By Scott Noble ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) January 17, 2017

When we go to see a medical doctor in time of need, we want to know that the doctor has good credentials—that he or she is not just making things up or guessing based on faulty data. We take great care to make sure our bodies are in good health. When it comes to our spiritual health and our spiritual needs, why should we look for less? Based on the longevity of our spirit, in contrast to our temporary body, we should be taking greater care to make sure that we are taking refuge in a ―Doctor‖ with truly impeccable credentials.

In Buddhism three basic refuges are offered—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (the community of monks). The Dharma (Dhamma in Pali) consists of the teachings of the Buddha. In this paper I‘ll examine the historical transmission of those teachings and show why these are lacking in any credentials worthy of our trust. I hope to show not only the negative side, but also to offer historical credentials of a ―Doctor‖ who is worthy of our trust.

What follows is a semi-technical look at Buddhist history. If you are interested in the simpler version of this paper, please skip ahead to the ―Short Summary‖ section:

This month has been a good month to see my parents here in Thailand.  We just sent them to the airport.  Micah has been enjoying the extra attention and tomorrow will probably be crying for “Gampa” and “Gamma.”

Dear believers in grace,

We wish you all a blessed New Year in the Saviour of the world!
 
Teaching at an Elementary School
The first week and a half of December we went to another province to help teach at a Christian school.  Most of the parents and students are not Christians so it was a good opportunity to share the gospel.  I taught English to 1st-5th graders.  The 4th and 5th graders were pretty good, but it was challenging to teach the 1st-3rd graders.  There are few foreigners in that province so the children enjoyed seeing a foreigner and I got to hand out many tracts and also share Bible lessons at the flag pole and at chapel one day.  Micah got to join the nursery school for 3 days until he got some kind of a stomach bug.  He enjoyed learning very much and according to Khae was the most enthusiastic student in the class.
 
Women’s Prison
We came back to Chiang Mai in time to have a Christmas worship service at the Women’s Prison.  We’re still teaching them from the book of Revelation.  The massage class there is also going well—still a big group of about 80 students.
 
Christmas Party
We had a Christmas party for our students and invited their parents also.  I also invited my adult students.  About 20 people came.  We sang some Christmas songs and then Khae shared the gospel through the Christmas story and we gave everyone either a gospel of John in the Shan language or some Thai gospel books.  Here are a couple of pictures from that.
 
John’s Signature Words
A couple months ago Khae read a book by a Thai Lutheran pastor who (following in Martin Luther’s footsteps) doubted that John wrote the book of Revelation or if it even should be in our Bible.  I did a very interesting word study on this comparing the gospel of John, I-III John, and the book of Revelation.  I think the results are beyond any coincidence.  The book of Revelation not only has the “fingerprints” of John all over it, but the author also has such a rich knowledge of the Old Testament woven into the book (by divine inspiration)-- it is unmistakably God breathed.  I’m attaching a short paper on that here.
 
Peace in Christ, Scott, Khae, and Micahberekiah.

Prayer Request received

Please please pray for my daughter,the doctors do not know what's wrong,she is paralyzed and lost her ability to communicate,all of a sudden.

Her name is Sarah,Jacob knows us we are Melvin and Joyce Depasquale from Malta,he calls us the Maltese falcon.

please pray.

thank you

God bless joyce