Category: Biblical Cosmology

Will We Suffer Reproach for the Word’s Sake?

reproach

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.

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The Shape of the Earth

reproach

The shape and makeup of the earth and heavens as described in the Bible are very different from the heliocentric-globe model we have been taught from infancy. If we use the Bible as our source of truth, instead of the world, we will need to lay aside, at least for the moment, what we have always assumed to be the truth. Our goal is to discover what some call the “true earth” or “biblical earth.” This may not be an easy journey for us for a couple of reasons. First, it is difficult to dismiss what has been drilled into us by authority figures, such as parents, teachers, and others considered to be “experts.” Secondly, if we do our own research, the algorithms of the various search engines are designed to work against us. Google admitted to Congress that they de-prioritize and sometimes outright censor what they deem to be misinformation. Search engine results are skewed against anything that goes against the government-approved narrative. 

The heliocentric-globe model of the earth gained traction around 500 years ago, thanks to Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. Today it largely has displaced the Bible’s account in Genesis, even for many Christians. One of the driving forces behind what now is called the Scientific Revolution was the desire to escape the confines or limitations imposed by Scripture. Just as for Adam and Eve in the garden, the lure of forbidden knowledge proves stronger than our trust in God’s truthfulness.

There is a certain hubris connected with figuring out things on our own without God’s help.

The early reformers, such as Luther and Calvin, denounced Copernicus’ theory, but, sadly, today most followers of Christ accept the heliocentric-globe version of the cosmos and feel no guilt shapeassociated with accommodating Scripture to fit it. (I have written another article specifically addressing this issue.)

My goal in writing this series of articles is to assist the reader in transitioning from believing the satanic lie to returning to faith in the biblical narrative.

The Earth Is the Center of God’s Creation

One of the first things we learn from Genesis is that the earth is the center or focus of God’s creation.

This is very important. Satan’s heliocentric view flatly contradicts what the Bible teaches, making the sun the center of everything. The evolutionary Big Bang cosmos tells us that the earth is an infinitesimally small and insignificant part of an incomprehensibly large universe, or perhaps a multiverse, according to string theory.

If the earth is the center, man is the focus, making him supremely important, just as the Bible says.

It is easy to understand why Satan wants us to think we are unimportant. If we know that the God who created and watches over us made us central to his purposes, it will motivate us to learn more about him and want to serve him. If we believe the heliocentric lie, it will tend to demotivate us and make us feel alone and hopeless. Satan’s plan has always been to usurp the glory that belongs to the Lord. One way he does this is by convincing us to believe a lie that hides God by distorting our understanding of creation.

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

When confronted with the unwelcome news that extensive measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation indicates that the earth is the center of the universe, Dr. Edwin Hubble, after whom the famous telescope is named, refused to accept the results on philosophical grounds.

…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)

This quote illustrates the anti-god bias of the scientific community, which, for the most part, refuses to acknowledge God or the scriptures. 

As mentioned before, the ancient Hebrews believed the earth is a stationary plane sitting upon the

waters above which God constructed a crystalline firmament, in which he placed the sun, moon, and stars. God’s throne is situated atop the firmament, from where he observes everything that happens on the earth and in the heavens.

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 (NASB95)

Some well-intentioned but misguided Bible believers use this verse to support the claim that the earth is a globe, but the word translated “circle” – chug in Hebrew – means to inscribe or draw a circle, as one would do with a compass. Isaiah uses the word “ball” in another place (Isaiah 22:18); so, he knew the difference. Proven laws of physics dispute the globe narrative, as well. Consider that water always seeks its own level and gas cannot be kept under pressure without a container.

Isaiah 40:22 fits well with other verses that describe the earth in this way.

When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, 28 When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, 29 When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Proverbs 8:27–29 (NASB95)

The above passage confirms that God inscribed a circle on the waters to make the earth. He also shapecreated a boundary for the sea, which we now understand is a giant ring of ice, a wall, that surrounds the earth. Globe supporters contest that Antarctica is a continent at the “bottom” of the globe, but the Bible indicates the earth has a boundary, and early explorers, such as Cook and Ross, discovered it is the ice wall, which they spent years exploring its limits, both of whom traveled over 60,000 miles.The Bible refers to this wall as the “ends of the earth.”

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

Isaiah 40:22 only makes sense if we use the Hebrew concept of the earth being under a crystalline dome called the firmament. Another verse in Job compares the creation of the earth to a seal being stamped in wax. The following image captures this idea in which the ends of the earth again are the walls of ice surrounding her.

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)

shape

(If this seems too much to swallow at the moment, I recommend that you watch the videos on Antarctica that I have collected on my Resource Page.)

We also learn from Proverbs 8:29 that God placed the earth on foundations, as he did the firmament. Anything so massive as the earth and its dome must have massively strong foundations.

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, 2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. 3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, 4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. 5 You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever, Psalm 104:1–5 (NKJV)

As we will see in the next article on the firmament, his upper chambers are above the firmament, where his throne sits. 

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. 

Another interesting verse that I will cover in greater depth in the firmament article, is from Amos.

The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The LORD is His name. Amos 9:6 (NASB95)

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.

Other verses that indicate the earth is a plane rather than a globe are found in Daniel and Matthew, where it is said the the entire earth can be viewed from a great height.

The tree grew large and became strong And its height reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Daniel 4:11 (NASB95)

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)

I am assuming that you, the reader, believe as I do that God’s Word is absolutely true and accurate and that he would not lie to us. Theoretically it should be possible to view the ends of the earth from an extremely high vantage point, if not for perspective issues due to the way our eyes are made and atmospheric conditions – but only if we live on a plane surface. It would never be possible if the globe is real. 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. 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. 

The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved. Psalm 93:1 (NKJV)

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 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 platform! The earth is still and we know it. Becoming still like the earth God made helps us to know the Creator.

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

biblical cosmology

Having established that the Bible is our most reliable source of truth for establishing a proper cosmology, it is important for us to study and believe the Genesis account of creation.

The author of Hebrews wrote that our faith in the Genesis creation narrative is what gives us understanding. 

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3 (NASB95)

Only by faith in God’s Word are we able to properly comprehend God’s creation.

We dare not rely on our own understanding, occult accounts, or those who deny the Genesis account’s truthfulness.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1–2 (NKJV)

King David’s first Psalm commends us to trust in God’s Word above all else. Those pursuing a greater understanding of the cosmos should avoid the counsel of the “ungodly” – those who scorn God and the Bible, which includes most prominent astrophysicists.

