What's the most astonishing fact of the Bible?

Joe Kovacs

What is the single-most shocking fact of the Bible?

That's what a U.S. radio host sought to find out from Joe Kovacs, author of the No. 1 best-seller, "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told."

Jared Morris of WGMD Radio in Delaware held nothing back in an exclusive interview with the author last week, asking, "What's your favorite fact that we've never heard from 'Shocked by the Bible'? After a year or more, what's the thing that still stands out to you as, 'Wow, I can't believe that I've never heard that?'"

(Note: You can listen to the 43-minute interview in its entirety right now by clicking here. The program may take a few moments to load.)

"I think the most important thing is the destiny of human beings," said Kovacs. "A lot of people are aware that the Bible does promise eternal life for people who obey God; but the Bible does go well beyond that to tell us about an incredible, fascinating, fabulous future that we can barely conceive of and it uses the phrase 'children of God' and 'sons of God' and 'daughters' of God and it says that we will be above the angels, judging angels and judging the citizens of this world, and sitting down on the throne of Jesus Christ as the children of God.

"So that we will actually be born into the spirit world, not composed of flesh and blood anymore, but looking like yourself, composed of spirit just like God the Father and Jesus are composed of spirit, and be members of the actual Family of God; where yes, we'll be immortal; and yes, we'll be judging angels; and yes, we'll be ruling from Christ's throne. This is exactly what the Bible says and it calls us the children of God. God is having children. God is reproducing Himself after the God kind."

Morris then asked: "So when's that supposed to happen to us? Is that after we die, or is that after Armageddon?"

Kovacs said: "This happens in the future when Jesus Christ returns to Earth, raises dead followers out of the ground, and if anybody happens to be left alive still on Earth at that time they will be changed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye as the Bible puts it, into their immortal, spirit bodies. ... It is a glorious event with a just incredibly fantastic future coming."

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As Morris read the "Shocked by the Bible" website, he noted, "It says God never actually said, 'Let me make man in my image.' He didn't? That's what everybody believes."

"Well, it's close," explained Kovacs. "Yes, we are made in God's image, but the key to that quote is 'Let US make man in OUR image.' And what I'm trying to stress there is that God is a family of beings. It is more than one person. It comes from a Hebrew word, 'Elohim,' which literally means 'the Mighty Ones,' plural. The Mighty Ones said 'Let Us make man in Our image.'

"People have this concept of some old ancient guy with a white flowing beard sitting up there in heaven, who just decided one day, 'Well, I'm going to create mankind.' But biblically speaking, that's not how it went. You had more than one individual having a conversation with each other and planning this out, over who knows how long the planning took place, but they – the God Family – decided to reproduce after their own kind making man in God's image. So in [Their] image and it also says likeness just in case you didn't get the word image. It says image and likeness. So yes, we do look like God. God looks like us. God does not look like a tarantula or a worm or a butterfly or a puppy dog. He has a head and a torso and arms and legs. He just happens to be made out of spirit because the Bible says God is a spirit."

"Reading through your book, and talking to you, Joe, it clicks," said Morris. "When we have a dialogue about it, or when we read about it, and we talk about it, things just click. And that's what I found time and time again. That's how I was shocked, Joe, when I was reading through the book. That's what shocked me. The things that just were so simple that as humans, we try to make so much more difficult."

Kovacs explained:

It comes from misinformation that has been out there for many, many years. And don't forget, there is a devil that is talked about in the Bible and he is trying to confuse people. So he takes a little bit of the Bible, a little bit of the truth and twists it just enough so that you have all these confusing, conflicting beliefs out there where people just don't "get it," and many people end up saying, "The heck with this. I can't understand it. I don't believe in God. Let me just pay the mortgage and raise my kids." So they take God out of their life or at least put God on the back burner, and think, "Oh well, when the end of my life comes, I'll worry about it then, but all I'm going to deal with right now is what I can see, what I can feel."

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And there is this unseen world out there that is trying to influence you – both the good unseen world of God and his holy angels, as well as the bad unseen world which is a fallen angel formerly named Lucifer, now known as Satan or the enemy, and he is trying to bring you away from God. So there is this struggle going on for your mind that you have to be aware of because life is not just what you see around you and what you can feel and taste and hear and smell. There is an unseen battle going on for the control of your mind and the future of your eternity.

Morris asked at the outset of the interview, "What made you want to write this book? What gave you the idea?"

"I'm a newsperson by trade," said Kovacs. "I've been doing news for a quarter of a century, whether it's on the radio or TV or online now. I'm just interested in truth, and I personally got fed up with people talking wrongly about the information that's contained in the Bible. ...

For instance, every year around Christmastime, you hear stories of Three Wise Men coming to see Jesus the night He was born in Bethlehem. And that's just not biblical. Part of it is biblical, but not all of it. The Bible never says Three Wise Men. It does mention wise men; but zero wise men, when you look into it, zero wise men showed up at the manger the night Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

So it started with simple things like this, but it hit a critical mass with me where I just couldn't take it anymore because I knew this information because I'm a Bible reader. I'm a Christian guy. I stand up for the truth of the Bible, the words of the Bible. But I just wanted to set the record straight, shatter the misconceptions because this world is filled with misconceptions about what the Bible really says. ...

