As I have previously mentioned, this blog was for a limited time and a specific purpose. That purpose is to share the contents of my book "Science the Bible and Life on Other Planets". Approximatley 63 pages in length, chapter one begins with my first post and continues in order from that point to the present. If you are new to this blog and are interested in a unique take on the issues between science and religion so hotly debated elsewhere, this blog is for you.
To further your search for truth, I recently have posted a number of links to some video Bible studies I have been working on. They are available to view by clicking on "Video Bible Study" at airdriesda.org. All are welcome to learn more about God and His truth for our time there.
THANK YOU
LES MILLER
Showing posts with label Aliens SETI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aliens SETI. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Saturday, August 28, 2010
For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the desolate earth to behold the results of his rebellion against the law of God. During this time his sufferings are intense. Since his fall his life of unceasing activity has banished reflection; but he is now deprived of his power and left to contemplate the part which he has acted since first he rebelled against the government of heaven, and to look forward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future when he must suffer for all the evil that he has done and be punished for the sins that he has caused to be committed.
As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race--the being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam discerns the prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been exiled.
After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain upon man's purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Terrible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abounding, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of transgression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man's failure and fall; and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his first dominion.
Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once his delight--the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him and beholds a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of Jesus and, falling upon His breast, embraces the Redeemer. He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of heaven echo the triumphant song: "Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and lives again!" The family of Adam take up the strain and cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet as they bow before Him in adoration.
This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the fall of Adam and rejoiced when Jesus, after His resurrection, ascended to heaven, having opened the grave for all who should believe on His name. Now they behold the work of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in the song of praise.
To God's people the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and rejoicing. Says the prophet: "It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! . . . Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained." Verses 3-6, R.V.
During the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection the judgment of the wicked takes place. The apostle Paul points to this judgment as an event that follows the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5. Daniel declares that when the Ancient of Days came, "judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:22. At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto God. John in the Revelation says: "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Revelation 20:4, 6. It is at this time that, as foretold by Paul, "the saints shall judge the world." 1 Corinthians 6:2. In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against their names in the book of death.
Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people. Says Paul: "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Verse 3. And Jude declares that "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.
At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before God for the execution of "the judgment written." Thus the revelator, after describing the resurrection of the righteous, says: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5. And Isaiah declares, concerning the wicked: "They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." Isaiah 24:22.
As we enter the kingdom of God, there to spend eternity, the trials and the difficulties and the perplexities that we have had here will sink into insignificance. Our life will measure with the life of God. There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body.
The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes; they were noble, majestic, and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was, "We have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth." Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful, but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me, "None in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat, they would fall."
Then the angel said, "You must go back, and if you are faithful, you, with the 144,000, shall have the privilege of visiting all the worlds and viewing the handiwork of God. (My note: These particular words were written in the 1850’s. Why did the angel say this to her? Because the Lord knew that very soon there would be a much greater interest in the subject of life on other planets.)
Long have we waited for our Saviour's return. But none the less sure is the promise. Soon we shall be in our promised home. There Jesus will lead us beside the living stream flowing from the throne of God and will explain to us the dark providences through which on this earth He brought us in order to perfect our characters. There we shall behold with undimmed vision the beauties of Eden restored.
All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds afar. With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God's handiwork. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.
As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race--the being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam discerns the prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been exiled.
After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain upon man's purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Terrible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abounding, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of transgression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man's failure and fall; and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his first dominion.
Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once his delight--the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him and beholds a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of Jesus and, falling upon His breast, embraces the Redeemer. He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of heaven echo the triumphant song: "Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and lives again!" The family of Adam take up the strain and cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet as they bow before Him in adoration.
This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the fall of Adam and rejoiced when Jesus, after His resurrection, ascended to heaven, having opened the grave for all who should believe on His name. Now they behold the work of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in the song of praise.
To God's people the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and rejoicing. Says the prophet: "It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! . . . Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained." Verses 3-6, R.V.
During the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection the judgment of the wicked takes place. The apostle Paul points to this judgment as an event that follows the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5. Daniel declares that when the Ancient of Days came, "judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:22. At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto God. John in the Revelation says: "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Revelation 20:4, 6. It is at this time that, as foretold by Paul, "the saints shall judge the world." 1 Corinthians 6:2. In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against their names in the book of death.
Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people. Says Paul: "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Verse 3. And Jude declares that "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.
At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before God for the execution of "the judgment written." Thus the revelator, after describing the resurrection of the righteous, says: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5. And Isaiah declares, concerning the wicked: "They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." Isaiah 24:22.
As we enter the kingdom of God, there to spend eternity, the trials and the difficulties and the perplexities that we have had here will sink into insignificance. Our life will measure with the life of God. There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body.
The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes; they were noble, majestic, and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was, "We have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth." Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful, but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me, "None in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat, they would fall."
Then the angel said, "You must go back, and if you are faithful, you, with the 144,000, shall have the privilege of visiting all the worlds and viewing the handiwork of God. (My note: These particular words were written in the 1850’s. Why did the angel say this to her? Because the Lord knew that very soon there would be a much greater interest in the subject of life on other planets.)
Long have we waited for our Saviour's return. But none the less sure is the promise. Soon we shall be in our promised home. There Jesus will lead us beside the living stream flowing from the throne of God and will explain to us the dark providences through which on this earth He brought us in order to perfect our characters. There we shall behold with undimmed vision the beauties of Eden restored.
All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds afar. With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God's handiwork. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Part 6 – World history and the plan of salvation unfold
The plan of redemption had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of man. It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth; it was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded; but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. To this result of His great sacrifice--its influence upon the intelligences of other worlds, as well as upon man--the Saviour looked forward when just before His crucifixion He said: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me." John 12:31, 32. The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to men, but before all the universe it would justify God and His Son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan. It would establish the perpetuity of the law of God and would reveal the nature and the results of sin.
If the race had ceased to fall when Adam was driven from Eden, we should now be in a far more elevated condition physically, mentally, and morally. But while men deplore the fall of Adam, which has resulted in such unutterable woe, they disobey the express injunctions of God, as did Adam, although they have his example to warn them from doing as he did in violating the law of Jehovah. Would that man had stopped falling with Adam. But there has been a succession of falls each greater than the last, in every species of crime. God did not create a race of beings so devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as now exists in the world. Disease of every kind has been fearfully increasing upon the race. This has not been by God's especial providence, but directly contrary to His will. It has come by man's disregard of the very means which God has ordained to shield him from the terrible evils existing
In Eden Satan used the serpent as his instrument. Today he makes use of the members of the human family, striving by means of every species of cunning and deception to hedge up the path of righteousness cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. God does not consult our opinions or preferences. He knows what human beings do not know,--the future results of every movement, and therefore our eyes should be directed to Him, and not to the worldly advantages presented by Satan. Satan tells us that if we give heed to him, we shall reach great heights of knowledge. Ye shall be as gods, he said to Eve, if you eat of the tree forbidden by God. The test given to Adam and Eve was very light, but they could not bear it. They disobeyed God, and this transgression opened the floodgates of woe on our world
We can do nothing of ourselves. It is only by relying on Christ for all our strength that we can overcome, and do His will on earth. We must have the same simple, childlike trust in Him that He had in His Father. Christ said, "Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5.
It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of the divine law and gives men license to sin. At the same time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God so that they regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attributed to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war against God. By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.
Age after age, the curiosity of men has led them to seek for the tree of knowledge; and often they think they are plucking fruit most essential, when, like Solomon's research, they find it altogether vanity and nothingness in comparison with that science of true holiness which will open to them the gates of the city of God. The human ambition has been seeking for that kind of knowledge that will bring to them glory and self-exaltation and supremacy.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in heaven still inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like him they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God and promise men liberty through transgression of its precepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance. When God's messages of warning are brought home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify themselves and to seek the sympathy of others in their course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indignation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own time such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to condemn sin.
The Saviour's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those who first received it died without the sight. From the days of Enoch the promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of His appearing, and yet He came not. The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time of His advent, but not all rightly interpreted the message. Century after century passed away; the voices of the prophets ceased. The hand of the oppressor was heavy upon Israel, and many were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth." Ezek. 12:22.
But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay. Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that the time of their sojourning should be four hundred years. "Afterward," He said, "shall they come out with great substance." Gen. 15:14. Against that word, all the power of Pharaoh's proud empire battled in vain. On "the self-same day" appointed in the divine promise, "it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Ex. 12:41. So in heaven's council the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
If the race had ceased to fall when Adam was driven from Eden, we should now be in a far more elevated condition physically, mentally, and morally. But while men deplore the fall of Adam, which has resulted in such unutterable woe, they disobey the express injunctions of God, as did Adam, although they have his example to warn them from doing as he did in violating the law of Jehovah. Would that man had stopped falling with Adam. But there has been a succession of falls each greater than the last, in every species of crime. God did not create a race of beings so devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as now exists in the world. Disease of every kind has been fearfully increasing upon the race. This has not been by God's especial providence, but directly contrary to His will. It has come by man's disregard of the very means which God has ordained to shield him from the terrible evils existing
In Eden Satan used the serpent as his instrument. Today he makes use of the members of the human family, striving by means of every species of cunning and deception to hedge up the path of righteousness cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. God does not consult our opinions or preferences. He knows what human beings do not know,--the future results of every movement, and therefore our eyes should be directed to Him, and not to the worldly advantages presented by Satan. Satan tells us that if we give heed to him, we shall reach great heights of knowledge. Ye shall be as gods, he said to Eve, if you eat of the tree forbidden by God. The test given to Adam and Eve was very light, but they could not bear it. They disobeyed God, and this transgression opened the floodgates of woe on our world
We can do nothing of ourselves. It is only by relying on Christ for all our strength that we can overcome, and do His will on earth. We must have the same simple, childlike trust in Him that He had in His Father. Christ said, "Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5.
