulfilled
perfectly in the life of Jesus Christ.
Most of the prophecies were written hundreds of years
apart. Genesis, for example, was written by Moses in about
1490 BC. Samuel was written about 1090 BC. Psalm 22 was
written by David in about 1075 BC. Isaiah was written about
750 BC. The authors had no way to collude. The prophecies
had to have been given to them by Someone who existed
beyond place and time who could see the end from the
beginning.
Many other prophetic themes are woven throughout the
Bible. The prophecies are so clear and precise that they can
be systematized to predict the future. For example, Israel’s
return to her land in the 20th century was anticipated by
Bible believers in the 18th and 19th centuries. (See
“Testimonies That Israel Would Return,”
[Link].) Many large volumes have been written
on systematic Bible prophecy, such as Encyclopedia of
Biblical Prophecy by J. Barton Payne (1973, 754 pages) and
Every Prophecy of the Bible by John Walvoord (1990, 685
pages).
Some have claimed to have found mistakes in the Bible,
but I have studied it for 45 years (an average of probably
eight hours a day) and each time I have examined a supposed
error or contradiction, I have found that the Bible is true and
the critic is wrong. (See our book Things Hard to Be
Understood: A Handbook of Biblical Difficulties.)

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 Typically, I have found that Bible critics aren’t skilled in
Bible study and interpretation. They are like men who
criticize architecture without having studied the discipline.

27
 The Character of Its Authors
The character of the Bible’s authors prove that it is the
Word of God.
The Bible testifies that “holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21), and an
examination of the lives of the Bible’s writers proves this
testimony. These were holy, serious men. They came from all
walks of life. They were men of good reputation and sound
mind. They were not enriched by the prophecies they gave.
Far from it; some were impoverished and many were
viciously persecuted and killed for the testimony they held.
Moses, the author of the first five books of the Bible, chose to
live a life of terrific hardship in the service of God as opposed
to the millionaire’s life he could have lived as the adopted son
of Pharaoh. Many Bible writers made similar choices. Their
motivation certainly was not covetousness and worldly
advantage. These were not perfect men, but they were holy
men. They all claimed that God had put His hand upon them
to speak His Word. The lives they lived, and the testimonies
they held, and the deaths they died gave evidence that they
were telling the truth.

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 Fulfilled Prophecy
Fulfilled prophecy proves the Bible to be the Word of God.
The Bible contains a vast amount of prophecy, much of
which has been fulfilled. The Encyclopedia of Biblical
Prophecies by J. Barton Payne lists 1817 specific prophecies,
1239 in the Old Testament and 578 in the New. The
predictions are precise and detailed, and the fulfillment is
exact.
Isaiah says that fulfilled prophecy is evidence of divine
inspiration, and this should be obvious since only God
knows the future (Isaiah 41:21-23).
The God of Israel challenges the idols to prove their
divinity by foretelling the future. No pagan religious book
has ever done this. The so-called prophecies of Nostradamus,
for example, are so vague that they could mean almost
anything. The same is typically true for astrological forecasts.
Bible prophecy, on the other hand, is clear and precise, and
its prophecies have never failed.
Prophecies Pertaining to Jesus Christ
Jesus’ entire life was written down in the Old Testament
before He was born. There are 191 Messianic prophecies.
The following examples are from three great prophecies:
Psalm 22; Micah 5:2; and Isaiah 53:
His birthplace (Micah 5:2 - Luke 2:4-7)
His rejection by the Jewish nation (Isaiah 53:2 - Mat.
27:22)
His betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9 - Mat. 26:14-26,
47-49)
His trial and death
• The perversion of justice (Isaiah 53:7-8 - Mat. 26:57-60;
27:11-14)

