The Shape of the Earth

shapeThe shape and makeup of the earth and heavens as described in the Bible are very different from the heliocentric-globe model with which we have been indoctrinated from infancy. If we use the Bible as our most reliable source of information, rather than theoretical astrophysics, we will be required to set aside what we have always thought to be the truth in order to see things from a biblical perspective. Our goal is to discover what some call the “true earth” or the “biblical earth.” In so doing, we also will learn more about the location of heaven and God’s throne, as well as Sheol or hell.

The Earth Is the Center of God’s Creation

One of the first things we learn from Genesis is that God created the earth as the home for humans, making it the center or focus of his creation. This is the last thing Satan wants us to know because it will prompt us to think of God and our relationship with him and responsibility to him.

The heliocentric view flatly contradicts what the Bible teaches, making the sun the center of everything, . The Copernican Principle, a shapederivative of the evolutionary Big Bang theory, asserts that the earth, relatively speaking, is an infinitesimally small and insignificant part of an incomprehensibly large and expanding universe, having no special significance at all. Believing this calls into question God’s existence and man’s significance and essential worth.

However, if the earth is the centerpiece of creation, as the Bible says, God exists and man is the focus, making him extremely significant in God’s eyes.

If we know that the God who created and watches over us made us central to his purposes, it should motivate us to learn more about him and to worship and serve him. If we believe the heliocentric lie, it will tend to demotivate us by making us feel alone, insignificant, irresponsible, and hopeless.

Satan’s plan has always been to usurp the glory that belongs to the Creator and influence humans to transfer their allegiance away from God to him. It is apparent that he has achieved significant success.

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)

If Satan can distort our understanding of creation, he likely will hinder our ability to properly discern God’s glory.

The Central Importance of the Firmament

The firmament is perhaps the single most important aspect of the biblical or true earth because its existence proves that there is a Creator.

This is why it had to be one of the first things to be removed by satanic astrophysics. I will cover the firmament in another article; so, for now, keep in mind its central importance. The firmament’s existence indicates the following:

  1. No Big Bang explosion could have created it; so, there must be a Creator. As King David wrote in Psalm 19, it shows his handiwork.
  2. The firmament provides a boundary for the earth and for heaven. It creates God-imposed limitations upon us. Being rebellious, we have tried to go beyond those boundaries from Babel to the present. We are not satisfied with what God provided. We always want more. This is presumably one of the major reasons for repeated rocket launches since NASA’s formation.
  3. The firmament is a divider between earth and God’s realm.

The Earth Is Part of a Three-Tiered Complex Enveloped by Water

shapeThe Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation that we live in a kind of giant “terrarium” created by God to be a perfect environment  for mankind and all living creatures on the earth. Waters envelop this three-tiered complex, which consists of a circular plane earth with edges set on foundations, above which is a domed crystalline-like firmament of unknown proportions. God’s throne is situated atop this firmament. Underneath are what Paul called the lower parts of the earth. 

Assuming and affirming this “up-down” complex, Paul wrote the following:

9 (Now this, “He [Jesus] ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:9–10 (NKJV) 

We will cover this theology of up and down in greater detail in a future article. We will also go into more depth regarding the location of heaven and God’s throne in another article. For now, the following video by Brandon Ezzo is excellent.

The Circle of the Earth

shapeThe Bible describes the earth as an inscribed circle. 

10 With a command he made a circle upon the face of the water, until the completion of light with darkness. Job 26:10 (LES2)

These amazing passages teach us three things about the shape of the earth.

  1. It is a circle. (Not a ball or sphere.) Isaiah uses the word for “ball” in Isaiah 22:18; so, he was aware of the difference.
  2. God placed a boundary around its edge or limit.
  3. The Creator established the earth on foundations.

The Holy Spirit uses the same Hebrew word for circle (chug) in Isaiah 40:22.. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament composed in 285 BC, uses the Greek word gyros, meaning circle or ring.

22 He is the one who holds the circle [Greek: gyros] of the earth fast, and those who dwell in it are like locusts. He is the one who set up heaven like a canopy [literally - arched cover] and stretched it out like a tent to be inhabited. Isaiah 40:22 (LES2) 

This tent is best understood as a circular yurt-like tent and is the firmament. 

The Boundary of the Sea

God placed a boundary or edge for the waters. When water is enclosed, it remains level. That is why we call it “sea level.”

The boundary God created is a wall of ice that modern globe makers have reduced to the continent of Antarctica at the southern “pole” by wrapping the flat earth map around a ball. Doing this elongates the southern “hemisphere” throwing sizes and distances out of proportion. Herve Riboni, a Swiss sailor who has circumnavigated the earth in a racing sailboat, noticed several anomalies that can be explained by replacing the globe with a flat earth map. He has produced several videos detailing his finds..

Below is another interesting video on the general topic of Antarctica from a biblical cosmology

perspective that illustrates the impossibility of a private mapping of the area. Antarctica is a very strange and interesting topic which, no doubt, has great relevance to gaining a proper understanding on the shape of the true earth. Another interesting fact is something you can test on your own. Use Google Earth to draw a ring around any particular area and observe how it calculates its area. Now do this for Antarctica and see what happens.

Below is a picture of a section of this ice wall.

shapeEarly explorers, such as Cook and Ross, spent years at sea exploring its limits. Both of them traveled over 60,000 miles doing so without completing their goal. This would agree with the biblical earth understanding of its being a circle of enormous size. Good luck on trying find this information, which was once easily accessible, but now seems to have been erased from the internet. 

The Bible refers to this ice wall, or perhaps the place where the firmament contacts the surface of the earth, as the “ends of the earth.” As far as we know, everything under heaven lies inside this boundary. At least the habitable part of the earth does.

For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens. Job 28:24 (NASB95)

Another verse in Job compares the creation of the earth to a seal being stamped in wax. shapeThe image to the right captures this idea in which a circular seal presses in the shape of the seal, leaving raised edges, which can be imagined as the boundaries of the waters on the earth.

Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? 14 As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. Job 38:13–14 (NLT)

The Four Corners of the Earth

Two verses in the Bible refer to the four corners of the earth.

12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners (Hebrew and Greek LXX - wings or extremeties) of the earth. Isaiah 11:12 (NKJV) 

1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners (Greek: gonia - external angle) of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Revelation 7:1 (NKJV) 

shapeThis language is always interpreted symbolically, but the context itself does not permit us toshape do that. If we understand the earth to be an inscribed circle on the waters, then the idea of its having corners does not seem to fit, unless we consider that perhaps it is actually square in shape outside the circumference of the ice wall. The square shape may also fit the idea of the earth being God’s footstool.

49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ Acts 7:49–50 (NKJV) 

Four winds are mentioned multiple times in the Bible. There is much we have to learn about the earth. But the mention of winds brings up another globe buster. The globe theory requires the atmosphere to be rotating at the same speed as the earth without our being aware of it. This is the only way that planes could land on a spinning ball rotating at 1040 mph at the equator and around 700 mph at our own latitude. This proposition is disproved by the fact that there are prevailing winds going in opposite directions and minor winds going ever which way.

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The Foundation of the Earth

Every structure needs a solid foundation. Proverbs 8:29, cited above, tell us that he “marked out the foundations of the earth.” Isaiah 48:13 informs us that the earth and heavens stand up together on the same foundation. The massive structure called the firmament, which contains the sun, moon, and stars and supports God’s throne above it, must rest upon a massive foundation.

13 and my hand has founded [laid the foundation] the earth, and my right hand firmed [same Greek word root as the one used for firmament] up the heavens. I will summon them, and they will stand at once [together, at the same time], Isaiah 48:13 (LES2)

God tells us that he laid these foundations upon the waters.

1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it, the inhabited world and all those who dwell within it. 2 He laid the foundation of it upon the sea. Upon rivers he prepared it. Psalm 23:1–2 (LES2) 

How he did this is a mystery; although a recent discovery at the bottom of the ocean may give us a clue. Apparently there is a form of water that is very dense and could be suitable foundation material.

Mike deGruy discovered an underwater “sea” with a shoreline of mussels that was so dense his submarine could not penetrate its surface. Perhaps such water serves as the foundations of the earth and heavens, as the Bible teaches. Whatever the case, God’s Word is true. 

At this point it might be appropriate to refute a commonly used rebuttal that employs the following passage.

7 He stretches out the north wind upon nothing; he hangs the earth upon nothing. 8 He binds the water in his clouds, and the cloud does not split under it. 9 With the face of his throne prevailing, his cloud is spread out upon it. 10 With a command he made a circle upon the face of the water, until the completion of light with darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens are spread out and are confounded by his rebuke. Job 26:7–11 (LES2)

Globe proponents point out this verse to support their belief that the earth is “suspended” in the void of “outer space” upon “nothing,” with gravity holding it in place in an elliptical orbit around the sun. While this might seem plausible to those indoctrinated in the heliocentric model, if we take verse seven by itself without reference to any other scriptures. However, when we compare it to other verses, including the passage in which it is found in Job, we see the truth. In verse 10 we are told God inscribed a circle on the face of the waters, which supports what is written in Proverbs 8:27. As previously said, circle and ball or globe are different Hebrew and Greek words. Next heaven is said to have pillars. The heavens are supported by a foundation, as is the earth. Therefore, this mysterious verse does not undo what is clearly stated elsewhere. It could be reasonably interpreted as meaning God does not hang the earth on anything. Rather he set it on foundations. However, those foundations are upon the waters, which to us may seem to be “nothing” suitable to support such a massive weight. The principle of interpretation is that difficult verses should be interpreted in light of more easily understood ones.

The verse below is an example of a clear passage that indicates the earth has a foundation.

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord, Lord my God, as you were very great. You wore thanksgiving and dignity, 2 throwing off light as a garment, stretching the heavens as a cloak [literally - curtain]; 3 the one who covers his upper parts with waters, the one who places clouds as his steps, the one who walks about upon the wings of the wind, 4 the one who makes his angels spirits, and his public servants burning fire. 5 He laid the foundation of the earth upon its stability; it will not be moved for eternity of eternity. Psalm 103:1–5 (LES2)

As we will see in our study of the firmament, God’s upper chambers are above the firmament, where his throne sits

The Plane of the Earth

God refers to the earth as a plane in Revelation.

And they came up on the broad plain (Greek: platos) of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Revelation 20:9 (NASB95)

It is significant that God calls the entire earth a platos or broad plain. This word is also used to describe the New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven.

The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width [platos]; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. Revelation 21:16 (NASB95)

The enormous size of this city could not fit anywhere on a globe due to the required curvature of the surface. Over a distance of 1500 miles, the earth must curve a total of 281 miles or 140.5 miles all the way around from the center point. Therefore, the city could only be set on a flat surface. 

In more than one place, God says the earth has a face. This term only makes sense on a flat surface. A ball or globe, especially one that rotates, has no portion that we would all a face. Another verse that indicate the earth is a plane rather than a globe is found in Matthew.

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; Matthew 4:8 (NASB95)

If we accept that God’s Word is absolutely true and accurate and that the Lord would not lie or mislead us, then we must grant that the verse from Matthew, actually took place. It would only be possible to view the ends of the earth from an extremely high vantage point on a plane surface, and never on a globe. In our experience, however, our vision is severely curtailed by how we see due to perspective limitations that stem from the way our eyes are made. Another vision limiting factor are atmosplane conditions, such as particulates and water vapor in the air. Likewise, it would be impossible for the return of our Lord to be seen by everyone on the earth unless we live on a plane.

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)

There is a reason flying machines are called airplanes. They fly straight and level. Their noses do not have to drop to account for the curvature of the earth.

