Author: petebeck3

Pete Beck III ministered as a pastor and Bible teacher in Burlington for over 34 years. He is married to Martha, with whom he has four children, ten beautiful grandchildren, and four amazing great grandchildren. He ministers in his local church as a Bible teacher and counselor. He has published two books - Seeing God's Smile and Promise of the Father - as well as a wide variety of Bible-related articles which he has compiled into books in PDF form.

Be Appropriately Provocative

Paul concluded his personal testimony by relating how God commissioned him to take the gospel to the Gentiles, which angered his Jewish listeners, who regarded the Gentiles as being relatively worthless, like dogs. They still thought that Israel was the center of God’s plan to redeem the world, not realizing that their rejection of their Messiah would remove them from the equation. (Matthew 21:43) The New Covenant would bring all peoples to God – Jew, Gentile, slave, and free. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Here is what Paul said.

I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’ ...‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’” 22  The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!” 23  They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air. Acts 22:18-23 (NLT)

Why did Paul say what he knew would anger his listeners? Didn’t he understand that we should gently lead people to receive the gospel? Was he led by the Spirit or just being inflammatory? Let’s assume he was led by the Spirit. So why would God lead the apostle to be so provocative?

Paul addressed one of the major sins blocking Jews from receiving the gospel – the racist assumption that Jews were superior to the Gentiles because of God’s choice of that nation to husband the scriptures and provide a line for the birth of the Messiah. They falsely believed that God did not plan to include the Gentiles in the blessings of Abraham, even though the Bible plainly said he would. (Isaiah 49:6) In their pride and arrogance, the Jews hated the idea of non-Jews being included in God’s kingdom.

Paul knew his statement would anger his listeners, but he said it anyway to confront them with the sin that was dragging them to hell.

In today’s politically correct world, Christians are warned that we must “color inside the lines” and not say certain things – or face the consequences.

What are the egregious sins of those who hate the gospel today? Abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism immediately come to mind. If we call out these sins, we will surely set off an explosion of hatred and persecution, and yet these sins, and others like them, must be confronted if our listeners have any hope of repentance and forgiveness from God.

Christians are called to be unafraid of being appropriately provocative by speaking truth to our culture in a loving way, regardless of the consequences. It’s part of the cost of discipleship and is one of the reasons we need to be led by and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

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Pray for Boldness

God wants us to pray for boldness. After being threatened and commanded to keep quiet about Jesus, the disciples met and spoke the following prayer.

And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31  After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31 (NLT)

When we face threats and intimidation, it is time to pray for courage and boldness.

Someone once said that there are no “closed” countries, only intimidated disciples. Satan will try to intimidate us into submission to fear with the threat of violence or some other form of persecution. What if those first believers had kept quiet after this warning from the Jewish leaders?  We don’t know how the Spirit would have handled that, but thankfully they refused to buckle to the pressure. Their boldness eventually cost almost all of them their lives. Jesus knew this would happen, but he called them to be his witnesses nevertheless. He is calling you and me as well. Will we be faithful to this challenge? We can start by praying for boldness to preach the gospel and witness to the truth. Jesus also wants us to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which provides us with strength and power to do the job.

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now...8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:4-5,8 (NKJV)
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How Much Will This Cost?

Paul continued his personal testimony by explaining how God called him to put his new faith in Christ into action.

“Then he [Ananias] told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. 15  For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. 16  What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’ Acts 22:14-16 (NLT)

Hearing and understanding the gospel will result in obedience to the Lord, or I am merely a consumer of religious stories.

Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. Romans 1:5 (NLT)

Consumer Christianity has mass marketed a version of Christianity that only requires faith without obedience. Sadly, this is not real faith. It is fantasy posing as faith.

But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:18–24 (NASB95)

Disciples are called to formally and publicly declare our allegiance to Christ through water baptism and to be a witness to others of the truth of the gospel for a lifetime.

If we correctly share the gospel, our hearers will know that following Christ is like signing a blank check, which the Lord will fill in and cash as he sees fit.

Paul was warned that he would face hardship and suffering as Christ’s servant and messenger. This did not stop him from making an immediate surrender to the Lord and the call God. When we share the gospel we should make certain that our hearers understand the enormous price tag associated with being a disciple.

If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26 (NLT)
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Who Told Us that We Live on a Globe?

One of the most tragic questions in the Bible is the one God asked Adam after his disobedience.

Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Genesis 3:9–11 (NASB95)

Adam never would have known of his nakedness unless sin had destroyed his glorious relationship with God and made him aware of his guilt. The fact that Adam hid from God and saw himself as being naked and ashamed was proof of his sin and Satan’s work.

I wonder if God asks us a similar question when we announce to him that we now realize that we live on a spinning globe hurtling through “outer space” at incredible speeds while also revolving around the sun? Where would we get such a notion? Certainly not from anything he ever told us.

We humans generally perceive ourselves as being very intelligent beings, but we are no match for God, or even for Satan for that matter. That is why we so desperately need the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Without the “map” of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit for our guide, we are lost.

This is why it is so scary when we who call ourselves Christians follow godless astrophysicists down a road that leads away from Bible truth.

When I first came to the realization that the earth is not a globe after all and that the Bible is actually true in its description of where we live, I was flabbergasted that I had not believed the Bible in this matter! We would never arrive at the conclusion that we live on a revolving, rotating, wobbling sphere without outside input. We do not ever perceive such motion. It goes against all common sense that the earth’s surface is moving at around 700 mph at the latitude where I live. When we observe the stars keeping their same positions over the centuries, how could we possibly be hurtling through “space” in multiple directions at unbelievable speeds?

The polaris-centric orbits of the planets, which Copernicus rejected in favor of heliocentric orbits, are patterns that match what is created by an electromagnetic toroidal force field.

Nothing about the globe earth model agrees with what our God-given senses tell us; yet, we lay that testimony aside to accept a theory of the cosmos that contradicts God’s written Word. How sad! How mad! How tragic! (If you want more information on the men who came up with these godless theories, I suggest you watch the Heliosorcery documentary.

Oh, that God would open our eyes and hearts to once again choose to be people of the Book, no matter how stupid the world thinks we are!

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The Genesis Testimony

Christians are people of the Book who value its testimony above all else, at least in theory. This article takes a look at what the Bible says about the creation and design of the earth and the heavens. I will compare the biblical testimony to the claims of modern astrophysics.

Each of us must decide if we value and believe God’s testimony more than any other voice.

If we accept that God’s Word is true, then we will believe his account of creation and his description of the earth and heavens. If we believe the tale of the astrophysicists, we must either throw out the biblical account or drastically alter it so that it no longer says what it originally meant.

Satan knows that if we doubt the truthfulness what Genesis Chapter One says, we have no basis for believing any of the Bible.

If Chapter One only communicates spiritual realities that have no basis in historical fact or physical reality, how can we suppose that other historical truths, such as the resurrection of Christ, are real?

As one might expect, the Bible begins with a description of how God created the sea, the earth, and the heavens. The Bible gives us no reason to treat it otherwise than as historically factual, unless, of course, we have presuppositions that contradict it. If we believe that the Big Bang – Heliocentric Theory (BB-HT) is correct, we will feel the need to treat Genesis Chapter One poetically.

Many conservative Christians reject evolution in favor of the literal creation account of man, even though people in the world consider evolution to be fact. Why then do so many of us find it to be extremely difficult to accept the Genesis account of the creation of the heavens and earth to be literally true? Is it not because we think we have seen video proof of a spherical earth? Perhaps, we should ask ourselves, “Who told me the earth is a globe?” Is it not the very same people who lied to us about evolution? Should we believe anything they say?

In the chart below, I have contrasted the biblical account with the Big Bang – Heliocentric Theory.

The Biblical Account The Big Bang – Heliocentric Theory

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NKJV) — This verse is a summary of all that follows. God is the center of everything. This compares to a parallel account in John’s Gospel.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1–4 (NKJV)

In the beginning of the BB-HT, the universe created itself out of nothing. It is impossible to harmonize this account with the Genesis narrative. One cannot simply say that the Big Bang took place when God spoke the cosmos into existence out of nothing. (Hebrews 11:3) Nothing in the Big Bang account agrees with Scripture, especially not the timeline. In fact, the notion of the entire universe originating from a single point is found in the Jewish Kabbalah, an occult theory and was later posited by a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest.

DAY 1 – The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2 (NKJV) —  God first created the waters, called “the deep.” The dry land or “earth” was not formed yet. The Holy Spirit’s activity is central. To assert that the first thing created was “the deep” places the biblical account in direct conflict with the so-called “scientific” narrative.

