By Dennis Edwards
All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.
Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only)[To go to the first chapters click on
link]
Chapter 41:
In Defense of Heterosexuality
Chapter 42:
Will We Also Be Buried In Profound Obscurity?
Before going any further, I am going to have to make a short defense of my position on homosexuality because I know it will cause some people to become very upset. You’ll think, what’s the matter, are you homophobic? Can’t you respect other people’s viewpoints, even other people’s God-given natural tendencies? Don’t you know that some people are just born homosexual and don’t even have a choice? It’s in their genes! That’s the way God made them. Aren’t you being narrow-minded and unloving? And you call yourself a Christian. I mean, the atheists are more understanding than you are!
Therefore, for the sake of some of you who are looking for more in depth answers, here I go.
First of all, we need to ask ourselves the following question: Are there moral absolutes? If there are moral absolutes, where do we find them, or where do they come from? You might say that they are just conventions of society. If they are, why do we find many of these conventions are the same worldwide? Why should that be? Another question to ask is, where does our conscience come from? Why do we have a conscience? Why does our conscience speak to us when we do something we know we shouldn’t do?
The assumption that our conscience evolved over millions of years doesn’t make sense. How does a mind, a conscience, which as far as we can tell is not a physical entity, evolve? We have been fooled by the idea of “millions of years,” the idea that anything is possible, if given enough time. But as atheist scientist Sir Frederick Hoyle asserted, the discovery of the DNA molecule has put evolutionary biology in the category of make-believe. It is just not possible that we are here by a chance accident.
Sir Hoyle was a famous British mathematician and astronomer who questioned the very origins of the first cell forming through naturalistic evolution. He said,
The likelihood of the formation of life from inanimate matter is one to a number with 40,000 zeros after it. It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole General Theory of Evolution. There was no primordial soup, neither on this planet nor any other, and if the beginnings of life were not random, they must, therefore, have been the product of purposeful intelligence.[1]
As a mathematician he strongly argued against the statistical probability of random evolution. Because the improbability was so high, he had no other choice but to conclude that evolution without an intelligent designer was impossible.
In a like sense, if we go back to the questions of objective morality, and where does the moral law we find within us, our conscience, come from, we find the better answer is that an intelligent designer has given us a conscience, not evolution. Conscience is therefore that Intelligent Designer’s presence within man.
The reason why all men throughout the world are repulsed at the abuse of a small child or a defenseless woman or old person is because moral absolutes do exist. Since moral absolutes do exist, we must ask the question, where do they come from? Did they just evolve over millions of years?
Again, the best answer is that they come from the Moral Law-Giver, from the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Like Newton said,
This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. ....This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of His dominion He is wont to be called Lord God "pantokrator," or Universal Ruler....[2]
Thomas Jefferson in a letter written to John Adams in 1823 made the same point. He wrote,
On the contrary I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in it's parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of it's composition.
The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces, the structure of our earth itself, with it's distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere, animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles, insects mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organised as man or mammoth, the mineral substances, their generation and uses, it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is, in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms.
We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power to maintain the Universe in it's course and order. Stars, well known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view, comets, in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and planets and require renovation under other laws; certain races of animals are become extinct; and, were there no restoring power, all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos. So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful Agent that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed thro' all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to one, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent Universe. Surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more probable than that of the few in the other hypothesis.[3]
Our absolute moral laws actually come from God’s mind, which He has put within our conscience. The principles laid down in the Bible claim to be from the mind of God the Creator and they also correspond to those moral laws we find within our conscience.
Most people would say that we shouldn’t kill, except perhaps in self-defense. Most people would say that under normal circumstances we shouldn’t steal, cheat, or lie. Most people would say we should be kind to others, that we should treat others like we ourselves would want to be treated in any given situation. These moral absolutes are the same principles laid down in God’s Word and they are found in all known cultures to various degrees.
But mankind throughout history has hardened his heart and seared his conscience with a hot iron so that he might live in rebellion against God, free from God’s overlying moral laws. God’s ultimate condemnation of Israel was for the abominations she committed in allowing her children to pass through the fires of Moloch, for the shedding of innocent blood openly in Jerusalem, for disobeying His inherent moral law that life was sacred.
[4] What blood is more innocent than that of a new-born child? God considered the ancient customs of sacrificing new born children to the god Moloch an abomination. The equivalent today would be the abortion of the unborn child? God’s Word says that God ultimately judged Israel for the sins of Manasseh, which we covered in a previous chapter.
But besides child sacrifice, what else was Manasseh doing that was evil in the sight of the Lord? What were the abominations of the heathen that God had forbid Israel to partake of? I would put forward that one of the abominations of the heathen that God had warned Israel to not conform to was the acceptance of homosexual behavior. In Leviticus we read,
Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith.
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourns among you.
[5]
When Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson started a revival in Israel, as we read earlier, one of the first things he did after initiating the rereading of God’s Word and the removing of the high priests of other religions, was that
he braked down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord,….and he defied Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch.[6]
In other words, he abolished the acceptance of homosexual behavior and stopped infanticide.
Jesus Himself made reference to the “days of Sodom and Gomorrah” in the book of Luke, showing He considered it an actual historical event.
Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.[7]
One of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexual behavior.
[8] [9] But Ezekiel also mentions other sins when he compares Jerusalem’s sins to Sodom’s:
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughter (Gomorrah)
, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.[10]
So these other “sins” are also offensive in God’s eyes. God is not just coming down on homosexuality. He comes down on all behaviors He finds abominable. He has written them in His Word and within our conscience.
In Leviticus, by a “coincidence”, we find the verse about infanticide together with the verse about homosexual behavior.
And thou shall not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch, neither shall thou profane the name of thy God; I am the Lord. Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
[11]
But the verse before says,
Moreover thou shall not lie carnally with thy neighbor’s wife, to defile thyself with her,[12]
showing that the Bible also condemns lustful heterosexual relations.
