Participants: Pastor Charles Byrd
Series Code: IST
Program Code: IST000002
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00:01 Welcome back to another in search of the truth program.
00:04 I'm Karen Byrd. 00:05 While my family was living on the Island of Saipan 00:08 we so much enjoyed the coastline: the backside of the 00:11 the island with its rugged lava cliffs as well as the front side 00:14 its lagoon and sandy beach. 00:17 Once we even found a bottle with a message in it. 00:20 It had been washed up on a narrow beach near the piece of 00:23 lava called "Old Man by the Sea." 00:25 We weren't able to read the message because it was in Polish 00:29 but it was still exciting to think some sailor on a merchant 00:32 ship had thrown the bottle into the sea not knowing if 00:35 anyone would ever find it. 00:37 Suppose you had found and opened the bottle. 00:40 Would you be surprised if it was addressed to you? 00:43 What if the message had four predictions about your life? 00:47 Would you believe them? 00:48 You'd probably be a bit skeptical but very curious. 00:52 There are many skeptics in the world today who question whether 00:56 the Bible could possibly be true or accurate because we don't 01:00 have the original manuscripts written by say, Moses, Daniel, 01:04 Paul, or Matthew. 01:05 And even if we did, how could we be sure they were messages 01:09 from God? 01:10 If God looked into the future and saw that we would have these 01:13 perplexing questions He might have been wise to take some 01:17 of the old manuscripts, seal them in a bottle kind of like a 01:20 time capsule and then have them found say, 2,000 years later. 01:24 It would also be most convincing if He wrote in some prophecies 01:28 so that when the message in the bottle was found, we would know 01:32 for sure that He knew well in advance what was going 01:36 to happen. 01:37 Did you know that's exactly what God did? 01:40 It's true! God literally put His message in not one, 01:44 but many bottles. 01:46 Today, Charles is taking an important look at the Bible. 01:50 He'll even visit Qumran by the Dead Sea as he seeks to answer 01:54 the questions, "Is the Bible a trustworthy message from the 01:57 God of creation? 01:59 Does the Bible have anything relevant to say about our lives 02:03 in the 21st century? 02:04 Join us as our search for the truth investigates the message 02:08 in the bottle. 02:10 In Search of the Truth 02:27 Message in a Bottle 02:32 with Charles Byrd 02:49 Last time we were together we looked at the Genesis question. 02:53 We were wondering if the evidence, the facts, supported 02:56 belief in evolution as the means of our arrival on the stage of 02:59 life OR if our creation was at the hands of an intelligent 03:03 designer. 03:04 Now of course, none of us were there. 03:06 Either conclusion takes a certain degree of faith. 03:09 But I trust that we came to the conclusion together that our 03:12 faith can safely rest on the facts: 03:14 That scientific study proves that we did not and could not 03:18 have evolved. 03:20 We were looking for some reasonable anchor on which to 03:23 base our faith. 03:24 Not blind faith, but rational faith. 03:27 Let's review quickly what we discovered last time. 03:30 While there are left and right handed amino acids, 03:33 the basic building blocks for cells, we learned that 03:36 everything that is living is only made up of left handed 03:40 amino acids. 03:41 The chance of that happening by pure random selection is 03:44 one in 10 followed by 123 zeros! 03:48 But that's not enough. 03:50 All these left handed amino acids have to line up in just 03:55 the right order so they can make a protein. 03:58 What is the possibility of that happening by chance? 04:02 One in 10 followed by 240 zeros! 04:05 But that's not enough to have life. 04:09 The protein has to have DNA to reproduce itself. 04:13 What is the chance that this happened all by itself? 04:17 We stagger to understand that it is one in 10 followed by 04:20 147 zeros YEARS! 04:23 The estimated 20 billion years since the "big bang" is not even 04:27 close to enough time to have created ONE usable cell 04:31 let alone all the plant and animal life on earth. 04:35 Molecular biology's clear demonstration that a single cell 04:39 is vastly complex makes the accidental origin of life in 04:43 a single cell a mathematical absurdity. 04:46 FOOLISHNESS to believe we came about by random selection 04:50 or arbitrary chance. 