According to the Bible, a spiritual war has been raging between God and Satan for the hearts and minds of human beings since the garden of Eden. Whether we like it or not, we are caught up in this cosmic conflict. Paul wrote these words of encouragement to the church in Ephesus.
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:10–12 (NLT)
The devil is cunning, relentless, and evil. He is not someone to underestimate. Our Lord Jesus defeated him when he rose from the dead, but the end of the conflict remains in the future. Until the time when we take part in the final crushing of Satan (Romans 16:20), we are to be vigilant (1 Peter 5:8) and aware of his strategies. God has given us everything we need to be victorious as we rely on the finished work of Christ, the present work of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God.
The Creator is absolutely trustworthy, deserving our utmost trust and loyalty.
He is brilliant, wise, loving, powerful, and kind. He never lies and always has our best interests at heart.
Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, Titus 1:1–2 (NASB95)
Nevertheless, near the beginning of Genesis, Satan, in the guise of a serpent, was able rather easily to turn Adam and Eve against their Maker by injecting doubt into their hearts about his good intentions and weaving a cunning lie. The devil promised them that disobeying God’s command would open the door to a deeper kind of “knowledge” that would elevate them to a sort of godhood status.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:1–5 (NLT)
For some reason, the lure of forbidden knowledge and the desire to be like God can be overpowering to both angels and men. It reveals that we are dissatisfied with being dependent created beings.
At one point, Satan even attempted to oust God from his heavenly throne.
How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. Isaiah 14:12–15 (NASB95)
Since the devil was not able to seize his throne, he apparently decided that dethroning God in the hearts of his creatures was the next best thing.
Adam’s and Eve’s betrayal of God placed them, their descendants, and the earth under satanic tyranny and spiritual darkness.
Satan continues to lure mankind into realms of forbidden knowledge, both the occult and what is falsely called science. (1 Timothy 6:20)
God gave the earth to mankind to inhabit and rule, but just as we were not satisfied with our status of being dependent beings, we have not been content with being limited to our assigned habitation. Instead, we continue to delve into heavenly matters beyond our understanding.
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men. Psalm 115:16 (NKJV)
Not being privy to the secret counsels of God or understanding the mysteries of the firmament, godless men and women departed from the Bible and opened themselves to the hidden knowledge of Satan, who was more than willing to feed us tantalizing lie upon lie to lure us into a false understanding of the cosmos that attempts to conceal the glory of God.
Whenever we choose to speculate contrary to God’s revealed Word, we are in danger of entering the occult realm of Satan. It is not surprising, therefore, to discover that Copernicus and Newton were both fans of the legendary Egyptian sun worshiper, Trismegistus, and that heliocentrism is linked firmly to the occult. There is a reason that each so-called planet besides earth is named after a pagan god. The documentary below does an excellent job of explaining all this.
God, for his part, sent a Savior who introduced an astounding new way to be put into a right relationship with him called the New Covenant. God not only provides forgiveness for our betrayal, but he is bringing mankind back under his authority and protection. Our Lord continues to draw us to make the decision to give him the supreme place in our hearts.
The gospel message is a call to turn away from Satan and the kingdom of darkness and proclaim that Jesus, the Creator and Redeemer, is Lord.
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, Colossians 1:13 (NLT)
But many who have confessed Jesus as Lord still hold to a false account of the cosmos that contradicts the Bible, deludes us, and detracts from the knowledge and glory of God.
This deception is built upon a cleverly constructed web of lies which the Bible calls strongholds. They are logical arguments built on false premises that erect a barrier to our rightly perceiving truth and believing God’s Word. These strongholds are built upon unproven and unprovable speculations that contradict the Bible. They must be torn down through repentance and by fully embracing God’s revealed truth.
We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (NLT)
This series of articles is about the contest between the Word of God and human speculations in the guise of “science” with regard to the cosmos. I will do my best to describe the differences between these competing cosmologies – the one found in the Bible versus the one currently regarded as true by most of the world.
There is no competition between God and true science, which is discovered by observation, testing, repetition, and falsification.
Pseudoscience depends on our accepting speculations as fact because of the testimony of credentialed experts.
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— 21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you. 1 Timothy 6:20–21 (NASB95)
We are encouraged to take their word for things instead of thinking for ourselves. This false kind of science seeks to move investigation beyond the scope of what an average individual can carry out. Complex mathematics is often used to reduce the average person to frustration so that we will simply trust the “experts.” Even if we are not proficient in math or science, God has given us a safeguard upon which we all can rely. The Word of God found in the Bible is absolutely trustworthy in all matters, including science.
The Bible is our benchmark for truth. Everything else must be measured against its words.
This conviction was firmly held at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, when the slogan “sola scriptura” was championed by leading reformers.
Paul affirmed the complete trustworthiness of the Bible.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)
The prophet Isaiah told us that anything that opposes God’s Word is false.
Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. Isaiah 8:20 (NLT)
But something happened in the 16th Century that tipped the scales in this cosmic war for the hearts and minds of men, women, and children across the earth. Nicolaus Copernicus published his now famous De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which proposed a revolutionary new way to look at cosmology that contradicted the biblical testimony.
Over the years, however, Copernicus’ heliocentric model has gained the ascendancy, pushing aside biblical cosmology and effectively dethroning the Word of God as the ultimate benchmark for truth in the minds of many.
In this series of articles, I will show how Satan has convinced us to cast aside God’s Word and accept unproven and unprovable theories as fact. I will show how accepting one unprovable lie requires that we believe an entire group of corollary lies, creating a vast web of deception. I will also demonstrate how, by so doing, Satan has effectively removed God from the imagination of mankind, replacing the created location of his throne with the empty and hostile void of “outer space.” Thus, Satan has captured the hearts and minds of several generations and deceived us into believing a host of lies that attempt to block our properly seeing God’s glory in his creation or truly knowing him.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)
I hope to show how important it is for us to repent from believing these lies and return to an absolute devotion to God and his Word in order to bring more glory to him.
I hope you will stay with me on this important series and perhaps also read the linked articles. Perhaps together we will be able to see God’s creation from the biblical perspective and be set free from the reigning cosmology. May God help us all to accept his Word over the words of men.
