"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. . . . do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."^2/39

Without a drop of blood our Constitution and Bill of Rights were written because we took God and His Word the Judeo-Christian Bible into consideration in developing these documents. Benjamin Franklin later wrote, "He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the World."^3/342-343

Having taken God and his word into consideration, Jefferson wrote in our Constitution,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

As a result of taking God and His Word into consideration, our forefathers came to recognize that under our Creator we are created equal and all individually have the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Bible teaches us that because of Original Sin, Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden, man’s nature is corrupted and in bondage to sin (Romans 7:14). Our forefathers’ recognition of the Bible’s teaching on this matter and knowing that power corrupts and that it corrupts absolutely, and that because it does that there would be times when the people would need to defend and protect themselves from the Government itself, placed in the Bill of Rights in Article IV the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, and that this right could not be infringed upon. It was our knowledge of what the Bible teaches about man’s Fallen nature that gave our forefathers the wisdom to put Article IV in the Bill of Rights. Our Legal system having done away with the Bible and its teaching on man’s Fallen nature is why our rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are being threatened. They are being threatened because our leadership has no knowledge or understanding of why the Bill of Rights were put into our Constitution in the first place. The end result is that our leadership are acting out of their own finite reasoning, heart and emotions; and depending on who or what philosophy is most influencing them at any given time is what is determining law and policy in our country today. That is why our society is turning into chaos. That is why our legislatures in the 70's, 90's and even in 2000-2008 could not come to agreement to solve the deficit and other major problems in society. They could not solve them because every individual was being guided by his own reason and thoughts which is totally different from everyone else’s reasoning and thoughts. Now (2009) we have a completely liberal administration who rejects God, His Word and Christianity all together seeing it as its enemy; and as a result having no regard for our Constitution and wanting to trash it all together.  Because they believe they are right, they do not even listen to the people who voted them into office.  They have no regard for the limitations of the Constitution placed upon them and its teaching that they are not serving themselves but "We the People!"  As a result, before long, these godless men through there over taxation and spending legislation will ruin our country financially as a whole.  This is what Jeremiah was talking about in Jeremiah 17:5-6. He wrote,

"Thus says Yehovah, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his-arm, And whose heart turns away from Yehovah. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.’"

Why? Because God is judging us? No, because we are judging ourselves. God created us. He knows what makes us run right and smooth. He gave us His operating Manual the Bible to give us continuity and unity in purpose, work and law making, but we have rejected it. Now every man is a law to himself.  This is clearly deomonstrated in the government and the states pushing for Gay marriage.  Why?  Because it is totally contrary to the God's stated created purpose of man and government is making it plain to Christianity and God that we no longer have any place in society and politics.  We have rejected God’s operating manual in the marriage, the Bible, and as a result we have total chaos and anarchy in the home. Government, now, has no restraint in spending and an inability to control itself in its policy and law making.

Take the history of the forming of France’s Constitution for example. The situation in France’s writing of their constitution was quite different than ours. The first thing they did was throw out the Bible and confiscate the lands of the church and then tried to develop a democracy on humanistic ideas meaning the reasoning of man’s own thoughts. The only problem though was the legislatures could not agree on what these ideal humanistic concepts were. Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer wrote in his book How Should We Then Live?,

"The members of the National Assembly swore to establish a constitution. Their base, consciously, was purely a humanist theory of rights. On August 26, 1789, they issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It sounded fine, but it had nothing to rest upon. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man what was called the Supreme Being equaled the sovereignty of the nation—that is, the general will of the people."^4/122  ABC has declared Obama our new Messiah, even a god.  Jesus is no longer our God and King.  It took two years for the French National Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution (1789-1791). Within a year it was a dead letter. By that time what is often known as the Second French Revolution was in motion, leading to a bloodbath that ended with the revolutionary leaders themselves being killed.^5/83

They did not have a single unifying factor like the Bible to consider in trying to develop that constitution. They did not take into consideration what the Bible taught about man’s fallen nature and the danger of that nature not being checked through the knowledge of God’s word (Galatians 3:19). The end result was that those who thought their ideas were more right than others tried to force others to accept their view point and the Guillotine was created. Dr. Schaeffer further wrote,

"How quickly all the humanist ideals came to grief! In September 1792 began the massacre in which some 1,300 prisoners were killed. Before it was all over, the government and its agents killed 40,000 people, many of them peasants. . . . As in the later Russian Revolution the revolutionaries on their humanist base had only two options—anarchy or repression."

