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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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| Let's ask God to guide us during this lesson: |
| Our Lord, We now want to look into the subject of the inspiration of the Scriptures. We thank You for hearing our prayer, and we humbly ask You to clearly show us why we should believe that the Bible is really what it claims to be, that is, the Word of God. We pray in Jesus Christ. Amen. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Psalm 12:6 |
Comments |
| The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace. | Such is the claim of the Bible: this book,
printed in more than half a billion copies since the invention of printing, states that
its content deserves the greatest attention because its author is none other than God
Himself. Could such a statement be believable? |
2 Timothy 3:16 |
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| All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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2 Peter 1:21 |
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| For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. | Forty authors participated in the writing of the 66
books of the Bible, a work which spans 1500 years. Most of these authors never became acquainted, living in different times and places: nevertheless, this collection of 66 books presents a remarkable unity. Such harmony reveals the presence of a common inspiration: God. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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1 Thessalonians 2:13 |
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| For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. | The apostle Paul, writing to the people of
Thessalonica, strongly confirms the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The Bible is not simply a book speaking to us about God: it is God speaking to us through this book! It is like a recorder making us hear the voice of God. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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Psalm 119:160 |
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| The entirety of Your word is truth. | Jesus Christ Himself asserted the divine
inspiration of the Scriptures: He attributed superhuman authority to them, using them to
refute error and to repel the Tempter. «It is written», said Jesus, quoting from the Scriptures. Christ's example constitutes for us an invaluable guarantee of the divine inspiration of the Bible. |
John 17:17 |
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| Your word is truth. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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1 Peter 1:25 |
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| «But the word of the Lord endures forever.» Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. | Despite centuries of attacks,
tribulations, and attempted destruction, the Bible stays unshakeable, unchanged, as
several archaeological discoveries reveal. God has personally made sure that the message of the Bible was protected throughout the ages. |
John 10:35 |
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| The Scripture cannot be broken. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Romans 1:16 |
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| For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. | The transforming power of the Bible's message, hidden
but still effective, testifies to the Scriptures' divine inspiration. We encourage you to experience this power through these lessons: every sincere heart will feel the indisputable influence coming from the study of this Book. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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Jeremiah 23:29 |
Comments |
| «Is not My word like a fire?» says the Lord, «and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?» | Our next lessons will clearly demonstrate these Scriptural properties. |
Hebrews 4:12 |
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| For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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Amos 3:7 |
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| Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. | Speaking through His prophets, God not only foretells the future with a rigorous accuracy, but also warns us of His future interventions, that we may plan accordingly. |
2 Chronicles 20:20 |
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| Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Psalm 119:105 |
Comments |
| Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. | To adopt the Bible as our guide on the path of life is
the most important decision that we can make in the course of our lifetime. We will see that life is strewn with pitfalls, but also that the Scriptures can teach us how to bypass many of those pitfalls, increasing our peace and happiness. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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2 Peter 1:19 |
Comments |
| We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. | Note how the apostle Peter highly recommends the
reliability of Scripture as the only guide we can trust. By the end of this set of lessons, we pray that this fact will be firmly established. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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Ephesians 6:11,17 |
Comments |
| Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (...) Take (...) the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. |
The apostle Paul, describing the armor we need to
fight the devil, lists several defensive weapons: the shield of faith, the breastplate of
righteousness, the helmet of salvation, etc. He ends the list with the only offensive weapon: the sword, which is the Word of God. Our fighting ability will be directly affected by how often we «train» with our sword. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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Lesson 2 |
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Jeremiah 6:10 |
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| To whom shall I speak and give
warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. |
Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys studying God's
word. Some think that the Bible is a boring book, while others believe that no one can understand it, that it is interpreted without rhyme or reason. Yet, God gives us some advice regarding how to study it. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
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1 Corinthians 2:14 |
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| But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. | First of all, our frame of mind can make all the
difference. Do we really wish to deepen our knowledge of the Scriptures, or do we approach the Bible in a spirit of opposition, or hostility? |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Proverbs 28:5 |
Comments |
| Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all. | Our understanding of the message God wants to give us
depends partly on the sincerity of our heart in our search for truth. As a famous proverb says, «there is none so deaf as he who will not hear». Nothing will be understood by those who don't wish to understand. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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1 Peter 5:5 |
Comments |
| Be clothed with humility, for «God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.» | Second essential point: we must recognize that we need
God's help to understand the message contained in His book. There is no one better than the author of a book to explain its content! If we leave God out, and try to understand the Bible on our own, our efforts will be doomed to failure. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Psalm 119:18 |
Comments |
| Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. | We can now understand better why we always
begin and end each lesson with a prayer. It is essential to rely on God's Spirit who will enlighten us while we go through the pages of the Bible. |
Luke 24:45 |
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| [Jesus] opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
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Isaiah 28:9,10 |
Comments |
| Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just
drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. |
When we want to know what the Bible teaches on a
particular subject, we must consult all the Bible verses speaking of this subject. A single verse could be misinterpreted, but the entire collection of verses will clearly demonstrate what is to be understood. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 19 |
Revelation 22:18,19 |
Comments |
| I testify to everyone
who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: «If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.» |
When we study the Word of God, it is important not to twist the meaning of Bible verses, or to hide some of them, simply because we do not like them: that is why we must always be open-minded. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 20 |
2 Corinthians 2:17 |
Comments |
| For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God. | The apostle Paul avoided twisting
the meaning of the Scriptures. But he knew that many were not doing so. For example, how can you be sure that the present set of lessons is not a bunch of lies? How can you know that we have not tampered with the Word of God before presenting it to you? |
2 Corinthians 4:2 |
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| But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 21 |
Acts 17:11 |
Comments |
| [The Jews from Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. | God invites us to adopt His Word as our supreme rule
of faith, our criterion of truth, our infallible standard. Don't trust either our word nor any other individual's. We must always verify for ourselves whether the teachings presented to us are in accordance with the Scriptures. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 22 |
Jeremiah 15:16 |
Comments |
| Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. | Conscientious study of the Bible provides
incomparable blessings to those who invest time in it. This could be the opportunity to get precise and satisfying answers to questions we have been asking ourselves for a long time, like: - Where do we come from? - Where are we going? - What happens after death? And many other questions... |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 23 |
Romans 15:4 |
Comments |
| For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. | Far from being a boring book, the Bible can
give real meaning to our life here on earth. The answers it gives to fundamental questions
bring hope back to its students. We will soon discover why the friends of the Bible are overflowing with hope in a world which sinks into despair. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 24 |
Matthew 4:4 |
Comments |
| [Jesus] answered and said, «It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God".» | May God guide us while we study His Word. |
Isaiah 34:16 |
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| Search from the book of the Lord, and read. |
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The Moment of Truth |
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The Letter God Wrote to You |
Lesson 2 |
Screen 25 |
| Let's pray together: |
| Our Father in heaven, We can not be grateful enough for Your Word, the Bible, and we want to adopt it as a lamp for our feet, a light for our path. Give us sincerity and humility of heart, that we may be guided by Your Spirit, and thus be able to understand the message You keep in reserve for each one of us. We pray in Jesus Christ. Amen. |
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The test of Lesson 2 is waiting for you!Source of the Pictures of this Lesson |
| Screen 1: In: «Photo Gallery 5,000 volume 1» by Media Graphics International, 037_200.JPG. Screen 2: CRUZ, Nery. In: «La Sentinelle» magazine (March 1984), Pacific Press Publishing Association, p.1. Screen 3: AYRES, Robert. In: «La Sentinelle» magazine (September 1991), Pacific Press Publishing Association, p.8. Screen 4: Used by permission. Copyright © 1959, 1987 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. CRANDALL, John. In: «Votre Bible et vous» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.8. Screen 5: Used by permission. Copyright © 1956, 1984 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. LEE, Manning de V. In: «The Bible Story, volume 7» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.117. Screen 6: «A blacksmith shapes a rod of red-hot iron on an anvil.» In: «Deluxe Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD - 1998 Edition», Compton's Home Library, 1997. Screen 7: In: «Questionnaire Adulte de l'Ecole du Sabbat», Pacific Press Publishing Association, First Quarter, 1996, front cover. Screen 8: Photo by BLUE, Betty. In: «La Sentinelle» magazine (October 1996), Pacific Press Publishing Association, p.11. Screen 9: Used by permission. Copyright © 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1968, 1996 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. RUDEEN, Herbert. In: «Uncle Arthur's Bible Book» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), Review and Herald Publishing Association, p.272. Screen 10: Used by permission. Copyright © 1959, 1987 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. BERRAN, Robert. In: «Votre Bible et vous» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.4. Screen 11: Photo by P. BLEECKX. In: «Le Moniteur», Pacific Press Publishing Association, First Quarter, 1999, front cover. Screen 12: Used by permission. Copyright © 1959, 1987 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. HARLAN, Russell. In: «Votre Bible et Vous» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.152. Screen 13: STEEL, John. In: «The Triumph of God's Love, volume 2» (WHITE, Ellen G.), Pacific Press Publishing Association and Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950, p.529. Screen 14: Used by permission. Copyright © 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1976 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. NYE, Vernon. In: «Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, volume 2» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.98. Screen 15: LAUNE, Paul. In: «The Living Bible Encyclopedia in Story and Pictures, volume 7», New York, H.S. Stuttman Co. Inc., 1968, p.912-d. Screen 16: In: «The Watchtower» magazine (February 1, 1990), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.3. Picture edited by Cyberspace Ministry. Screen 17: Comstock Photo Library, London. In: «Revelation» (LORIE, Peter), Simon & Schuster, Labyrinth Publishing Ltd, 1994, p.75. Screen 18: Picture by EASTMAN, Bryant. Unknown source. Screen 19: CONVERSE, James. In: «The Triumph of God's Love, volume 2» (WHITE, Ellen G.), Pacific Press Publishing Association and Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950, p.460. Screen 20: In: «La Tour de Garde» magazine (November 15, 1989), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.7. Picture edited by Cyberspace Ministry. Screen 21: Used by permission. Copyright © 1957, 1985 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. HARLAN, Russell. In: «The Bible Story, volume 10» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), p.92. Screen 22: In: «The Watchtower» magazine (August 15, 1990), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.1. Screen 23: In: «Prophecy Seminars», Seminars Unlimited, 1989, Daniel lesson #23 («The Day of Deliverance»), p.5. Screen 24: Used by permission. Copyright © 1959, 1987 by Review and Herald® Publishing Association, USA. All Rights Reserved. In: «Votre Bible et Vous» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), front cover. Screen 25: In: «Photo Gallery 5,000 volume 1» by Media Graphics International, 44_157.JPG. |
| Any copyrighted images not bearing a statement of permission, are used for the purpose of non-commercial scholarly commentary or criticism in accordance with section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law, and with article 29 of Canada Copyright Act (Chapter C-42), which by law can be without the consent or endorsement of the copyright holder. Images lacking attribution are either known or assumed to be in the public domain, or have an as yet undetermined status. Anyone having knowledge of proper attribution for an image is requested to contact us via email below so that it can be correctly noted. It is our intent to comply fully with applicable laws regarding intellectual property rights. |
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The Letter God Wrote
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