TWO OR THREE WITNESSES

TWO OR THREE WITNESSES

“One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deut. 19:15).

The process of documenting truth by two or three witnesses is so important that it is repeated 91 times in the Bible. Even in the church a matter is to be established by two or three witnesses (Matt. 18:16). Timothy was not to accept an accusation against an elder unless it was brought by two or three witnesses (1 Tim. 5:19). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Every matter must be established by two or three witnesses” (2 Cor. 13:1), Etc.

Perhaps the reason for such evidence dates back to the Garden of Eden. God said: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Satan said: “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). In this instance determining the truth was of eternal significance. The fact that Eve believed Satan’s lie did not make it true! Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Believing Satan’s lie not only brought death upon all men (Rom. 5:12), but it also caused all of creation to groan as in the pains of child birth (Rom. 8:22). Truth is not established by what you “believe,” but by “investigation” and “evidence”. Eve should have sought the testimony of two or three witnesses!

A classic example of believing a lie is found in 1 Kings 13. A man of God came from Judah to Bethel to cry out against the pagan altar of King Jeroboam. When the king stretched out his hand and ordered the man of God to be seized, his hand shriveled up so he could not pull it back. When the man of God interceded and Jeroboam’s hand was healed, he said to the man of God: “Come home with me, and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift” (1 Ki. 13:7).

“But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.” (1 Ki. 13:8-10)

An old prophet who lived in Bethel sent his sons after the man of God and told him: “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.” (1 Ki. 13:18-19)

The man of God should have been more careful! He should have sought the testimony of other witnesses. We are not to immediately believe everyone who claims to be a prophet of God. The Apostle John warned: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

As a result of believing a lie, the man of God was killed by a lion (1 Ki. 13:23-26). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Prov. 14:12)

RELIGIOUS SUICIDES

The name, Kamikaze, means “Heavenly Wind”. This name comes from Japanese history stemming from the 16th Century story of a Mongol emperor whose fleet was sunk by a powerful storm. The Japanese considered that "the gods" sent this “heavenly wind” to save them. Therefore during World War II young Japanese men wanted to save their country and offered themselves to die as Kamikaze pilots. They were trained only to take off in the airplane but not to land it. Their orders were to fly their airplane, loaded with explosives, into enemy ships and die by suicide. Before taking off they ate a ritual meal and were given medals, a Katana sword, and beloved possessions to be treasured in the afterlife. They obviously believed their deaths would be rewarded in heaven.

In 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, in protest of the Vietnamese government’s oppression to Buddhists, poured gasoline over his body and set himself on fire. He maintained his meditative posture until he died. Buddhists, as you know, believe in re-incarnation. Buddhists believe that human beings are born and reborn an infinite number of times until they achieve Nirvana. This Buddhist monk obviously believed his suicide was just taking another step in his journey to Nirvana.

On September 11, 2001, 2,977 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history. 19 Muslim men hijacked four commercial airliners. Two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City. The third hit the Pentagon. Heroic passengers attacked the hijackers of the fourth plane and it crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It is common knowledge that the Koran promises rewards to those who die for Allah. Some of these rewards include heaven and virgins. Koran 56:22 promises that the breasts of these virgins will be big, round, firm, and will not sag. Koran 78:33 calls these virgins “houris” and promises that they will be of equal age with beautiful bodies. While the Koran does not mentioned the number of virgins, Hadith 2687 mentions the number 72: "The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and 72 houri, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a." These man apparently believed that by dying for Allah they would be rewarded in heaven with 72 virgins.

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor (Born in 1564 – Died in 1616). Some consider him the greatest writer in the English language. Hamlet was his longest play with 29,551 words. Some consider it his most famous work. In this famous play Prince Hamlet seeks revenge against his uncle Claudius for murdering Hamlet’s father. In Act 3 Scene 1 Hamlet muses on life after death in his famous soliloquy which begins with “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” Hamlet hesitates to die, however, because he doesn’t know whether it is better to live or to die. He wisely wants to know what “dreams may come” in his eternal sleep.

What evidence does the Buddhist have that he will be reincarnated and achieve Nirvana? What evidence does the Kamikaze pilot have that his suicide will be rewarded in heaven? What evidence does the Muslim have that he will be rewarded in heaven with 72 virgins?

In each instance it seems that the suicide of these “believers” rests upon a single source and not upon the testimony of two or three witnesses. It is not wise to risk eternity on a single source!