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 • Numbered with transgressors (Isaiah 53:12 - Mat.
27:20-22, 38)
• The piercing of his hands and feet (Psalm 22:16 - John
19:16-18)
• The words spoken on the cross (Psalm 22:1 - Mat. 27:46)
• The mocking of the people (Psalm 22:7-8 - Mat. 27:39,
41-43)
• The people sitting and staring (Psalm 22:17 - Mat. 27:36)
• No bones broken (Psalm 22:17 - John 19:33-36)
• The soldiers gambling for his garments (Psalm 22:18 -
Mat. 27:35)
• His burial in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9 - Mat.
27:57-60)
We know that these prophecies were written before Christ
was born, because copies of the Old Testament books were
found in the Dead Sea caves dating to at least 100 and more
years B.C.
Prophecies Pertaining to Israel
The continued existence of Israel is one of history’s most
amazing stories, and it was prophesied in Scripture in great
detail.
Israel’s history was prophesied by Moses and recorded in
the book of Deuteronomy about 4,000 years ago. God
warned that if Israel broke His law she would be “plucked
from off the land” and scattered “among all people, from the
one end of the earth even unto the other” (Deut. 28:63-64).
There the Jews would “find no ease, neither shall the sole of
thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a
trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And
thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear
day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy
life” (Deut. 28:65-66).
This is an accurate description of Israel’s history from the
first century until now. Jerusalem was conquered in 70 A.D.
by the Roman armies under Titus. The Jewish temple was
30
destroyed and the city walls were torn down. Sixty-five years
later Jerusalem was plowed under on the order of Emperor
Hadrian in response to the Jewish rebellion led by Bar
Kochbar. The Jewish people were scattered to the ends of the
earth and found no rest. They were hated by the Muslims
and hounded and persecuted by the Greek Orthodox and
Roman Catholic Church for a thousand years. Hitler’s
regime tried to destroy them. Giving preference to the Arabs,
England tried to keep them from returning to their land after
World War II. They are the object of hatred until this very
day. Most of the world is opposed to Israel and the reporting
in secular publications about the Middle East crisis is
generally slanted against her.
All of this was foretold in Bible prophecy, but the
prophecy also said that Israel would be brought back into her
land and that she would remain a nation even after all of this,
and that is exactly what happened in 1948. Never before in
the history of the world has a nation of people been scattered
throughout the world and persecuted for 2,000 years and
then come back together as a nation with their ancient
language intact. This is a divine miracle.
Bible prophecy describes the restoration of Israel in two
parts. First, she would return to the land in a position of
unbelief. Then she would be converted. The amazing
prophecy in Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes Israel’s restoration in
these two stages. She is described as a valley of bones that are
resurrected.
“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of
the LORD. Thus saith the Lord God unto these
bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you
and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and
will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with
skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:4-6).

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 In verses 11-14, Ezekiel states that this vision pertains to
the restoration of Israel to her land and to her repentance
toward God. The dry bones symbolize Israel in her scattered,
spiritually dead condition. When Ezekiel prophesies, the
bones are brought back together and given life and become a
great army, and this happens in two stages (verse 7-10). First
the bones are given sinews and flesh, and next God breathes
upon them and they live.
The first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled. Israel has
been back in her land as a nation since 1948, but she is there
in unbelief and spiritual death. She continues to reject her
Messiah, Jesus Christ. She has no temple and priesthood and
no true worship. She lives in constant fear.
But she is back in the land just as the Bible prophesied. In
1800 there were only six thousand Jews in Palestine, but by
2000 there were over five million (John Ecob, Amillennialism
Weighed and Found Wanting, Herald of Hope, p. 44-45).
During the Great Tribulation God will grant repentance
unto Israel and will breathe spiritual life into her and she will
live.
The continued existence of Israel is a fulfillment of Bible
prophecy. It is a very great miracle and an irrefutable
evidence of the divine inspiration of the Bible. (For more on
this see our illustrated book Jews in Fighter Jets: Israel: Past,
Present, and Future.)

