Is the Bible Relevant in Today's Modern World?

is the world's best-selling book held in awe by some, yet discredited by others? Those who discredit it may say that it is "pure mythology" and that it was originally conceived by some nomadic tribes wandering around in the desert, touched in the head by the hot desert sun. Is this true?

Why should an organization such as the Bible Fund promote the distribution in developing countries of this so-called "outdated" book? After all, some critics say men wrote this at a time when ignorance and superstition were overwhelming.

Why would such a highly suspect text be worth reading, let alone be worthy of our trust during this age of scientific discovery and widespread education?

Have you ever asked yourself why the reading of the Bible has caused so many to disagree, and many to start new denominations, pulling out of one church to start another, all seemingly because of doctrinal differences?

Was it really the fault of the Bible, or was it the people? We need to look into this and get God's answer.

Have you ever PROVED whether the Bible is the very Word of the Creator God, or have you simply taken it for granted? Can you answer the accusations of atheists and agnostics who ridicule this book, and say it is not inspired?

You may have been told in school that the account of creation in the first chapter of the Bible is not scientific. You were probably taught that mankind originated through the process known as evolution. Today the courts of many states in the United States rule against Intelligent Design being taught in the public school system. At the heart of this ruling is a blatant assumption that the Bible is not scientific.

On the other hand, most Bible believers in the "Bible Belt" of the United States have accepted without PROOF that what the Bible teaches is indeed the very Word of God. (For the sake of our readers in other lands, the Bible Belt states are mainly the southern states of this great country.)

Prove All Things

A world-famous evangelist confessed publicly that he accepted one of the doctrines embraced by his group of evangelicals on sheer faith, and that you could not prove it by the Bible. Did he have to assume that he could not prove or disprove that doctrine by the Bible? Or was he simply accepting the tradition of men? You CAN prove every major teaching in the Bible! For example, on the teaching on tithing god is shown as saying: "Prove me now herewith ..." (Mal. 3:10). Paul, a follower of Christ, wrote, "Prove all things" (1 Thess. 5:21).

There is no need to accept any doctrine on faith alone, and this famous evangelist could have proved it, one way or the other, in the Bible. But he preferred to go by men's traditions.

Why mention this? Because so much of modern Christianity accepts things on blind faith, without ever proving teachings that can be proven right out of this Book.

From what some religionists write and say it would seem that the Bible is for little old ladies who want to be sure that they have somewhere to go after they die. They are told that heaven is their destination, so they begin to prepare for that.

But don't ask the average successful man about age 30 or 40 to do the same thing. The chances are that the last book he would consult for success right here and now would be the Bible.

Yet, many are ignorant that the Bible supplies answers for "the life that now is" as Paul states in 1 Timothy 4:8. Life was meant to work, and the BEST book that has the information on how to make life work here and now is the Bible.

What's more, the Bible tells us that we have an obligation to look after the planet that God has created for us. The Bible does not depict us going to heaven and leaving planet Earth in a shambles! The Bible shows a Creator God giving us dominion over the earth to use it sensibly, not to exploit it, abandon it and go to other places in the universe – be it "Heaven" or other planets – to then pollute those new environments.

The Creator's Instruction Book

When we learn why the Bible was written and composed, we find that it is the Creator's Instruction Book for mankind – the manual, if you please, on how to make life work now and prepare for the life hereafter, the first thousand years of which will be spent right here on earth, not in heaven!

When you get to know the Bible by reading it more than reading commentaries ABOUT the Book, and get to know it from a personal point of view, it not only can open up a whole new world of knowledge to you, but it will also make your life here and now a resounding success!

The Bible Fund distributes the Bible because we have proved that the Bible is in fact the inspired, authentic Word of our Creator, and that we all, the works of His creation, will be judged by the words in that Book!

We have put its tenets to work; we have tried and tested them. We have been greatly influenced by a servant of God we met decades earlier, namely, Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of Ambassador College. He was a successful advertising executive who had been challenged on both evolution and belief in God and the Bible. He recalled how he had simply assumed, without proof, that a Creator God existed and that evolution was not the true explanation of origins. Then, when he was challenged on the veracity of the Bible, he risked the loss of both his marriage and business success.

