The Bible
The 66 books making up what is commonly referred to as The Bible is the Word of God to man, written by those 40 inspired individuals over the course of more than one thousand years. Consisting of historical narrative, poetry, wisdom and prophecy, these books are the result of the Holy Spirit's "breathing out" thereby moving those men to record what is written. Although the information contained in the Scriptures was compiled over a period of time from the creation to the life of Jesus and the early Church, about 4000 years, the message is amazingly consistent in that it recounts man's fall into sin, his alienation from God and God's plan of fallen man's redemption and reconciliation and ultimate restoration of the once perfect creation. This plan is called the "Good News or the "Gospel" and it holds the only true hope of fallen man in a world that is inevitably headed for Divine judgment and the wrath of God. God's plan of salvation is revealed in the opening chapters of Genesis, as the Holy Spirit tells of the great battle for men's souls revealed in the great cosmic conflict between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman. This conflict, which was ultimately played out in the Messiah's life, death and resurrection, ensured the salvation of those persons ordained to eternal life by the all-sufficient sacrifice of the Son of God on the Cross some 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.
As the prophets foretold, the Messiah would come from a chosen seed, a people called by God Himself in time and space through Abraham, the father of the faithful. The fulfilled predictions concerning the promised Messiah are so detailed and precise, such as his identity, the time and place of his birth, his miraculous ministry, his suffering, death and resurrection, that they rule out the possibility of luck or guesswork and lead the honest inquirer to the conclusion that these writings must be the result of Divine authorship. Speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, God Himself declares accurate predictive prophecy to be the "Litmus Test" for all other challengers to His sovereign divinity so it is not surprising that other religious writings do not venture into this highly specialized form of writing; in simple terms they cannot do what God alone can do, predict the future with absolute accuracy.
From the very beginning of man's history, the Bible introduces us to the nature of the conflict concerning the veracity, or truthfulness of the Scriptures, or what God has said. To Eve, the serpent planted immediate doubt as to what God had commanded by the question "Hath God said?" and this strategy is still being used right down to our day. Unfortunately, too many Christians have fallen prey to Satan's suggestion to doubt what is written, thereby opening up the door to alternative opinions in all the areas of Bible doctrine. We live in age in which the Church, for the most part, rejects sound doctrine in favor of the faddish, unwholesome doctrines of demons and opinions of men. The Bible no longer holds the position of authority in the majority of the Church with the expected results; a worldly, self-serving Church that has departed from and no longer contends for the "faith once delivered," to the saints.
On the positive side however, this unfortunate reality has been foreseen and predicted by the Apostles and Prophets as a sign that would immediately precede the return of the Messiah Jesus to earth, first for "snatching away" of His Church in the "Rapture", followed by a 7 year Tribulation and the final return of Jesus to Jerusalem where He will judge the nations and set up His Millennial Kingdom, a period of 1000 years of unprecedented peace and prosperity under the reign of the Son of God, His Church and the nation Israel. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments is the only reliable and trustworthy means of determining eternal truth in order to live a life pleasing to God, and we do well to hold the highest view possible of this fact.