James Arendt
One of the things the Devil likes to do most of all is defeat the prophecies of God!--Why? The greatest proof to the World that there is a God is first what? (Family member: Creation.) It's evident all around us that there's a God, because all this couldn't have just made itself, contrary to the Devil's big lie of Evolution. That's so ridiculous, it's so silly, it's so foolish, it's worse than childish! I mean, a child's not that dumb, they can look around and know that there must be a God and Somebody made it all! There's nothing unless somebody made it, right? We didn't make it, and it certainly didn't make itself, so Somebody must have made it! Right? So there had to be Somebody pretty big and pretty smart to make it, and that Somebody must be God!
So the greatest proof of God's existence is His creation, but see how the Devil has worked to try to nullify that proof by creating the deceptive, evil, slimy lie of Evolution that is so silly and ridiculous, to the point now that many modern scientists don't even believe it any more because they say it's impossible and there's absolutely no proof of it! If they don't believe in God, they don't know what to believe, but they know it couldn't have happened that way!
But that was the Devil's major attack against the existence of God, to attack the Bible, attack the Word of God. God's Word says, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth!" (Gen.1:1) So that's right where the Devil had to begin and lie to them. He began with the Garden of Eden with lies to Eve. He started off right there. His major attack was on the Word of God! What did he say? "Hath God said so-and-so? It's not so! God's lying to you, God's deceiving you, He just doesn't want you to know everything like He does. Follow me and do what I tell you to do and you're going to be as smart as God!" (Gen.3:1-5) Well, you can see where it's gotten man, he's getting not as smart as God, but he's getting a hell of a lot smarter and it's all Hell, with all Hell let loose, tampering with everything now and getting to where he could even blow up the World pretty soon if God didn't stop him!
So the attack was made right on the Word of God! Now we know, of course, the surest proof that God exists--I asked you this question not long ago and I got a variety of answers until you finally hit the right one--how do you know God exists? (Family member: Answers to prayer.) That's good, but there's a better one. (Family member: Jesus is in our heart.) You know Him! We know God exists because we know Him, we know the Lord! At least we know the Lord, His Son, we know Jesus. We know this Book is true because we know the Author! Remember that story I told you? We have fallen in love with the Book because we've already fallen in love with the Author! So we know the Bible is true because we know Him. But that's our personal experience, that's not the rest of the World. What other kind of proof has He offered the rest of the World before they have such a personal experience, besides the Creation? (Family member: Fulfilled Prophecy.)
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest proofs of the Bible! Who else but God could have known the Future thousands of years before it happened? Who else but God could have foretold the Future in detail, perfectly, long before it happened? A lot of these prophecies haven't happened yet, so they're not proven yet, but there are hundreds and hundreds of prophecies in here already that have already been fulfilled and are already proven! I think they say there are about 300-and-some prophecies about Jesus alone and His first coming that have already been fulfilled in detail!
You notice how that dear old Jew Matthew, God bless him, he was a documentarian, HE INSISTED ON GIVING THE WORD, THE PROOF! Every time he said anything about Jesus he said, "As it was written," "So it was said," he keeps quoting Scriptures to prove that Jesus fulfilled prophecy. That's why all those Scriptures and references to the Old Testament are there, to prove that Jesus was the Messiah by the Scripture, fulfilled Scriptures! Isn't that wonderful? Thank the Lord? Hallelujah!
We said that the surest proof of the existence of God is the creation! With us it's because we actually know Him, and another thing is fulfilled Prophecy that gives you faith to trust this Word and what it has to say.
But did you know, from the very beginning, the very first temptation, the Devil tried to defeat fulfilled prophecy! What did he tell Eve? "Hath God said so-and-so? No, that's not true." That's the first thing he told her, that it's not true. "For God doth know so-and-so." And then what did he say? The Devil gave her a prophecy, a false prophecy: "Thou shalt not surely die!" God said in the day that ye eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. He didn't mean that very day, but from that time on they started dying, from the very first bite they started dying! That was God's prophecy, right? Was it fulfilled? Did Adam and Eve die? Yes, they're long gone! But what did the Devil tell them? He gave a false prophecy: "Thou shalt not surely die." Think of that! (Gen.3:1-6)
Almost the first thing the Devil tried to do, besides tempting Eve, was not to eat the apple--it wasn't an apple anyhow, we don't know what kind of fruit it was, it's fruit that we don't know, but it's symbolised by the apple--first of all he lied to her and said, "You're not going to die, you're just going to be smarter!" So his biggest temptation was to get her to doubt God's Word. God said, "You're going to die!" The Devil said, "You're not going to die." God's Word was true. That was a prophecy that was eventually fulfilled, they did die. The Devil was a liar, he said, "You will not die." What a lie, an outright lie! So the Devil was trying to defeat the Word, in other words, he was trying to defeat even the fulfilment of the prophecy of God! And I have seen evidences all through history where the Devil has been working overtime trying to defeat the fulfilments of prophecies, time and again.
My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
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• Recognize you have violated in some way the laws of God. Violation of legal law is called a crime. Violation of God’s moral law is called a sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; - Romans 3:23
As it is written (in the Bible), There is none righteous, no, not one: - Romans 3:10
• Recognize the penalty of sin: Death! For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: - Romans 5:12
• Recognize Jesus is the Saviour! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. - Acts 16:31
• Recognize our lives our sinful by nature. We can do nothing of our own to merit eternal life. Salvation is completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. - Isaiah 64:6
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; - Titus 3:5
• Recognize Christ paid the sin debt we owe! But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. - Romans 5:8-9
• Recognize you must receive Christ as your personal Saviour! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13
• Ask Jesus to be your Saviour!
Dear Jesus:I know I am a sinner. I know if I were to die right now, I could not go to Heaven. I ask you, right now, to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin, and be my Saviour. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer with all sincerity, you have passed from death to life and have been born again into the family of God!
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