He realized that he had made no in depth study or research into either side of the question, so he delved into the most serious study and thorough research of his life. He first studied all the major works on evolution and origins. He had been confused, since he had been reared in a family that had been of a traditional Protestant faith for generations; he had simply ASSUMED, because of Sunday School upbringing, that God exists. Now it appeared evident, IF evolution were true, the existence of God was a myth.

Upon closer study, this same man discovered that the evolutionary textbooks were full of suppositions. They would admit: "We do not know how life began upon the earth." "Probably the earliest forms of life were ...." "They must have appeared ...." "The first jelly like beginnings of life must have perished ..." etc., etc.

He was amazed! Here was an accepted textbook based on evolution. But expressions like "the possibility," "they consider," "convincing reasons for supposing," "we do not know," "probably," "they must have," "speculations about," abounded.

Then he looked into the Bible, discredited as it is by those who believe what they may suppose, what they do not know, what may well have been, etc., and in the Bible he found definite, positive statements expressed with AUTHORITY. For example, in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." No expressions such as "we may have created," or "we do not know how the earth came to be." No "we may well suppose." No theories. Just the authoritative positive statement, "God created ...." Then verse 3: "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Not "perhaps," not "we may well suppose," but "... there was light." A definite, positive statement of AUTHORITY.

All the way through the Bible he found it to be POSITIVE, definite, authoritative! The Bible claiming to be the SURE Word of God. It is not unsure, nor speculative.

"Don't Believe Me! Believe Your Bible!"

Students in the early days of Ambassador College sat at the feet of Herbert W. Armstrong. As our mentor, he taught us to believe the Bible first, before any man, including himself. He would say, "Don't believe me ... believe YOUR BIBLE!"

Even though apostates were allowed to appropriate, downsize and then sell the institutions he founded or presided over, the legacy of truth lives on. We used to publish an article called "The Church They Couldn't Destroy" – and the conclusion of that article is still true. The apostates may do as the early apostate movement did to the Primitive Church in the second and third centuries, but the forces of hell cannot destroy the vibrant, spiritual organism founded by its living Head, Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:18).

Mr. Armstrong wrote the following regarding the transforming experience of his initial conversion: "Then [in reference to the Bible] in its chapter of origins, in Genesis, it explains definitely with authority how man originated, how the first man made a decision on which human civilization has been built – and it gives the only possible explanation of WHY we live today in a world of awesome materialistic progress and accomplishment, paradoxically with appalling and escalating evils. Evolution has no explanation and no solution to offer. The Bible has both.

"Evolution gives no explanation of why humans exist on earth – of the present paradox of mounting evils accompanying awesome progress – no hope for the future of a world falling apart, about to destroy itself with the nuclear weapons of mass destruction. No explanation of the cause of the appalling evils and the hopeless future staring so many youths in the face today. The Bible explains it all. It reveals the causes, the present effects, and the tremendous PURPOSE being worked out here below.

"Yes, but how do we KNOW, definitely, whether the Bible revelations are in fact TRUE? Personally I had to be SURE. I proved the existence of God to my satisfaction, and I PROVED the authenticity and authority of the Bible."

Then Mr. Armstrong showed that this Bible dares to foretell the future! "It dares to write out the future history of this world in advance."

He showed that what happened to Britain and America in World Wars I and II was prophesied, and that there was a Third World War prophesied as well. Now THAT got my attention, and I started to study this Book that had convinced Herbert Armstrong many decades previously.

We are living now in an age of SKEPTICISM. We are living in an age of doubt, an age where REASON is exalted, and where simple faith is ridiculed.

Mr. Armstrong continued with his explanation: "Most highly educated people, and men of science, assume that the Bible is not the infallible revelation of a supernatural God, and they assume this WITHOUT THE SCIENTIFIC PROOF that they demand on material questions.

"Most fundamentalist believers assume, on sheer faith, never having seen proof, that the Holy Bible is the very Word of God.

"Very few people have stopped to prove whether or not the Bible is really the inspired Word of God. Very few people TREMBLE before what it says or regard it as having REAL AUTHORITY.