Likewise, the reason the horizon has that name is because it does not curve. It is a horizontal line. In the same way, “sea level” describes the proven law that water does not curve, but always seeks its own level. The testimony of the Bible and our senses is that we live on a stationary plane. We are not moving. 

Celestial navigation has been used for thousands of years and is based on triangulation over a flat surface using a sextant.

This type of navigation cannot work on a curved surface.

We also see much too far for there to be any curvature.

One of the most elegant proofs of the flatness of the earth is how perfectly light reflects over long distance, which would not be possible if the earth were a globe.

mountain reflection scaled
 

Likewise, the way the sun’s light reaches the earth proves that it is moving overhead rather than the earth rotating on an imaginary axis.

Scripture says that the heavens and earth teach us about God. Therefore, properly understanding its shape and composition is important.

They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19–20 (NLT)

How can we possibly “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) if we live on a wobbling water ball spinning at around 1000 mph at the equator, hurtling around the sun at an incomprehensible 66,600 mph, zooming through the galaxy at 500,000 mph, and traveling with the galaxy through the vastness of “space” at around a million miles per hour? God’s stillness and peace cannot be known on such a unstable and haphazard platform! 

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The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)

 

 

The Occult Origins of Modern Astrophysics

occultFor most Christians, it would come as a complete shock to discover or even hear that anyone who rejects the clear testimony of God’s Word in Genesis Chapter One and throughout the Bible regarding the origin and nature of the heavens and earth has been seduced by a pagan occult religion. But I am convinced that is the case, and in this article it is my aim to show you why.

The word “occult” means hidden. Occult religion in general is the search for and use of hidden (satanic) knowledge to gain “enlightenment,” power, favor, healing, self-empowerment, and/or access to whatever “god” or power source is setting itself up as a god. The goal is to use this power and knowledge to rule others, but the final result is always the enslavement and destruction of the practitioner. The devil is no one’s friend.

It is my conviction that modern astrophysics, including heliocentrism, is an occult pagan religion clothed in the robes of science.

To see where it all begins, we must go back to ancient Egypt and Babylon, but most people date it beginning during what is called the Enlightenment. Astronomers, who were part of what history calls the Scientific Revolution, altered Western civilization’s concept of the cosmos. These individuals were part of a movement that elevated reason above scripture in order to “liberate” science from the confines of the Bible. In the process, they claimed to discover previously hidden (occult) knowledge about the heavens and earth which contradicts the testimony of the Bible. But before we get into detail, allow me to lay a foundation that will hopefully guide our thinking down the correct channel.

Mankind’s Susceptibility to the Lure of the Occult

Satan preyed upon Adam and Eve by telling them that God had withheld important information from them, which, he, the talking serpent, could help them discover for themselves. The hidden wisdom he offered contradicted what God told them and appealed to their vanity. He promised that by eating the forbidden fruit, rather than die for their disobedience, they would become like God, knowing good and evil for themselves. The lure was self-sufficiency and self-exaltation, which still pulls people toward Satan today. Perhaps they imagined that they would be equal to God and no longer be dependent upon or subservient to him.

From this passage of scripture we learn that humans are extremely susceptible to cunning lies that promise to reveal hidden knowledge and elevate us to godlike status.

We know from the Bible that the devil lied, as he always does. As a result of their believing his lie and acting upon it, Adam and Eve sinned, were immediately enveloped by guilt and shame, hid themselves from their Creator, and died spiritually that very day, as God had forewarned. Their bodies continued to live, but the death process had begun inside them. Contrary to the serpent’s promise, Adam and Eve did not become like God. Instead, sin alienated them from their loving Creator. They lost their  innocence and gained firsthand knowledge of evil and the destruction and loss it brings. The serpent’s word came true in that regard. They knew both good and evil. The unwanted consequence was their coming under the tyranny of sin, sickness, death, and the devil. 

The temptation and fall in the garden is foundational to our understanding how the devil operates. He entices people into evil, bringing their consequent destruction. He does this by offering them occult knowledge and power. The lure of hidden knowledge is just as strong today as it ever was.

The devil appeals to our pride by promising to reveal what God has hidden from us. Deep down, it seems we sinfully want to be smarter than God and sometimes imagine that we are.

Satan wants to entice us to transfer our allegiance from the Creator to him, Lucifer, the supposed “light bearer.”

In general, satanic occult religions and philosophies cast the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator, as the “bad guy” who unnecessarily hinders mankind’s development. Satan, or Lucifer as he is sometimes called, poses as the “good guy” who is working hard to illuminate and liberate mankind. The promise of liberty that Satan offers always leads us away from God into bondage, destruction, and death. 

The only possible way back to real freedom is through repentance and faith in Christ and by voluntarily limiting our “freedom” by placing ourselves once again under Christ the Lord’s authority, which includes honoring God’s Word.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31–32 (NKJV)

A transfer of allegiance takes place when we believe a lie that causes us to mistrust the true God and sends us into spiritual darkness. Jesus, who is the source of all truth, is also the true light.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12 (NKJV) 

If our hearts are hardened against God, we then open ourselves to the evil one, who disguises himself as an “angel of light.”

...Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NKJV)

Satan entices us to open our hearts to the hidden knowledge of evil while, at the same time, he contradicts and obscures God’s revealed truth.

If we open ourselves to evil and deception, our hearts begin to turn away from God and his Word.

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; Ephesians 4:17–18 (NASB95)

When we entertain Satan’s lies, it shows that we underestimate the depth of his savage cunning and trickery. He never plays “according to the rules,” and he is able to weave his spell around the minds of those who abandon God’s truth so that they become lost in a maze of deception with no apparent way out.

Paul gave us some insight in the following passage from Ephesians.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, Ephesians 4:14–15 (NASB95) 

We dare not venture down any path that leads away from complete confidence in the truth of God’s Word lest we find ourselves enmeshed in Satan’s web of lies

Satan’s Misuse of Scripture

Satan’s best lies have an element of truth in them. He tries to lure Bible believers into deception by twisting scriptures into a meaning that God never intended. A great example of this is when the devil tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple to prove his divinity. He quoted Psalm 91 out of context to try to fool the Lord into misapplying scripture.

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ” Matthew 4:5–7 (NKJV) 

But Jesus, the author and personification of truth, was not deceived. He knew the full context which promises that God will guard him in his ways and give him victory over Satan, who is compared to a serpent, lion, and dragon in other places in scripture.

11 because he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in your ways. 12 Upon hands they will lift you, lest you strike your feet against a stone. 13 You will tread upon snake and serpent, and you will trample down lion and dragon. Psalm 90:11–13 (LES2) 

We know from the Genesis account of the temptation in the garden that Satan loves to twist scripture and assign it an alternative meaning that God never intended. He told Adam and Eve that “sure die” did not mean that, but that instead it covered a deeper meaning that they would become like God.

Whenever we are encouraged to believe that God did not mean what the Bible clearly says, we can be sure the Deceiver is at work.

God’s Mysteries

It is true that God does hide some things from us that are outside of our need to know. He is God and is not required to share with us the secret counsels of his heart. Moses wrote:

The hidden things are the Lord your God’s, but the revealed things belong to you and to your children forever, to do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29 (LES2-Septuagint)

The “revealed things” are those things that God sees fit to reveal to us in his Word by his Spirit.

If God does not address a topic in the Bible, we are free to explore it using the resources available to us, but, if the Bible clearly teaches on a topic, we are unwise to speculate contrary to what it reveals, for it will surely lead to deception.

Another reason God hides things is to test our humility and loyalty, to see if we will trust in him even when we cannot figure things out for ourselves.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV)

God created us to trust and rely upon him, which is a main way we bring honor to him. Trust plus allegiance are the two ingredients of faith, without which we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6) If trust is broken, allegiance tends to disappear. This is what happened to Adam and Eve.

Refusing to trust God’s words impugns his character, something no wise person would ever do. Humility enables us to be okay with not knowing everything.

God conceals some mysteries in order to reveal their full meaning at the proper time. He is indeed a God of surprises! These mysteries cannot be understood apart from divine revelation. 

When God opens our understanding to grasp his holy mysteries, however, the new revelation or insight always agrees with and adds depth to what the Lord had already spoken earlier in his Word. Satan’s occult mysteries, however, contradict what God previously said.

For example, one of the greatest mysteries in the Bible, which was hidden until after Christ’s resurrection, is that the Gentiles are included in God’s plan of salvation on an equal footing with the Jews. Paul wrote:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. Ephesians 3:1–7 (NKJV)

This New Covenant revelation explained in greater depth the meaning of God’s promise to Abraham that his “Seed” (singular, that is, Christ – Galatians 3:8,16) would become a blessing to the whole earth. Rather than the relatively small group of ethnic people called the Jews being God’s “chosen people,” the New Covenant enlarged that number to include both Jews and Gentiles who are chosen “in Christ.”

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:14–18 (NKJV)

The rock solid principle concerning godly mysteries, things concealed from us until God reveals them by his Spirit, is that the new revelation always builds upon and clarifies what was already written.

God never reveals some new “truth” that contradicts what is written in his Word. 

The Dishonesty of Modern Astrophysics

In Genesis Chapter One, God revealed the order of creation and the nature of the heavens and earth. It stands to reason that the opening chapter of the Bible is of fundamental importance.

If we determine that it is not a true account of creation or a reliable description of the world in which we live, our confidence in God and his Word will be undermined. Why should we trust anyone who lies in the very first chapter of his book? 

There are unreconcilable fundamental differences between the Genesis account and what is generally believed today regarding cosmology – the heliocentric – Big Bang model. You may wish to take time to read the linked article to refresh yourself regarding how vastly different these competing claims are. Sadly, the heliocentric theory is now regarded as an established scientific fact by most of the church in the West, even though believing it requires us to call into question the truthfulness of Genesis and many other verses and passages in the Bible from cover to cover.

It will surprise many to discover that heliocentrism is a theory rather than a fact. If we exclude the purported real photographic evidence offered by NASA, we have no proof that the world in which we live is a rotating globe hurtling around the sun and through space at incredible speeds with twelve different simultaneous motion vectors.  I will cover where we should be wary of putting trust in NASA in a future article.

Before NASA, men could only observe the heavens from earth and theorize about them. Such theories were reasoned conjectures that, once accepted, provided a basis for trying to explain various phenomena, such as moon phases, eclipses, the seasons, etc.

Astronomy, astrophysics, or cosmology has always been based on adopting an unprovable presupposition and working out from that. Therefore, all such “science” is theoretical rather than experimental.

Interestingly, some leading astrophysicists over the last five hundred years agree that it is impossible to prove the heliocentric theory through observation from the earth. Models can be constructed that will explain all astronomic phenomena using either a geocentric or heliocentric paradigm.

People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations, For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations. You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that.    —Cosmologist George Ellis, in Scientific American, “Thinking Globally, Acting Universally”, October 1995

J.D. Bernal stated:

[Copernicus’] reasons for his revolutionary change were essentially philosophic and aesthetic,” and in a later edition he is more convinced that the “reasons were mystical rather than scientific.”   —J. D. Bernal, Science in History, 1st edition, London, Watts, 1954; 2nd edition, 1965).

Some clever true scientists conducted actual empirical experiments to test if the earth is moving through “space” or the “ether,” such as what has come to be called Airy’s “Failure” and the Michelson-Morley experiment. However, all these actual experiments showed instead that the earth is at rest. That is why Airy’s experiment was called a “failure.” It did give the results that were expected and desired.

The data [of Michelson-Morley] were almost unbelievable… There was only one other possible conclusion to draw – that the earth was at rest. – Physicist Bernard Jaffe, Michelson and the Speed of Light, 1960, p.76.