04:52 But just knowing this - that there is a pattern- 04:55 that someone very intelligent put us here causes me to ask, 04:59 who is he? Where is he? What is he? 05:03 Does he care about me? 05:05 Does he, she or it know that I even exist? 05:09 Where can we go to find the answer? 05:12 Do we go to the book of Islam, the Koran? 05:14 Will we find the answer in the writings of Confucius or 05:17 Buddha? 05:19 Or do we go to the Bible? 05:22 THE BIBLE! 05:23 I hear the critics saying you want me to believe the fairy 05:25 tales of the bible? 05:27 You want me to believe that the earth was actually created in 05:30 just six days? 05:31 That there was enough rain to cover the whole earth with a 05:34 flood, that a person is swallowed by a fish and burped 05:36 up on land? Aren't these stories a little 05:39 bit unbelievable? That snakes can talk? 05:42 That the ground opens up to swallow just Moses enemies? 05:45 Or that the ocean opens up wide enough for several million 05:48 people go through on dry land, and then they get out the other 05:51 side and the people drink water out of the rocks and 05:54 groceries fall from skies? 05:55 And fiery windy chariot takes people to heaven? 05:58 Why should we believe the bigoted claim that 06:01 only the Christian's Bible is the truth? 06:04 That's a great question, and a valid question. 06:08 And I believe I have the answer to that question, "Why believe 06:12 in the Bible of the Jews and the Christians?" 06:14 In a word...PROPHECY 06:17 LET ME ILLUSTRATE... 06:20 I'm going to prophecy several things about you personally. 06:23 First... 06:24 Tomorrow at 9:31 a.m. there will be an earthquake registering 06:28 6.9 on the Richter scale. 06:30 The epicenter will be on Wall Street in New York City... 06:34 The only video footage of the event will be taken by a 06:37 relative of yours. 06:39 One week from now you will win the lottery... 06:43 One month from now all the kids you went to school with in first 06:47 grade with drop in to visit you on a Wed morning at 5 a.m. ... 06:52 One year from now you will be named as the next vice 06:56 president of the island nation of Tonga... 06:58 One decade from now you will be dead from choking on 07:04 a toothpick. 07:05 Suppose the first prediction came true. The very earthquake 07:09 with the all the details I predicted comes true. 07:12 What would you think of me then? 07:14 Suppose that in one week you win the lottery and you didn't even 07:18 buy a ticket, it was given to you for buying your gas. 07:21 Just for the sake of the story suppose that one month from now 07:25 all the kids you went to school with in first grade did drop in 07:29 to visit you on Wednesday morning at 5 a.m. 07:32 And since this story is only in our imagination, let's suppose 07:36 that by some twisted set of events in one year you did 07:40 become the new vice president of the nation of Tonga. 07:44 How seriously would you take what I say? 07:48 Would give credence to what I say? 07:51 Would you think I was trust worthy? 07:54 Even though the last of the 5 predictions is 9 years away, 07:59 would you ever use toothpicks again? 08:01 So you would believe in me just for making these simple 08:05 predictions that came true for you? 08:08 This is why I believe in the Bible. Prophecy! 08:13 Let me show you what I mean. 08:15 Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, the first world empire 08:18 and he had a troubling dream. 08:20 But the next morning he couldn't remember the dream that had 08:23 troubled him so greatly. 08:25 He was certain that it held special significance for himself 08:28 and his kingdom. 08:29 He had a consuming passion to recall the dream or have it 08:32 revealed to him. You can read the whole account 08:35 of it for yourself in Daniel chapter 2. 08:38 Under a miraculous set of circumstances Daniel, 08:41 a Hebrew captive from Jerusalem is able to tell the king what he 08:45 dreamed...in his own bed chamber!! 08:47 "You, O King, were watching; and behold, a great image! 08:53 This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; 08:58 and its form was awesome. 09:00 "This image's head was of fine gold, and its chest and 09:06 arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 09:10 "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of 09:16 clay. 09:18 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, 09:22 which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, 09:26 and broke them in pieces. 