After I arrived at the conclusion that the Bible was exactly what It claimed to be, the Word of the Living God, I put the God of that Word to the test. This is what He invites you and I to do. A careful reading of the book of Acts quickly convinced me of the undeniable fact that the early believers had a working relationship with their God and were used of Him in a startling manner to win lost souls to Him. The tragic truth is that I have lived among professed Christians most of my life and have seen none of the evidences of the love and power of God demonstrated in and through them. What I have seen on television, in the pulpit and in the dealings of professed Christians, is towering human pride, selfishness, a publicly professed hatred of sinners and a private love and participation in the very sins they so vehemently denounce publicly. Rare indeed is an encounter with anyone whose actions reveal anything more than a pretended religion. Converts are sought for no other purpose than to bring praise to the evangelist and add money to the coffers of the churches.

Little or none of these monies are used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide shelter for the homeless and care for the sick and dying. Instead these monies are used to build magnificent buildings and to support a lifestyle among the "merchandisers of the Grace of God" that is totally different from that of our "example who had not where to lay His head." Reader, these people are not God's representatives in a sin-sick world that is teetering on the very brink of destruction! You must look to where there are those who have humility and fear (respect) of God and a deep abiding love for those for whom Christ died; I speak not of the "multi-national organizations" who ask for money over the television and skim 98% of the donations to feed, clothe and care for the sick and needy, for "administrative costs."

In the day of judgment God will say, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Matthew 25:40. To the pretenders through whom Satan performed his "signs and lying wonders" God says, ''Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." Matthew 25:45. "I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." Matthew 7:23. God further says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27. Friend, if this is not your lifestyle, your eternal life and those for whom you should be laboring are in deadly peril.

If these are strong words to your ears, if you feel discomfort as you read them, this is a good sign. We are created by a magnificent God who gave us the ability not only to choose, but the ability to know the truth when we hear it. The world has lost sight of many of the great truths, but to those who thirst for them, He will not disappoint you.

And many times we may not recognize the truth for it is not what we were looking for. We have preconceived notions as to what we need to know and want to hear. Consider the disciples; they were able to go forth into a world set on their destruction and preach the gospel with profound effect and determination. They had unfaltering faith because of their living, breathing experience with the Lord. They came and followed Him; they listened as he preached; they recognized the truth, and they believed. Then, when all appeared lost, when their precious master hung on a cross as a common criminal instead of reigning from His earthly throne over His earthly kingdom, they felt their very hearts torn from them. Yet, when it seemed as though darkness would prevail, Christ arose from the dead and came to them, a living testimony to our promise of salvation and victory over death. God alone, in His wisdom, knew exactly how to bring about the kind of conviction within the disciples needed to carry the gospel to the world.

I also have experienced God and cannot tread lightly in presenting the message that must be heard. In my studies I've noted more and more that scholars are promoting the belief that there wasn't a true exodus. One writer stated that he believed it had to be a slow migration over a period of many years for there wasn't any evidence of millions of people journeying through the stated path. Egyptologists flatly state that there is no evidence of Moses in Egyptian history, and therefore he was just a Hebrew folk-hero. Imagine their faces when they discover the positive evidences of not only who Moses was in Egyptian history but who his adoptive mother was, who the pharaoh was that died in the Red Sea and who was the first-born son of pharaoh that died in the plagues! Note Jeremiah 16:14: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." As far as I can ascertain, our present age is the first time this disbelief has existed. Even the Moslems devoutly believe in Moses.

But there is no doubt that it all happened exactly as the Lord preserved it in the Holy Scriptures. I can assure you, for in 1978 I saw with my own eyes the chariot wheels on the sea floor, some overlayed with gold, some iron, some still attached to the axles, and in 1984 I saw Mt. Sinai in Saudi Arabia, with the altar, 12 pillars. and everything written of in Exodus 24:4 and more. My sons and I spent 75 days in prison there after we were reported to the Saudi Arabian Embassy as being Israeli spies by someone I had trusted and confided in. Our release and return home was televised on the CBS Morning News, and we told the country of our discovery. No one said they didn't believe us, but if they had, would they have just smiled and gone on to the next news story? It would have been very easy to be discouraged at that point in my life. Prison is never pleasant, especially when your two sons are with you and you realize that you may be there a very long time. But when we were released and our captors told us the name of the person who had reported us to be spies, it was a disillusionment in my fellow man that brought perhaps my deepest personal awareness of how vile Satan really is. It also was another living experience of the power of God. When things looked their bleakest and we had almost given up hope, we were set free. And it was also perhaps my greatest test, for as Christ had loved and died for every sinner, even those who condemned and crucified Him, I was commanded to love even this man. Only through God's love and might are we able to love those who persecute us.

'Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know Mine Hand and My might and they shall know that My name is the Lord." Jeremiah 16:21.

God is about to open everyone's eyes. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. When it is His time, and not a minute sooner, things will be revealed to you that will cause you to know that the events of the Bible happened exactly as God spoke it through His divinely inspired writers.

We need only to look around us to know that Satan is intensely aroused against the Word of God. He knows the scriptures well and therefore knows what lies ahead for him and his fallen angels. He is going to wage great warfare on any light we receive and we must each be aware. Many may preach things that "sound right" or "make a lot of sense", but check it out for yourself in the Word of God! "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 16:25. Cling to His promise - "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not and it shall be given him." James 1:5.