Benny Hinn at one point claimed he talked to Micheal the Archangel on a regular basis. There is a good chance many of these men are apostates and will be held accountable for what they are doing.

The professor who had the experience did not want to draw attention to himself. Its a rare gift, very few people have it. It is the greatest of the spiritual gifts. His experience was auditory, which is very interesting, I think.

I believe this is a legitimate account.

Josephus was a Jewish historian from the 1st century. He survived and recorded the destruction of Jeruselum. " Josephus includes information about individuals, groups, customs and geographical places. His writings provide a significant, extra-Biblical account of the post-Exilic period of the Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty, and the rise of Herod the Great. He makes references to the Sadducees, Jewish High Priests of the time, Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian Temple, Quirinius' census and the Zealots, and to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and a disputed reference to Jesus. He is an important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism (and, thus, the context of early Christianity).
"A careful reading of Josephus' writings allowed Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew University, to discover the location of Herod's Tomb, after a search of 35 years — above aqueducts and pools, at a flattened, desert site, halfway up the hill to the Herodium, 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem — exactly where it should have been, according to Josephus's writings.[citation needed]"
"Josephus was an important apologist in the Roman world for the Jewish people and culture, particularly at a time of conflict and tension. He always remained, in his own eyes, a loyal and law-observant Jew. He went out of his way both to commend Judaism to educated Gentiles, and to insist on its compatibility with cultured Graeco-Roman thought. He constantly contended for the antiquity of Jewish culture, presenting its people as civilised, devout and philosophical. Eusebius reports that a statue of Josephus was erected in Rome."


Josephus is not the only writer who refers to the Christ.


Tacitus refers to him, "Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians; see below] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired."



We also have Suetonius who refers to him. Rabbinical writings refer to him.

Jesus was almost stoned for blaspheme because of his comments claiming to be God or equal with God.


Abra there is to much there, I am not going to respond to it all. Try to keep it to 1 or 2 questions or counterarguments.

The community was to judge the prophet.
The new covenant between God and his people is about Grace, not fear of judgement.

"My kingdom is not of this world that men should fight." Christ;s call to us is to lay down the sword when it concerns his name.


God speaks to me through his word mainly. I have had one experience, and never since, where the power of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me, I wont say anything more. I put forth in the forum an experience of prophecy. You should read it. I know for a fact that God still speaks through dreams today, mainly in 3rd world countries where the word of God has not penetrated. I have heard of many a muslim who come Christ through this means. We see a proliferation of miracles when the word of God needs to be moved in a special way. I believe the gifts of the spirit are still active today just not nearly as often.

Christianity today
My Conversation with God
I had no idea what God would do when I asked him to use me.
Anonymous | posted 3/02/2007 10:32AM

Related articles and links | 1 of 3



Does God still speak? I grew up hearing testimonies about it, but until October 2005, I couldn't say it had ever happened to me.
Related articles and links

I'm a middle-aged professor of theology at a well-known Christian university. I've written award-winning books. My name is on Christianity Today's masthead. For years I've taught that God still speaks, but I couldn't testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear.
A year after hearing God's voice, I still can't talk or even think about my conversation with God without being overcome with emotion. That's one reason I know it was real; I'm not a person who shows emotion easily. Plus, I'm a skeptic about things supernatural. Not that I don't believe they can happen; I just doubt most miracle stories except the ones in the Bible. I've even been known to criticize publicly what I consider to be overly experiential forms of Christianity. I suppose that makes this story especially ironic.
Meeting the Twins
About five years ago, my wife and I visited an elderly and very sick man who had once been our pastor. We discovered that he and his wife lived not far from us, and we renewed our old acquaintance. During one of our first visits, the man's grandsons—14-year-old twins—came for a visit. The moment I met them, an inner voice told me that some day I would play a role in one of their lives. I brushed it off as a "brain hiccup" and thought little more of it.
During the next five years, we drew closer to that family and got to know the twins well. Gradually, one of them shared with us his call to the ministry of music.
When the twins were 17, they and their parents visited us and toured the campus where I teach. The one called to music ministry was immediately struck with the impression he was to attend this particular university and none other. Over the next year, it became clearer to us that he was very serious. As far as I could tell, it had nothing to do with the fact that I teach there; he was following an inner tug of divine guidance.
But my university is expensive, and his family is of modest means. During his senior year of high school, he applied for scholarships, but the results were not encouraging. Still, his enthusiasm for studying for ministry at this university didn't flag.
I felt a strong burden to help him, but contrary to popular perception, Christian university professors are not prosperous. And my book royalties had never added up to any large amounts.
The Voice
One bright and beautiful morning in October 2005, I went out alone, walking and praying. I began to cry out to God for my young friend. "Oh, God, please use me to make it possible for him to go to this university!" I don't know what I expected to happen, but I committed to letting God use me however he wanted to on this young man's behalf.
The next week, I was at the same spot in my morning exercise when something amazing happened. Out of the blue, a book title came to me. It was so clever I knew two things instantly: It wasn't mine, and it would sell.
Then, in almost the same instant, the entire outline of the book was there in my mind. Every chapter and its title. No discursive thought preceded it. I immediately went home and began writing. As I wrote, I had the distinct feeling that this was not me. I had never written like this before. The words poured out. Two weeks later, a 200-page manuscript sat on my desk. I knew it was good.
But what to do with it? I had never before written a book without a contract. As I sat and looked at the printed pages, the name of a well-known Christian book publisher suddenly came to mind. I had never dealt with the company before, but I had met the chief editor at professional society meetings. I felt directed to contact him, even though I knew the publisher's procedure for considering book proposals and manuscripts was quite different and more complicated.