Every believer will eventually experience a crisis of faith regarding whether we will value and believe God’s testimony over every other voice or supposed authority.

If we accept that God’s Word is true, then we will believe his account of creation and his description of the earth and heavens.

If we choose to believe the testimony of modern astrophysics and put our trust in what is called science more than the Bible, we must either throw out the biblical account altogether or drastically alter it so that it no longer resembles what it originally meant.

Satan knows that if he can make us doubt the accuracy and truthfulness of Genesis Chapter One, it will undermine our faith in the rest of the Bible.

If Chapter One of the Bible only communicates spiritual concepts that have no relationship to physical reality, how can we suppose that other supposed historical truths, such as the resurrection of Christ, actually happened? Might they not also be human authors’ imperfect attempts to describe a spiritual truth beyond the scope of our comprehension or experience? Denying the accuracy of the Genesis One account opens the door to all sorts of deception, as is demonstrated in those denominations that rejected biblical authority and consequently have embraced lies.

The Bible begins with a description of how God created the sea, the earth, and the heavens as a integrated whole. This tiered creation described in Genesis continues all the way to the last book, Revelation. It is impossible to reject the cosmological model of Genesis without rejecting the entire Bible testimony.

The Bible does not permit us to treat Genesis otherwise than being historically factual. The early Hebrews and Christians understood it that way.

Just because parts of the Bible are poetry does not alter its truthfulness. Poetry intensifies the power and beauty of words rather than detracts from their truth. The only reason we would think otherwise is if we have adopted presuppositions that contradict God’s Word and are looking for an escape from a literal interpretation. If we believe that the Big Bang – Heliocentric Theory (BB-HT) is an established fact, we will be forced to treat Genesis Chapter One as a scientifically inaccurate description of something God did not think the authors and first readers could comprehend.

Accusing God of giving us a false account of creation in Genesis is the equivalent of accusing the Lord of being a liar and deliberately setting a stumbling block in front of future generations who would have access to the theories of modern “science.”

If I catch someone in a lie, especially if I am just getting to know them, it is a significant “red flag” that experience has taught me not to ignore. I have found that to put confidence in such a person leads to disappointment. It is foolish to trust an habitual liar.

If God did not tell us the truth in Genesis Chapter One, why should we believe him ever again? How will we know what other parts of the Bible are untrue – and who will decide?

This is the danger of dismissing Genesis Chapter One as “mere” poetry that provides no factual information, only spiritual concepts. If we go this route, when does Genesis become factually and historically true. What chapter? Who decides? How do we know?

Mistrusting God’s truthfulness is the consequence of believing the devil’s lie.

Satan’s lie worked in the garden on Adam and Eve, and it continues to be effective today, especially when it comes to the Genesis account of creation. “Did God really say?”

Many conservative Christians reject the theory of evolution in favor of the creation account of Adam and Eve, even though quite a large percentage of people in the world consider evolution to be fact. Why then do so many of us Bible believers find it to be more difficult to accept the Genesis account of the creation of the heavens and earth? Is it not because we think we have seen proof of a spherical earth suspended in the void of space? NASA has been caught lying many times. Why should we have any confidence in that organization? Why would we trust them more than God? 

...Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3:4 (NKJV)

We know that our government lies to us about many things. Why is it difficult to think that NASA is deceiving us? It was founded by satanists and names all its missions after false gods. Look at what that agency has given us over the years as supposed actual photos of the earth from outer space.

Notice that the size and shapes of the continents vary. It has been proved that Photoshop was used to create clouds. Robert Simmons, the man who manufactured the first “blue marble” version of earth admitted that he “Photoshopped” it. Neil de Grasse Tyson says the earth is an oblate pear-shaped spheroid, but every supposed photograph of the earth suspended in space is perfectly round. It has been proved that the supposed photo of the earth taken from the moon was “Photoshopped.”

Even if we do not conclude that NASA deliberately is deceiving us, wisdom tells us that we should never believe the testimony of those who contradict God’s Word.

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20 (NKJV)

Ultimately, each of us has to make up our own minds regarding what we will believe, but we should never forget that God will hold us accountable in this area.

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

The Biblical Account The Big Bang – Heliocentric Theory

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

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

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

DAY 1 – The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2 (NKJV) 

God first created the waters, called “the deep.” The dry land or “earth” was not formed yet. The Holy Spirit’s activity is central. To assert that the first thing created was “the deep” places the biblical account in direct conflict with the so-called “scientific” narrative.

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

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:3–5 (NKJV)

After creating the seas, on the same day God created light and instituted the pattern of day followed by night. God had not yet created the sun, moon, or stars; so, there was no obvious physical source of this light. It must have emanated from God himself, which agrees with John’s Gospel and Revelation.

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

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. Revelation 21:23 (NASB95)

Moses was not a stupid man. He knew that the sun produced daylight; so, when he wrote this account of creation, he understood that it did not make sense from a mechanistic point of view. This is a case when God does not explain everything.

The Lord asks us to take him at his word without having complete understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6) This is a recurring theme in the Bible.

The “scientific” view requires that there be a natural source for light, which would come from some form of combustion or nuclear fusion, such as from a star or sun. This would necessitate the sun’s already being in existence, which contradicts the Bible account. The heliocentric view also requires the earth to rotate on an imaginary axis to account for day and night. Since there was no sun, moon, or stars at this point in the Genesis account, the “scientific” view demands that we reject the Bible as a trustworthy source of information about creation. This is one reason why so many leading exponents of the Big Bang theory are atheists.

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

The scientific point of view requires that we have a mechanistic explanation for everything. God is not part of the equation. Anything that cannot be explained mechanistically is rejected.

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

Here is another place where the Genesis account radically departs from the BB-HT. When people have been indoctrinated from childhood in the heliocentric-globe theory, the idea of there being a solid dome-like vault called the firmament encasing the earth seems bizarre. However, since we know that a pressurized atmosphere requires a container, it is more reasonable that the BB-HT.

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

Raqia, the Hebrew word for firmament, means something solid, such as molten bronze that has been beaten out. (Job 37:18) It had to be strong enough to support the weight of the waters above. God took an entire day to construct this amazing structure, which was prepared to house what we call the “heavenly bodies” – the sun, moon, and stars and be the container of our atmos. This structure had to be placed on a strong foundation. (You can read more about the firmament by clicking here.)

