OH FATHER, WHERE ART THOU - "LIFE CHOICES"

15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 
17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
Basically, adults, liberals for creating it, and conservatives for staying silent too long, created the disrespect for Life we see in the youth of these last two generations. It is not just school shootings, but inner city gang warfare, drug abuse in the suburbs and immorality across all strata of society. The only difference between the wealthier suburbs of the west and the poor inner cities or rural areas is in the numbers. The precepts are the same.

The fall of western civilization into hedonism, paganism, and immorality began with:
- Socialism 
- Removal of Christianity from the Public Square
- The end of prayer in schools and Bible reading as an option
- Corruption of the facts of history, into political agendas

It then got worse. The courts of the west, led by the United States Supreme Court found the right to an abortion, in the "emanations of the penumbra" and the right to privacy. Since then we have seen the following slow decline into oblivion:  
- Over 60 million abortions in America, over the past 45 years.
- The rise in assisted suicide acceptance, led by the late pro-assisted suicide activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian
- The stunning increase in extremely violent video games where gamers spend countless hours daily killing on their games and destroying things, then resetting the games the next day as if nothing happened.
- The mindboggling sleaze factor of all television shows. There is no such thing as family entertainment on prime time anymore. Cable Reality TV is vile and disgusting, from the Kardashians to you name it. The exploits of those proponents of perversion have turned the hearts of impressionable young people away from wholesome living and dreaming of great things.

We can go on and on about the corrupt life choices we see young people making, enabled by their multi-billionaire peers in the social media high tech industry. But I think we see the point. Young boys and men do not just decide one day to go on rampages to destroy life. There was a slow burn which created the conditions for this malfunction of the mind. The establishment - from legal, political and academia to entertainment and media consistently devalued life, day after day, year after year, decade after decade. So, here is where we are today, and people act surprised.

Underlying all of this is sin. Except you cannot call sin, sin....even in some churches because people with money will leave. So the most famous current "preacher" in America has decided to do all feel good pop psychology. Sadly, he is not alone in this, for which he will be held to account one day.

So we push the discussion of missing the mark in life (sin) off to the side. Next, we can't talk about violent video games, the ease of obtaining pornography on smartphones, and the rise of legalized marijuana etc.....because "who are we to promote our morality on somebody else".

While all this mind-altering garbage is going on - reality TV, Snapchat, violent video games, pre-marital sex, drug abuse...the abortion industry continue to flourish. Tens of thousands of babies are lost each month. Meanwhile, the Hollywood and other tabloids promote a young person from the northwest who was planning her own assisted suicide. Like all who seek such stuff, she became a celebrity. Never mind she has since left this life, and faced the immediate Judgment of our Holy God! The point was the agenda. 

So now, take all of these societal environmental conditions, add them together and then tell the children of the last 40 years that there are no absolutes. Tell them there is no right or wrong and if feels good, do it. Tell them all that incorrect and deceitful stuff and combine it with all kinds of ungodly beliefs - and what do folks think is going to happen? If a person, who has no foundation in life, truth or even decency, regards life just like he/she sees on Television or the latest rap video, well, Katie bar the door.

God is clear ALL through the Bible. Look at what Moses presents, first to the Israelites and then to us, using them as the example. From Deuteronomy 30, we see nothing has changed from 3500 years ago to now. God is presenting the same choices to us today, as back then:
- Life and prosperity OR death and adversity (verse 15). We know what people are choosing here, all the while thinking they're doing great.
- Love God and walk in His ways, OR turn your heart from and refuse to obey Him (verse 16-17)
- Choose life that you and your family will live (verse 20) OR turn away from God, worship at the altars of everything the world says to and perish (verse 18). 

These are the three major choices in life, in terms of practical application of Faith (or lack thereof). In each of those three Life Choices from Deuteronomy 30, we already are in deep red ink on the Ledger of Life. We need the men of God, to be a father to the fatherless and a brother to the unloved to bring these timeless Godly truths into focus. It is the only way to begin to turn this Titanic of gloom and doom around

There is still a Remnant of Christ followers in the west. Whether it is London, England or Paris, France...or even Paris Indiana, there are substantial pockets of the men God called, who will grab that responsibility and run with it for God. We stand by to not just teach the Scriptures but to show from its pages how Jesus Christ is the ONLY hope for all people of all time. Then secondly, the Remnant stands by to show this same Jesus loves them and gave His life for them. Spending time, resources and doing community with directionless youth can change lives in a community after community, city after city. The only problem is there are not enough of us, or enough to take care of the sheer volume of youngsters who finally see an adult care about them, to teach them a better way. There are those called to help the hopeless, and love the unloved. All of us can do our part, and pray the Lord of the Harvest to lead to a place where His Life Choices, take priority of those of this perishing world.

