Why I Believe — Shane Idleman

Welcome to West Side Christian Fellowship. You know, I just want to, I'm just really burdened on my heart tonight to just open in prayer and just pray for the valley and pray for some of the churches, and then we can get into the message.

But dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight, Lord, and we just pray, Lord, that you would begin to break strongholds in this valley, Lord, that you would begin to restore marriages, reconcile relationships, Lord, bring the prodigal son home, the wayward daughter home, Lord.

We pray that you would begin to pierce hearts, Lord, and we pray for the churches around our community, Lord, from Central Christian and Berean Fellowship, Lord, and the Vineyard, dear Heavenly Father, First Assembly of God.

Lord, we pray for Calvary Chapel. We pray for Grace Chapel, Lord. We pray for all the churches out there, Lord, that are preaching your word. We pray that you would move mightily this weekend, Lord, and that lives would be changed, that your word would go forth and penetrate the heart, Lord, and we just pray so much for our families, Lord, that you would come against the enemy's attack and that you would put up strongholds that would keep him out.

Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen, amen. I spoke at a men's breakfast this morning, and it's been a long day, but I've been looking forward to this message because what we're gonna do is transition from the last two weeks we were talking about judging, you know, where Jesus' famous scripture, or the famous scripture that Jesus said was, judge not, and we talked about how our culture likes to use that scripture and say, you can't say anything wrong, you can't say anything negative, judge not, pretty much shut your mouth, is what they're saying.

Judging With Righteous Judgment

The problem is they don't read a little further when Jesus encourages us to judge with righteous judgment, to remove the plank from our eye first, to come with the spirit of humility and gentleness and meekness and to speak the truth in love.

We are called to do that, so we talked about that. If you missed some of those messages, I encourage you to get the CD on the last two weeks, because we talked about when do you judge? Well, you judge when a brother sins against you, you go to that person and you confront them and you talk to them, you judge gossip, you judge slander.

We talked about last week judging when church discipline needs to take place, when we're called to judge leadership, and the leaders are called to judge. We are called to judge in these areas. But the final point that I didn't get to last week and we're gonna get to tonight is judging false doctrine.

Why Sound Doctrine Must Be Defended

We're called to judge false doctrine. And I'm gonna kind of parallel into that why I believe, so it's kind of a dual message. We're gonna go from judging into why I believe, because if we're judging sound doctrine, the question that inevitably comes up is, well, who's to say you're right?

Who's to say the Bible's right? That's just your opinion. So I'm gonna go right into why I believe. And this stands the test of time. This is God's revealed word. I'm as confident of that today as I was 10 years ago.

I mean, we are called to defend this gospel. And I'm gonna get into the reasons why we do that. But first, let's talk about judging. We are called to judge, basically, doctrine that's in error. In other words, and a lot of people think, you know, you hear this word doctrine, well, what are you talking about?

Doctrine just reveals the heart of God. It's a good thing. It means the characteristics, the nature of God. So when you talk about sound doctrine, you're talking about things that correctly identify who God is.

It's sound. It's based on the word of God. It's sound doctrine. And there's so much wrong doctrine going on in our culture today, isn't there? I believe this, believe that. God is this. It's almost, it reminds me of a smorgasbord where you could choose, I like this, oh, I don't like that hell stuff.

I don't like that judgment stuff. I don't like that repentance. Holiness? No way. Where's the grace and mercy plates and food? You know, we just pick and always lead to God, and everybody just loves their neighbor.

Can't we all just get along? And, you know, so that's what it reminds me of. So we have to judge rightly. We have to judge the word of truth. And if you look at your notes, the two scriptures there I put from last week, the first one is found in Titus 1 .9.

Titus 1 .9. He says, hold fast or holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, here's that word again, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict.

The Bible's saying that we're called to, by sound doctrine, with sound doctrine, with correct teaching, with the correct perception of God, we're to exhort, which is a lot of times to challenge, is to confront, and then as a result to convict those who contradict this.

Isn't that amazing? We're called to do that in a spirit of love and meekness and gentleness, to contradict false doctrine. As a matter of fact, I believe it was in Philippians, Paul said that he's been called to defend the gospel.

That's his calling. He says, I've been called to defend the gospel. This will be attacked. This will be mocked. This will be ridiculed. But we are called to defend it, to stand strong. This stands alone.

We don't need to candy coat it. We don't need to redefine it. We just need to preach it. We need to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how lives are radically changed. And then one of the scriptures I memorized years ago is Galatians 1 .8.