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

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

The BB-HT requires us to translate raqia as “heavens,” “sky,” or “expanse” because it does not allow for a solid structure that encloses the earth, since it wants us to believe that we can travel to “outer space,” which is outside our assigned realm. The BB-HT holds that the earth is “fragile,” having no protection against the perils of “outer space,” such as asteroids, sun eruptions, comets, or even alien beings. Rather than being stable and stationary, the earth is said to be hurtling through the void / vacuum of “outer space” at incredible speeds (rotating at 1000 mph, revolving around the sun at 66,600 mph, traveling through the Milky Way at 500,000 mph, as hurtling through the “universe” with our galaxy at over 1,000,000 mph). In this version of reality we do not know where we are going. We are said to have an “atmosphere” that is held to the earth by a mysterious unproven force called gravity against the incomprehensible power of the strongest vacuum known (actually, theorized), without any sort of container, which is a violation of known physical laws.

The BB-HT is specially designed to deny the existence of God and the truth of the Bible and to make us believe what is contrary to all experience and the testimony of our five senses. The true creation testifies to God’s glory (Psalm 19:1), but the false version testifies that there is no God. This false narrative is being used to hide God’s existence and to enslave humanity to Satan’s lies.

The existence of the firmament means that “outer space” with its vacuum is an imaginary construct that exists only in our minds and NASA CGI. Travel beyond the firmament into God’s realm is impossible outside of Christ. It was tried at Babel and continues to be attempted by NASA through the use of rockets. Therefore, no one ever has been to the moon, as any real investigation of that bit of NASA fakery will reveal. (If you doubt this, please take a look at the following video series entitled Wagging the Moon Doggy or look at the website – aulis.com. The following video is also recommended.)

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

On day three we have the first appearance of dry land, called the earth. We learn from Psalm 24:2 that the earth was founded upon the waters, just as Genesis describes it. We also discover from Psalm 75:3 and numerous other places that God placed the earth on pillars so that its foundation is secure and it will not be moved. (Psalm 96:10) Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:20 tell us that the creation declares the the glory of God and reveals much about his character and power. The earth has a solid foundation, just as we do in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

God also created the first living things, which were plants.

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

In addition, the BB-HT says that the earth is tilting, wobbling, and moving at breakneck speed through an evolving ever-expanding universe. This all directly contradicts the Bible, which says the earth does not move.

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

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

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

genesis

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 
If you want to download a PDF version of the above summary, click here.

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

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

genesis

This view is described by Google and other “fact checkers” as being archaic and disproved by science. This is the result of the Copernican heliocentric view having gained the ascendancy over the past 500 years and NASA’s being believed implicitly. Before the “scientific revolution,” many cultures held the same “archaic” understanding of the design of the earth and heavens. genesisThe knowledge was probably passed down orally from Adam. Whereas, once it was considered heretical to believe the Copernican view, now it is considered to be conspiratorial, stupid, and willfully ignorant to believe the biblical testimony regarding the cosmos. How thoroughly the devil has deceived mankind!

The lasting effect of the Copernican-Newtonian revolution was the separation of “science” from religion and, more specifically, the Bible.

No longer is the Word of God highly regarded by those claiming to be scientists, or even, in many cases, by those who acknowledge Christ. Paul warned Timothy that this day would come.

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

In summary, the Bible presents us with a very different account of origins from modern science. Christians must decide between these two worldviews.

I believe we are being tested today in the same way as Adam and Eve were. Satan is asking our generation, “Did God really say?”

Satan made Adam and Eve feel foolish and ignorant for taking God at his word. This is how the devil tries to make those who believe the Genesis account feel today. Often other Christians join the chorus of accusers.

It appears that many of us who profess the name of Christ love pagan heliocentricism more than God’s Word.

It seems that many who name Christ as Lord are actually embarrassed by or ashamed of the Genesis testimony. I pray that soon changes!

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)
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Introduction to Biblical Cosmology

biblical cosmology

What is biblical cosmology? A simple answer is that we regard the Bible as the best and highest source of truth. What “science” claims is true must agree with what the Bible teaches or we should reject it.

Our modern “scientific” theory of the heavens and earth, the Big Bang heliocentric model, gained traction during what is called the Scientific Revolution. It was introduced by the likes of Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. Today it is reinforced in our public and private school systems and constantly drummed into us by the media.

The brainwashing has been so pervasive that this model, which began and continues as a mere theory, now is believed to be factually true by the masses.

Belief in this false cosmology is widespread in the West; although, a growing number of people now realize that it is a house of cards waiting for God’s wind of truth to bring it down.

A “red flag” for us Bible believers is that the heliocentric model contradicts the Bible’s testimony.

As followers of Christ, God expects us to derive our understanding of the nature of the heavens and earth from him, rather than from the testimony of scientists and other “experts,” many of whom are atheists who completely reject the Bible. God tells us not to follow the counsel of the ungodly.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1–2 (NKJV)

Here is a brief video that provides a quick introduction to our topic.

Moses, the author of Genesis, was directly inspired by God, making everything he wrote God’s truth. In fact, one of the cardinal tenets of the Reformers was the inviolability of God’s Word. Sola Scriptura was a rallying cry during the Reformation, which was a movement to reestablish the Scriptures as God’s ultimate authority.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)

The Genesis account provides us with an accurate model of the heavens and earth that was at one time almost universally believed, but now is regarded as a product of pre-scientific ignorance. 

Almost all cultures spread over the earth had a similar concept of creation, as illustrated by the image below.cosmology

Today, Hebrew scholars recognize that the authors of the Bible believed the earth looked similar to the image below. 

cosmology

Those who implicitly trust the pronouncements of  modern “scientists” and the “experts”  have been trained to think through brainwashing that begins in the crib that the Bible’s version of the earth and heavens is primitive, unscientific, and idiotic. They say that those who believe in it are “science deniers” and victims of a massive “conspiracy theory” – a psy-op.

cosmologyIn this series I will cover some very important topics relative to the subject that I hope will convince you to adhere to what the Bible says instead of relying on the opinions of men. Below are the topics that will be covered.

