What Hollywood
Believes – Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis gave his thoughts on religion: “Organized
religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very
important when we didn’t know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why
hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened.” 168
According to Willis, “Modern religion
is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the
Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that’s the way. And that’s
what makes America cool, you know?”169
The popular actor brought up a good point. Why would anyone in
his right mind believe the Bible, when it is full of stories that insult the
intellect?
There are many reasons why I have
no doubt it is the Word of God. Here is the main reason I believe it is the
revelation of the Creator’s will.
I was converted to Christianity in
the early hours of April 25th, way back in 1972. I was dumbfounded at what
happened to me that night. The change in my life was radical. However, my
amazement didn’t stop on the night when my eyes were suddenly opened to the
reality of God. Over the following days the Scriptures actually told me about
what I had experienced. It was like an instruction book that explained what
would happen to an appliance after the power was switched on.
I felt like a completely new
person. It was very strange. It wasn’t simply a change of mind, or a change of
lifestyle. The transformation was deep within my being. I was astounded that I
had new desires. In my 22 years of life, I hadn’t given God a serious thought for
five seconds. Suddenly, it was all I thought about 24/7. Then I read this verse
in the Bible: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new.”170
I was so different, it seemed as if
I had been “born again.” Then I read in Scripture about the new birth. I read
that God was at work within me giving me the desire and the ability to do what
pleased Him.171 I would normally listen to music in my car, but instead I found
myself turning the radio off because I had a peace I couldn’t understand and an
inexpressible joy. Then I read in Scripture of a peace that passes all
understanding, and joy unspeakable. However, my salvation wasn’t dependent upon
newfound feelings or what I believed about the Bible, but on my relationship
with the Savior. Salvation isn’t a matter of what you know, but who you
know.
I not only believe the Scriptures
because they describe my conversion experience, I believe them because they
address the problem of my sinful heart. They give me information on the origin
of evil, my guilt, the necessity for a payment for sin, the provision for my
forgiveness, and absolute assurance of everlasting life. No other “Holy Book”
does this.
There are other reasons why I
believe the Bible to be the revelation of the Creator’s mind to humanity. The
Scriptures contain hundreds of fulfilled prophecies, as well as many scientific
and medical facts, written thousands of years before man discovered them. Here are
some of them:
- Only in recent years has science discovered that
everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Scripture tells us that
the “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews
11:3).
- Medical science has only recently discovered that
blood-clotting in a newborn reaches its peak on the eighth day, then
drops. The Bible consistently says that a baby must be circumcised on the
eighth day.
- At a time when it was believed that the earth sat on a
large animal or a giant (1500 B.C.), the Bible spoke of the earth’s free float
in space: “He . . . hangs the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).
- The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round:
“It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). This is
not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptics maintain, but to a sphere.
Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science
believed that the earth was flat, it was the Scriptures that inspired
Christopher Columbus to sail around the world.
- God told Job in 1500 B.C.: “Can you send lightnings, that
they may go, and say to you, Here we are?” (Job 38:35). The Bible here is
making what appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement—that light
can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know
that radio waves travel at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous
wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth.
Science didn’t discover this until 1864 when “British scientist James
Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of
the same thing” (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia).
- Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which
are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7:
“When the morning stars sang together. . .”
- “Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures
and evolution of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation,
in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth” (Time,
Dec. 1976).
- Solomon described a “cycle” of air currents two thousand
years before scientists “discovered” them. “The wind goes toward the south,
and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind
returns again according to his circuits” (Ecclesiastes 1:6).
- Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space,
matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1,2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews
in 1450 B.C.: “In the beginning [time] God created [power]
the heaven [space] and the earth [matter] . . . And the Spirit
of God moved [motion] upon the face of the waters.” Thus, the first
thing God tells man is that He controls all aspects of the universe.
- The great biological truth concerning the importance of
blood in our body’s mechanism has been fully comprehended only in recent years. Up
until 120 years ago, sick people were “bled,” and many died because of the
practice. If you lose your blood, you lose your life. Yet Leviticus 17:11,
written 3,000 years ago, declared that blood is the source of life: “For
the life of the flesh is in the blood.”
- Encyclopedia
Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr.
Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who
gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth.
Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died,
then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and
examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the
presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that
doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate
immediately dropped to a mere 2 percent.
Look at the specific instructions God gave
His people for when they encounter disease: “And when he that has 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, and shall be clean”
(Leviticus 15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of
water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Scriptures say
specifically to wash hands under “running water.”
- “During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth
century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the
rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so
many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or
‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God
as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo
Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical
medical law: ‘The laws against leprosy in Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the
first model of sanitary legislation’ (A History of Medicine).”173
With all these scientific facts revealed in ancient
Scripture, how could any thinking person deny that the Bible is supernatural in
origin? There is no other book in any of the world’s religions (Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita,
Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.) that contains scientific truth. In fact, they
contain statements that are clearly unscientific.
I also mentioned that the Bible
contains hundreds of prophecies that have been fulfilled to the smallest
detail. For example, there are over 300 prophecies relating to Jesus’ birth,
ministry, death, and resurrection, each of which has been perfectly fulfilled.
There are also numerous prophecies, commonly referred to as “signs of the
times,” that are yet to be fulfilled. They stand as evidence to show us that we
are living in the days immediately preceding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,
when He comes “with power and great glory.” Here they are for you to
consider:174
There will be false Christs; wars
and rumors of wars; nation rising against nation; famines; disease
(pestilence); false prophets who will deceive many; and lawlessness (discarding
of the Ten Commandments). The gospel will be preached in all the world. There
will be earthquakes in various places; signs from heaven (in the sun, moon, and
stars); and persecution against Christians in all nations. Men’s hearts will
fail them for fear of the future; they will be selfish, materialistic,
arrogant, and proud. Homosexuality will increase; there will be blasphemy;
cold-heartedness; overindulgence; brutality; rebellious youth; hatred of those
who stand up for righteousness; ungodliness; pleasure-seeking; much hypocrisy.
False Bible teachers will have many followers, be money-hungry, and slander the
Christian faith.175 Men will scoff and say that there was no such thing as the
flood of Noah and that these “signs” have always been around. Their motivation
for hating the truth will be their love of lust.176
The Scriptures tell us that these
people make the big mistake of misunderstanding God. They don’t recognize that
God’s time frame is not the same as ours. They think (in their willful
ignorance) that His continued silence means that He doesn’t see their sins. In
truth, He is merely holding back His wrath, waiting for them to repent and
escape the damnation of hell. Jesus warned that the sign to look for was the
repossession of Jerusalem by the Jews. That happened in 1967, after 2,000
years, beginning the culmination of the signs of the times.
Kimyal New Testament launch in Indonesia