"Some people seem to think that Jesus' miracles were recorded to prove his divine Messiahship. But the skeptics don't believe those miracles ever occurred.

"Some people will say answered prayer is the proof of inspiration. But the skeptic has had no prayers answered. He doesn't believe that anybody ELSE has.

"There is, however, one source of irrefutable PROOF!

"The Bible itself purports to be the infallible, divine revelation of truth, revealed by the very Creator and Divine Ruler of the entire universe. In your Bible, One is quoted, claiming that HE is God, speaking in the first person, saying that he can make and unmake nations, that he can carry out his judgments over millenniums of time, claiming that he can foretell infallibly the future of cities and empires, but that no MAN can.

"WHO IS this, quoted as saying, 'I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand'? One is quoted saying those very words in Isaiah 46:9 10.

"Who is this claiming to foretell the future? Is it merely some ignorant, ancient human with no power to make good his boast, who wrote this blistering challenge to the skeptics, recorded in Isaiah 41:21-24 – 'Now, the Eternal cries, bring your case forward, now, Jacob's King cries, state your proofs.'

"Yes, state your PROOFS! 'Let us hear what has happened in the past, that we may ponder it, or show me what is yet to be, that we may watch how it turns out; yes, let us hear what is COMING, that we may be sure that you are gods; come, do something or other that we may marvel at the sight! – why, you are things of naught, you can do nothing at all!' (Moffatt translation).

"There is the taunt of the One quoted as being God, and quoted in the first person, taunting skeptics, saying, 'Why, you're nothing at all. Come on! Let's hear your arguments that we may watch whether it turns out. Predict what is going to happen in the future, and let us watch and see whether you can foretell. Have you the power to bring it about? Are you a God? Do you rule the universe? Can you make and unmake nations? Can you pronounce a sentence or a decree on a nation, and bring it to PASS?' That is the taunt of the God of the Bible to the doubter.

"Prophecy is a PROOF of God

"Prophecy is a proof of divine revelation! If One, in the Bible, speaking and claiming to be God, can make prophecies and tell what is going to happen in the future to nations, to cities, to empires, then if it actually happens in every case, and without a miss, you'll know that was a real God speaking.

"But, if it were some person writing this, some human mortal writing in ignorance, groping in superstition, making great boasts, and claiming that he could foretell what was going to happen to proud cities, to nations, to great empires, and then it never happens, you know that that man was merely writing make believe out of his own imagination.

"Yes, prophecy is a proof of God, a proof of the divine revelation of the Bible. Prophecy is a taunting challenge that the skeptic dares not accept!

"History shows human civilization started with the development of a few single cities – Babylon, Nineveh and others. These city states developed into the earliest nations – Assyria, Egypt, Israel, Phoenicia, Chaldea, etc. Then, about the 7th century B.C., the first empire over nations was formed by the ancient king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon – the Chaldean Empire. About 604 585 B.C. the Chaldean armies invaded and took captive the Jews in the land of Judea. Among these Jewish captives, removed from their land and deported to Babylon and Chaldea, was a very brilliant Jewish lad named Daniel.

"Prophecy Concerning Judah

"There is one prophecy concerning the Jewish people, that they were to be invaded and conquered, driven out of their own land and would be punished for a period of 2,520 years (see Lev. 26:14 39). Now, put that together with other prophecies such as Haggai 2:20 22. Exactly 2,520 years from the time that they were invaded and the land of Palestine was given over to King Nebuchadnezzar in 604 B.C. the very nation to whom that land was deeded by God Almighty took possession of it."

After the separation of the people of Israel into two "houses" the House of Judah and the House of Israel, or two kingdoms (1 Kin. 12) we see the birthright nation taking advantage of opportunities to greatly affect the future of the sceptre tribe (Judah). The birthright people also descended from Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, but are from the northern kingdom, "the House of Israel". "The birthright means right of birth, and includes the possession of the land, that is, it includes material resources and possessions. The possession of the land that God promised to Abraham was handed on to Isaac, Abraham's son, and then to Jacob. And then Jacob, just before he died, and when his eyes were so dim with age that he couldn't see, reached out and conferred that same birthright, including the possession of the land of Palestine, not upon Judah, the father of the Jews, but upon Ephraim, and together with him his brother Manasseh, both sons of Joseph.

