A sensational new video by the National Geographic seeming to suggest Jesus is not the Messiah because a stone tablet was discovered dating a generation before Jesus:  inscribed on this stone – the story of a Messiah who would suffer and die and rise from the dead by the third day.

Uh.  Duh?

That’s the whole point.  Starting from Genesis 3:15 (in fact John chapter 1 seems to suggest that starting from Genesis 1:1 Jesus Messiah makes an appearance in eternity before time) the Bible anticipates the coming of the Messiah, almost exactly the way this stone tablet describes.  Read the words of Jesus himself:

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Luke 24:25-27 (TNIV)

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:45-47 (TNIV)

Jesus came as a fulfillment of those prophecies.  Oh and by the way, prophecy by its very nature is a foretelling of the future: of course there would be stories of a Messiah way before Jesus’ arrival.  Like, duh?

“If you are devoted to the cause of humanity,
you will soon be exhausted and have your heart broken by ingratitude,
but if the mainspring of your service is love for Jesus,
you can serve men although they treat you as a door-mat.
Never look for justice in this world,
but never cease to give it.”

- Oswald Chambers

Coolness. My first book to review from Tyndale! (Thanks for the advance reader copy.)

It’s from authors I have never heard before, but in a genre that I love: the thriller.

So far the first paragraph has me hooked. And that’s what’s most important to me. If you can grab me with the first few paragraphs, I’ll finish your book. (Unless your writing takes a sour turn to being too cute and overly stuffed with fluffy similes that are forced and just do not work, or your plot turns into mulches of cliches.)

First Impression Verdict on BLACKOUT:

KEEP READING!