Oh father, where are thou? Some earthly dads may be difficult to locate, even if they live in the same houses as their families. But our Heavenly Father has this, if we would only turn to and trust Him with everything. This is the Father, Whose Abode (heaven) we know, and Who can be reached at any time....by the shortest prayer.

THE 3:16 VERSES OF THE BIBLE, PART 7: "FLIRTIN' WITH DISASTER"

3:16 BIBLE VERSE:
Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am." (1 Samuel 3:16)

OPENING LYRICS TO "FLIRTING WITH DISASTER":

I'm travelin' down the road
I'm flirtin' with disaster
I've got the pedal to the floor,
My life is running faster
I'm out of money, I'm out of hope,
It looks like self destruction
Well how much more can we take,
With all of this corruption

We're flirtin' with disaster,
Ya'll know what I mean
And the way we run our lives,
It makes no sense to me
I don't know about yourself or what you want to be, yeah
When we gamble with our time,
We choose our destiny  (Molly Hatchet 1979 Writers: Brown, Hlubek)

It is a terrible thing to try the patience of the Lord. We humans do it all the time, including those of us who not only know better, but serve Him in a mighty way.  This propensity to sin, with which we were born, will always with us until we pass on to Glory at the end of our natural life on earth.

That being said, there comes a point in our spiritual maturity when we do not do the things we used to do….just because. How many times have we made a deal with God that “if You get me out of this one, I will never…..(fill in the blanks)”.  Those kinds of promises are extremely impossible to keep. That is why the bible tells us to NOT make oaths like these.

For the normal person, God’s grace is sufficient. He forgives our sins and removes them from us, as far as the east is from the west. For a church leader, pastor or priest, the standard is ten times higher!!  There is not just a higher level of conduct expected but a ministry leader’s respect and reverence for God has to be as close to perfect as humanly possible.

There is something in the background story behind 1 Samuel 3:16 which should give us pause, especially with anyone who thinks “flirtin with disaster “makes life more interesting.  Eli was the priest of the nation Israel and had a tremendous spiritual mantle/burden/responsibility to carry.  Samuel was still a boy, yet because the Lord had pre-ordained him, he became Eli’s understudy.

Eli had two sons – Hophni and Phinehas, who were also priests in the Lord’s Tabernacle and were supposed to conduct themselves, according to the requirements of their office. But they were both evil and corrupt men who not just violated God’s laws openly but flaunted their corruption.

Under Jewish law, all priests serving  in the temple were provided for by God. They were fed, clothed and supplied by the tithes and offerings of Almighty God. The Lord was their Provider. But Hophni and Phinehas, instead of allowing the sacrifice to be offered to the Lord first – as any sane person knows, had their henchmen accost those approaching the altar with their sacrifice. The priestly hoodlums, I mean helpers, would then grab more than their share of the choicest portion of the Sacrificial Animals BEFORE it was offered to God! They cut off the prime cuts first and gave the meat to Eli’s sons.

These men not only stole the prime cuts of meat for their own families but these two “priests” had illicit and immoral relations with young women in the temple, in broad daylight, right in the open…. IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD! God Himself warned His high priest Eli about his sons’ conduct, but Eli refused to do anything about it.  Not just that but it appears that Eli himself was eating ill-gotten meat because the bible says when he fell over and died in his 90’s he was a very fat man! In those days, not many people were fat, far less a minister of God. Potlucks were not invented in church  yet. 

The Lord finally had enough and determined to not only take Hophni and Phinehas out of the picture, but not just these two evil men who called were literal Levite priests. God also decided to remove their father Eli from the land of the living. 

Here is where we come to 1 Samuel 3:16 where the message for the young boy, who would become the greatest prophet/Judge of Israel – came loud and clear from God.  The Lord had given Eli endless warnings and upbraiding about his wicked sons, but he ignored God on purpose and never listened to the Lord. 