The Bible states Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

This is what is wrong in our society today. We have thrown what was our original basis for determining the morality of a law out: the Bible. We no longer take into consideration what the Bible teaches about the fallen nature of man. Now those who think they know better than our forefathers what should be right and wrong in our society are making the laws and forcing it upon us whether we want it or not. What is happening as a result? We no longer have justice in our court rooms. State governments are trying to take away our right to bear arms. Innocent children are being murdered by the millions through aborticide. A few years back a court ruled that it was prejudice and unconstitutional for the Boy Scouts to have in their oath I pledge to God and Country. . . . They ruled that the word God prejudiced atheists. Actually it is prejudice against people who believe in God.

Getting back to the original question, What is truth? How do we know that what Jesus claimed about Himself is true? How do we know that the Judeo-Christian Bible is true? How do we know that we can rely upon it as the absolute word of God and as the basis for determining our individual and community conduct? John quoted Jesus as saying to the Jews in John 5:39-40,

"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Jesus claimed to be God. Because He is God He cannot lie (Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18). Because he cannot lie, what He says is absolute true truth. Jesus put the writings of Moses and the Old Testament at the same level as His spoken words. Jesus saw the Bible as absolutely true truth in all that it affirms. Jesus said to the Jews that if they did not believe what Moses wrote in the Old Testament that they would not believe His words either. If Adam and Eve were not real People who really sinned and fell out of relationship with God, then Jesus’ coming and death and Resurrection have no meaning and their value to us as man in restoring us to relationship with God are under suspect.

God gave us the Bible through the hands of men in historical setting for confirmation and verification of its validity.^-6- He gave it to us because we could never discover the truth about ourselves and the universe unless He revealed it to us. This is because we are finite and limited. Finite man can never discover for himself the truth about himself or the universe’s beginning. God gave it to us because He really is and because He really did create us and the universe.

God still speaks to us today, but He has given us the written record of the Bible to give us the ability to discern what is truly His voice and messenger. This is what Jesus was saying to the Jews in the above passage. He was telling them that if they were really putting their trust in what Moses wrote and were really reading it, they would know that Jesus was who He claimed to be and that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.

We ask, How can we know that the Bible is reliable historically, cosmologically, scientifically and theologically? How can we know that what Jesus claimed about Himself, recorded in the Bible, is true? We know it is true because Jesus is true. And we know that Jesus is true because He proved to us He was true, that He was God the Son and that the Bible as He claimed is absolute true truth because he came back from the dead to prove to us that His claims were absolutely true.

"The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, ‘What sign do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?’" (John 2:18)

They were asking Jesus, How do we know you are who you claim to be? What is your proof to us that you really did come from God, that you are Yehovah God in the flesh, the Messiah, that your words are true? Jesus responded back to them,

"‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’. . . . But He was speaking of the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the SCRIPTURE, and the WORD which Jesus had spoken." (John 2:18-22).

Jesus looked his enemies straight in the eye and said, Kill me, and I will lay dead in a warm grave for three days and then come back from the dead to prove to You that I am Yehovah God in the flesh, the Messiah, and that all My claims are absolutely true.

This passage of Scripture tells us that not only were the Jews questioning the validity of who Jesus claimed to be and how literal the Old Testament should be taken but so did His disciples. But what brought Jesus’ disciples to a place of so strongly believing in Jesus as God the Son and the Bible as the absolute Word of God? It was Jesus fulfilling His promise to come back from the dead to prove to us that the Bible and His claims about Himself were true. After Jesus’ Resurrection His Apostles and disciples believed that the Bible, Jesus’ words and who Jesus claimed to be were absolute true truth. This is our absolute proof that what Jesus claimed about Himself is true and that the Bible is absolutely true truth and reliable for us today: the RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples. . . believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Was Jesus’ Resurrection just a story prefabricated by Jesus’ disciples (a story they all died to defend)? A few years ago I was talking to a Student I will call Bob at California State University of Fresno. I shared the Gospel with him and asked him if he had ever received Jesus as Savior and Lord before. He answered in response, No. I am an atheist. He believed that whatever was right for the individual was right. I told him that that was an interesting position. I then said to Bob,

Pastor Kruse (PK): Bob, lets clarify something. Albert Einstein, one of the most brilliant men of our time, said that the most intelligent person in the world did not know one-tenth of one percent of all the knowledge of the universe. Lets say you knew that one-tenth of a percent. In order for you to say with authority that there is no God you would have to claim to have all knowledge, to have traveled throughout the whole universe and concluded that there is no God. Can you make that claim?