There is a story in the Old Testament of the prophet’s wife, a former prostitute, who was defiled by “Sons of Belial” and left to die. The whole tribe of Benjamin was going to be eliminated by the other tribes of Israel because of it.
[13] The “Sons of Belial” seems to not only include those with homosexual behavior, but also a kind of perverted wildness, out-of-control aggressive perverted sex, like anal sex and bestiality,
[14] similar to the stories that have been told about the sex life of some of the famous musicians.
We know that Jesus took the Word of God seriously and quoted from it constantly. He did this differently from the Scribes and Pharisees who used the Word of God to condemn and control the people. Jesus showed the true spirit of the Word in His attempt to enlighten and free the people from the false religious leaders. In Ezekiel we find one of God’s stern warnings to the false shepherds who feed themselves, but do not feed the flock of God.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.[15]
Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live, says the Lord God, surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My flock;
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.[16]
Of course, God has already taken His flock from the false shepherds of Israel. But Christian leaders must now apply God’s Word to themselves. Surely we have been guilty of being false shepherds, also.
For thus says the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.[17]
I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seems it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.[18]
We as church pastors or church leaders should meditate on Ezekiel’s warning. We need to make sure we are feeding God’s flock and not just making sure that they are feeding us.
It is true that homosexuality has not been properly approached by much of the Church. The Christian teaching I received from childhood has always impressed on me the importance of being a good example. In order to reach people and connect them to Jesus, you need to first lovingly accept them. But I also have learned it is important to have convictions. My own convictions come from my belief that the Bible is truly the Word of God and not of men. This is not an arbitrary belief but comes from personal study and life experience. However, God’s Word needs to be rightly divided and understood through the Spirit which Jesus clearly manifested.
Apostle Paul tells us
The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.[19]
In other words, until the mind and heart of the unbeliever has been illuminated by God’s Spirit, the reasoning of the Christian, his defense of his belief system, seems like foolishness to the unbeliever. That is why the atheist and the believer seem eons apart when they confront one another in conversation or debate. Their belief systems are based on totally different “truths,” or basic assumptions, and thus affect how they interpret the world around them. They see things in a totally different manner. It is because their initial belief systems are at variance.
Looking back to the Words of Jesus in the book of John, we see Jesus doesn’t condemn the adulterous woman, but yet He tells her to go and sin no more.
[20] By His actions and love He is affecting change in the woman’s worldview. Obviously, He is not accepting adultery, but embracing the adulterer. In like manner, He wasn’t accepting tax corruption by going to eat with Zacchaeus. By embracing Zacchaeus, He helps him find the Kingdom of God. As a result Zacchaeus changes his belief system and his behavior and returns the money from those he has over-taxed.
[21]
It’s the same with homosexuality. Yes, we do need to accept the homosexual as Paul taught and Jesus teaches. I will respect the homosexual in my attempt to relate with him and impart the truth I have found in Christ, just as Paul did in his witnessing and in his attempts to win others to Jesus. But I do not need to embrace and accept as “normal” the homosexual behavior. I will love and respect the homosexual person, but I cannot accept a behavior that is in violation of God’s Word and in violation of the moral law I have within my conscience.
I may be old-fashioned, but I have seen that the philosophy of relativism or utilitarianism or morality measured by what is acceptable by the majority of the people moves society away from the moral absolutes of God’s Word and reality. That is why the world is in such a mess as it is today. We have moved away from the moral absolutes and have nothing left to stand on. Yes, God’s Word does need to be always balanced and applied by the spirit of love and grace.
[22] People do not want religion. They need to connect with Jesus, and that connection not only comes from their relationship with Him, but from knowing the truth found in God’s Word.
My Christian training taught me the importance of staying free of religious Pharisee-ism. We are free from the dead religious laws of Moses, and married to Christ’s liberating law of love.
[23] Now, the most important aspect of our obedience to God is our motivation, not our outward appearance to others.
Recently, I wrote a letter to a friend sharing my beliefs about creation and the book of Genesis. He believes that Genesis 1 is poetry and therefore is not applicable to scientific theories on origins.
But according to Dr. Weston Fields Genesis is not poetry. In his in depth study
Unformed and Unfilled: A Critique of the Gap Theory, Dr. Fields concludes the Hebrew text may be “poetic,” as is much of the Bible, but it is not written in figurative language and it cannot be harmonized with science’s “billions of years.”
[24]
One of the best known scholars of Hebrew, Dr. James Barr of Oxford University, wrote some twenty years ago, that as far as he knew,
there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story.[25]
Dr. Barr was not saying he believed in a six-day creation six-thousand years ago. Rather, he was saying that he believed that the writers of Genesis meant to convey that meaning to their audience. Even though a simple reading of Genesis 1 presents a six-day creation process, the modern man cannot accept it. Why? Because we have been convinced science has proven that the earth is billions of years old.
From a superficial reading of Genesis 1, the impression would seem to be that the entire Creative process took place in six twenty-four hour days. If this was the true intent of the Hebrew author… this seems to run counter to modern scientific research, which indicates that the planet Earth was created several billion years ago.[26]
If we accept the idea that the earth is indeed billions of years old, we cannot accept a literal reading of Genesis 1. If we add the evolutionary process to the billions of years, as the way God created, we have a big problem with the Bible’s veracity and plan of salvation. We have death before sin, and the Bible says the opposite, which we will look at more closely in a few paragraphs.
Some Christians believe it doesn’t really matter if Genesis 1 is literal or figurative. All we need to believe is that God did it, however it happened. So Christians disagree on this dilemma. Young Earth Creationists argue against the attempts to harmonize the Scriptures with modern ideas of origins proposed by science. But many modernistic Christians have done just that, accepting both “millions of years,” and “molecule-to-man” evolution.
