AFA joins with Coral Ridge Ministries to offer The Da Vinci Delusion
The Da Vinci Code is an attack on the very foundation of the Christian faith and it threatens to lead millions to believe that Jesus Chris was a fraud.
Dear Leroy,
I have just finished watching The Da Vinci Delusion, produced by my good friend, Dr. D. James Kennedy, and Coral Ridge Ministries. It is absolutely great! It is a DVD which Christians need to watch.
On May 19, a blockbuster movie - The Da Vinci Code - will open in theaters. The book has sold nearly 40,000,000 copies. The book and movie make several false claims:
Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife. The New Testament is false testimony. There were 80 gospel accounts of Christ's life. The Roman emperor Constantine gave us the New Testament. The divinity of Jesus is an invention of fourth-century church leaders at the Council of Nicea.
While the book and movie claim to be based on fact, they clearly are not. Tragically many people, even Christians, will go away believing the book and movie are factual.
AFA has teamed with Coral Ridge Ministries to offer The Da Vinci Delusion, a DVD which is, indeed, based on fact and which points out the errors of the "facts" presented in the The Da Vinci Code.
Coral Ridge has produced an excellent DVD. The 60-minute video should be viewed by every Christian and shown in every church. It is filled with facts that are factual. The production is topnotch. The all-star lineup of participants serve as fact checkers, pointing out the errors called "facts".
Those who watch this DVD will be prepared to intelligently discuss the book and movie with those who have been convinced that The Da Vinci Code is based on fact.
Two praying hands, so humbly clasped, so beautiful to me! Bring thoughts of the hands of My Savior, as He prayed at Gethsemane. So soon to bear the prints of nails, unholy desecration! These gentle, healing, care-worn hands, so used to tribulation. In golden glory are they wrought, folded in meditation. A holy Gift, reminding me of a Christian's obligation. And as I got about my tasks, sometimes life's burdens blind me To the glory of God's Holy Plan, but my Praying Hands remind me To cast at his feet all my burdens, in humble supplication With faith that Jesus will give me His comfort and consolation. And I'll clasp my hands and ask Him, for strength and dedication To reach that ever shining goal of Christ-like consecration.
"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." -- President Abraham Lincoln
We can all pray. We all should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of God’s will. We should ask for courage, wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who place their lives in His hands. -- President Harry Truman
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty. Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous ehavior. --President Herbert Hoover
Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps. -- President William McKinley
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State… --President Thomas Jefferson
The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. -- President Woodrow Wilson
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. -- George Washington
There are two prayers that I love to say—the first is the Lord’s Prayer, and because the Lord taught it; and the other is what seems to be a child’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep,” and I love to say that because it suits me. I have been repeating it every night for many years past, and I say it yet, and I expect to say it my last night on earth… --President John Quincy Adams
Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior. --President Herbert Hoover
We are all called upon by the highest obligations of duty to renew our thanks and our devotion to our Heavenly Parent, who has continued to vouchsafe to us the eminent blessings which surround us and who has so signally crowned the year with His goodness. If we find ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in wealth, in knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social happiness, let us ever remember our dependence for all these on the protecting and merciful dispensations of Divine Providence. --President John Tyler, December 7, 1841
Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue; and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies. --President John Adams
Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon… --Abraham Lincoln
Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. --Abraham Lincoln
Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. --President Ronald Reagan
Mighty God…I yield Thee humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved me from the danger of the night past, and brought me to the light of the day, and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to Thine own service and for Thine own honor. Let my heart, therefore, Gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and discharge those weighty duties thou requirest of me. --George Washington, in his prayer journal
No country has been so much favored, or should acknowledge with deeper reverence the manifestations of the divine protection. An all wise Creator directed and guarded us in our infant struggle for freedom and has constantly watched over our surprising progress until we have become one of the great nations of the earth. --President James K. Polk
Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace and union—a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people; and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generation. --President Rutherford B. Hayes
I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His Providence to bless our beloved country with honors and length of days; may her ways be pleasantness, and all her paths peace. --President Martin VanBuren
Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves. --President Theodore Roosevelt
The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. --Abraham Lincoln
The men who established this government had faith in God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and advice in every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; American history abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sincere reliance on a Higher Power in all great trials in our national affairs. --President William McKinley
“Finally, it is my fervent prayer to that Almighty Being…that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united happy people.” --President Andrew Jackson
"When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus." --Abraham Lincoln
Oh! Almighty and Everlasting God, Creator of Heaven, Earth and the Universe: Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right; make me truthful, honest and honorable in all things; make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me. Give me the ability to be charitable, forgiving and patient with my fellowmen - help me to understand their motives and their shortcomings -- even as Thou understandest mine! Amen, Amen, Amen. --President Harry Truman
"For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw! his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." --John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." - President George Washington
"The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it." - Napoleon
"That Book accounts for the supremacy of England." - Queen Victoria
"If there is anything in my thought or style to commend , the credit is due my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principals taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." - Daniel Webster (Founding Father)
"The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed." - Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)
"The Bible is the anchor of our liberties." - President U.S. Grant
"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principals of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom." - Horace Greeley (Editor)
"That Book is the rock on which our Republic rests." - President Andrew Jackson
"In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength." - Gen. Robert E. Lee
"Bible reading is an education in itself." - Lord Tennyson (Poet)
"So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year." - President John Quincy Adams
"The existence of the Bible, as a Book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity." - Immanuel Kant (Philosopher)
"The New Testament is the very best Book that ever or ever will be known in the world." - Charles Dickens (Author)
"All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures." - Sir William Herschel (Astronomer)
"There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history." - Sir Isaac Newton (Scientist)
"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires; beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go." - Goethe (Author)
"I have known ninety-five of the world's great men in my time, and of these eight-seven were followers of the Bible. The Bible is stamped with a Specialty of Origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors." - W.E. Gladstone (Prime Minister)
"Whatever merit there is in anything that I have written is simply due to the fact that when I was a chile my mother daily read me a part of the Bible and daily made me learn a part of it by heart." - John Ruskin (art critic and social commentator)
"The Bible has been the Magna Charta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with it." - Thomas Huxley (Author & Scientist)
"The whole hope of human progress is suspended on the ever growing influence of the Bible." - W.H. Seward (Secretary of State)
"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness, which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures. Part of the destiny of Americans lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations. That if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Spirit." --President Woodrow Wilson
For Christians, the life and death of Jesus are the ultimate expressions of love, and the supreme demonstrations of God's mercy, faithfulness, and redemption. Since Christ's miraculous Resurrection on Easter, more than 2,000 years ago, Christians have expressed joy and gratitude for this wondrous sacrifice and for God's promise of freedom for the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted, and salvation. --President George W. Bush
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." --Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)
1) For ALL (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.
