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The REAL Deal
The Most Interesting Story I Ever Heard
Does God Exist?
Quite a powerful message. You may be surprised as to who the reported
source of the following message is:
Did God create everything that exists?
Does evil exist? Did God create evil?
A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?"
A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"
"God created everything?" The professor asked.
"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil."
The student became quiet and did not reply concerning the professor's hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question, professor?"
"Of course", replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"
"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The other students snickered at the young man's question.
The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.
Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter
becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."
The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of
darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct?
Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."
Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.
To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it
does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes
when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."
The professor sat down.
The young man's name -- Albert Einstein
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From www.bbnradio.org:
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The most interesting story I ever heard was told me years ago by a man over eighty years of age. We were sitting together on a projecting rock of a mountainside in Arkansas. Here is the story:
"I was down in this country during the Civil War. Across on the other side yonder there were hundreds of tents where our soldiers were encamped. Measles broke out and many of the brave lads died. The epidemic got so bad we stretched some tents farther down the valley and moved all the measles patients into these tents. This, of course, was done to protect as far as possible the health of the well soldiers. I was wardmaster in charge of the tents where the measles patients were located.
"One night while I was on the ward, I passed a bunk where there was a very sick soldier lad not more than seventeen years of age. The boy looked at me with a pathetic expression and said:
"'Wardmaster, I believe I am going to die. I am not a Christian. My mother isn't a Christian. My father isn't a Christian. I never had any Christian training. I never did attend church. I did go with a boy friend to Sunday school just once. A woman taught the Sunday school class. She seemed to be such a good woman. She read us something out of the Bible about a man - I think his name was Nicodemus. Anyway, it was about a man who went to see Jesus one night. Jesus told this man he must be born again. The teacher said all people must be born again in order to go to heaven when they die. I have never been born again, and I don't want to die like this. Won't you please get the chaplain so he can tell me how to be born again?'"
The old man hesitated for a moment. "You know, in those days I was an agnostic - at least, that is what I called myself. As a matter of fact, I wasn't anything but an old sinner. So I told the boy, 'You don't need a chaplain. Just be quiet now. Don't worry, you'll be all right.' I went around the ward and in about an hour I came back to the boy's bed. He looked at me out of such sad, staring eyes as he said, 'Wardmaster, if you won't get me the chaplain, please get me the doctor. I am choking to death.' 'All right, my son, I'll get the doctor,' I said. So I went off and found the doctor. He came and mopped out the throat of the lad so he could breathe a little easier. I knew the boy was going to die. I had seen many other cases just like his. The boy was so sweet he literally climbed into my heart. He thanked me for my kindness. He thanked the doctor for being so good to him. The doctor and I went away from the bed.
"In about an hour, I came back expecting to find the boy dead, but he was still struggling. As the light began to fade from his eyes he looked up and said, 'There is no use, Wardmaster. I have got to die, and I haven't been born again. Whether you believe in it or not, won't you find the chaplain and let him tell me how to be born again?' I looked at him for a moment and thought about how helpless he was in the grip of death. So I said, 'All right, my son, I will get the chaplain.'
"I walked away a few paces and then turned and went back to the boy's bedside. I said, 'My boy, I am not going to get you the chaplain. I am going to tell you what to do myself. Now, understand, I am an agnostic. I don't know whether there is any God. I don't know whether there is any heaven. I don't know whether there is any hell. I don't know anything. Yes, I do. I know one thing. I know my mother was a good woman. I know if there is a God my mother knew Him. If there is a heaven I know she is there. So I will tell you what my mother told me. You can try it and see if it works. Now, I am going to teach you a verse of Scripture. The verse is John 3:16.
"'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' My mother said that I cannot save myself, but if I will believe in Jesus He will save me.'
"I asked the boy to say the verse with me. I started, and he followed with a weak and trembling voice. 'For God so loved the world,' 'For God so loved the world'; 'He gave His only begotten Son,' 'He gave His only begotten Son'; 'that whosoever believeth in Him'; 'should not perish,' 'should not perish,' 'but have everlasting life,' but have everlasting life.' 'Now, my boy, my mother said if a person will trust Jesus he will not perish but have everlasting life.'
"I referred the lad to another verse my mother taught me, but he closed his eyes, stretched his hands across his breast and in a whisper he quoted slowly, repeating some of the words several times: 'For God so loved the world... He gave His only begotten Son... that whosoever, whosoever... whosoever believeth, believeth in Him, believeth in Him.'
"Then he stopped and said in a clear voice, 'Praise God, Wardmaster, it works. I believe in Him! I shall not perish! I have everlasting life! I have been born again. Wardmaster, your mother was right. Why don't you try it? Do what your mother said. It works, Wardmaster. This thing works! Wardmaster, before I go I want to ask you to do something for me. Take a kiss to my mother and tell her what you told me, and tell her that her dying son said, 'It works.' I leaned over and kissed him and then as he drew his last breath he said, 'It works.'"
The old man wiping tears out of his eyes and tears out of the wrinkles of his face, said, "The lad was right. It does work. Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but has now everlasting life. It works. I know it works!"
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16
Bob Jones, Sr.
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Provided by International Bible Society
John 3:16
In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner. The people were in and out of the cold.
The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers.
He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there for tonight.
Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."
The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and they will let you in." So he did.
He walked up the steps and knocked on the door, and a lady answered.
He looked up and said, "John 3:16."
The lady said, "Come on in son." She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went off.
The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself: John 3:16...... I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.
Later, she came! back and asked him, "Are you hungry?"
He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days and I guess I could stand a little bit of food."
The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to himself: John 3:16..... boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a hungry boy full.
She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16..... I sure don't understand it but it sure does make a dirty boy clean.
You know, I've not had a real bath in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.
The lady came in and got him. She took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the window, at the snow coming down on that cold night, he thought to himself: John 3:16.... I don't understand it but it sure makes a tired boy rested.
The next morning, the lady came back up and took him down again to that same table full of food. After he ate, she took him down again to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up a big old Bible. She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.
"Do you understand John 3:16?" she asked gently.
He replied, "No ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it."
She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought: John 3:16. I don't understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.
You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing.
I don't understand the agony of the Father and every angel in Heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die. I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end. I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions.
Jesus said, If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father (the exact quotes are as follows: in Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels).
I do Love God. He is my source of existence. He keeps me functioning each and every day. He loves you and me SO very much. Every day my hope and my prayer is the our dear Father will please intervene in my life - because He loves you so deeply, so wonderfully, so infiniely, you can trust Him enough to pray that prayer with reverence, hope and gratitude.
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"For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
- from The Holy Bible, New Testament, book of John, Chapter 3, Verses 16 and 17.
author: Almighty God Himself, for the Holy Bible itself really IS the VERY WORD OF ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF!
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Jude 24-25:
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Frank Perez's salvation testimony
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