Why To Be
Saved Part 1: Does Satan Exist?
In this series,
we will briefly cover the history and future of the universe, according to the
Bible, broken down into these eight steps.
1. God Created
Angels.
2. Satan and
Other Angels Rebelled Against God’s Authority.
3. God Created
Mankind and Gave Them Authority Over the Earth.
4. Mankind Gave
Satan Authority Over the Earth.
5. All Human
Beings Were Born into Spiritual Slavery.
6. Jesus Christ
Lived in Perfect Obedience to God’s Authority and Made Payment for the Sins of
Mankind.
7. Human Beings
Who Put Faith in Christ Realign Under God’s Authority.
8. Jesus Christ
and Redeemed Men and Women Take Authority Over Earth. Fallen Angels and
Unredeemed Men and Women Separated For Eternity.
In this first
video, we’ll cover steps 1 and 2.
One. Before God
created mankind, He created a race of beings called angels. There are different
categories of angels. For example, some are warriors (Revelation 12:7), some
are given charge over a new convert (Matthew
Two. According
to the Bible, one angel named Satan was initially full of wisdom, perfect in
beauty, and completely blameless. However, he chose to become evil, was filled
with violence, and wanted to displace God. Therefore, Satan was banished from
heaven (Ezekiel 28:12-19, Isaiah
While this
narrative may sound fantastical, it’s worth noting that a fairly large
percentage of people believe in the existence of evil spirits and many even
believe they have experience them. Likewise, large percentages of people also believe
in the existence of God and guardian angels.
YouGovAmerica, 10/21/2019, “Many Americans
Believe Ghosts and Demons Exist”
USA Today, 10/28/2021, “2 in 5 Americans
Believe Ghosts Are Real and 1 in 5 Say They’ve Seen One, Survey Says”
New York Times, 10/28/2021, “Many
Americans Say They Believe in Ghosts. Do You?”
Newsweek, 10/21/2019, “More Than 45
Percent of Americans Believe Demons and Ghosts Are Real: Survey”
Gallup, 6/29/2016, “Most Americans Still
Believe in God”
ABC News, 9/18/2008, “Most Americans
Believe in Guardian Angels”
CBS News, 12/23/2011, “Poll: Nearly 8 in
10 Americans Believe in Angels”
Pew Research Center, 4/25/2018, “When
Americans Say They Believe in God, What Do They Mean?”
Time, 9/18/2008, “Guardian Angels Are
Here, Say Most Americans”
For a
transcript of this video, you can go to my website, danielbecklessons.com.
Why To Be
Saved Part 2: Who Controls the Earth?
In this series,
we are briefly covering the history and future of the universe, according to
the Bible, broken down into these eight steps.
In this second
video, we’ll cover steps 3 through 5.
Three. When God
created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, He gave them authority over the
earth. In Genesis 1:28, God told them to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule
over it. Likewise, Psalm 115:16 says, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,
but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”
In the original
Hebrew, the language used Genesis 1 is completely unique in the Bible and there
is no consensus on how it should be interpreted. In fact, there are over a
dozen different views, ranging from literal to quasi-literal to purely
symbolic. Here are three examples from the more literal end of the spectrum.
One view is the
six days of creation in Genesis 1 were literal twenty-four-hour periods, but
God created everything with the appearance of age. He did this, they say, not
to be misleading, but because it was logically impossible to create everything
in six days without the appearance of age. For example, the first
humans, animals, plants, rocks, and soil all had to be in a mature state for an
ecosystem to function properly. Otherwise, there would have been nothing but a
bunch of seeds and embryonic cells scattered on barren, still-cooling volcanic
rocks with no nurturers, no food supply, and no way to survive.