 According to the BB-HT, the formation of the universe began with the chaos of an explosion, out of which stars eventually formed after billions of years and later the “planets” and other bodies spun off from them. This means the sun came into existence before it “created” the earth. Therefore, the earth owes its existence to the sun, around which it orbits, held in place by a force called gravity. The sun is central in heliocentrism, which is a variation of sun worship, something Pythagoras and Hermes Trismegistus practiced, and which Copernicus acknowledged. Sadly, this so-called science is really an occult religion. (I wrote more on that in another article.)

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:3–5 (NKJV) —  After creating the seas, on the same day he created light and instituted the pattern of day followed by night. God had not yet created the sun, moon, or stars; so, there was no obvious physical source of this light. It must have emanated from God himself, which agrees with John’s Gospel.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4–5 (NKJV)

Moses was not a stupid man. He knew that the sun produced daylight; so, when he wrote this account of creation, he understood that it did not make sense from a mechanistic point of view. This is a case when God does not explain everything. He asks us to take him at his word without having complete understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The “scientific” view requires that there be a natural source for light, which would come from some form of combustion or nuclear fusion, such as from a star or sun. This would necessitate the sun’s already being in existence, which cannot be found in the Bible account. The heliocentric view also requires the earth to rotate on an axis to account for day and night. Since there was no sun, moon, or stars at this point in the Genesis account, the “scientific” view demands that we reject the Bible as a trustworthy source of information about creation. This is one reason why so many leading exponents of the Big Bang theory are atheists.

The true account of the heavens and earth testifies to God’s glory. The false account argues that there is no god.

The scientific point of view requires that we have a mechanistic explanation for everything. God is not part of the equation.

DAY 2 – Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Genesis 1:6–8 (NKJV) —

Here is another place where the Genesis account radically departs from the BB-HT. When people have been indoctrinated from childhood in the heliocentric-globe theory, the idea of there being a domed vault called the firmament encasing the earth seems bizarre.

who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and lays the foundation of his vault on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them on the surface of the earth—Yahweh is his name. Amos 9:6 (LEB)

Raqia, the Hebrew word for firmament, means something solid, such as molten bronze that has been beaten out. It had to be strong enough to support the weight of the waters above. God took an entire day to construct this amazing structure, which was prepared house what we call the “heavenly bodies” – the sun, moon, and stars and be the container of our atmos. This structure had to be placed on a strong foundation. (You can read more about the firmament by clicking here.)

The structure of the firmament requires the earth to be a plane, not a sphere.

God does not give us many details about the nature of the firmament, except in a few verses which I will cover later. It is enough to say that it is a gigantic structure testifying to the glory and majesty of God. (Psalm 19:1)

The BB-HT requires us to translate raqia as “heavens,” “sky,” or “expanse” because it does not allow for a solid structure that encloses the earth. The BB-HT holds that the earth is “fragile,” having no protection against the perils of “outer space,” such as asteroids, sun eruptions, comets, or even alien beings. Instead, the earth is said to be hurtling through the void / vacuum of “outer space” at incredible speeds going who knows where, having an “atmosphere” that is held to the earth by a mysterious undefinable force called gravity against the immense pull of the strongest vacuum known, without any sort of container, which is a violation of known physical laws.

The BB-HT is specially designed to deny the existence of God and the truth of the Bible. The true creation testifies to God’s glory (Psalm 19:1), but the false version testifies that there is no God. This false narrative is being used to hide God’s existence and to impoverish and enslave humanity.

The existence of the firmament means that “outer space” with its vacuum is an imaginary construct. Travel beyond the firmament into God’s realm is impossible. Therefore, no one has been to the moon.

DAY 3 – Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day. Genesis 1:9–13 (NKJV)

On day three we have the first appearance of dry land, called the earth. We learn from Psalm 24:2 that the earth was founded upon the waters, just as Genesis describes it. We also discover from Psalm 75:3 and numerous other places that God placed the earth on pillars so that its foundation is secure and it will not be moved. (Psalm 96:10) Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:20 tell us that the creation declares the the glory of God and reveals much about his character and power. The earth has a solid foundation, just as we do in Christ.

The BB-HT, which applies evolutionary theory to the cosmos, cannot have life beginning with plants on dry land. Rather, the evolutionary development of life is said to have begun in the “primordial soup” of the sea.

In addition, the BB-HT says that the earth is tilting, wobbling, and moving at breakneck speed through an evolving ever-expanding universe. The earth is supposed to be rotating at 1040 mph at the equator, traveling at 66,600 mph in its orbit around the sun. The entire “solar system” is supposed to be moving through our galaxy at about half a million mph, and the galaxy is said to be careening outward from the point of the Big Bang explosion at over one million mph. This all directly contradicts the Bible, which says the earth does not move.