It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of the divine law and gives men license to sin. At the same time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God so that they regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attributed to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war against God. By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.
Age after age, the curiosity of men has led them to seek for the tree of knowledge; and often they think they are plucking fruit most essential, when, like Solomon's research, they find it altogether vanity and nothingness in comparison with that science of true holiness which will open to them the gates of the city of God. The human ambition has been seeking for that kind of knowledge that will bring to them glory and self-exaltation and supremacy.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in heaven still inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like him they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God and promise men liberty through transgression of its precepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance. When God's messages of warning are brought home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify themselves and to seek the sympathy of others in their course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indignation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own time such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to condemn sin.
The Saviour's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those who first received it died without the sight. From the days of Enoch the promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of His appearing, and yet He came not. The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time of His advent, but not all rightly interpreted the message. Century after century passed away; the voices of the prophets ceased. The hand of the oppressor was heavy upon Israel, and many were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth." Ezek. 12:22.
But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay. Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that the time of their sojourning should be four hundred years. "Afterward," He said, "shall they come out with great substance." Gen. 15:14. Against that word, all the power of Pharaoh's proud empire battled in vain. On "the self-same day" appointed in the divine promise, "it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Ex. 12:41. So in heaven's council the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Part 4 – The fall of humanity
It was God's purpose to re-populate heaven with the human family, if they would show themselves obedient to His every word. Adam was to be tested, to see whether he would be obedient, as the loyal angels, or disobedient. If he stood the test, his instruction to his children would have been only of loyalty. His mind and thoughts would have been as the mind and thoughts of God.
God assembled the angelic host to take measures to avert the threatened evil. It was decided in Heaven's council for angels to visit Eden and warn Adam that he was in danger from the foe. Two angels sped on their way to visit our first parents. The holy pair received them with joyful innocence, expressing their grateful thanks to their Creator for thus surrounding them with such a profusion of his bounty.
Everything lovely and attractive was theirs to enjoy, and everything seemed wisely adapted to their wants; and that which they prized above all other blessings, was the society of the Son of God and the heavenly angels, for they had much to relate to them at every visit, of their new discoveries of the beauties of nature in their lovely Eden home, and they had many questions to ask relative to many things which they could but indistinctly comprehend.
The angels graciously and lovingly gave them the information they desired. They also gave them the sad history of Satan's rebellion and fall. They then distinctly informed them that the tree of knowledge was placed in the garden to be a pledge of their obedience and love to God; that the high and happy estate of the holy angels was to be retained upon condition of obedience; that they were similarly situated; that they could obey the law of God and be inexpressibly happy, or disobey, and lose their high estate, and be plunged into hopeless despair.
They told Adam and Eve that God would not compel them to obey--that he had not removed from them power to go contrary to his will; that they were moral agents, free to obey or disobey. There was but one prohibition that God had seen fit to lay upon them as yet. If they should transgress the will of God, they would surely die. They told Adam and Eve that the most exalted angel, next in order to Christ, refused obedience to the law of God which he had ordained to govern heavenly beings; that this rebellion had caused war in Heaven which resulted in the rebellious being expelled therefrom, and every angel was driven out of Heaven who united with him in questioning the authority of the great Jehovah; and that
this fallen foe was now an enemy to all that concerned the interest of God and his dear Son.
They told them that Satan purposed to do them harm, and it was necessary for them to be guarded, for they might come in contact with the fallen foe; but he could not harm them while they yielded obedience to God's command; for, if necessary, every angel from Heaven would come to their help rather than that he should in any way do them harm. But if they disobeyed the command of God, then Satan would have power to ever annoy, perplex, and trouble, them. If they remained steadfast against the first insinuations of Satan, they were as secure as the heavenly angels. But if they yielded to the tempter, He who spared not the exalted angels, would not spare them. They must suffer the penalty of their transgression; for the law of God was as sacred as himself, and he required implicit obedience from all in Heaven and on earth.
The angels cautioned Eve not to separate from her husband in her employment; for she might be brought in contact with this fallen foe. If separated from each other, they would be in greater danger than if both were together. The angels charged them to closely follow the instructions God had given them in reference to the tree of knowledge; for in perfect obedience they were safe, and this fallen foe could then have no power to deceive them. God would not permit Satan to follow the holy pair with continual temptations. He could have access to them only at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But absorbed in her pleasing task, she unconsciously wandered from his side. She soon found herself gazing with mingled curiosity and admiration upon the forbidden tree. The fruit was very beautiful, and she questioned with herself why God had withheld it from them. Now was the tempter's opportunity. As if he were able to discern the workings of her mind, he addressed her: "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Eve's curiosity was aroused. Instead of fleeing from the spot, she listened to hear a serpent talk. It did not occur to her mind that it might be that fallen foe, using the serpent as a medium. It was Satan that spoke, not the serpent. Eve was beguiled, flattered, infatuated. Had she met a commanding personage, possessing a form like the angels, and resembling them, she would have been upon her guard. But that strange voice should have driven her to her husband's side to inquire of him why another should thus freely address her. But she enters into a controversy with the serpent. She answers his question, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." The serpent answers, "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Satan would convey the idea that by eating of the forbidden tree, they would receive a new and more noble kind of knowledge than they had hitherto attained. This has been his special work with great success ever since his fall, to lead men to pry into the secrets of the Almighty, and not to be satisfied with what God has revealed, and not careful to obey that which he has commanded. He would lead them to disobey God's commands, and then make them believe that they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. This is purely supposition, and a miserable deception. They fail to understand what God has revealed, and disregard his explicit commandments, and aspire after wisdom, independent of God, and seek to understand that which he has been pleased to withhold from mortals. They are elated with their ideas of progression, and charmed with their own vain philosophy; but grope in midnight darkness relative to true knowledge. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
God assembled the angelic host to take measures to avert the threatened evil. It was decided in Heaven's council for angels to visit Eden and warn Adam that he was in danger from the foe. Two angels sped on their way to visit our first parents. The holy pair received them with joyful innocence, expressing their grateful thanks to their Creator for thus surrounding them with such a profusion of his bounty.
Everything lovely and attractive was theirs to enjoy, and everything seemed wisely adapted to their wants; and that which they prized above all other blessings, was the society of the Son of God and the heavenly angels, for they had much to relate to them at every visit, of their new discoveries of the beauties of nature in their lovely Eden home, and they had many questions to ask relative to many things which they could but indistinctly comprehend.
The angels graciously and lovingly gave them the information they desired. They also gave them the sad history of Satan's rebellion and fall. They then distinctly informed them that the tree of knowledge was placed in the garden to be a pledge of their obedience and love to God; that the high and happy estate of the holy angels was to be retained upon condition of obedience; that they were similarly situated; that they could obey the law of God and be inexpressibly happy, or disobey, and lose their high estate, and be plunged into hopeless despair.
They told Adam and Eve that God would not compel them to obey--that he had not removed from them power to go contrary to his will; that they were moral agents, free to obey or disobey. There was but one prohibition that God had seen fit to lay upon them as yet. If they should transgress the will of God, they would surely die. They told Adam and Eve that the most exalted angel, next in order to Christ, refused obedience to the law of God which he had ordained to govern heavenly beings; that this rebellion had caused war in Heaven which resulted in the rebellious being expelled therefrom, and every angel was driven out of Heaven who united with him in questioning the authority of the great Jehovah; and that
this fallen foe was now an enemy to all that concerned the interest of God and his dear Son.
They told them that Satan purposed to do them harm, and it was necessary for them to be guarded, for they might come in contact with the fallen foe; but he could not harm them while they yielded obedience to God's command; for, if necessary, every angel from Heaven would come to their help rather than that he should in any way do them harm. But if they disobeyed the command of God, then Satan would have power to ever annoy, perplex, and trouble, them. If they remained steadfast against the first insinuations of Satan, they were as secure as the heavenly angels. But if they yielded to the tempter, He who spared not the exalted angels, would not spare them. They must suffer the penalty of their transgression; for the law of God was as sacred as himself, and he required implicit obedience from all in Heaven and on earth.
