The Primary Importance of Genesis Chapter One

Genesis Chapter One describes how God created the cosmos – the seas, earth, firmament, sun, moon, and stars, as well as living creatures. As such, it is of primary importance.

The battle of the ages is being fought over Genesis because, if it can be shown that it is not literally and actually true, then there is no reason to assume that anything else in the Bible is true.

This is why Satan has worked so hard to convince us that the story proposed by those who espouse evolutionary astrophysics is real. If we accept the Big Bang theory and the heliocentric model as reality, we must conclude that the Bible is an archaic fairy tale.

I have conversed with numerous Bible-believing Christians who insist that it is not necessary or even correct to accept that Genesis is literally true. They believe that Jesus rose from the dead. They believe that the gospel message is true and tell me that insisting on a literal interpretation of Genesis is an unnecessary obstacle to people’s accepting the gospel’s claims.

Without fully realizing it, those who reject the literal truth of Genesis have set foot upon the slippery slope of deciding which parts of the Bible are true and which merely contain truth, which is exactly the position of the more liberal denominations which have departed from the faith.

By the way, how can something untrue contain truth? That is the equivalent of saying that God can use a lie to lead us into truth.

Why do any of us who believe the Bible think that it is necessary to reject a literal interpretation of Genesis Chapter One? Is it not because we regard the claims of what is called science to be of greater value than God’s Word?

If we accept the proclamations of theoretical science above God’s Word, we have become idolators who worship at the altar of “Scientism,” which has its own high priests and prophets who tell us what we must believe.

I admit that people come to faith in Christ and his resurrection without believing that Genesis is literally true. I did. But this does not mean that believing Genesis is true is not important. Jesus said the the scripture cannot be “broken,” (John 10:35) meaning that every word of God is true. He said in another place that we are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). People who already believe in Jesus will continue to do so regardless of whether they accept a literal interpretation of Genesis. To them, it is whether Genesis is literally true is non-essential. However, those who are in the process of exploring the claims of the Bible and who read Genesis are faced with a huge obstacle to faith. Everything they have been taught from infancy rejects the creation account of Genesis. They must decide what to do with the Bible. Many decide that Genesis is not true and therefore reject all the Bible’s claims.

The goal of evolutionary astrophysics, geology, paleontology, and biology is to convince us that our universe and all life sprang from nothingness by random chance without any input from a Creator.

We have to admit that Satan’s plan has wonderfully succeeded. He has successfully eliminated the Bible from public education and the halls of what is called science. Any reference to a Creator is rejected as being unscientific. Science must be able to explain everything without any reference to God, using only mechanistic processes. The Bible takes the exact opposite position: in the beginning – God.

Therefore, the best way to combat the lie of evolutionary “science” is by reestablishing faith in the literal truth of Genesis.

Is this too great a leap for those who say they believe in the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus? Have we allowed the world to slice off our faith in Jesus and place it in a little box called “religious truth,” which has no bearing or impact on the “real” world?

It is impossible to accept that the Genesis account is true and arrive at a heliocentric “solar system” in an ever-expanding universe.

Until we are willing to repent for our unbelief in the literal truth of the Genesis account, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Any thinking person who examines the gospel’s claims and sees that we do not think Genesis is true would do well to question why we believe anything in the Bible. Cannot we see that?

But when we come face to face with the truth about the heavens and earth that God made, we can only arrive at one conclusion. There must be a Creator because no matter how truth is twisted, evolutionary processes cannot explain the existence of the solid dome-like firmament.

It is not a far jump to show those who acknowledge the Creator that the one who made everything is named Jesus, the Eternal Logos, who became a man and died for our sins and then arose as Lord of Lords, who will come again in glory when God dissolves the firmament. (2 Peter 3:12)

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. 5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1–5 (NKJV)

Resources for Researching Biblical Cosmology

Pete 2026It is not easy to find confirming resources and information regarding biblical cosmology because big tech censors have developed algorithms that feature almost all negative information to lead people away from this amazing truth. This page contains information I have assembled while doing my own research. I hope it is helpful to you.

Everyone is on a life journey that hopefully will lead us to Christ, but not everyone who holds to the biblical version of the shape of the earth is a follower of Christ or a Bible believer. Some apparent proponents may be putting out information just for the money or to achieve notoriety. Other advocates of biblical cosmology may be truth seekers who have yet to find the One who is the Truth, Jesus. In addition, some who hold to the “flat earth” also have some very strange non- or anti-biblical theories. I have found that Satan always injects weirdness into anything God is revealing to try to bring confusion and demoralize truth seekers. As a result, we may need to glean truth from people with strange beliefs. We have to learn to “eat the chicken and spit out the bones.”