A lot of you know this scripture as well. Paul's saying, but even, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It's this group who's turned to legalism. You know, he says, are you going to finish in the flesh what began in the spirit?

This church was wanting to, you have to follow these rules, and you have to do this, and you have to, no, no, no, it's Christ and Christ alone. So in this letter to the Galatians, he's saying, if we, if we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel, let him be accursed.

That's a strong word. In the Greek, that's anathema. It's a curse. It's an accursed thing. It's things that directly oppose God. It's wickedness. He's saying, if we preach any other gospel, anything else, let him be a curse.

Let him be anathema. We don't hear that too often, do we? I mean, those are hard, that's a hard warning. And you might say, well, Shane, who's to say you're right? Again, I'll get there. Trust me, I'm laying the foundation before we build the house.

We're putting in the concrete and the steel, and then we're going to build the house. But we're supposed to defend by sound doctrine, defend the gospel, and confront those in a spirit of love who contradict.

Now, we're not to go around saying, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when God, when the Holy Spirit gives us opportunity, we are called to challenge and to contend for the faith.

That's why I believe it's so important to have an intimate relationship with Christ, spending time in his word, feel with the Holy Spirit, because then you're directed by the Spirit of God. You're those promptings you know, and you know when to say nothing.

I mean, I took a guy out to lunch a couple weeks ago. I think he was new age, I don't even know what he thought. But I didn't feel, you know, I challenged a few things, but I didn't feel, I just wanted to listen.

Okay, let's get lunch again. I invited him tonight, you know, in trying to build that relationship. I wasn't just going to drop the hammer right then. I wanted to listen to him a little bit. Now, on that, when you look at Titus holding fast, and by sound doctrine exhort and convict those who contradict, and then Paul says an angel, even an angel from heaven, because we have to remember that the Bible says that the devil comes sometimes as an angel of light.

He transforms himself into an angel of light, deceiving people. And you say, oh my gosh, that's kind of scary. No, it isn't. Does what he's saying line up with this? If, you know, somebody says they have a vision and this and that, and that's how a lot of religions are started.

Do you realize that? We can go down the list that this messenger of light came to this person, and this and such and such, but does it line up with this? So once we have those, there's five things I want to establish before we get into why I believe.

Five Reasons to Take Doctrine Seriously

The first thing, when we're talking about sound doctrine, number one, God takes sound doctrine very, very, very seriously. Why is that? Well, just think of Joe sitting here, and this is a fictitious person, so I don't think I'm pointing out anybody, but Joe's a gambler, a backbiter.

Joe's a gossip. He's an adulterer. He's a drunkard. What about if he's sitting here going, no, no, I'm none of those things. I'm none of those things. You have identified me falsely. That's not me. God does the same thing.

Listen, you need to have sound doctrine. He takes it very seriously. He's revealed his word, but the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen. He wants people to have a correct understanding of him and his nature, and that's why a lot of times we get off, you know, we hear about the love of God, but we forget about the holiness, the mercy but not the judgment, all the grace but not the repentance.

We have to balance his total nature. So it's very important to have a right understanding of God. No matter what you believe, you better just kind of get in your mind that it's important that God wants us to know who he is and what his attributes are, and that would be a whole other teaching in itself, the attributes of God, who he is.

So he takes sound doctrine very seriously. God isn't going, oh, believe whatever you want. Choose whatever you want. No, he wants you to have a correct perception of him. The next thing, this is why we all can't just get along.

I hear this all the time. Why can't you guys just all get along? I mean, I'd love to. I'd love to. We can go to dinner. We can go to lunch. We can work together, but when you oppose this, I can't fellowship with you.

When you oppose sound doctrine, I can't be a part of that because faith, when you talk about faith and unity in the Bible, it's unity of the spirit, unity of faith, unity of sound doctrine, and from that flows unity with others.

So you can be friends, you can do things, but when it comes to worshiping and fellowshipping, that's why we all can't get along. I wish we could. And you see these big ecumenical movements. Well, all churches get together and it's not going to work.

I mean, all religions, it's not going to work. It's not biblical, number one. Number two is it goes against what we're commanded to do and what the Holy Spirit, you know, what we feel already in our spirit.

So think about that. This is why we all can't get along. Next, don't confuse attacking with contending. See, a lot of people think what I'm about to speak about tonight is attacking. It's not attacking, it's contending.

You see the difference? Attacking goes at someone, they attack them, and they belittle them, and they put them down. Contending says you put on the gloves and you hold. You're in the offensive position.

