Truth really can be stranger than fiction.
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La verdad puede ser más extraña que la ficción.
First Page - ¡Ya está en marcha! Todas las historias son verídicas, o están basadas en hechos reales. Lectura ilimitada por $4.99 / mes. No hay que descargar nada. Lea en su teléfono, tableta u ordenador.
Manna Minutes Podcast: Eye-opening Bible study in less than five minutes! Access all episodes here.
Manna Minutes en español:
Estudio bíblico que nos hace abrir los ojos en menos de cinco minutos! Acceda a todos los episodios aquí.
Manna Minutes Podcast auf Deutsch:
Augenöffnendes Bibelstudium in weniger als fünf Minuten! Alle Episoden finden Sie hier.
Was There A Curse On Helen's Romantic Life?
The Third Man by Angela Sheffield is based on a true story. Read chapter one now!
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¿Qué tiene que ver conmigo? por Teófila Gottfried
Lo que leemos en la Biblia tiene que ver con todos los seres humanos, sean cristianos o judíos, ateos o agnósticos, budistas, musulmanes o adherentes a alguna de las filosofías o nuevas religiones que surgen en el mundo. ¿Por qué? Ver mayor información sobre este interesante libro.
Scripture of The Day - St. John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Escritura del día - San Juan 14,6
Jesús le dijo: Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida; nadie viene al Padre, sino por mí.
Bibelstelle des Tages - Johannes 14,6
Jesus spricht zu ihm: Ich bin der Weg und die Wahrheit und das Leben; niemand kommt zum Vater, denn durch mich!
The Mysterious Star of Bethlehem Identified by The Christian Bible
In this article, we're not focusing on who the wise men were, nor on the many invented stories about them...stories that certainly were not based on biblical Scripture. Our focus is on the mystery of the Star of Bethlehem. Now then, is knowing what that Star was really important to our salvation? No, we do not believe it is. Why then even deal with such a question? First and foremost, the Star appears in the Word of God. And we do not dismiss any part of God's Word as unimportant. Furthermore, the Star of Bethlehem appears in the New Testament, and points directly to the birth of the Savior. Those who have come to love Christ are delighted to learn any and all things the Bible has revealed about Him, including the mysterious Star of Bethlehem that announced His birth.
"We Have Seen His Star In The East"
"Now When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him" (Matthew 2:1-2).
The reason people wonder what the Star of Bethlehem was is because it could not have been a regular star. Stars such as the North Star (Polaris), the Dog Star (Sirius), and the Alpha Centauri System, among others, can all be identified and seen in the night sky in these modern times...just as they could be seen and identified in ancient times. However, no star has ever been identified as the mysterious Star of Bethlehem. What is more is that it appears that nothing in outer space matches the description of the Star of Bethlehem seen by the wise men from the East. Although astronomers have attempted to explain what the star was, all of their educated guesses are very problematic.
Every theory from the possibility of a comet to a planetary conjunction has been proposed. The problem is that no theory fits the description of the Star of Bethlehem. It has been suggested that the Star was actually a comet. But in ancient times, comets were associated with a bad omen. Other heavenly bodies would not have led the wise men south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. And none of the theories astronomers have proposed would explain how a "star", or any other heavenly body for the matter, could travel, stop, and hover right over the home where the baby King resided. If we stop and think about, stars are so bright and hot that not even our sun--which is a star--can come so close to earth as to hover over a house. It would burn the planet up. So, what could that very mysterious Star of Bethlehem that anounced the King's birth have possibly been?
Divine Events and Divine Creation
Before stating what the Bible reveals about the mysterious Star, we should keep in mind that there are things and events that God designed to happen or to exist only once for a specific purpose. They never ever appear again, nor do they ever occur again. For example, in the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis, we learn that in the beginning, everyone on earth spoke the same language. We also learn that the Lord created a multitude of different languages. The confusion of languages has never ocurred again. In Genesis we also learn that God destroyed the first earth by the Great Deluge for which there is scientific proof. However, He has not ever again brought universal destruction by flooding...just as He promised (Genesis 6:13 - 9:13). In the book of Jonah we learn that God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17). But we do not read that God ever again prepared any other special fish. Certainly the birth of Jesus was a one time event. It had never occurred before, and it will never occur again for the rest of eternity. Keeping these truths in mind, it should not be difficult to accept that the Star of Bethlehem had not been seen before His birth. And it should not seem strange that we do not see it now. Now then, that tells us there was something different about that special Star. It was unlike any other star in existence. Just as the great fish that swallowed Jonah was not like other fish. Just as the earth before the flood was not like this present earth. And just like the one-world language is not like the languages spoken today.
What God's Word Reveals About The Star of Bethlehem
Returning to the Scripture of Matthew 2:1-2, we learn that the Star of Bethlehem is Jesus' Star in the sense that it points to Him. The wise men said, "We have seen HIS star." It makes sense that His Star appeared when He appeared. Again, the Star of Bethlehem is Christ's Star. It's not just a star. It's His. This tells us we should not even be looking for a regular star to identify the Savior. Revelation 6:13 lets us know that the regular stars of the heavens are going to fall to earth. It seems unlikely that one of them would represent the Savior who is eternal.
Some have suggested that the Star of Bethlehem was actually an angel as the word "star" can also refer to angelic beings in biblical Scripture (Revelation 1:20). However, whenever angels appear in Scripture, they either appear as angelic beings or as people. They never appear as stars in the heavens. Instead, they talk and interact with people. They don't just appear in the sky as lights, and then disappear.
It is obvious that the wise men saw something shining in the sky, and they called that something a star. It is also obvious that they had not ever seen it before, evidenced by the fact that they knew it became visible to signal the time of the King's birth. Only then did they undertake the long journey from the East to Jerusalem. What could they have been looking at that they knew they had never ever seen before? We believe the Lord Himself answers this question. We believe the wise men saw the star NOT in the night sky, but rather during the DAY, and more specifically in the MORNING. Even the brightest stars can only be seen at night. The sun is the only star that shines bright enough to be seen during the day. But if during the day, another star shined even brighter than the sun, we'd know it was a star like no other. We'd know something supernatural is going on.
We have Scriptural support for believing that the wise men saw another star that outshined even the sun during the DAY. Again, none of the other stars can be seen in the day. Only the Star of Bethlehem is so bright that even the brightness of the sun cannot prevent it from being seen during the day. And we know exactly who that Star is. The Lord said, "I am the root and the offspring of David, AND THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR" (Revelation 22:16). Not before His birth was a star seen shining during the day...a star that was not the sun. And since His birth, we have not again seen a star so bright that it shines even during the day. Except for the sun, all other stars shine only at night. But the Bright and Morning Star is so bright that it shines brighter than even the sun in the day time. That same Day Star also wants to shine in our hearts. We read, "Ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the DAY STAR arise in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).
That bright and morning Day Star is the Lord Jesus Himself (Revelation 22:16).
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Based on true events, The Third Man by Angela Sheffield, brings the Bible up close and personal as the characters face real issues of life: Betrayal, deceit, romance, bitterness, anger against God, hopelessness, will power, perplexity, triumph, unforgiveness, mental illness, and the "Alcohol made me do it" excuse. Read chapter one FREE now.
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