WATCHMEN BIBLE STUDY GROUP
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." — Psalm 119:105

 THAT AMAZING BOOK!

by Terry Watkins

President Ronald Reagan pointed to that Amazing Book and said: "Indeed, it is an indisputable fact that all the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that SINGLE BOOK."

Napoleon said about that Amazing Book: ". . . is no mere book, but A LIVING CREATURE that conquers all that face it".

Newsweek magazine, (Dec. 27, 1982), on it's cover wrote: about that Amazing Book "How one book unites us, divides us, and STILL DEFINES US".

That Amazing Book is The Bible!

And if you think the Bible is like any other book ever written - keep reading. When you finish this you'll know that book is amazing!

But the Bible was written thousands of years ago. And we're now in the 21st century! We've seen man go to the moon. We've seen mankind take great strides in conquering the hidden mysteries of the universe. The Bible was written thousands of years ago by men with such limited knowledge.

With their limited knowledge, what could they possibly have known? 

I'm glad you asked...

Luke 17:30: "Even thus shall it be IN THE DAY when the son of man is revealed. . . (vs 31) IN THAT DAY . . . (vs 34) I tell you, IN THAT NIGHT . . ."  Nobody in Luke's day thought it could be day and night at the same time! They thought the earth was flat! Luke was written around 65 A.D. How did Luke know something that the scientists didn't know until the 16th century?

Isaiah 40:22: "It is he that sitteth upon the CIRCLE OF
THE EARTH."  How did Isaiah know in 700 B.C. the earth is round? The scientists of Isaiah's day thought the earth was flat. They didn't discover the earth is round until the early 1500s when Magellan sailed around the world. How did Isaiah know something over 2000 years ahead of science?

Job 26:7: ". . . and hangeth the earth upon NOTHING."  During the time of Job, it was believed a god named Atlas held the earth on his shoulders! Nobody believed the earth "hangeth upon NOTHING!" Job is the oldest book in the Bible! Written over 3500 years ago! How did Job know something that was IMPOSSIBLE to know during his day?

Genesis 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the DUST OF THE GROUND, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul."  Surely, you don't take Genesis 2:7 seriously? Do you?

November 1982, Reader's Digest had an article titled How Life on Earth Began. It stated that according to scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center the ingredients needed to form a human being can be found IN CLAY. The article said, "The Biblical scenario for the creation of life turns out to be NOT FAR OFF THE MARK." (Reader's Digest, November, 1982 p.116) Scientists have laughed at the possibility of Genesis having any scientific credibility whatsoever - No, it's "not far off the mark" - it's right on it! and yet, the more we learn, the more we find it to be SCIENTIFICALLY CORRECT!

Psalm 8:8: ". . . whatsoever passeth through the
PATHS OF THE SEAS."  After reading Psalm 8:8, Matthew Maury, a U.S. Naval officer, set out to locate these curious "paths in the seas." He discovered the oceans have paths which flow through

them. He became known as the "pathfinder of the seas".
How did David (the writer of Psalms) know, over 2,000 years ago, there were "paths in the seas"? David probably never even saw an ocean! HOW DID HE KNOW?

Ecclesiastes 1:7: "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again."  How did the writer of Ecclesiastes know the water cycle of condensation and evaporation? The sun evaporates water from the ocean, water vapor rises and becomes clouds. This water in the clouds falls back to the earth as rain, collects in rivers, and makes its way back to the ocean. This wasn't known until Galileo in 1630! How did the writer of Ecclesiastes know this in 1000 B.C.? 2500 YEARS AHEAD OF SCIENCE!

Leviticus 15:13: "And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in RUNNING WATER."  God said to wash the infected flesh in RUNNING WATER.Science didn't discover that until two men named Pasteur and Koch in the late 1800s. Doctors were washing their hands in a bowl of water and spreading the germs like wild fire . It wasn't until the invention of the microscope and the science of bacteriology that doctors started washing under RUNNING WATER. Leviticus was written around 1490 B.C. SCIENCE WAS ABOUT 3000 YEARS BEHIND! Isn't it embarrassing how science always lags about 2000 years behind that Amazing Book!