Such a finding, however, was completely unacceptable to those pre-committed to the heliocentric model. It put some of astrophysics’ most basic beliefs in jeopardy. In response, Einstein developed his theory of special relativity to explain away the unwelcome results of the Michelson-Morley experiment. He famously concluded that it is impossible for us to tell whether it is the earth that is moving or the sun, moon, and stars.

“While I was thinking of this problem in my student years, I came to know the strange result of Michelson’s experiment. Soon I came to the conclusion that our idea about the motion of the Earth with respect to the ether is incorrect, if we admit Michelson’s null result as a fact. This was the first path which led me to the special theory of relativity. Since then I have come to believe that the motion of the Earth cannot be detected by any optical experiment, though the Earth is revolving around the Sun.” (Taken from How I Created Relativity by Albert Einstein)occult

How could Einstein know something that cannot be proved? That is not science. It is religion, an occult religion, as we shall see. He stated as fact the earth’s motion while acknowledging it is an unprovable presupposition, and he got away with it! Anyone who has studied astronomy knows that declaring unprovable theories are facts is a common procedure. e.g. dark matter, black holes, etc.

This indicates that modern astrophysics has already determined that the popular heliocentric – Big Bang model cannot be challenged or overthrown. The fix is in!

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If a person theorized, based on his observations, that all swans are white, producing photograph after photograph of myriads of white swans, it could not overcome someone else producing one black swan. Likewise the multitude of supposed proofs of a globe earth cannot overcome the “black swans” provided by biblical cosmologists, such as the lack of demonstrable curvature of water and the law of entropy, which demands that pressurized gas have a container.

If you are interested in investigating these claims, you may wish to access my Resource Page.

einstein refutationMichio Kaku, an outspoken and well-known astrophysicist, admitted that modern astrophysics is “off” by a factor of 10 to the 120th power, by which he meant that the disparity between theory and experiment is the largest its ever been.

Modern astrophysics is worthless for describing reality.

This is because it has strayed from the foundational truths of the Bible and ventured into satanic speculation.

 

Nicolai Tesla was a great experimental scientist of  Einstein’s era. He did not not have much good to say about Einstein, the poster boy of modern astrophysics. He regarded him as a charlatan whose elaborate theories had no relationship with reality. He called the theory of Relativity: “…magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles, and makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king.”

The above quote originates from an interview Tesla gave to the New York Times on July 11, 1935, on the occasion of his 79th birthday. In that interview, he criticized the state of modern physics and attacked the theory of relativity, stating:
 
“It might be inferred that I am very obtuse, but I cannot see the truth of these things. I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.”
 

I am reminded of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the dog Toto pulled the curtain back exposing the little man operating the controls that provided the terrifying illusion of the wizard. It is also interesting to me that the wicked witch was destroyed when Dorothy threw water on her. My own heliocentric illusion “evaporated” when I first saw that water shows no curvature, allowing us to see much farther than a globe would permit.

Edwin Hubble, of telescope fame, wrote the following after discovering that cosmic background radiation indicates that the earth is the center of the universe.

…Such a condition would imply that we occupy a unique position in the universe, analogous, in a sense, to the ancient conception of a central Earth…This hypothesis cannot be disproved, but it is unwelcome and would only be accepted as a last resort in order to save the phenomena. Therefore we disregard this possibility…. the unwelcome position of a favored location must be avoided at all costs…. such a favored position is intolerable…Therefore, in order to restore homogeneity, and to escape the horror of a unique position…must be compensated by spatial curvature. There seems to be no other escape.” (The Observational Approach to Cosmology)

Hubble’s views agree with what has come to be known as the “Copernican Principle,” which holds that the earth and humanity are nothing special, the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. 

Christians need to understand that modern astrophysics is not a pursuit of truth. It is determined effort to conceal it.

Heliocentrism Should Be Regarded as an Occult Religion

The reason I affirm that heliocentrism is an occult religion is because it claims to be a revelation of previously hidden knowledge that contradicts God’s Word.

Before Copernicus, mankind generally accepted that the earth is as described in Genesis, with a few exceptions. Copernicus was encouraged by the Pope to publish his theory, but it was initially rejected by the Reformation leaders, such as Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, who stood by the authority of the Bible.

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However, it was not long before that group of Bible defenders died out. Succeeding generations were drawn to the new theory like a moth to the flame. Today Christians defend heliocentrism as if it were God’s revealed truth, maligning anyone who dares venture outside the boundaries of accepted scientific dogma.

Reformation leaders would be saddened by our betrayal of God’s Word, for which many sacrificed their lives.

Copernicus rejected the wisdom of God’s Word as he pursued the great quest of the Age of Reason – to divest humanity of reliance upon God and the Bible.

[Copernicus’] work, published in 1543, was called On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres. It stated that the center of the universe was a spot somewhere near the sun…The scheme met the requirements of philosophical and theological belief in circular motion. In every other respect, however, Copernicus struck at the heart of Aristotelian and Christian belief. He removed the Earth from the center of the universe and so from the focus of God’s purpose. In the new scheme man was no longer the creature for whose use and elucidation the cosmos had been created. His system also placed the Earth in the heavens, and in doing so removed the barrier separating the incorruptible from the corruptible.  —James Burke, The Day the Universe Changed, p. 135

That last sentence is very perceptive. The removal of the firmament effectively eliminated heaven as a real place, removed God from near proximity to us, and called into question the Bible’s accuracy and authority.

Both Copernicus and Isaac Newton were devotees of Egyptian “hermeticism,” a spiritual, philosophical, and mystical tradition based on writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

It emerged in the early centuries of the Roman Empire, blending Greek philosophy, Egyptian religion, astrology, alchemy, and mysticism. Hermeticism teaches that:

  • The universe is interconnected – “As above, so below.”
  • The divine exists within nature and within human beings, which is a form a pantheism.
  • Spiritual knowledge (“gnosis”) can transform the soul, which is the essence of the Gnostic heresy.
  • Reality reflects hidden correspondences between the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (the individual).

The main hermetic texts were Corpus Hermeticum, The Emerald Tablet, and Asclepius.

It is highly significant that Copernicus and Newton, as well as other Enlightenment era thinkers, were seeking hidden knowledge from pagan occult sources. 

Hermes Trismegistus may be the one who first developed the heliocentric idea.

“For the sun is situated at the centre of the cosmos, wearing it like a crown. Around the Sun are the six spheres that depend from it: the sphere of the fixed stars, the six of the planets, and the one that surrounds the Earth.” (Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius)

heliocentrism
Helios, the Sun God

 Here are Copernicus’ own words. Judge for yourself.

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

Copernicus used unmistakable religious language that elevated the sun, Helios or Sol, to a godlike status. It does not take much imagination to make the obvious connection between Helios and Satan. 

Lynn Picknett, a writer for the the Gnostic New Dawn Magazine, embraces the hermetic roots of Copernican Heliocentrism:
 
“Essentially, Copernicus was claiming to have found mathematical and physical proof for the principles that are set out– without proof– in the Hermetic books. Contemporary Hermeticists certainly regarded him as a hero for vindicating their sacred texts.” (November-December, 2011)
 

Newton was also a fan of Hermes Trismegistus and translated one of his books, The Emerald Tablet, into English. One of the quotes from this book obviously influenced Newton’s work regarding gravity: “The sun’s force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.”

occult“Few people knew the father of modern science had dabbled in alchemy; but the more Keynes collected and the more he “brood[ed] over these queer collections,” the clearer it became that alchemy wasn’t a niche to Newton at all. It was, in many ways, Newton’s life work—more vital to him than physics or mathematics ever was. This Newton “was not the first of the age of reason,” Keynes concluded. “He was the last of the magicians.” (Article from National Endowment for the Humanities)
 

Johannes Kepler, another highly regarded astronomer from that period, wrote in his book titled, Of the Harmony of the World:

“…a very few days after the pure Sun of that most wonderful study begin to shine, nothing restrains me, it is my pleasure to yield to the inspired frenzy, it is my pleasure to taunt mortal men with the candid acknowledgment that I am stealing the golden vessels of the Egyptians to build a tabernacle to my God from them, far, far away from the boundaries of Egypt…I cast the die, and I write the book.” (translated by E.J. Aiton, 1997, p.391)
 
Copernicus, Newton, Kepler, et. al. effectively legitimized pagan sun worship by giving it an apparent scientific basis, much as Charles Darwin provided a scientific rationale for those wishing to abandon the need for a Creator with regard to the origin of life.
Heliocentrism
Christianity
Sun is enthroned as Ruler of the cosmos. Jesus is enthroned at the Father’s right hand as King of Kings
The Sun has a temple. The church is the temple inhabited by God’s Spirit
The Sun is the Lamp that illuminates all things. Jesus is the Light of the world.
The Sun is the “mind” of the cosmos. Jesus is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. We have his mind.
The Sun is the Visible God. Jesus is the Word of God become a man.
The Sun is all seeing. Only God is omniscient.
The Sun rules the earth and the planets. God is ruler of the earth. The sun runs a circuit over the earth as a servant to it (Psalm 19:6). There is no such thing as a planet, only “wandering (Greek: planetes) stars (asters – lights, luminaries). (Jude 13)
Sun sires life on earth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His light is the light of men. He created all things. (John 1:4)

Once again, heliocentrism qualifies as an occult religion because it introduced “hidden” or occult knowledge that contradicts the Bible.

Sadly, many, if not most, Christians in the West have voluntarily altered how they interpret Genesis to make it agree with pagan heliocentrism. That is a betrayal of God and his Word, one that fundamentally dishonors God and minimizes our witness by exposing our hypocrisy to a watching world. Perhaps no lie of Satan has more effectively turned people away from acknowledging the Creator than heliocentrism and its related theories – the Big Bang and evolution.

One cannot have heliocentrism without the Big Bang, and the Genesis text cannot possibly be harmonized with it. Once we get off God’s path of truth by accepting heliocentrism, we necessarily find ourselves supporting the absurdity of the Big Bang, which derives from the occult Kabbalah. The only way out of this conundrum is to repent and return to the truth of God’s Word. 

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)
 
The heavens declare God’s glory when rightly understood. Heliocentrism is meant to do away with the God of the Bible.
I believe that God is awakening his church to the truth about the earth and heavens and calling us to repent for elevating pagan cosmology above the clear teachings of the Word of God. 
 
Will we again see fearless Christians stand up for the truth of the Bible against all opposition, regardless of the personal cost, as during the Reformation?

If no one else will do it, why not you and I?

Prayer
Lord, I choose to return to your Word as my primary source of truth. I renounce lies that contradict your testimony and ask you to reveal more truth about your creation to me. Amen.
 

Do We Underestimate Our Enemy?

The great Chinese military strategist, Lao Tzu, advised that there is no greater danger than to underestimate our enemy. We can fail to properly assess his or her forces, resources, strategic brilliance, spy network, perseverance, courage, or patience. Of all these, perhaps the worst mistake is to underestimate the enemy’s ability to do the unexpected. Rome never expected Hannibal to take his army across the Alps. The British never thought Washington would attempt to cross the semi-frozen Delaware River to attack Trenton. The Allies never expected the Germans to launch a counter-offensive called the Battle of the Bulge. Expecting the unexpected is a necessary defensive mindset because the enemy may be more clever than we think.

Be sober, be vigilant; because [of] your adversary the devil... 1 Peter 5:8–11 (NKJV)

In spiritual warfare, we should never underestimate Satan or God. 

We should neither underestimate the sinister cunning and patience of Satan nor God’s wisdom, creative genius, unlimited power, and love of surprises. Satan is not truly creative. He can only mar and twist what God made. His main weapons are deception and the use of violence and fear. His goal is enslavement, destruction, and death. God desires for us to enjoy abundant life with him forever.