Those of us who already know the Lord have a guide, the Holy Spirit, and a map, the Bible. When we discover something new that is confirmed in the Bible, we can be sure it is the truth. Blessings to you on your journey.

Below I have broken down my information into categories, each with a separate page.

Pete Beck III

 

A Place to Start…

A Short Introductory Video

Other good articles

Recommended Video Series

Documentaries

Stand Alone Videos

Recommended Rumble Channels

Recommended YouTube Channels

Recommended Books

 

Sealed

Contrary to the popular straw man argument against flat earth, it is impossible to sail off the edge. This is because God designed the earth with a rim to contain the water.

When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Proverbs 8:29 (NKJV)

These water-containing edges, which are also called the “ends” of the earth, consist of an ice wall that surrounds the circle of the earth. The continent of Antarctica does not exist, which is why it is so closely guarded today. The powers that be do not want us to find out that we live in an enclosed world created by God.

God told Job that the earth was formed like clay under a seal. We do not use these devices any longer, but the picture below shows how edges are formed when the seal is pressed into the soft medium. This is how the seas are contained on the “flat” earth.

clay seal 2

God created it. He should know.

Click here to go to series home page.

Confronting the Science Idol

Have you ever wondered why its okay to believe in the resurrection, but not in the biblical earth and heavens? Both contradict the tenets of science.

resurrection

hebrew earthNon-believers usually will not challenge us Christians when we proclaim that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, because it relegates such professions to the category of “religion,” where Jesus is just one god among many, and our declaration of faith is viewed as a faith in a myth that does not impact any part of the “real world.” Believing that the Bible’s version of the earth and heavens is true, however, challenges a great number of scientific myths that propagandists have convinced people to swallow “hook, line, and sinker.”

The world does not understand that when Jesus rose from the dead, God declared him to be Lord over everything.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9–11 (NLT)

This means that he rules over every aspect of life: religion, family life, sexuality, business, education, entertainment, science, and government. The early Christians were persecuted and martyred for professing Jesus’ lordship over the Roman empire, which included Caesar. This made the Romans and Caesar, in particular, angry. They wanted everyone to profess allegiance to their gods and to their leader over every other god. Christians could not do that. They had one God and one Lord, for whom they were willing to suffer and die.

Whenever we confront society’s idols, we will make people angry.

Jesus is called both the “Word of God” (John 1:14) and the “Truth” (John 14:6). Our Lord taught us that the Word of God is true (John 17:17) and cannot be “broken” (John 10:35) or changed. Since Jesus is lord over everything and the Bible is always true, this makes the Bible our gold standard for truth in all matters which it addresses, not just religion and morals.

If we deny or resist what the Bible teaches on a certain matter, we are in rebellion against God in that particular area and have elevated something above God, making it an idol.

The areas in which the Bible’s authority is being assaulted with the greatest ferocity are the places where Jesus’ lordship is being contested the most and where Satan is working hardest. Presently, the world most seems to hate with great passion what God’s Word says in the areas of abortion, sexuality, and gender. When we rebel against God’s truth in these areas, it is the equivalent of telling God that we don’t like how he made us or how he says we are to live. People do this without realizing that everything God does and says is meant for our good. Our fundamental rebellion is against God’s having any right to tell us what to do, isn’t it? Our greatest sin is that we want to live without any regard to or relationship with the one who created and sustains us.

Sadly, I have observed that many who profess faith in Christ and generally seek to submit to his lordship, have a rather significant area of idolatry  – science. 

Many of us Christians unwittingly have allowed the world to dictate what we are allowed to believe is true “scientifically,” instead of adhering steadfastly to the scriptures. We have been intimidated by those who claim to be smarter than God into thinking that the authors of the Bible were ignorant and rather simple-minded. Satan convinced Eve that to believe what God said was naive and not in her best interests, fueling a desire to go astray from God’s command. Too many of us have been convinced that it is quite stupid or ignorant to believe that the scriptures are literally true when it comes to creation and the nature of the heavens and earth.

Like Eve in the garden, we have been told that if we want to be wise, and we do, we need to believe the scientists rather than what God has told us in the Bible.