Similarly, the
sun, moon, stars, and planets all had to initially exist at certain stages of
development to provide appropriate heat and light, to compose a functioning
solar system, and to be visible from the earth. Likewise, since landmasses and
geological features have time associated with them, creating dry land in one
day required the appearance of age. Advocates of this view compare the
creation event to Jesus’ first miracle of creating wine, which would have had
the appearance of age since wine is aged by definition.
A second view
is that the six days are symbolic of six much longer time periods that
correspond roughly to mainstream natural history.
A third view
similar to the second was proposed by MIT nuclear physicist and orthodox Jew
Dr. Gerald Schroeder in his book, Genesis and the Big Bang. He says that
while the universe is about 15 billion years old from the perspective of earth,
it is just over six days old from the perspective of where the Big Bang
originated since time passes differently depending on where you are in the
universe. He also points out that all animals appear fully formed in the fossil
record on days five and six, from the Big Bang’s perspective, just as Genesis 1
describes. Therefore, he proposes Genesis 1 is told from the perspective of the
Big Bang’s origin. Afterward, the perspective shifts to earth.
Dr. Gerald Schroeder, 1991, “Genesis And
the Big Bang: The Discovery of Harmony Between Modern Science and the Bible”
Four. Adam and
Eve chose to obey Satan and disobey God (Genesis 3). In so doing, they
realigned themselves under Satan’s authority (ex. Luke 4:6, 1 John
Five. As
a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were separated from God’s presence
and forced to live in a creation now under a curse (Genesis 3:17-19, 24, Romans
8:20-22). Romans 8:20-22 says:
“…the creation
was subjected to futility… in hope that the creation itself also will be set
free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the
children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the
pains of childbirth together until now.”
Also as a
result of their disobedience, every person born into the world thereafter was
subject to sin and death, both by choice and environmental influences (Romans
For a
transcript of this video, you can go to my website, danielbecklessons.com.
Why To Be
Saved Part 3: Jesus Christ: Fantasy or History?
In this series,
we are briefly covering the history and future of the universe, according to
the Bible, broken down into these eight steps.
In this third
video, we’ll cover step 6.
Six. Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, lived in perfect obedience under God’s authority as a
representative of humanity. Hebrews
As a final act
of obedience, Jesus made payment for the sins of mankind by undergoing
execution on a cross so that God might be both perfectly just in His
condemnation of sin and perfectly merciful in extending forgiveness of sin to
all who receive it as a free gift. Ephesians 1:7: “In [Jesus] we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of
God’s grace.”
The famous
Roman non-Christian Historian Flavius Josephus worte in Antiquities of the Jews
(book 18, chapter 3, section 3) in A.D. 93: “At this time [of Pontius Pilate]
there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good and he was
known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations
became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and die. But those
who had been his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that
he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was
alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets
have recounted wonders.”
Flavius Josephus, A.D. 93, “Antiquities of
the Jews” (Book 18, Chapter 3, Section 3)
The life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are recorded in the four gospels
attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Most non-Christian scholars assert
that these gospels were originally anonymous and their authorship was forged
nearly a hundred years later to bolster their credibility.
This theory was
popularized in the late 1800’s by two German scholars (Adolf von Harnack and
Theodor Zahn) who believed the gospels were folklore rather than literal events.
However, there are massive problems with this theory.
First, there
are no original sources to support it. Every single early manuscript in
existence ascribes authorship to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.
Second, by the
time the gospels were allegedly named in the late second century, all four had circulated
throughout Rome, Syria, Africa, Egypt, France, etc. It makes no sense that they
would have remained anonymous while circulating for nearly a hundred years
since the churches would have needed a way to differentiate between them during
gatherings. And even if they did somehow remain anonymous that whole time, they
would have eventually been named independently of one another in different
communities around the world, resulting in a diversity of titles, as we have
seen with many truly anonymously documents from antiquity.
Third, if
authorship of the gospels was forged to bolster their credibility, as the claim
goes, it makes no sense that the two of the four gospels would be attributed to
non-eyewitnesses.
