The Precious Blood of Christ

Friday, September 23, 2011

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” (1 Peter 1:18,19 KJV).

The term “redeem” means “to buy something back that which was originally yours.” When God created Adam (the first man), mankind was in complete fellowship with God. There was no sin or death. That all changed when Adam disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6,7). Sin had ruined God’s perfect creation. There, in Eden, God lost the human race to sin and mankind became part of Satan’s policy of evil, “the power of darkness” (Colossians 1:13; Ephesians 2:2).

Coming up through the Scriptures, we see God setting His plan into motion. Somehow He would redeem man, and restore the fellowship He and man had once shared. God purposed in Himself to die for man—God would become a man to shed His sinless blood for our sins. The sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, has “purchased us with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

First and foremost, Jesus Christ died to redeem the nation Israel (today’s Scripture). Matthew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many [Israel]” (cf. Luke 1:68). But, 1 Timothy 2:5,6 says: “the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” When we come to Paul’s ministry (“in due time;” see verse 7), God reveals that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for Israel and for everyone else (us Gentiles!).

Just as God will restore Israel at Christ’s Second Coming (Acts 3:18-21; Romans 11:26-29), Christ has restored us unto Himself now: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law…” (Galatians 3:13). If you have not done so, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, His dying for your sins, His burial, and His resurrection for your justification, and God will save you forever.

The Scientifically Accurate Bible

Thursday, September 22, 2011

“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves” (Revelation 11:9 KJV).

Many wrongly assume the Bible is anti-science. Actually, the Bible and science disagree because sinful mankind has manipulated science to make it anti-Bible. The Bible is not against science; that is, testable, repeatable analyses of creation’s systems. However, the Bible is opposed to speculative arguments (theories) that glorify man’s “wisdom” (1 Corinthians 3:19; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 Timothy 6:20,21).

Today’s Scripture, written 2,000 years ago, is one demonstration of the Bible’s scientific accuracy. Verses 10-12 speak of dead bodies lying in Jerusalem’s streets, and ultimately ascending into heaven. The Bible also says that the whole world will witness these events. Undoubtedly, the Bible predicted satellite television and the internet!

  • Nineteenth-century oceanographer Matthew Maury discovered “the paths of the seas” of Psalm 8:8—written 3,000 years ago—was actually a reference to ocean currents!
  • Isaiah 40:22 speaks of “the circle of the earth,” a 2,700-year-old explanation for a round earth! This verse also speaks of an expanding universe, discovered just a century ago!
  • How did King David know that Earth had a North-South axis, with East and West never intersecting (Psalm 103:12)?
  • Genesis 2:7 says God formed Adam’s body from “the dust of the ground.” Medical science confirms that elements found in earth’s crust—magnesium, calcium, oxygen, potassium, et cetera—are also present in our bodies!
  • Leviticus 15:13 commands the sick to wash their flesh in “running water.” (As opposed to bathing in unsanitary stagnant water. Until 1850, doctors did not realize the importance of handwashing in water to reduce or kill germs.)
  • Why did God demand male Jewish babies be circumcised on the eighth day in Leviticus 12:3? Because the baby’s immune system reaches its peak on day eight!
  • Job 28:25, written 3,500 years ago, makes reference to the “weight for the winds.” Air mass!

The Bible is God’s Book, so it teaches science with God’s authority. The Bible is amazing, millennia ahead of modern “science!”

This Present Evil World

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

“[Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Galatians 1:4,5 KJV).

The world is overwhelmed with violence, corruption, and injustice. How did earth become “this present evil world?”

When God created Adam, He gave him dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam disobeyed God and lost that dominion. Satan then assumed the dominion that Adam had. Now, Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).

In our Lord’s temptations, Satan shows Christ all the world’s kingdoms and their glory. Satan entices Jesus, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-10; Luke 4:5-8). Satan would give the world’s governments to Christ if Christ would worship him—Satan bragged that he had dominion over the earth instead of God!