You're contending for the faith. You're saying, that's not right. I need to challenge you on these areas. We're commanded to contend for the faith. And I hear that a lot. You guys are attacking other religions.

No, we're just contending for the faith. They can attack me. They can say things about this all day long. They can challenge Christianity, but we can't say anything. We need to just do this. Don't say a word.

So we can't confuse attacking with contending. And a lot of what we do up here, and a lot of times when we speak to people, we're contending for the faith. We're called to do that. But when you do it in a spirit of love, and you speak the truth in love, and humility, that's when it becomes contending.

And you're truly trying to help. You're contending, you're not attacking somebody. And you know what attacking looks like. I don't have to show you. I mean, you guys watch Bill O 'Reilly, right? There's some attacking on that show.

Truth Invites Scrutiny

Next, truth invites scrutiny. Now, I don't know if people are going to be listening to this later, or you're here tonight. I want you to think about this for a minute. Truth, this invites scrutiny. It invites questions.

Come, let us reason together. I'll sit and debate truth for three hours. I'll convince, and I'll admonish, and I'll challenge. Because this invites scrutiny. You go, and you go, and you sit, and talk to other.

You start to scrutinize other religions. You're like, no, no, no, you just have to believe that. We're not going to talk about the Bible. You're not going to challenge us. You're not going to. This invites scrutiny.

This invites questions. You see the difference? A lot of other religions, they don't invite questioning. They don't like questioning. It's funny, I told my wife, what was it, about a month ago. And again, let me, I don't know even how to put a big disclaimer on this whole message, but when I talk about these groups, I'm in no way, shape, or form putting down or attacking.

What I'm trying to do is show you what's out there. It's not that, you know, I'm mentioning, aha, making fun. It's sad. It's sad with these different groups. So I'm not, when I, but I also, on the other hand, I can't remain silent.

If they can go door to door, I should be able to contend, or contest what they're saying. So on that note, last month, Jehovah Witnesses came up, you know, down our front driveway. And I said, oh, no, no, thanks, you know, I'm not interested.

And they go, can we just leave the information with you? And then, you know, look it over, and we'll come back. And I said, sure, but keep in mind, I'm a Christian pastor. So when you come back, I'm going to have a lot of questions for you.

Oh, no, that's okay. That's okay. Thank you. Thank you. And they just skidded out, and they don't want to leave me anything. But, no, but think about, why not? Let's sit down and talk about it. Let me show you.

No, no, no, no, no. See, this invites questioning. The other, they don't want to question anything. They don't want to challenge anything. Truth invites questioning. God says, come, let us reason together.

It'll answer all your, and it's okay to have questions. Don't get me wrong. If some of you are questioning the Bible, or having, I don't know how this, it's okay. It's okay to come with an open mind, saying, Lord, show me, show me.

I don't understand some things. I don't understand everything in this. But truth welcomes questions. Truth invites questions. Why? Because it's true. Because it's true. When my kids do something, and they're not at fault, they don't mind talking to people.

And they know they're guilty, they head for their room. They don't want to talk about it. So just think about that. The next time you're out there in the workplace, and you want to talk about the Bible, other people don't, because it's not true.

The next point on this, I want you to remember this. All religions in the world can, all of them can be wrong, but they cannot all be right. Think about that. Every single religion on the planet can be wrong, but they cannot all be right, because they contradict each other.

And who's to say you're right? Who's to say you're wrong? Who's to say, they cannot all be right, but they can all be wrong? So on that note, we are commanded, we are called to contend for the faith. We are called to judge rightly.

I don't like to do it. I'd rather just, hey, you know, they're on the broad road to destruction. Well, I don't know what to, you know, I mean, I don't like to challenge all the time, but we're called, I mean, a lot of times people are converted because they were challenged.

Think about that. I was. I was challenged, challenged, and I finally said, okay, okay. I surrender. I give up. And so we have to think about that. Paul's saying, do not, but even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

So that tells me we must judge. We must judge rightly. We must judge sound doctrine. You guys, let me give you an okay here. You can judge what I'm saying. You should be judging what I'm saying. Absolutely.

Get the CD, listen again, take notes, go look up the Bible, judge what I'm saying. Because we're subject to the word of God. This is our standard. So it's okay to judge those things. So what really started this message, and I mentioned this last week about probably two months ago, and it really just brought this whole point home.