Paul gave us sound advice and a warning in Ephesians Chapter Four.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, Ephesians 4:14–15 (NASB95)

The particular Greek words Paul used give us clues regarding the nature of Satan’s schemes. The “trickery of men” literally means rolling the dice, which is a game of chance. “Deceitful scheming” is the translation of two Greek words – plane and methodia. The word plane means “wandering,” in this case away from truth. The word methodia indicates that there is a method or scheme at work. Today we might call this a conspiracy or a secret plan. It is certain that Satan has nefarious schemes, but God has benevolent mysteries which he has revealed through the gospel.

By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, Ephesians 3:4–6 (NASB95) 

Jesus called Satan the “father of lies” in whom there is no truth at all.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44 (NKJV)

He said the Jewish leaders who rejected him as Lord were children of the devil. Since they were never born again through faith in Christ, the retained the fallen condition of being under Satan’s sway. Since they refused the revelation of Christ right in front of them, they were given over to do Satan’s will.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; Romans 1:28 (NKJV)

Ironically, even God’s born-again children who fall for and align themselves with Satan’s lies may find themselves resisting and even denying God’s Word and aligning with antichrist agendas. This should never be!

The essence of a good lie is that it fools the hearer. If a lie is known to be a lie, it loses its effectiveness, unless, of course, the hearer prefers the lie to the truth, which is sometimes the case. The idea that the devil develops clever schemes to undermine God’s plans and destroy humans and the earth in which we live might be a new concept to some. If so, it only shows that we have greatly underestimated the enemy.

Paul wrote that he was personally aware of the devil’s schemes.

Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians 2:10–11 (NKJV)

In this case the satanic “device” – Greek: noema – thought or purpose – was to tempt the church to become bitter and alienated from each other. That is a low-level scheme. There are much grander ones at work, too. 

One of the devil’s cleverest schemes in the last several decades has been to introduce into our vocabulary a phrase concocted by a government agency that is dedicated to lying. It’s the term “conspiracy theory.”

When people began to investigate a suspected government conspiracy behind JFK’s assassination, the CIA coined the term to discredit truth seekers. Ever since, this pejorative has been increasingly used to disparage anyone who thinks there is more to discover than what we have been told. The general message is that conspiracy theorists have too much time on their hands. Since they lack critical information, they go looking for hidden reasons behind events that really does not exist. The term infers that such people lack wisdom and judgment and are unstable. And yet… the CIA still refuses to let us see all the JFK files for some reason.

Any person or group that routinely lies is working for the devil. 

underestimate

JFK said that a free society cannot endure such behavior and determined to dismantle the agency. He believed there was (is) a worldwide secret “conspiracy” (his word) that must be opposed and removed. Did he underestimate the enemy?

The devil’s first known conspiracy led to a failed attempt to usurp God’s throne. We know it must have been a secret plan because he had to convince about a third (we think) of the angels to follow him. Imagine being so persuasive that angels who had experienced the presence of God in heaven fell for the lie! This rebellion resulted in his expulsion from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15). It would be a foolish underestimation of our enemy to assume that he afterward gave up his goal to displace God. The Bible makes it clear that he will fight until the very end and never cease his rebellion until he is destroyed in the lake of fire.

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 20:7–10 (NKJV)

The devil works to destroy everything he touches. 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10 (NASB95)

All those captured by the devil act with similar treachery. King David’s son, Absalom, was so motivated. Inspired by pride and bitterness, he cunningly conspired to take his father’s throne. His plan was so clever and patiently carried out that it duped thousands of Israelites into following him into battle against God’s appointed king. Joab, David’s general, understood that the only way to eliminate the threat was to kill the traitor, which he did. As long as Absalom lived, treachery would continue. As long as Satan is free to act, God’s people must beware.

Christ ultimately defeated Satan when he rose from the dead, but mopping up operations continue. It seems that God did it this way so that his people might participate in the final victory.

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Romans 16:20 (NKJV)

We can expect the devil to fight ferociously until the bitter end, deceiving as many as will follow him into likewise resisting God’s kingdom and thereby consigning themselves to the lake of fire with the devil and the fallen angels.

Apparently, the second conspiracy hatched by Satan was to harm the people God created and placed on this beautiful place called earth. He deceived Adam and Eve into mistrusting God and following (honoring and serving) him instead. Their disloyalty and disobedience opened the door for Satan to dish out death and destruction to all humanity and to mar the beautiful earth God created for our habitation.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Romans 8:22 (NKJV)

We cannot be sure if Satan was simply motivated by malice or if he had something bigger in mind when he duped our first parents into betraying God, but we would be wrong to underestimate our enemy.

I personally believe the devil’s goal was and is to enlist as many people as possible into his resistance army in an attempt to overthrow God.

Immediately after our first parents’ sin, God announced his secret plan that one of Eve’s descendants one day would crush Satan’s head.

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed (singular); He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NKJV)

We do not know if Adam and Eve immediately understood the import of this prophetic promise, but apparently Satan did, and he began to work to circumvent God’s purpose. As the centuries passed, God made some astounding promises regarding this coming Seed. Two of the most significant are crucial to the New Covenant.

  1. Abraham’s promised “Seed,” would become a blessing to the entire earth. (Galatians 3:8) 
  2. David’s promised “Seed,” would rule over God’s kingdom for all eternity. (Acts 2:30)

Satan planned to destroy the promised “Seed” and to use deceived and rebellious people to do it. Thankfully, it did not work because God is greater.

From Eden to Calvary, the devil conspired to use humans under his sway to put to death those suspected of being part of the blood line of the Messiah. The first victim was Abel. The last were the children Herod killed. Eventually, however, just as God promised, Jesus was born.

Nevertheless,Satan did not give up. He is a persistent foe and ruthless enemy. After Jesus grew to manhood, Satan’s plan changed somewhat. He then put his efforts into corrupting Jesus through temptation. That also did not work; so, the devil began to inspire the Jewish leaders to put him to death, imagining that would accomplish his purpose. (John 11:53)

Here is where Satan was guilty of greatly underestimating God. He thought, if he could kill Jesus, the kingdom of God on the earth would be his.

He duped the first Adam to wrest authority from him. Now he planned to kill the “Second Adam” to prevent his gaining the throne and the inheritance. As always, Satan used people to carry out his conspiracy against God. Ironically, in this case, he used the very ones whom God had privileged to preserve the promises and be the vehicle through whom the Messiah would come – the Jews. Just as Absalom conspired to take his father’s throne, the Jewish leaders, thought that by killing the Jesus, the rightful heir, they would own the vineyard for themselves

Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Matthew 21:37–39 (NKJV)

What a coup for the devil to turn Israel against God, a rebellion from which they, as a whole, have never recovered! Only a remnant has confessed Christ as Lord over the years. The rest persist in unbelief and rebellious defiance of God and his appointed King. 

As always, Satan never anticipated the genius of God. He did not realize that killing the promised “Seed” would facilitate God’s victory and Christ’s exaltation.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7–8 (NKJV)

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:8–11 (NKJV)

But Satan, the adversary, did not give up after Christ’s resurrection. Having been thwarted in his plan to destroy the promised Seed or prevent his gaining the throne, Satan next turned to destroy those God has called to participate in Christ’s victory by being “in” him. Some of the names for this groups are the Body of Christ, the church, the elect of God, the one new man, and the bride of Christ. If you cannot hurt a strong man, hurt those he loves.

Again, at least at first, he used the Jews as his instruments. Later he influenced the leaders of the Roman empire to join in the persecution of God’s people. Still today Christians are the most persecuted group of people on the earth. No doubt this is because the church has been chosen by God to rule and reign with Christ for all eternity.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4–7 (NKJV)

This group, the elect of God, has been granted the very thing that Satan tried to usurp, a place at God’s throne!

We who confess Christ as Lord have been elevated in glory and authority above the angels, having been granted a seat with Christ at God’s right hand. No wonder Satan hates the church!

Not only did Satan completely fail to prevent the Edenic prophecy from coming to pass, the unthinkable, as far as he is concerned, has taken place!

People he thought that he had completely ruined through the disobedience of Adam and Eve have been redeemed, reconciled to God, made God’s sons and daughters, and seated next to God’s throne in Christ. 

You would think, perhaps, that at this point Satan would give up, but let us not be guilty of underestimating him again. We do not know what Satan thinks, of course, but we know he is a deluded evil egotist who is fueled by pride and hatred. Perhaps Satan still believes he can defeat God and take the heavenly throne. Perhaps he simply wants to defile the earth, God’s footstool, and persuade as many humans as possible to worship him and fight against God’s rule on their journey to the lake of fire.

I am convinced that he also wants to steal the hearts of those who are part of the New Covenant temple called the church, a spiritual edifice constructed with what Peter called “living stones.”

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4–5 (NKJV)

The Old Covenant temple was destroyed to make way for the New Covenant fulfillment, a spiritual temple made of people for God to inhabit. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

If the devil was able to corrupt the nation of Israel into following false gods and rejecting their promised Messiah, dare we underestimate what he might be doing to throw the church off track today?

Are we on the lookout for Satan’s deceitful schemes concocted to fool us into enthroning him in the place reserved for God alone? I have written extensively about two of the deadliest schemes of which I am aware. 

The Conspiracy to Displace God in the Hearts of Men

The first grand scheme began over five hundred years ago. Its purpose is to undermine our confidence in the Bible, remove God from the consciousness of humanity, and set up what may be a final conspiracy to convince humanity to join Satan in his epic fight against Christ when he comes again. This lie is the Big Bang Heliocentric Theory (BBHT), which is a clever scheme to capture the hearts and minds of humanity. It relies on evolutionary theory, a corollary lie, which says that all of creation with its amazing order and complexity, resulted by pure random chance from a primordial explosion called the Big Bang. This is the equivalent of a cosmic rolling of the dice, a game of chance, which Paul called the trickery of men. The heliocentric theory is impossible without the cosmic evolution associated with the Big Bang. If Christians believe this lie, it forces them to abandon their confidence in the utter reliability of God’s Word and elevates what is called science to the position of arbiter of truth.

At first this trickery was recognized for what it is by the contemporaries of Copernicus, the Reformers,

underestimate
Helios, the Sun God

but it took only a few generations for the mighty momentum of Sola Scriptura to be blunted by the Age of Reason’s insistence that Science is supreme over the Bible. Today most of the church is held in a kind of Copernican Captivity.

It is interesting that the Greek word plane is used for deceit. This is the word from which our English word planet is derived. The deception here is that we have been fooled into thinking that these lights in the firmament, as Genesis calls them, are actually spherical worlds which are all named after false gods that, along with the earth, orbit Helios, another name for Satan. It is time for the church to break up with her pagan boyfriend and recommit to fully to Christ and his Word.

The Conspiracy to Undermine the New Covenant and Displace Christ with Israel

The next monumental deception that Satan concocted 150 or so years ago was designed to displace Jesus with Israel in the thinking of millions of Christians. It has fooled us into thinking that modern Israel is the promised “Seed,” rather than Jesus. This is pure idolatry, but a large percentage of the church has fallen for this lie hook, line, and sinker. As a result, we are backing the attempts of an antichrist nation to establish its worldly kingdom while denouncing the lordship of Christ. This nation resists the gospel and persecutes Christians. Why believers think they are God’s chosen people, a title that belongs only to the elect in Christ, reveals a lack of biblical understanding and is evidence of satanic deception.

In addition, by insisting that Dispensational theology is true, Christians reveal that they do not understand the New Covenant. I have written several articles to demonstrate this, including “Five Ways Dispensationalism Opposes the New Covenant.” I encourage you to study this topic and escape the snare of the devil.