Part 2: The Bible Is Our Benchmark for Truth

The second article will look at our key presupposition that the Bible is always true. God does not lie and would never mislead his people into believing something false. The Bible certainly does not contain all information about the world in which we live, but what it does say is true. We derive our most fundamental understanding of the heavens and earth from the Bible, not from theoretical astrophysics and the testimony of men.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (NASB95)

Part 2 will show how heliocentrist employ improper hermeneutics by trying to force the scriptures to agree with their preconceived belief in heliocentrism instead of simply believing what the Bible says. We will see that doing so is the equivalent of thinking we are smarter than Jesus. Once we nail this down, we will proceed to investigate in detail the claims of Genesis Chapter One, the foundation of the whole Bible.

The heliocentric lie places Bible believers in a crisis of faith. We must choose whether to believe God’s Word or what the world calls science, something that is worshiped by many – “trust the science.” 

Part 3: The Genesis Testimony

Once we agree that God’s Word, the Bible, is our highest and most reliable source of truth, we will see that it is impossible to hold onto heliocentrism and believe the Bible testimony. One of the other most go. Unfortunately, most people today dispense with the Bible by claiming it does not really mean what it says.

Part 4: Introduction to the Firmament 

This teaching will show that the Bible teaches that the heavens and earth are a unified whole. The firmament acts as a barrier between God’s realm in heaven and the earthly habitation to which we have been assigned. We will see how this complex was God’s first tabernacle. God told Moses to construct the earthly tent of meeting to correspond to this reality.

Part 5: The Apocalypse and God’s New Heaven and Earth

The apocalypse only makes sense if we believe in biblical cosmology. The New Covenant promise is that the current heaven-earth complex has been defiled by sin and Satan and will be replaced with something far more wonderful.

Part 6: Heliocentrism Opposes the Entire Bible

Once we understand that the Bible teaches that we world in which we live is a unified heaven-earth complex, we will see that this reality is found throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. We cannot reject Genesis Chapter One without rejecting the entire Bible.

Part 7: The Reason for the Lie

Most people want to know what is the reason for the enormous lie called heliocentrism? The first reason is to hide the reality of God’s existence. The second is to distort our conception of God through a distortion of our understanding of what he created. What we believe profoundly affects how we behave. The worldview derived from modern theoretical astrophysics is atheistic and promotes hopelessness. If there is no God, we have no meaning, identity, purpose, or destiny. Hopeless people behave in destructive ways.

Part 8: The Occult Origins of Modern Astrophysics

This part will show how modern astrophysics originated in Egyptian hermeticism, alchemy, sun worship, and the Jewish Kabbalah. This probably accounts for the incredible pull this false teaching has upon most people.

Part 9: Man’s Ongoing Quest to Escape His Assigned Habitation

From the tower of Babel until the present day, mankind has wanted to escape the “confines” of our assigned habitation and penetrate the firmament into heaven. Satan has tricked us into being dissatisfied with the earth God gave us. We perceive ourselves to be lords or masters of the universe who have an insatiable desire to join Satan in outer darkness.

Part 10: Making a Stand

The last section is a call to repentance and faith in God’s Word. To do so will require courage to suffer reproach for the Word’s sake and endure potential ridicule and other forms of opposition.

Many believers who say they believe that the Bible is God’s Word are embarrassed by the Genesis account and use some form of eisegesis to force the scriptures to agree with modern astrophysical theories.

God is calling the church to ditch her pagan boyfriend, Helios, and join the counter rebellion. Making such a stand will bring honor and glory to God and serve as a testimony against the unbelief of so many.

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My Journey Out of Deception

deception

deceptionImagine living in a world in which deception is so prevalent that most people are unaware that they don’t know what is true or false concerning some really important matters. That is the world in which we live.

Someone close to me was told, regarding Osama bin Laden’s supposed capture, execution, and burial at sea, that one thing is sure. We will never know what really happened. The government has no problem hiding what it does from the public. Unfortunately, this type of secrecy is not rare. It seems that our own government hides a lot of important matters from its citizens.  

President John F. Kennedy saw this as a threat against our republic. Many believe his plan to deceptiondisband the CIA was part of the reason he was taken out. Or maybe you think such reasoning is a stupid conspiracy theory? That phrase first became popular when it was coined by the CIA to disparage those who did not believe the government  narrative about Kennedy’s assassination.

In my high school years, as is typical, I went through a time of soul searching. I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, but came to a place where I was no longer sure of God’s existence. It was fashionable then to claim to be an agnostic; so, that is what I said I was. I made no claim to atheism, but I did not think God could be known.

However, something happened to me at age 19. As a consequence, I have believed ever since that Jesus is who the New Testament says he is.

I soon became convinced that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and our most reliable source of truth. The Bible and the Holy Spirit, who indwells every born-again believer, guide us into truth as we seek for it and are able to bear it.

Jesus believed the Bible is true, and that is good enough for me. Anyone who rose from the dead must know about such things.

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)

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. John 16:12–13 (NKJV)

I have studied and sought to understand and live by the Bible ever since, although quite imperfectly. I have learned a lot over the years, but realize that there must be still so much I do not know.

Before my conversion experience, although I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and attended parochial school from grades 3 through 8, I did not know the Lord. The Catholic Church and school provided me with a great educational foundation and a decent understanding of God, the devil, sin, hell, heaven, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and other biblical truths.

Nevertheless, no one in that church ever told me about the gospel except for one high school teacher.

The result was that the Catholic Church deceived me into thinking that my salvation depended on keeping its rules and regulations instead of through believing the gospel message. Why would an organized church do that? I have concluded that it deliberately positioned itself between me, God, and the truth in order to keep me under its control.

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Galatians 1:6–9 (NLT)

That is how the devil works, and he has plenty of willing accomplices that do his bidding.

I have written a series of articles explaining where the Roman Catholic Church deviates from Scripture. You can access them by clicking here.

Jesus wants people to be free, but Satan works to enslave and often uses human institutions to accomplish this. (John 8:32)

It was only after my girlfriend, who is now my wife of nearly 53 years, shared the gospel with me that I realized that the Bible says that all my sins could be removed and I could have eternal life as a child of God if I simply believed that Jesus rose from the dead and is the Lord of lords. I don’t mean to merely intellectually or mentally affirm the idea or agree doctrinally. I understood that I would need to truly believe from the heart, which was quite impossible for me. I had no ability to move myself from an agnostic position to one of faith because I did not know for sure if Jesus rose from the dead or not. I had no time machine to go back in history to the tomb to find out. But since I understood that, if Jesus did rise from the dead, it was the most important thing that ever happened, I did the only thing that came to mind.

