Episode 267 – The Facts in Acts Part 2

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script Notes:

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

The Book of Acts, Chapter 16, verses 1 through 12, New International Version

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VK: Hi! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author, founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time geography student. Today on Anchored by Truth we want to continue the discussion that we began last time on the historical reliability of the book of Acts. But for a bit of additional excitement, to start us off in our discussions we are using some extracts from Crystal Sea’s upcoming audio book version of one of RD’s books, Doors of Destiny: A Choice Orbs Tale. Now just as informational note we’d like listeners to know that even though the audio version of Doors hasn’t been released, hard copies and e-book versions of Doors of Destiny are already available from Amazon or our website. RD, why don’t you set the scene for the extract that we’re going to hear today?

RD: Well as a reminder to anyone who wasn’t able to be with us during our last couple of episodes of Anchored by Truth Doors of Destiny is an adventure tale about four children – 1 brother and 3 sisters - who encounter what’s called a choice orb on a walk through their local woods. Choice orbs are sort of magic marbles that take people out of the normal realm of space and time to places where spiritual battles are being waged and entire worlds can be won or lost based on the outcome of the battles being fought on those worlds. For our 4 earthly travelers their main goal is just to get home. But as part of getting home they find themselves drawn into and playing important roles in saving these other worlds. In today’s scene, the kids are watching a battle unfolding between the True Servants and the Tainted Spirits. Obviously, the True Servants symbolize the holy angels and the Tainted are the demonic spirits. So, this scene is an extended metaphor based on Ephesians 6:12 where we’re told that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So here’s part of an amplified portrayal of what that struggle would like in the worlds that can only be reached by Choice Orbs. The names of the True Servants who are fighting in the battle are drawn from the various functions that holy angels perform in different parts of scripture. For instance, in Matthew 4:11, the Bible says that after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness angels came to comfort him. So one of the True Servants is named Comforter.

---- Doors of Destiny extract – Battle on the Near Place

VK: Wow. There’s a lot going on in the scene. And it sounded like the True Servants’ situation was getting pretty dire. Are they able to win?

RD: Well, for anyone who’s curious about the outcome of the battle and what happens next I’d suggest they get a copy of Doors of Destiny for themselves. It’s not only a great adventure tale but it also is packed with references that will help people learn more about scripture and help them think about the role of faith in helping people navigate the real spiritual battles that we all face.

VK: And I think that’s an important note. There are a lot of books out there that not only don’t help people deepen their faith but actually take them in the other direction. It’s nice to know that it’s possible to enjoy a story that is not only entertaining but also edifying. And one of the reasons that Doors has that quality is that you made a point to be sure that Doors always pointed people back to scripture as its inspiration. So, shall we proceed on to finishing up with this brief study on the historicity of the Book of Acts?

RD: Absolutely. And I think the key words you used were “brief study.” There are hundreds of geographical and historical details contained in the Book of Acts. That’s great because it gives us a lot of opportunities to look and see if Luke got them right. But there are far too many for us to cover in this brief series. What we’re really trying to do is to examine just a few examples or illustrations to reinforce the larger point that the Bible is historically reliable. We’re putting some links into the notes that accompany the podcast version of the show so listeners can take a more in depth look for themselves.

VK: Well, in our last episode of Anchored by Truth we looked at some historical details that focused on specific people and government officials. We found out that Luke’s accuracy when it came to keeping track of the enormous range of titles used within the Roman governing structure was precise and impressive. And we found out that Luke’s record of the people we examined and his use of titles has been abundantly verified by extra-Biblical sources. So, you said that today you wanted to also see that Luke was not only careful when reporting about individuals and government officials, but he was equally careful when it came to reporting about geography and culture. Right?

