THE FOLLOWING IS A PASSAGE FROM THE BOOK OF DANIEL:


Chapter:3 Verses: 19-27

   19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: `therefore' he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
   20 And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, `and' to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
   21 Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their `other' garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
   22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
   23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
   24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
   25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
   26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire.
   27 And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.


This event took place roughly 440 years before christ.
Nebuchadnezzar was a real king in ancient Babylon. The three men in the furnace are freinds of Daniel. They refused to worship his gods and the tower of gold which Nebuchadnezzar had built. They proclaimed to the king that their God would deliver them from the furnace. The fourth man WAS the son of God.
This was the book that did it for me.
Being that history is one of my passions, I began to see historical corrilations throughout the Bible. The Egyptians kept accounts of Isreal at Karnak. The Romans kept accounts of the Christians. There are new discoveries almost everyday that combine history with Biblical accounts.

If you want to read the Bible, I suggest the New American Standard: Study Edition.
For a quick reference.....CLICK HERE...(Online Bible)
Here is another cool site.....CLICK HERE...(Biblical Archaeology)
BIBLEPROBE.COM