In
The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church, Father Malachi Martin makes a case against the influential Jesuit evolutionist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Using a whole chapter, Father Martin explains Teilhard’s influence in taking the Jesuits and the Catholic Church away from the traditional Christian doctrine of creation and into an evolutionary New Age theology.
[27]
In
The Long War Against God: The History and Impact of the Creation/Evolution Conflict, Dr. Henry Morris quotes from Teilhard, whom he believes was one of the most famous Christian modernists. To Teilhard, the acceptance of evolution was essential. He saw evolution as being the most fundamental “truth,” and therefore the foundation of understanding everything else. He wrote,
Evolution is a general postulate to which all theories, all hypothesis, all systems must henceforth bow and which they must satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light which illuminates facts, a trajectory which all lines of thought must follow.[28]
Here we see Teilhard confessing that evolution is his initial belief system. His belief that evolution is true is his most basic assumption and affects how he views and interprets everything else around him. Father Martin states that if one accepts Teilhard’s ideas, he must abandon standard Christian doctrine. He writes,
Creation, Original Sin, the divinity of Jesus, redemption by Jesus’ death on the cross of Calvary,… the forgiveness of sins, …Hell, Heaven, supernatural grace - even existence and the freedom of God – all must be reformulated, and perhaps abandoned in large part.[29]
 |
| Thomas Huxley |
Thomas Huxley, known as ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’ for his adamant defense of evolution, came to this same conclusion over 150 years ago. Ken Ham writes,
Thomas Huxley was an ardent humanist. Huxley went around the world “preaching” evolution and putting down Christianity. But when he saw the theologians of the day accepting evolution and then adding it to the Bible (but still trying to defend Christianity), Huxley pointed out to these compromisers how inconsistent that was. He showed them that if they believed in evolution, they couldn’t believe in the doctrines of the New Testament, and would have to throw away the whole message of Christianity.[30]
If we are honest, we must agree with Huxley’s, Ham’s and Martin’s conclusions. If evolution and “millions of years” are true, then we have death before sin, as we have “millions of years” of life and death before the first man “Adam.”
The Bible tells us that it was Adam’s disobedience to God, or Adam’s sin, that brought death into the world, and, therefore, the need for a Redeemer, the need for Christ.
[31][32][33][34] If evolution is true and death came before man, then the Bible is false and there was no original sin and no need for Christ’s death on the cross for all humanity. So, both stories cannot be true. They contradict one another. Mr. Huxley saw this point and criticized the Christians who compromised and accepted millions of years of evolution and still tried to defend the Bible.
Like the atheistic blogger G. Richard Bozarth wrote,
Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus´ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the Son of God. If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.[35]
Therefore, either we accept and defend a literal six-day Creation story, or we need to throw the whole Bible out. That’s why Dr. Field’s arguments in favor of a literal reading of Genesis 1 is so important. If God’s Word says He did it in six days, then He did.
God’s Word is the foundation of my belief system. It has not always been. I came to belief through an intense searching and seeking for the truth. Since finding Christ, I have further investigated and found Christian scientists and apologists who have proposed very reasonable answers to the difficult questions that a billion-year-old universe seems to present to the Biblical creationist.
The Christian faith is not a “blind faith,” but conforms to good reason and logic. Unlike other major faiths, Christianity encourages investigation and inspection. Apostle Peter has admonished us to be ready to give a reasoned defense of our Christian belief. Though our Christian belief has been revealed to us by “faith,” it is not blind to reason; in fact, our faith is the conclusion of sound reason.
In my research for reasonable answers to the question of origins, I have found reputable scientists like Dr. Russell Humphreys and others that have developed scientific and mathematical theories to validate the literal six-day six thousand-years-old Biblical origin story. These scientists take the truth of the Bible as their initial assumption and from there do their science. All scientists start their scientific research with improvable initial assumptions. Men like Kepler, Newton, Pasteur, and many other scientists of the past and present have used the Bible as their foundation belief system and have done excellent science, with amazing results.
Humphreys, using Einstein’s theories, has found a way to explain the seeming contradictions of a six thousand-year-old planet in a billion-year-old universe. Using time dilation and gravity, and conforming to all known laws of science; he shows how a six thousand-year-old earth could be a physical possibility in a universe which seems to be billions of years old.
[36]
Apologist Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen shows how the Christian presuppositional belief system is the only reasonable belief system, because it is the only belief system not in conflict with empirical evidence, nor the laws of logic, nor the laws of science. It’s the only belief system that gives us the preconditions for intelligence that make science and knowing anything possible. Like CS Lewis said,
If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.[37]
As Christians, we have a good reason to assume the preconditions of intelligibility, because God is sufficient reason to explain why we can think, why universal morally exists, and why we can trust that tomorrow’s world will operate in a similar fashion as today’s. But if evolution and naturalism are true and we are just here as a cosmic accident, how can we explain where the laws of logic come from? Why would we expect laws of logic in an accidental, meaningless, uncaused universe? Why would we expect to be able to think and to love? What would be the reason for universal object morality? Why would we expect uniformity in science, i.e., that the laws of science are the same throughout the universe and throughout time, and that they will be consistent tomorrow as they were today?[38]
In his book,
Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith,
[39] Dr. Bahnsen presents tools to help the lay person improve their defense of their faith. In talking about the use of reason with faith, he quotes from Sr. John Locke, the famous British social and political thinker of the 17th century, the Age of Reason. Locke was considered by many to be the “Father of British Empiricism.” Like his contemporaries Newton, Boyle, and
Milton, Locke was a strong Bible-believer. He said,
The Holy Scripture is to me, and always will be, the constant guide of my assent; and I will always hearken to it, as containing the infallible truth relating to things of the highest concernment….Where I want (lack)
the evidence of things, there yet is ground enough for me to believe, because God has said it; and I will presently condemn and quit any opinion of mine, as soon as I am shown that it is contrary to any revelation of the Holy Scriptures.[40]
 |
| William Gladstone |
History is full of men who have based their life’s work on the veracity of the Scriptures. William Gladstone, four-time Prime Minister of England, is quoted as having said,
I have known ninety-five of the world's great men in my time, and of these, eighty-seven were followers of the Bible. The Bible is stamped with a Specialty of Origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors.[41]
Researching the historicity of Christ, I have found such authors as J. Warner Wallace, who has written a book entitled Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels.