It turned out that I did the wisest thing anyone can do: I asked God for help. 

I asked Jesus, if he were real, to reveal himself to me in a way that would enable me to believe. I prayed a simple prayer to a God I wasn’t even sure existed. The amazing thing was that he heard me and answered my request! He extended great mercy to me because he understood that I was a blind man groping to find him.

His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:27 (NLT)

He revealed himself to me and graciously opened my eyes, ears, and heart to know him.

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:8 (NKJV)

Later, after reading the Bible for myself, I came to understand that the reason I sought him is because he came after me!

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44 (NKJV)

I will never forget the moment in the Spring of 1971 when, being alone late at night and pondering eternity, God, Jesus, the gospel, etc., I suddenly remembered having said that little prayer a couple of weeks earlier. I had completely forgotten about it, for which I am very grateful because otherwise I might have been striving in my own way to find God. Having forgotten all about it, I had not been struggling at all, which left the door wide open for God to reveal himself to me in his own way and time.

One of the most difficult lessons for us to learn is that we cannot save ourselves, but, once we understand this truth, how glorious it is to know that he loved us enough to go after us!

In a small room full of vending machines on the Duke campus, God met with a confused 19 year old who desperately needed his help and still does. In a flash, his presence filled the room and saturated my soul with joy and an “electric” sense of his presence. I knew that I was in God’s company, but it did not scare me because I knew beyond doubt that the resurrected Lord Jesus is real and that he loves me and I belong to him. I cannot explain how God did all that, but it happened to me.

I suppose that being in God’s presence is enough to convert anyone from unbelief to faith.

It certainly was true for Job in the Bible and for doubting Thomas. If you have never experienced God’s presence personally, you cannot understand. Perhaps my testimony will provoke you to ask God to do something similar for you. If you ask, you will receive.

For the first time in my life I understood what it means to be “born again” and have a relationship with the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all life. He gave me new meaning and purpose. From that point forward, God has been the most important “thing.” I have tried to follow him wherever he might take me and tell others that they, too, can know God’s love. Now some 55 years later, I look back in the knowledge that, though my journey has been less than stellar, with God’s help my wife and I have stayed the course and will continue to do so.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

After I was born again and read the Bible, God began to open my eyes to spiritual realities that I had never before seen or understood.

I started to see through some of the deception that captured the Roman Catholic Church. I saw how they traded the truth of the Bible for man-made traditions and church doctrines, just as had the Jews in Christ’s day and today.

And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.” Mark 7:13 (NLT) 

No matter how well we begin, Satan always works to get us off course or even completely wreck us.

During the first few years of my discipleship journey, I began to realize that a lot of what we were taught in school was in fact deception. I saw through the fraud of biological evolution and accepted the biblical account of creation. Some people mock such childlike faith, but God’s apparent foolishness is wiser than man’s great wisdom.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:25 (NKJV)

I saw that entire nations have been captured by atheistic philosophies such as communism and the materialism of the West, but there was still so much about which I was still in the dark.

It still had not yet dawned on me that Christ’s words in Revelation 12:9 are literally true. Satan deceives the whole world, and most people underestimate how deep and sinister it is.

deceptionYears ago, I remember watching a movie called The Matrix and thinking how wonderfully it described man’s condition before the new birth, without which Jesus said that no one can even see the kingdom of God. It described the world system that blinds people to God. Surely the “red pill” offered to Neo was the new birth that opens our spiritual eyes. I little understood then how much deception there is in the world. 

Satan’s world system is so ingeniously designed that it keeps most people in the dark about very important matters, such as the nature and construction of the world in which we live.

The main thing Satan tries to hide is God.

As I already mentioned, he tries to keep people from hearing the freeing message of the gospel. He also works to hide God by convincing people to believe a completely false version of what the heavens and earth are like.

The devil knows that if he can destroy our confidence in the truthfulness of Genesis Chapter One, our foundation will be rocked.

God so designed things so that the heavens and earth testify to his character and power.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:20–21 (NKJV)

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, Psalm 19:1–4 (NKJV)

Satan introduced a false version of the heavens and earth to convince millions that God does not even exist. 

The deception of the world system is so convincing that, unless we believe that the Bible is 100% true, we will probably fall for it. Sadly, many otherwise committed Christians have believed his lies about the unreliability of Genesis when it comes to heaven and earth and “outer space.”

deception

Even many, who claim to believe the Bible and say they believe God created Adam and Eve just as it says in Genesis Chapter One, find it easy to make an exception when it comes to how God created the cosmos, which is in the same chapter. We cannot accept one and deny the other without contradicting ourselves. Shockingly, some Christians like to hang out with their pagan boyfriend, Helios, rather that accept the Word of God.

One must ask, why do so many people prefer Satan’s false narrative to the Bible?

I only became aware of this deception at age 72! Can you imagine reading and studying the Bible for fifty-three years and not seeing that the Bible’s cosmology directly contradicts Big Bang heliocentrism and being okay with that!!?? As you can imagine, coming to this realization rocked me to the core and prompted me to repent for my unbelief and apply myself more fervently to the study of God’s Word.

Once we start taking God’s Word as seriously as we should, we begin to realize that Napoleon was right.

deceptionMany think that it is foolish to believe the Bible over what is called “science,” but that is what we should expect when we make the decision to believe God and not the world.

As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” 20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 1 Corinthians 1:19–20 (NLT)

The world system hates those who declare allegiance to Christ and the truth of the Bible. The truth sets us free, but Satan works to keep us enslaved.

How about you? Have you made the decision to accept what the Bible teaches, even if it runs counter to what the world system says and may cost you friendships and esteem? A determined pursuit of God’s truth is the only way out of deception. May God help us all to be true to him and his Word, no matter how great the cost.

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The Alternative to Biblical Cosmology Is Unthinkable!

reproach

If the Bible’s description of the earth is not the true, the alternative is unthinkable for a Christian. It would mean that the Bible is not inspired by God after all.

Paul wrote that every word of Scripture is inspired by God.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)

This affirmation is repeated by our Lord Jesus himself.