The heretics of the Enlightenment, whom the world idolizes, threw off the constraints of the Bible and established what is now considered to be the “gold standard” of cosmological truth, which includes the Big Bang theory and the heliocentric model. This theory of the cosmos has been inculcated into every child for many, many years now, grooving the minds of millions to think in only one direction. We have been so convinced that this way of viewing the cosmos is correct that we manage to overlook or twist what the Bible says to make it fit what we have been taught is “gospel” truth.

However, it is impossible to believe in heliocentrism or the Big Bang while at the same time believing that Genesis Chapter One is true. A decision must be made whether we will believe God or man.

The world (Satan) has convinced many Christians that Genesis and the rest of the Bible are useless for science and understanding the true nature of the heavens and earth. This means that either God is a liar or the Bible is not really his inerrant Word, which is exactly where Satan wants to guide us. This is why so many modern day astrophysicists are atheists. They have believed a false version of the cosmos, which testifies that there is no God. The true version, however, reveals God’s existence. (Psalm 19:1) That is why so many previously atheistic “flat earthers” have come to believe in the Creator God. (Click here to listen to testimonies.)

The earth and heavens as described in Genesis could not exist without a Creator.

Perhaps we Christians who still believe in heliocentrism do so because we have not been challenged to repent of our worship of science. If this article made you angry, perhaps your idol is being confronted. I encourage you to return to faith in God’s Word above every false contender for your allegiance.

Prayer

Lord, I pray that you will open our eyes to any area where we have bowed the knee to man instead of believing your Word. Help us to tear down the altar to science that we may have erected in our hearts that boasts against your Word and calls you a liar. We repent and ask forgiveness. Help us to exalt you and your word, even if it means enduring the scorn of those who choose to regard men’s opinions higher than God’s truth. Help us not to serve anyone or anything except you, Jesus, the one who created the cosmos and certainly knows how it works. Amen.

Click here to go to series home page.
Click here to see Resource Page.

What about Herman?

One of my favorite comedic movies is What about Bob, starring Bill Murray. Murray plays the part of neurotic psychiatric patient whose persistence enables him to move from being a pesky nuisance to becoming the most important member of the family.

When it comes to understanding the Bible creation account in Genesis Chapter One, perhaps we should ask, “What about Herman?”

Like Bob in the movie, Herman may seem irritating at first, but he can help us a lot. Who is Herman? I am glad you asked. His full name is Herman Neutics.

Hermeneutics is the study of the general principles of Bible interpretation which are meant to guide us to a proper exegesis (a pulling out of the meaning) of biblical passages, as opposed to eisegesis, which is the reading our presuppositions into the Bible text.

One of the basic ideas of good Bible interpretation is that a passage must at least mean what the author meant it to say. It could mean more, but not less. This is important when it comes to the creation account and the nature of the earth and heavens.

We should ask ourselves, “What was the view of the cosmos held by the authors of the Bible?”

It is acknowledged by Bible scholars that the Hebrew conception of the earth and heavens is represented by the following illustration. hebrew earth

This view was held until around 500 years ago with the advent of the Copernican revolution and the Enlightenment. Such notable teachers as Luther and Calvin rebuked the Copernican heresy for contradicting the Bible. How sad that a few centuries later we think that those esteemed men were ignorant and misguided. They may have been unschooled in the theories of  modern astrophysics, but they knew the Bible. Today, it is often quite the opposite. Many professing Christians know more about the heliocentric theory than the Bible. This raises an important question.

 

Which has more authority in our lives and the quest for truth, so-called science or the Bible?

I am a child of the modern era and was schooled in the heliocentric view. I, like everyone else I know, was indoctrinated with an almost ever-present globe model of the earth. All the important teachers in my life told me the same story. The earth is an extremely old spinning water ball hurtling through the vast emptiness of outer space, kept in line by the power of gravity. No one I knew ever questioned this theory, even though, looking at it with fresh eyes, in many ways it is quite ludicrous.

Soon after becoming a follower of Christ in 1971, I became convinced that the Bible is God’s inerrant Word. This profoundly impacted my life. I made it my quest to study it and try to live by Jesus’ teachings. When it came to the Genesis creation account, however, I suspended critical thinking and simply admitted that I did not begin to know how to make it agree with modern astrophysics. This is where most Christians find themselves today. We must either reject Genesis Chapter One as a myth, poetry, or a symbolic account that has no translation into scientific fact, or believe it is literally true. It seems that most have gone with one of the former options.