The angels cautioned Eve not to separate from her husband in her employment; for she might be brought in contact with this fallen foe. If separated from each other, they would be in greater danger than if both were together. The angels charged them to closely follow the instructions God had given them in reference to the tree of knowledge; for in perfect obedience they were safe, and this fallen foe could then have no power to deceive them. God would not permit Satan to follow the holy pair with continual temptations. He could have access to them only at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But absorbed in her pleasing task, she unconsciously wandered from his side. She soon found herself gazing with mingled curiosity and admiration upon the forbidden tree. The fruit was very beautiful, and she questioned with herself why God had withheld it from them. Now was the tempter's opportunity. As if he were able to discern the workings of her mind, he addressed her: "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Eve's curiosity was aroused. Instead of fleeing from the spot, she listened to hear a serpent talk. It did not occur to her mind that it might be that fallen foe, using the serpent as a medium. It was Satan that spoke, not the serpent. Eve was beguiled, flattered, infatuated. Had she met a commanding personage, possessing a form like the angels, and resembling them, she would have been upon her guard. But that strange voice should have driven her to her husband's side to inquire of him why another should thus freely address her. But she enters into a controversy with the serpent. She answers his question, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." The serpent answers, "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Satan would convey the idea that by eating of the forbidden tree, they would receive a new and more noble kind of knowledge than they had hitherto attained. This has been his special work with great success ever since his fall, to lead men to pry into the secrets of the Almighty, and not to be satisfied with what God has revealed, and not careful to obey that which he has commanded. He would lead them to disobey God's commands, and then make them believe that they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. This is purely supposition, and a miserable deception. They fail to understand what God has revealed, and disregard his explicit commandments, and aspire after wisdom, independent of God, and seek to understand that which he has been pleased to withhold from mortals. They are elated with their ideas of progression, and charmed with their own vain philosophy; but grope in midnight darkness relative to true knowledge. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
MR. SPIELBERG HAVE I GOT A SCRIPT FOR YOU
Once every few years a major Hollywood motion picture is filmed in the area where I live. I remember one time I was working as a delivery man downtown and a few blocks had been shut down for a film in progress. In pondering all the trucks and equipment around, thinking of what celebrity might be right around the corner, I imagined a situation where I would walk into an elevator and low and behold, some great director would be standing beside me. The company “Dreamworks SKG” produces many films and has even done two epic Bible animated versions of the stories of Joseph and Moses (“Joseph ---“ and “The Prince of Egypt”). I know that Steven Spielberg is the “S” in “SKG” so in my imagined scenario I think of him and say “How about this for your next animated Bible film ‘Adam and Eve – A Love Story’? Give me your card and I’ll send you a treatment”.
If I ever got to pitch someone this idea in reality what I would send would be something like what you will see in the rest of this chapter, a story not of Adam’s love for Eve, but of God’s love for all humankind. The following words are taken from an author who lived in the 19th century. She wrote on a number of different faith related topics including many of the themes we have discussed here in this blog. What I find to be especially fascinating is the way in which she wrote. You get the impression as you read that you are watching the whole story play out on video inside your mind. I would like to ask you to imagine this as a script for a film as grandiose as Star Wars complete with special effects and a riveting score.
Of course no matter how good a job a team of filmmakers could do in bringing this story to life on the big screen, the general public probably wouldn’t like it. The modern mind that needs to be “wowed” with special effects is not the mind that seeks to find truth. The “wow factor” has to come from the truth itself, which I think it does do here. Combine that with the two opposing points of view that have run through this whole blog (the Star Trek mentality versus the 14th century one) and likely those who live one side or the other would not be willing to give up their preconceived notions in order to adopt such a radical idea. However I will hold until my dying day to the truth of all that has been discussed in this blog:
Science and the modern mindset has not defeated the Bible.
The story of the plan of salvation is just as exciting as any science fiction. It is not only true, it is truth and meets the deep seated spiritual needs that sci-fi is an attempt to meet.
That the ‘Heaven’ of the Bible is in the same physical reality as this world. And so is all that we can see of the universe, including any planets we may discover.
Holding to a balanced understanding as this blog describes therefore makes the gospel very practical for the 21st century.
And one final point, STAY FAITHFUL TO THE LORD AND YOU’LL GET THERE!
Here’s my script, taken from a number of books. From this point on the only words of mine are clearly indicated in parentheses:
Part 1 – How Lucifer became Satan
To many minds the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in love. Here is a mystery of which they find no explanation. And in their uncertainty and doubt they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's word and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God has never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and such as are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin.
It is impossible to explain the origin of sin so as to give a reason for its existence. Yet enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is "the transgression of the law;" it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government.
Before the entrance of evil there was peace and joy throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with the Creator's will. Love for God was supreme, love for one another impartial. Christ the Word, the Only Begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,--one in nature, in character, and in purpose,--the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. By Christ the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers" (Colossians 1:16); and to Christ, equally with the Father, all heaven gave allegiance.
The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love--homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.
But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and who stood highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. "Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . .Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekiel 28:12-15.
Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. But, says the prophet, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Verse 17. Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for self-exaltation. "Thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God." "Thou hast said, . . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation....I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Verse 6; Isaiah 14:13, 14. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of His creatures, it was Lucifer's endeavor to win their service and homage to himself. And coveting the honor which the infinite Father had bestowed upon His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of Christ alone to wield.
All heaven had rejoiced to reflect the Creator's glory and to show forth His praise. And while God was thus honored, all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now marred the celestial harmonies. The service and exaltation of self, contrary to the Creator's plan, awakened forebodings of evil in minds to whom God's glory was supreme. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became the more determined.
If I ever got to pitch someone this idea in reality what I would send would be something like what you will see in the rest of this chapter, a story not of Adam’s love for Eve, but of God’s love for all humankind. The following words are taken from an author who lived in the 19th century. She wrote on a number of different faith related topics including many of the themes we have discussed here in this blog. What I find to be especially fascinating is the way in which she wrote. You get the impression as you read that you are watching the whole story play out on video inside your mind. I would like to ask you to imagine this as a script for a film as grandiose as Star Wars complete with special effects and a riveting score.
Of course no matter how good a job a team of filmmakers could do in bringing this story to life on the big screen, the general public probably wouldn’t like it. The modern mind that needs to be “wowed” with special effects is not the mind that seeks to find truth. The “wow factor” has to come from the truth itself, which I think it does do here. Combine that with the two opposing points of view that have run through this whole blog (the Star Trek mentality versus the 14th century one) and likely those who live one side or the other would not be willing to give up their preconceived notions in order to adopt such a radical idea. However I will hold until my dying day to the truth of all that has been discussed in this blog:
Science and the modern mindset has not defeated the Bible.
The story of the plan of salvation is just as exciting as any science fiction. It is not only true, it is truth and meets the deep seated spiritual needs that sci-fi is an attempt to meet.
That the ‘Heaven’ of the Bible is in the same physical reality as this world. And so is all that we can see of the universe, including any planets we may discover.
Holding to a balanced understanding as this blog describes therefore makes the gospel very practical for the 21st century.
And one final point, STAY FAITHFUL TO THE LORD AND YOU’LL GET THERE!
Here’s my script, taken from a number of books. From this point on the only words of mine are clearly indicated in parentheses:
Part 1 – How Lucifer became Satan
To many minds the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in love. Here is a mystery of which they find no explanation. And in their uncertainty and doubt they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's word and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God has never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and such as are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin.
It is impossible to explain the origin of sin so as to give a reason for its existence. Yet enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is "the transgression of the law;" it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government.
Before the entrance of evil there was peace and joy throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with the Creator's will. Love for God was supreme, love for one another impartial. Christ the Word, the Only Begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,--one in nature, in character, and in purpose,--the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. By Christ the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers" (Colossians 1:16); and to Christ, equally with the Father, all heaven gave allegiance.
The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love--homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.
But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and who stood highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. "Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . .Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekiel 28:12-15.
Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. But, says the prophet, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Verse 17. Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for self-exaltation. "Thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God." "Thou hast said, . . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation....I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Verse 6; Isaiah 14:13, 14. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of His creatures, it was Lucifer's endeavor to win their service and homage to himself. And coveting the honor which the infinite Father had bestowed upon His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of Christ alone to wield.
All heaven had rejoiced to reflect the Creator's glory and to show forth His praise. And while God was thus honored, all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now marred the celestial harmonies. The service and exaltation of self, contrary to the Creator's plan, awakened forebodings of evil in minds to whom God's glory was supreme. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became the more determined.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
William Miller and the others in the world-wide movement that came up as a result of exploring this prophecy correctly reasoned that the first part for the Jews and the rest must both start at the same time, 457 BC. They originally didn’t know about the lack of a year zero and just like you would on a calculator today, came up with 1843 (negative 457 plus 2300 equals 1843). At first they thought it would take place in the spring. They then came up with 1844 as the correct year and thought the next spring would be it. One scholar in this movement noticed that since Artaxeres decree came into effect in the fall, the time period wouldn’t end until the fall. As the fall got closer another also noticed that the spring festivals in the Jewish ceremonial calendar that pointed to Jesus’ first Coming were literally fulfilled on the exact days in question that they took place that year. The last super was held the same night as Passover, for instance. This lead them to the conclusion that the exact day for the Jewish Day of Atonement cleansing of the earthly sanctuary would be the day Jesus returned. October 22 was Rosh Hashanah that year. Since there was no more reasoning that could be done the hopes and dreams of the people were pitched to the highest level they could be. Hence the term ‘great’ to describe their disappointment. If you’d like to read more about this you can find William Miller’s book at the Internet Sacred Text Archive www.sacred-texts.com. We have already seen that they did make the one mistake thinking the cleansing would be the end of the world, but God used them to test the sincerity of the rest.