SECRETS OF THE KORAN

To illustrate the danger of a single source let us consider the history of Mohammed from the book Secrets of the Koran by the late Don Richardson. This brief summary comes from chapter two.

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Mohammed was born in Mecca around A.D. 571.

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He was orphaned in childhood and raised by his uncle.

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He never learned to read or write.

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He somehow achieved managerial status in a caravan company owned by a wealthy widow. •

He began visiting a cave on Mount Hira near Mecca where he claimed to be visited by the angel Gabriel.

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Muslims believe that over a period of 23 years the angel Gabriel dictated the Koran to Mohammed word by word.

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Mohammed proclaimed himself a prophet and began preaching against idolatry.

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Around A.D. 622 he was forced to flee with a few followers from Mecca to Medina.

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In order to gain public approval Mohammed sought and received endorsement from the Jews in Medina. A decision they would later regret as Mohammed later had them killed.

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Mohammed began robbing caravans and distributing money and sex slaves to his followers. •

When the caravans became armed, however, they began killing Mohammed’s men.

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To encourage recruitment Mohammed claimed that dying for him in battle did not keep you from having sex slaves, in fact it guaranteed you sex slaves in heaven (See Koran 38:51; 44:54; 55:55-74;56:22, 34-36)

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The reference from Koran 56:34-36 reads in part: “Maidens incomparable. We have formed them in a distinctive fashion, and made them virginal”. Muslim scholars have interpreted this to mean that once deflowered these maidens miraculously became virgins again in preparation for the next sex act.

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The obsession that Muslim men have with sex led to protecting their own wives and daughters with rigid rules requiring them to cover their entire bodies.

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To prove this point Richardson points to an article in Newsweek (July 22, 2002). A fire broke out in Mecca in an intermediate school housing 750 Muslim girls. To keep these girls from being molested there were bars on every window and every door was locked. Only one door was available for them to escape and 15 girls were trampled to death trying to get out. Once outside the Muslim religious police, called Mutawas, tried to force the girls back inside the burning building because they were bare headed and males in the street might see their uncovered faces. Richardson noted that fortunately the civil police intervened and saved these innocent girls from death.

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BEFORE DYING FOR MOHAMMED MUSLIM MEN MIGHT DO WELL TO SEEK THE TESTIMONY OF MORE THAN ONE WITNESS!

FALSE WITNESSES

When Jesus was raised from the dead the Scriptures teach: “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.” (Matt. 28:2-4).

We don’t know how many guards there were, but Matthew continues: “Some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.” (Matt. 28:11-15)

It is obvious that these guards were false witnesses. They had every reason to lie for if a Roman soldier allowed his prisoner to escape he was killed. This is why when the Philippian Jailer thought his prisoners had escaped he was about to kill himself (Acts 16:27). Further, the testimony of these guards was not credible for they said the disciples came and stole his body while they were asleep. If they were asleep, how did they know what happened?

As you know, two or three false witnesses don’t prove anything! The men that paid bribes to the guards and the governor were the very ones seeking for false witnesses against Jesus so they could put him to death (Matt. 26:59). Stephen, as you know, was also condemned to death by false witnesses (Acts 6:13). The Jews in Jerusalem falsely accused Paul of taking Trophimus the Ephesian into the temple area (Acts 21:29). Every rational person knows to watch out for false witnesses!

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we must discern which witnesses are credible and which are not!

LUKE’S EVIDENCE FOR THE RESURRECTION

Luke wrote two inspired books of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. Both books deal with evidence. As we have already pointed out, dying for something you believe does not prove it is true. It does, however, demonstrate that you believe it is true. The many who died as Christian martyrs obviously believed in the resurrection and their belief was based on evidence from more than one witness!

The Gospel of Luke begins by stating: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4)

The book of Acts begins by stating: “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3)

Since both these letters were addressed to a man named “most excellent Theophilus” some have concluded that he was a Roman official and that Luke wrote accurate details that Paul could use in his legal defense. Liars dare not be specific lest their duplicity be exposed. Luke, however, wrote with

painstaking detail. Note for example how Luke describes the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk. 3:1-3) In the same chapter Luke lists 77 specific names in the genealogy of Jesus.