This all changed for me when I saw that the earth has no provable curvature. All empirical measurements show that it is flat. The only way globe believers can make their case is by relying on NASA images from “outer space” and by interpreting eclipses to “prove” the earth’s shape. But proving curvature in some other way has not and cannot be done because the earth is a plane, not a globe. (I believe the images delivered by NASA and other space agencies are computer generated, and eclipses can be explained in other ways using a flat earth model. I have created a resource page for those wishing to learn more.)

After becoming convinced that the earth’s surface does not curve as the globe model requires, I read Genesis with new eyes. Now I accept Genesis One as a true account, an actual history of how God did it. Herman and I are back in sync. I now see the scriptures with the same eyes as those who authored the Bible.

It’s amazing how the Scriptures come alive when we stop superimposing our “scientific” presuppositions upon the text and let it speak for itself.

Now I can accept that God created the dome of the firmament on Day Two, and the sun on Day Four, placing it, the moon, and the stars in the firmament. We do not revolve around them. They go around us. That’s how the ancients saw it, and, guess what, they were right. We have been grossly deceived and tricked into rejecting the Bible. Sound familiar?

Click here to go to series home page.

Is Science vs Religion a Real Thing?

When I first published my conviction that the earth is a stationary plane rather than a globe, I met some stiff resistance. I was told that my “flat earth” beliefs were religious in nature because I was not open to contrary evidence. I suppose it was meant to be somehow derogatory, but was interesting that it came from a firm believer in Christ, his resurrection, a six-day creation, and everything else that goes with being a Bible believer.

Some believe that science is not religious, but, in fact, this is not true.

For example, one of the “fathers” of modern astrophysics was Albert Einstein. When he and his contemporaries were confronted with the confounding results of the Michelson-Morley experiment, which indicated that the earth is not in motion, he devised his now famous theory of special relativity to explain away the unwelcome results. In doing so, he remarked that he “knew” that the earth is moving. In other words, he had an a priori belief that the Copernican heliocentric view is correct, complete with the earth’s supposed revolution around the sun, rotation around its axis, the movement of the entire solar system through the Milky Way galaxy, and the movement of our galaxy through the universe. He set about disproving the results of a scientific experiment by “proving” what he assumed to be true, which is a logical fallacy. In so doing, he attempted to use advanced math to demonstrate that a metal container changed shape, thus nullifying the results of the experiment. This seems to be quite absurd, unless one religiously accepts his a priori belief, but it has been accepted by most of the scientific community as proof that the earth indeed moves by “proving” that we cannot experimentally prove whether the sun if moving or the earth, since all such motion is relative. In other words, he asks us to dismiss the results of a solid scientific experiment, which has been repeated many times, in order to hold on to his a priori belief. If I am not mistaken, this is what I was accused of doing.

Some of Einstein’s contemporaries were not fooled by his mathematical magic trick. Nicolai Tesla, whom I consider to be the preeminent scientist of his day, dismissed Einstein’s work as nonsense.

tesla einstein

Another group of scientists in Europe signed a document disavowing Einstein’s work as being unscientific.

einstein refutation

God created us to be people of faith. The desire to move beyond faith into experimental knowledge apart from divine revelation is what destroyed Adam and Eve’s Edenic existence. Since then, it seems that human beings are in a continual quest to escape the confines of God’s Word. (Click here to read more extensively on this subject.) Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton did not wish to be limited in their understanding by what the Bible says. Instead they invented theories of the nature of the cosmos that contradict biblical testimony. Sadly many so-called “Bible believing” Christians believe what these men say instead of what the Bible says, not realizing that modern astrophysics, like the Bible, rests on a priori beliefs or presuppositions.

We can say we value science over religion, but the truth is that we have simply replaced one religious system of beliefs with another. The way God made us, we cannot escape the requirement to put our faith in something. I choose God and the Bible. How about you?

Click here to go to series home page.

Where Is Jesus?

Jesus rose bodily from the dead and after forty days ascended into heaven.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10–11 (NKJV)

This indicates that heaven is an actual place above the earth, not just a spiritual dimension. (I have written more about this in another article.) Jesus’ physical body has to be somewhere. It did not de-materialize. 

Those who believe that the Bible’s description of the earth and heavens is true understand that God’s throne is located above the dome of the firmament.

