Ray Comfort and the Dead Sea Scrolls

My wife and I just returned from a quick vacation in San Diego. The San Diego Natural History Museum has a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display. After having to walk through a dinosaur display biased by evolutionary thoughts and bad science to get to the beginning of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, I started to worry about whether the curators would be too biased to give an accurate portrayal of the Scrolls.

It was an interesting exhibit, and one of the final displays discussed how the Old Testament we have now is the same as the Old Testament in the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Bible stands up to the critics, even when we find manuscripts that are hundreds of years older than the second oldest manuscripts.

On Saturday, after the museum, we drove up to Huntington Beach where Ray Comfort was supposed to open air preach. We get there just a few minutes before he started preaching (which was a small miracle after having to wait for what seemed like forever in line to pay for parking, which made me all the more grateful that I live in a small town). Ray started out preaching the law and the Gospel, while a lady tried to escape from a straight jacket. It took her only about 3 minutes to escape, and it gathered a crowd of about 50-100 people. Ray continued preaching, and Scotty took over. He asked anyone who disagreed or had any questions to step up to the microphone. Scotty talked to an atheist named Shaw for about 10 minutes, and Mark Spence took over.

What impressed me about the whole thing is that while open air preaching sounds intimidating, they made it look easy. Seeing them do it made me think anyone can do it, especially if you’ve been witnessing for a while, and you know how to answer objections. They do the same thing as when talking one on one, except louder. Mark Spence seemed to me to have a natural talent for being animated and passionate about what he was saying.

If you have any doubts that Ray Comfort practices what he preaches, rest assured, he’s the real thing, even hustling around giving out tracts while the other guys were preaching.

Proving to Jehovah’s Witnesses that Jesus is God (Part 2)

The deity of Christ is made clear throughout both the Old and New Testament. Of course, with a reputable Bible translation, it’s easy to show someone several verses that say Jesus is God (such as Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6, Zechariah 12:10, Matthew 1:23, Luke 8:38-39, John 1:1, 14, John 8:58, John 20:28, Acts 20:28, Titus 1:3, Hebrews 1:8, 2 Peter 1:1, and 1 John 5:20). But the Jehovah’s Witnesses have done a good job editing all of those out of the “Bible” they use—the New World Translation. Nevertheless, there are many ways to show them Jesus is God using even their Bible. I gave a few examples in a previous post, but here are a few more.

• Jehovah’s Witnesses like to point out John 17:3, where Jesus refers to His Father as the one true God. Two verses later, Jesus reveals that He shared glory with the Father before the world began. But in Isaiah 42:8, Jehovah says that He will not share His glory with another. So Jehovah’s Witnesses are left to decide whether John 17:5 or Isaiah 42:8 is true, because to them, both verses can’t be true.
• Jesus made everything (John 1:3). Jehovah made everything by Himself (Isaiah 44:24). If I were to build a house by hiring carpenters, electricians, roofers, and others, I could still say I built the house, but I would be a liar if I said I built it alone, with my own hands. Is Jehovah a liar when He says He created the universe by Himself, or is Jesus Jehovah?
• Isaiah 40:3 contains a prophecy about someone clearing the way for Jehovah. This prophecy is fulfilled by John the Baptist clearing the way for Jesus to begin His ministry. A good way to approach this is to have the Jehovah’s Witness read Matthew 3:3 in an accepted translation where it quotes that prophecy: “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Ask him or her who this prophecy is referring to, and the individual will most likely say it’s referring to Jesus. Then, have him read it in his NWT Bible where ‘Lord’ is replaced with ‘Jehovah’.
• There are a lot of interesting ways to go with Isaiah 43:10-11. Verse 10 says that we are witnesses of Jehovah. But, in Acts 1:8, Jesus says that we are to be His witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses need to decide who they will be witnesses of, and who they will disobey.
• It’s also clear from Isaiah 43:10 that there is only one God. Jesus can’t be “a god” as the JW version of John 1:1 says.
• Isaiah 43:11 says Jehovah is the only savior. Of course there can be other saviors in other contexts, such as someone who pulls a drowning child from a pool, but Jehovah is the only one who can save us from our sins. Acts 4:12, which refers to Jesus, says there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Are we saved by Jehovah alone, or by Jesus alone? Again, to a Jehovah’s Witness, only one of these verses can be true.

Many times Jehovah’s Witnesses go door to door in pairs, and often one is an experienced Jehovah’s Witness while the other is newer to the religion. The JWs tell the new recruits that Christians don’t know what they’re talking about, and this is all too often true. If you’re a Christian who doesn’t know why you believe what you believe, and can’t show it to someone else in the Bible, you’re making the Watchtower look good, and proving the JWs right.

There are many good ways to show the Watchtower to be false. It’s easy to pick one of these and learn it. So the next time JWs want to talk with you, don’t slam the door in their face. God may use you to get someone out of that organization. Even if you blow it, it’s okay. It will inspire you to study the Bible, and you’ll do better next time.

Even with just these few passages, from the NWT (a completely trashed translation of the Bible), is there any doubt that Jesus is God?

How Many Gods Are There?

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons tinker with redefining who Jesus is, and get themselves in a lot of trouble. They pretend to be biblical, but have to disregard so many verses to carry on with their misunderstandings. When you mess with who Jesus is, many times one of the first side effects is that you are no longer a monotheist. 

Both Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are rabid polytheists, but the Bible is so clear on the topic from beginning to end. I found 33 verses showing that there is only one God. If anyone knows of any that I haven’t included, please feel free to leave a comment.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”

Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.”
 
1 Samuel 2:2 “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

2 Samuel 7:22 “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.”

1 Kings 8:23 “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.”

2 Kings 5:15 “Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant.”

1 Chronicles 17:20 “There is no one like you, O LORD, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.”

2 Chronicles 6:14 “He said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.”

Psalm 86:10 “For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.”

Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”

Isaiah 44:6 “This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:8 “Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Isaiah 45:5 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me”

Isaiah 45:14 “…’Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.”

Isaiah 45:18 “…I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 45:21 “…And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.”

Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 46:8-9 “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is
none like me.”

Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?”

Mark 12:29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

Mark 12:32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.”

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 5:44 “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”

John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Romans 3:30 “since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.”

1 Corinthians 8:4 “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.”

Galatians 3:20 “A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.”

Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

I John 5:20 “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Jude 1:25 “to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”