God’s Word says, “…the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). Christ told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36).

Today’s Scripture gives us good news. Christ Jesus “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” He died to “deliver us from the power of darkness,” Satan’s evil world system; as Christians, we are now spiritually in “the kingdom of [God’s] dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). At the rapture, Christ will physically deliver us Christians from this evil world.

Furthermore, at His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will return to earth to demolish Satan’s evil world system: its governments, religious organizations, and educational systems. In that day, “the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9).

Our planet will not always be “this present evil world.” Stay tuned…. 🙂

Same Old, Same Old (Ignorance and Unbelief)

Friday, September 2, 2011

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3,4 KJV).

Continue reading the context of today’s Scripture (verses 5,6): “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:”

Geologist James Hutton proposed the principle of uniformitarianism, the belief that the same natural processes operating on earth today are generally those that sculpted earth in the past. Basically, “the present is the key to the past.”

A college geology textbook reads: “Two fathers of modern geology, James Hutton and Charles Lyell, led us to understand that the planet was not shaped by a series of catastrophic events over a mere few thousand years, as many people had believed. Rather, what we see today is the product of ordinary geologic processes operating over much longer time intervals” (Understanding Earth, Grotzinger et al., 2007, 184).

Notice how this textbook rejects the Great Flood of Noah’s day (“catastrophic events”) by claiming that “ordinary geologic processes” have always operated on earth. In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Peter mentioned Bible scoffers who are willingly ignorant of the Great Flood. This describes Hutton, Lyell, and the other scientists who accept the theory of uniformitarianism and reject the “catastrophic” Great Flood.

  • UNIFORMITARIANISM = slow processes operating during long periods of time, suggesting an old earth (~4.6 billion years old).
  • CATASTROPHISM = accelerated erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediments during the Great Flood, suggesting a young earth (thousands of years old).

Because the extreme conditions and accelerated rates of processes demanded by the global Flood disprove almost uniform, ordinary, and slow rates of geologic change, most scientists reject “catastrophism” (the Bible’s Flood) in favor of “uniformitarianism” (to keep their “old earth view!”).

As the uniformitarianists shout, “Same old, same old!,” we catastrophists exclaim, “Same old, same old ignorance and unbelief!

Something More Evil Than Science

Sunday, August 28, 2011

“And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9 KJV).

Many Christians complain that science accomplishes Satan’s work because it brainwashes kids into believing lies such as an old universe and the ridiculous “molecules-to-man” theory (that all living creatures descended from a common ancestor). Indeed, Satan has used science to mislead the masses, but these fervent church members seldom realize that religion, not science, is Satan’s “favorite hiding place.”

Science is the study of the natural world. The Bible is not anti-science—repeatable, testable, falsifiable science. God’s Word is opposed to “science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20), man’s idle speculations that contradict Scripture. Apart from its numerous silly, unbiblical conjectures, science is not evil. But there is something more evil than science.

Something far more dangerous and misleading than “science falsely so called” is the infamous “Christianity falsely so called.” Religious tradition is more deceptive than false science because the Bible is used to teach some of it (the Bible cannot be used to teach false science). Religion is dangerous because, unlike false science, it has a godly appearance.

In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ rebuked Israel’s religious leaders (notice He condemned the religious community, not the scientific community): “well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Church tradition and false science are equally guilty of contradicting the Scriptures.

Scientists without God know they need God, whereas religious people are deceived into thinking they have God (all they really have is empty tradition). Scientists know they are not good enough for heaven, but religious people have been taught they are good enough. It has been appositely stated that, “Religion will send more people to hell than anything else.” Religion will do more harm to your soul than false science ever will because religion encourages you to pit your “righteousness” against God’s.

Many genuine Christians condemn science as “evil,” yet they have no idea that Satan is working just as heavily in their denominational church as he is in the science classrooms. Frightening!

Be not deceived… by false science or religion!

He Clothed Them

Monday, August 8, 2011

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21 KJV).