09:29 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver 09:33 and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff 09:38 from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away 09:43 so that no trace of them was found. 09:46 And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain 09:52 and filled the whole earth. 09:55 "That's it." "That's it." 09:57 I can hear Nebuchadnezzar saying, 09:58 "That's exactly what I dreamed in my own bed! 10:01 Now Daniel, what does it mean? 10:04 I know you can tell me. 10:06 Anyone who can tell me what I dreamed in my own bed in my 10:09 own palace can surely tell me what it means." 10:11 And so Daniel unfolds the dream and its interpretation. 10:16 In Daniel chapter 2:36 you read: 10:19 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it 10:24 the king." 10:25 "You, O king,... are this head of gold" 10:30 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior 10:34 to yours [just as silver is inferior to gold]; then another, 10:39 a third kingdom of bronze, shall rule over the earth." 10:42 ...the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, 10:46 in as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; 10:50 and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break 10:53 in pieces and crush all others." 10:56 Then something interesting happens. 10:58 Daniel doesn't predict another world empire. 11:01 "Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay 11:07 and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; 11:10 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly 11:15 of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and 11:19 and partly fragile." 11:20 Amazing! This is exactly what History portrays!!! 11:25 Unlike my 5-point prophecy that covered a mere ten years, 11:29 this prophecy begins in 605 B.C. and outlines the future of the 11:35 world for 2,600 years. 11:37 If you take the metallic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream 11:42 and you lay it on its side it becomes a prophetic timeline. 11:46 First Babylon, then Media-Persia represented by the silver 11:51 chest and arms. 11:52 A third kingdom, a kingdom of bronze Daniel named as Greece 11:56 in chapter 8 nearly 200 years before it happened. 11:59 Then history reveals that Rome came onto the scene in 168 B.C. 12:05 And last, the partly strong, partly weak, iron and clay 12:10 kingdom replaces the world powers. 12:12 The known world around the Mediterranean fragmented 12:16 apart and no one has ever been able to put it back together 12:19 again. 12:20 This is what Daniel prophesied! 12:23 "They shall not cleave one to another, even as iron 12:27 is not mixed with clay." 12:30 Among others, Charlemagne, King of the Franks and founder 12:34 of the first empire in Western Europe after the fall of Rome 12:37 tried and he failed to reunite the Mediterranean world. 12:41 Napoleon, a French general, political leader, and emperor 12:44 of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, 12:48 tried and failed. 12:50 Hitler in the 20th century tried and miserably failed. 12:55 Every year that goes by without Europe reuniting is another year 12:59 the Bible stands vindicated as a book worthy 13:02 of our attention and trust. 13:05 This is the book that tells us who the creator is. 13:09 This is the book that tells us who created all the amino acids 13:13 line them up in the correct order. 13:15 This is the book that tells us who created our DNA. 13:18 This is the book that tells us scientific facts long before 13:23 science had the tools to even prove it right. 13:26 In the Book of Job chapter 26:7 we read, 13:29 "He... hangeth the earth upon nothing." 13:32 It took us a while before we could confirm it, 13:35 but we now have pictures to prove that God did exactly 13:38 what he said. 13:39 We can trust this book. 13:41 "It is he that says Isaiah that sitteth upon the circle of 13:44 the earth." 13:46 The Bible said the earth was round centuries before 13:48 man found out. 13:50 This book was inspired by God who created all things. 13:54 It can be trusted. 13:55 In Job 19:20 says he "escaped with the skin of 14:00 [his] teeth." Just a figure of speech? 14:03 No, science has now discovered that there is 14:06 in fact a skin of our teeth. 