Conclusion

Jesus warned us to beware when all men speak well of us. (Luke 6:26) That is how people treat  false prophets. Those who speak the truth, however, are quite often maligned and persecuted. I am not surprised when unbelievers mock those who resolutely stand by their belief in the absolute truthfulness of the Bible, but never would I have expected such behavior from followers of Christ. Yet the two issues mentioned above often trigger just such a response. Why would a Christian deride anyone for professing faith in the utter truthfulness of the Bible? There would need to be a powerful delusion in play or some other strong motivation to produce such a betrayal of God and his Word.

Perhaps we are afraid of being thought stupid by our peers.

The devil’s false claims forces us to make a stand for God. This is a good thing. Elijah called for the Israelites on Mount Carmel to decide between God and Baal. Today God is calling us Christians to make a similar stand.

Will we choose God and his Word or continue to bow the knee to what is called science?

Christians have always been a minority. Part of our ability to speak to the world system depends on our being qualitatively different. Please study the Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth about these matters. We want to be on the right side of the truth when Jesus returns. 

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Don’t Hedge Your Bets

To hedge a bet means to wager on different outcohedgemes of the same event so that, no matter what, some sort of return will be guaranteed. An example of this is when individuals or groups contribute to candidates in both political parties during an election. A close cousin of this in the investing world is called diversification. Common wisdom is to spread investments into a wide variety of options so that, if one gives a poor return, others will do better. The opposite of this, in country jargon, is called putting all our eggs in one basket. Drop that one basket and all is lost.

When it comes to the kingdom of God, however, diversification and hedging bets is a dishonest strategy.

Jesus advised us to go “all in” for him, putting all our eggs in his basket, so to speak. He gave us an example of a man who sold everything he had to acquire one pearl of great price, meaning we should trade everything for him. The apostle Paul relinquished all that previously had been important to pursue Christ.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7–11 (NKJV)

Our devotion to Christ is tested in all sorts of ways during our lifetimes. A big test is connected to our desire for recognition and approval.

Almost everyone desires to be held in esteem by others and to be shown respect. 

Paul’s decision to follow Christ without reservation devastated his worldly ambitions and desire for esteem among his countrymen. He had to count what he previously treasured as so much trash. He lost his reputation, wealth, and place among the rising stars of Judaism. In exchange, however, he gained the approbation of God. To be sure, he came out ahead in the long run, but at great short term personal cost.

Jesus warned us that, if we value the praise of men more than God’s approval, it will hinder our pursuit of God’s kingdom.

How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? John 5:44 (NKJV)

The desire to gain or maintain approval from others can be a great hindrance even for those who have been born again. 

The desire to be thought well of by others can motivate us to keep silent regarding our allegiance to Christ.

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:42–43 (NKJV)

During the COVID scare, Mattias Desmet wrote some insightful articles on the importance of speaking out against tyranny. I did my best to share what I thought to be the truth about the mRNA jab, etc. from a biblical perspective, which brought some criticism my way. After my retirement from pastoring about three years ago, the Holy Spirit had some surprises for me. As a result of what I believe God has shown me about two very controversial topics – biblical cosmology vs heliocentrism and Dispensationalism vs. the New Covenant, I have learned even more about the necessity of and challenges connected with making a stand for the truth of God’s Word. 

Jesus and the truth always spark controversy because people generally love lies and the comfort they bring more than we love God’s challenging truth.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:19–20 (NKJV)

When I grasped that heliocentrism and the globe earth are satanic lies and made known my belief that Genesis Chapter One is the literal truth regarding the heavens and earth and not mere poetic disinformation, I ran into a buzz saw of human disapproval. For the first time in my “career” as a teacher of God’s Word, I was told that I do not know how to properly interpret the Bible. Other Christians, who profess to believe the Bible is 100% true, claimed that I am “crazy,” “deceived,” “ignorant,” and foolishly throwing away my ministry. After all, who would be stupid enough to invite me to teach in their church now? To be fair, a minority believed what I wrote, and I have discovered a entirely new set of friends who have also seen the truth. Hallelujah! For the most part, however, I sadly report that I heard the voice of the serpent coming through some of my family, friends, and acquaintances, when they said that God did not mean what he said in Genesis.

Almost unbelievably, other Christians attempted to make me feel foolish for upholding God’s Word!

At first I was taken aback. I imagined that my years of teaching the Bible would count for something, but not in this case.

I crossed the line by agreeing with the Reformers and daring to say that God’s Word trumps much of the accumulated scientific “truth” of the past 500 years. How dare I?

hedgeI have to admit, it was a little unnerving to make this stand at first. I could not and cannot answer every question put to me, but neither can heliocentrists. It is not easy to break loose from a lifetime of brainwashing.

hedge

There are plenty of good empirical arguments for the biblical version of the earth and heavens, but I soon realized that, for the Christian, it boils down to one simple issue: do we believe God and his Word or not?

It has become apparent to me that most Christians I know choose to hedge their bets when it comes to Genesis.

We choose to be in the “God camp” when it comes to biological creation, but we remain in the “world’s camp” when in comes to cosmology. The world winks at us when we claim that Adam and Eve were real people while maintaining that the six days of creation are poetry not meant to be taken literally. The devil knows that those two beliefs are incompatible. They both cannot be true. It is similar to trying to eat our piece of cake and keep it for later. It cannot be done. Choose one.

Either we take the six days of creation literally, or we lose Adam and Eve. Once we say it is okay to dismiss one portion of the Bible, it will not be long before all is called into question.

However, if we dare to take those six days literally, we will pay the price of being mocked and scorned. If we declare that we live on a circular plane enclosed by the dome of the firmament, just as the Bible says, we will be ridiculed. Why? 

Satan knows that a right understanding of the heavens testifies to God’s existence and glory.

The heavens set out in detail the glory of God. And the firmament reports the creation of his hands. Psalm 19:1 (LES2- Septuagint)

The Big Bang – Heliocentric – Globe model testifies that the Bible is false and there is no God, or, if he exists, he is untrustworthy and far away.

It should not surprise us that leading astrophysicists are atheists. It is also no accident that many who come to believe that the earth is what the Bible says also become believers in Christ.

The existence of a solid firmament testifies to God’s existence. Everyone understands that such a structure did not get there by itself. 

It is impossible to save heliocentrism without the evolutionary cosmology of the Big Bang, and one cannot hold to the literal truth of Genesis Chapter One and believe in heliocentrism. (I show this in my article entitled, “The Creation Account Cannot Be Harmonized with Heliocentrism.”)

Therefore, Christian heliocentrists are stuck between a rock – God’s Word, and a hard place – evolution. This forces us to make a decision regarding whether we value most highly God’s approval or man’s?

since they feared and were shamed before people, they will be overthrown; but the one who trusts in the Lord will rejoice. Ungodliness gives a man a misstep, but the one who relies on the master will be saved. Proverbs 29:25 (LES2-Septuagint)

Let us all take courage and stop waffling when it comes to biblical truth. Go all in for Jesus. Do not be ashamed of him or his words.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26 (NKJV)

God always tells the truth, even though the whole world believes a lie. (Romans 3:4) It is time for us to unashamedly declare that we believe God’s Genesis cosmology over Satan’s, regardless of the personal cost. The world likely will mock us, but God will smile. Let us be willing to sacrifice our reputations for the glory and honor of God. We will not regret it.

Mistranslating the Word “Seed” Produces Bad Theology

Recently I was reading Genesis Chapter 26 and was struck with the inconsistent way the NKJV seedtreated the Hebrew word “zera,” which is the singular form of “seed.” In verses 3 and 4, the translators choose the plural word “descendants” three of the four times and the singular word “seed” once. Why do this? Would it not have been better to translate each instance as it was originally written – the singular form of “seed?” Is this not yet another instance of translators’ bias and eisegesis that hugely impacts the uninformed reader and has produced some very bad theology?

The apostle Paul provided us with the proper way to understand the meaning of the singular form of the word “seed.” 

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NKJV) 

We therefore now understand that the correct way to interpret the word “seed” in the New Covenant is that it is identified with Christ. 

If we apply Paul’s insight to Genesis 26:3-4, we gain a rather different perspective.

Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants (seed = Christ) I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants (seed = Christ) multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants (seed = Christ) all these lands; and in your seed (Christ) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; Genesis 26:3–4 (NKJV)

To be fair, it is reasonable for the translators to assume that the singular word “seed” also means all of Abraham’s offspring, but that is an inference, not a faithful translation. When we take the liberty to change words to fit our preconceived notions, it is a violation of a sacred trust.

I believe that the promises made to the patriarchs regarding the “seed” were meant to cause us to ponder what might be the meaning, as Paul surely did. In this instance, the translators stripped away the mystery that was meant to lead us to Christ. By so doing, they set the table for a monumental lie to influence millions of believers to reach the false conclusion that the “seed” can be equated with modern Israel, rather than Christ.

Often we only come to such an proper understanding of the meaning of God’s words after the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ. It is only then that we are able to return to the Scriptures and see them in an entirely new and correct light.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39–40 (NKJV)

When translators hide the original meaning of words, presumably in an attempt to provide clarity, they can rob us of discovering the true and richer meaning.

Once we see what Paul saw, the door of revelation swings wide open. We understand that only those who are “in” Christ can share in the promises made to the “seed.”

Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Galatians 3:7–9 (NKJV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)

The New Testament teaches that the natural descendants of Abraham are not his true offspring, unless they are also born again by faith in Christ. Through the gospel, all nations, tribes, and ethnic groups are being brought into the kingdom of God and participate in the blessing given to the “seed.”

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9–10 (NKJV)

Paul taught that the body of Christ, the church, the temple that God is constructing from born-again people, is made up of Jew and Gentile.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19–22 (NKJV)

He calls this enormous group “one new man.”

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:14–18 (NKJV)

The proper way to understand how the singular “seed” could become as numerous as the stars of heaven is to realize that all born-again people are “in Christ” and part of the “one new man.”

Jesus elaborated on this by saying…

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. John 12:24 (NKJV)

Jesus, the singular seed or grain of wheat, went to the cross and died in order to rise again and multiply himself through the miracle of the new birth.

Improper translation can lead to bad theology, in this case, to error of Dispensationalism. Today many misinformed believers think that the “seed” is the same thing as ethnic Israel, rather than referring to Jesus, thus giving to ethnic and political Israel what belongs to Christ alone. Many believe that the Jewish people of biological descent are God’s chosen people by virtue of the passage in Genesis 26:3-4 and elsewhere. Paul made it clear, however, that the New Covenant made such thinking obsolete. Now we are to understand that the only true Jew is anyone, Jew or Gentile, who has been born again through faith in Christ.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 2:28–29 (NKJV)

It could not be any clearer, but, sadly, many Christians will defend the Dispensational lie at the expense of New Covenant truth because of years of clever brainwashing. 

Through the miracle of the new birth, the “Israel of God” is the “one new man” in Christ. To think differently reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the New Covenant. 

Political Zionism has a vested interest in our misconstruing Scripture to further the lie that modern Israel equates with “God’s chosen people.” Only those who are born again fit that description. Biological descent means nothing in God’s eyes.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15 (NKJV)

Has Israel Usurped What Belongs to Christ Alone?

Recently I saw a photo of a church lawn that highlighted the “Star of David,” and their sign made the declaration that the church stood with Israel. Such a stand overlooks the genocide perpetrated by Israel against the residents of Gaza, many of whom were Christians. Below is a short video by Jewish journalist, Katie Halper. I hope you will take the time to listen.

