Martin Luther, when on trial before the Catholic Church for teaching biblical truth, famously stated: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” Much to my surprise, I find myself in a similar position today regarding the doctrine of the shape of the earth. What once was commonly understood by the church, now has become the subject of intense debate. Many of my dear friends in the faith think that I have departed from the truth because I believe in the literal accuracy of Genesis Chapter One and other scriptures that describe the earth and heavens quite differently from what now is generally accepted as true. I take solace in the fact that my belief agrees with Luther’s, Calvin’s, and the authors of the Bible.
About the time God restored the primacy of God’s Word and the wonderful truth of justification by faith during the Reformation, Satan introduced one of his most mind numbing deceptions – heliocentrism.
Copernicus theorized that the earth revolved around Helios, the sun god, which became the center of the “universe,” instead of the earth’s being the stationary center of God’s creation over which the sun and moon run their “circuits.” (Psalm 19:6)
Here is what Copernicus wrote. Judge for yourself whether it is empirical science or occult religion dressed up in scientific garb, a wolf is sheep’s clothing.
In the middle of all sits Sun enthroned. In this most beautiful temple could we place this luminary in any better position from which he can illuminate the whole at once? He is rightly called the Lamp, the Mind, the Ruler of the Universe: Hermes Trismegistus names him the Visible God, Sophocles’ Electra calls him the All-seeing. So the Sun sits as upon a royal throne ruling his children the planets which circle round him. The Earth has the Moon at her service. As Aristotle says, in his On Animals, the Moon has the closest relationship with the Earth. Meanwhile the Earth conceives by the Sun, and becomes pregnant with an annual rebirth. —Nicolaus Copernicus , De Revolutionibus, Of the Order of the Heavenly Bodies
Hermes Trismegistus was an Egyptian sun worshiper and originator of the occult practice of hermetics, something to which both Copernicus and Isaac Newton subscribed.
Heliocentrism is a clear example of Satan’s countering God’s truth being restored during the Reformation with an outright lie, the purpose being to turn people away from belief in the Bible and faith in God.
When Copernicus introduced his novel ideas about the universe, the reformers were quick to condemn him. Here are the words of Martin Luther.
The error of Copernicus’ declaration that the earth revolved around the sun was evident to those men who held that the Scripture was the sole foundation of faith and truth.
Luther referred to Joshua’s command to the sun to stand still as an elegantly simple refutation of Copernicus’ error, but, today, many Christians merely shrug off this proof text by saying that God can do anything. He could stop the earth from rotating and the moon from revolving around the earth, without killing everyone by massive tsunamis and the force of the sudden stop from a 1039 mph rotation. Satan truly makes us into fools when we abandon the simple truth of God’s words, even though we imagine that we are incredibly wise.
The heliocentric model of the universe stands in absolute contradiction to God’s Word. It suppresses the truth about the creation and God himself, who is revealed through an accurate apprehension of what he made. (Psalm 19:1-2)
The Bible warns us that the truth will be suppressed in the Last Days (Romans 1:18), leading to wholesale delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11). We are there.
The heliocentric lie, coupled with the Big Bang expanding universe, fundamentally changed how humanity viewed the cosmos, God, the Bible, and ourselves.
Instead of there being a benevolent Creator who fashioned an earth protected by the firmament from outside threats, Copernicus launched us into the dark and hostile void of “outer space,” without any sort of mooring or protection at all. Heaven became lost in space, a spiritual place instead of being located just atop the firmament. This monumental error gave birth to a whole host of derivative lies.
- Deism – An impersonal God created the world and left it to its own devices.
- Atheism – The earth sprang out of nothing through something called the Big Bang.
- Evolution – Humans evolved from nothing. There is no need for a Creator.
- Moral Relativism – Since there is no God and we evolved, there can be no absolute truth.
- Meaninglessness – Life is a meaningless existential pursuit of pleasure and power leading to totalitarianism where power is supreme and people are expendable.
- A Culture of Sexual Perversion, Abuse, and Suicide since there is no absolute truth or inherent value to life.
- Living in fear from any number of outside threats – global warming, aliens, and asteroids – which allow the powers that be to enslave us.
When we realize that the earth is a stationary plane covered by the firmament, above which is God’s throne, our eyes are opened to the truth about the God of the Bible and the accuracy of his Word.
I have listened to testimonies of people coming to believe in the Creator and Jesus as a result of finally seeing that the earth is indeed a stationary, non-rotating plane enclosed in the firmament. I have collected some of these on my resource page, near the bottom.
Throughout church history making a stand for God’s truth always produces controversy and sometimes persecution.
Jesus caused division wherever he went because truth divides between those who receive it and those who suppress it. (John 7:43)
Several early Bible translators, such as John Hus and William Tyndale, gave up their lives in order to provide the common man with access to the Scripture in his or her own language. The early reformers faced the very real threat of death for adhering to such basic truths as justification by faith and believer baptism. The doctrine of the baptism and gifts of the Spirit still is being resisted to this day.
Arguments are made by those who do not value the gifts of the Spirit that, since the gifts are not a salvation issue, we should keep quiet about them in order to preserve unity. Some churches do not allow them to operate in order to maintain cohesiveness.
I do not think we should participate in suppressing truth in order to maintain this sort of false unity.
Nor do I believe that we should try to force our views on others. As long as freedom of conscience and expression are allowed, we should tolerate divergent opinions, unless such a position clearly violates God’s Word. Then the church must erect some sort of barrier to preserve truth.
A primary reason that I left the Roman Catholic Church after being born again was because I could not remain in unity with false doctrine, nor was it proper for me to be a source of disunity within their ranks by teaching doctrine that is contrary to the official church position.
We should always strive to maintain a balance between making a stand for God’s truth and being lovingly patient with those who do not see it yet.
As we press forward into God’s truth, I believe it is wise to keep in mind the following saying.
I realize that the doctrine of the shape of the earth is a “non-essential” doctrine in the sense that one does not need to believe it to get to heaven. However, I believe it is a vastly important doctrine which needs to be taught because it strikes a blow at one of Satan’s biggest lies.
I am making a stand in this area, hoping that many will be restored to faith in the glorious truth about the shape and nature of God’s earth and heavens. It is my desire that, when people see the truth about creation, they will also see the truth about God and put their faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, Creator and Sustainer of all things.