Using his experience as a cold-case criminal police investigator, Wallace, a former atheist, looked at the claims of Christianity. He analyzed the events around the death and supposed resurrection of Christ and the testimony of the witnesses in both Scripture and secular writings, just as he would do for a criminal case that has remained unsolved for many years. His conclusion: the evidence and the testimonies of witnesses affirm Christianity’s claims.
[42]
In the 1800s Harvard Professor Simon Greenleaf, one of the principle founders of Harvard’s Law School, came to the same conclusion. He applied the “rules of evidence,” which he had developed and articulated in his legal masterpiece,
A Treatice on the Law of Evidence, to the New Testament account of the death and resurrection of Christ. In his essay,
Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice, he concluded like Wallace that the most plausible, the most reasonable conclusion from the evidence was that Christ died and rose from the grave.
[43] Though he started his research as either an agnostic or an atheist, near the end of his life, in correspondence with the American Bible Society at Cambridge, he wrote,
Of the Divine character of the Bible, I think, no man who deals honestly with his own mind and heart can entertain a reasonable doubt. For myself, I must say, that having for many years made the evidences of Christianity the subject of close study, the result has been a firm and increasing conviction of the authenticity and plenary inspiration of the Bible. It is indeed the Word of God.[44]
Similarly, Professor Dr. Gary Habermas with Mike Licona have written on the same subject in their study entitled
Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.
[45] Habermas’s YouTube talks about the Minimal Facts Method are worth watching.
[46]
In investigating the radioactive dating methods which seem to confirm “billions-of-years,” I have found them to be very lacking. 90% of the scientific dating methods available confirm a young earth. Yet all we hear of are the few that seem to verify “billions-of-years.” Dr. John Morris has done a thorough study and analysis of the dating methods in his book
The Young Earth: The Real History of the Earth; Past, Present and Future, which examines the problems with radio-active dating and explains why the dates found can’t be trusted.
[47]
Dr. Morris explains,
Unfortunately, evolutionists seldom admit they have presuppositions (or initial assumptions that are believed without evidence). They present their view of history and their interpretation as if they were observed facts. Students and laymen alike are either duped by authority or intimidated into acceptance of a world view with its philosophical and religious implications without even knowing what happened. Simply put, most people believe in evolution, because most people believe in evolution. It is all they have been taught. If creation is even mentioned it is ridiculed and unfairly caricatured. Thus, evolution is assumed, not proved; and creation is denied, not refuted...One must always discern the difference between scientific data and interpretations of those data, and the observed past and the unobserved, inferred past.[48]
We do need to do some studying, some digging to find the answers. In each area I had questions; I have done research and found reasonable answers, answers which confirm the Biblical narrative. But it’s taken me some effort. I have had to seek to find.
I remember being a young college student with the problem of my imminent induction into the military during the Vietnam War period. I had to make some serious decisions on what I was going to do. I had joined a fraternity during the last part of my first year at school. In my second year I moved into the fraternity house as my dormitory. My colleagues would spend their evening playing cards or watching television together. But because I was desperate to find answers, I decided to not watch television or play cards. I spent my free-time hid away in my room reading books in search of answers. I would even avoid the parties and booze on the weekend, and instead spend time with Tolstoy or Twain evaluating the problem of war and my position in relation to it.
In regards to the scientific questions of origins of the universe, the conclusions of Dr. Russell Humphreys are as plausible an explanation as any others and may even fit the accessible evidence more accurately. He proposes that since gravity affects time, and if our galaxy is close to the gravitation well of the entire universe, then it is possible, using Einstein’s theories, to have a six thousand-year-old planet earth, by earth time, while at the very outer parts of the universe billions of years could have elapsed.
[49]
It all depends on your starting assumptions. If the Bible is truly God’s Word and God’s communication to man, then you start your scientific assumptions based on the claims in God’s Word. However, if the Bible is not true, where do you take your initial assumptions from?
We all have initial assumptions. Every scientist starts his science having some basic philosophical assumptions. He then incorporates those assumptions into the initial criteria of his scientific investigation. Dr. George Ellis, who worked with Dr. Stephen Hawking on the Big Bang cosmology, confessed that they must start with philosophical assumptions.
You cannot do physics or cosmology without an assumed philosophical basis. You can choose not to think about that basis: it will still be there as an unexamined foundation of what you do. The fact you are unwilling to examine the philosophical foundations of what you do does not mean those foundations are not there; it just means they are unexamined.[50]
My colleagues are producing theories of what they call creation of the universe out of nothing. But when you probe them, you find they're not producing theories of creation of the universe out of nothing. They are assuming a huge machinery of quantum field theory and fields and particles and interactions, which generates universe, not creation of the universe out of nothing.[51]
I believe that the initial assumptions that are in line with the Word of God are the ones that are ultimately true.
[52] Just because Christians don’t always live the Christian creed, does not mean the doctrine is false.
But today, a Christian is often stereotyped as a bigot, as being narrow minded and dogmatic because his initial assumption is that the Bible is true. Just because some Christians are self-righteous does not mean that everything they are saying is wrong. Even Jesus admonished when talking of the Pharisaical religious leaders, to do as they say and not as they do; because they say, but do not.
I believe we need to modernize the way the Gospel is preached to reach a new and different generation. But if we want our work to last, we must not take out the Word of God from our witness.
