Our need for forgiveness through Jesus is real

It is amazing to me once again, as a fellow pastor and preacher of the Scriptures, that a person who has devoted himself to the ministry could purposely lead so many others astray by doubting the Bible he studied, preached and believed.

It sounds to me like the Rev. Howard Bess doesn’t believe in the God of the Bible and his son Jesus Christ. He says the differences in texts of the four Gospels “cannot be reasonably reconciled.” Basically, he is discounting the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture that God through Paul tells us about his word.

Whereas, the four Gospels are not identical, one should not expect four different authors to recount the events exactly the same. Nor should we expect the authors writing to four different audiences to tell the same information, since the different audiences would need to hear different messages — the Bible is a collection of different letters to different groups canonized into one book, the Bible.

Matthew wrote to Jews. Luke wrote to his Greek friend Theopholis. John wrote to the Church. And Mark wrote from yet a different perspective, probably told to him by Peter while serving as missionaries.

But Rev. Bess discounts that it is God’s word and just the opinion of misguided men. And if he doubts some Scripture as believable, what else does he doubt.

Belief is about faith, not doubt. We can and should still have questions. But when we doubt the validity of God’s word, we are, in effect, calling God a liar.

Rev. Bess seems to think there were no eyewitnesses. He could not be further from the truth. There were dozens and hundreds of eyewitnesses to the crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

First, the Roman soldiers who performed the crucifixion. Then Josephus, who records the death on a cross of Jesus of Nazareth, must have interviewed witnesses himself.

All the Gospels tell us of the times Jesus showed himself to his disciples. Mary saw him in the Garden. The two on the road saw and spoke with Jesus. Jesus ate with the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Thomas put his hands and fingers in the wounds of Jesus on Jesus’ second appearance to the disciples.

Along with the disciples, there were about 120 followers who huddled together hiding from authorities. These all saw Jesus during the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension. It is one of the most attested facts in history.

Is the Bible lying? If so, then God is lying. If God is lying then there is no Jesus Christ the Messiah, who lived a sinless life and died and rose again. Then there is no eternal life or forgiveness of sin.

Therefore, we would all be living a lie — that is incredulous, especially for a called preacher of the Gospel he says he believes.

Then to say Jesus was thrown on a garbage pile and eaten by dogs is unbelievable. Without the resurrection, we then have no resurrection. The Bible says Jesus was buried and rose again and is the firstborn among many brethren. The Bible is not mythology — it is God’s word. If one says Jesus was not buried but left to rot on a garbage heap, how then does one reconcile what Jesus said about rising in three days like Jonah was in the fish?

Is Easter and the resurrection true or not? Can we believe the Bible? Well, if it’s a lie, then millions of people have based their entire life on a lie. And we are free to believe that if we want.

However, we must also reconcile that people will not give their life for a lie. If Easter is a lie, then millions of people have been deceived in the biggest deception of all time.

However, since it is a proven historical fact and if we ignore it, we do so at our own peril and loss of eternity in heaven with a resurrected Lord Jesus — bearing the scars of his death in his body! Easter is real! Jesus is real! And our need for forgiveness is real — and Jesus is willing and ready to forgive us all if we ask. That’s the message I preach, and that’s the message the people of Journey Church believe; do you?