He established the earth on her foundations, so that it will not be moved forever and ever. Psalm 104:5 (LEB)

DAY 4 – Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Genesis 1:14–19 (NKJV) 

The Genesis account finally gives us physical sources for light on day four. The sun, moon, and stars are all called lights or luminaries. They are all placed in the structure called the firmament, requiring them to be smaller and much closer than modern astrophysics claims. There are no “planets” (spherical solid objects) but only “wandering” (Greek: planetes) lights or stars that move differently from the circular motion of the other stars. If one looks at these wandering stars with a telescope or high-zoom camera, they look quite similar to other stars and not like NASA’s computer generated images.

Their motion is over the earth, as revealed in Psalm 19:5, and fixed as shown in Jeremiah 31:35 and other places. The moon is also described as a light, rather than a reflector. If we think about how the light of the moon extends in complete brightness to its very edges, it should be plain to us that it is not a spherical reflector, and certainly not the dull gray surface supposedly photographed by the Apollo astronauts.

As I already mentioned, the BB-HT of origins states that the sun and other stars were the first things that coalesced after the primal explosion, which directly contradicts the Bible. This theory also says that the moon is a spherical solid reflector of sunlight rather than being a light in its own right. The stars are said to be suns, which contradicts scripture, too. Instead of being in God’s “fixed” order, everything in the universe is supposed to be moving away from the theoretical original blast center. The “wandering stars” (Jude 13) were reclassified as solid spherical objects, much like earth is said to be. Each of these so called planets are caught in the inexorable power of the sun’s supposed gravity. The sun rules its “solar system” as a king would his court. Each “planet” except for the earth is named after a pagan god. This is all based on sun worship, which holds that the sun god, Helios or Sol, rules over all.

Heliocentrism places the earth in the same category as the wandering planets named after false gods, thereby putting us in a place of serving Helios, just like the other servants of Satan.

(I have written about the “high place” of heliocentrism in another article.)

These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 12–13 (NKJV)

 DAY 5 – Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Genesis 1:20–23 (NKJV)

Instead of life being self-generated through evolution from the sea, God created sea creatures and birds after he made the plants on dry land.

 The evolutionary BB-HT proposes that life self-generated from the sea, which directly contradicts the biblical account.

DAY 6 – Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:24–31 (NKJV)

The conclusion of creation took place on day six when God created all land-based animals and man. Humans are made in God’s likeness and have been given dominion over the earth. Our first command was to be fruitful and multiply. At this point in time, God completed his creation and rested on the seventh day.

According to the evolutionary BB-HT, it took billions of years for life to self-generate and evolve into human beings through a string of favorable mutations. Not only does this theory violate the second law of thermodynamics called entropy, it also contradicts the Bible.

The BB-HT teaches us that the earth and mankind are nothing special, being accidents of evolution. We have no God-given authority over the earth. In fact, we are considered to be a sort of dangerous “virus” that needs to have our numbers reduced.

The result of the BB-HT is that we see ourselves as purposeless, meaningless accidents instead of being the focal point of God’s creation.

In addition the BB-HT says that the universe is still self-creating through expansion and evolution, thus contradicting the Bible’s claim that God completed his work in six days and then rested.

One of the fundamental principles of Bible interpretation is that the scripture must be allowed to say what the author meant it to say.

Bible scholars agree that the Hebrews interpreted the Genesis account quite literally. The following diagram is found in Logos Bible Software and accurately portrays the Hebrew concept of the heavens and earth.

This view is described by Google and other “fact checkers” as being archaic and disproved by science. This is the result of the Copernican heliocentric view gaining the ascendancy over the past 500 years. Before that, many cultures held the same “archaic” understanding of the design of the earth and heavens. Whereas, once it was considered heretical to believe the conspiratorial Copernican view, now it is considered to be conspiratorial, stupid, and ignorant to believe the biblical testimony regarding the cosmos.

 

The lasting effect of the Copernican-Newtonian revolution was the separation of “science” from religion.

No longer is the Word of God highly regarded by those claiming to be scientists, or even, the case we are covering, by those acknowledging Christ. Paul warned Timothy that this day would come.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless empty talk and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some, by professing it, have deviated concerning the faith. Grace be with you all. 1 Timothy 6:20–21 (LEB)

In summary, the Bible presents us with a very different account of origins from modern science.

Christians must decide between the two worldviews.

I believe we are being tested today in the same way that Satan tempted Adam and Eve. Did God really say? Did he mean what he said?