Job 38:19: "Where is THE WAY where light dwelleth?"  How come Job didn't say where is THE PLACE where light dwelleth? Because light is always moving. How did Job know something in 1500 B.C. that science didn't find out until Einstein? How can the men who wrote that Amazing Book, with their limited scientific knowledge - BE SO FAR AHEAD OF SCIENCE?

Ecclesiastes 1:6: "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again ACCORDING TO HIS CIRCUITS."  How did the writer of Ecclesiastes know the wind traveled within circuits? How did he know something that the aerologists and meteorologists are just now discovering? THINK ABOUT IT! How can these men, with their limited knowledge thousands of years ago, be so far ahead of science?

Proverbs 6:6-8: "Go to the ant. . . gathereth her food in the harvest."  Life's Nature Library "The Insects" (p.163) commenting on Proverbs 6 reads, "One of the entomological puzzles of the last century concerned this observation by Solomon. There was no evidence that ants actually harvested grain. In 1871, however, a British naturalist showed that Solomon had been right after all. . ." How did Solomon know that in 1000 B.C.? How did Solomon CLEARLY, detail a scientific FACT, that was IMPOSSIBLE for him to know in 1000 B.C.?

Proverbs 17:22: "A merry heart doeth good like a MEDICINE."  An article in The Birmingham News, titled Laughter: Prescription for Health, said, the LATEST medical evidence reveals that, "At some point during laughter, your body issues A PRESCRIPTION from the pharmacy in your brain." How did the writer of Proverbs know that - 3000 YEARS AHEAD OF MEDICAL SCIENCE?

Leviticus 17:11: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."  That's the most accurate, scientific statement ever written about the blood! It is the blood that carries on all the life processes of the body. It is the blood that causes growth, builds new cells, grows bone and flesh, stores fat, makes hair and nails. It is the blood that feeds and supports all the organs of the body.

If the blood supply be cut off from an arm, that arm will immediately begin to die and rot. It is the blood that repairs the body. It is the blood that clots wounds, that grows new flesh, new skin and even new nerves. It is the blood that fights disease. When they give you a vaccine against a disease, they give you a shot into your blood stream.

For thousands of years, doctors treated people by a practice called "bleeding." They thought illnesses could be cured by removing blood. In 1799, less than 200 years ago, George Washington was literally bled to death. They bled poor George four times, the last time they took over a quart of his blood!

The Birmingham Post Herald, February 26, 1988, told the story of Mike Thomas. Mike was working at a construction site when he fell 70 feet. As he was falling, a cable wrapped around his arm and severed his hand a few inches above the wrist. A fellow worker carried his severed hand to the hospital. Because of serious internal injuries, doctors couldn't at that time reattach Thomas's hand. Instead, they attached his hand to blood vessels on his abdomen wall to "keep it alive". Two months later, the doctors removed it from his abdomen and reattached it to his arm. According to the report, UAB was the first in the nation to perform such a task!

Exactly what the Bible said in 1490 B.C.! Keep feeding that hand blood, and it'll stay alive - the LIFE of the FLESH is in the BLOOD!

Don't you find that odd? What Moses wrote in 1490 B.C., the brightest minds man can produce, are just now discovering! How can that Amazing Book, written thousands of years ago, by men with such limited knowledge, be so far ahead the best mankind can produce in 6,000 years?

To realize how Amazing that Book is; compare what the scientists taught when that Amazing Book was written. They believed lightning bolts were missiles from the gods. The Vedas (Hindu sacred book) taught, to get rain, tie a frog with his mouth open to a tree and repeat some magic words - and presto - rain! The Egyptians believed stars were the souls of dead people who were now gods. The Greeks believed a god named Atlas held the earth on his shoulders. Some taught the earth sat on the backs of several large (very large!) elephants. And the elephants were resting on the back of a large (very, very large!) turtle! And the turtle? He was resting on a large (very, very, very large!) snake! And the snake? Well, you get the picture.