Bob (B): No.

Pastor Kruse: Then your not really and atheist. An agnostic maybe.

B: Well I do not like to put labels on things.

PK: Bob, saying you are an agnostic simply means you do not know whether there is a God or not. Bob what could prove to you whether there is a God or not? Any ideas?

B: I don’t know.

PK: Bob, Jesus claimed to be God. When asked how He could prove not only that claim but also all other claims he made, such as He was the only way to God, the light of the world, etcetera, He replied back by saying to his inquirers, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."⁷ You know Bob, even Jesus’ disciples had doubts about Jesus’ claims and the literalness of the Old Testament which Jesus always drew his authority from, but after Jesus rose from the dead the Bible says that his disciples not only believed in the literalness of the Old Testament but also every Word Jesus had spoken.^-8- You see Bob, Christianity is not a metaphysical leap into the dark. It is fact based on solid historical fact. Jesus came back from the dead and the Apostle Paul tells us that besides himself that there where over 512 other witnesses to the fact of His physical resurrection.^-9-

B: It was nothing but mass hysteria.

PK: Bob, I could see how that might be a good argument if the five-hundred and twelve people only saw what they thought might have been Jesus from a distance and for a moment and then he was gone, but the Bible tells us that not only did Jesus rise from the dead and appear to more than five-hundred and twelve people but that after His resurrection he continued to walk, talk, eat and fellowship with these people for forty days. The first chapter of Acts verse 3 tells us,

"To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God."

Forty days gave these people plenty of opportunity to prove to themselves whether Jesus really did come back from the dead. The conclusion: He did and every one of His Apostles died a martyrs death upholding that claim except the Apostle John who was exiled on the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea where he died of old age.¹⁰

B: Ya. I guess that rules out mass hysteria.

PK: The fact of Jesus’ Resurrection is one of the most reliable facts of history. The testimony of Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just recorded by Jesus’ disciples either. Josephus, the recognized Roman Historian by Rome, wrote in his chronicles about Jesus (which I showed him from an earlier version of this book),

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews, and also many of the Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross, upon his impeachment by the principal man among us, those who had loved Him from the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive on the third day, as the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from Him, has not died out."^11/379

Bob, no other religious man of history or philosopher or scientist came back from the dead to prove his claims. Plato is dead. Sacrates is dead. Buddha is dead. Mohammed is dead. Darwin is still in the grave. Only Jesus came back from the dead to prove to us that the Bible, God’s Word, is absolutely reliable and that what it teaches about the universe’s beginning, about man and his beginning, His claims about Himself, His death for our sins is absolutely true.

Bob no longer denied the reality of Jesus’ claims and who he was. He could not deny the evidence that was before him.

Another time I was talking with a church going man, I will call George, about the significance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said to me in response, "Is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ all that important when it comes to proving the claims of Jesus Christ and the absolute reliability of the Bible as truth?" I told George in response:

"George, when I am sharing the claims of Jesus Christ with a Moslem, I will always start by asking them the question, "How do You know that Mohammed is a prophet of God and that the Koran is God’s Word?" Without exception they will say to me in response, "Because I have an inner witness and feeling that it is true." I then say to them in response, "That is interesting. Do you know what a Mormon says to me when I ask them how they know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is God’s Word?" They will say in response, "I do not know." I then tell them, "They tell me that they have an inner witness and feeling that it is true." George, I then go on to explain to the Moslem why I believe that Jesus was truly God’s only Son, his only and final message to Man and that the Bible is truly God’s Word. I explain to them that it is because when Jesus was asked by his enemies what his proof was that he was God’s only Son sent into the world and that his claims about Himself were true, that Jesus said to them in response, "Kill me and I will lay in a warm grave for three days and then come back from the dead to prove to you that I am who I claim to be and that my claims are true." I then go on to explain to them that Jesus did come back from the dead and that there were over 512 witnesses to the fact of Jesus Resurrection. I then go on to explain to them that no other religious founder or scientist such as Darwin ever offered their hearers a proof to their claims and that not one of them have ever come back from the dead to prove that their claims and religious books and science are absolute true truth. Jesus Christ is the only one who did.

