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To the best of my memory, before I came to the saving grace of
Jesus Christ, I did not believe the Bible was true. I doubted whether there was
a God and believed that we were born, lived so many years, and then died. I owned
a successful business and thought that I had succeeded by my own wits.
One evening, my wife and I heard some documentation that these were the last days before Jesus Christ would actually
return. Not really wanting to hear it, I almost walked out. Something kept me there, and I listened. I was not convinced. I still had doubts whether or not there was a God.
I doubted whether there really was a Satan, heaven, hell, or a judgment. Just
to be sure, however, I decided to do a little research. My idea was to find out
if the Bible was really true. Indeed, if I could find one contradiction, one
error, or anything in the Bible that was not true, then that would be all that was needed to disregard it. (I wasn't necessarily interested in whether we were in the latter days or not, but just trying to find
out if the Bible was really true.) I believed this would take a very short time.
As I have learned, the Bible has about 10,000 prophecies (verses). Nearly one-third of the Bible is directly or indirectly related to prophecy. This endeavour led me into far more research than I could have suspected. One
thing needed, was to determine when the Bible was actually written. Because of
this, a study of biblical history and archaeology was necessary. I found the
Old Testament was indeed written before the coming of Jesus, as the Dead Sea Scrolls (containing parts of the book of Isaiah)
were proven to have been written before Jesus came. The book of Isaiah includes
forecasts of Jesus. Thousands of clay tablets have also been found, which confirm
many accounts in the Bible.
I began studying the prophecies
in the Bible. My wife would go to the library for me to obtain documentation
from reference books to see if the prophecies really did take place. One day
went by, then two days, and then a week. Every prophecy that we were able to
get information on proved to be accurate. Two weeks went by. Then four weeks passed. My job became of secondary importance. Every prophecy that we were able to verify checked as being true. I was astonished, but far from convinced. I still had doubts
as to whether there was a God, a heaven, or a hell yet I had to be sure. Later,
there were people who would show me what appeared to be contradictions in the Bible, yet these were not contradictions at
all, but only a lack of research on the part of those that said these things. I
was searching to find if the Bible was true. My wife spent a lot of time at the
library making copies of various reference materials, which I would check out against the Scriptures. Stubborn, that's me. Even after four weeks of intensive study,
proving prophecy after prophecy was true, I was still skeptical and refused to believe.
I began taking more time off from my business and investing it in study. One
month turned into two, and two months turned into four. The more I researched,
the more determined I became. It wasn't possible.
The Bible could not be perfect. Thousands of prophecies, and every one
perfect? No, impossible! Sixty-six
books written by many people over hundreds of years and not one error? If I would
admit that, I would have to admit there was a God, and I was not prepared to do it, even after months of research.
My studies also included various translations of the Bible, checking prophecies against
reference books, archaeological discoveries, just to mention some. It became
an obsession with me. My foremost desire was to know the truth. Four months turned into many months. I've never known anyone,
before or since, that was willing to take this amount of time just to find out if the Bible was true. Finally, I had to admit I was wrong.
If
you would walk across the street 10,000 times and never get hit, then you would walk across the street the next time by faith. So it was with me. Finally, after spending
almost countless hours of research, I had to admit the Bible is true and is indeed the perfect Word of God. Anyone willing to take the time I did and do the same research, could only come to the same conclusion,
if they are honest with themselves. I may have been the biggest skeptic in the
world, but now I know. It did not come easy, but by God's mercy and grace, it
did come.
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