The Bible says Adam and Eve “were both naked…and were not ashamed” (Genesis 1:25). How could they be naked, and yet unashamed?

In 1 Timothy 6:16 we read of Jesus Christ “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto….” God’s righteousness and holiness emanate from His body in the form of a bright light. Originally, before the fall, Adam and Eve did not wear physical clothes, but they were clothed with something… they were clothed with the righteousness of God Himself because sin had not entered into creation yet.

God created man in His image (Genesis 1:26,27); man was originally sinless, as perfect as God. When Adam and Eve disobeyed by eating the forbidden fruit, God’s righteousness left their bodies. They were sinners now, so God’s light no longer covered them (spiritually and physically). Adam and Eve were physically and spiritually naked, so they frantically gathered itchy fig leaves and covered themselves (Genesis 3:7).

The LORD God, in His great love and grace, sought these lost souls. Adam and Eve hid, too afraid to approach our holy and righteous God. But, God in His brilliance devised a plan to restore them. Today’s Scripture says that God killed innocent animals. He used the blood to provide Adam and Eve’s spiritual clothes (forgiveness), and the skins served as their physical clothes.

Isaiah 61:10 summarizes (saved Israel speaking): “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” God did that for Adam, Eve, Israel, and us too!

If we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been clothed with God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ, we are just as Adam and Eve were before the fall, in perfect standing before God.

Genesis is the Firm Foundation for the Righteous

Saturday, August 6, 2011

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3 KJV).

The Genesis creation account is diametrically opposed to evolutionary theory. Lest they are forced to abandon their theory, Genesis-haters simply dismiss the first two chapters of the Bible as Hebrew poetry. In order to get around the anti-evolution statements in Scripture, Bible skeptics encourage us to allegorize Genesis chapters 1 and 2, claiming “the Bible does not mean what it says, so do not believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis.”

There is nothing to indicate that Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are allegorical. In fact, there is evidence in Scripture to indicate the first two chapters of Genesis are literal.

  • Genesis 2:7 says: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground….” This is a scientific fact: the human body contains elements—potassium, oxygen, magnesium, et cetera—that are also found in earth’s crust! Why would the rest of chapter 2 not be literal?
  • The Lord Jesus said: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6-8). Jesus Christ believed in a literal interpretation of Genesis 1:26,27 and Genesis 2:20-25.
  • The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:13,14: “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3). Paul supports a literal interpretation of Genesis 1:26,27, Genesis 2:20-25, and Genesis 3:1-13.
  • Exodus 20:8-11 is a literal commandment given to Jews. Obviously this literal commandment is based on a literal event: God really created the heaven, the earth, and all creatures in six, consecutive 24-hour periods, and that He rested on the seventh (Sabbath) day. Exodus 20:8-11 supports a literal interpretation of Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

Hebrew scholars tell us that Genesis chapters 1 and 2 do not exhibit the structure of Jewish poetry, but rather a literal account-narrative. Genesis teaches a literal account of creation, and should be believed literally. If you begin the Bible allegorically (Genesis), then we are left to wonder what is literal in Scripture, if anything at all…?

Does the Bible Teach an Old Universe?

Sunday, July 24, 2011

“And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;” (Hebrews 1:10,11 KJV).

Many in the scientific community reject the Bible’s testimony… unless of course, if it seems to agree with their teaching. Today’s Scripture is a favorite amongst those who refuse the idea of a young earth and a young universe. Notice the Bible says that the heavens “shall wax old as doth a garment.” Alas, this wresting of the Scriptures is manifested when we understand the definition of “old.”

When the Bible uses the term “old” to describe the heavens, it does not necessarily equate to billions of years old. Do we always use “old” to describe something extremely ancient? Of course not. A centenarian is 100 years old—is this person “old” when compared to, say, a millennium?  Notice how the Bible said the heavens would “wax [grow] old as doth a garment.” Just how “old” can a garment be? Billions of years old? We use the term “old” to refer to items we have had but a few years (like worn-out clothes).