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17 (NKJV)

In the verse from Second Timothy above, Paul added that all scripture is profitable for doctrine. This means Genesis Chapter One can and should be used to establish the doctrine of the shape of the earth.

alternativeWhen well-meaning Christians, who put their trust in NASA instead of God, contend that Genesis was never intended by God to be a truthful description of the heavens and earth, it is a contradiction of this principle. When interpreters insist that Genesis is mere poetry, not reality, they accuse God of misleading us, which, of course, is satanic. God always uses poetry and metaphors to beautify and clarify rather than obscure or confuse.

But if we grant NASA believers a pass on claiming that Genesis Chapter One is poetic and not to be interpreted as literally true, then it raises the question “Is all poetry to be interpreted this way, including the Psalms?” The next question that arises is, “What parts of Genesis are true, then, and who gets to decide? Is the creation of Adam and Eve literally true? The story of Cain and Abel? The flood? Abraham? The Exodus?” When we feel free to nullify the truthfulness of one verse, passage, or chapter, the domino effect is staggering. We end up where many mainline denominations are today, lost at sea in a storm having no anchor, nothing solid upon which to base our faith.

Once we reject one part of God’s Word for whatever reason, the gate is open to reject any and all of it.

Those who reject Genesis Chapter One’s description of creation tell the watching world that the Bible cannot be believed or trusted.

Those who object to biblical cosmology on the grounds that it makes the Bible and the gospel look ridiculous have overlooked that refusing to believe the truthfulness of Genesis Chapter One refutes the gospel because it undermines the credibility of the entire Bible.

The shocking truth is that, if we throw out Genesis Chapter One, we must toss the Word of God in its entirety, which is an unthinkable alternative.

Prayer

Lord, I ask you to open eyes, ears, and hearts to the truth of your Word. Deliver us from the idolatry of believing in a false cosmology instead of your Word. Forgive us for thinking we can reject parts of your Word to suit us. Amen.

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Who Said that We Live on a Globe?

flat earth

Would we think we live on a globe if people we trust had not told us so? Have we been duped by a master deceiver into rejecting God’s clear testimony in favor of a satanic lie?

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

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

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

I wonder if God asks us a similar question when most of his own people say confidently that we live on a spinning globe hurtling through “outer space” at incredible speeds? Who told you that?

We are said to spin on our imaginary axis at 1040 mph at the equator, which translates to about 840 mph at the latitude where I live in NC. The atmosphere, we are told, spins in sync with the earth, meaning that the air above us rotates at various speeds, depending on what part of the earth it covers, anywhere from 1040 mph at the equator to zero mph at the north pole. In addition, the higher one goes, the faster the winds must travel, since their distance from the earth surface increases. Despite this interesting and unprovable claim, we experience  winds moving in all sorts of directions.globe

We are also told that we are revolving around the sun at about 67,000 mph? We are also moving with our solar system through our galaxy at a speed of about 500,000 mph, and our galaxy is whipping through the universe at anywhere between one to two million mph. And yet we feel nothing of the sort!

Where would we get such a notion? Certainly not from anything God ever told us. Maybe it came from someone who thought he was smarter than the Bible?

God said to be still and know that he is God? (Psalm 46:10) That would have zero meaning in a Copernican universe. But that is largely the reason Satan lied to us about where we live. He loves to contradict God’s Word and watch us believe him instead of our Creator.

You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever, Psalm 104:5 (NKJV)

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

This is why it is so tragic when we who call ourselves Christians choose to believe godless astrophysicists who take us down a road that leads away from Bible truth.

When I first came to the realization that the earth is not a globe after all and that the Bible is actually right in its description of where we live, I repented for not believing the Bible in this matter!globe

We would never arrive at the conclusion that we live on a revolving, rotating, wobbling spheroid without outside input from an exceedingly cunning liar. We have never perceived any such motion. It goes against all common sense that the earth’s surface is moving at around 840 mph at the latitude where I live. When we observe the stars keeping their same positions over the centuries, how could we possibly be hurtling through “space” in multiple directions at unbelievable speeds?

The  patterned “retrograde” polaris-centric orbits of the “planets,” which Copernicus rejected in favor of more circular / elliptical heliocentric orbits, are

patterns that match what is created by an electromagnetic toroidal force field.

When one starts with false presuppositions, one is bound to arrive at false conclusions.

If we had accepted the biblical account of the earth, we could have spent the last several centuries doing real science to discover the true nature of the giant electromagnetic world in which we live, as Nicolai Tesla suggested.

Nothing about the globe earth model agrees with what our God-given senses tell us; yet, we lay that testimony aside to accept a theory of the cosmos that contradicts God’s written Word. How sad!

How mad! How tragic! How rebellious!

(If you want more information on the men who came up with these godless theories, I suggest you watch the Heliosorcery documentary.

Oh, that God would open our eyes and hearts to once again choose to be people of the Book who believe God instead of men!

Click here to go to series home page.
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Do We Prefer the Devil’s Cosmology to God’s?

globe lover

One of the ways Satan seeks to take God’s glory to himself is by deceiving people into preferring what he has to offer over God. The first temptation that confronted mankind was whether we would prefer godhood over God. Sadly, Adam and Eve chose being like god rather than being with God. As a result, they lost fellowship with the Lord without becoming like him. It was a lose – lose proposition. This is how the devil works, and it seems we are easily duped over and over again. Jesus’ comparison of humanity to sheep is a good one. Sheep are not very smart and have almost no protection against predators. Without a shepherd to feed, guide, and protect us, we are in big trouble.

One of the tragic consequences of the almost universal belief in the Copernican Big Bang universe is that even Christians now prefer the devil’s imaginary cosmos to the one God created.

Some Christians even think that the heavens and earth depicted in the Bible are not glorious

prefer

enough for God’s creation, but the satanic one is! Ironically, we would feel cheated if we had to abandon our beloved globe and ever expanding universe and replace it with the one the Bible gives us. Satan must laugh at us.

The Bible tells us that, when we look into the sky, we behold God’s glory consisting of the heavens – the air we breathe and where the birds fly, the second heaven where God located the sun, moon, an stars in the firmament, and the brightness of the third heaven above the firmament where God’s throne is located.

Therefore, in the biblical cosmos, when we look up, we are looking at God, who is looking at us!

