[ Click here to go back to the main page ] Even the Elect

November 15, 2005 Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

I Timothy 6:20-21, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.”

Romans 1: 20-22, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God head; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”

Jesus telling his disciples of the end times, Mark 13:22, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should be alarmed and appalled and on our knees in prayer over the recent article in the Pentecostal Evangel outlining the biblical illiteracy of the evangelical body of Christ! And even more alarming is the fact that the Bible is being questioned as authoritative, infallible and inspired by God Himself in our own Assembly of God universities. I know this for a fact since I have two children that I intentionally sent to an AG school. There, while having several outstanding Bible professors, they also had several who raised more questions about the Bible than they answered. And at least one Bible professor’s very Christianity was suspect by the things he said in class. And I know of at least two professors at our national bible college, one full time and one part time, who give a smidgeon of credence to that bowl of pig slop or “science falsely so called” of the theory of evolution! This ought not to be! Now, my children caught the errant teaching because they’re rooted and grounded in God’s Word (not just Dad or Mom’s word). What happens to all the good, but shallow-rooted AG kids that come to an advertised Pentecostal school and their professor says “the Bible doesn’t really mean what it says here” or “we don’t have to take that part of the Bible literally”?

But wait, let’s back up from college and get back to the local church when shepherds can influence families with toddlers and elementary school-aged children. In other words, this college problem can be fixed at home! And may I recommend that you start “in the beginning?” Pastors, nearly all of your young parents have never been to a public school that taught anything but evolution as the explanation for our existence. Nor have they ever seen the Ten Commandments posted in a school. They’ve grown up with their faith being attacked at its very foundation—the source and reason for their existence! Instead of being made in the Image of a Holy God, they came from a huge cosmic accident millions of years ago.

I am appealing to you. Make it a top priority to study up on Creation first, and the blatant falsehoods of evolution second. There are dozens of great books out there. Here are three of the best and they are all rather easy reads: The Panorama of Creation by Dr. Carl Baugh (Hearthstone Publications, ~ $10.00), The Collapse of Evolution by Scott Huse, and Six Days or Millions of Years by Ken Ham. When I was a kid growing up, the stories in Sunday school about Creation fascinated me. I accepted them on faith. However, as I grew, I began to hear about evolution in school. I knew it was false but no one offered me a scientific explanation to counter the scientific-sounding theory of evolution. And, not one of my pastors ever walked through the first few chapters of Genesis to show how evolution, especially theistic evolution, was not possible.

Please allow me to point out a few facts (not theories) that may whet your appetite to feed your sheep on this, the most important miracle of all, the original miracle, the miracle of Creation (why God made us and how perfect it was before we ruined it with our disobedience). First, from Dr. Baugh’s book, there exists about 11 miles up from the earth a heat sink that is 20 feet thick and completely encircles our planet. The temperature of this heat sink is lower than the atmosphere above and below it. Also, the temperature happens to be the freezing point of hydrogen gas. Frozen hydrogen has several very interesting characteristics. It is: metallic, magnetic, transparent, fiber optic, and crystalline. If the aforementioned heat sink were filled with frozen hydrogen, several very interesting things would happen to planet earth: 1) the oxygen content of the air would rise from today’s 20% to around 30% [this would be toxic unless], 2) the air pressure would rise from 14.7 psi to over 32 psi, 3) the sun’s light passing through the hydrogen would be pink [pink light has a mild narcotic effect on people and animals] and would have all cancer-causing short wave radiation filtered out, 4) the radio waves from quasars (stars that emit radio waves) would cause the hydrogen crystals to vibrate in such a way as to play constant music and only in a major key, and 5) the stars would have been about three to ten times brighter than they are now. Items one through five have all either been demonstrated repeatedly in a lab setting (3 - 5) or proven by using physics formulas in a computer modeling program (1 and 2). The effect of items 1 and 2 would be that humans would likely be over seven feet tall and capable of running over 200 miles without breaking a sweat. Also, pterodactyls, which would not capable of flying in today’s “light” atmosphere would be quite aerodynamic under those conditions. And finally, plants would grow to mind-boggling proportions. There exists in Japan a tomato tree that has borne over 40,000 tomatoes. The scientist growing it only uses two of the three atmospheric conditions listed above: pink light and higher oxygen content!

If this “canopy” of frozen hydrogen existed, then that would answer several questions that have perplexed Christians for the ages: 1) we have dinosaur fossils but why did they disappear? 2) how could the Garden of Eden exist? 3) why could Adam and Eve be naked and not get sun burnt (okay, maybe only a few folks wondered about that ?)? And 4) why does the book of Job say that “the heavens sang?”

So, the next question is, “Where in Genesis do we have a clue that this canopy actually existed?” The answer lies in Genesis 1:6-19. Here the word “firmament” is used repeatedly in the King James. This happens to be the most accurately translated version of this particular Hebrew word of “RAQIYAH.” Raqiyah as a noun means “thin, pressed sheets of metal.” In fact, it is the same word used when God was describing gold smiths making the articles for His temple in Jerusalem (originally the Tabernacle). This word has been mistranslated “water vapors” in some newer translations by well-meaning theologians. However, in context, and with an understanding of basic science, it cannot possibly be water vapors. Verse six clearly states that the firmament would “divide the waters from the waters.” Any self-respecting scientist will tell you that one of the first things they learned in lab was that you cannot separate a liquid from itself with itself. A solid must be used to permanently separate the liquid—in this case, water is separated by the firmament which in Hebrew means “thin, pressed sheets of metal.” But, until only 50 years ago, with the advent of space exploration, we could not possibly know how that could be the right Hebrew word. How, for instance, could one see the stars through thin, pressed sheets of metal??? Ah, but then we discovered the heat sink that “happened to have” the freezing point of hydrogen gas. And somewhere along in that time frame we also discovered that frozen hydrogen is metallic yet transparent!

I’m not asking all pastors and Sunday school teachers to become scientists or have an extensive engineering background like me. However, I am reminding you that belief in Creation is the first step towards pleasing God. It takes faith to believe the Creation account since we weren’t there. And Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please (God).” And James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth (does not make fun of) not; AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN HIM.”

Ask God for wisdom to do an expository walk through the beginning of Genesis. Every author introduces his main purpose for his book on the first few pages. Since we are created by God, the natural is often a picture of the supernatural. God revealed His reason for making us in the opening lines of Genesis. Failure to convey this to your sheep is a fatal mistake. Failure to emphasize the inerrancy of scripture here puts their foundation on sand. If Genesis One is not true, then we can throw out John One, and Job 38 and most of the Psalms. What is next?

Put us back on the Rock oh shepherds! Feed Jesus’ sheep with the Bread of Life and the Living Water! Call us to repentance for the sin of unbelief (the very sin that kept the Children of Israel out of the Promised Land). How can we be truly Pentecostal if we don’t even believe in the God Who Created Everything Through the Power of His Spoken Word? And how can we avoid deception if we are deceived about the very first chapter of His Written Word?

I Love You All,

Brother Mike

[ Click here to go back to the main page ]