The Word of God is the ballast, the foundation stone of the spiritual building we are creating. Jesus Himself warned us of the importance of building our lives upon the rock of God’s Word.
[53] The danger comes when we take out God’s Word from the foundation. As long as our lives are firmly planted on the Rock of God’s foundation, His Word, we will remain strong no matter what modernizations are made.
With love we need to bring people to the light of God’s Word. God’s Word will help us to live in love, but will also reveal the truth which in turn will help us to discern the intents and thoughts of men’s heart. It is the knowledge of God’s Word which gives us discernment. As King David said,
I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy Word.[55]
If we throw the Word away now and say all we need is the Spirit, we are in trouble. Jesus said,
The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.[56]
God’s Word and Spirit are uniquely joined together and are part of the definition of what and who God is.
I believe it is importance to lovingly embrace the homosexual community, as well as the Jewish community, and the Black community, and the Muslim community and the atheist community and any other community, if we can do so without losing our Biblical foundation. Instead of society affecting and changing our faith, we should be instruments of affecting change in society in a loving and compassionate way. Our goal as Christians is to help others to ultimately find the faith which we have found in Jesus and in God’s Word.
Jesus said,
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.[57]
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.[58]
In other words, we should be influencing others for good, otherwise, what use are we?
We may not be very successful, and we may be ostracized and labeled as intolerant, but we can console ourselves that God’s Word says that these days will take place before Jesus’ promised coming.
There shall come a falling away first and then shall the end come.[59]
And Jesus said,
When the Son of Man comes shall he find faith on the earth?[60]
Jesus also said,
Had you believed Moses you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe My words.[61]
We should not throw out the written Word just because of other’s misinterpretation or misrepresentation of its truth. My faith is built on God’s Word. My doctrinal belief is not the first part of my witness. Love is. Doctrine is a part of it, but I also know that my point of view, my interpretation, may not be God’s point of view. But hopefully I will be found to be in the tunnel of God’s will and truth.
Here are some verses about behaviors that are abominations in the eyes of God found in God’s Word. I am going to go over them to show that it’s not just homosexuality that is abhorrent in His eyes.
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.[62]
There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.[63]
Divination is one who claims secret knowledge, especially of the future. Sometimes it is translated witchcraft. Again we see that many of the New Age practices fall into this category. Reiki for examples claims to give you some secret knowledge that will get you in tune with the “universal life force” and enable you to do healings and make your life better.
Father Malachi Martin, who I have mentioned earlier in this chapter, was the Jesuit priest who worked as a personal assistant to one of the most powerful Cardinals in the Vatican. After leaving the Vatican, he spent his life to exposing what he considered the evil influences within the Vatican. In his novel,
Windswept House: A Vatican Novel, he mentions an event that took place when Pope Paul VI was made Pope. A week after his election, a ceremony of enthroning was held in the Vatican paralleling a satanic cultist act which took place simultaneously in the United States. The satanic act which took place in America included the death of a young Christian male, symbolic of the death of Christ. Father Martin warned that there existed an evil satanic group of individuals involved in pedophilia within the Catholic Church. They were international in scope and included powerful Catholic leaders. They performed satanic rites evoking the power and favor of Satan.
[64]
John Todd, the former witch who became a born-again Christian, has also spoken of how he as a top witch was in service to the Rothschilds. He would often deliver money in cash to a church to get the church to compromise and deviate from their committed Christian convictions.
Todd was also involved in invoking demons to accompany a rock group’s music so that the music would deceive youth and lead them away from Christianity. He was attacked profusely by the compromised Church who said he was either lying or mentally confused. In my opinion, there seemed to be a lot of truth in what he revealed. Todd might not have gotten everything right, none of us do. But, it is only when someone makes a stand that his enemies start shooting at him. Todd was obviously making enemies in what he was exposing. He said the Rothschilds had their own personal covens in both Paris and London.
[65]
If these things are so then we have satanic worship in some pretty high places. Could incidents like the Vatican’s satanic rite and Rothschild’s covens be examples of the
“spiritual wickedness in high places” which Apostle Paul said would fight against us and which God considers an abomination?
[66] We have seen similar satanic themes at the Grammy awards, at the Olympic Games, and at the opening of a famous tunnel through the mountains of Switzerland, to name a few.
 |
| Not Recommended |
An observer of times is one who pretends to foretell the future, sometimes translated as soothsayer, or fortune-teller. An enchanter is someone who can charm serpents. A witch is one who uses witchcraft or sorcery. A charmer is one who supposedly casts a spell. A consulter with familiar spirits is one who consults some kind of angelic being for counsel or information. In Reiki it is called calling on your ‘angelic’ spirit helpers. [The book shown is not recommended.]
A wizard is a man who claims to have a secret knowledge or ability. A necromancer is one who claims to consult, or to inquire with the dead.
Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. A perfect and just weight shalt thou have: that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy God gives thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.[67]
The above verses in Deuteronomy show that the Lord is very concerned with honesty in business. He speaks of weighing and measuring fairly and properly with just weights and measures. Therefore, cheating in business, unscrupulous business activities are just as much an abomination to the Lord as the other sins.
Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD.[68]
There is something about images that God does not like. I think it has to do with mankind’s tendency to worship and admire material things, or beautiful people, even nature more than God Himself. Like Paul said in Romans:
Who changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.[69] Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.[70]
Our next verse about abominations is found in the Proverbs:
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.[71]
Most of the condemnations are self-explanatory.
For the froward (perverse)
is abomination to the LORD.[72] The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loves him that follows after righteousness.[73] Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.[74]
Some Christian theologians say that pride is the root of all sin.
He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.[75]
That judge who condemned Kent Hovind, one of the first creationist speakers, may come under the above category.
He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.[76]
Do we want God to hear our prayers? Then we need to get our Bibles out and read His Word and try and follow how it speaks to us. If we do, we’ll be more likely to get things from God.
Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination, Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. [77]
 |
| Woody Allen |
And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee had humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.[78]
Out-of-control sexual conquests cause a lot of hurt and harm, and God has set limits because men are usually incapable of walking in love. It is not just homosexuality that God condemns.
But the modern man wants his freedom. Religion is too restrictive, he says. The truth is, freedom is founded in the Judaeo-Christian belief system. Real freedom requires limits. We need to honor the limits God has set, because otherwise we may violate someone else’s freedom. God’s moral absolutes necessitate limits. Real freedom, based on Christianity, is not the absence of all restraints, but it’s submitting to the true and the right constraints.
[79]
That’s why Apostle Paul in the New Living Translation tells us:
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.[80]
He also previously had said, and using the same translation:
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.[81]
God has set for us limits, just like He did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We need limits. They are for our over-all good. They are to keep us out of trouble. They are to keep us and others healthy. They are to help us act lovingly.
And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteem among men is abomination in the sight of God.[82]
Are we seeking praise from God, or from man?
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.[83]
Liars get the same fate as those who work abomination, so therefore lying is an abomination. Jesus has told us that the Devil himself is the father of lies.
[84] Don’t deal in lies. Speak the truth in love every man with his neighbor.
[85]
Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of the king Josiah was this Passover kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover them that had farmilar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
And like unto him was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; neither after him arose any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.[86]
Again, a strong warning to America and the nations of the world to get back to God, but they will not.
Notes:
[3]
http://www.beliefnet.com/resourcelib/docs/53/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Adams_1.html (accessed 08/2016)
[4]
2Kings 21:16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
[5]
Leviticus 18:20-26
[6]
2Kings 23:7-10
[7]
Luke 17:28-29
[8]
Genesis 18:20-21 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
[9]
Genesis 19:1-11 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. (knew/know):
Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
[10]
Ezekiel 16:49-50
[11]
Leviticus 18:21&22
[12]
Leviticus 18:20
[13]
Judges 19-21
[14]
Judges 19:22-25 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do them what seems good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. (knew and abused)
[15]
Ezekiel 34:1-6
[16]
Ezekiel 34:7-10
[17]
Ezekiel 34:11-12
[18]
Ezekiel 34:15-19
[19]
1Corinthians 2:14
[20]
John 8:1-11
[21]
Luke 19:1-10
[22]
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
[23]
Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God.
[24] Fields, Dr. Weston; Unformed and Unfilled: A Critique of the Gap Theory; Master Books; Green Forest, Arizona; 1976.
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/bookstore/product.aspx?id=222 (03/2016)
[25] (As quoted by Dr. Jud Davis)
https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/24-hours-plain-as-day/ (03/16)
[26] Gleason Archer,
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Moody Press, USA, 1985, pg.187.
[28] Morris, Dr. Henry; The Long War Against God: The History and Impact of the Creation/Evolution Conflict; Master Books, Arizona, 2000; page 22.
https://books.google.pt/books/about/The_Long_War_Against_God.html?id=uNTF-qfojZQC&redir_esc=y (accessed 03/2016)
[29] Martin, Malachi;
The Jesuits; Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York; 1987; page 288.
http://pdf.amazingdiscoveries.org/The%20Jesuits.pdf (03/16)
[30]
https://answersingenesis.org/education/study-guides/answer-key-for-the-answers-with-ken-ham-study-guide/ (accessed 03/2016)
[31]
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eats thereof thou shalt surely die.
[32]
Genesis 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
[33]
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
[34]
1Corinthians 15:20-21 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
[35] G. Richard Bozarth, ‘The Meaning of Evolution’, American Atheist, p. 30, February 1978. Found at
http://creation.com/the-atheists-know-why-christianity-has-to-fight-evolution
[36] Humphreys, Dr. Russell;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mooHSXTR2RE (accessed 03/2016)
[37] C.S. Lewis,
The Business of Heaven, Fount Paperbacks, U.K., p. 97, 1984.
[38] Jason Lisle,
The Ultimate Proof of Creation, Masters Books, Arizona, 2009.
[39] Bahnsen, Dr. Greg;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7nVRsNKF4 (accessed 03/2016)
[40] Cited by Bahnsen, Dr. Greg;
Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith; Covenant Media Press, Texas; 1996; page 134.
[41]
http://www.nairaland.com/2499498/quotes-famous-men-bible (03/16)
[42]
http://coldcasechristianity.com/ (accessed 03/2016)
[43]
http://www.creationstudies.org/Education/simon_greenleaf.html
[44]
Ibid, as quoted in
A Cloud of Witnesses, by Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 198.
[45]
http://www.garyhabermas.com/ (accessed 03/2016)
[46]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_Db4RwZ_M (accessed 03/16)
[47]
http://www.temcat.com/L-4-Topical-Library/Creation/TheYoung-Earth.pdf
[48]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r85wpZkY6s (accessed 03/2016)
[49] John Morris,
The Young Earth, Master Books, Arizona, 1994, pg.20.
[50] Ellis, Dr. George;
Physicist George Ellis Knocks Physicists for Knocking Philosophy; John Horgan,
Scientific American, July 22, 2014.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/nave-html/faithpathh/Ellis.html (03/16)
[51] Ellis, Dr. George;
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/wonder-cosmos-through-upgraded-lens/3650 (accessed 03/2016)
[52]
Matthew 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.