I sent my acquaintance an e-mail message containing the title and the outline. A day later, I received an encouraging response; he wanted to read the manuscript. So I sent it to him. Within weeks, I had a contract; it required only a little tweaking of two or three brief portions of the manuscript.
While talking to the editor assigned to this project, I discovered something astonishing. The publisher wanted to pay me a handsome royalty in advance for the book. It was approximately ten times anything I had ever received up-front before. I felt like I had won the lottery!
Later, I took another brisk walk through my neighborhood. My mind was concentrating on the financial windfall and how to use it. Coincidentally, the estimated cost of my house's much-needed roof replacement was the same as the royalty advance paid by my new publisher. The answer seemed clear—a new roof.
Then God spoke: "It's not your money."
Those were the first words of a conversation that lasted on and off for several days. Knowing instantly it wasn't a "brain hiccup" but something more real and serious, I asked, "What do you mean it's not my money?" My tone was resentful and defensive.
"It's not your money. It's his." The voice inside my head was as real as if it were audible. I knew with terrifying certainty it wasn't my imagination, because I didn't want to hear it.
"Whose?" I asked.
The voice named the young man for whom I had been praying only a few weeks earlier. "It's for him to go to the university and study for the ministry."
"All of it?"
"That and the rest."
I knew "the rest" meant any further royalties the book might earn after it was published.
Absolutely flabbergasted, I raised my fist in the air and asked aloud, "What about my roof?"
The voice said, "I'll take care of your roof, if you'll be obedient."
Then I said, "If you want to use me to help him go to the university, why not give me everything it will cost? Why this amount that will make a difference but not pay his whole way?"
"Others have to be obedient, too," I heard in reply.
When I arrived home, I shared the conversation with my wife, who had been looking forward to a roof that wouldn't leak. I couldn't talk about it without sobbing almost uncontrollably. I was shaking with emotion. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. My wife is more spiritual than I am. She immediately agreed; we would wait for a new roof.
Confirming the Call
Over the next few months, I sent letters and e-mails and made phone calls about my young friend and his financial needs. I felt driven and couldn't stop talking about him. Because the university's deadline for need-based financial aid had passed without him or his parents applying, it looked like he would have to live with us to save money. But this would violate campus policy for first-year students, who are required to live in dorms. I sent an e-mail to the dean of student development, almost begging him to make an exception.
A couple weeks later, I received an e-mail back from the dean, saying the university was awarding him a very large scholarship that would more than cover his room and board. Soon a foundation kicked in $2,000. Then two more scholarships came. It became apparent that God was working miracles through several people.