This is the direct message from God Himself for the young Samuel from 1 Samuel 3: "11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

There are several things God’s people should learn from this and it is IMPERATIVE you and I take this to heart:
-  When God speaks, we had better listen. He still speaks audibly to the hearts and souls of His people through His Spirit. For the most part, He speaks through His Word.

-  When God speaks and warns us of sin of both omission and commission, we will be wise to address that sin as soon as possible. Many maturing Christians know it is better to keep short accounts both with God and man. This means we do not let the sun go down on our sin or the devil will magnify it until we are sunk in the mire and wallowing in dirt and despair. Do not be like the rest of the world and modern western “Christianity”.

-  God will not put up with continuing blatant sin from those who claim to work for Him. This sin which flaunts its perversion and causes others to disparage God will be judged and judged harshly. His Holy Name is more than important to Him because He is the Holy One of Israel. The task for us today is to be constantly aware we carry His Cross on more than our sleeves. He bear His Mark to a lost and dying world. If we are the only Bible that people read, we had better make sure our character is not related to the official misconduct of some of our great Bible heroes. There are enough fallen preachers in the world today, who have caused the name and ministry of Christ to be scoffed at by the world. Let us not be the ones, who are indulge in – Flirtin’ with Disaster! 

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF GENESIS #6

PERSIST IN PRAYER

23 Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:23-25)

The first ever intercessory prayer was made by a man who was standing right next to Jesus when he brought his requests to the Lord! The pre-incarnate Yahweh had come down from Heaven on one of his many recorded appearances in Scripture on a mission. He had visited Abraham on the plains of Mamre to prophesy to Sarah and Abraham that they were going to have a son/heir and then had planned to move on to Sodom and Gomorrah to take care of some really pressing business.

Sodom and Gomorrah were like modern day western civilization: rich, powerful, prideful and full of moral degenerates. They became a walking testimony of what happens to a people who exemplifies the Total Depravity of Man, as described in Romans 1:18-32 (click to read). Here is how God Himself described Sodom in Ezekiel 16:48 "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50"Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."

The pride and the idolatry and the perverted, unnatural sexual abominations and worse....they all rose up in a massive stink to Heavens. Sodom was destroyed in less than a day by fire and brimstone and the same Judgment await modern corrupt man. The Lord is gracious, merciful and compassion and the only thing restraining His Hand is His Grace, Mercy and Long-suffering and hope that not many perish.

Abraham saw this coming as he stood side by side with Jesus overlooking the soon-to-be destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. His nephew Lot and Lot's wife and two daughters lived there. How Abraham prayed is an example of our intercessory prayers for our villages, cities, states and nations. Abraham knew the corruption and sexual perversion of Sodom. He didn't even try to pretend there were many righteous people there. He started with asking the Lord to not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people, then 45-40-30-10. In the end, God only rescued four people - the Lot family and one was quickly taken out for looking back and longing for the past - Lot's wife. But look at the words, in part, that Lot uses while interceding and standing in the Gap for a paradigm of past and future judgment which we do not comprehend.
Abraham said:
- Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? (verse 23)....here we pray for the last, following his example as well for our Christian brethren to stand strong in persecution.
-  Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked.... (verse 24).....here we continually and persistently prevail for God to stay His pending doom on our civilization so just, oh just a few more can be saved and brought to a knowledge of Christ. We know it is bad, but God is Good.
- And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes...(verse 27)....it should dawn on us just to Whom we are speaking and making seemingly outlandish requests. Pray in humility but also let us pray in gratitude that the Creator and Judge of all the Earth is even speaking with, and listening to us! This is an amazing fact, truth and blessing!
 - Read the rest of Genesis 18 up to verse 33 and see how Abraham just bargains and bargains and then read and see Jesus just be patient and kind and just as gracious as He can be.

The Lord is patient with us the same way. Abraham sought mercy from the eventual divine destruction of a demonic destiny - Sodom. We know what the end of all things will be from the prophets and the Book of Revelation. However our calling, as Christians, the people of God, is to pray with the same passion for the lost, the hurting, the prideful and misguided. Our position in Christ, while interceding in prayer is to be like Abraham in this prayer, just like Moses was when God wanted to destroy Israel during the Exodus for dancing around that golden calf that Aaron made. We are to be persistent in prayer, believing the attributes and accuracy of the Sovereign God He is and to do so in humility.