[53]
Matthew 7:24-25 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
[55]
Psalm 119:100
[56]
John 6:63
[57]
Matthew 5:13
[58]
Matthew 5:14-16
[59]
2Thessalonians 2:3
[60]
Luke 18:8
[61]
John 5:46-47
[62]
Leviticus 18:22
[63]
Deuteronomy 18:10-13
[64]
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/profecias/esp_profecia10.htm (03/16)
[65]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bW0p7US-g (accessed 03/2016)
[66]
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[67]
Deuteronomy 25:13-16
[68
Deuteronomy 27:15
[69]
Romans 1:23
[70]
Romans 1:25
[71]
Proverbs 6:16-19
[72]
Proverbs 3:32
[73]
Proverbs 15:9
[74]
Proverbs 16:5
[75]
Proverbs 17:15
[76]
Proverbs 28:9
[77]
Ezekiel 18:12-13
[78]
Ezekiel 22:11
[79] Dr. Tim Keller,
Where Imagination & Innovation Meet,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmNW7EtP6Xk (accessed 03/2016)
[80]
Colossians 3:5 (New Living Translation)
[81]
1Corinthians 6:9-11 (New Living Translation)
[82]
Luke 16:15
[83]
Revelation 21:27
[84]
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
[85]
Zechariah 8:16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.
[86]
2Kings 23:22- 27
Chapter 42
Will We Also Be Buried In Profound Obscurity?
A Comparison between Ancient Israel and Modern Day America
After King Josiah’s death, four more kings rule for a short period of time in Jerusalem. The last king of what we would call ancient Israel is Zedekiah, the King of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, set up. But,
 |
| Zedekiah from the movie Jeremiah the Prophet |
He (Zedekiah)
did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen: and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
 |
| The King burning Jeremiah's prophecy |
And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy.[1]
Therefore, God brought upon them the King of Babylon, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man nor maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.[2]
And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia.[3]
The destruction of Jerusalem occurred in 586 BC making the history of the southern kingdom of Judah from the time of King Saul to be around 450 years. It is interesting to note that although the Babylonians had a pantheistic religion and used divination and astrology, they did not practice child sacrifice. The divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah had adopted this practice from the Canaanites whom God had commanded them to remove from the land. They failed in their mission and in the end took on the ungodly practices of the Canaanites, which led to their own destruction.
[4]
The reason I went through this brief history of Israel of old is to show the comparison or similarity between ancient Israel and the modern nation, the United States of America. Because of a few righteous men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God begins a relationship with the descendants of Israel. However, contrary to God’s initial promise, over a period of time Israel’s descendants are brought into bondage under an oppressive empire - Egypt, the world power of that day. They cry out to God for a deliverer and God sends them one, the man Moses. Through toil and suffering, Moses brings them forth as a nation into a new land.
They must overcome the native people living in that land, the Canaanites. But because of their obedience and righteousness, more than the nations around them, God blesses them. They become a rich and powerful nation called Israel under David and Solomon. But in their prosperity they forget God, and in disobedience turn to their own understanding. God sends them warning after warning that they have gone astray, but generally they refuse to listen. Until one day sudden destruction comes upon them and their nation is destroyed. They, too, are carried away captive by their enemies.
 |
| The Mayflower |
Similar to the ancient Israelites, many of the Pilgrim Fathers of the USA were religious peoples seeking religious freedom from the oppressive nations in Europe. Our Pilgrim Fathers, too, must have cried out to God for deliverance as many were being persecuted, marginalized and even killed for their faith in their European homelands. But God made a way of escape. Through much toil and suffering and danger, they cross the Atlantic Ocean, like the desert of Sinai, and God brings them forth into a new land.
 |
| George Washington |
They overcome the initial difficulties and God delivers them from the most powerful world empire of their day, England. They prosper, and become a new nation. As long as they obey God’s voice and keep His commandments, they are blessed. But in their prosperity, they forget their Maker and begin to serve and cleave unto other gods. They begin to do more outlandishly than even the nations that God destroyed before them.
In Ezekiel we read how the Lord would use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem. The Lord says,
Thus says the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
Therefore thus says the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore thus says the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, says the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.[5]
James Perloff, whom I mentioned in an earlier article, makes the same comparison between Israel of old and America in his book,
The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline. He writes,
Ancient Israel was founded as a land of God. It thrived and knew great power. But eventually it became engrossed with its material abundance, forgot the laws of God, grew weak, and was conquered, its people scattered abroad. Similarly, America was founded as a land of God, a Christian land. It became the freest and strongest nation on earth. But, like Biblical Israel, it too is losing sight of its religious roots, floundering in materialism. Will the United States also be conquered?[6]
Will America suffer the same short history as many nations before her? Daniel Webster, who lived from 1782 until 1852, the American orator and Secretary of State for three US Presidents, warned,
If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is one to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper, but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.[7]
He also warned,
If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, then error will be. If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendency. If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of this land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.[8]
Like the Bible verses quoted earlier,
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.[9] But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.[10]
Before ending this chapter, I want to digress to the words of Jeremiah the prophet, who lived during the last days before the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was called to his mission as “prophet of doom” in his youth. Because he exposes the sins of the nation, its leaders, as well as its people, Jeremiah is hated. If we listen to him carefully, many of the Lord's pronouncements against the kingdoms of Judah and Israel ring as warnings to America.
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| Alexis de Tocqueville |
Both Judah and Israel knew God, just as America as a nation has known God. In fact, after his visit to the United States in 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous French political writer and thinker, said,
There is not a country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.[11]
God called Jeremiah,
"a prophet unto the nations."[12] He was not just a prophet to Israel of old, but to all nations, especially those nations who had the knowledge of God, and forgot Him. He is a prophet to us today in the United States of America. We will look at just a few of his warnings and see how his judgments against ancient Israel can be applied to America. Here’s the first one.
And I brought you unto a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered; ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.[13]
In my Bible, the word "defiled" is footnoted as meaning "ruined." In a little less than four hundred years since the first Pilgrims arrived in New England in 1620, we have managed to ruin "a plentiful country" and its goodness. We have also ruined many countries around the world where our international corporations have helped to pollute and or destroy the natural habitat of those countries.
I am not going to go into a lengthy documentation of this fact, but I am sure you are not unaware of the growing "Green" movement worldwide. We could mention nuclear arms and nuclear energy plants as part of the defiling of the land.