It's just a matter of looking at the words on the page – seeing what's there and seeing what's not there. And we've been brainwashed over hundreds of years into thinking things are different. We have these preconceived notions that come from songs and Christmas carols and TV shows and movies that infiltrate our minds and so we have a tainted view of what's actually in Scripture. ...

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["Shocked by the Bible" is] really about what the Bible says in its own words. This book is not about religion so much. Occasionally it will challenge some beliefs of some religions ... but I'm not a person really who's interested in religion. I do believe in the God of the Bible and have faith in the God of the Bible and do believe this book (the Bible) is true, it's accurate, probably more accurate sometimes than what you read in your local newspaper. ...

I'm not telling anybody what to believe. It's none of my business. You can be Christian or Jewish or Muslim or agnostic or atheist, whatever you want. Believe in Martians running the universe, I don't care, that's your business. I just want people to open up the Good Book, see the words that are on the page and get familiar with it. What you do with that information is your own business.

Kovacs and Morris covered plenty of other scriptural subjects during the interview, including the surprising fact that God ran lotteries on numerous occasions in both the Old and New Testaments, and someone tried to buy the Holy Spirit.

Morris noted there has been massive interest from his radio audience, which covers three states: Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

"Last year when I had [Kovacs] on," he said, "for the month afterwards, it was the most requested interview I've ever done. ... I had people asking, 'Where can I get the interview? Where can I get the book?'"

"Shocked by the
Bible" has become an instant smash since its release, skyrocketing to No. 1 in
three Bible-related categories several times on Amazon.com with readers giving it
high praise, and the author being interviewed on dozens of radio shows. It's also been been translated into the Korean language and will soon be published in Russian as well.

Those who have read the book offer glowing reviews, including:

"I'm drawn to this book. It is so well put together. I started reading it and didn't put it down for two days to finish it. ... This guy is incredible." – Peter Boyles, KHOW radio host, Denver

"Kovacs has done his homework. In 'Shocked by the Bible,' he explodes certain common concepts, brings shocking stories and revelations to light and gives the reader motivation to dig deeper into the very Word of God. A valuable resource for today's jaded but biblically illiterate audience." – Carolyn R. Scheidies, Author's Choice Reviews

"Since the professing church is unwilling to look intently at the Scriptures, embrace it all in context, [God] is using a believing investigative journalist to apply his gift and experience to be a witness to the Truth of what He said and established in His Word. Joe Kovacs is that man. ... I recommend 'Shocked by The Bible' by Joe Kovacs because of his journalistic approach to the Bible. He is not trying to proselytize anyone to his particular brand of religion. His agenda appears to not go beyond just a journalistic look at Scripture in order to get straight facts into people's hands that they might make an informed decision." – Banner Kidd, Torah Perspective

In "Shocked by the
Bible," Kovacs also explains that if people just read for themselves without any
preconceived notions, they'd quickly discover:

"Three Wise Men" are never mentioned in the story of Jesus' birth, and no wise men at all
are shown present at the manger scene the night Jesus was born. (They showed
up later at a house when Jesus was a young child)

The Bible doesn't outright declare the day, month, year or even season Jesus
was born

There's no mention of a Christmas tree or any tree in the gospels recording
Jesus' birth. However, there is a custom mentioned in the Old Testament that
shows people decorating trees with silver and gold.
You might be astounded to find out what God says about such a practice

The Bible never says Jesus died on a Friday or rose
from the grave Sunday morning

Scripture
does not say Noah's Ark rested on "Mount Ararat"

Noah brought a lot more than just two of certain animals aboard the Ark

The word "Easter" has vanished from modern Bible translations

God sought to kill Moses, shortly after telling him to lead the Israelites
to freedom

Jesus did not come to make everyone understand His message, and personally
said so

Jesus made personal appearances in the Old Testament

The worst case of hemorrhoids in history is recorded

And these are merely the beginning of hundreds of facts that will stun even
those who thought they had a strong knowledge of the Bible.

"If you've never been into the Bible, or even if you have, there's no need to
fear," says Kovacs. "I make it quick, easy and fun for you to find out the
juiciest, most interesting stuff that never seems to get mentioned in church.
And I'm not talking about trivial facts and difficult names no one can
pronounce."

Kovacs, the executive news editor of WND, has written countless reports in his 26-year news career. Many have
focused on biblical issues such as chariot wheels
said to be found in the Red Sea, searches for Noah's Ark and
the Ark of the
Covenant, and controversies over Christmas and
Easter holidays
as well as the Saturday-vs.-Sunday
Sabbath.

He has received many awards for news excellence from the
Associated Press and United Press International. He's run television,
radio and print
newsrooms in the U.S., as well as Budapest, Hungary. Kovacs is also regarded as
one of the premier creative headline writers in the news business today.