Category: Biblical Cosmology

Do We Underestimate Our Enemy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The devil works to destroy everything he touches. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Conspiracy to Displace God in the Hearts of Men

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

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

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Helios, the Sun God

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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Don’t Hedge Your Bets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Will We Suffer Reproach for the Word’s Sake?

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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 Genesis Testimony

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Understanding 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 faith in the Genesis creation narrative gives us understanding. 

By faith we understand that the worlds (Greek: aons or ages) 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, men’s wisdom, occult accounts, or anyone who denies 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 encourages us to trust in God’s Word above all else. Those pursuing a greater understanding of the heavens and earth should avoid the counsel of the “ungodly” – those who scorn God and the Bible, which includes most prominent astrophysicists.

It is not uncommon for a follower of Christ to 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 all of 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 over the testimony of the Bible, we must either throw out the biblical account altogether or drastically alter it so that it no longer resembles what it originally said.

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. Non-Christians also see the hypocrisy of not accepting the Genesis account while claiming to be a Bible believer.

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 virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ, actually happened? Might they not also be imperfect attempts by human authors’ to describe spiritual truths beyond our comprehension or experience? Denying the accuracy of the Genesis Chapter One account opens the door to all sorts of deception.

The Bible begins with a description of how God created the sea, the earth, and the heavens as a integrated whole. The three-tiered creation described in Genesis continues all the way to the last book, Revelation. Brandon Ezzo does a tremendous job illustrating this in his twelve-part series on the firmament. The first is below, if you are willing to take the time to see how extensive are the references in the Bible to the three-tiered creation of Genesis.

It is impossible to reject the cosmological model of Genesis without rejecting the description of heaven and earth throughout the Bible. Thus rejecting Genesis Chapter One requires us to reject all of the Bible. The following is one example. 

Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:8–10 (NASB95)

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 it and other parts of the Bible are written as poetry does not alter their truthfulness.

Poetry is used to intensify the power, beauty, and clarity of words and is never used to obscure truth or lead us astray.

The only reason we would think otherwise is because we are looking for an excuse to reject the clear meaning of the words of the Bible. If we hold presuppositions that contradict God’s Word, we will often claim the Bible is not literally true. For centuries people simply accepted as factual what Genesis says, but when science said differently, our tune changed. 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. It would be the equivalent of God’s telling his children that there is a Santa Claus and a tooth fairy.

Saying that God gave us a false account of creation in Genesis is the equivalent of accusing the Lord of lying 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 him or her, 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 almost inevitably leads to disappointment. It is foolish to trust an habitual liar. If God lied in Genesis, then he lied throughout the Bible and should not be trusted. However, we know God’s character. He never lies.

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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 (NKJV)

Men, on the other hand, have a long history of lying. Satan lies because the truth is not in him. Men without the indwelling Holy Spirit are natural born liars, too. Psalm 116:2 says:

I said in my entrancement (Greek - alarm, astonishment, Hebrew - alarm, haste), “Every person is a liar.” Psalm 116:2 (LES2 - Septuagint)
We are alarmed and astonished when it finally dawns on us that we have been lied to about some very important things by people we trusted!
 
When we are forced by competing claims to choose whether to call God a liar or men, scripture guides our steps.
...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)
 

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?

The only reason we mistrust God’s truthfulness is because somewhere we chose to believe the devil’s lie and we have hardened our hearts against the truth.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility [vanity, emptiness] of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life [and Word] of God, because of the ignorance [of God's Word] that is in them, because of the blindness [hardness, callousness] of their heart; Ephesians 4:17–18 (NKJV)

Satan’s contradiction of God’s words 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. We can still hear the serpent hiss, “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 the theory of evolution to be fact. We who accept the biblical account understand that the scientific argument for evolution has so many holes in it that it can hold no water, so to speak. Nevertheless, when the theory first gained traction, many Bible teachers were quick to re-frame Genesis in a way that allowed for the evolutionary process. Now we know that there is no reason to do this, and it was a huge mistake to misrepresent scripture. Why then do so many of us Bible believers willingly re-frame the cosmological part of Genesis to agree with a satanically inspired Big Bang model? 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 so many times, why then should we have any confidence in that organization ever? Why would we trust them more than God?

For a summary of reasons to question NASA, I recommend the following article by J.L. Pattison - "10 Truths about NASA that Christians Conveniently Ignore." 

Look at what that agency has given us over the years as supposed actual photos of the earth from outer space.

Our government lies to us about many things. Once we grasp that Genesis is the correct version of the nature of the heavens and earth, it is not a huge jump to conclude that NASA is deceiving us about many other things.  (If you want to view more evidence of NASA’s fakery, click here.)

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.