Sir William Ramsay (1851-1939) was a skeptic who taught at the University of Edinburgh. He did not believe the Bible and was convinced the writings of Luke were filled with errors and that the many details in his writing would be easy to expose. Therefore he traveled to Asia minor and spent years trying to prove that Luke was wrong. After many years of investigation, Ramsay returned to Scotland as a Christian. He never found one mistake in what Luke had written. His investigation often proved that Luke was right and the archeologists were wrong. Luke even used specific and accurate terminology including detailed and specific descriptions related to the locations, people, offices and titles within the Roman Empire.

The book of Acts notes that virtually every sermon preached by the early Christians involved the resurrection of Jesus (See Acts 2:9-36; 3:15; 4:2,10, 33; 7:55-56; 17:18, 32; 23:6, 8; 24:15, 21) The word “martyr”, as you know, comes from the Greek word “martur” which means “witness”. Instead of two or three witnesses, there were literally hundreds of “witnesses” to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of these “witnesses” died as “martyrs” for preaching Christ and his resurrection. The testimony of these many witnesses is reliable evidence regarding the resurrection of Jesus and will stand up in court.

ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES

Here is some evidence for the resurrection which Paul “received”, and by inspiration “passed on” to the Corinthians. This is a significant bit of historical evidence as it was in circulation within only a few years of the resurrection:

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.” (1 Cor. 15:1-11)

In addition to appearing to selected individuals, Jesus appeared to more than 500 witnesses at the same time. Most of these witnesses were alive at the time Paul wrote this letter and could therefore be found and questioned. But even more compelling is the remarkable fact that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus happened “according to the Scriptures”. Some have calculated that the Hebrew Scriptures contain 324 prophecies that were all fulfilled by Jesus. While virtually every aspect of his ministry was predicted by the prophets, the fact “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” is particularly significant. Peter at Pentecost made reference to the “foreknowledge of God” and pointed out that David spoke of the resurrection of Jesus over a thousand years before it happened.

Someone has quipped that there are thousands of religions in the world, but only one empty tomb! This is true, but the resurrection of Jesus is made even more remarkable by the fact that it was written in the Scriptures and taught in public centuries before it came to pass!

FACTS OF HISTORY

Here are some “facts” of history compiled in 2013 by Kark Udy and Dr. Clay Jones from Biola University:

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We have a thousand manuscripts describing the work of Aristotle but they were written 1,200 years after Aristotle died. Aristotle lived from 384 - 322 B.C. and the earliest manuscript about him dates to A.D. 850.

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Plato’s work Tetralogies is supported by 210 manuscripts also written 1,200 years after he died. Plato lived from 427 – 347 B.C. and the earliest manuscript about him is dated at A.D. 900.

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Pliny the younger’s letters were written from A.D. 61-113. We have 7 unconfirmed manuscripts documenting these letters and the earliest copy is dated at A.D. 850.

• We have 200 documents about Pliny the elder dated 900 years from the events they describe.
• Herodotus – 109 manuscripts - 1,350 years from the events they describe.
• Caesar’s account of the Gallic Wars – 251 manuscripts 900 years from the events they describe.

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These scholars list similar statistics about Thucydides, Sophocles, Livy, Demosthenes, Homer, Etc.

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Yet, in spite of weak evidence, the basic information about these famous men of history is accepted as fact.

PLEASE COMPARE THIS EVIDENCE WITH EVIDENCE FOR THE BIBLE

• We have over 25,000 New Testaments manuscripts.
• We have 5,795 Greek manuscripts dated from 30 – 150 years from the events they describe.
• We have over 7,974 manuscripts in other languages dated within 100 – 150 years.
• We have over 10,000 manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate within 300 – 350 years.

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We have fragments of the New Testament Scriptures written within 25 – 150 years of the events they describe.

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In addition to this we have 86,000 quotes from the New Testament Scriptures by the early church fathers, 36,000 quotes from N.T. books before the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, and an estimated one million quotes directly from the N.T. Scriptures by early Christians.

• Yes! We have many convincing proofs that Jesus is alive (Acts 1:3).

WHAT IS YOUR VERDICT?

A jury is not required to make a decision with mathematical certainty. Very few things can be proven with 100% certainty. The jury is therefore instructed to make decisions “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

You do not have a choice about dying! It doesn’t matter what diet you are on or what doctor takes care of you health. It is appointed unto every man once to die and after that to face the Judgment (Heb. 9:27).

The evidence is overwhelming that Jesus Christ is alive and the Scriptures teach that he will be our Judge (John 5:22).

Please do not wait for tomorrow to receive Christ as Lord for today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).