George, the Apostle Paul explains to us the paramount importance of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ for the case and claims of Christianity in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20. He writes:

George, Christianity stands or falls on the fact of the Resurrection. The Resurrection is our absolute proof that God exists, that he sent Jesus, his only Son into the world (John 1:1, 14; 3:16); that death, eternal separation from God, is sins penalty (2 Thessalonians 1:9); that Jesus paid sins penalty for us in our place on the cross (Romans 6:23); and that God will give eternal life to anyone who receives His Son as Savior and Lord of their lives (Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 5:11-12).

No other religion or teacher of man stated that they would come back from the dead to prove that their teachings and claims were true about God, man and the Universe or gave any other proof that could be tested absolutely such as killing the man and then that man proving his claims by coming back physically from the dead. Abraham, the father of Judaism, died about 1900 B.C., but no resurrection was ever claimed for him.^12/180 Wilbur M. Smith stated about Buddha,

"The original accounts of Buddha never ascribe to him any such thing as a resurrection; in fact, in the earliest accounts of his death, namely, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, we read that when Buddha died it was "with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind."^13/385

Professor Childers writes,

"There is no trace in the Pali scriptures or commentaries (or so far as I know in any Pali book) of Sakya Muni having existed after his death or appearing to his disciples. Mohammed died June 8, 632 A.D., at the age of sixty-one, at Medina, where his tomb is annually visited by thousands of devout Mohammedans. All the millions and millions of Jews, Buddhists, and Mohammedans agree that their founders have never come up out of the dust of the earth in resurrection."^12/180

The point of all that has been said is this, besides the fact that Not one fact of history, science (that can be measured, not claimed without tangible or measured evidence) or archaeological discovery has ever proved any historical teaching of Scripture wrong,^-7- the undeniable evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection with over 512 witnesses^-9- to the fact; who walked, ate and talked with Him for forty days after His Resurrection, is our proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be, God the Messiah who became man to die for our sins, and that His Word written down in the Bible is absolutely true truth in all that it affirms scientifically, historically, cosmologically and theologically. The Resurrection proves we can rely on the Bible and it alone as a basis for determining whether our laws and teachings are true or not or just or not. The Bible is our basis for determining what is absolutely true and what is absolutely false. This in fact is what the Reformation, started by Martin Luther, was all about: bringing our so called facts of science and man into the light of the teaching of the Bible, not the Bible into the so called light of science.

Nothing else is necessary for determining our law making in society or if what we believe or have discovered in science is true. Nothing else is necessary because Jesus came back from the dead to prove to us that what he claimed about Himself is true and that we could rely on the Bible and all it teaches one-hundred percent as true truth.

The question is, what are You going to do with the claims of Jesus Christ? He proved to us through His Resurrection that His claims to be Lord and God and Savior of man are absolutely true. He loves you and has a present and eternal plan for your life. In order for what Jesus did on the cross to be yours you must receive Jesus as Savior and as Lord of your life. If you reject Jesus, what the Bible teaches about Heaven and hell is just as absolutely true. To receive Jesus is to go to Heaven without question. To reject Jesus is to go to Hell forever without question.¹⁴ I encourage you to respond to Jesus’ claims and surrender to Him as Savior and Lord. As one who did this twenty-seven years ago, I can tell you truthfully, I have no regrets in making that decision and I know I am saved and that I am going to heaven. Why? Because I am better than others? No. I am, regrettably, a sinner like everyone else. I know I am going to heaven because Jesus promised eternal life to all who received Him and He came back from the dead to prove that His claims are true. Turn to Jesus now and receive Him into your heart as Lord and Savior and you will go to heaven too. Pray the following prayer:

If you just prayed this prayer, then know for certain that you are saved and that you have eternal life and that you are going to heaven. The Apostle John wrote in the Bible God the Father’s witness to man about what constitutes having eternal life and going to heaven;

"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11-12)

If you just prayed the prayer above and received Jesus into your heart for the first time, will you e-mail me and share it with me?  If you did just pray this prayer I encourage you to go to this link titled Jesus Is the Answer to Your Needs and read the articles that are listed there.  They will give you assurance of salvation, explain to you how to relate to Jesus in prayer for the answer to your needs, how to know what is truly Jesus' voice, how to know what is His will and plan for your life and how to succeed in that plan.

"And after eight days [after His Resurrection] again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here your finger, and see My hands, and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus says to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’ (John 20:27-29)