RD: Right. So to start, let’s take a look at Acts, chapter 16. We heard a portion of this chapter in our opening scriptures for today. In the section we listened to we heard Luke reporting on a part of Paul’s second missionary journey which was when he first went to Greece. But before visiting Greece we see that Paul spent some time in some regions and cities that today are part of the nation of Turkey. During the Roman period obviously there were different names in effect. So let’s see how careful Luke was with geographical details. Notice that in verse 1 of this section Luke says that he and Paul came to Derbe and then they went on to Lystra. This is a small detail but it shows how attentive Luke was to small details. Before they came to Derbe and Lystra, Acts 15 says Paul and Luke had been travelling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Syria and Cilicia were regions of the Roman Empire that were to the east of where Derbe and Lystra were located in Turkey. So in travelling to Lystra and Derbe Paul and Luke were travelling west.

VK: And it’s pretty easy for anyone to go an internet Bible resource and look up and see the relative location of those cities. I know that one resource you use frequently is biblehub.com because they have so many Bible resources all located on one website - including a wide selection of maps - and it’s free to use. So, it’s easy to see on a map that Derbe is located to the east of Lystra. So it makes perfect sense that Luke would have said they came to Derbe first before going on to Lystra. That would have been the natural order for encountering those cities for someone travelling from the east.

RD: Exactly. And by looking at a map you can also see why Luke would have mentioned that not only believers from Lystra spoke well of Timothy but so did believers from Iconium. Lystra and Iconium are located fairly close together so it makes sense that the two communities of believers would have contact with one another. Remember that before Paul’s visit to Lystra recorded in Acts 16 he had made a previous to Lystra that is recorded in Act 14. On his earlier visit there he had probably founded the church but only after he had come from Iconium where he had experienced some trouble. Remember that this is very, very early in the history of the church so it was quite likely that any of the towns mentioned had only one or two bodies of believers who were probably meeting in house churches. So, naturally they would have looked to a neighboring body of believers in the next town over for fellowship and reinforcement.

VK: All that makes perfect sense. And Luke’s record of geographical accuracy in Acts 16 is further confirmed when Luke talks about provinces in addition to cities. In the section we heard Luke mentions six different Roman provinces that would all be in modern day Turkey: Phrygia, Galatia, Asia, Mysia, Bithynia, and Troas. And as Luke records their travels Luke’s description again makes perfect sense, correct?

RD: Yes. Notice that the scripture says that the Holy Spirit kept Paul and his companions out of “Asia.” In Roman times Asia was not a reference to the continent that we think about today, but it was a large province in central Turkey – sort of a super-sized province that included within it some of the smaller provinces. It makes sense that Paul would have tried to enter it after preaching in Phrygia and Galatia because it would have been directly to the west. But when the Holy Spirit kept them out of Asia apparently Paul and his companions skirted it to the north and wound up in Mysia. From there they wanted to go farther north to Bithynia. But, the scripture says that the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from going into Bithynia when they came to the border of Mysia.

VK: Again, Luke’s description is completely consistent with the layout of the Roman provinces within Turkey and makes common sense when you think about travelers who have to go just about everywhere by foot. So when – as Luke puts it – “the spirit of Jesus” told them not to continue heading north it would make sense for them to resume their travels by going further west. After all, they had just spent time in the east strengthening the churches there and Paul’s passion was to take the gospel to places where it had yet to be heard. That’s exactly what they did winding up in Troas which is right on the Turkish coast and a relatively short boat ride over to Greece. While in Troas Paul got his vision to take that boat ride and cross over to Greece. Their first stop in the trip was Samothrace which is an island about halfway between Turkey and Greece.

RD: And it makes very good sense that they would have stopped in Samothrace because it’s easy to navigate to there. Despite its relatively small size, there’s a 5,000 foot high mountain on the island so it makes an easy mark for sailors to use for navigation. And from Samothrace it’s a straight shot to Neapolis which is on the eastern coast of Greece and in the first century AD it served as the seaport for Philippi. Again, Luke in his record Luke is just recording their travels in the most natural order that it would occur to someone who’s preparing a historical record. Neapolis is on the coast of the Aegean and it’s about nine miles east of Philippi. Neapolis’ function as the seaport for Philippi has been confirmed by manuscripts and coins. So Luke naturally and correctly records that after their crossing they landed at Neapolis to disembark but they didn’t stay there. They moved on to the much more important city of Philippi where it turns out Paul and his primary traveling companion, Silas got into a bit of trouble because Paul cast a demonic spirit out of a young girl but in doing so he destroyed the livelihood of some men who had been exploiting the girl using her to tell fortunes.