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:21–22 (NKJV)

Isaiah tells us that knowledge of God’s creation is something that was understood from the beginning by mankind. That is why different civilizations all over the earth had a similar cosmologies before the Scientific Revolution encouraged us to abandon the scriptures in favor of the lie.

preferSatanic cosmology informs us that when we look up we see a bright sky composed of a thin, fragile atmosphere, beyond which exists an inky black vacuum that stretches to infinity (what the Bible calls “outer darkness”), where temperatures alternate between roughly -250 degrees Fahrenheit to +250 degrees. Incomprehensibly far away stars twinkle, but really they are raging nuclear infernos much larger than our own sun, another star, which is said to be 93 million miles away.

The moon is a “mere” 258 thousand miles distant and only shines because of reflected sunlight. We are told that countless other “planets” are “out there” that must have evolved life just as here on earth. We expect to find evidence of such life one day, maybe soon, if Werner Von Braun was correct when he told his secretary that the last big NASA deception would be a phony alien invasion.

Everything in the Big Bang cosmos directly contradicts God’s Word, yet we have fallen so in love with the lie that we prefer satanic Sci-Fi, like Star Wars, to God’s truth, and that is just what it is – a fiction.

When we “come to our senses” and accept what the Bible tells us, it draws us toward the Creator.

https://rumble.com/v2elxb8-they-mock-flat-earth-but-the-testimonies-keep-coming....html

It strengthens our faith and confidence in the absolute truthfulness and accuracy of the Bible. It gives us assurance that this world in which we live is very much looked over and after by the Creator and not hurtling through an imaginary universe at over a million miles per hour in multiple directions. We understand that “up” means what the Bible says – directly overhead on an earth that is a stationary plane. We realize that when Jesus comes back, everyone on earth will see him, which is only possible if the earth is designed as the Bible says. 

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25–28 (NKJV)

But when we trust in our own hearts more than in Scripture, we think it is foolish to believe that the Bible’s depiction of creation in Genesis Chapter One is literally true. Even many of us who believe in a literal six-day creation during which God made a literal Adam cannot seem to go a step farther to say that the earth and heavens were made exactly as described. Embarrassed by the Bible, we claim that that portion of the the Scripture is a poetic metaphor that God does not expect us moderns to believe. Really?! Has the church strayed that far from “sola scriptura?” Do we really prefer our pagan “boyfriend,” Helios, to the Lord? Does the church now bow down to science, just as does the rest of the world? Apparently we have and do. 

It is time for us to repent and allow God to change our hearts so that we prefer God’s truth over Satan’s lies.

It is time for this generation’s Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos to make a stand by refusing to worship the golden idol of satanic astrophysics.

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Is It Reasonable to Believe as a Child?

reproach

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that God wants us to receive the words of the Bible with the faith of a child. In fact, it is becoming increasingly necessary for us to do so because deception is so rampant.

Jesus said that childlike faith is the only way to know God.

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. Matthew 11:25–26 (NKJV)

Wisdom and prudence are godly characteristics. Why would God hide truth from the wise and prudent, and why would Jesus give thanks for his doing so? This may seem rather confusing unless we realize he spoke of those who are wise in their own eyes but lack the humility of a child. 

Children simply believe what we tell them, unless we have lied to them in the past.

But God never lies; so, there is no reason for us not to believe his words.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 (NASB95)

Why is it then that we sometimes assume that God does not mean what he said? Do we really think he sometimes says something that he does not expect wise and intelligent people to believe? Apparently we often do. Is this wisdom on our part or unbelief?

As adults, we hate when someone deceives us, especially when money is involved. We never want to be anybody’s fool. Since we live in a world full of deception, we learn to sift through information 

child like faith

coming our way to try to separate what is true from what is not. We do our best to protect ourselves from human trickery, which is good and necessary, but the unfortunate fallout is that we may learn to approach the Scriptures that way, too, oddly thinking that God may be trying to fool us, too. 

One of the things that God highly values is when we simply believe what he says and act upon it. In other words, we trust that he is not trying to deceive us.

And it is impossible to please God without faith... Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

Such simple faith was something Abraham possessed. Paul wrote about him.

In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Romans 4:18–22 (NASB95)

God asked this man to simply believe that he would give him a son, in spite of the fact that he and Sarah were past the age to have children. It was scientifically impossible for Sarah to conceive at her age. For a long time Abraham clung to God’s promise, waiting patiently for it to come to pass, but eventually he grew weary and reasoned that God expect him to do something to make this promise happen. Resorting to human reason produced an Ishmael. Simple faith received an Isaac, the child of promise.

During the long years of waiting, Abraham’s faith had nothing to lean upon except God’s promise and character. That should be enough for us, too.

God named him “father of a multitude” when he was childless. People must have thought he was an utter fool until Isaac was born. 

God does not mind placing his people in the position of being thought foolish or being misunderstood as a test of our loyalty to him.

Being willing to embrace the scorn and contradiction of unbelievers is part of the cost of having childlike faith. It is a price we are expected to pay as Christ’s disciples. I wonder if we have ever considered the pain God may feel when we scorn placing our trust in him?

Historians say the Age of Reason extended from the late 17th century through the 18th. This period profoundly influenced the world and continues to do so. The main characteristics of this era are summarized below.

  1. Primacy of reason and empiricism — Knowledge derived from observation, experimentation, and rational analysis, rather than faith or authority.
  2. Skepticism toward tradition — Questioning religious dogma, superstition, absolute monarchy, and inherited privileges.
  3. Ideals of liberty, equality, and progress — Advocacy for individual rights, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
  4. Optimism about human potential — Belief in education, science, and reform to create a better society.
  5. Secularism and deism — Many favored a non-interventionist God or natural religion over organized doctrine.

During this age, trust in human reason skyrocketed, often at the expense of faith in God and the Bible. Although, elevating reason in this way seemed like something new, the truth is that it was as old as Eden. The serpent convinced Eve that his words were more reasonable than God’s. The Lord gave us the ability to reason, but it is only beneficial when it is submitted to God and his Word.

God has ordained that certain important matters elude our power of reason and must be apprehended spiritually with the faith of a child.

Paul wrote about this.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

We adults have been taught from childhood to lean upon our wits. As a consequence, many of us also learned how to avoid obeying God’s Word when it seems unreasonable to us, just as Eve did. We think it is okay to manipulate the words of the Bible to suit us. 

The Pharisees knew the Bible better than anyone. As part of their education, they memorized the first five books of the Old Testament. Not surprisingly, they often looked down on others who had less knowledge. Tragically, however, their great knowledge did not translate into great faith. They failed to recognize their Messiah when he stood in front of them! 