The Bible terms the Mosaic Covenant (Old Testament) “old” in Hebrews 8:13, yet the Mosaic Covenant is just 3,500 years old. Notice the Bible calls the Mosaic Law “old,” yet it is merely thousands of years old. Just as the Mosaic Law needs to pass away for those Jews of the book of Hebrews, so that the New Covenant can be established (Hebrews 8:8-13), this present heaven and earth need to pass away so a new heaven and a new earth can be brought in (Isaiah 66:23; Hebrews 1:12; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 21:1,4).

We should view today’s Scripture in light of this: “old” in both Hebrews 1:11 and Hebrews 8:13 is not “ancient” but rather referring to their functionality or existence. Both need to pass away, just like the garments (clothes) of today’s Scripture are worn-out (“old”).

“Old Granny” Planet Earth?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Genesis 2:1 KJV).

Most scientists tell us the universe is 13.7 billion years old. They insist that our solar system and earth are about 4.55 billion years in age. Throughout my undergraduate years in college geology, those numbers were drilled into my head. However, my mind was well grounded in the Scriptures. Consequently, I was set on a young (6000-year-old) earth.

Note the complex systems: the complicated chemical makeup of rocks, the intricate human genome, and the meticulous movements of the planets and their moons around the sun. These complex systems do not haphazardly appear! There must be a Creator God.

Man has devised a means to “get around” the evidence of the Creator: “Just give it enough time, billions upon billions of years, and it will come to pass!” Geological and biological evolution demand long periods of time—termed “deep time.” Deep time is the linchpin of evolutionary theory. By destroying the concept of deep time, the Bible silences evolutionary theory.

Genesis describes an original, fully functional universe. Everything is “good” (Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25). Chapter 1 concludes: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Upon the completion of the six consecutive days of creation, God sees everything as very good.” Perfect!

God was pleased with the universe’s workings. God resting on the Sabbath was an indication that creation was finished (Genesis 2:1-3). There was no sin, sickness, decay, or death. Nothing needed improvement. The Bible does not demand deep time for systems to increase in functionality and efficiency.

In fact, just a few hours old, Adam was talking and naming the creatures (Genesis 2:19,20,23)! Hours-old trees were already producing fruit (Genesis 2:9,16,17)! The universe’s systems were fully functional from the beginning, throwing a monkey wrench into the concept of deep time.

Time to live in reality. Believe Genesis as is. Earth is no granny—she is but a teen! 🙂

Wedding Bells

Sunday, July 3, 2011

“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18 KJV).

Marriage is the most valuable and most intimate relationship between two humans. We are social creatures. God never designed us to exist isolated from other humans. At some point, we all seek interaction with someone like us. In today’s Scripture, the LORD God sees Adam all alone, the only human on earth. Adam saw all the animals with their mates, yet there was no creature like him. Surely, Adam wondered why he was alone.

So, God put Adam to sleep. The groom, missing his tuxedo—actually lacking any clothing!—is out cold. Scripture says that God took a rib from Adam’s sleeping body, and the LORD used this rib to sculpt the body of the first woman, Eve (Genesis 2:21,22). Adam suddenly wakes up. His eyes focus on a gorgeous lady, a total “knockout!” She flashes her eyes, and catches Adam’s attention.

Indeed, it was love at first sight—they had not seen anyone else! And so, in the presence of the LORD, Adam meets the woman, and takes her to be his wife. The wedding bells ring! That was the first marriage: no rings, no cake, no wedding gifts. There was a honeymoon in paradise, however. 🙂

These past 6,000 years, man has ignored the sanctity of marriage. Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” God says a man marrying a woman is “honourable.” Furthermore, sexual intercourse is designed to function strictly within the marriage relationship.

If ever you plan to get married, especially you young people, choose a spouse wisely. God has designed that person to help you in your life and be there as your companion (an “help meet”). We find such wonderful words of wisdom in Proverbs 18:22: “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.” A hearty amen!