Satan made Adam and Eve feel foolish and ignorant for taking God at his word. This is how those who believe the Genesis account are made to feel today, even by other Christians quite often. It appears that many of us who profess the name of Christ love our pagan heliocentricism more than God’s Word. I pray that soon changes!

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Truth Hidden in “Plane” Sight

Unless we are accustomed to examining God’s Word in detail and accepting what it says, instead of bending it to fit our presuppositions, we can miss a lot. It is easy for those who ascribe to the globe earth theory to miss what is hidden in plain sight.

For example, Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness clearly teaches us that the earth is a plane.

And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ” Luke 4:5–8 (NASB95)

There is no reason not to take these words as being literally true, unless, of course, we are precommitted to a globe earth position. There is only one way this scenario could take place, which should be obvious to all. The earth has to be a circular plane, the whole of which can be observed if one gets high enough.

This corresponds perfectly to another view of earth from very high up described by the prophet Isaiah.

It is He who sits above the circle [not sphere] of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 (NASB95)

Since every matter will be established from the testimony of two or three witnesses, here is a third verse that necessitates a plane earth.

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. Revelation 1:7 (NASB95)

The above verse describes a similar phenomenon, but this time from the vantage point of being on the surface of the earth instead of being high overhead. 

There is only one way everyone on earth could see Jesus at once, and that is if the earth is a plane, making our Lord’s Second Coming a “plane” sight.

We know that Jesus shall descend from the clouds in a similar manner as he ascended.

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9–11 (NASB95)

He will come down out of heaven in a way that everyone on the plane earth will see him all at once. This is truth hidden in “plane” sight.

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What Is the Point?

Paul continued his testimony to the Jews in Jerusalem who were seeking to kill him by relating what his encounter with Christ years earlier meant to him. When Jesus addressed Paul after knocking him from his horse on the road to Damascus, the future apostle asked a revealing question.

“I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’ Acts 22:10 (NLT)

It is all well and good to have a religious experience like Paul’s. Plenty of celebrities bandy about the name of God in their award acceptance speeches, but a bigger question is, “What difference has our relationship with God made in our lives?” Sadly, many who profess to be Christians live as though they are not. If our professions of faith have made little or no difference in how we live day to day, we have to ask ourselves, “What’s the point?”

If the gospel never properly impacted my life, perhaps it is because it was never properly presented to me.

We live in a consumer-oriented world in which we receive appeals from various people and companies to purchase or use their products, based on what it will do for us. If I first heard the “gospel” as a sales pitch instead of a call to surrender to the Lord of lords, perhaps I see Jesus more as a benevolent genie or fairy godmother than as the Lord of my life.

That was not the case with Paul. His encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus profoundly altered the course of his life. From the very beginning, Paul understood that this person who so overpowered him was the “Lord,” who has the right to command our lives from this moment forward. He understood that following Christ potentially could cost him everything, but that it would be worth it to serve the him.

The point of the gospel and a good testimony is that we now recognize that Jesus is the Lord .

In fact, the essence of the gospel is in these three words – Jesus is Lord.

When we share our testimonies, we should include how we, as did Paul, came to this realization. Knowing that Jesus is Lord is vastly different from knowing him as savior. Being forgiven makes no demands upon us, but when we surrender to Jesus the Lord, are lives are no longer our own. Perhaps this is a good time for each of us to consider if this is actually our story. If not, now is the time to make Jesus our Lord, too.

Prayer

Jesus, I never completely realized that your being the Lord means that my life belongs to you. I surrender to you every aspect of my life from this day forward. Help me to faithfully love and serve you. Amen.

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Where Is God?

Most of us have been taught to think of heaven as a spiritual “place” that cannot be physically located. This is a necessary belief in a Big Bang, ever-expanding universe that has no absolute up or down and in which we are less than a speck in comparison to the whole. It might surprise you that the Bible specifically locates heaven where God dwells. 

(Now, before you object too strenuously that God is a Spirit whom heaven cannot contain, understand that this is a “both/and” situation, not an “either/or” scenario. He is a spirit, but he also dwells in heaven in bodily form as the Lord Jesus. This is a mystery that boggles the imagination but is true.)

Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” 3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 115:2–3 (NASB95)

Now all we have to do is locate heaven, which the Bible does for us. It tells us that heaven is “above” the earth.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His 
lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. Psalm 103:11 (NASB95)

For those who accept the biblical cosmology of Genesis Chapter One, this is easy. We understand that above is “up.” For those who spiritualize the Bible account and accept the globe and heliocentric model, “above” is a relative term that can locate nothing, since “above” to someone on one side of the “globe” is the opposite of what “up” is on the other side. (As a side note, whenever absolutes become relativized, it is an indication of the work of the great deceiver.)