14:09 All these truths are in the book that starts, 14:13 "In the Beginning God..." 14:15 Dr. Arthur Compton, Nobel prize-winning, physicist, 14:20 commenting on Genesis 1:1 wrote, in the Chicago Daily News: 14:23 "For myself, faith begins with a realization that a supreme 14:27 intelligence brought the universe into being and 14:30 created man. It is not difficult for me to have this faith, 14:34 for it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan, 14:39 there is an intelligence- an orderly unfolding universe 14:43 testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement, 14:47 "In the Beginning God." 14:50 Since the first five predictions of Daniels end time prophecy 14:54 have come true, do you think we can trust the sixth and final 14:59 of the prophecy? Let's consider it for ourselves 15:03 and in Daniel 2:34 15:05 ...a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on 15:09 its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces." 15:14 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold 15:19 were crushed together, and became like chaff from the 15:22 summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away 15:26 so that no trace of them was found. 15:28 And the stone that struck the image became a great 15:31 mountain and filled the whole earth." 15:34 What was the stone that Daniel saw? 15:37 He gives us the interpretation in Daniel ch 2:44. 15:41 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven 15:45 will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; 15:48 and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; 15:51 it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, 15:55 and it shall stand forever." 15:58 All of this has come true. All of this is history for us. 16:02 But for Daniel, who was way back here, what the creator 16:06 God showed him was history in advance. 16:09 Do you realize what this means? 16:12 We are right here. 16:14 The only thing left to happen in this prophecy is for the creator 16:18 God of the universe to set up his kingdom here on earth. 16:22 We'll talk more about that in our next program together. 16:26 This book, the Bible, written over a period of nearly 16:31 1,600 years by 40 different authors on three continents 16:35 and one island appears to have been managed by one person. 16:40 Though the penmen, the scribes include kings, shepherds, 16:44 scientists, attorneys, an army general, fishermen, 16:47 priests, and a physician, yet in theme and purpose, 16:50 the Bible is a single book. 16:52 The Bible makes this exaggerated claim about itself. 16:57 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 17:01 profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 17:05 for instruction in righteousness;" 17:08 All scripture had the God of creation directing the penmen, 17:14 the authors in what to say. 17:16 That makes sense and gives a reasonable explanation as to why 17:20 this book has one central message in both the New 17:23 and Old Testaments. 17:25 That also explains why it speaks of one God, why it reveals 17:29 one Savior, why it uplifts one standard of righteousness. 17:34 It also explains how and why the prophecies can be so accurate. 17:39 "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: 17:44 but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the 17:48 Holy Ghost." 17:50 The prophecies in this book are not made up by crafty men 17:53 with a 50% or even 80% accuracy rating. 17:56 They are given to us by an intelligence that knows the 18:00 future with pinpoint accuracy before it happens, 18:04 even thousands of years before it happens! 18:07 But the skeptic says, how the Bible you hold in your hand 18:11 has gone through some many revisions, so many translations, 18:14 so many human hands that it can't even be the same 18:18 book that was originally written. 18:20 "Not so!" says archeology! 18:22 In the summer of 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy was keeping his 18:27 his flocks near the Dead Sea south of Jericho. 18:30 Having lost one of his wayward goats went looking for him 18:34 in what we now call cave number one, wondering if his wayward 18:39 beast had climbed in to the cave, he threw in a rock 18:43 to shoo him out. 18:46 He waited to see if the goat would come out he didn't hear 18:49 a goat but what he did hear was surprising, it was the sound 18:53 of a clay jar breaking. 18:54 Upon investigation he discovered what we now know 19:00 as The Dead Sea Scrolls. 