There’s a great comment in Hebrews 4:16 that ties what we’ve just discussed to what Jesus is doing for us now in the Sanctuary: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” To come boldly is to not let the thought of your inability to obey Him cut off your faith. Don’t focus on how unworthy you feel compared to Jesus in His perfection. Focus on how good, kind and merciful He is. Don’t let this thought lead you to presume upon His mercy of course, but remember God loves you and He wants to save you. Salvation is a very practical thing. If you ask Him to wipe out the record of your sins in the Sanctuary now, He will do it if you have truly turned form those sins with all your heat.
What Jesus did on the cross was to save you and what He is doing now is to save you as well. He is going over the lists and will wait until everyone has made their decision. However at the same time several significant events are happening on earth. God’s truth about this many other important Bible teachings are going out to all the world. He has His people here sharing the truth so that everyone can have that chance to decide. At the same time a myriad of Satan’s counterfeits, including the great emphasis today’s society has on science as the way to solve all man’s problems and reclaim earth’s place in the universe, are going out as well. Another great counterfeit to watch out for comes from the Christianity of the 14th century. You see, this truth regarding what really happened on October 22, 1844, that Jesus began this first phase of the judgement described in Daniel 7 with the 100 million angels is only being taught today by the Seventh-day Adventists. When the Great Disappointment happened, the vast majority of those who believed and rejected William Miller’s teachings rejected this concept as the explanation for what really happened that day.
So that’s where we are now. There are many options available for you to choose but only one is really the truth. And that truth is far greater a truth that you’d ever previously imagined it could be. It encompasses all that was right and true from the Bible within the 14th century view, includes all that modern science has gleaned from this physical reality we are in, and is infinitely more fulfilling than the attempts to meet our spiritual needs that science fiction really is. All the events we’ve already seen at the start of this chapter about the Second Coming of Christ and the real end of the world won’t happen until everyone has made their decision. Why not make yours today?
In the next chapter we will have the same story told as if it were a novel or a screenplay. Let your heart be thrilled as you experience the wonder of God’s love for you. Very few of the words will be my own and are taken form the pen of someone writing as if she had seen the whole thing on video. Here’s a little bit of her words from “Steps to Christ” pages 88 and 89:
The theme of redemption is one that the angels desire to look into; it will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? The infinite mercy and love of Jesus, the sacrifice made in our behalf, call for the most serious and solemn reflection. We should dwell upon the character of our dear Redeemer and Intercessor. We should meditate upon the mission of Him who came to save His people from their sins. As we thus contemplate heavenly themes, our faith and love will grow stronger, and our prayers will be more and more acceptable to God, because they will be more and more mixed with faith and love. They will be intelligent and fervent. There will be more constant confidence in Jesus, and a daily, living experience in His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
As we meditate upon the perfections of the Saviour, we shall desire to be wholly transformed and renewed in the image of His purity. There will be a hungering and thirsting of soul to become like Him whom we adore. The more our thoughts are upon Christ, the more we shall speak of Him to others and represent Him to the world.”
There’s a great comment in Hebrews 4:16 that ties what we’ve just discussed to what Jesus is doing for us now in the Sanctuary: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” To come boldly is to not let the thought of your inability to obey Him cut off your faith. Don’t focus on how unworthy you feel compared to Jesus in His perfection. Focus on how good, kind and merciful He is. Don’t let this thought lead you to presume upon His mercy of course, but remember God loves you and He wants to save you. Salvation is a very practical thing. If you ask Him to wipe out the record of your sins in the Sanctuary now, He will do it if you have truly turned form those sins with all your heat.
What Jesus did on the cross was to save you and what He is doing now is to save you as well. He is going over the lists and will wait until everyone has made their decision. However at the same time several significant events are happening on earth. God’s truth about this many other important Bible teachings are going out to all the world. He has His people here sharing the truth so that everyone can have that chance to decide. At the same time a myriad of Satan’s counterfeits, including the great emphasis today’s society has on science as the way to solve all man’s problems and reclaim earth’s place in the universe, are going out as well. Another great counterfeit to watch out for comes from the Christianity of the 14th century. You see, this truth regarding what really happened on October 22, 1844, that Jesus began this first phase of the judgement described in Daniel 7 with the 100 million angels is only being taught today by the Seventh-day Adventists. When the Great Disappointment happened, the vast majority of those who believed and rejected William Miller’s teachings rejected this concept as the explanation for what really happened that day.
So that’s where we are now. There are many options available for you to choose but only one is really the truth. And that truth is far greater a truth that you’d ever previously imagined it could be. It encompasses all that was right and true from the Bible within the 14th century view, includes all that modern science has gleaned from this physical reality we are in, and is infinitely more fulfilling than the attempts to meet our spiritual needs that science fiction really is. All the events we’ve already seen at the start of this chapter about the Second Coming of Christ and the real end of the world won’t happen until everyone has made their decision. Why not make yours today?
In the next chapter we will have the same story told as if it were a novel or a screenplay. Let your heart be thrilled as you experience the wonder of God’s love for you. Very few of the words will be my own and are taken form the pen of someone writing as if she had seen the whole thing on video. Here’s a little bit of her words from “Steps to Christ” pages 88 and 89:
The theme of redemption is one that the angels desire to look into; it will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? The infinite mercy and love of Jesus, the sacrifice made in our behalf, call for the most serious and solemn reflection. We should dwell upon the character of our dear Redeemer and Intercessor. We should meditate upon the mission of Him who came to save His people from their sins. As we thus contemplate heavenly themes, our faith and love will grow stronger, and our prayers will be more and more acceptable to God, because they will be more and more mixed with faith and love. They will be intelligent and fervent. There will be more constant confidence in Jesus, and a daily, living experience in His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
As we meditate upon the perfections of the Saviour, we shall desire to be wholly transformed and renewed in the image of His purity. There will be a hungering and thirsting of soul to become like Him whom we adore. The more our thoughts are upon Christ, the more we shall speak of Him to others and represent Him to the world.”
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Jesus as one man had achieved the impossible. He had obeyed in a world of sin, refuting the charge that God’s laws are too harsh. He had offered Himself as the sacrifice in man’s place, refuting the charge that God doesn’t care. And! By doing both He also refuted the charge that God is some sort of egomaniac demanding worship without anything in return. God Himself in the person of Christ showed just how much he really does care about His creatures. Philippians 2:5-11 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “
I once worked with a man I’ll call “Ned” who asked me “how can they say Christ was tempted in all things when He was never molested as a child?” It’s a worthwhile question to consider. Hebrews 4:5 does say “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Ned’s reasoning in part came from a lack of understanding as to the nature of the first and second deaths and many of the other truths we’ve been discussing. As wonderful as it is to read the four gospels and focus on Christ dying a gruesome, horrible, physical death, it’s in light of the overall background theme of the conflict between good and evil that has been going on in every generation that makes the cross of much greater value.
When I explained to him the meaning of the separation and the Father forsaking the Son on the cross it help him to understand better. As well, to be tempted in all points may not mean every actual sin. For instance it’s a sin to eat drink or smoke things that damage you body. Your health is a gift from God so alcohol, cigarettes and street drugs are not things true Christians will have anything to do with. Tobacco did not exist in Bible time except in the Americas, which had no contact with the Holy land at the time. To be tempted in all points really means every kind of sin. No one had fancy sports cars then. There would still have been the same prideful “because I can afford this and you can’t, I’m better than you” attitude in those who looked at their chariots the same way some people look at cars today. I’m sure you get my point.
If Jesus were only a normal man living a life of sin, His sin would have been enough to keep Him out of Heaven even if He did become perfect while on earth. He had to have lived a perfect life for the whole time He was here. If He was a perfect man, (but only a man) and died, He would have only been able to save one other man, and He would not have been able to get out of the grave Himself, because someone has to pay for sin. It is because He was God, therefore infinite, that He could make an infinite sacrifice and save as many as will come to Him. It is important to note that as God alone, He could not save man because it was man that sinned and man must die for sin. Therefore, for the infinite God to make this infinite sacrifice, the infinite God had to become a finite man. Only He truly has life in Himself because God is the creator and not a created being. All that life was wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ and offered on the cross to pay the debt mankind owes.
Consider the words of Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” No one can make themselves good enough for God. Think about what it would have been like though if humans could make themselves good enough for God? Then the Lord would owe us salvation, wouldn’t He? Who then would be the highest authority in the universe? Though it is not possible for us to make ourselves good enough for God, His plan of salvation had to play out the way it did in order to preserve His integrity and legal authority as King of the Universe.
And the cross also shows the pain sin has caused the heart of the Lord. With one member of the Trinity coming to earth with the approval of the other two, it was God’s way of acting out how much He hurts when any of us do anything wrong. Isaiah 49:15 and the first part of 16 says ....”Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
Romans 3:26 speaks about how through the plan of salvation God is both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” at the same time. The penalty for sin was death, but because God took that penalty upon Himself man could live and have a second chance. Is that what you’d like to have? If you’ve never done so before I would invite you to ask Jesus to be you Saviour right now.
I once worked with a man I’ll call “Ned” who asked me “how can they say Christ was tempted in all things when He was never molested as a child?” It’s a worthwhile question to consider. Hebrews 4:5 does say “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Ned’s reasoning in part came from a lack of understanding as to the nature of the first and second deaths and many of the other truths we’ve been discussing. As wonderful as it is to read the four gospels and focus on Christ dying a gruesome, horrible, physical death, it’s in light of the overall background theme of the conflict between good and evil that has been going on in every generation that makes the cross of much greater value.