Contending With Mormon Claims

I was invited to, with a couple guys here in a different church, to actually go to a Mormon bishop's house. It's like a pastor of a Mormon church. And again, I'm not pointing these, pulling these groups down or attacking, I'm just showing you the difference.

We should be able to do that without offending anybody. I mean, show me where I'm wrong. Let me show you where you're in error. But they don't like to, you know, it doesn't go both ways. So anyway, to make a long story short, I go over there, we're sitting there, and there's two young missionaries there, and they're giving their story and their spiel.

For a lot of you that don't know, this probably isn't the best time to go into the whole backing or what the Mormon religion believes or Jehovah Witnesses, but I mentioned some books in there you might want to read in the notes down at the bottom to get further studies on this.

But in a nutshell, we were sitting there for about an hour and a half. You know, they kept mentioning the Book of Mormon and Moroni and this burning in the bosom, and they gave their testimonies, and it wasn't, you know, they weren't really excited about it, it was just a testimony of Jesus Christ, and you know, so about an hour and a half into this, an hour and 40 minutes into this, I'm just sitting on the couch and listening and they want to ask me if I want to read along, and I was like, no, it's okay.

And finally, I thought, okay, if I give them an hour and a half, I mean, surely they'll give me 10 minutes, you know, 20 minutes, I mean, come on, let's reason together, let's discuss these things. And what happened was, I said, you know what, you put Christians in an awkward position, and he goes, why is that, why is that, and I said, well, I said, either Joseph Smith is right, or Jesus Christ is right.

They can't both be right. And the missionary, so innocent, looked, oh, yes, sir, they can, I said, no, ma 'am, they can't. They cannot both be right. When you say that God was once like us, God was once like me, and I will evolve into who God is, that's blasphemy.

I told him, that's blasphemy. With all the love I can muster, that's blasphemy, that's heretical, that's wrong. That's wrong. Jesus was the brother of Lucifer, and they both submitted their plans for salvation.

God chose Jesus' and rejected Satan's, that's why he rebelled. That's blasphemy. That's wrong, he's not a created being, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, he's not a brother to Satan. I can say those things in the spirit of love, that's wrong, sir.

What you're saying contradicts the Bible, and no, no, no, it doesn't, yes, it does. Let me show you, let me show you. This is blasphemy, this is wrong, God was once like us, unbelievable, I hope not. I said, you're not going to rule planets and have celestial sex with your wife and have spirit children.

That's heretical, that's what's in their, that's their belief, and I just want to compare it with the Bible. He gets upset and he stands up and he goes, so what you're telling me, this Book of Mormons of the devil.

I'm thinking in my mind, oh my goodness. How do you answer that question? Exactly. So I said, yeah, I think it is, it is. And that just, it's not good, it's time to, time to go. But my point is, and Ron, you remember, I said, sir, I can sit here for three hours and debate truth, I just gave you an hour and a half.

Why can't you give me, he goes, well, what about all the good things we do? And I said, you have to, you have to earn salvation, Christ paid the cross, and on the cross, we don't have to earn anything.

But what about all these good in our good that we do in the families? I said, that's wonderful, that's great, it should be commended, but it will not lead you to salvation. Well, we have, we have, you know, we follow the order of the Aaronic priesthood and the order of Melchizedek, and what that means is they think the priesthood still continues with Aaron and Melchizedek.

And I said, no, when Christ said it's finished, the veil was rent from the top to the bottom, we have access to the Father, he's my high priest. The Bible says we do not have a high priest who has not been tempted, tested, like we are, but is without sin, you go to him through the throne room of grace, there's no priesthood.

But we've got prophets, well, read Jeremiah, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran, I have not prophesied to them, but they spoke, but had they truly stood in my counsel, they would have led the people away from their wickedness.

Had they truly stood in my counsel. That's all the time I got, it was time to go, he said. But think about how sad that is, see, I'm not attacking, I'm not making fun, I'm like, let's sit down, let me show you.

You think it's, you think Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ are saying the right, the same thing? No, sir, they're not. I'll read your, I'll read your Doctrine and Covenants or your statement, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel who said, all denominations and creeds are an abomination, start the right one.

I'm paraphrasing, that's blasphemy. Guard the word of God, Jude says, that is once and for all delivered to the saints. With the strike of a pen, Joseph Smith just put down the error of Charles Spurgeon, D .O. Moody and all, he said, they're all wrong, but I'm gonna start this right one.

An angel of light appeared to him, let's go to Corinthians. You know, they don't want to go to this, they didn't reference this once. So that's my point, it's not attacking, it's, I couldn't sit there, I could not sit there and say, okay, thanks for that, I appreciate it, you know, I had to just, and look how upset he got, why does he get so upset?

