April 5, 2007

Dear World News and Prophecy Subscriber,

It is that time of year again—the time when the mainstream media rolls out another story to try to debunk the Bible and faith. How can you be sure the Bible is true?

This article from the New York Times seems to be a part of a joint Egyptian/mainstream media effort to discredit the biblical teaching of the Exodus, the departure of the descendants of Israel from Egyptian slavery under the leadership of Moses. Here is a quote:

On the eve of Passover, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the story of Moses leading the Israelites through this wilderness out of slavery, Egypt's chief archaeologist took a bus full of journalists into the North Sinai to showcase his agency's latest discovery…

"Really, it's a myth," Dr. Hawass said of the story of the Exodus, as he stood at the foot of a wall built during what is called the New Kingdom…

"If they get upset, I don't care," Dr. Hawass said. "This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that is not my problem."

The story of the Exodus is celebrated as the pivotal moment in the creation of the Jewish people. As the Bible tells it, Moses was born the son of a Jewish slave, who cast him into the Nile in a basket so the baby could escape being killed by the pharaoh. He was saved by the pharaoh's daughter, raised in the royal court, discovered his Jewish roots and, with divine help, led the Jewish people to freedom. Moses is said to have ascended Mt. Sinai, where God appeared in a burning bush and Moses received the Ten Commandments.

In Egypt today, visitors to Mount Sinai are sometimes shown a bush by tour guides and told it is the actual bush that burned before Moses.

I was in Egypt several months ago on a tour, and you do hear a lot of bunk from the tour guides. They try to entertain and cater to the spiritual tastes of various Western Christian groups, which can involve a mix of truth, legend and outright fabrication. But it only takes a little research to find sound Bible scholarship and archaeological evidence that supports the biblical record.

While in Jerusalem on the same trip, I saw the recently uncovered remains of what one scholar claims to be the palace of Israel's King David. A great deal of evidence has been uncovered, and continues to be uncovered, that substantiates the biblical record down to the smallest detail.

What you see in this New York Times article and much of the popular press is inaccurate and incomplete reporting. They take at face value one scholar's conclusions without carefully examining the work of other reputable experts in the field who come to opposite conclusions. They buy into an established attempt to rewrite the biblical record.

Last year it was a book titled The Gospel of Judas that gave an alternative view of Christ's life and death. This book was based on a text written after the period of Christ and the apostles that was never included in the Bible.

There was also the best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, which last year became a major motion picture. The plot line is that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a child, a story meant to discredit the Bible and destroy faith. Millions read the book and saw the movie. How many take the story as true without checking deeper to examine the facts and prove the truth of the Bible?

All of this is part of a larger effort to undermine the Bible and belief. It works a gradual and continuous erosion of faith in God and His Word, the Bible. It subtly kills a people. The apostle Paul wrote of a spirit that works to deny knowledge of God, His power and His glory (Romans 1:18-23). He then said, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting" (verse 28).

At the heart of these efforts of scholarly criticism and rewriting Bible history is an innate hatred of God, spiritual holiness and righteous standards. We see the fruit of this mind-set in so much of our popular culture and the social problems affecting today's world.

Throughout the Bible God delivers challenges to "prove" Him right—to prove His way works to produce good results of happiness and joy. The Bible is a positive book, an authoritative source of instruction for life. It is a book of truth waiting for you to read and study till it becomes a living source of daily spiritual food.

But first you need to be sure the Bible is authoritative and true. The good news is you can! Our booklet Is the Bible True? takes you through some of the studies that prove the Bible to be what it says it is—the inspired Word of God.

Keep Watching,