VK: And that trouble landed them in jail but again Luke even gets the details of Roman jails right. Luke writes that Paul and Silas were put into stocks in the inner part of the jail which is exactly how jails of that era were built. But Paul’s imprisonment also produced one of the most remarkable conversion experiences recorded in the New Testament. In the middle of the night, God had an earthquake shake the jail which opened all the doors. When the jailer realized what had happened he was about to kill himself because in the Roman world a jailer who allowed prisoners to escape would have been subject to severe punishment and in some cases death. But Paul prevented the suicide by telling the jailer that none of the prisoners had fled. The jailer was so grateful he released Paul and Silas from the stocks, took them to his house, dressed their wounds, and fed them. All that is completely consistent with what we know of Roman jails. The interiors normally didn’t have torches so at night the jailer wouldn’t have been able to see that the prisoners were still there. And prisoners normally had to get food from family or friends so after their arrest and imprisonment Paul and Silas wouldn’t have had anything to eat.

RD: Yes. On virtually every line of the Book of Acts Luke records details of the first century world – people, places, customs, and governing practices - that have been verified by extra Biblical sources. This extreme attention to detail has often persuaded people who initially were skeptical of the historicity of Acts that the book is not only historically accurate but that it is as good as or better than most of the histories that have come to us from that time.

VK: In fact, one of the most prominent archeologists of the 20th century, Sir William Ramsay once wrote “I had read a good deal of modern criticism about the book, and dutifully accepted the current opinion that it was written during the second half of the second century by an author who wished to influence the minds of people in his own time by a highly wrought and imaginative description of the early Church. But after Ramsay had conducted decades of his own on-site investigation, Ramsay concluded: “The present writer takes the view that Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness. “ That’s a great illustration of how we all should approach the study of scripture. Ramsay started as a skeptic but after doing his own research he came to the realization that Luke was a reliable reporter of history. We would add that that same thing is true of all of the writers who gave us the inspired record we call the Bible.

RD: And just to add to that another scholar, J. B. Lightfoot, said “...[N]o ancient work affords so many tests of veracity; for no other has such numerous points of contact in all directions with contemporary history, politics, and topography, whether Jewish, Greek, or Roman” (Essays of the Work Entitled Supernatural Religion, pp. 19-20). Lightfoot was one of the greatest scholars of his day. He was fluent in seven languages and he made vast contributions to the literature of the New Testament. Just as sort of a summary Luke mentioned thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, and nine Mediterranean islands. And he got their locations, relative positions, and cultural peculiarities correct. So all this goes to reinforce the basic point that the Book of Acts and the Bible are historically reliable. So when Luke tells us that Jesus lived, died, was resurrected, and ascended to the right hand of the Father we can trust his report about those things just as much as we can trust his report about whether you’d encounter Derbe before Lystra when travelling west.

VK: Well in the last few episodes of Anchored by Truth which we’ve entitled the facts in Acts we’ve taken a look at how Luke was consistently accurate in his observations about people, positions and titles, geography and local customs. But since we’re approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas next week we’re going to begin a new series that focuses on the central figure of the Bible: Jesus. Particularly what history and evidence can tell us about his birth and the world in which he conducted his earthly ministry. So, this sounds like it’s a great time to have a prayer. Since we’re now well into the school year we know that a lot of people are either helping their children prepare for tests or preparing for themselves. So, today let’s listen to a prayer that is useful before taking a test.