The Bible tells us that after his resurrection Christ “ascended” (went “up”) into heaven.

He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:10 (NASB95)

Now we know that when Christ rose from the dead, he did so bodily. This is a key doctrine of Christianity. His disciples were able to touch his risen body. He ate and drank with them. Therefore, the risen Christ’s body must be located in a physical place called heaven, which the Bible tells us is above.

This corresponds to the creation account of Genesis, which informs us that God created a giant dome to cover the earth called the firmament. (To read more about the firmament, click here.) Although we do not know a great deal about this structure, the Bible tells us a few things.

  • It separates waters above from waters below.
  • It is crystalline in nature and looks like glass or sapphire.
  • It is as strong as molten metal.
  • It has multiple layers.

The Bible tells us that God’s throne is atop the firmament.

It is He who sits above the circle [not "sphere"] of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 (NASB95)

We are given “snapshots” of this place called heaven in Exodus, Ezekiel, and Revelation.

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Exodus 24:9–11 (NASB95)

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. Ezekiel 1:26–28 (NKJV)

Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. Revelation 4:5–6 (NASB95)

Moses and the elders of Israel, in their physical bodies, were in this physical place eating in God’s presence. Its description matches what Ezekiel and John saw. Paul visited what he called the “third heaven,” not knowing whether he was in the body or out of his body. (2 Corinthians 12:2) This implies that it is possible to be there “in the body,” which agrees with Jesus’ being seated there in his resurrection body.

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (NASB95)

Putting all this together, we see that the scriptures do not allow us to merely spiritualize heaven without locating it. It is a real place where the Son of God now sits on his throne, which is above the earth, atop the firmament. One day, God will open the heavens to reveal Christ in all his glory for all to see at once. (Revelation 6:14)

Yes, the Bible is literally true and heaven is an actual place. All we have to do is look up.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:27–28 (NKJV)
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The Sky Is the Limit

Are there any limitations placed on mankind? Some think not. Others believe we live in an enclosed system designed by God. The Bible says that God created something called the firmament on Day 2 in Genesis Chapter One. This is a massive solid dome of unknown height, width, and composition. In it the Creator placed the sun, moon, and stars. He put waters above and below it. On top of this crystalline-like dome, God’s throne is located.

The firmament serves as a barrier between God’s realm and ours.

O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Psalm 8:1 (NKJV)

Nimrod, according to tradition, was behind the first failed attempt to penetrate this barrier. The tower of Babel was an attempt to “make a name” for himself, rather than glorifying God. Tradition says that Nimrod wanted to shoot God with an arrow. Although this is not in the Bible, I think it fits with the depraved heart of man. God cut off this plan by confusing the language of the builders and scattering them over the face of the earth. In case you did not realize it, mankind has not given up on this quest. Every rocket launch is another attempt to breach the firmament.

God placed the earth under man’s authority and dominion, but he reserved heaven for himself.

The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. Psalm 115:16 (NASB95)

Heaven is a real place that is reserved for God, the holy angels, and those purchased by the blood of our Lord Jesus. No one from NASA, ESA, or Space X will ever go there with a rocket. Outer space is a hoax. According to the Bible, the sky is the limit.

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Share How God Showed Up

Paul continued his testimony by introducing the supernatural part of his story.

As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. 7  I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8  “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ Acts 22:6-8 (NLT)

Our testimony is about how God intersected our lives.

Unless God intervenes, all of us are headed for hell. We don’t need any help to pull that off. That was certainly the case with Paul. He was “hell bent” on persecuting Christians in an attempt to stamp out what had become known as “the Way.” As the chief enemy of the faith, he was perhaps the most unlikely of all people to have an encounter with the risen Christ, which is exactly the point. Later he wrote the following.

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16  But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NLT)

A good testimony invites people to consider that God is real, cares about us, and can communicate effectively.

Most people are unaware that this sort of thing can happen, and, even if they know it can, they do not believe it will happen to them personally.

If we convince our hearers that they are candidates for divine intervention, just as we were, perhaps they will seek God for themselves.

God does not turn away any sincere seeker. If our listeners will honestly turn to God and ask him for help, the Lord will not turn his back on them.

However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. John 6:37 (NLT)
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