In the end, the end will come, but not before our prayers reach Heaven alongside the foul odor of sin. In that way, God will save, whom He will rescue, just as He rescued Lot and his family.

(Photo credit here)

AMERICA GONE WILD, PART 4 - ACCURATE1964 PROPHESY FROM PAUL HARVEY

"If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?"....Psalm 11:3

America is in a deep spiral into a pit of its own digging, allowed to slide into the spiritual wasteland it has become, by the same God Whom the country has rejected. Scripture warned, but no one listened. 
Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness"
Romans 1:21-22: "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools "
Romans 1:24a: "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness."
Romans 1:26a: "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions".
Romans 1:28b-29: "God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness."

Here is the result of people without the Hand of God directing them, in a land with the biggest and richest churches in the world:
- the spread of violent islam across America.
- the spread of deadly viruses and unknown diseases.
- the endless drought in California where the culture spits in the Eyes of Holy God.
- the rise of violent swings in unpredictable and extreme weather patterns.
- the wars and rumors of wars.
- the rise of false religions and promotion of it by America's leaders in society and politics
- the eternally dangerous compromises of the Church, which undermine the Power, Purity and Position of the Gospel in daily life.
- the corruption of the education system by godless liberals, atheists and pagans.
- the lack of any leadership from the corner house to the church house to the state house and beyond,

Because God's undershepherds and His people have abandoned their posts to Sheol, we are left with the horrid panorama of direction less youth and listless adults. Fifty years ago, the great and late American radio host, Paul Harvey had a prophetic statement on his radio show, which has stood the test of time.

Paul Harvey spoke of things in this 50 year old audio clip, which did not even exist at that time in 1964, yet he was more than prescient, he was prophetic, as if the Lord Himself gave Paul those words. Listen to it and you will find motivation to try and effect transformation, rather conformity, in our own corner of our world. Good day!

READ:

America Gone Wild Part 1

America Gone Wild Part 2

America Gone Wild Part 3

SEVEN THINGS GOD HATES - #4: A DEVIOUS HEART

This entire concept (of a "devious heart") goes completely against every western concept that we are really "good people". You would never hear about the "fallen nature" of man, or corruption of the human race; or even the word "sin". Nobody, in these days of extreme political correctness would even think they (you and I) were born with a devious heart.

Proverbs 6:16-19 New King James Version (NKJV)

These six things the Lord hates,

Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 

A proud look,

A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that are swift in running to evil, 

A false witness who speaks lies,

And one who sows discord among brethren.

Yet, the Creator Who made us, recognizes every single one of us as not just capable of unimaginable evil, but possessing a bent towards it. Jesus Christ, God Who became Man said as much in Mark 7:21 "For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come--sexual immorality, theft, murder,"  This is the outflow of the Adamic or sinful nature which each human is born with.  

Mark is the first book of the New Testament ever written and it was dictated to him by the Apostle Peter himself - an eyewitness if there ever was one. Peter is an interesting study of a man who was sold out to Jesus, the Disciple of Disciples and all that. Yet, the same man who cut off Malchus' ear trying to defend Jesus from the Temple Guard was denying Jesus three times, outside that same temple as the religious leaders captured Him for their kangaroo court.

Jesus also spoke of the evil of the heart further in Matthew 13:15 and just about described every human being ever born, before the Spirit and Power of God delivered you and I from spiritual wickedness and eternal death! The Messiah said "For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'"

This is never more evident when you watch the filth and degradation coming out of American culture today. Take one look at any American TV award show to see the depths of depravity of western "humanity". The recently concluded 2014 Grammy Awards is Exhibit A. We saw everything God described in Ezekiel 16:48-50 as to WHY He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Read on:

"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.…

America is modern day Sodom where its wealth, prosperity and power led to such easy living since World War II that we have gone slack in morality and cold in heart towards the Lord. The bad news is that God never changes and He has seen this before....thousands of years now. Man, in the wickedness and lust of everything ungodly, make the same mistakes over and over and over ahead.While these mistakes take several forms, which we can talk about for volumes, the underlying issue is Sin. While we are not allowed to talk about it in modern culture and even most modern churches, that too has never gone off the Lord's Radar....and He will punish it!