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 The Bible’s Accuracy
The Bible’s factualness and scientific accuracy proves that
it is the Word of God.
Everything the Bible says is true and factual.
My first friend in the Lord grew up in an agnostic home
and attended a state university. All along he assumed that
evolution was scientifically proven and that the Bible was
mythical. But after he read a book showing that the scientific
basis of Darwinian evolution has never been established, he
decided to read the Bible for himself. He said that the thing
that struck him was that the Bible is true to life.
That is my testimony, as well. Everything I have ever seen
or experienced conforms to the Bible’s teaching, fits the
Bible’s teaching.
For example, the Bible says man is a sinner, and that is not
difficult to confirm. Just look at the world! When asked for
his opinion on original sin, Samuel Johnson, the famous
British lexicographer, replied,
“With respect to original sin, the inquiry is not
necessary, for whatever is the cause of human
corruption, men are evidently and confessedly so
corrupt, that all the laws of heaven and earth are
insufficient to restrain them from crimes.” David
Berlinski, a Princeton-educated “secular Jew,” says,
“One need hardly be a Christian to appreciate the
wisdom in these remarks” (The Devil’s Delusion, p.
33).
The Bible is true not only in its statements about man, but
also in its statements about everything. Though the Bible is
not a scientific manual, it is scientifically accurate, even from
its earliest pages, which were written nearly 4,000 years ago.
Following are some examples of the Bible’s scientific
accuracy, beginning with statements from the pages of Job,

33
probably the oldest book in the Bible. The late Henry Morris,
who had a Ph.D. in hydraulic engineering, said:
“These references are modern in perspective, with
never a hint of the mythical exaggerations and errors
characteristic of other ancient writings ... perhaps of
even greater significance is the fact that in a 4000-
year-old book filled with numerous references to
natural phenomena, there are no scientific mistakes
or fallacies” (The Remarkable Record of Job).
Job said the earth is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7). This is
obvious to our modern generation, as we have seen the actual
pictures of the earth hanging in space, but to previous
generations it was not obvious and there were many
commonly-held myths about the earth sitting on the back of
Atlas or a turtle or an elephant, etc.
Job said the air has weight (“the weight for the winds,” Job
28:25). It was not until the 17th century that Galileo
discovered that atmosphere has weight, and the modern
science of aerodynamics is based on this scientific fact.
Further, the weight of air is important in the function of the
earth’s weather. “The ‘weight of the winds’ controls the
worldwide air mass movements that transport the waters
evaporated from the oceans inland over the
continents” (Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job).
Job described the springs of the sea (Job 38:16). Man had
no way to know about the fresh-water springs on the ocean
floor by firsthand observation until recent times. Modern
science has discovered that there are thousands of
underwater springs that add millions of metric tons of water
to the oceans each year.
Job understood that light has a way and that darkness has
a place (Job 38:19). “That is, light is not to be located in a
certain place or situation. Neither does it simply appear, or
disappear, instantaneously. Light is traveling! It dwells in a
‘way,’ always on the way to someplace else. Though usually
traveling in waves, sometimes it seems to move as a stream of
34
particles, but it is always moving. When light stops, there is
darkness. Thus, darkness is static, staying in place; but light is
dynamic, dwelling in a way” (Morris).
The Bible says that the light creates wind (Job 38:24), but it
is only in recent times that modern weather science has
discovered that wind is created as the sun heats up the
surface of the earth, causing the hot air to rise and cooler air
to fall, creating weather systems.
Job describes the amazing hydrological cycle (evaporation,
atmospheric circulation, condensation, precipitation, run-
off) (Job 36:27-28; Ecc. 1:7; Jer. 51:16). The process of
evaporation and condensation was not discovered until the
17th century and not well understood until the 20th.
The Bible says plants and animals reproduce after their
kind (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25). This is in perfect harmony
with everything that can be observed and tested by modern
science. There is great variety within kinds, different types of
roses and dogs, but there is no reproduction between kinds,
between roses and dandelions or dogs and penguins.
Breeding experiments have demonstrated that there are
genetic barriers that restrict change. The fruit fly has been
used in genetic experiments since the early 1900s. Tens of
millions of fruit flies have been bombarded with x-rays,
doctored, and poisoned. The result has been a variety of
mutant fruit flies but no evidence that the fruit fly could
evolve into some other type of insect or animal. This is proof
of the Bible’s 3500-year-old statement that all creatures
reproduce according to kind.
The Bible says the heavens cannot be measured and the
stars are without number (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 31:37).
Before the invention of the telescope, man could see only a
few hundred stars with the naked eye, but the very first book
of the Bible says they are without number. This has been
confirmed by modern science. There are 300 billion stars in
our Milky Way galaxy alone. In 1999, observations by NASA
astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, suggested