"Joseph was one of the 12 sons of the ancient patriarch Jacob, who was renamed Israel. Usually you don't hear of any tribe of Joseph because Joseph was given a double portion. And his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each became a tribe. And so, rather, you usually read of the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Manasseh. When the name Joseph is occasionally used, it includes the two tribes.

"How Prophecy Was Fulfilled

Ephraim was made the chief birthright holder. And so, 2,520 years from 604 B.C. Ephraim was to take Palestine again counting 2,520 years from 604 B.C. brings us to A.D. 1917.

"When it comes to translating time and getting down to an exact day of the year 2,520 years after Nebuchadnezzar came down to Jerusalem and Palestine was surrendered to him, the Bible gives us the date in terms of the Hebrew calendar. That calendar is set up according to the new moons, with every month being 30 or 29 days. Today we're living under what we call the Roman calendar or, as it was slightly altered by Pope Gregory, the Gregorian calendar. Actually, it is a pagan Roman calendar. The Roman calendar is all that most of us know because we've been born in a world that uses that calendar and no other.

"A certain date according to the Hebrew calendar will coincide with a certain date on the Roman calendar one year, but the next year will be about 11 days earlier, or maybe about 18 days later in the year, because the Hebrew calendar – sometimes called the sacred calendar, which came from God – goes according to the moon and runs in 19 year cycles. Men who tried to make it come out right every year by contrast concocted the Roman calendar, and they've never been able to make it do that!

"So, when it comes to translating a certain prophesied date recorded in the Hebrew calendar (in this case the 24th day of the 9th month – see Hag. 2:20 22) to a date in 1917 according to the Roman calendar, it takes some effort to figure. I found the Hebrew date corresponded to December 9, 1917, which was 2,520 years from the time Nebuchadnezzar accepted the formal surrender of the Jews in 604 B.C.

"I looked and found that the Turks, who are gentiles even though they, in part, descend from Esau, Jacob's brother, possessed Palestine in 1917. Esau, remember, anciently possessed the birthright from Abraham through Isaac, but sold it for a bowl of red soup when he was hungry. The Turks surrendered Palestine to the British, on, what date? I had heard, and it had been published that the date was December 11, 1917. December 11, 1917, I found, on further investigation, was merely the date on which General Allenby and his army made their triumphal march into the city of Jerusalem. But it was two days before, on December 9, that the Turks made the surrender.

"That prophecy was fulfilled down to the very day, December 9. And it was on the equivalent date, in 604 B.C., 2,520 years before, six centuries before the birth of Christ, that the Jews formally surrendered Jerusalem and Palestine to the gentiles from Babylon. God Almighty has been able to keep his prophecies."

Not only is the Bible full of prophecies as to what would happen in the future (over one third of your Bible is prophecy), but 90% of the prophecies have not yet been fulfilled. You live in the momentous times when some of these prophecies are beginning to come to pass.

Do you realize how important that is to know? Would you not like to know the outcome of the present Middle East crisis? Who is going to survive in this clash between ideologies? Will the Moslem "messiah" – the Mahdi – usher in a period of Moslem dominance, or will the prophesied Messiah of David's lineage come to earth to usher in a thousand years of peace?

You can know, by reading your Bible!

Let me give you a glimpse. From the prophecy in Daniel 11, verse 41, we learn that a world power will invade the Holy Land. "He shall enter also into the glorious land ..." – the Holy Land. This is soon to be fulfilled.

When this invasion of Palestine (the Holy Land) takes place, the world will be plunged into a period which Moffatt translates as "the crisis at the close" – at the close of civilization as we know it.

This will be the final conflagration of human armies in all history! You probably have heard of this battle – it is called the Battle of Armageddon!

