THE CROSS

Concerned Christians

September 2025

ACCURACY OF GOD’S WORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

(PART 2 of 4)

Last month’s newsletter began a presentation by Lori Lauber, guest writer, establishing support for knowing the Old Testament text is reliable and may be trusted as God’s written Word. This authority is questioned by the LDS faith. Again, documentation may be found in Josh McDowell’s documented work, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Volumes 1 and 2.

Gary Keating, General Manager, Editor

PART 2

Now let’s investigate why we can stand firm in the fact that the original text God gave to His prophets is indeed still with us today in the Old Testament. Remember, it doesn’t matter how many cell phones we have had, so long as the data has been transferred accurately!

In a court case, it’s important to see a chain of custody when there is evidence, in order to ensure that the evidence hasn’t been ruined. While it’s nearly impossible to identify and formulate a chain of custody for the prophet’s original writings, there are several solid reasons to conclude that we can, in fact, trust that we do have reliable copies of those original words. Consider the following.

Masoretic Text:

Jewish believers have always guarded Scripture with extreme care and precision. From before the post-exile time of Ezra, there were scribes who were given the responsibility of copying and meticulously caring for the sacred text. These groups were established so that Jewish believers could hand down the text accurately. To this very day, the tradition of copying and caring for the Scriptures is sacred within orthodox Jewish religious tradition.

1. The Scriptures were written originally on tablets of stone, skins of leather (animals), papyrus, or rolls of parchment. The Old Testament scribes took their task of transmitting the information from one perishable material to another very seriously. A scribe would work diligently to be certain that the work was both accurate and beautiful.
2. These scribes were known as the Masoretes. Between the 7th and 10th century B.C., these scribes developed something now known as the “Masoretic Text”. The Masoretic Text is universally accepted by scholars as the authentic Hebrew Bible due to the manner in which they were copied.
3. To ensure the accuracy of the Masoretic copies, the Masoretes developed a number of strict measures to guarantee that every new copy was a reliable reproduction of the original. The Masoretes established extremely detailed procedures to protect the text against changes in the following manner.
4. When copies of the Scripture started to show signs of wear, they were quickly removed from the collection and placed in a receptacle (called a “genizah”) to separate them from the other, newer scrolls.
5. When new copies were generated, the materials used by the Masoretes were strictly controlled, including the quality and types of inks and skins used to produce the scrolls. Only certain colors of ink were permissible. The condition of the room in which the copies were made was also tightly controlled. The cleanliness of the scribe was strictly regulated. The scribes would take a purification bath, put on fresh, clean clothes, and make a new pen after every time they wrote the name of God.
6. The number of columns allowed to appear in each section was regulated, and there were restrictions regarding the length and the width of each column on the scroll. Nothing could be written from memory; each line was to be copied letter for letter from a reliable previously made manuscript.
7. The Masoretic scribes kept detailed statistics to guard against error. Here is an example of just one of the statistical methods used. The Masoretes identified Leviticus 8:8, by location, as being the exact middle verse of the Torah. A single word in Leviticus 10:42 was identified as the one which marks the middle letter of the Torah. A copyist would know if there were any problems in the text because they would use these place markers mathematically. They would count the letters and words from the beginning of the Torah to the place markers and from the place markers to the end of the Torah.
8. This statistical analysis worked because they knew exactly how many words and letters were in each scroll. For example, we know from the Masorete regulations that the total number of Hebrew verses in Deuteronomy is 955, the total number of verses in the entire Torah is 5,845, the total number of words is 97,856, and the total number of letters is 400,945. By assembling statistics such as these, each book of the Old Testament could be measured, mathematically, to see if there were any copyist errors.   

Part 3 next month will be supporting authenticity and will be manuscript evidence. 