---- Prayer before taking a test - Ranni

VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” We hope you’ll be with us next time as we continue our discussion of the remarkable historical accuracy of Luke – who was not only a physician who addressed bodily needs but a historian who continues to minister to spiritual needs today. We hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show. Also, we’d to remind listeners that even though the audio version of Doors hasn’t been released, hard copies and e-book versions of Doors of Destiny are already available from Amazon or our website.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quotes from the New International Version)

The Book of Acts, Chapter 16, verses 1 through 12, New International Version

(Sources used for this episode or other in this series)

https://reknew.org/2018/12/is-the-book-of-acts-reliable/

https://crossexamined.org/historical-accuracy-book-acts/

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1311-accuracy-of-the-book-of-acts-the

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/historical-accuracy-of-the-bible/question12-gospels-historically-accurate.cfm

https://www.angelfire.com/sc3/myredeemer/Evidencep13.html

Doors of Destiny – Chapter Twenty-Five Extract

As the first wave of Tainted Spirits plunged downward to assault the True Servants, Defender launched himself upward, his great sword drawn in one hand and a gleaming silver shield in the other. He blocked the plunging stream of smaller demons with his shield and smashed through them like they were a swarm of insects hitting a car’s windshield at high speed. A great many of the fetid creatures were crushed, leaving nothing but clouds of black smoke in his wake. A few that survived the first impact swirled around his shield, and these were dispatched by Defender’s sword.

Defender returned to his place on the ground but he had no time to rest, for two more streams of small black and green menaces hurled themselves downward. Defender and Firemaster met them. Firemaster hurled bolts of fire that consumed their targets, and the demons he repelled veered sharply to try and avoid him and his fierce bolts.

Despite their losses, more and more of the huge cloud of circling pestilence started to make aggressive assaults on the True Servants, and the assaults started to include larger and larger of the monstrosities who had emerged from the horrifying black funnel. The looming serpent with the great bear claws issued cries and hisses that apparently were intended to direct the attack. It was only a brief period before all of the True Servants were engaged in the fighting in one form or another.

Defender fought with his shield and sword, or he transformed his sword to a spear, pike, axe, or club. Firemaster could hurl fire in bolts or create waves of it in patterns that were both awe-inspiring and deadly for their demonic enemies. Scribe used pens similar to the one he had given Danell, although he wrote in symbols and signs that none of the children could begin to understand. Sometimes the symbols would linger in the air and trap or target specific ones of the malformed hordes. Sometimes the symbols would disappear in flashes of blinding brilliance, consuming any of the evil brood that happened to be close by. Scribe could write with either hand or both simultaneously, and he moved with a speed and precision that should have forced an end to the horrible contest, but did not.

Herald spoke mysterious words that had a variety of effects on the enemies he faced. Sometimes his words would result in a screaming enemy going limp, only to be consumed by one of Scribe’s symbols or Defender’s strokes. Sometimes the attacker would reverse course and collide with others behind him. Sometimes the attackers would turn on each other until another hiss would come from the great serpent to snap them out of their mindless self-destruction.

Comforter did not participate in the fighting directly, but he ministered to his brother True Servants as they needed something. As the fighting continued, the sheer numbers of enemies they were confronting enabled the monsters to score more and more hits, bites, blows, and strikes. Some of the larger monstrosities that were now engaged had weapons of their own, and they used them to some effect. The longer the battle went on, the more Comforter had to attend to one of his brethren, and despite the speed and skill with which he worked, the less he was able to keep up with their needs.

Avenger was the most amazing of the True in the confrontation, and the demons made every effort to avoid him. His weapons were mysterious. The children could see bright flashes or quick strokes, but it was unclear to them what devices, if any, he employed. The demons flew away from him whenever he approached, preferring to concentrate on all of the others, especially Comforter. Several times Avenger had to move with all his considerable speed to knock or slice away desperately seeking claws or teeth, and more than once he had to dispatch the creature who had already afflicted an injury on Comforter.

As the battle progressed, despite the valiant and unrelenting efforts of the True, it became apparent that the sheer size of the force they faced would result in their defeat.