There will be a group of nations that will go into captivity. This is prophesied! We should not scoff at these prophecies, because if we do we will find ourselves in the same situation as the officer who scoffed at some truth in the days of Elisha the prophet. You can read that story in 2 Kings Chapter 7. Note in particular verses 2 and 17. The officer who scoffed at the message was trampled to death by the rush of the people running to pick up the spoils left behind by the enemy, an event that had been prophesied.

Scorners and scoffers need to pay attention to these direct and indirect warnings from God that the day is coming when their scorning and scoffing will cease. But God, in his great mercy, is giving them plenty of rope.

In addition to these amazing prophecies about the time of the end, there is an event occurring to which you need to pay close attention.

This servant of God we have previously referred to gave a warning to our English-speaking nations. He understood that the Bible was not only God's Instruction Manual for all mankind but that there were also prophecies warning the people of the greatest nation on earth since the time of Teddy Roosevelt. These prophecies are in the Book of Ezekiel and Jeremiah! They are warnings to OUR people right now.

"He being dead, yet speaks"

After he preached this warning message for nearly 60 years, there rose up people previously ordained to this condemnation who tried to stifle this message and cause it to cease. They were partially successful, somewhat like those who relished burning copies of the Bible during the Middle Ages. But, just as apostates could not stamp out the Word of God, neither could these apostates stamp out Herbert Armstrong's writings. Mr. Armstrong did not wish his writings to be taken as "inspired" to the point of being canonized for all time. But, "he being dead, yet speaketh". His writings are all over the Internet today, still producing fruit.

Some are now paying attention to the prophecies of the Bible that were thundered out over the broadcasts and telecasts of "The World Tomorrow" program for decades.

The Bible Fund has no intention to replicate all the literature that this servant of God wrote. We do not need to. Others have gone before us and made that literature abundantly available. But, from time to time, we may refer to something he wrote, to make or clarify a point.

The true Gospel of Jesus Christ – the Message that he brought from the Father – for all mankind, continues to be proclaimed. All who proclaim that message Jesus brought will have to submit to the sovereignty of God through Jesus Christ His Son. God will not save anyone he cannot govern. Jesus is coming back to marry his bride, and he will not marry a bride composed of a mish-mash of arguing and ego-filled carnal Christians. The bride of Christ will be no prima donna, but a bride totally submissive to the will of God.

Our prayer is that doors will be opened to reach all of the Portuguese-speaking nations in some way, beginning through the Internet, and then personal contact. Would it not be great that the True Gospel that Jesus brought from the Father would reach the nations of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, the islands of Cabo Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe, and God-willing, far-off places like Macau and East Timor – all parts of the grand Portuguese empire of centuries past? That message would include the knowledge that there is a Creator God that cares about them and wants them to be delivered from darkness to the light of the glorious True Gospel.

The Bible Fund is a non-profit, charitable organization, supported by freewill offerings. It was established to help in the distribution of Bibles and to serve educational, cultural, humanitarian and spiritual needs primarily in Portuguese-speaking areas of the world according to the principle "freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). As we lend support to the existing remnant in Angola and elsewhere, we seek to be a support function to the remaining true ministry that God has preserved worldwide. At no time do we wish to promulgate division, nor to be part of a divided church. We understand that we must do what the brethren did as recorded in the Book of Acts, Chapter 8, in response to the persecution of that day.

The Gospel to the Poor

It is our prayer that once again "the Gospel to the poor" will be preached (Luke 7:22), however humbly it needs to be.

The Bible Fund will show not only how the Bible contains prophecies about the future, or even inspirational and fundamental messages like the Sermon on the Mount, but we will point out how the Bible can make your life work here and now and bring you wonderful and abundant success.

The mentor we mentioned above merely passed on a legacy he had received directly from the Bible – or, as he put it, from Jesus Christ, the living Word of God in print. He once wrote an article that you may want to read. It succinctly, effectively and dynamically tells you and me that we CAN be happy and successful by reading this Manual God has left for us. This article is in the "must read" category; it is a classic in every way. It is available in our Study Topics section: This is the Life! – Real Abundant Living.

Our wish is that you will profit from each and every page we have on this site. May God help you to undestand!

Sincerely,

J. Graham Davies, Editor
The Bible Fund