When I explained to him the meaning of the separation and the Father forsaking the Son on the cross it help him to understand better. As well, to be tempted in all points may not mean every actual sin. For instance it’s a sin to eat drink or smoke things that damage you body. Your health is a gift from God so alcohol, cigarettes and street drugs are not things true Christians will have anything to do with. Tobacco did not exist in Bible time except in the Americas, which had no contact with the Holy land at the time. To be tempted in all points really means every kind of sin. No one had fancy sports cars then. There would still have been the same prideful “because I can afford this and you can’t, I’m better than you” attitude in those who looked at their chariots the same way some people look at cars today. I’m sure you get my point.
If Jesus were only a normal man living a life of sin, His sin would have been enough to keep Him out of Heaven even if He did become perfect while on earth. He had to have lived a perfect life for the whole time He was here. If He was a perfect man, (but only a man) and died, He would have only been able to save one other man, and He would not have been able to get out of the grave Himself, because someone has to pay for sin. It is because He was God, therefore infinite, that He could make an infinite sacrifice and save as many as will come to Him. It is important to note that as God alone, He could not save man because it was man that sinned and man must die for sin. Therefore, for the infinite God to make this infinite sacrifice, the infinite God had to become a finite man. Only He truly has life in Himself because God is the creator and not a created being. All that life was wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ and offered on the cross to pay the debt mankind owes.
Consider the words of Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” No one can make themselves good enough for God. Think about what it would have been like though if humans could make themselves good enough for God? Then the Lord would owe us salvation, wouldn’t He? Who then would be the highest authority in the universe? Though it is not possible for us to make ourselves good enough for God, His plan of salvation had to play out the way it did in order to preserve His integrity and legal authority as King of the Universe.
And the cross also shows the pain sin has caused the heart of the Lord. With one member of the Trinity coming to earth with the approval of the other two, it was God’s way of acting out how much He hurts when any of us do anything wrong. Isaiah 49:15 and the first part of 16 says ....”Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
Romans 3:26 speaks about how through the plan of salvation God is both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” at the same time. The penalty for sin was death, but because God took that penalty upon Himself man could live and have a second chance. Is that what you’d like to have? If you’ve never done so before I would invite you to ask Jesus to be you Saviour right now.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Why Haven't They Gone Back final post
Do you see the answer to the question now of why Jesus has not come back? 2 Peter 3:8, 9 is a comment on the greatness of God’s patience and merciful love. The answer is because He wants everyone to have a chance to accept His death on the cross for their sakes. When every single person in the entire world has had one chance at the same time to accept or reject the full truth and made their decision accordingly, Jesus will come back. He will destroy this flawed, imperfect world that is attempting to create its own heaven on earth and take His people to the real Heaven where their eternal lives of joy peace and unimaginable knowledge will begin. Before that though, He’ll need to be justified in destroying this world. So at the same time He’s working through His people to make them better and better, He’s allowing those who reject Him to become worse and worse until this great moral decline we have seen in the last 50 years crescendos into the time of trouble prophesied in Daniel 12:1.
I’d like to highlight a few very important verses from Matthew 24. Verse 8 comes immediately after the “wars, earthquakes and famines” Jesus then said “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” In other words, it’s not the events in the world, be they political crises or natural disasters that we really need to worry about. Yet that’s what so many focus on when they seek to understand prophecy (especially so many who are fascinated with the teachings of false prophets such as Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce).
What we really need to look for are events in the religious and spiritual realm as is shown by verse “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” This is preceded in verses 12 and 13 by “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Does not the incredible downturn in the morals of western society since the 1960’s completely fulfill this part of the prophecy? At the same time this has been happening the gospel has been going out on a much further and wider basis than ever before. The first generation fulfilled this prophecy by taking the gospel to the known world of their day, the Roman Empire, and then the end came in the form of the destruction of the temple. But we definitely will see the work of reaching the world finished in our day. Therefore Jesus is coming soon!
Luke 17:28-30 gives us a comparison to illustrate the point. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; “but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” The modern equivalent of leaving Sodom will not be to travel to any particular place. However, we can leave Sodom today by taking a firm, full and complete stand for God.
This is where many people are looking at prophecy the wrong way. Whatever the crisis will be, it will be so large it will make “men's hearts will fail them for fear” as the Bible says. The most important part will not be to be physically ready by knowing what’s about to come but to be spiritually ready by knowing Who is about to come right afterward.
As I mentioned previously, Marvin Moore speculates that maybe a comet will hit the earth and that will be the great crisis that finally sparks the end time. Personally, I believe what we will see is nuclear terrorism and the use of other weapons of mass destruction such as biological warfare in an all out world wide war between “Christian” and “Muslim” for control of the Holy land. This is simply based on the current trend in motion that was established by the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I say it with the same fervor Marvin Moore did “I MAY BE WRONG”. Since this is pure speculation, I will not attempt to prove this point in depth here. It simply seems logical that after the Lord allowing western civilization more than 150 years to create a heaven on earth, whatever crisis there is that does come would need to be one that demonstrates how futile this attempt ultimately has been when done without Him. If we are going to think we can hold the ultimate power of life and death in our hands through genetic engineering and atomic weapons as previously discussed here, does it not make sense that somehow this has to come back to haunt us? It’s the only way to show not only to us, but to the whole universe that only the Lord Himself can be trusted with this power.
That the enemy of the day right now is radical Muslims may change. Various Christian commentators wrote books for years during the Cold War expecting the Soviet Union to attack Israel. Of course they were incorrect as it never happened. Now those same commentators expect the Muslims to do it. The Lord has always worked to teach His people their lessons by giving them into the hands of their enemies when they refuse to listen to Him. That’s what the entire book of Judges is about. So if this war on terror is finally won and the end of time is delayed further, another enemy will rise up from another place just in time for God to use them if He needs to.
Referring to the various prophetic events we’ve discussed, Jesus in Luke 21:28 said “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” In other words, as you see world events play out in whatever way they do toward the end, the main focus of your life needs to be on getting ready for Jesus. He obviously said this to give comfort, hope and understanding to every generation that has waited for Him and wondered why He hasn’t come back yet.
Although we’ve discussed the need to be spiritually ready, that phrase needs to be more clearly defined. In the next chapter we’ll look at some Bible truths that were lost during the Dark Ages and see how their restoration today can greatly affect your worldview and give compatibility and harmony to the seemingly opposite positions people hold today.
I’d like to highlight a few very important verses from Matthew 24. Verse 8 comes immediately after the “wars, earthquakes and famines” Jesus then said “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” In other words, it’s not the events in the world, be they political crises or natural disasters that we really need to worry about. Yet that’s what so many focus on when they seek to understand prophecy (especially so many who are fascinated with the teachings of false prophets such as Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce).
What we really need to look for are events in the religious and spiritual realm as is shown by verse “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” This is preceded in verses 12 and 13 by “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Does not the incredible downturn in the morals of western society since the 1960’s completely fulfill this part of the prophecy? At the same time this has been happening the gospel has been going out on a much further and wider basis than ever before. The first generation fulfilled this prophecy by taking the gospel to the known world of their day, the Roman Empire, and then the end came in the form of the destruction of the temple. But we definitely will see the work of reaching the world finished in our day. Therefore Jesus is coming soon!
Luke 17:28-30 gives us a comparison to illustrate the point. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; “but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” The modern equivalent of leaving Sodom will not be to travel to any particular place. However, we can leave Sodom today by taking a firm, full and complete stand for God.
This is where many people are looking at prophecy the wrong way. Whatever the crisis will be, it will be so large it will make “men's hearts will fail them for fear” as the Bible says. The most important part will not be to be physically ready by knowing what’s about to come but to be spiritually ready by knowing Who is about to come right afterward.
As I mentioned previously, Marvin Moore speculates that maybe a comet will hit the earth and that will be the great crisis that finally sparks the end time. Personally, I believe what we will see is nuclear terrorism and the use of other weapons of mass destruction such as biological warfare in an all out world wide war between “Christian” and “Muslim” for control of the Holy land. This is simply based on the current trend in motion that was established by the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I say it with the same fervor Marvin Moore did “I MAY BE WRONG”. Since this is pure speculation, I will not attempt to prove this point in depth here. It simply seems logical that after the Lord allowing western civilization more than 150 years to create a heaven on earth, whatever crisis there is that does come would need to be one that demonstrates how futile this attempt ultimately has been when done without Him. If we are going to think we can hold the ultimate power of life and death in our hands through genetic engineering and atomic weapons as previously discussed here, does it not make sense that somehow this has to come back to haunt us? It’s the only way to show not only to us, but to the whole universe that only the Lord Himself can be trusted with this power.
That the enemy of the day right now is radical Muslims may change. Various Christian commentators wrote books for years during the Cold War expecting the Soviet Union to attack Israel. Of course they were incorrect as it never happened. Now those same commentators expect the Muslims to do it. The Lord has always worked to teach His people their lessons by giving them into the hands of their enemies when they refuse to listen to Him. That’s what the entire book of Judges is about. So if this war on terror is finally won and the end of time is delayed further, another enemy will rise up from another place just in time for God to use them if He needs to.