When a church flaunts its devotion to the nation of Israel, it indicates that a litmus test for anyone interested in being a part of that church is unqualified loyalty to that country. This is the position of many evangelicals today who have been brainwashed by the false teachings of Dispensationalism as set forth by John Darby and Cyrus Scofield, a known con man who abandoned his wife and daughters. The Scofield Reference Bible was published by Oxford University Press with the backing of a wealthy Jewish Zionist named Untermeyer from New York.

Consequently, many Christians now support a nation which denies that Jesus is the Christ. According to John, this makes them an antichrist nation. 

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2:22–23 (NKJV)

Israel’s claim to be God’s chosen people is false since they have never acknowledged and surrendered to Christ’s lordship. All the blessings are found in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3) The entire earth, including the land of Palestine, was promised to Abraham’s “seed,” who is Christ. (Romans 4:14, Galatians 3:16). In addition, God’s kingdom is spiritual, meaning that the nation of Israel cannot possibly inherit it. That privilege belongs to those who are born again through faith in Christ.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36 (NKJV)

Stephen, the church’s first martyr, castigated the Jewish leaders of his day for their resistance to the Holy Spirit and their devotion to the idolatrous star of Remphan or Saturn, which seems to have morphed into the modern symbol of Israel.

Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ Acts 7:42–43 (NKJV)

No star of any kind was ever associated with King David, but the hexagram is found in the occult Kabbalah. israelIt is also a symbol in Freemasonry, as pictured below on the right.

israelOf all the possible symbols to choose, including the easily identifiable menorah, why would Israel pick one connected with the occult and the worship of false gods? I suggest that when they rejected Christ, they lost their connection to the Father and turned to get help from the evil one, just as King Saul did at the end of his life.

The Babylonian Talmud, which is probably modern rabbinic Judaism’s most revered text, teaches that Jesus is boiling in excrement for his sins. (Gittin 57a) No other religion, including Islam, shows such disrespect for our Lord. Why then do Christians fiercely support those who malign our Lord? Stephen’s indictment still stands, except for the remnant of elect Jews who have confessed Christ. (Romans 9:29)

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Acts 7:51 (NKJV)

That statement bought Stephen martyrdom from an angry mob. Saying such things today most likely will provoke some to anger and others to make false claims of “antisemitism.” If that is so, then Paul the apostle was also antisemitic. He is the one who penned the following.

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 (NKJV)

But we know that Paul was no such thing. Elsewhere he wrote that he could even wish himself cut off from God, if it would mean that his countrymen could be saved. (Romans 9:3) I assure you that I do not hate unsaved Jewish people or the modern nation of Israel, but I will not whitewash their ongoing rebellion against God.

A careful reading of key passages in Genesis reveals that the blessings were promised to Abraham and his “seed,” which is singular, and is Christ. Even though many modern translations incorrectly translate the word as plural “descendants,” Paul made it clear that the “seed” refers to Christ alone.

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NKJV)

One of the great con jobs of recent history has been convincing Christians that modern Israel has replaced Christ as the “seed.”

This is pure idolatry. Sadly, many Christians have been deceived into taking that which belongs to Christ alone and assigning it to the antichrist nation of Israel.

There is only one covenant and one chosen people.

The new covenant has fulfilled all the other covenants. God’s chosen people are those Jews and Gentiles who are in Christ through faith and the new birth. These new creation people are called the church or body of Christ. They form “one new man” in Christ.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:13–18 (NKJV)

To claim that Israel has a separate covenant and destiny from the church contradicts Paul’s clear teaching!

Only those who are “in Christ” participate in the fullness of blessings.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)

Those who are outside of Christ do not share at all. The church is the new covenant “Israel of God,” the fulfillment of the Old Covenant shadow that national Israel depicted. First comes the natural and then the spiritual. (1 Corinthians 15:46)

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 9:6–8 (NKJV)

The new covenant “promised land” is the new heaven and earth that God will recreate. From the beginning God’s plan included the nations and the entire earth!

Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Isaiah 49:6 (NKJV)

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13 (NKJV)

It is time for Christians to stop believing the lie that there are still two tiers of people – Jew and Gentile. The only difference now is between those who confess Christ and those who do not.

In Christ, there is only one new man, a new creation in Christ via the new birth.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15 (NKJV)

Only those who believe the gospel and acknowledge Christ’s lordship have any part of God’s kingdom.

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5 (NKJV)

Let us continue to pray for the Jewish people and all others who do not know Christ, but let us cease to offer the false hope that Jewish people have a separate covenant. Without Christ, they and everyone else are hopelessly lost and heading for an eternity separated from God. 

Will We Suffer Reproach for the Word’s Sake?

The early church was familiar with the suffering and reproach connected with firmly declaring allegiance to Christ and his Word. The apostle Peter wrote the following encouragement.

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 1 Peter 4:12–14 (NKJV)

Today in America we do not experience a great deal of overt persecution, but that could change any time.

There is, however, a form of suffering which intimidates many of us into silence. It is the reproach that often visits those who boldly testify that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.

One of the West’s most dominant idols is science, which is considered by many to be the height of modern man’s achievements. What many now call science has degenerated into a form of humanistic materialism which asserts that the physical world is the only real one and belittles any attempt to introduce spiritual reality and truth into a conversation. Anyone who affirms an absolute trust in the Bible and believes in the supernatural opens himself up to ridicule and rejection. In such an environment, it often seems prudent to keep our thoughts to ourselves in order to avoid persecution. This seems to agree with Jesus’ admonition not to throw our pearls before pigs, since they may trample them in the mire and then attack us.

But is it not part of our calling as disciples to proclaim God’s truth, whatever the cost?

As Mattias Desmet points out so elegantly in “The Psychology of Totalitarianism,” one of the only ways to stop encroaching tyranny is to speak out courageously against its lies. Affirming the absolute truth of the Bible, therefore, is a chief duty of disciples and all who love freedom.

Sadly, however, even some who call ourselves Evangelicals have abandoned our faith in the inerrancy of scripture by altering God’s Word to make it agree with anti-biblical forms of “science,” such as the Big Bang theory and evolution.

Many of us no longer believe that anything that contradicts scripture is false by definition.

Long ago the prophet Isaiah warned:

Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. Isaiah 8:20 (NLT)

The Bible is self-authenticating, since there is no higher standard of truth. Paul wrote:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NKJV)

Jesus also affirmed the absolute truth of God’s words.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. John 17:17 (NASB95)

The Bible also tells us that God always tells the truth because it is part of his nature. He says what he means and means what he says. God never plays with words in order to obfuscate truth, as the devil does. 

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? Numbers 23:19 (NLT)

In addition, we are not permitted to “privately interpret” scripture to make it agree with our preferred outcome or doctrine, which is called eisegesis.

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20–21 (NASB95)

This means that every word of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit and is completely true and trustworthy. There is no indication ever that God accommodates our ignorance, unbelief, or sin by toning down his words or saying something false or misleading.

Some mainline Protestant denominations have abandoned their allegiance to the Bible, choosing to align with the world system rather than with God’s truth. This is exactly what the Jewish leaders had done in Christ’s day, for which he rebuked them.

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 7 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ 8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:6–8 (NASB95)

The Roman Catholic Church also abandoned the Bible as ultimate truth centuries ago by elevating church tradition, man-made extra-biblical theology, and papal pronouncements to be above or at least on a par with the Bible. Just a few centuries back, that church’s hierarchy was in mortal fear of the common people ever finding out what the Bible actually says. The Roman Catholic Church kept God’s Word hidden behind the veils of Latin and ignorance.

The fire of the Protestant Reformation was fueled by the common people’s obtaining the scriptures in their own languages.

Courageous men and women were willing to sacrifice their lives to make the Bible available to the masses. The ownership of Bibles became widespread thanks to the invention of the printing press.

Below is a short list of some of these champions of the Word.

  • The Waldensians (12th and 13th centuries) were subjected to mass burnings for using Bibles in their own languages (instead of Latin). The Roman Catholics banned the lay ownership of the Bible in general and Bibles in the vernacular at the Council of Toulouse in 1229.
  • John Wycliffe (c.1320-1384) was an English theologian and Oxford scholar who translated the Latin Vulgate into English. He was posthumously declared a heretic. His body was exhumed,  burned, and the ashes scattered on the River Swift by order of the Council of Constance. He was accused of promoting errors because he put the Bible into the hands of the people.

Any time we fearlessly hold to God’s Word as it is written, we will likely incur the wrath of the establishment that bends its knee to the satanic world system.

  • Jan Hus (1369-1415) was a Czech reformer who translated part of the Bible into his native language and encouraged preaching in the vernacular of the people. For this extraordinary heresy he was burned at the stake after being condemned at the same Council of Constance.
  • William Tyndale (1494-1536) translated the New Testament and parts of the Old into English directly from the original languages. He was strangled and burned at the stake near Brussels, Belgium. His translation’s wording makes up over 80% of the King James Bible, which was published in 1611. 
  • Patrick Hamilton (1504-1528) was burned at the stake in St. Andrews for translating Luther’s works and encouraging lay Bible reading in Scotland.
  • Myles Coverdale (1488-1569) completed Tyndale’s work and published the first English Bible in 1535. He escaped death by fleeing to the continent, but some of his associates were martyred. 
  • Martin Luther (1483-1546) nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany and took a stand against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church.

Luther could have kept quiet about his newly found understanding of justification by faith in order to avoid persecution, but he chose to speak up, and so should we.

At his trial, the Roman Catholic Church demanded that he recant his teachings at the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521 and reaffirm his submission to the supreme authority of the church. It was at this time that he delivered his famous response.

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me. Amen.

Luther and those other courageous men and women made the choice to endure reproach, persecution, and sometimes death rather than be disloyal to God and his Word. I am quite sure that God’s Spirit of glory rested upon them, just as Peter wrote.

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 1 Peter 4:14 (NKJV)

Moses also made a similar choice, as recorded by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11:24–26 (NASB95)

Today, we Evangelicals feel good about ourselves for being self-proclaimed people of the Word, but it might unnerve us a bit to consider that so were the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. The stumbling stone for the Pharisees can trip us up, too, if we are not vigilant. They were committed to the words of God but not to God himself.

Our lack of surrender to the God of Bible can lead to our artfully twisting the scriptures so that our disloyalty remains hidden.

The Jews elevated their traditions above God’s Word.

We Evangelicals are sometimes guilty of elevating reason above revelation and, in so doing, participate in a kind of idolatry of the human mind.

We have developed nuanced interpretations of the Bible that change God’s words into something that God did not say that we find to be palatable to our firmly held beliefs, preferences, and preconceptions.

Here is an example of what I mean. We evangelicals profess that every word of God is true, but  anyone who publicly affirms that the Genesis account of creation is the literal truth will likely encounter criticism, mockery, dismissal, and other forms of reproach and rejection from both unbelievers and Christians.

Have we drunk so deeply from the well of modern biology, geology, and cosmology that the words of the Bible seem completely foolish and unreasonable?

Rather than say outright that the Bible is not true, we make a clever “end run” by claiming that part of scripture in Genesis is poetry and not intended to convey any practical form of truth. We nuance our interpretation so that we are able to affirm that spiritual truth is conveyed in the midst of a false claim. But my question is, doesn’t that make God a liar and us smarter than the people who wrote the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? And where did God give us permission to so interpret his words of truth? Doesn’t this challenge to what God said, come from somewhere else, the same one who challenged Eve in the garden? “Did God really say?” 

We inadvertently fall into the trap of agreeing with those enemies of God’s truth who claim that the Bible contains truth, but is not inerrant or factually correct.

Jesus was a literalist.