35
that there are 125 billion galaxies in the universe. The most
up-to-date star count was announced in July 2003 as 70
sextillion observable stars (70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).
This was the conclusion of the world’s largest galaxy study,
the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey, which is
considered 10 times more accurate than previous ones. The
team of scientists did not physically count the stars. Instead
they used some of the world’s most powerful telescopes to
count all of the galaxies in one region of the universe and to
estimate how many stars each galaxy contained by measuring
its brightness. They then extrapolated these figures out to the
whole universe visible through telescopes. This massive
figure, of course, probably accounts for only a tiny
percentage of the actual stars.
The Bible says there are paths in the sea (Isaiah 43:16;
Psalm 8:8). Since the 19th century the ocean currents or
paths have been charted and ships travel these paths just as
trucks travel on roads. Writing in the mid-1800s, Matthew
Fontaine Maury, Superintendent of the U.S. Navy’s Depot of
Charts and Instruments in Washington, D.C., observed,
“There is a river in the ocean: in the severest droughts it
never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its
banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of
warm; the Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in
the Arctic Seas. It is the Gulf Stream” (Maury, The Physical
Geography of the Sea, 6th ed., 1856, p. 25). Since then, other
sea paths have been discovered.
The Bible says the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
That was written about 3,500 years ago, but it was not
understood scientifically until recent times. For centuries
doctors used “blood letting” as a healing method. George
Washington, America’s first president, probably died
prematurely because of this bogus practice. Modern
medicine has learned what the Bible has taught all along, that
the life of the flesh is in the blood. The amazing system of
vessels and capillaries transports the marvelous blood cells

36
with their life-giving oxygen and other necessary elements to
every part of the body. The blood also forms a major part of
the infection fighting and clotting systems, which are
necessary for the “life of the flesh.”
The Bible is not a book of science, but wherever the Bible
touches on science it is accurate. This proves its divine
origin, because all other ancient books are filled with gross
scientific blunders. Even science books written a mere 100
years ago are filled with errors.

37
 The Bible’s Candor
The Bible’s candor proves that it is the Word of God.
When men write biographies of their saints and heroes,
they commonly omit or whitewash their faults. For example,
Muslims allow no criticism of Muhammed. But the Bible
exhibits its divine quality by showing man as he is. Even the
best of men in the Bible are described with all their faults. We
read of Adam’s rebellion, Noah’s drunkenness, David’s
adultery, Solomon’s apostasy, Jonah’s pity party, Peter’s
disavowal of his Master, Paul and Barnabas’ petty strife, and
the disciples’ unbelief in the face of Christ’s resurrection. The
Bible was written by Jews, yet it candidly describes the faults
of the Jewish people: their stubbornness and unbelief that
caused them to have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years;
their idolatry during the period of the judges; their rebellion
that caused them to be rejected from the land and scattered
throughout the earth for two millennia; their rejection of the
Messiah.

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 The Bible’s Indestructibility
The Bible’s indestructibility proves that it is the Word of
God.
Above all other books combined, the Bible has been hated,
vilified, ridiculed, criticized, restricted, banned, and
destroyed, but it has been to no avail. As one rightly said,
“We might as well put our shoulder to the burning wheel of
the sun, and try to stop it on its flaming course, as attempt to
stop the circulation of the Bible” (Sidney Collett, All about
the Bible, p. 63).
In A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an
edict to stop Christians from worshipping Jesus Christ and to
destroy their Scriptures. Every official in the empire was
ordered to raze churches to the ground and burn every Bible
found in their districts (Stanley Greenslade, Cambridge
History of the Bible). Twenty-five years later his successor,
Constantine, issued another edict ordering fifty Bibles to be
published at government expense (Eusebius).
In 1778, the French infidel Voltaire boasted that in 100
years Christianity would cease to exist, but within 50 years
the Geneva Bible Society used his printing press and house to
publish Bibles (Geisler and Nix, A General Introduction to
the Bible, 1986, pp. 123, 124).
Robert Ingersoll once boasted, “Within 15 years I’ll have
the Bible lodged in a morgue.” But Ingersoll is long dead, and
the Bible is alive and well.
The communist regimes in Russia and China tried to
destroy the Bible and its influence, but they have been
completely unsuccessful. There are more churches in Russia
today than ever before in its history, and the presses cannot
print enough Bibles to satisfy the insatiable demand in
communist China.