19:02 While in Bethlehem I was privileged to visit the Kando's 19:05 Inticquity shop. 19:07 There I spoke with some of the sons and grandsons of the man 19:10 who purchased most of the scrolls from the Bedawin 19:13 Shepard's. 19:15 My name is Edmund K my Father is the man which he bought 19:21 all the Dead Sea Scrolls which have been discovered since 19:25 1948 up to the last minute. 19:28 In front of us is one of the original jars, which one of 19:34 the scrolls have been wrapped with with Linen and hidden in? 19:38 In the book, "Great People of the Bible and How They Lived" 19:42 we learn that the contents of the scrolls include fragments 19:45 of all the books of the Old Testament except Esther. 19:49 The careful transcriptions were done on animal skins marked with 19:53 horizontal lines for writing and verticals for margins. 19:57 These Bible texts predate the oldest scriptures by 20:00 a thousand years. 20:02 Written mostly during the three centuries before the fall of 20:05 Jerusalem in A.D. 70. 20:07 They had been hidden in these caves just before the Romans 20:11 destroyed their community at nearby Qumran. 20:15 When the scrolls were first found Edmund told us, 20:18 some scholars regarded them as forgeries but after the 20:22 carbon 14 dating set their age at 2000 years, these scrolls 20:27 from Qumran were recognized as documents of great historical 20:30 value. Some have now come to believe they are 20:34 the archeological find of the century. 20:37 The Qumran community just west of the Dead Sea 20:42 was a place where they gather together to preserve scripture. 20:46 After taking their ceremonial baths the men of the community 20:50 would walk through this room to the author's room and here 20:53 in the author's room they would copy scripture word for word 20:57 as dictated by the reader. 21:00 We are told that this is how the copies were made in 21:03 the Scriptorium... 21:04 As the reader would stand up to read he would read something 21:08 like "in the Beginning God." 21:10 All the scribes would then repeat out loud 21:13 "in the Beginning God". 21:15 Then the writers would take their pens and begin to write. 21:20 In, and as they wrote it would say, "In the Beginning God." 21:25 Then the copyist would pick up their parchments and read 21:29 "In the Beginning God," as the reader would compare 21:32 what was said with what was on the original. 21:35 This is why these manuscripts show remarkably few 21:38 few discrepancies with what we read in our bibles today. 21:41 Now, some people are going to keep on believing in evolution 21:45 even though chance is stacked against them. 21:47 They will believe that a single cell evolved even though the 21:51 the chance of that happening is one in 10 followed by 123 zeros, 21:56 and another 10 followed by 240 zeros, 21:59 and then another 10 followed 147 zeros years! 22:03 Some of those same people will make fun of the person who 22:07 believes in the Bible because of some seemingly impossible 22:11 stories found there. 22:13 But let me show you how much less faith it takes to believe 22:16 in the prophecies of the Bible. 22:18 In the back of my bible, the New King James version, 22:22 the open bible, is a chart with 44 prophecies about the 22:26 coming of the creator of all our amino acids and DNA, 22:30 to dwell with us, to be with us, to bring us back into a 22:34 relationship with Himself. 22:36 I've been told that there are more than 22:38 125 of these prophecies. 22:41 For the sake of time can we quickly look at just 22:44 eight of them? Real fast... 22:45 Daniel predicted the very time of His birth in Daniel ch 9 22:49 and Luke ch 2 says He came right on time. 22:53 Micah ch 5 says He would be born in Bethlehem and 22:58 Dr. Luke says in Luke 2 that's exactly where He was born 23:02 in a stable. 23:03 Isaiah ch 7 says He would be born of a virgin 23:07 Luke 1 says He was born of Mary who was a virgin. 23:10 Malachi 3 says He would be preceded by a forerunner 23:14 and Luke ch 7 says that forerunner was John the Baptist 23:18 Zachariah 9 says He would make a triumphal entry 23:21 into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and Mark 11 says 23:24 that's exactly what happened. 23:27 Is 53 said He would be silent before His accusers and at 23:31 His trial that's exactly what He was according to Mark 15. 23:36 Isaiah 53 says He would be rejected by His own people 23:41 and John and Luke both record that He was. 23:45 Psalm 16 says He would be resurrected. 23:48 Mark 16 and Acts 2 tell us that we serve a risen Lord. 23:54 We used probability theory to determine that chance evolution 23:58 could not have taken place. Let's USE IT AGAIN. 