Referring to the various prophetic events we’ve discussed, Jesus in Luke 21:28 said “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” In other words, as you see world events play out in whatever way they do toward the end, the main focus of your life needs to be on getting ready for Jesus. He obviously said this to give comfort, hope and understanding to every generation that has waited for Him and wondered why He hasn’t come back yet.
Although we’ve discussed the need to be spiritually ready, that phrase needs to be more clearly defined. In the next chapter we’ll look at some Bible truths that were lost during the Dark Ages and see how their restoration today can greatly affect your worldview and give compatibility and harmony to the seemingly opposite positions people hold today.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Of Course They Landed on the Moon POST TWO
Paul’s experience makes the situation quite a bit more interesting. What he saw he spoke of several times, one is in Acts 26:12-23 ““While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, “at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. “And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ “So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ‘But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. ‘I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, ‘to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, “but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. “For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— “that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Paul’s encounter with Christ was just as supernatural as what Peter described. Yet Paul saw Jesus at least three years after He returned to Heaven. The Lord was not a ghost, just as He said to the disciples that Sunday night in Luke 24:37-43, He was still the same Jesus! Paul never met Him that we know of before the cross yet his account harmonizes well with those who did.
Do you trust these men? A liar can’t keep his story straight indefinitely and will always slip up somewhere because he has to make an effort to remember what lies he’s told to whom. And what are the odds that liar would remember his story perfectly 30 years later in Peter and Paul’s case and 60 years later in John’s? When one is telling the truth he or she does not have to remember it in that sense because the truth just is what it is. The overwhelming changes in the disciples from their encounters with Christ testify to the fact that they did experience something real. They all abandoned Him in the garden that Thursday night and their entire world was crushed when Jesus was put on the cross. Yet 50 days after that in Acts 2 and for the rest of their lives we see nothing but courage in them. They might have gone to their graves for a lie to avoid shame and embarrassment but would they have lived so courageously for that same lie until then?
Paul also said in First Thessalonians 2:4, 5 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness.
Verses 9-13 of the same chapter say “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
What the men of God had to say was the word of God. Their character backed up their words. When someone initially searched for God who has no previous knowledge pf spiritual things, that person will look to the one sharing with him and base his decision to some degree on that person’s character. The student looks to the teacher and says “what is truth” but is also saying “does this work for you.” Once the student comes into his own faith relationship with God he will have that faith tested by being allowed to see that his teacher is not perfect after all. Therefore it behooves Christians to live out what they believe every day. The consistency of character these men showed for the rest of their lives is evidence they can be trusted.
It is the Lord who ordained that humans would be used to reach each other. Not everything therefore, will come to us individually straight from God. He will raise up and call some, so they can help others. He will show it’s His word by the changes in your life He makes.... that’s the proof! Just like the proof of creation we’ve already seen, the life, death and resurrection of Christ is proven the same way, by the peace of mind Jesus brings to those who receive Him. Psalm 51:10 says “create in me a clean heart
Remember Jesus words to doubting Thomas in John 20:29? “Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” Ultimately none of us were there. We have to trust those who were. The ultimate proof of creation, Psalm 51:10, is also the ultimate proof Jesus is the Saviour of the world. How could His salvation mean anything if He hadn’t made us in the first place? How could His creation mean anything without His saving Grace either? To repeat the verse, it says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
The fact that there are people today who reject the moon landings is proof of the principle of human nature that ultimately one has to experience things for oneself in order to believe them. They youth of today weren’t there so they can’t believe it. If mankind did return to the moon then many of those same youth would likely admit it was true after all. We all need a continual refreshing like this in order to sustain what we believe in. It’s the same in spiritual things.
“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, “but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. “For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— “that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Paul’s encounter with Christ was just as supernatural as what Peter described. Yet Paul saw Jesus at least three years after He returned to Heaven. The Lord was not a ghost, just as He said to the disciples that Sunday night in Luke 24:37-43, He was still the same Jesus! Paul never met Him that we know of before the cross yet his account harmonizes well with those who did.
Do you trust these men? A liar can’t keep his story straight indefinitely and will always slip up somewhere because he has to make an effort to remember what lies he’s told to whom. And what are the odds that liar would remember his story perfectly 30 years later in Peter and Paul’s case and 60 years later in John’s? When one is telling the truth he or she does not have to remember it in that sense because the truth just is what it is. The overwhelming changes in the disciples from their encounters with Christ testify to the fact that they did experience something real. They all abandoned Him in the garden that Thursday night and their entire world was crushed when Jesus was put on the cross. Yet 50 days after that in Acts 2 and for the rest of their lives we see nothing but courage in them. They might have gone to their graves for a lie to avoid shame and embarrassment but would they have lived so courageously for that same lie until then?
Paul also said in First Thessalonians 2:4, 5 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness.
Verses 9-13 of the same chapter say “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
What the men of God had to say was the word of God. Their character backed up their words. When someone initially searched for God who has no previous knowledge pf spiritual things, that person will look to the one sharing with him and base his decision to some degree on that person’s character. The student looks to the teacher and says “what is truth” but is also saying “does this work for you.” Once the student comes into his own faith relationship with God he will have that faith tested by being allowed to see that his teacher is not perfect after all. Therefore it behooves Christians to live out what they believe every day. The consistency of character these men showed for the rest of their lives is evidence they can be trusted.
It is the Lord who ordained that humans would be used to reach each other. Not everything therefore, will come to us individually straight from God. He will raise up and call some, so they can help others. He will show it’s His word by the changes in your life He makes.... that’s the proof! Just like the proof of creation we’ve already seen, the life, death and resurrection of Christ is proven the same way, by the peace of mind Jesus brings to those who receive Him. Psalm 51:10 says “create in me a clean heart
Remember Jesus words to doubting Thomas in John 20:29? “Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” Ultimately none of us were there. We have to trust those who were. The ultimate proof of creation, Psalm 51:10, is also the ultimate proof Jesus is the Saviour of the world. How could His salvation mean anything if He hadn’t made us in the first place? How could His creation mean anything without His saving Grace either? To repeat the verse, it says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
The fact that there are people today who reject the moon landings is proof of the principle of human nature that ultimately one has to experience things for oneself in order to believe them. They youth of today weren’t there so they can’t believe it. If mankind did return to the moon then many of those same youth would likely admit it was true after all. We all need a continual refreshing like this in order to sustain what we believe in. It’s the same in spiritual things.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Chapter two post two
The first thing we’ll look at is the fact that the Bible does not teach a flat earth. Isaiah 40:22 says “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.” Today’s Astronomers have carefully observed that the universe is in fact expanding. The rest of this verse confirms this truth to be both scientific and Biblical. Who is responsible for that expansion? The Lord is. “Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
Isaac Newton theorized on gravity and the laws of motion after an apple fell and hit him on the head. Well according to Job 26:7, God has power over gravity. “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” Indeed it is His power that keeps everything in motion safely. Colossians 1:16, 17 (this is how the New Revised Standard Version puts it) “For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” If you’ve ever studied the atom you know that in its nucleus there are protons and neutrons. Because of their strong magnetic forces, those positively charged protons should make the nucleus of an atom fly apart. However, they are counterbalanced by even stronger nuclear forces that hold the protons and neutrons together. In other words, every single atom in the entire universe is held together by a power that the Bible says belongs to the Lord. The reference here speaks of Jesus as co-creator with the Father, and it includes everything from the smallest atoms to the largest star systems.
Today astronomers know that the Pleiades are a group of stars growing closer and closer together and the stars in Orion’s belt are hurtling away from each other at fantastic speeds. Arcturus, or the Bear, is one star to the naked eye but a group of seven small ones when you look closely. This was written down in Job 38:31, 32 around three thousand five hundred years before the invention of the telescope. “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?”
If you’d like a few more, I invite you to look up these verses. On the number of stars: Jeremiah 33:22. On how different they are: 1 Corinthians 15:41. On the fact that air has weight: Job 28:25. On the cycle of rain: Job 36:27-29. On mountains under the ocean floor: 2 Samuel 22:16 and Jonah 2:6. And on springs under the ocean, a discovery only made in the last few years: Job 38:16 (we’ll take a detailed look at ALL the scientific statements in the last few chapters of Job in chapter 4).
Cross reference Hebrews 1:1-3, 10; Isaiah 40:25, 26 and Genesis 1:1, 2 and you will see that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were involved in creating the physical realm. While the New King James version uses the word “worlds” we will see it here in the New International Version, which uses the word “universe”. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe (or worlds in NKJV). The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in Heaven.”
“And: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.”
“To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.” (We have a system called “New Galactic Catalogue” for labelling objects in the night sky - such and such a star or nebula is called “NGC 2160”. Here in Isaiah, we see that the Lord names all the stars.)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
The issue of creation versus evolution is of course the most controversial aspect of the religion/science debate today. It is not my purpose to “prove” creation. There are several Christian based scientific organizations dedicated to that cause. Along with them, a number of “Creation Museums” have now come into existence in North America. They also provide interesting facts about the debate that can indeed challenge one’s point of view. However, I still don’t see them able to really “prove” that God did create the world in six literal days, though I do believe that He did. More on this will come in the next chapter.