To help us avoid this trap of an evil and devious heart, which rebels against God, let us see briefly the sequence of events of Sin and how we can avoid it.

1. The world, the flesh and Satan throws temptation in our faces blatantly or subtly which triggers a thought and desire for that thing or person.

2.  Depending on the current condition of your walk with Jesus and where one is in the process of Sanctification, that thought or desire will trigger two things - either you will seek to gratify your own flesh no matter the cost OR you will be so disgusted that everything the Lord taught you will kick in and you will RUN away immediately (like Joseph and Potiphar's wife).

3.  If you choose the Biblical "RUN" option, you and I are in the clear. But here is what happens if you do NOT consider the cost of fulfilling that temporary lust of the flesh and discipline yourself - your heart will lie to you! YES! Your pride (sin #1 here) will like (sin#2)  and tell you that you "really deserve this. God is keeping him or her from you....or that new Mustang (which will put you $40,000 further in debt)....you deserve this....you work hard", And how about this one "you won't get caught"!!! DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?! THIS IS SATAN TEMPTING EVE IN THE GARDEN IN GENESIS 3!!

4.  Failure to run and instead listen to Satan and the flesh and your own wicked heart will result in death. If not immediate physical death, then death of purity...death of a clear conscience...death of a vibrant relationship with your spouse or the bank or worse - GOD!

This is where a prideful wickedly devious heart can lead a person. While God's grace extends to the Christian who sins and fall like this, there is a loss of eternal reward and the spiritual blessings in the eternal kingdom to come. This is the end result of the devious heart. This will work out in the end for the person who has been truly saved, but we should worry about those who walk in constant wickedness, such as we see on full display - not just out of Hollywood, but in our local schools; state capitols and all the way to the top of business and politics.

The only cure to make a heart right is to cry out to God, through Jesus Christ for Him to "open the eyes of your heart"! Great title for a song, as well as good theology like this will focus us on what is truly important - Salvation and getting your own heart, and mine, right with God. While Repentance may be a bad word today, it is still the only road to righteousness - from a Devious Heart! 

(MANY ASK: WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART? 

ANSWER: Sue Bohlin of Probe Ministries has a great and concise definition for us here - In the Bible, the heart is shown to have three capacities: to think (or believe), to choose, and to feel. The heart is really the "innermost part" of us to which David refers in Ps. 51)

(MANY ASK: WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART? 

ANSWER: Sue Bohlin of Probe Ministries has a great and concise definition for us here - In the Bible, the heart is shown to have three capacities: to think (or believe), to choose, and to feel. The heart is really the "innermost part" of us to which David refers in Ps. 51)

KILLING JESUS - AN HISTORIC, INSPIRING & DELIGHTFUL READ

REVIEW BY AN O'REILLY SKEPTIC

Anytime a mainstream-type celebrity writes a book or makes a movie about Jesus Christ, the Bible or another biblical hero, the natural tendency of true believers is 100% skepticism. Those of  us who have been transformed from the realm of darkness and hell, into being sons and daughters of the Most High immediately get our backs up when we hear folks "diss" both Christianity, Creation and the Christ. We get our backs up when a member of the elite or the chattering class or even so-called Christians call us "dummies" or "ignoramuses" for not believing in random evolution and allegory as they do.

So it was with this frame of reference that I changed my mind and ended up purchasing Fox News Channel top-ranked TV personality Bill O'Reilly's new book- Killing Jesus! I had resisted purchasing O'Reilly's other "Killing" books or any other merchandise but this book tugged on my spirit.  Personally, I cannot forget O'Reilly's insults to those of us who believe the Bible is the 100% Literal, Holy Spirit -inspired Word of God. He does stand up for cultural Christianity - one of the few to do so in public life. So that is one in his plus column. But after a couple weeks of self-debate, I sensed what the official East Coast media about "there being no smoking gun" about who or what "killed Jesus" could not be right. Bill had his ace researcher Martin Dugard do extensive research in places most mainstream investigative journalists would never venture. Both O'Reilly and Dugard come from a traditional religious background left then open to wherever the research led...which was all the way from Judea to Rome. (They are both Roman Catholics).