Fourth, all of
the earliest Christian writings by authors who either knew the apostles
firsthand, or were one generation removed, were unanimous and unambiguous that
the gospels were indeed authored Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Fifth, in the
first few centuries after Christ, even pagan writers such as the Greek
philosopher Celsus, who attacked the gospels as fiction, still accepted that
the gospels were written by their namesakes.
The only
purported evidence for the anonymity theory is that the gospels share some
material in common. For example, advocates ask why it appears that Matthew used
Mark’s gospel as source material for portions of his gospel since Mark was not
an eyewitness and Matthew was. However, multiple early church fathers
explicitly stated in their writings that Mark was a disciple of the apostle
Peter and his gospel was based on his memory of what Peter told him. Therefore,
since Peter met Jesus before Matthew and spent more time with Him than Matthew,
it’s not at all surprising that Matthew chose to incorporate some of Mark’s
gospel into his.
Brant Pitre, 2016, “The Case for Jesus,”
Ch. 2-5
Some argue that
the apocryphal gospels, such as the gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Peter are
accurate, unflattering records of Jesus that the early church rejected to save
face. However, both the early church fathers and virtually all modern Christian
and non-Christian scholars agree that these gospels are forgeries that were
falsely attributed to apostles long after they were all dead.
Some people
argue that the Bible has changed over time. And they’re right. There are countless
minute textual variants amongst the thousands of early surviving manuscripts.
The vast majority of these variants are inconsequential grammar or spelling
changes. Regardless, by comparing all the manuscripts we have, both Christian
and non-Christian scholars have thoroughly mapped out all variants in existence
and can easily trace back to the original content. Furthermore, the early
church fathers quoted the New Testament over 36,000 times in their writings and
virtually the entire New Testament as it was originally written can be
reconstructed and corroborated from their writings.
There are other
reasons trust the accuracy of the New Testament. For example, the book of Acts,
which was written by the same author as the gospel of Luke, includes over 80
details that have been confirmed by historical and archeological research into
numerous cities or regions across the ancient Roman world. For instances, it
describes ship port locations, prevalent languages, pagan religious customs,
political hierarchy structures, location of landmarks, and identities of
high-ranking officials. The gospel of John also includes dozens of historically
and archeologically confirmed details such and landmark locations, regional
topography, and religious customs and hierarchy. In fact, the New Testament
writers included more than thirty historically confirmed people in their
writings.
But the reasons
don’t stop there. The disciples also included embarrassing details about
themselves and Jesus, and they included many difficult sayings of Jesus.
Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, 2004, “I
Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,” Ch. 9-12
Further, one of
the most important pieces of evidence for the gospels being authentic accounts
is their many divergent details. True eyewitness or secondhand witness accounts
never perfectly match. If they did, it would only prove that the witnesses had
collaborated or been coached.
This point was
highlighted the nationally renowned cold-case homicide detective Jim Wallace,
whose solved murder cases have been featured a record six times on NBC’s
Dateline. Wallace was a devout atheist until age 35 when he was provoked by a
Christian friend to investigate Jesus’ death as a cold murder case and the
gospels as witness accounts. Wallace set out the debunk the gospels as
inauthentic, but instead converted to Christianity.
J. Warner Wallace, 2013, “Cold-Case
Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels”
For a
transcript of this video, you can go to my website, danielbecklessons.com.
Why To Be
Saved Part 4: Will I Be Judged?
In this series,
we are briefly covering the history and future of the universe, according to
the Bible, broken down into these eight steps.
In this fourth
video, we’ll cover steps 7 and 8.
Seven. Jesus
Christ’s payment for the sins of mankind created a way for human beings to
escape out from under Satan’s authority and realign under God’s authority (Acts
26:18, Colossians 1:13).
Acts 26:18 says
Jesus chose to die on the cross “so that they may turn from darkness to light
and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
Likewise, the apostle Paul explained in Colossians 1:13:
“For He rescued
us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His
beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Eight.