He was so mad, I had to get out of his house, because the darkness does not like the light of the gospel, and pride gets in the way, and it says, I can't be wrong all these years, we have great families.

No, it's what Christ did in him alone. And I can get into a whole, I mean, they go really off on a lot of things, it's just, it's not biblical, but if you sit down and talk with them, they don't want you to get this out, they don't want you to challenge that, because you just have to trust that burning in your bosom.

Do you know you can open yourself up for deception? You can open yourself up for deception. Open yourself up to witchcraft and sorcery, you can open yourself up to it. That's why we're called to reject these things and stand on sound doctrine.

And you just have to ask four simple questions. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is God? How is a person saved, and is the Bible the word of God? It'll tell you if it lines up with sound doctrine. When Jesus Christ was a created being, there you go, who had a plan of salvation, the devil's brother, well, that's all you need to know.

And the God of the Bible, God was once like us, it makes no sense. So that's what I'm saying, when we're contending for the faith, it's okay to challenge in love. Because people, I'm sure he thought about it, I'm sure he didn't sleep too well that night, I sleep like a baby.

Why I Believe the Bible Is God's Word

But why? Because the truth, when you have the truth, and then you're saying, okay, Shane, we keep saying the truth, who's to say you're right? Well, I'm glad you asked, let's get to that. Why I believe, and this is a foundational verse, I would commit to memory if I were you.

But these things are written, this is written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. This is written so that we might have life in his name.

And they say, well, who's to say you're right? Well, let's start, let me just tell you why I believe, just to be honest with you, let me put this down for a minute. Why do I believe in the Bible? Let's start there, because that's where it all flows from.

Historical and Archaeological Evidence for Scripture

Number one, number one, look at the historical accuracy of the Bible. Historical accuracy is unbelievable. Let me just read a quote, if I can find it here. English historian, English historian Sir William Ramsey, Sir William Ramsey said, you may press the words of Luke, the Gospel of Luke, in a degree beyond any other historian, and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment.

And you might say, well, shame, anybody could write that. He set out to disprove the Bible. He set out, going off of the Gospel of Luke, as an atheist, to go out and disprove the Bible. After a year, with an open mind, see, here's the thing, you have to have an open mind.

As you'll see in your notes, Ravi Zacharias said, the rejection of Christ has really nothing to do with facts. It really has to do with, they want to be God of their own life. It's my life, I enjoy my life, get out of it.

It has nothing to do with facts. There's so many facts, it would convert the hardest critic. It has to do with the heart. And he set out with an open mind, he said, okay, I'm going to prove this Gospel wrong.

He said, after checking everything, he said, you may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian, and they stand the keenest scrutiny. You see, because the Bible just recorded, the Bible's not even a history book, but it accurately records the cities.

Think about that, Bethlehem, Judea, Samaria, all these cities, they exist, they're in the Bible. Funny thing, Book of Mormon, you can't find anything. You can't find the cities, you can't find the weapons they used, you can't find any archaeological, not even a coin, nothing, the rivers, nothing, nothing, everything in here.

Go to Jerusalem, you can see it in Israel. That in and of itself is amazing, because it's absolutely without error historically. The kings, such and such, such and such, right on the money. The cities, the rivers, the Jordan, the layout of the land, everything matches.

And I say, well, Shane, that's not enough, that just might be, you know, good, you know, some accuracy there, but that still doesn't convince me. Okay, well, let's look at even, and there's so many of these examples, that's why I recommend those two books in your note, in the bottom of your notes, Evidence Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, I mean, has a plethora of information, and then Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin.

But in Joshua, we read about Jericho, and this is, you can, you know, you'll go online, you'll find just about anything, people, you know, denying this, so I don't trust online stuff that much, so you have to research it.

But Jericho, remember in Joshua, how the walls, the Bible says that the wall fell down in Jericho? Well, starting in 1929, Dr. John Garstang evacuated, or actually excavated the ruins of ancient Jericho.

His discoveries corresponded remarkably with the biblical account. Jericho, he found, had a double wall with houses built across the two walls. This explains how Rahab's house, you know, the harlot who put her scarlet thread down so her family wouldn't be destroyed.

This explains how her house was built upon the wall. He learned that the wall was destroyed by some kind of violent convulsion. Because see, what happens when an enemy would attack a wall in those days, it would be the battering ram.