We could mention Monsanto’s pesticides and herbicides used in farming which have entered into streams and ground water of America’s water system.[14] The topic of pollution could be a long draw-out article, but that is not my object here, but just to draw similarities between ancient Israel and America today. The truth is that God's pronouncements against Israel apply to us today here in America.
Let's continue from Jeremiah:
The priest said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handled the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.[15]
Where are the men of God admonishing us to get back to God? Where are the men of God telling us we are going down the wrong path?
We do not want to hear it, but as Paul said, and I have mentioned in an earlier chapter:
For the time will come when they shall not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.[16]
Remember the definition from Wikipedia:
Itching ears is a term used in the Bible to describe individuals who seek out messages and doctrines that condones their own lifestyle, as opposed to adhering to the teachings of the apostles.[17]
You see Apostle Paul taught the whole counsel of God, not just the part that was easy to digest. He warned that after his death grievous or savage wolves would enter in as false pastors, not sparing or having mercy on the flock, and would speak perverse things, contrary to sound doctrine, drawing away disciples after them.
[18]
But today, we want to hear a politically-correct Gospel that does not offend anyone. We do not want the whole counsel of God. It’s too difficult to defend, and may give us persecution or cause us condemnation by others.
Recently, Angelina Jolie directed the movie
Unbroken which
talks about the power of forgiveness without talking about He who has the power to forgive. The film talks about forgiveness without talking about Jesus, the One who gives us power to forgive and to overcome, the One who died that our sins may be forgiven. Jolie forgets to tell us that it was the conversion of Louis Zamperni at a Billy Graham Crusade which helped Zamperni to overcome alcoholism and find the power of Christ to forgive. We want the gift, without the Giver. We want to talk about love, without talking about the source of that love, Jesus Christ.[19]
When I as a youth in the early 1970s had my epiphany experience and a Super-natural love flooded into my being, I knew that “love” was the answer. But my first question naturally was, where does this love come from? Was this what Jesus was all about? I began my search for the source of that all-empowering love, a love that changed me from a introspective, depressive, pessimistic youth into a happy, outgoing, optimistic person. Because at that time I had rejected Catholicism and Protestantism, I searched through other “isms.” But I did not find the answer in Eric Fromm’s love psychology. Nor did I find it in the “Be Here Now” of Transcendental Meditation. It wasn’t in Siddhartha’s “Eight-fold Path,” or in yoga, organic foods, or Judaism. I found some truths in each one of these, but not the truth.
It was not until November 7th, 1971 when the two hitch-hikers I picked up coming out of Columbus, Ohio led me in the sinner’s prayer and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and asked Him into my heart that I finally found the source of love, Jesus Christ. That same day I prayed that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide me into all truth. It was at that point where I began to read and study the Bible, especially the Words of Jesus in the Gospels. I fell in love with Jesus and hungrily devoured and absorbed His Word. I was as a new born babe desiring the sincere milk of the Word as Apostle Peter so aptly phrased.
[20] It was that prayer and the constant study of God’s Word and applying it to my life which has led me to the conclusions I am presenting to you today, the conclusion that Jesus is indeed the Way, the Truth and the Life.
[21]
If you are interested in the subject of God’s warnings to ancient Israel, read and study the book of Jeremiah in the Bible and apply its judgments and condemnations to America, a nation that knew God and was blessed because of it.
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| General MacArthur |
General Douglas MacArthur noted,
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into economic and political decline. There has either been a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.[22]
America, as well as every other nation that forgets God, is and shall continue to suffer the consequences of rejecting the truth found in God’s Word. We as a nation and as a world are headed for destruction because of the hardening of our hearts to Biblical truth.
As writer and speaker Des Griffin explains,
If the United States, as a nation, was not judged for its willful rebellion and its violation to His laws, God would not be God. That judgment (spiritually, financially, socially, politically, etc.) is as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun. It’s not a matter of if that judgment comes, it’s only a matter of when. God is not mocked. What we have sown we will also reap.[23]
The late Billy Graham gave the same warning. And what about you, will you turn to God with all your heart, mind and soul? Or will you continue wandering in no-man’s land on the eve of destruction? Jesus is only a prayer away. Call upon Him. He will not disappoint you, but will lead you in the Way, the Truth and the Life. He’s promised to, if you seek Him with all your heart. He says,
Call upon me and I will answer you.
[24]
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.[25] [to go to next chapters click on
link]
Notes:
[1]
2Chronicles 36:12-16
[2]
2Chronicles 36:18
[3]
2Chronicles 36:19-20
[4]
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10937-moloch-molech
[5]
Ezekiel 5:5-11(Read
Ezekiel 5:1-4 also.)
[6]
James Perloff,
Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline, Western Islands Publishers, Appleton, Wisconsin, 1988, p. 221
[7]
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/31180.Daniel_Webster
[8]
Ibid
[9]
Psalm 9:17
[10]
Jeremiah 12:17
[11] Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Random House, New York, 2005, pg. 209.
[12]
Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
[14]
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3028/ (accessed 03/2016)
[15]
Jeremiah 2:8
[16]
2Timothy 4:3-4
[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itching_ears (accessed 03/2016)
[18]
Acts 20:27-30 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
[19]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrjJbl7kRrI(accessed 03/16)
[20]
1Peter 2:2 As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
[21]
John 14:6 Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
[22] General Douglas MacArthur, cited by Des Griffin,
Fourth Reich of the Rich, Emissary Publications, 1976, pg.244.
[23] Des Griffin,
Fourth Reich of the Rich, Emissary Publications, 1976, pg.244.
[24]
Jeremiah 33:3
[25]
Jeremiah 29:13
In His last discourse before His Passion, Jesus blasts the scribes and Pharisees over and over again, calling them hypocrites, avarice, fools, blind, legalistic, superficial, serpents, and vipers; who seek the praise of men more than the praise of God.[26]