And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered (literally: be broken). So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world. John 10:35–36 (NLT)

Our Lord believed in the literal creation narrative of Genesis, Adam and Eve, Abel, Jonah, Noah, and the flood. Do we dare say that we are smarter than Jesus, the Creator and eternal Logos become flesh?

The same evangelicals who deny that Genesis is historically and scientifically accurate maintain that Jesus’ resurrection is an historical and scientific fact. I am sorry, but if Genesis is not true, how can we honestly claim any of the Bible should be considered to be true? If the first chapter is unreliable, than let’s throw it all out, which many an atheist had done. Satan knows that once a witness’ credibility is destroyed, it undermines all of his or her testimony. That is why the devil has worked so hard to convince us to trash the Genesis creation account and all its cosmological implications. Oh, he lets us keep the literal creation of Adam and Eve intact while we deny the existence of the firmament. He laughs at us when we do that, and so do the atheists. We fall into the trap of trying to make the Word of God palatable to unbelievers. The world thinks that we are self-deceived fools. We cannot make them think well of us.

If we believe the bodily resurrection of Christ is true, which the world says is ridiculous and “unscientific,” why not stand up for everything else the Bible teaches?

Why are we so disingenuous? Is it our hope that the world will think well of us? I have news for you. They laugh at us when we deny the truthfulness of Genesis. They know that such thinking undercuts the integrity of the whole Bible.

We should instead resolutely trash everything in our world view and cosmology that disagrees with the Bible.

That is what Paul did.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3:7–9 (NKJV)

Let us cast aside any embarrassment we feel by believing the words of the Bible.

It is time for the church to be more concerned with being loyal to God that in looking intelligent in the world’s eyes.

We cannot afford to esteem the praise from men over God’s approval.

Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. John 12:42–43 (NLT)

The devil hates God’s Word because he knows it is the truth that sets people free.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:31–32 (NASB95)

God will reward those who publicly identify with the Lord and are willing to endure reproach for his sake and the Word’s. We must make a choice between being praised or reproached by men or by God.  .

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26 (NASB95)

There is no shame in being reproached by those who think they are smarter than God.

2026 Challenge: Will We Be Courageous Enough to Stand?

standEvery generation faces its own set of challenges against which it is required to make a stand and giants which must be slain. During the Reformation men and women sacrificed their lives in order to stand up for truth against deception that had ruled for centuries. My wife’s 12th great grand uncle was William Tyndale, who was strangled and burned at the stake for simply translating the Bible into English. No doubt many thought such a translation was needed, but few were willing to make such a costly stand. That is always the case. The few, the brave, do the heavy lifting for those who prefer to passively watch from history’s sidelines. Today we have our own giants to slay. The question before us is who among us will rise to the occasion?

In my own life, my first encounter with such a challenge came soon after I became a follower of Christ. I arrived at that watershed decision that the Word of God would be my ultimate authority. (Sola Scriptura) This put me in direct opposition to the Roman Catholic Church of my youth, which values church tradition higher than the Bible. I tried to remain inside it to act as “salt and light,” but eventually I came to recognize that its teachings and the Bible are not compatible. I had to choose between them; so, I chose the Bible and left the church.

More recently I became convinced that the mRNA injection was not of God and warned friends, family, and whoever would listen. I received quite a bit of resistance from some quarters, but history has proved my warning had merit. The COVID scare awakened a lot of people to the enormous amount of deception being perpetrated by governments, et. al. Those doctors and healthcare workers who made a stand against the “machine” often suffered greatly.

It takes courage to make a stand for truth against tyranny.

History of full of such examples. Martin Luther received the revelation of justification by faith alone. His initial purpose was to reform the Roman Church, but it was soon apparent that it was not open to God’s truth. Eventually he was forced out, escaping martyrdom by the narrowest of margins. Many others, however, paid the price of their lives to see this important truth reestablished in the church, but the Roman church never repented from its error.

Truth divides those who love it from those who oppose it.

Likewise, when God restored believer baptism via the Anabaptists, persecution against them erupted from both Protestants and Catholics alike who refused to depart from their long standing church tradition of infant baptism that does not agree with the testimony of God’s Word. Today many Protestant denominations fully embrace what some Anabaptists purchased with their lives, but others groups still adhere to their traditions based on old covenant theology.

We should never expect that everyone will embrace the truth that is so important to us.

When the baptism and gifts of the Spirit were restored to the church in the early 20th century, those who clung to that teaching also encountered resistance from the established church and still do. Nevertheless, many have experienced this wonderful New Covenant blessing. Those who received this marvelous gift ended up forming new groups in which they were free to put the new truth into practice.

When God reveals truth to his church, especially that which has been long obscured, besides bringing great joy to those who receive it, in addition it always breeds dissension and division. Those who wish to maintain the status quo will accuse the bearers of this new teaching of creating disunity.

Truth reveals the heart by dividing those who love it from those who do not.

For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 1 Corinthians 11:19 (NKJV)

Not every truth is worth a fight, but some are extremely important. We must distinguish between truths for which we should earnestly contend and those which are less consequential.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 3 (NKJV)

standAlthough the truth divides  those who are able to receive it from those who cannot or will not, it does not separate us as children of God in the deepest sense. Nevertheless, our commitment to truth usually has a price tag attached to it. Some pay that cost, but others might not be able. I pray for the grace to carry whatever cross God requires of me.

Those who love truth  pursue it wherever it leads. It usually leads us to the cross. 

I believe our generation has been confronted by two great giants that we must face and slay. These enormous lies have long deceived the church, but I believe God is no longer willing to “wink at” our participation in the deception. The Lord requires us to step up and do our part to make a definitive stand.

The Heliocentric – Globe Earth Lie

The first is the heliocentric – globe earth lie which was introduced as a satanic counterattack during the Protestant Reformation when God was reestablishing his Word as our authority.

It’s purpose was to undermine the Bible’s authority and replace it was what is called “science.”

Heliocentrism originated in Babylonian and Egyptian hermeticism and is taught in the Kabbalah. It is

a pagan occult teaching that opposes the cosmology of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It is impossible to support it without doing serious damage to the clear meaning of the Scriptures. Satan has so brainwashed several generations that today Bible believers often attack anyone who disputes the assertions and unproven theories of current astrophysics and NASA. We have been tricked into earnestly defending what the devil designed to hide God’s existence and convert people into atheists.

standI believe God is calling us to revere his Word more than the claims of science and the words of men. We must be willing to appear to be fools for Christ’s sake. The world already laughs at us when we say we believe the Bible is true, except for Genesis Chapter One’s account of the heavens and earth. We do not believe in biological evolution, but we accept the Big Bang! How ridiculous we seem to atheists. Since they mock us anyway, why not give them something to howl about?

The most common argument Christians level against biblical cosmology is that it is a distraction away from the gospel. Does the gospel become more attractive when we profess unbelief in the very scriptures we revere? Does calling God a liar in Genesis make the resurrection seem more real? If Genesis Chapter One is mere poetry that God never intended us to take literally, then when does the Bible become literally true and who decides and how do I know for sure? If Genesis is not literally true, is the resurrection? Perhaps that was simply a spiritual truth, too, with no basis in history. How can we honestly preach the gospel when we don’t really believe the Bible?

Dispensationalism

The second deception that must be resisted is Dispensationalism which has produced Christian Zionism, the unqualified political and military support for a nation that publicly refuses to acknowledge Christ’s lordship and has engaged in genocide with our help. It is based on a false interpretation of the Bible that opposes the New Covenant in at least five areas. It teaches that God’s blessing still rests on a people who reject Christ, even though the Bible says all such people abide under God’s wrath. It fails to see that Old Covenant Israel was a type or shadow that has been fulfilled in Christ. The one new man in Christ, otherwise called the church and the body of Christ, is the New Covenant

people of God composed of both Jew and Gentile. There are not two chosen peoples, only one, the elect in Christ. Blessings are upon those who are “in Christ,” and judgment is upon all who reject him. There is only one way to the Father – through his Son. (John 14:6) Those who reject the Son, do not have the Father either. (1 John 2:23) Christian Zionism is misplaced zeal for a people who, unless they repent and believe in Christ, are headed for destruction. We should pray for them and share the gospel with them but not put them on a pedestal. At the moment, they are a secular antichrist nation in the sense that they reject the gospel and persecute believers. In addition, they are attempting to reclaim the land promised to Abraham without God’s assistance. This cannot end well for them unless they repent. 

This is not antisemitism. It is a biblical assessment of a nation. It is not an indictment of all Jews, only those who reject Christ. Everyone, Jew or Gentile, who rejects Christ is under God’s judgment and faces certain destruction unless we repent. If I am antisemitic, then so was Jesus, Paul, Stephen, and John. The truth is not antisemitic. It should cause us to feel an even greater burden for the Jewish people who are outside of Christ.

The Challenge

I have no illusions that everyone will come to see things as I do and as I am convinced the Bible teaches. However, if I have earned any credibility over the past many years of following Christ and teaching the Bible, I want to use it now.

What I ask is that you, the reader, seriously consider my claims regarding biblical cosmology and dispensationalism. I ask you to examine the Scriptures to see if these things are true.

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:11 (NKJV)

Each person must decide for himself or herself, of course. At the bottom of the page are links to articles and resources that may aid you in further study, if you so choose.

Should you become convinced that my words and arguments are true, it will offer you an opportunity to show courage and stand against the lie. We can keep our knowledge and convictions to ourselves, but what good is that? It is only when we tell others that we are able to influence them toward truth. 

  • Will I be courageous enough to teach what Genesis and the rest of the Bible teaches about the shape and nature of the heavens and earth, even if it costs me friends and church members and damages my reputation in the eyes of the world?
  • Will I teach clearly how the New Covenant debunks Dispensationalism and warn people that to support a nation that is hostile to Christ is wrong, even if it angers some and others falsely accuse me of antisemitism?

These are not unimportant side issues; so, I ask you to not dismiss my request out of hand.

Yes, people can get into heaven without believing the truth about either issue, but that should not stop us from declaring the whole counsel of God. People can go to heaven without having a proper theology relating to abortion or the LGBTQ+ agenda, but that should not stop us from communicating what God says about these issues. The world is moving toward ever greater deception regarding cosmology and aliens. A biblical cosmology will protect the church from falling whatever lies are coming. Zionism is pushing us to the precipice of a world war based on bad theology. How tragic! Bad thinking produces bad actions.

The church is called to arise and fearlessly trumpet God’s truth to a world mired in deception. Will we do it? Will I? Will you?

John’s Gospel Debunks Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism is a false doctrine that contradicts important New Covenant truths. It is so complex that it cannot be fully understood by the uninitiated. Take for example the following chart.

dispensationalism

God’s Word, however, is so simple that even a child can grasp some of its most wonderful truths.

I have written elsewhere that God relates to his people via covenants, not “dispensations.” All of the covenants that came before Christ pointed to him and the New Covenant that fulfilled and superseded them. When it comes to understanding how the New Covenant debunks Dispensationalism, the words of John’s gospel help bring clarity.

In this article, I will focus on one important New Covenant truth that is incompatible with Dispensationalism.

We can only become part of God’s kingdom people through the new birth.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own [land], and His own [people] did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:10–13 (NKJV)

Here we have a clear exposition of the new birth’s being the only gateway into the kingdom of God and the only means of becoming God’s children. Jesus confirmed this when speaking to Nicodemus the Pharisee.

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:5–6 (NKJV)

Later Jesus called the Pharisees who arrayed themselves against him and his message sons of the devil.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. John 8:44–45 (NKJV)

Being a physical descendant of Abraham has no significance whatsoever in the New Covenant kingdom of God. The only thing that counts is the new birth. We are born again when we believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord. 