It'd be destroyed, you know, knocked down into little rocks every time. This wall, they found, actually fell down the hillside all around. It's just a flat wall. It's there, they've confirmed archaeologically.

They've confirmed all these things that base the history of the Bible that matches today. It's amazing. What about archaeologically? Let's get into that next one. There's so many here as well, but the funny thing I found was no archaeological discovery.

They've never discovered anything archaeologically that ever has proven wrong one Bible reference. In other words, they've never found anything that says, oh, this is, see where the Bible was wrong? Everything confirms, confirms, confirms.

The biggest one I'm sure a lot of you have heard of is the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found earlier in the 1900s. You might say, what's the big deal about that? Well, this little boy was with his, I guess, tending sheep and a goat.

He threw a rock down this cave and he heard it hit, like hit some pottery. And they went down there and they pulled out all these ancient scrolls. They call it the biggest discovery probably of the century.

And when you open it, they find that they were dated back to 200, 300 BC. That's 2 ,200 years ago. When they open it up, Isaiah, the same Isaiah we read today, except for a little jot, a little tittle here, a little grammar error, you know, the same Isaiah we read in the Bible, they found from 2 ,300 years ago.

I mean, those discoveries confirm. They dig up and they go, oh, look at this king. Look at this tomb. Look at this city. Look, everything is confirmed archaeologically. Still not convinced, okay. Let's talk about why I believe scientifically.

Scientific Evidence and Intelligent Design

The Bible talks about the air currents, the path of the seas, mountains under the seas. How was he supposed to know all this? Written before we even had, you know, submarines or cameras underneath the ocean, all these different things.

There's springs underneath the seas, the dinosaurs, mathematics, man came from dust. Where's the seed of life? They talked about the seed of life, that all humanity is one blood, that the life of the flesh is in the blood.

Everything it talked about, science confirms, sanitary practices, dietary guidelines, the universe, time and space, the beginning and initial void, an expanding universe, atoms, the earth is a sphere, the rotation of the earth, the orbit of the sun.

It all talks about it and it confirms. If you read old ancient Egyptian stuff, it says, you know, to cure this, get the hairs of a cat and boil it and dog's dung and all this crazy stuff. This is absolutely amazing, right on the money.

I mean, that's one reason how they discover when they're working on people that were sick to wash their hands, from reading the scripture, the cleansing process of water. I mean, scientifically, it is, it's not even a scientific book, but it's perfect in these areas.

How can you name the circle of the earth and the heavens and the stars and all these things that seas under, everything, the beginning of life, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Scientists are saying, well, it looks like the blood holds the life of the, exactly, it's all in here.

Scientifically, it proves it, it's not wrong. What about, I mean, think about this, let's just take a little quick rabbit trail. Oxygen level, here, 20%. The gravitational pull, just enough. The sun, one degree further, we'd be an iceberg.

One degree closer, we'd be a volcano. What do you do with that? What do you do with the humidity, the gravitational pull, the weather, everything. I'm reading this book, Case for a Creator. It's one of those, you have to read the chapters three times because they talk about quantum physics and all these things.

If you get down to the molecular structure of the atom and the DNA, it's like this huge library that's pulling out information we can't even see with the eye and forming life. Who put all that together?

Who did that? The universe is just right, the sun, everything, two planets hit and here we are? No, sir. Come on. See, the problem is we don't want to open up our heart and say, Lord, show me. This is right on the money, scientifically, archeologically, prophetically.

I remember I was reading in that book about the smallest motor, the smallest, most efficient motor that they just discovered. I don't want to pronounce the word because I might mess it up. I think it's F-E-L-L-U-M, flam or something, has to do with bacteria.

This little thing we can't even see without a microscope, it's like an outboard motor on a boat, but far more efficient because it can spin 10 ,000 RPMs and then stop on a dime and go the other direction.

It directs the bacteria, it's got a rotating shift, it's got everything, just like a motor. Scientists are baffled. You read all these quotes from people, they're saying the scientific community is pretty much rejecting Darwinism.

As you look at the beginning of life, there's no way. There's no way you can. It screams creator. That's why they call it intelligent design and there's got to be something out there because when they study life, they just get more confused.

Where did all this come from? It's just operating. I mean, he talked about the DNA, there's so many, it could fill like 75 ,000 pages in the New York Times of all the information it has and it sends it out to form life, to combine these proteins.

All that just happened? My goodness. It made me think, boy, we serve a great God, we're worried about finances and this and that. He created the universe. You know, he created all these things. So that's another reason why I believe.