Part II: The Gospel Prepared for the World, The Abraham Factor; Chapter 5: The 4,000-Year Connection, pp. 137-148 Summary

Richardson refers to a sermon by a missionary pastor named Ralph Winter. Winter claims that the main story of the Bible actually starts in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, and that the first eleven chapters are just the introduction. Winter's justification of his statement is that the main plot of the Bible is the progress of God's covenant with Abraham, and that everything that happens in the Bible has to do with the results of that covenant. This covenant begins in Genesis Chapter 12, when God tests Abraham by demanding that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac. At the last minute, God stops Abraham from killing Isaac...