What I soon discovered was that the most impressive part of this best-selling book, is a captivating narrative founded on historical truth, gifted wrapped to the world as an amazing "page-turner" of a package. To say "Killing Jesus" is very well written is an understatement. What will grab the reader, should he or she stay with the "reading plan" is a brief set-up on the person of Jesus Christ, why Herod was hunting him and the relational history of the crucial Roman Empire (crucial because it was the Romans who brought Christianity to the West after the 4th century).

The brutal (and often R-rated) history of the Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar to Tiberius is stunning to read as Dugard's research into two thousand-plus year old documents revealed. A substantial amount of  the first third of the book is dedicated to this particular period before the Birth of the Son of God on the earth.....thereby setting the stage and the atmosphere/environment into which Jesus was born. To this end, this book is NOT recommended for kids. There is too much about brutality and the weird sex lives of ancient historical figures.

The main advantage of this historical setting is the background  O'Reilly used to show the troublesome and oppressive corrupt state of Judea, into which this humble carpenter from Nazareth launched His brief, world-changing ministry. While he kept saying on his top-rated FNC show - "The O'Reilly Factor" - that this was a "history" and not a "religious" book, after reading it with a keen eye for Biblical accuracy, I have to affirm that I find no fault with that statement! In fact, I am now ecstatic that it is a quote "history" book because it portrays not just the character and life of Jesus, but the accurate events of His Miracles and teachings as the confirmed FACTS they are! The committed Christian, who is skeptical as I originally was about reading this, should take heart. Apart from the historical records of Rome and the Middle East (including what is left in Jerusalem) both Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard used the text of the NIV Study Bible as back up!

There were times in the early going of reading "Killing Jesus" where I got really frustrated with all the exhaustive Roman historical background. It was then the Lord spoke to me through His Spirit, Who lives within me. So when He said that "many will be reached with this book", I was immediately encouraged and set at ease! That was it! There was no smoke from heaven or lightning....just the Lord setting me straight. The book has sold over 500,000 hardcover books . But what I know the Lord will be happy about is the children's version which will take this thing over the million mark (similar to Killing Lincoln etc)! In the Spring of 2013, tens of millions of Americans and many more than that watched Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's version of the Bible, which did contain a few glaring errors. I did not read Killing Jesus with an eye to scrutinize every interpretation, but I do know enough of the Bible to recognize Biblical error when I see it.

ERRORS IN "KILLING JESUS"
He had Jesus at 36 years old when He died. Jesus was 33. There were several disturbing glaring omissions by the authors as to the Final Words of Jesus. They left out Jesus' quotes from the Cross "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". They left out the conversation about the thieves on the Cross. They left out Jesus telling His disciple John to take care of Mary (which is a Jewish custom). 

O'Reilly had the wrong dates for the Prophet Isaiah's time (off by 100 years). He incorrectly had the Philistines defeating the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC when that could be easily cross checked with secular Jewish history (along with the Old Testament) that it was the Assyrians and not the Philistines.  There are some others which have to do with a misunderstanding of the Harmony of the Gospels. Any serious Bible student will not these. 

The thing to note here is these men are not born-again bible believing Christians and never claim to be. Their claim is to be authors of a "history book". In his CBS 60 Minutes interview with Norah O'Donnell, Bill O'Reilly made it clear that KILLING JESUS does not make the claim that Jesus is Messiah. That is a personal declaration to which he is accountable. To those of us who read and even enjoyed this book, regardless of these errors - JESUS CHRIST IS THE MESSIAH - HE IS MY MESSIAH - HE WILL ALWAYS BE AND I WILL SCREAM IT FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP - JUST LIKE RIGHT HERE, period!

RECOMMENDED?
In these troubled times, this historical account of the Last Days of Jesus and the culture in which He lived,  will encourage any seeker of Truth, wavering Christian or even a mature believer, who ever doubted this historicity of both the Bible and its account of the Greatest Man Who ever lived! Share this book with a friend who is not a Christian or even an atheist. The history alone, therein, will interest just about any curious human being.

You know, it really does takes MORE faith to be an atheist than it does to believe the simple Truth of the Gospel of Christ. This book will both inform, interest and inspire anyone who approaches it with an open mind. There is only good that can come out of reading this with one eye on history and the other eye on His Story!