2) For the wages of above (see #1) are DEATH (Hell, eternal separation from God, & damnation) but the Gift (free & at no charge to you) of God (Creator, Jehovah, & Trinity) is Eternal Life (Heaven) through (in union with) Jesus Christ (God, Lord, 2nd Person of The Trinity, Messiah, Prince of Peace & Savior of the World).
3) For God so greatly loved & dearly prized the world (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, that whosoever (anyone, anywhere, anytime - while still living) believes (trust in, relies on, clings to, depends completely on) Him shall have eternal (everlasting) life (heaven).
4) Jesus said: "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE. No one (male/female - American, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Asian, Presbyterian, European, Baptist, Brazilian, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc. ) comes (arrives) to the Father (with GOD in Heaven) EXCEPT BY (through) ME (no other name).
This wonderful loving GOD gives you the choice - - - (Rev. 3:20)
{Please note that church membership, baptism, doing good things, etc. are not requirements for becoming a Christian - however they are great afterwards!!!}
Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (Hell, damnation, eternal punishment), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (Heaven, eternal happiness, forever with God), and only a few find it. --Matthew 7:13-14
The most precious & priceless gift ever given was the blood of our Lord on the cross. For Jesus was the Lamb who laid down His life so that no one should ever die lost. Through His blood we find mercy we so desperately need for the transgressions between us and Him. For His mercy reaches down when a soul cries in repentance to ask Jesus to forgive all their sin. It's through the blood of the sacrifice of the sinless Lamb of God that we're saved...washed clean...and made whole. And it's only by His power that we can turn from our sins to walk in newness, with a clean, ransomed soul. It's only through the blood that the greatest exchange would have the possibility to even take place. His atonement of blood was our substitionary death and His blood equals mercy & grace. It's only through the blood of the sacrifice of Christ that we can know God or even seek His face. For the canyon of sin that separates us from God is forgiven through Christ and erased. It's only through the blood that we can have eternal life and the peace that moves in like a flood. Oh, thank you precious Jesus for our shame you endured. Oh, thank you precious Jesus for the blood.
Sheila Gosney
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:13-18 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 1“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. John 10:9-11
For more of what it means to know God through Christ, click here: http://www.knowgod.org/knowgod/index.php/3.html
Sheila Gosney sends out her poems FREE via her own e-mail ministry.
"T.G.I.F.," under normal circumstances, means "Thank God, it's Friday!" - we smile, relax and look forward to a much-needed weekend break. Well, today is Friday, but it is no "normal" Friday - it is Good Friday, the day we commemorate our Lord's death on the Cross. Let us acknowledge THIS day--with holy awareness and heart-felt thanksgiving...
So what do we say TODAY? "It's Friday...and He's faithful! It's Friday...and He's forgiving! It's Friday...and He's my Friend!" All because of the Cross; all because on that momentous day in history when He defeated sin, death and hell forevermore. Our Lord came face to face with His foe--and ours. He has "bruised the serpent's head" and He's become our conquering King! We can shout for all our today's and all of our tomorrows, wherever we are and wherever we go:
THANK GOD, IT IS FINISHED!
What does that mean to ME this Holy Week? The finished work on Calvary frames the portrait of my life. And as I live within its boundaries, I am "free, yes, free indeed!" When Satan, the accuser of the brethren, rears his ugly head in my face, I can say, "Devil, it's Friday, and He's faithful! It's Friday, and I'm forgiven! It's Friday and my Friend has set me free! It's Friday--and IT IS FINISHED! T.G.I.F.!! Believe it--and have a wonderful Easter celebration!
Scripture: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8)."
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and FINISHER of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2)."
Prayer: "Lord, it's another memorable day as we bow in thanksgiving to acknowledge and receive once again Your grace and love. Burn within us Your cry from the Cross, "It is finished!" and let us know the victory and finality of those words in our own hearts and lives this day, In Jesus Name, Amen."