Contrasting 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 or sequence of events. In fact, the notion of the entire universe genesisoriginating from a single point is found in the Jewish Kabbalah, an occult book, and was later posited by a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, Georges Lemaitre, who was given credit for its conception. That a Catholic clergyman would promote a non-biblical theory is not surprising because that church long ago abandoned its commitment to the Bible’s authority.

DAY 1 -The Deep, Waters, Light

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) 

The Bible opens with the “deep” already in existence. We are not told when God first created these waters. It is a mystery hidden from us. To speculate about information God has withheld would be wrong, in my opinion.

In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. 2 But the earth was unseen and unprepared, and darkness was upon the deep [the bottomless]. And the spirit of God rushed upon the water. Genesis 1:1–2 (LES2-Septuagint)

The dry land or “earth” was not formed or visible 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 isgenesis central in heliocentrism, which is a modern variation of sun worship, something Pythagoras and Hermes Trismegistus practiced, and which Copernicus and Newton acknowledged. The so-called science of heliocentrism 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)

Having created 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. When God does not explain everything to us, it serves as a test of our faith and loyalty to him and his Word.

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, according to the BB-HT, 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 and why so many Christians do not accept the literal truth of the Genesis account.

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 and logically is rejected. This is the philosophy developed during the so-called Age of Reason.

DAY 2 -The Firmament

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)

genesisHere 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 than 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. 

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

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, and 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 the known physical law of entropy.

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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 – Dry Land and Plants

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 – Sun, Moon, and Stars

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.

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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 – Sea Creatures and Birds

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 – Land Animals and Mankind

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, which has never been rescinded. 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. 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. The 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 has been the separation of “science” from religion and, more specifically, from 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, Christians must decide between these two worldviews.

I believe we are being tested today in the same way as Adam and Eve were. Once again God is allowing Satan to ask 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. Perhaps many who name Christ as Lord are actually embarrassed by or ashamed of the Genesis testimony. May that soon change!

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

shape

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!

temple

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

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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.

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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?

temple

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that God wants us to receive and believe the words of the Bible with the simplicity of a child. Jesus said operating in such humility is the only way to know God.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Matthew 11:25 (NASB95)

Wisdom and intelligence are wonderful attributes, but, if we rely upon them instead of the revelation provided by the Holy Spirit, we will fall short of God’s glory and purpose.

Strengths become weaknesses when we elevate them above what God intended, which is idolatry.

Why would God hide truth from the wise and intelligent, and why would Jesus give thanks for his doing so? This may seem rather confusing unless we realize our Lord spoke of those who are wise in their own eyes but lack the humility to receive from God as a child. 

Children simply believe what we tell them, unless we have poisoned their hearts by lying to them in the past.

But God never lies; so, we have no reason 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)

Refusing to trust God as a child is a sin comparable to Adam’s and Eve’s in the garden. Why is it then that we sometimes feel comfortable in assuming that God did not mean what he said in the Bible?

Could it be that our Lord sometimes utters words that he knows we will not believe unless we humble ourselves in simple, childlike obedience? It seems so.

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 the information coming our way to try to separate what is true from what is not. We do our best to protect ourselves from human and satanic trickery, which is good and necessary, but the unfortunate fallout is that we may decide to approach the Scriptures that way, too, oddly thinking that God’s Word requires something beyond childlike faith and obedience. 

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, and us, to simply believe what was promised. In his case it was that God would give him a son, in spite of the fact that he and Sarah were past the age to have children. 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 expected him to do something to help the promise along. Resorting to human reason, wisdom, and intelligence produced an Ishmael. Simple faith later received an Isaac, the child of promise.

During the long years of waiting, Abraham’s faith had nothing to lean upon except God’s impeccable character. That is all anyone needs.

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 a position of being thought foolish or being misunderstood as a test of our loyalty to him. He wants to know if we will trust him with childlike simplicity.

Being willing to embrace the scorn and contradiction of unbelievers is part of the cost of having this kind of faith. It is a price we are expected to pay as Christ’s disciples. 

Historians say the Age of Reason extended from the late 17th century through the 18th. This period profoundly influenced the world, including the founders of the United States, 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 from 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. Elevating reason in this way is 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 have been taught from childhood to lean upon our wits. As a consequence, many of us also learned how to dismiss God’s Word when it seems unreasonable to us, just as Eve did. We also may think it is okay to reinterpret the words of the Bible to suit our reasonable understanding of things.

This is the error of eisegesis – reading our preconceived notions into God’s Word making it mean something God never intended.

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 revelation or faith. They failed to recognize their Messiah when he stood in front of them. Instead, they put him to death. They despised the simple faith of the uneducated who recognized Jesus for who he is.

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

Lest we come down too hard on the Pharisees, we need to understand that this human tendency goes back to the garden and infects us all. It is humbling for us to realize that we cannot figure out things on our own or save ourselves. May God mercifully provide us all with the faith and humility of a child that we might 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 (NASB9)
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