Would you like something in the way of proof? Here is proof no geologist can dispute. During the early 1990’s, shortly after the various communist governments of eastern Europe fell in rapid succession, a number of Christian groups went in as quick as they could to teach the message of God’s love in giving Jesus to die for the sins of the world. At one meeting in one of those countries a man stood up to give his testimony. “You all know who I am”, he said to the audience. He was the former head of the secret police in that country. He went on to tell a little of his life story, focusing in on the fact that he had been an alcoholic and then he finished with “what atheism, evolution and communism could not do in 50 years, Jesus Christ did in one week”. This story was personally told to me by the speaker of that meeting, a Christian Pastor named Louis Torres.
That’s proof of creation. Psalm 51:10 says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Hebrews 11:6 says, ”But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Those who have traveled the world for the last 150 plus years and found reasons to reject God in their search through geology, archaeology and history found those reasons because they chose to look for them in the first place.
Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution do represent the great divide from which science and faith departed. However that gap had already been widening. The French Revolution was the first time in history anyone anywhere ever attempted to build an atheist state. On November 17th, 1793, the leaders of the revolution held a symbolic event at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was meant as an act in bold defiance of God, the Church and anything religious. In essence what they were saying was “from now on, worship no god but reason”. What did they mean? They made no difference between good and bad religious faith after more than 1200 years of superstition and oppression by the church. They ignored the fact that God had been working since the days of Martin Luther to eradicate those errors. They decided instead that by simply thinking long enough, using logic and deduction, they could solve every problem man has ever had.
Once the Bible had been made illegal and the Ten Commandments were fully voided by the French legislature, the horrors that followed caused historians to refer to this time period in France as the “reign of terror”, one of the most unreasonable times in history that there ever was. Did you know this event was actually predicted in Daniel 11:38? “But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things” (emphasis supplied). God knows the future. He knew what the issues of our day would be and He knows what the real solution is.
Notice carefully the words of Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” The Lord Himself asks us to reason, not with ourselves, not with the world around us from which science has drawn all the knowledge it has gained so far, but with Him! The one promise science cannot keep, no matter how far and wide it searches for answers to life’s questions, the one thing we humans cannot do in our own power and strength; is clear our own consciences. Only be accepting Jesus’ death on the cross in our place can anyone truly have peace inside. Only by the hope that since Jesus rose from the dead to new life can we have life inside our hearts. When you know the Lord, there’s a quality and a peace to your life that you can’t even put into words. You just know it’s there. People who don’t have this peace will tell you plainly, “I’m really not living, I’m just existing”. The despair they feel cannot be filled with gadgets no matter how many new ones are invented.
Isaac Newton theorized on gravity and the laws of motion after an apple fell and hit him on the head. Well according to Job 26:7, God has power over gravity. “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” Indeed it is His power that keeps everything in motion safely. Colossians 1:16, 17 (this is how the New Revised Standard Version puts it) “For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” If you’ve ever studied the atom you know that in its nucleus there are protons and neutrons. Because of their strong magnetic forces, those positively charged protons should make the nucleus of an atom fly apart. However, they are counterbalanced by even stronger nuclear forces that hold the protons and neutrons together. In other words, every single atom in the entire universe is held together by a power that the Bible says belongs to the Lord. The reference here speaks of Jesus as co-creator with the Father, and it includes everything from the smallest atoms to the largest star systems.
Today astronomers know that the Pleiades are a group of stars growing closer and closer together and the stars in Orion’s belt are hurtling away from each other at fantastic speeds. Arcturus, or the Bear, is one star to the naked eye but a group of seven small ones when you look closely. This was written down in Job 38:31, 32 around three thousand five hundred years before the invention of the telescope. “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?”
If you’d like a few more, I invite you to look up these verses. On the number of stars: Jeremiah 33:22. On how different they are: 1 Corinthians 15:41. On the fact that air has weight: Job 28:25. On the cycle of rain: Job 36:27-29. On mountains under the ocean floor: 2 Samuel 22:16 and Jonah 2:6. And on springs under the ocean, a discovery only made in the last few years: Job 38:16 (we’ll take a detailed look at ALL the scientific statements in the last few chapters of Job in chapter 4).
Cross reference Hebrews 1:1-3, 10; Isaiah 40:25, 26 and Genesis 1:1, 2 and you will see that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were involved in creating the physical realm. While the New King James version uses the word “worlds” we will see it here in the New International Version, which uses the word “universe”. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe (or worlds in NKJV). The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in Heaven.”
“And: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.”
“To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.” (We have a system called “New Galactic Catalogue” for labelling objects in the night sky - such and such a star or nebula is called “NGC 2160”. Here in Isaiah, we see that the Lord names all the stars.)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
The issue of creation versus evolution is of course the most controversial aspect of the religion/science debate today. It is not my purpose to “prove” creation. There are several Christian based scientific organizations dedicated to that cause. Along with them, a number of “Creation Museums” have now come into existence in North America. They also provide interesting facts about the debate that can indeed challenge one’s point of view. However, I still don’t see them able to really “prove” that God did create the world in six literal days, though I do believe that He did. More on this will come in the next chapter.
Would you like something in the way of proof? Here is proof no geologist can dispute. During the early 1990’s, shortly after the various communist governments of eastern Europe fell in rapid succession, a number of Christian groups went in as quick as they could to teach the message of God’s love in giving Jesus to die for the sins of the world. At one meeting in one of those countries a man stood up to give his testimony. “You all know who I am”, he said to the audience. He was the former head of the secret police in that country. He went on to tell a little of his life story, focusing in on the fact that he had been an alcoholic and then he finished with “what atheism, evolution and communism could not do in 50 years, Jesus Christ did in one week”. This story was personally told to me by the speaker of that meeting, a Christian Pastor named Louis Torres.
That’s proof of creation. Psalm 51:10 says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Hebrews 11:6 says, ”But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Those who have traveled the world for the last 150 plus years and found reasons to reject God in their search through geology, archaeology and history found those reasons because they chose to look for them in the first place.
Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution do represent the great divide from which science and faith departed. However that gap had already been widening. The French Revolution was the first time in history anyone anywhere ever attempted to build an atheist state. On November 17th, 1793, the leaders of the revolution held a symbolic event at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was meant as an act in bold defiance of God, the Church and anything religious. In essence what they were saying was “from now on, worship no god but reason”. What did they mean? They made no difference between good and bad religious faith after more than 1200 years of superstition and oppression by the church. They ignored the fact that God had been working since the days of Martin Luther to eradicate those errors. They decided instead that by simply thinking long enough, using logic and deduction, they could solve every problem man has ever had.
Once the Bible had been made illegal and the Ten Commandments were fully voided by the French legislature, the horrors that followed caused historians to refer to this time period in France as the “reign of terror”, one of the most unreasonable times in history that there ever was. Did you know this event was actually predicted in Daniel 11:38? “But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things” (emphasis supplied). God knows the future. He knew what the issues of our day would be and He knows what the real solution is.
Notice carefully the words of Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” The Lord Himself asks us to reason, not with ourselves, not with the world around us from which science has drawn all the knowledge it has gained so far, but with Him! The one promise science cannot keep, no matter how far and wide it searches for answers to life’s questions, the one thing we humans cannot do in our own power and strength; is clear our own consciences. Only be accepting Jesus’ death on the cross in our place can anyone truly have peace inside. Only by the hope that since Jesus rose from the dead to new life can we have life inside our hearts. When you know the Lord, there’s a quality and a peace to your life that you can’t even put into words. You just know it’s there. People who don’t have this peace will tell you plainly, “I’m really not living, I’m just existing”. The despair they feel cannot be filled with gadgets no matter how many new ones are invented.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Science Fiction and the Meaning of Our Modern Age Post One
Welcome to "SCIENCE, THE BIBLE AND LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS" the contents of a book examining issues between faith and our modern values. Each chapter will be divided into 3 or 4 posts of about a page and a half each. May all who read this be challenged to think in new ways and experience personal growth because of it.
Sincerely, Les Miller "Mr. Les"
The blog will be divided into 10 chapters, each one sub-divided into 3 or 4 posts, about a page and a half each. The contents are as follows:
TRANSLUCITE
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE
BIBLE PROOF THERE’S LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS
JOB LEARNED WHAT WE ALL MUST
OF COURSE THEY LANDED ON THE MOON
WHY HAVEN’T THEY GONE BACK?
THE (NOT SO) SECRET KEYS THAT UNLOCK THE REAL TRUTH
JOHN 3:16 IN DEPTH
MR. SPIELBERG HAVE I GOT A SCRIPT FOR YOU
EPILOGUE “THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE
For centuries Western civilization operated under a worldview thought to be Christian and Bible based. That is with the earth as pretty much the only physical place, a mysterious world above called Heaven, and another below called Hell. You went to one or the other as a ghost as soon as you died. There were of course five other planets and the constellations that could be seen with the naked eye, but very little was know about them. They and the sun itself were said to revolve around the earth in perfect circles. As society developed and our knowledge base expanded in the last 500 years, we have a very firm grasp on many scientific truths and now know we are a small part of a vast universe. Astronomers have actually identified about 300 planets that revolve around other stars. However not one person gazing into the night sky has ever reported seeing a ghost or an angel anywhere in outer space. Is all this somehow incompatible with the Bible?