39
 The liberal skeptics in the 19th century tried to destroy the
authority of the Bible by claiming that it is full of myths and
that it is historically inaccurate. They claimed that writing
didn’t exist in Moses’ day. They doubted the existence of Ur
of the Chaldees, of the advanced ancient city-states and
religious towers mentioned in Genesis 10-11, of complex
legal codes in that era, of camels in Palestine in the days of
Abraham, of King David and King Solomon, of the Hittites
and the Philistines, of Sargon and Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar, to name a few. They said that the book of Acts
was filled with historical inaccuracies.
In all of these cases and hundreds more, the skeptics were
proven wrong and the Bible was proven right, as we have
documented in “The Bible Critics Were Wrong” at
[Link]. A graphical edition is in Bible Times and
Ancient Kingdoms, PowerPoint 25, available from Way of
Life Literature.
In fact, many who have set out to disprove the Bible have
been converted, instead. The following are a few examples:
Gilbert West, an English poet who was included in Samuel
Johnson’s Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, while a
student at Oxford set out to debunk the Bible’s account of
Christ’s resurrection. Instead he proved to his own
satisfaction that Christ did rise from the dead and published
Observations on the History and Evidences of the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
George Lyttelton, an English Statesman, author, and poet
who was educated at Oxford, determined to prove that Paul
was not converted as the Bible states. Instead, Lyttelton wrote
a book providing evidence that Paul’s conversion was real
and that it is evidence that Jesus actually rose from the dead.
The book was titled Observations on the Conversion and
Apostleship of St. Paul.
Frank Morison, a lawyer, journalist, and novelist, set out
to write a book to disprove the resurrection of Christ. Instead

40
he was converted and wrote a book in defense of the
resurrection entitled Who Moved the Stone?
Simon Greenleaf, Royall Professor of Law at Harvard
University and one of the most celebrated legal minds of
America, determined to expose the “myth” of the
resurrection of Christ once and for all, but his thorough
examination forced him to conclude that Jesus did rise from
the dead. In 1846 he published An Examination of the
Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence
Administered in the Courts of Justice.
William Ramsay, a renowned archaeologist and New
Testament scholar, began his historical research in Asia
Minor with the assumption that he would find evidence to
disprove the Bible’s historicity. He concluded, though, that
the book of Acts was written during the lifetime of the
apostles and that it is historically accurate. His discoveries led
to his conversion to Christianity.
Josh McDowell was a skeptic when he entered university
to pursue a law degree, but he accepted a challenge by some
Christians to examine the claim that Jesus Christ is God’s
Son. He says, “I decided to write a book that would make an
intellectual joke of Christianity.” He traveled throughout the
U.S. and Europe to gather evidence to prove his case, but
instead he was converted to Christ and wrote a book
defending the Bible entitled Evidence That Demands a
Verdict. McDowell concluded:
“After trying to shatter the historicity and validity of
the Scripture, I came to the conclusion that it is
historically trustworthy. If one discards the Bible as
being unreliable, then one must discard almost all
literature of antiquity. ... I believe we can hold the
Scriptures in our hands and say, ‘The Bible is
trustworthy and historically reliable” (The New
Evidence, p. 68).
Dr. Richard Lumsden, professor of parisitology and cell
biology, was dean of the graduate school at Tulane
41
University and trained 30 Ph.D.s. When he was challenged
by a student about the evidence for evolution, he sought to
refute the student by demonstrating evolution’s scientific
evidence. Instead, he became convinced that the evidence is
lacking. This led to an examination of the Bible, which led to
his conversion to Jesus Christ.
Lee Strobel, who has a law degree from Yale, was an atheist
when he worked as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune.
After his wife’s conversion to Christ, he determined to use
his investigative skills to prove that the Bible is not true. He
says, “I plunged into the case with more vigor than with any
story I had ever pursued. I applied the training I had received
at Yale Law School as well as my experience as legal affairs
editor of the Chicago Tribune.” Strobel became convinced
that the Bible is true and that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
He has written many books defending the Christian faith,
including The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal
Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus and The Case for the
Resurrection.
“Down through the years, the Bible has been a mighty
anvil that has worn out the puny hammers of the
scoffers” (Christian Home Bible Course).