During this time, I wondered whether I should tell my young friend anything. Something inside urged me to. One early afternoon in April, I drove to his house and took him out for dinner. We talked about the call to ministry and the commitment it requires. I was convinced again that he was truly called and destined to be used by God in great ways. So I shared with him my conversation with God and told him the source of the funds that would make it possible for him to attend my university; I explained the origin of the book and the role it would play in his education.
Clearly this was something he had needed to hear; he became choked up as he shared with me his own struggles and doubts. Others in his church youth group had received prophetic messages about their future ministries, but he had not. My story confirmed his call. Today, my young friend is living in a residence hall and taking courses, including courses in preparation for music ministry.
'To Be Used of God …'
Does God still speak today? I know he does.
So what does all this mean? I'm a theologian, and I should know. But I can't spin out a fancy theological formula for God's guidance and provision. What I know is that God spoke to me and used a gift he had already given me to provide for a young man being called into his service. It all started when I said, "God, please use me!"
I wonder how many times I've passed up an opportunity to be used in such a way. I'm reminded of an old "camp chorus" from the 1960s: "To be used of God to speak, to sing, to pray. To be used of God to show someone the way. I want so much to feel the touch of his consuming fire. To be used of God is my desire."
I used to sing those words with passion as a teenager, but I was never sure God answered my sung prayer. All it took was a specific need and a specific plea combined with the determination to be obedient. I don't know if it always works that way, but it did this time for me and my young friend.
So what has this done for me? Probably more than for the young man bound for ministry. We now have a new roof, for one thing, which came under circumstances that can only be described as oddly providential—but that's another story. More importantly, my faith in a living, personal, loving, and providing God has been renewed and deepened.
Now I know, more than intellectually, that God still speaks.
The writer is a professor, author, and CT contributing editor.

Actually we know alot about the people who wrote the book. We have almost 2000 years of scholarship.

Then there are those who will turn there back and say "Lord, thy will be done"

The four facts I gave are powerful. Liberal scholarship cant answer to them. Its amazing how they dance around. I am more than justified in believing Christ rose from the dead.

If truth is subjective, how do you know truth is subjective. To say "all truth is subjective" is believed by you to be a truthful statement.


The statement "The only real truth is that which can be proven through empirical means.", fails its own test. The statement itself cannot not be proven empirically.

How do you know all religions fail under empirical analysis. Have you personally put them to the test. The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ were all empirically verifiable.

The Christian faith is not a vacuous leap at it were.

It through his spirit and his word that God can communicate with a believer. There is a good article in Christianity Today I will post on here.

I have questioned my belief system. It ended up giving me a much deeper faith.

I am confident Christ was who he claimed to be. I have a confident hope.

These are not just stories made up by men. Look at the tests for a prophet in the old testament. A false prophecy meant death. God actually breathed through these men inspiring them to write these things down.

Your lack of understanding on the subject makes you hard to debate with.

All your sources have a bias, which is ok. Everyone has a bias.

You have your own apologists.
I have been doing research.

I use scholarship from both sides. I try to goto the leading scholars in there feild.

God is not everything, that would lead to contradiction.

I dont understand your second thought.

"1) Horus was born of the virgin Isis-Meri on December 25th in a cave/manger with his birth being announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.

Let’s take this one apart and deal with each separate issue:

Horus’ mother was not a virgin. She was married to Osiris, and there is no reason to suppose she was abstinent after marriage. Horus was, per the story, miraculously conceived. Seth had killed and dismembered Osiris, then Isis put her husband's dead body back together and had intercourse with it. In some versions, she used a hand-made phallus since she wasn't able to find that part of her husband. So while it was a miraculous conception, it was not a virgin birth.

Horus was given three different birthdates in mythology, one of which does correspond to December 25th. But since Jesus wasn't, per the evidence, born on 12/25, this isn't a parallel.

"Meri" (technically "Mr-ee") is the egyptian word for "beloved" and was apparently applied to Isis prior to Jesus' time, as a title, not as part of her name. But since there were probably thousands of women between Horus' time and Jesus' with a name or title that was a variation on "Mary", there's no real reason to suppose that Jesus' mother was named after Isis in particular.

Horus was born in a swamp, not a cave/manger. Acharya's footnotes for this point only make the claim that Jesus was born in a cave, and say nothing about Horus being born in one.

Horus' birth was not announced by a star in the east

There were no “three wise men” at Horus’ birth, or at Jesus’ for that matter (the Bible never gives the number of wise men, and they showed up at Jesus’ home, not at the manger, and probably when Jesus was a year or two old).