There are many today who live in the 21st century all week with its worldview of planets, science and modernism; but then go back to the 1400’s for an hour on Sunday morning (or whenever they open their Bibles) without even realizing it. No wonder massive numbers of their children gradually lost interest in spiritual things over the past few generations. How many millions today have rejected the Bible because of this? How many will tell you that Christianity does not pass the test of critical thinking? Critical thinking is not something Christians need to be afraid of. This is totally unnecessary.
You may have heard the story of Galileo versus the Catholic Church used as evidence to support today’s rejection of God and the Bible. I still remember my Junior High School science teacher telling the class Copernicus’ and Galileo’s story and then saying it was Isaac Newton who set modern science on its firm foundation afterward. What the teacher didn’t say was how Newton was able to do that. Newton lived in a Protestant country that valued knowledge and truth and that during his time persecution was waning within Christendom. I learned later as a Christian that Newton wrote more on theology than on science and that his insights on the timing of the judgement coincide well with what we’ll be looking at a little later in this book.
There were others in Galileo’s time that did not become as famous as he is now because they were not persecuted the same way he was. Johannes Kepler stands out as a prime example. He lived in Germany, which had been under the influence of Martin Luther for about 100 years. Kepler was the one who figured out that planets actually orbit in ellipses, not circles. Even Galileo himself had not accepted this.
“Galileo was famous in other fields besides astronomy … but he has come down in history particularly for two … events. When he used his telescope on the heavens, he made a number of classic observations. He observed the mountains and craters on the moon, and he remarked upon the four satellites, or ‘moons’ of Jupiter. It was, however, his discovery that the planet Venus has phases like the moon which was destined to strike the death-blow to the … belief that the earth was at the centre of all things. … Galileo’s second claim to a place in history derives from his championship of the heliocentric theory, against the bitter opposition of the Church” (“Astronomy for Beginners” by Henry S Brinton F.R.A.S., pages 19-22). “The age old idea that the earth was the centre of the universe was beginning to be shaken at last. … Strangely, at least to modern ears, the idea that the earth, which is God’s creation, should not be at the centre of all things, was offensive to the Church” (page 18).
What people have forgotten today is that the Dark Ages were a spiritual as well as an intellectual darkness. The truths of the Bible were just as much kept from the people as was science and art. The science of the Dark Ages did not come from God’s Word. If common people were able to read their Bibles, which the Catholic Church did not allow at the time, they would have seen that scientists like Galileo were not challenging truth at all.
It wasn’t until 1633 that Galileo was put on trial by the Church for the scientific conclusions in his book “Dialogue on the Great World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican”. However, he had other troubles beforehand. “Although his theories were correct, and he proved them by experiments and demonstrations, Galileo was dismissed from his position at the University of Pisa in 1591. He had aroused the suspicion of his colleagues by his constant attacks on the dearly held, but erroneous physical theories of Aristotle” (“Giants of Science”, pages 34 -35 emphasis supplied). There you have it; they got their science from Aristotle and not God’s word. And! He wasn’t just persecuted by the Church, but also by his peers, the same kind of people who now hail him as a great champion of truth. They just didn’t have the power of life and death in the form of the Inquisition. Human nature being the same then as it is today; most people took their leaders at their word and put their faith in long held traditions whether they were really true or not. Will we soon discover that indeed most today are doing the same thing; they believe what they believe because they were told to?
“In fall 1980, Pope John Paul II ordered a new look at evidence in Galileo's trial. In 1992 came acquittal. But the basic conflict between established religion and modern science is still being played out” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/sept98/galileo.htm). “He was censured by the church and kept from teaching his views because his proofs were inadequate. The case was closed in his favor in 1992” (The “Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps and Timelines”, page 43). Since the Church maintains the doctrine of papal infallibility, she could not admit any real fault. In all the years I’ve ever read anything on this subject, this was the first time I ever saw any quote that didn’t treat Galileo like a great hero. Where exactly his “inadequate” proofs were I do not know. What I do know is that there is quite a bit of what we call modern science that does come from the Bible.
Sincerely, Les Miller "Mr. Les"
The blog will be divided into 10 chapters, each one sub-divided into 3 or 4 posts, about a page and a half each. The contents are as follows:
TRANSLUCITE
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE
BIBLE PROOF THERE’S LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS
JOB LEARNED WHAT WE ALL MUST
OF COURSE THEY LANDED ON THE MOON
WHY HAVEN’T THEY GONE BACK?
THE (NOT SO) SECRET KEYS THAT UNLOCK THE REAL TRUTH
JOHN 3:16 IN DEPTH
MR. SPIELBERG HAVE I GOT A SCRIPT FOR YOU
EPILOGUE “THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE
For centuries Western civilization operated under a worldview thought to be Christian and Bible based. That is with the earth as pretty much the only physical place, a mysterious world above called Heaven, and another below called Hell. You went to one or the other as a ghost as soon as you died. There were of course five other planets and the constellations that could be seen with the naked eye, but very little was know about them. They and the sun itself were said to revolve around the earth in perfect circles. As society developed and our knowledge base expanded in the last 500 years, we have a very firm grasp on many scientific truths and now know we are a small part of a vast universe. Astronomers have actually identified about 300 planets that revolve around other stars. However not one person gazing into the night sky has ever reported seeing a ghost or an angel anywhere in outer space. Is all this somehow incompatible with the Bible?
There are many today who live in the 21st century all week with its worldview of planets, science and modernism; but then go back to the 1400’s for an hour on Sunday morning (or whenever they open their Bibles) without even realizing it. No wonder massive numbers of their children gradually lost interest in spiritual things over the past few generations. How many millions today have rejected the Bible because of this? How many will tell you that Christianity does not pass the test of critical thinking? Critical thinking is not something Christians need to be afraid of. This is totally unnecessary.
You may have heard the story of Galileo versus the Catholic Church used as evidence to support today’s rejection of God and the Bible. I still remember my Junior High School science teacher telling the class Copernicus’ and Galileo’s story and then saying it was Isaac Newton who set modern science on its firm foundation afterward. What the teacher didn’t say was how Newton was able to do that. Newton lived in a Protestant country that valued knowledge and truth and that during his time persecution was waning within Christendom. I learned later as a Christian that Newton wrote more on theology than on science and that his insights on the timing of the judgement coincide well with what we’ll be looking at a little later in this book.
There were others in Galileo’s time that did not become as famous as he is now because they were not persecuted the same way he was. Johannes Kepler stands out as a prime example. He lived in Germany, which had been under the influence of Martin Luther for about 100 years. Kepler was the one who figured out that planets actually orbit in ellipses, not circles. Even Galileo himself had not accepted this.
“Galileo was famous in other fields besides astronomy … but he has come down in history particularly for two … events. When he used his telescope on the heavens, he made a number of classic observations. He observed the mountains and craters on the moon, and he remarked upon the four satellites, or ‘moons’ of Jupiter. It was, however, his discovery that the planet Venus has phases like the moon which was destined to strike the death-blow to the … belief that the earth was at the centre of all things. … Galileo’s second claim to a place in history derives from his championship of the heliocentric theory, against the bitter opposition of the Church” (“Astronomy for Beginners” by Henry S Brinton F.R.A.S., pages 19-22). “The age old idea that the earth was the centre of the universe was beginning to be shaken at last. … Strangely, at least to modern ears, the idea that the earth, which is God’s creation, should not be at the centre of all things, was offensive to the Church” (page 18).
What people have forgotten today is that the Dark Ages were a spiritual as well as an intellectual darkness. The truths of the Bible were just as much kept from the people as was science and art. The science of the Dark Ages did not come from God’s Word. If common people were able to read their Bibles, which the Catholic Church did not allow at the time, they would have seen that scientists like Galileo were not challenging truth at all.
It wasn’t until 1633 that Galileo was put on trial by the Church for the scientific conclusions in his book “Dialogue on the Great World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican”. However, he had other troubles beforehand. “Although his theories were correct, and he proved them by experiments and demonstrations, Galileo was dismissed from his position at the University of Pisa in 1591. He had aroused the suspicion of his colleagues by his constant attacks on the dearly held, but erroneous physical theories of Aristotle” (“Giants of Science”, pages 34 -35 emphasis supplied). There you have it; they got their science from Aristotle and not God’s word. And! He wasn’t just persecuted by the Church, but also by his peers, the same kind of people who now hail him as a great champion of truth. They just didn’t have the power of life and death in the form of the Inquisition. Human nature being the same then as it is today; most people took their leaders at their word and put their faith in long held traditions whether they were really true or not. Will we soon discover that indeed most today are doing the same thing; they believe what they believe because they were told to?
“In fall 1980, Pope John Paul II ordered a new look at evidence in Galileo's trial. In 1992 came acquittal. But the basic conflict between established religion and modern science is still being played out” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/sept98/galileo.htm). “He was censured by the church and kept from teaching his views because his proofs were inadequate. The case was closed in his favor in 1992” (The “Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps and Timelines”, page 43). Since the Church maintains the doctrine of papal infallibility, she could not admit any real fault. In all the years I’ve ever read anything on this subject, this was the first time I ever saw any quote that didn’t treat Galileo like a great hero. Where exactly his “inadequate” proofs were I do not know. What I do know is that there is quite a bit of what we call modern science that does come from the Bible.
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