But, that Amazing Book, contains nothing so foolish! Despite what was taught and believed during the writers day! That Amazing Book says, "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. . ." (Acts 7:22). And yet, the "superstitions and mythology" of Egypt are not in the books written by Moses! In fact, after 6,000 years of "discoveries and advancements" - that Amazing Book, can stand beside the most advanced medical, scientific, and historical books available!

One subject that separates that Amazing Book from any other book is prophecy. No other book forecasts the future as this one does. The prophecies are precise. Many times they're hundreds, even thousands of years in advance. And without exception - they are fulfilled - to the smallest detail!

A prophecy in Ezekiel 26:1-6 reads: ". . . the word of the LORD came unto me, saying. . . Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee. . . And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. . . "

Three years later, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon surrounded Tyrus. But before he came, the people of Tyre escaped to an island, a half-mile offshore. After thirteen years of siege, the Babylonians "broke down her walls" and "broke down her towers", destroying the city on the mainland. By that time, the escaped people had re-built the city of Tyre on the island. And because Nebuchadnezzar had no navy, the city on the island remained untouched. Even though Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the city, he didn't fulfill Ezekiel's prophecy.

But 250 years later, Alexander the Great took the rubble Nebuchadnezzar's destruction left, and they "scraped her dust", the wood, rock and stubble from the destroyed city, and they built a causeway, like "the top of a rock". They marched on the rubble-causeway, into the island and destroyed it. And if you travel to site of old Tyre today - you'll see fisherman "spreading their nets" to dry on what was Tyre! Exactly, as Ezekiel prophesied around 586 B.C.! Over 2500 years before it happened!

There were over 300 prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. That Amazing Book has many that were written thousands of years before Jesus was born! Precise, detailed prophecies such as; where He would be born (Micah 5:2), how He would be born, (Isaiah 7:14) how He would die (Psalm 34:20), etc. And history has PROVEN, without ANY doubt whatsoever, they were fulfilled EXACTLY as that Amazing Book had prophesied, hundreds of years earlier!

In the book, Science Speaks, mathematician and scientist, Peter Stoner, applies the rules of probability to these prophecies. The chances of just eight of these three-hundred prophecies being fulfilled are one in 10 to the 17th power - that's 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000! In the book, Professor Stoner, illustrates:

Let us try to visualize this chance. . . Suppose that we take 10 to the 17th power silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. . . Blindfold a man and tell him. . . he must pick up one silver dollar . . . What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man. (Science Speaks, pp. 106 - 107)

Professor Stoner, then took 48 of these over 300 fulfilled prophecies. The chances of 48 being fulfilled are 1 in 10 to the 157 power - that's 1 in 10 with 157 zeros! Here's how he illustrates:

Let us try to visualize it. . . The electron is about as small an object as we know of. It is so small that it will take 2.5 x 10 to the 15th power of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19,000,000 years to count just the one-inch line of electrons. . . With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10 to the157th power. . . Let us make a solid ball of electrons, extending in all directions from the earth to the distance of six billion light-years (the distance that light will travel at 186,000 miles a second in 6,000,000,000 years). Have we used up our 10 to the 157th power electrons? No, we have made such a small hole in the mass that we cannot see it. Now, one of these electrons was marked and thoroughly stirred into the whole mass; blindfold your man and ask him to find the marked electron. (The electron, in fact, is so small that it cannot be seen with a powerful microscope.) To the extent, then, that we know this blindfolded man cannot pick out the marked electron, we know that the Bible is inspired. (Science Speaks, pp 109 - 111)

And in case you think Professor Stoner's statistics are exaggerated or without scientific substance the "Foreword" of the book, Science Speaks includes an acknowledgement by the prestigious American Scientific Affiliation stating: "The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way."

My fellow Christian, if the physical things that we can examine prove to be true - what about the spiritual that we can not yet examine?

[WBSG NOTE: THEY ARE!]

Got your radio on?  The locusts are coming soon!
And the dragon with them! Right after the NWO takes a hit! It's the next benchmark in Bible prophecy! You are there!                   Live Link to- THE NEXT BENCHMARK!