Acharya's source for the last two claims appears to be Massey, who says "the Star in the East that arose to announce the birth of the babe (Jesus) was Orion, which is therefore called the star of Horus. That was once the star of the three kings; for the 'three kings' is still a name of three stars in Orion's belt . . . " Massey's apparently getting mixed up, and then the critics are misinterpreting it. Orion is not a star, but a constellation, of which the 'three kings' are a part. And even if there is a specific star called 'the star of Horus', there's no legend stating that it announced Horus' birth (as the critics are claiming) or that the 'three wise men' (the three stars in Orion's belt) attended Horus' birth in any way.

2) His earthly father was named "Seb" ("Joseph").

First of all, there is no parallel between the Egyptian name “Seb” and the Hebrew name “Joseph”, other than the fact that they’re common names. Also, Seb was Osiris’ father, not Horus’.

3) He was of royal descent.

This one’s true! But it's not really a comparison to Jesus. When followers speak of Jesus being of 'royal descent', they usually mean His being a descendent of King David, an earthly king. Horus was, according to the myth, descended from heavenly royalty (as Jesus was), being the son of the main god.

4) At age 12, he was a child teacher in the Temple, and at 30, he was baptized, having disappeared for 18 years.

He never taught in any temple and was never baptized. Also, Jesus didn't 'disappear' in the years between His teaching in the temple and baptism. He worked humbly as a carpenter.

5) Horus was baptized in the river Eridanus or Iarutana (Jordan) by "Anup the Baptizer" ("John the Baptist"), who was decapitated.

Again, Horus was never baptized. There is no “Anup the Baptizer” in the story.

6) He had 12 disciples, two of whom were his "witnesses" and were named "Anup" and "Aan" (the two "Johns").

Horus had four disciples (called ‘Heru-Shemsu’). There’s another reference to sixteen followers, and a group of followers called ‘mesnui’ (blacksmiths) who join Horus in battle, but are never numbered. But there’s no reference to twelve followers or any of them being named “Anup” or “Aan”.

7) He performed miracles, exorcised demons and raised El-Azarus ("El-Osiris"), from the dead.

He did perform miracles, but he never exorcised demons or raised his father from the dead. Also, Osiris is never referred to as ‘El-Azarus’ or ‘El-Osiris’ (clearly an attempt to make his name more closely resemble the Bible’s “Lazarus”).

8) Horus walked on water.

No, he did not.

9) His personal epithet was "Iusa," the "ever-becoming son" of "Ptah," the "Father." He was thus called "Holy Child."

Horus was never referred to as “Iusa” (nor was anyone in Egyptian history - the word does not exist) or “Holy Child”.

10) He delivered a "Sermon on the Mount" and his followers recounted the "Sayings of Iusa."

Horus never delivered such a sermon, and, as pointed out above, he was never referred to as “Iusa”.

11) Horus was transfigured on the Mount.

No, he was not.

12) He was crucified between two thieves, buried for three days in a tomb, and resurrected.

Horus was never crucified. There’s an unofficial story in which he dies and is cast in pieces into the water, then later fished out by a crocodile at Isis’ request. This unofficial story is the only one in which he dies at all.

13) He was also the "Way, the Truth, the Light," "Messiah," "God’s Anointed Son," the "Son of Man," the "Good Shepherd," the "Lamb of God," the "Word made flesh," the "Word of Truth," etc.

The only titles Horus is given are “Great God”, “Chief of the Powers”, “Master of Heaven”, and “Avenger of His Father”. None of the above titles are in any Egyptian mythology.

14) He was "the Fisher" and was associated with the Fish ("Ichthys"), Lamb and Lion.

He was never referred to as “the fisher”, and there are no lamb or lion in any of the stories. Acharya S.'s footnotes on this claim only show an association with fish (which is that Horus WAS a fish, unlike Jesus), with no evidence of his being called 'the fisher' or having any association with a lamb or lion.

15) He came to fulfill the Law.

There was no “law” he was supposed to fulfill.

16) Horus was called "the KRST," or "Anointed One."

He was never referred to by either of these titles. "Krst", in Egyptian, means "burial", by the way. It wasn't a title.

17) Like Jesus, "Horus was supposed to reign one thousand years."

No mention of this in Egyptian mythology."

Good post

I dont my personal experience with God is enough. The four facts justify my belief.