Gary Keating, Editor

Hold OnBy Kristine Nelson Have you experienced the longing and desperation that comes from waiting for the Lord to move in your life or the lives of your loved ones? Does it seem like forever since you’ve seen the fruit from the relationships you have been sowing? Have you wished to see a loved one come to know the love of Jesus Christ? Many of us in this ministry have experienced this. Undoubtedly, if you have shared your faith with a member of the LDS church, you know what it means to “hit the brick wall.” For me, I reflect and realize how different my life is now with Christ, how incredibly graced my life is and how He has changed my heart. These are joyous moments when I feel so grateful and free. In the midst of praising God, my throat wells up, and I feel an ache, a wishful hopeful ache for my family. How I long for my sisters and brother, my parents, and a few close friends to experience the freedom and the renewing of the mind that Jesus Christ has given me. At times in the past, I’ve taken things into my own hands, shared much too quickly, forgotten to pray and wait on the Spirit, or have just been frustrated at another’s seemingly apathetic stance on God. Now I just pray for Jesus to work a miracle. One recent Sunday, our pastor of music was delivering the sermon. He was speaking about “holding on” being patient in difficult circumstances. He told us the story in John 11 of how Jesus could have worked a small miracle in the life of Lazarus by healing him immediately when he was sick. Mary and Martha had sent word for Jesus and were waiting for him. They knew Jesus could work a miracle. Jesus chose to have Mary and Martha wait for four days, and Lazarus died. When asked “why” by his disciples, Jesus told them, “Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”   After Lazarus died, Mary was torn apart with grief. Jesus came alongside Mary and shared in her grief and wept. Then, Jesus worked an even more amazing miracle…he brought Lazarus back from the dead. Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Jesus made a situation wait for the benefit of those standing there, believers and non-believers alike, so that they would believe in Him.  If we can wait on the Lord for that opportunity to plant a seed instead of taking the course into our own hands, we may see small changes taking place. If we have patience in our place of anxiety and need in another person, we can call on Him, give what He moves us to give and accept what He provides. If Jesus had chosen to heal Lazarus in his sickness, maybe far fewer would have been affected by the amazing miracle he performed. Also, we must trust that when we are aching for another person and their struggles in life, that Jesus is right there alongside us, grieving and weeping with us because he loves us.  As humans, we can’t see how close we are to the goal. We can’t see how close someone else is to finding freedom with Christ. God acts in his own time from his own sovereign view. As much as we may desire that person to know and follow God, we cannot orchestrate it, nor can we thwart God’s will. We also cannot impede another person’s free will and choices in life. Often it seems so easy to give up in the battle for lost souls. We may not be heard by the ones to whom we are witnessing, or we may be exhausted from watching lives deteriorate without the hope of Christ. But each moment on this earth is a gift, when we’ve been blessed with the gift of eternal life, and it is our purpose and God’s desire that we share this gift. In God’s perspective, He sees all. He often makes us wait. He grieves with us. He knows exactly what is ahead for us and for those we love. Then sometimes, when we are drier than a desert, or hurting more than ever, he moves and simply amazes us. If we can hold on to Him, God can and will work small miracles in our lives and in the lives of those we love. In my own words, “I just want to see those whom I love in eternity with Jesus Christ and have a little less burden to carry here on earth.”

LDS CARE AND SOCIAL GROUP Our hope at this ministry is to love and support all who have ties to the LDS church. Many of our loved ones attend the LDS church, are raising children in that faith, or we ourselves grew up in the LDS religion and culture. We may have questions about the ever-changing policies and doctrine of the church. We might have friends and neighbors who are LDS and have questions about the information and changes that have recently occurred in the LDS church.We have rekindled a group that we held regularly in the early 2000s but with renewed focus and leadership. The LDS Care Group is a safe space for both former and current LDS Church members to share, encourage, wrestle, and grow in their Christian faith journeys with others who have similar life experiences, challenges, and culture. Currently, we meet near Dobson & Ray in Chandler. Please email Kristine Nelson at [email protected] if interested. Or call: 480-833-2537

Do you begin your day in God’s Word? Do you also end it in His word or with a heartfelt prayer?

Perhaps you are guided by a daily devotional that expounds on the Word. All of these are great. Ask God to help you to be faithful and you will be blessed.

Paulette

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