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15 (NKJV)

John the Baptist warned the Pharisees who came to listen to his message that God did not regard them because of their natural descent from Abraham.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:7–12 (NKJV)

John agreed with Jesus’ declaration that they were children of the devil when he called them a “brood of vipers.” He also declared that God would raise up spiritual children of Abraham through the new birth “from these stones.” Peter called the people of the New Covenant church “living stones” which comprise a spiritual temple in which God dwells. (1 Peter 2:5) Paul also said that natural descent from Abraham no longer has any meaning in God’s New Covenant kingdom.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 2:28–29 (NKJV)

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 9:6–8 (NKJV)

Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Galatians 3:7–9 (NKJV)

There are not two chosen peoples, two Israels, or two covenants. There is only one chosen people, those elect in Christ. There is only one Israel, the Israel of God, the one new man in Christ composed of Jew and Gentile, and there is only one covenant, the New Covenant. It is time for the church to accept this New Covenant reality and depart from Dispensational deception.

The Law of the Spirit of Life

Paul wrote in Romans Chapter 8 that something called “the law of the Spirit of life” has set us free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) In a previous chapter of the same letter to the church in Rome, he stated that sin will not rule over us because we are no longer under the law, but now we are “under grace.” (Romans 6:14) These two elements of the New Covenant sound wonderful, but I think that most of us Christians fail to experience anywhere close to the fullness of the freedom Christ promises. Are we free indeed?

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36 (NKJV)

If not, perhaps it is because we have not yet come to understand as perfectly as we should what it means to be “under grace” and to live in the power of the “law of the Spirit of life.”

The essence of the New Covenant is that Christ died and rose again to provide forgiveness for our sins, a right standing with his Father in heaven that is derived from his own righteousness, and, finally, to put his Spirit inside us so that we are inwardly motivated and empowered to obey and serve our Lord willingly from the heart.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:33–34 (NKJV)

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)

I believe we can experience this freedom in Christ, but first we have to truly leave behind any reliance on our own efforts to make it happen.

The old covenant of law only served to point out how sinful we are. It did nothing beyond that to help us in any way. It is comparable to a nagging perfectionist boss who continually points out our mistakes, but never lifts a hand to assist. This tyrant has no intention of firing us. He simply exists to expose our flaws and make us feel continuously and hopelessly insufficient.

If the Law accomplishes its job, we will eventually discover that we cannot possibly save ourselves and give up trying.

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20 (NKJV)

Any attempt to gain or maintain a right relationship with God via observing the law is a misguided effort that is doomed to failure and actually opposes God’s plan in Christ.

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:1–4 (NKJV)

Not surprisingly, having rejected Christ, the Jewish people today still pursue this false path to God. Members of the Chabad sect have a plan for everyone in the world to come under the law. It is called Tikkun Olam, which means “repairing the world.” This concept was developed in the Talmud and expanded in the Kabbalah. Today part of its fulfillment requires the Jewish people to observe the 613 laws of the Torah and the Gentiles to abide by what are called the seven Noahide Laws.

President George H.W. Bush signed the relevant legislation on March 20, 1991. This was Public Law 102-14 (H.J. Res. 104), a joint resolution from the 102nd Congress that designated March 26, 1991, as “Education Day, U.S.A.” It honored the birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Lubavitcher Rebbe) and included language recognizing the Seven Noahide Laws (also spelled Noachide) as part of the “historical tradition of ethical values and principles” that form the “bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization.” (Grok)

Even though this is said to have been a non-binding resolution, it is remarkable that a US President would do such a thing since it is alien to the Constitution. This is just another example of how the executive branch has “gone rogue.”

Whatever the case, this reveals that the Jews are still pursuing a fruitless and rebellious path to God, and wish to corral the rest of us into joining them.

But the Jewish people are not the only ones who believe the law is how to best relate to God. There are plenty of people who call themselves Christians who embrace legalism in one form or another. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, requires its members to keep God’s commandments and some of their own to be in right standing with God. Some Protestant denominations have their own rules and regulations for measuring righteousness, too, rather than simply trusting in the righteousness that comes from faith in Christ, as Paul did.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3:8–9 (NKJV)

And even if we have all the right doctrines regarding justification by faith alone, chances are that we still measure how we are doing with God by using some performance scale or another. The reason we are so prone to such things is that by nature we are all legalists.

Almost all of us underestimate our own wickedness and inability to measure up to God’s standard of righteousness and maintain the illusive hope that somehow we can do better next time.

We may quote the following passage to seekers when we share the gospel, but I suggest that we don’t think its completely true, at least not for us. In that we are mistaken.

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10–12 (NKJV)

If we are still trying hard to finally get it right next time, we are far from true freedom. 

The way out of bondage to sin begins with an act of repentance.

God is working to bring us to see that we can do nothing on our own to save or liberate ourselves from the power of sin.

When we finally “give up” trying to be good enough, we will be in a perfect place to find out what it means to be “under grace” and to live by the power of the “law of the Spirit of life” in Christ.

In the Bible, when a “sinful” woman poured perfume on Jesus’ feet and washed his them with her tears of repentance, a Jewish Pharisee named Simon, who considered himself to be a righteous man, was offended. He found himself judging the woman for her former sins and Jesus for not identifying and judging her. He regarded himself highly but held them both in low esteem, which showed in his failing to show Jesus some common courtesies. The woman, on the other hand, knew how sinful she was, but Simon was blind to his desperate need for God.

Jesus brilliantly illustrated the difference between the two.

Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” 50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:40–50 (NLT)

The behaviors of the Pharisee and the woman revealed the condition of their hearts and how they viewed Jesus.

The Pharisee looked at Jesus with the eye of a critic. He was searching for faults he could condemn. He did not see anything in Christ that prompted him to treat him with the utmost respect and courtesy, much less the kind of deep appreciation shown by the woman. The woman poured out her soul in gratitude. She saw Jesus as someone who is infinitely valuable, who offered her forgiveness for her many sins. As a result, she was forgiven, but Simon, who felt no need for forgiveness, was not. Instead he was offended.

We can be offended or forgiven by Jesus. How we see and receive him makes all the difference. Our freedom is directly tied to our estimation of Jesus and our love and gratitude toward him. These two things depend greatly on how we perceive our own need for forgiveness.

Jesus told Simon that the woman’s behavior proved that she understood these things; so, he forgave her for her many sins. Simon the Pharisee, however, was unaware of his need. His spiritual blindness to his condition blocked him. 

The principle is that when we finally see the enormity of our sin and grasp how great is God’s mercy toward us, the more we will love Jesus. The greater our love, the greater will be our desire to serve him from the heart.

The less our love, the more legalistic we are likely to be. If we are in this condition, we look for faults in others and judge them (and ourselves) because we still pretend that we can eventually be good enough if we just try a bit harder next time.

The only way out of legalism is to admit we cannot possibly in any way measure up to God’s righteousness. Then we start to understand the magnitude of God’s mercy and his gift of righteousness.

Paul taught the beautiful principles of how we died to sin’s power in Romans Chapter Six. Nevertheless, he testified in the following chapter that the more he tried to keep the law, the more he became enslaved to sin.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Romans 7:19–20 (NKJV)

Even though Paul had good doctrine and tried hard (willed), he was still caught in the death spiral of trying (willing) to keep the Law, just like many of us. It was only when he discovered that sin dwells in him (what the Bible calls the “flesh”) that he was able to experience real freedom. The flesh, that part of us still linked to Adam through the unresurrected body, can never be reformed. It doesn’t gradually get better. It must die, and it will when these bodies are finally transformed at the resurrection.

If you are not familiar with God's great salvation of our spirits, souls, and bodies, it will be helpful for you to learn more about that. Here is a link to a short teaching.

Until the resurrection, we all live with an internal contradiction: we love God in our spirits, but our flesh is hostile to him.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:17–18 (NKJV)

Ironically, it is only when we realize that, apart from the grace of God, we are hopelessly enslaved to sin that we can experience true freedom.

Jesus recognizes our current condition and has made provision for us.

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.Matthew 26:41 (NKJV) 

It is only when we stop pretending that we can overcome sin by trying harder that we can begin to more fully appreciate God’s unconditional love and how much mercy he extends to us. It is only then that we realize that Jesus never had any illusions about our purity and holiness. Nevertheless he died for us. He knew that without him we are hopeless failures condemned to death for our sin. But he loved us anyway, and still does, even when we mess up. 

Christ’s death and resurrection stripped sin of its power to rule us because it also removed the Law’s power to condemn us. 

Jesus said that we who put our faith in him will never, ever be condemned.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24 (NKJV)

This is a highly significant statement when we understand that all judgment has been committed to Jesus (John 5:22). If he, the Judge, says we will never be condemned, then it must be true.

This means that no matter what a born-again believer may think, say, or do, he will never be condemned.

Does that seem too good to be true? It surely does, and that is why so many refuse to believe it and retreat back into legalism.

Paul agreed with Jesus completely when he wrote the following.  

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1–2 (NASB95)

And here we are back again at Romans 8:2, but this time we are well on our way to gaining a better understanding of what it means. Notice that I quoted from the NASB in this case because it does not add the qualifying phrase that is not present in the earliest Greek New Testament manuscripts. Apparently some manuscript copyest did not believe God would possibly give us such a “get out of jail free” promise; so, he added the qualifier – “for those who walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.” By adding the qualifier, Paul’s statement disagrees with Jesus’ words in John 5:24, doesn’t it? Jesus added no qualifier. What kind of freedom can we have if it depends on how well we obey God? That qualifier places right back under the Law.

Now, no doubt some of you are thinking, if we are free from condemnation no matter what, will that not encourage people to sin? That is what naysayers accused Paul of saying.

And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned. Romans 3:8 (NLT)

But just the opposite is true. 

By setting us free from the power of condemnation, Christ set us free from the power of sin, too. This is because sin gains much of its power through condemnation.

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:56–57 (NKJV)

By condemning us, the Law keeps our focus on ourselves and our inability. Once its power to condemn is removed, we are able to focus on the God who loves us beyond comprehension. This is a source of real freedom.

We can use this freedom selfishly to continue in sin, but that has tremendously negative consequences.

God will not condemn us, but he will correct us as necessary. He will not condemn us, but the negative consequences of sin will still come our way. God will not be mocked. We will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).

King David was a wonderful example. He committed sins deserving death – adultery and murder, but God mercifully spared his life. He did not condemn him; nevertheless, David, his family, and the nation suffered greatly from the consequences of his sin.

Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” 13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 2 Samuel 12:10–14 (NKJV)

Like David, those who are born again can choose to selfishly pursue sin, but it will not turn out well. It will not produce joy and peace. That being the case, we have no real incentive to continue in sin any longer. However, the opposite is also true. We are now free to serve God joyfully from the heart, knowing that he will never condemn our sins and mistakes. Instead he promises to reward us. Amazing!

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 (NASB95)

Our freedom allows us to choose to serve God without the threat of condemnation for non-compliance lurking in the shadows. 

Because the Spirit indwells us, we are now inwardly motivated to serve God and honor him because we love him and appreciate the tremendous mercy he has shown to us.

To choose to willingly love and serve him is a natural and supernatural response to God’s love.

Why would we not serve such an amazingly gracious and loving person? The words of the apostle John ring true.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3 (NKJV)

Rather than condemning us for our less than stellar obedience, these words describe a new reality. When we are loved by God and love him back, obeying him is no burden at all.

Obedience may not always be “fun,” but deep down it is a joy. What a glorious thing when God’s people serve him out of gratitude rather than mere obligation. What a life giving testimony it is to those who do not yet know him. How beautiful it is when we live under grace in the power of the law of the Spirit of life!

Click here to access all the articles in this series.
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