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

The Bible gives us descriptions of this place called heaven.

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

This sure does resemble the description of Jesus in the Book of Revelation.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:12–18 (NKJV)

Jesus identified himself as the Son of Man prophesied by Daniel when he stood before the Sanhedrin. According to our Lord, he will return in glory to the earth coming down from heaven in the clouds.

Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64 (NKJV)

Putting all of this together, Jesus ascended into a real place called heaven, which is located atop the firmament. There he sits on God’s throne, waiting for the day of his return, from where he will descend in the clouds to the earth in judgment on all who ever lived. If we believe the Bible, we know these things. If we believe the heliocentric lie, we must spiritualize heaven into some unknown mystical place out there in the infinite void of the ever-expanding universe. I believe the Bible and believe that I will one day see what Ezekiel and John saw.

Click here to go to series home page.

What’s Up?

What is in a word? The meaning of “up” should be quite simple, but if one believes that we live on a globe, it is only a relative term.

Those who ascribe to a biblical cosmology understand “up” to be an absolute term that is the same for all people on earth.

Those who believe they live on a globe understand “up” to be a relative term, since up for someone at the north pole is the very opposite for someone living on the other side of the sphere. Why is this important?

The Bible tells us that God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth. (Isaiah 40:22) Biblical cosmologists, therefore, place God’s throne above the dome of the firmament, which means it is “up” for everyone on earth. Globe believers cannot conceive of God’s throne in this way, since the word “above,” like “up,” has only a relative meaning and would require God to be seated simultaneously in an infinite number of locations in order to be above everyone living on the spherical earth. In addition, it requires that we reinterpret “circle” to mean “sphere” to make it fit our presuppositions about the shape of the world in which we live.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he went “up.”

While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51 (NASB95)

This means heaven is “up,” just as is God’s throne. The angels told the disciples that he would come again one day in like manner, which means he will descend “down” out of heaven. This is called the Second Coming, which will be seen simultaneously by everyone living on earth.

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:7–8 (NASB95)

This of course could only happen if the earth is a stationary plane covered by the dome called the firmament, just as the Bible teaches.

If the earth is a sphere, with no absolute “up,” Jesus’ resurrected physical body could not possible be seen by everyone at once. Since we dare not nullify God’s Word to suit a pagan notion of the nature of the cosmos, we accept that up means up for everyone at the same time. This requires us to accept the Bible’s teaching about the nature of the world in which we live.

And this is why it is so important for us to know what’s up.

Click here to go to series home page.

The grass always looks greener… on the other side of the firmament.

One of the terrible weaknesses humans have is the innate tendency to despise or minimize what we have and view what we do not (or cannot) have as being more wonderful. The adage is that the grass always looks greener (to cows) on the other side of the fence. 

When we are told that we cannot have something, our inborn rebellion, which the Bible call sin, automatically desires it and sets about to obtain it.

Paul wrote about this sad state of affairs in Romans Chapter Seven.

When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. Romans 7:5 (NLT)

This is the universal condition of man and a big reason why we so desperately need a Savior.

When God created the earth and the heavens, he gave the earth to us for our habitation, but he reserved the heavens for himself and the angels. The Bible says we live on a stationary plane enclosed by a solid dome called the firmament, in which God placed the sun, moon, and stars. There are multiple levels to the firmament, also called the heavens. We are not told very much about this solid enclosure, except that is a solid crystalline-like structure having multiple layers which separate the waters above from the waters below. (You can read more about this in another article.) We are told that God himself has his throne in the third heaven, which seems to be atop this structure.

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

Apparently beyond that is what Jesus called “outer darkness,” which will be a terrible place where those who are rejected at the judgment must dwell.

Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 22:13 (NASB95)

The lure of “outer space” is a grand deception whereby Satan has convinced us that the place of judgment is somewhere we need to go and conquer.

God never told us that we can inhabit the moon or any other heavenly body. Trying to do so is clearly looking over the fence at grass we cannot have. Satan tried move beyond his assigned area to wrest God’s throne from him. Not surprisingly, he was utterly defeated.

How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. Isaiah 14:12–15 (NASB95)

Satan was cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:9), where he enlists rebellious people to join him in his quest to overthrow God.

Men have tried to reach God’s throne for a long time, beginning at the tower of Babel. More recently, NASA has joined the rebellion by using rockets in an attempt to pierce the firmament and go beyond our assigned domain. 

