TRUE OR FALSE. The first music record featured Mary Had a Little Lamb. The most popular pet name in the U.S. is Smokey.

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1 FACT OR FICTION 1

2 2 TRUE OR FALSE Humans have unique fingerprints, and gorillas have unique nose prints. Smoking is the leading cause of house fires in the U.S. The first music record featured Mary Had a Little Lamb. The most popular pet name in the U.S. is Smokey. The bat is the only mammal that flies.

3 3 Muslim people are asked to tithe 10% of their income. It takes 11 feet of wire to make a Slinky. The Bible is true. How do we know? And does it matter?

4 WAYS TO KNOW Changed lives The conversion of the human soul is of no little consequence. It is the greatest miracle performed by divine power (Evangelism p. 289). Fulfilled prophecy The foundation of his [Paul s] faith was the sure word of prophecy (The Acts of the Apostles p. 125). Consider Daniel 2, Jeremiah 17:24, 25, 27 and 2 Chronicles 36:19, 21. Confirmed by archeology and historical records Consider the Dead See Scrolls, the Tel Dan inscription (which is the first historical evidence of King David), and three other steles that mention Israel. 4

5 5 The Tel Dan stela talks about the king of Israel and the king of the House of David. In the stela in neat Aramaic characters, the Aramean king boasts that under the divine guidance of the god Hadad he vanquished several thousand Israelite and Judahite horsemen and charioteers before personally dispatching both of his royal opponents. Unfortunately, the fragments of the House of David inscription do not preserve the names of the specific kings involved in this encounter, but most scholars believe the stela recounts a campaign of Hazael of Damascus defeating both Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah.

6 Tel Dan Stele 6 Oren Rozen_wikipedia

7 House of David (bytdwd) 7 Oren Rozen_wikipedia

8 8 Canaan has been plundered... Merneptah Stele Israel is laid waste.

9 Mesha Stele The stela tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, was angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to Israel, but Chemosh finally assisted King Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel which allowed the lands of Moab to be restored. 9

10 Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser This stela mentions King Ahab of Israel. 10

11 11 TERTULLIAN An early Christian writer who died in AD 250 at age 60 First writer to use the term trinity, a precursor to the Nicene Creed He was also an apologist for Christianity and wrote many works defending the apostatized Christian faith, including the sacredness of Sunday.

12 12 TERTULLIAN S TRINITY Not a triune god (three gods in one) But a triad or a group of three, with God as the founding member The Father brought forth the Son, the Son the Holy Spirit. They are truly three and none is identical to the other and they are not parts of a whole identity, but are separate identities. Orthodox trinitarianism one god in three persons. The three persons are distinct, yet of one substance or essence or nature.

13 13 Tertullian was the first Christian writer to face a serious attack concerning the nature of God. In response, he outlined a formula summarizing the biblical teaching on this, and was the first to use the word trinitas to describe the relation of God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He also was the first to use the word persona for the persons of the Trinity.

14 14 J. N. Andrews discusses Tertullian in The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day. This book was published in 1873.

15 15 ANDREWS NOTES THAT TERTULLIAN... contradicts himself over the sabbath and the law of God, saying, for example, that Christ abolished the sabbath and then another time that he did not. wrote that Jesus broke the sabbath but then said he did not. taught a perpetual Lord s Day or a perpetual sabbath by the observance of every day. advocated Sunday worship.

16 HE STOOD ON THE LINE BETWEEN EXPIRING DAY AND ADVANCING NIGHT This strange mingling of light and darkness plainly indicates the age in which this author lived. He was not so far removed from the time of the apostles but that many clear rays of divine truth shone upon him; and he was far enough advanced in the age of apostasy to have it dense darkness materially affect him. He stood on the line between expiring day and advancing night. (Andrews, The Complete Testimony... p. 63) The works Andrews s quotes were written about AD 207 (the chronology is not exact). This is 176 years after the death of Christ. We are 173 years from 1844 and we also are on a line of expiring day and advancing night. 16

17 17 Likewise, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has advanced 173 years from 1844, and we also see a strange mingling of light and darkness in it. The corporate church is not so far removed from the light given our forefathers through the inspiration of the Spirit of Prophecy that many clear rays of divine light can still shine upon it, but it is so far advanced in the very doctrine Tertullian gave the apostate Christian world that dense darkness encompasses it. God s remnant stands between expiring day and advancing night.

18 18 We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, deviating from the old Jewish customs, which they are now very ignorant of. (Apology, sect. 16, Reeves translation, 1873 JNA, TFTC 65.6) We neither accord with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food, nor in their sacred days. - Apology, sect. 21. (1873 JNA, TFTC 66.2)

19 19 The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy days. 'Your sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies,' says he, 'my soul hateth.' By us (to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons, and festivals formerly beloved by God) the Saturnalia and New Year s and mid-winter s festivals and Matronalia are frequented - presents come and go - New Year s gifts - games join their noise - banquets join their din!... Not the Lord s day, not Pentecost, even if they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. - On Idolatry, chap. xiv. (1873 JNA, TFTC 66.4)

20 20 The sabbath and Jericho (makes a distinction between man s work and God s work) The Shunammite woman No sabbath mention after creation in Genesis and classes the seventh-day sabbath with circumcision--both were done away Temporal sabbath (seventh day) and eternal sabbath (divine) Fall of manna TERTULLIAN ALSO ADDRESSES... Gathering sticks on the sabbath day Maccabees they fought certain battles on the sabbath