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I had a hunger for God’s Word, after all God is invisible to most people and I have just made to most intriguing discovery, God is real and wanted to shout to the World. Hey out there, God is real! But I did not know enough about God and His word to put up a good augment with any one, except what had happened in my house and to my wife.
The first thing that I wanted to know is,
• Where did the bible come from?
• Who wrote it?
• What proof was there?
• Why did God choose Israel?
• What are the differences between the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit?
• How can I hear God speak to me?
The first book that I bought was “A Survey on the Bible” I began writing papers on different subjects that the Bible and the new experiences that was being reveled to me.
I gave these papers to Pastor H.H. Barber to get his opinion they were well received and if by coincidence it seemed that Pastor Barber preached on the exact subjects. My hunger for the things of God was insatiable and I began to dig deeper, understanding the things of God and the Word seemed to come naturally.
RESEARCH
I started to research the Bible, wanting to discover its authenticity and power. While in Israel on a two-week visit with my pastor and members of the church, I made a video of the Holy Land. My research revealed that although the Bible's authors were human, they were powerfully guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. As a result, there is no error in Scripture concerning matters of faith and practice for mankind.
The Bible is God-breathed. Its human authors were powerfully guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. As a result what they wrote is not only without error but also of supreme value for man. It is all that God wanted it to be. It constitutes the infallible rule of faith and practice for mankind.
The Spirit, however, did not suppress the personality of the writer but raised it to a higher level of activity (John 14:26:) And because the individuality of the human author was not destroyed, we find in Scripture a wide variety of style and language.
Old Testament Authors
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was written by Moses at the end of his life in the wilderness just prior to the Israelites' entry into Canaan.
Joshua, Judges, and Ruth were all likely written during (or immediately prior to) the kingly reign of David over Israel by unnamed, pro-David/anti-Saul, priestly historians.
King David wrote the large portions of the Psalms before and during his reign over Israel. Other authors of Psalms include Moses (Psalm 90), Solomon (Psalms 72 and 127), the sons of Korah (Psalms 42-49; 84-85; and 87-88), the sons of Asaph (Psalms 50 and 73-83), and Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalm 89). A number of Psalms are also written anonymously.
The books of Proverbs and Song of Solomon (also known as Canticles) were penned by King Solomon during
his reign — though chapters 30 and 31 of Proverbs were written by Agur and Lemuel respectively.
Though such a date and parentage is contestable, Ecclesiastes likely finds authorship in the Post-Exilic
period and is written in the voice of the character of King Solomon. It may well be the last Biblical book
written previous the New Testament.
The prophetical books of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah were all written during the Kingdom Era by the prophets whose names are borne by the books' titles.
The books of Samuel are anonymously written and probably came about during the Kingdom Era as well.
Habakkuk and Joel were probably written just prior the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem and were written by the prophets for whom the books are named.
Jeremiah wrote both Lamentations and the book of Jeremiah and wrote over a course of years spanning the periods immediately preceding and succeeding the capture of Jerusalem.
Obadiah probably wrote just after the Exile in Babylon began, while Ezekiel's and Daniel's respective books spanned the entirety of Israel's 67-year captivity.
Their unknown author likely penned the books of Kings during the Exile.
Ezra may have compiled both Ezra and Nehemiah and Jewish tradition names him the author of Chronicles,
but whatever the case, the books were all written Post-Exile.
Esther, written after the Exile, was likely penned by a Persian Jew.
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were all written after Israel's return from Babylonian and Persian captivity
and their authors share names with the books' titles.
The book of Job is of a quite ambiguous origin, but though the author remains anonymous, it too was
probably authored during the Post-Exilic Era
New Testament Authors
The gospel according to Matthew was written by Matthew the tax collector.
The gospel according to Mark was written by John-Mark.
The gospel according to Luke was written by Luke the Physician.
The gospel according to John was written by John the disciple that Jesus loved.
The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke the Physician.
Epistles (or letters)
The Pauline Epistles are those written by Paul (Saul) of Tarsus.
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
The epistle of Hebrews is written anonymously. Some people ascribe it to the Apostle Paul while.
Speculation and should have no bearing upon our interpretation of the passages found within
others prefer Apollos. Most scholars lean toward someone other than Paul (simply because the grammar and use of certain key Pauline terms is markedly different from the whole body of his identified epistolary work). In the end, God didn't see the book's authorship as important to us (if He had, He would have identified the man He used in writing Hebrews.
The book of James was written most likely by James the brother of Jesus
The Peterine Epistles are those written by Peter of the Twelve
1 Peter
2 Peter
The Johanine Epistles are those written by John, the disciple that Jesus loved.
1 John
2 John
3 John
The book of Jude was written by Jude the brother of James.
John's Apocalypse (also called Revelation) as an epistle will suit our purposes here. This was written by the John the disciple that Jesus that loved.
History
For many centuries, the leaders of Israel passed on their people's legends, laws, history, stories, songs and traditions. I learned that the Masorites, Jewish scholars who flourished between the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the 10th century, transcribed the Old Testament. They exercised great care in copying. Every letter of their copy was counted and meticulously compared with the text before them. The detection of a single mistake was held to be a reason for destroying the entire copy and starting over.
The New Testament scriptures were probably written on papyrus rolls, which grows near the Sea of Galilee and Lake Morom. The work of Bible translation began at a very early time. The Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile no longer spoke Hebrew but Aramaic. Hence, the Hebrew passage read in the synagogue service had to be translated into Aramaic.
Greek was becoming a world language; the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into that tongue.
The man who first translated the entire Bible into English in 1382 was Wycliffe, Religious conditions in his days were, indeed, very bad. Bishops and priest were worldly. Popes cared more material wealth that for the spiritual welfare of their people. Believers were kept in ignorance; he boldly proclaimed that every one should read it.
One hundred years after Wycliffe’s death Tyndale was born, men began to demand a Bible translated directly from the original. On October 6, 1536, he was strangled and burned as a heretic. His last words were: “Lord open the king of England eyes.”
The King James or Authorized Version, which appeared in the year 1611, was prepared by the best Hebrew and Greek scholars of the day.
The need for more modern versions began to assert itself. So the English Revised Version appeared in 1885, the American revised in 1901.