24:01 How likely is it that a person could "just happen" 24:05 to fulfill all these predictions so perfectly? 24:07 In Science Speaks, Dr. Peter Stoner uses probability theory 24:12 to test how likely it is that just eight of the many 24:15 prophecies about Jesus could happen by chance. 24:18 His results, checked by the American Scientific Affiliation, 24:22 show that the chance of any man might have lived from when 24:25 the prophecy was made to the present time, and fulfilled 24:28 all eight is just one in 10 followed by 16 zeros. 24:33 The possibility of one DNA happing by chance is 24:37 considerably more 10 followed by 147 zeros years. 24:41 10 followed by 147 zeros or 10 followed by 16 zeros? 24:47 You tell me which takes more faith. 24:50 Since you have no concept of what 10 followed by 16 zeros 24:53 looks like let's let Dr. Stoner explain. 24:57 He illustrates by saying that if we took that number of silver 25:01 dollars, spread them over the state of Texas, they would cover 25:05 the whole state two feet deep! 25:08 Dr. Stoner then explains: Now mark one of these silver 25:11 dollars, stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. 25:14 Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as 25:18 he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say 25:22 this is the marked one. 25:24 What chance would he have of getting the right one? 25:28 Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of 25:31 writing these eight prophecies and have them all come true 25:34 in any one man, from their day to the present time providing 25:38 they wrote in their own wisdom. 25:39 But they didn't write in their own wisdom. 25:42 They were inspired by the same intelligence that created 25:45 amino acids but only used left handed ones to make 25:49 living things. 25:50 The inspiration of this book is from the same being that created 25:55 DNA, the marvel of all 25:58 scientists. Hey, I am a rational 26:00 being. I don't want to believe with blind faith. 26:03 But when I run the numbers it makes a whole lot more sense 26:06 to believe in a pattern-making creator God who really cares 26:09 about me than to believe that I am a chance accident of 26:13 random forces. 26:15 This book tells me how I got here, it tells me of the one who 26:19 put me here and loves me enough to plan a fantastic kingdom, 26:23 and build me a home in His awesome city so that I can live 26:27 with Him someday very soon. 26:28 This book tells me that He loved me enough to die for me. 26:33 I'm special to the God of creation. 26:36 He knows my name, He knows where I live, 26:38 He knows the number of hairs on my head. 26:41 And that same God loves you too. 26:44 You are important to Him. 26:48 You don't have to wait to hear God's message of Love for you. 26:52 Besides, bottles can take along time to get there. 26:56 This book has proven itself to be His message. 27:00 In this book He says, I have loved you with an 27:05 everlasting love. 27:06 If you would like to learn more amazing facts about this book 27:09 then why don't you call, or email today for our FREE 27:13 Bible study guide, entitled "Is There Anything Left 27:17 You Can Trust." 27:18 It contains much more information than Charles could 27:21 cover today on this broadcast and answers questions like, 27:24 Are the historical statements of the Bible accurate? 27:27 And what great advantage does a person have who accepts 27:30 the Bible as God's inspired word? 27:32 Now, here is the contact information you'll need. 27:36 Is there anything left you can trust? 27:40 To access this powerful resource, go to 27:43 www.amazingfacts.org. 27:46 Simply select the Studies button and there you can order the 27:51 entire Study Guides or you can look and listen to this 27:55 particular Study Guide. You can even enroll in the 27:59 free online Bible study course which will answer many of your 28:03 Bible questions. 28:05 Again, this Study Guide is available to you anywhere in the 28:07 world at www.amazingfacts.org. 28:12 In our Next broadcast Charles is going in search of Heaven, 28:17 and the New Jerusalem. 28:19 In His search he has discovered a painting made by an artist who 28:23 was given all the facts from the Bible on its size, and 28:26 structure. 28:27 You've never seen any picture of this colossal city before 28:30 that looks like this one. 28:31 Join us next time as we go in search for the truth 28:34 about "Our Final Home. |
Revised 2014-12-17