In the future, Jesus Christ will return with God’s people from every generation
to take authority over the earth (Daniel 7:27, Matthew 5:5, Revelation 2:26,
11:15-18, 2:26). However, Satan, fallen angels and all humans under their
authority from every generation will be eternally separated from God and His
people (Isaiah 24:21-22, Daniel 12:1-2, Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50, 25:31-46, 2
Thessalonians 1:8-10, Revelation 19:20, 20:10-15).
The prophet
Daniel wrote: “Then the sovereignty, the dominion… of all the kingdoms under…
heaven will be given to… the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an
everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him… those who
sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the
others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
For a
transcript of this video, you can go to my website, danielbecklessons.com.
Why To Be
Saved Part 5: How Can I Be Saved?
In this series,
we have briefly covered the history and future of the universe, according to
the Bible, broken down into these eight steps.
In this fifth
and final video, we’ll discuss appropriate next steps a person can take if he
or she believes the Bible is accurate.
If you are
reading this and have not yet put faith in Jesus Christ to save you from your
sins and restore you into relationship with God, you can do so right now. God
sees you, hears you, knows your thoughts, and is present with you right now.
You can speak to Him. Let me walk you through three steps.
First, acknowledge
your need for God’s forgiveness. Second, put your faith in Jesus’ payment for
your sins on the cross and in God’s mercy rather than your own moral
performance to save you from His just judgment. You can say this to God out
loud right now from your heart:
“God, I know I
am a sinner. I know I need your forgiveness. I know I can never save myself
from your just judgment with my best attempts at moral performance. I believe
You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins because you love
me. I receive Your free gift of forgiveness and eternal life with You. Thank
you for saving me.”
If you prayed
that prayer, congratulations! We now belong to the same wonderful family! You
have just entered through the narrow gate.
Jesus said in Matthew
7:13-14:
“Enter through
the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and
the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
As Jesus said,
the path to eternal life is both a narrow gate and a narrow way. The narrow
gate is the initial decision to give your life to Christ, which you just made.
The narrow way is walking in relationship with Jesus Christ for the rest of
your life. This is step three.
To follow the
narrow way, there are three things you cannot do without: Prayer, God’s Word,
and God’s people.
Prayer is
talking to God. Do this often, every day if possible. Common elements of a
prayer time include praise (thank God for who He is, what He has done, and what
He means to you), entreaties (ask God to help you become the man or woman He
created you to become), confession (ask God to forgive you if you are aware
that you have sinned recently), and intercession (pray on behalf of others who
need God’s help).
God’s Word is
the Bible. He has given it to mankind to reveal who He is and what He had done.
Read at least one chapter often, every day if possible. Start with the gospels
and continue through the New Testament. Pray for God to give you understanding
as you read.
God’s people
are Christians. Immediately find a church nearby to attend. Pray for God to guide
you to the right church. It should be a church that believes the Bible is the
inspired Word of God and teaches directly out of it every week. Then introduce
yourself and develop relationships with men and women who have walked with God
for years who can help you on your journey.
If you are
afraid that you might stumble back into old sinful patterns, don’t worry; you
will.
If you are
afraid you don’t have what it takes to remain faithful to your commitment to
Christ for years and decades to come, don’t worry; you don’t.
If you are
afraid that Satan is much more powerful than you and you aren’t strong enough
to overcome him, don’t worry; you aren’t.
The only thing
you need do is keep turning back to God! It does not matter how badly you
stumble, how far you fall, or how long you stray. God will never, ever, ever
give up on you or stop loving you. Just keep turning back to Him. Keep turning
back to prayer, His word, and His people. If you do this, He will bring you
safely into His heavenly kingdom no matter how difficult the narrow way
becomes. It will be His accomplishment, not yours because He loves you, and
“love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).
For a
transcript of this video, you can go to my website, danielbecklessons.com.