God’s throne resides atop the firmament, and only the privileged are granted access.

Jesus ascended there after his resurrection, where he sits enthroned, waiting for his Abba Father to roll back the firmament on the Last Day. Over the years, prophets have been allowed to see the wonders of this real place. (I have written elsewhere more extensively about heaven being an actual place, not just a spiritual dimension.) All those who proclaim allegiance to Christ will also be given access, but no rocket or any other device will ever penetrate its environs illegitimately.

The moral of the story is this. If we want to see and experience this amazing realm, we must join the winning side by proclaiming faith and allegiance to our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

It is time for us to leave the rebellion and choose to be satisfied with living on the earth until God transports us to heaven to be with him forever.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, forgive me for being part of Satan’s rebellion. Now I see the error of my ways and choose to join you. I believe that you rose from the dead and now reign in heaven as Lord. Thank you for giving me eternal life and the promise of reigning with you forever. Holy Spirit, I welcome you into my life and ask you to transform me on the inside and empower me to tell others about this marvelous good news that we can be reconciled to God. Amen.

Click here to go to series home page.

Circuit Rider

My father’s mother’s father was a Methodist circuit riding pastor in north Georgia named Charles Ledford. These hardy servants of God rode horseback to circulate among the churches under their care. He and his wife, my great grandmother, Lillie, died quite young, probably due to the intense rigors of life back then in the post-civil-CharlesLedfordfamilywar South. The few photos I have of them with their daughters indicate that they lived in poverty. As a result, my grandmother, Leone, spent time in an orphanage before being adopted by the Lightfoot family. Later, of course, she married my grandfather, Pete Beck, Sr.

Circuit riders existed because there were not enough pastors for each church to have its own local preacher. Since the church buildings could not move, the circuit riders followed a defined circuit so that each church knew when he would arrive. That way the members would plan to be present when he was.

The Bible tells us that the earth is stationary and the sun rides a circuit above it.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. 6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. Psalm 19:1–6 (NASB95)

I have been reading and studying the Bible since the Spring of 1971 and continue to discover new “nuggets” of truth in its pages. It is a book that never grows old or dull. Its depths can never be completely plumbed. Its inspired words provide life and truth to those who revere it and rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us from it.

The passage in Psalm 19 begins by informing us that the creation tells us about God and his glory.

A proper understanding of the creation provides a proper understanding of God. A skewed understanding of creation gives us a warped view of God that can produce a false understanding of who we are.

The devil loves to contradict God’s words. He did so in the Garden of Eden when he told Eve, “You will not surely die!” He does it now. Sadly, the majority of modern Christians have bought into his contradiction of scripture regarding the nature of the heavens and the earth. Modern cosmology, which originated with Copernicus, teaches us that the sun does not make a circuit above the earth, but that the earth revolves around the sun. This is no small thing. It leads us to the following conclusions.

  • The Bible is not always true.
  • The earth is not central to God’s creation.
  • We are under the grip of the sun’s “gravity,” which means we serve it instead of its serving us.
  • Eventually, heliocentrism leads to other lies – the Big Bang theory, evolution, and atheism.

This profound contradiction of God’s Word regarding the sun is defended vigorously by well-meaning believers who insist that they believe every word in the Bible, except, of course, those which contradict the heliocentric theory. Those they conveniently ignore or twist, ascribing their supposed error to the ignorance of the biblical authors, at which God winked, thus allowing untruths to fill the pages of scripture. No wonder so many have wandered away from biblical truth.

Once we say that some of God’s Word is false, all of it comes into question.

Heliocentrism teaches us that the earth is held in the iron grip of the sun’s immense “gravitational pull,” making the sun the center of things in our “solar system,” which is an infinitely small part of an ever-expanding incomprehensibly huge universe. This means that we humans dare not think of ourselves as special or central to God’s plan.

The Bible, however, teaches us that God created the earth as the center of things, a perfect enclosed habitation for mankind, above which he placed the “lights,” which serve us, much as the circuit riders served the churches under their oversight and care.

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. Genesis 1:14–18 (NKJV)

So which is it? Does the sun serve us, as God says, as it completes its daily circuit above, or do we serve the sun by forever revolving around it as it hurtles at ridiculous speeds going who knows where? It depends on whether we believe the Bible or Copernicus, doesn’t it? Since I worship God, not Helios or any man, I say the Bible is correct. How about you?

Click here to go to series home page.
Share this post...