Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-25

lay aside every weight and the sin
that doth so easily beset us, and let
us run with patience the race that
Is set before u.s. Heb. 12:l.
And in snite OF the many wit.
,nesses. some OF whom we have been
studying during the past few
months-such as Matthew ana
Mark, Luke, John, Paul. Peter
= Timothy and others-a great many
today are not running the race with
patience. They have not continued
in the things that they had learned
and been assured OF, they have turn
ed away from the Holy Scriptures
which they had learned as child
these scriptures that are God
breathed ard able to make them
wise unto salvation, that are prof
table. and will make them complete,
thoroughly furnished unto every
good work.
Instead, therefore, OF reviewing
the characters of the past quarter.
we shall consider today these Scrip
lures that made the men and wom-
Z en- that we have found them to be
The devil has always made an at
tack on the Word of God: even in
the Garden of Eden he began it. 1:
is a strategic move on his part; 4
he can succeed in making you doubt
the Word Of God his battle is more
:. than half done. There are those to-
day who take two opposite positions
with relation to the Scriptures. Is
the Bible the Word of God, or does
il only contain the Word "s God?
Was it written by God using men as
His instruments, or was it written
by men of unusual ability? Was.i
written about men by God, and
therefore not subject to error, or
was it written by men about God.
and therefore subject to lnVestiga
ton and Improvement as civilization
and mems ideas improve?
These questions state the two POI
sitious; which is correct? There is
no doubt as to the claim which the
Bible itself makes. Paul wrote to
Timothy: "All Scripture is God
breathed"-i. E., God breathed
through man His own words. Peter
wrote, NO Scripture is of private in,
:. depreciation; for the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of men;
byt Holy man of God spake as
they were moved (borne along( by the
Holy Ghost" In other words, Isaiah
didn't initiate his prophecies; but
the Holy Spirit picked up Isaiah and
bore him along in the direction He
wanted him to go to the end that
He wanted him to reach. The Bible
makes the claim for itself that it is
all God -breathed, all the work of
God, not of man. And if Gods Word.
it is not subject to error.
Can that claim be substantiated?
Or shall we have to cut out this
part because you think it is not God
breathed, or another cut out anoth-
er part because he thinks it is not
God -breathed and erroneous? 1t
shall be our desire to submit inter
nal and external evidence to prove
that the claim can be substantiated.
And first, the harmony of the
Book proves it. The Bible was writ
ten by forty different persons, cover
ing a period of 1 800 years; and these
men were of all types and conditions
OF life-Moses was d prince of Egypt;
David a shepherd lad, a warrior,
king; Amos was a farmer; Ezekiel
a priest; Daniel a statesman; Peter
and John were Fishermen; Matthew
tax collector. etc. And yet all
wrote about the same theme. The
red thread of salvation through the
blood of Christ runs through the
whole of it, Could forty doctors
writing over l 500 years agree? Could
forty lawyers, or engineers, or farm
ers? But these forty agree! Why?
Because One Mind, the Spirit OF God
picked them up, spoke through them,
using the circumstances of their
lives, to tell some phase of the story
of Gods efforts to bring back re-
bellious world to himself. The har-
mony of the Book proves it's Divine
Authorship.
Then the fact that it tells the
whole truth about a man proves 1t
TO be God -breathed. When man writes
about man, he tells his virtues and
forgets his faults. You never read
biography that discloses the weak
nesses and faults Of man. But GOO
writing the biography Of Moses, tells
of his murder of the Egyptian, of his
anger, of his Impotence; God tells
of Abraham lie, of David's adultery,
of Noah's drunkenness, of Lots incest,
of Peters denial, etc. 1t is Gods
Word, not mans.
Then what the Bible says Is going
to happen does happen-it faithfully
foretells the future. Take two in
stances only. In Gen. 3, God cursed
the ground on Adams account and
said, "Thorns and thistles it shall
bring FORTH Did you know that
there Is not a single place in the
Aworld where vegetation is found that
thorns and thistles are not found
also? God spoke this Word.
In Isaiah IL, we have a graphic
and detailed denunciation of Baby
lon. Read it. Now when Isaiah spoke
this Babylon was one Sof greatest
cities of the world-with walls 200
feet high. broad enough for three
%chariots abreast, and 60 miles long.
Within these walls were one of the
seven wonders of the wOrld-the
hanging gardens of Babylon. The
glory of the Chaldee's eXcellency!
Suppose someone should speak of
the utter destruction of New York,
or Paris, or London as Isaiah did of
Babylon and suppose for 800 years
that city remained as it was. That
speaker would be regarded as crazy.
But Babylon was finally destroyed
and so completely that its site was
not discovered until a few years ago.
Here is the significant part: An
American was hunting in those re-
cions and as night drew on his
Bedouin (Arabianl guides turned
back He tried to get them TO pltch
their tents there; but while they
would do anything else for money
they would not do that, saying that
there were owls and ghosts there. On
his. return to Constantinople he re-
: lated his experience to the Amerl-
can ambassador saying he could not