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 The Bibles Appeal
The Bible’s universal appeal proves that it is the Word of
God.
In spite of the aforementioned attacks, the Bible is the
most popular book in the world, by far. Some books have
been translated into a few dozen languages, but the Bible in
whole or in part has been translated into every major
language of the world, plus most minor ones--more than
2,450 so far. Translation work is progressing in another 2,000
languages. Compare this with other religious books. The
Hindu scriptures have been translated into 46 languages, and
the Muslim Quran into about 40.

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 The Bible’s Doctrine
The Bible’s doctrine of salvation proves it is the Word of
God.
The Bible is the only religious Scripture that teaches the
doctrine of salvation by grace. Every other one teaches
salvation by works. Hinduism says salvation is attained by
practicing dharma and working out one’s karma. Islam says
salvation is by surrender to Allah and obedience to his
commands. Buddhism says salvation is by reaching nirvana
through life works and meditation and asceticism. If you visit
the Buddhist monastery at Boudhanath in Kathmandu any
time of the day you will find Buddhists walking clockwise,
fingering their prayer beads and twirling their prayer wheels.
They do this because they are trying to work out their
salvation.
The Bible, on the other hand, says that salvation is God’s
free gift to sinners. This gift was very costly for the Giver. It
was purchased with a great price, which was the atoning
sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross. But for the sinner it is
free.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest
any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The Bible says there is nothing that the sinner can offer
God in order to atone for his sins. What could we offer?
Righteous works? The Bible says our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags before God’s great holiness (Isaiah 64:6). Money?
What would the God of creation do with our pathetic
currency? A pure heart? The Bible says the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade

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 as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken
us away” (Isaiah 64:6).
How, then, could we purchase our own salvation?
No, salvation is the free unmerited gift of a loving and
deeply compassionate God. As the Christian hymn says, “We
owed a debt we could not pay; He paid a debt He did not
owe.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John
3:16).
The Bible! What a Book!

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 Way of Life Literature Publications

Order online [Link] or by phone 866-295-4143.

Over 80 free eBooks: [Link]

Baptist Music Wars

Believer’s Bible Dictionary
Bible Times and Ancient Kingdoms: Treasures From Archaeology.
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Baptist Music Wars.
Believer’s Bible Dictionary.
The Discipling Church: The Church That Will Stand Until Jesus Comes.
The Effectual Bible Student
Holiness: Pitfalls, Struggles, Victory
Jews in Fighter Jets; Israel Past, Present, Future
Keeping the Kids: How to Keep Children From Falling Prey to the World
The Mobile Phone and the Christian Home and Church
The Minor Prophets
Music for Good or Evil.
One Year Discipleship Course
The Mobile Phone and the Christian Home and Church
The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Error.
A Plea to Southern Gospel Music Fans
A Portrait of Christ: The Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the Offerings.
Seeing the Non-Existent: Evolution’s Myths and Hoaxes.
Sowing and Reaping: A Course in Evangelism.
Things Hard to Be Understood: A Handbook of Biblical Difficulties.
An Unshakeable Faith: A Christian Apologetics Course.
Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity.
What Every Christian Should Know about Rock Music

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