If our study and knowledge of the Bible does not produce childlike faith, we have wasted our time and sentenced ourselves to a greater judgment (James 3:1). The more we know, the greater our responsibility.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for manipulating God’s Word to make it say something different from what God intended.

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)

I believe we can define ungodly traditions of men as any interpretation of the Bible that nullifies or twists its intended meaning.

Before we come down too hard on the Pharisees, we need to understand that this is a very human tendency going back to the garden. We probably all do it to some degree or another. It is humbling for us to realize this. May we all have the faith of a child and simply believe what God has said. In a world full of deception, this is our firm anchor.

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (NASB95

 

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The Day the Sun Stood Still

reproach

There was a day long ago when the sun stood still, but time did not. It was a most unusual day that lasted much longer than other days. It was the day that Joshua commanded the sun not to go down until the battle was finished.

Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. Joshua 10:12–13 (NASB95)

I think it is safe to say that most people will regard this account as mythical, even some who say they believe the Bible. They likely will assume that either it did not happen at all or whatever did take place was misinterpreted by a primitive pre-scientific people who did not yet realize that the sun’s apparent motion in the sky is caused by the earth’s approximate rotation speed at that latitude of 875 mph. Rather than be embarrassed by having to admit the Bible is wrong on this point, heliocentric Christians will try to explain things some other way.

So why did the Holy Spirit have Moses write about this day in the Bible? I am assuming my reader agrees that every word of the Bible was inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16) Here are a few possible reasons that come to mind.

  1. It illustrated God’s total control over his creation, showing that he is not the far-away disinterested God of the Deists.
  2. It showed that God allows humans to command nature at times when it is in agreement with his will, as when Jesus stilled the stormy sea.
  3. It demonstrated that God was assisting Joshua and the Israelites to conquer Canaan.
  4. In his foreknowledge, God knew it could be used later to refute the heliocentric lie.

This passage completely contradicts heliocentrism, if we believe the Bible is 100% true.

Heliocentrism holds that the apparent motion of the sun and moon are actually caused by the rotation of the earth. This contradicts the Bible’s claim that the sun runs a circuit over the earth and its rising and setting are due to visual perspective. (Psalm 19:6)

One can, no doubt, find information online that claims to refute the above video’s assertion, which requires us to choose which “authority” to believe. Ultimately, this forces us to decide whether it’s God or men. We know that men lie, but God never does. (Romans 3:4)

Since our chosen text, Joshua 10:12-13, clearly says the sun and moon stood still, those who accept the presupposition that the earth rotates on an imaginary axis must come up with some kind of alternate solution. Here are two possibilities.

  1. The earth stopped rotating. This somewhat fits the heliocentric model, at least with respect to the sun. However, it would require the 1000 mph spin of the earth at the equator to come to a dramatic stop, setting off enormous tidal waves and earthquakes and throwing people and animals into whatever remained anchored to the ground, killing them instantly. In addition, although this solution would solve the problem of the sun appearing to stand still, it would not explain the stillness of the moon, for it is said to revolve around the earth. Therefore, not only would the earth to stop its rotation, the moon would have to cease orbiting the earth. Since this contradicts the clear meaning of the text and seems unnecessarily complex, I will throw this one out.
  2. God can do anything. This is what people have said to me after I point out the contradictions that accompany the first “solution.” I believe this is an ill-disguised attempt to hide from the truth. While it is generally true that God can do anything, and we can agree that God need not explain how he does something, one thing God cannot and will not do is lie. Since the Bible says that the sun and moon stopped moving for several hours, that must be exactly what happened. Saying that God can do anything does not mean that the text ceases to mean what it says. Therefore this is no solution at all, which leave us with the simplest explanation – that 

    it happened exactly how the Bible said it did, proving that heliocentrism is a lie.

Martin Luther, a contemporary of Copernicus, was a principal leader in what is called the Protestant Reformation, in which one of the rallying cries was “sola scriptura,” meaning that the Bible is the highest standard for truth in all matters. He refuted the astronomer’s claim simply by referencing the above quoted passage from Joshua, regarding which he made the following statement.

luther flat earth

In the midst of the cataclysmic upheaval called the Protestant Reformation, which rearranged nations and delivered people from the bondage of Roman Catholic doctrine, the devil instituted his own religious “counter reformation” spearheaded by the Jesuit order. Additionally, the scientific community underwent its own revolution, which Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others spearheaded. These men, unlike Luther, had a much lower regard for Scripture, if any at all.

Francis Bacon popularized the “two books” metaphor, saying that God wrote Scripture to reveal His will, and the book of nature to reveal His works and power. He warned against “unwisely mingling” them by using biblical texts to “dictate” natural philosophy. He advocated studying both, but keeping their domains separate. This sounds eerily like the modern argument of separation of church and state. When a trick works, Satan reuses it.

If you want to learn more about this devilish strategy, I recommend that you watch the Heliosorcery documentary.

Satan and godless men refuse to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all truth. He claims to “own” science, education, media, and government. God can have Sunday school.

Sadly, we Christians bought the lie and currently believe that moral truth and “the gospel” are the only things concerning which we need to be concerned, not realizing that God’s truth in the Scriptures extends to every area, including cosmology. You may wish to read my article entitled The Counter Rebellion to learn more about how to overcome this satanic strategy.

It should be clear to us that such an argument as Bacon’s justifies rejecting as untrue anything in the Bible that does not agree with so-called science.

This is exactly what German theologians did a couple of centuries later when they eliminated the miraculous from the Bible to try to sift down to the “historical” Jesus.

The separation of “religious” truth from physical reality is something with which the biblical authors were unfamiliar.

For them, and us, all truth is God’s truth. The Bible does not pretend only to speak about moral and metaphysical matters. Is Jesus’ bodily resurrection a metaphysical metaphor or did it actually happen? It cannot be explained scientifically, but the Bible says it took place. If we can reject what the Bible says about the sun and moon, we can reject whatever we like, including the resurrection. It is definitely a “slippery slope.”

Joshua’s command to the sun and moon spoken so long ago challenges our loyalty to God’s Word today.

Oh, that modern Christians regarded the Bible with as much reverence as did the Reformers! How I wish that we would esteem the Holy Scriptures more than what goes for science! Let us repent, if we have bowed our knee to that false god. Let us choose to honor the Lord and his Word rather than seek the world’s approval.

Click here to see my other articles on biblical cosmology.
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