Category: genesis

Posted in days of Noah, genesis, rapture, sikh shooting

Sikh Temple shooting and what is in a man

Posted on by elizabethprata

Someone asked me if I would write about the Sikh Temple shooting that occurred in Wisconsin two days ago. Here it is, but it not in the way that you might think.

First, the facts: An Army vet took a gun and began shooting people who were at worship in an Oak Creek WI Sikh Temple. He killed 6 people and wounded four, before being shot and killed himself by police. Just 16 days before the Wisconsin attack, a lone gunman had entered a movie theater and shot and killed 12 people and wounding dozens more. In between these two horrific shootings, a woman who had been aboard a Detroit Riverboat partying, was involved in an altercation, and as the boat docked, disembarked and returned to shoot, striking seven people, critically injuring one. She is still at large.

President Obama said of the Sikh Temple shooting, “These kinds of terrible and tragic events are happening with too much regularity for us not do some soul-searching and examine additional ways that we can prevent such violence…”

There are three items in the quote to consider. First, he said these kinds of terrible tragedies are occurring more often. That is true. The second comment of note is that he said we need to do some soul-searching. This is also true. Thirdly, he said that we need to examine ways to prevent such violence in the future. This is also true but it will never happen as long as man searches his soul and fails to turn it over to Jesus.

Sin starts in the mind.

I want us to really think about the interior state of man and how God knows what it is.

Sin begins with a thought. “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” (Mark 7:21-22).

“Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15).

Sin begins inside us in the heart and mind, and then it is given birth when we speak the thing, and then the action follows. Anyone who has worked in the Good News Club knows we tell the kids of the progression of sin in this way: “Sin is anything we think, say, or do that displeases God.” Think-say-do.

Shootings like the Aurora Theater in Colorado or the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin don’t ‘just happen.’ The perpetrator was thinking about it first, and for a long time, too.

If we are seeing these sinful acts happen more and more frequently, imagine how much more people are thinking about them, first. The acting out is the last stage of the progression. The visible heinous act is only the tip of the iceberg to the heinous acts that occur in the mind. Floating icebergs have a significant proportion of their mass below the surface of the water. When we say “This problem is just the tip of the iceberg,” what we are really saying is “A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden.” If the evident part is getting bigger every day, how much larger of a problem is the hidden part? (Definition and unmodified photo from Wiki).

John MacArthur wrote about The Danger of a Sinful Mind. He said,

“Many people who will not do evil deeds are nevertheless boldly evil in their thoughts. A man who abstains from fornication for fear of getting caught might convince himself it is all right to indulge in salacious fantasies because he thinks no one else will ever discover such a private sin. The sins he deliberately entertains in his mind may be a thousand times more evil than anything he would ever think of doing before others. Scripture says his guilt is the same as if he acted out his fantasies.” (Matthew 5:27‑28).

So you can imagine if people are doing evil deeds almost daily how deeply depraved the thought-life of people on earth is getting.

MacArthur continued: “In fact, nothing damages the conscience more than the habit of indulging in evil thoughts. Unfortunately, once begun, the practice becomes all too easy. This is a sin that does not have to wait for an opportunity; the mind can sin anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances. So the habit is quickly and easily established. By engaging the inner faculties—mind, emotions, desire, memory, and imagination—thought sins work directly on the soul to bias it toward evil.”

Now, the LORD said in Matthew 24 that the days just prior to His coming will be like the Days of Noah (Matthew 24:37). So…what were the days of Noah like?

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5). [Emphasis mine.]

Everybody is going around thinking evil all the time. We can’t tell, only Jesus can see what is in a man. (John 2:25). But when we see such evil deeds being acted out, you know that proportionally, that many more men’s thoughts are evil. And if the deeds are happening frequently, we know that the evil thoughts are continual.

The good news is that if you are saved, and have had sinful thoughts, if you repent, He will forgive you! Then, guard your thought life!!!

And if you are not saved, Jesus will forgive you when you repent, and all your sins will be forgotten by Him. No matter what you have thought, or said, or done, He will forgive it. He is THAT GOOD.

There are two takeaways to this blog entry:

1. So when we see the Sikh Temple shooting, I don’t want us just to go ‘tsk tsk, that poor unsaved man’. I want us to see ourselves in him. Understand that without Jesus we all have the capability to perform those acts, whether they remain in our mind or whether we act on them. We are all sinners. None is righteous, no not one. (Romans 3:10). We all need to repent, saved or unsaved. The unsaved need to repent unto salvation, the saved need to repent to keep thoughts pure for a more pleasing relationship with the Savior.

2. He is near. Personally, I see the nearness of Jesus’ return not just because of the terrible acts we are now seeing on a weekly and almost daily basis, but because I know that for every shooting done, there are a hundred thousand who thought about shooting. For every Pastor who confesses to an adulterous affair with a minor, there are a thousand more who thought about it. Genesis 6 says that judgment came not only when the evil was present on the earth but when the evil thoughts were continuous in man. Re-read the verse- it’s two parts. How closely does this sinful world’s thought-life match the level of depravity Jesus said we’d sink to just prior to His coming? I don’t know, but Jesus does. Are you ready for Him?

Posted in creation, genesis, prophecy, revelation

If Genesis is creation, is Revelation UNcreation?

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been reading the Creation verses a lot lately. Genesis 1 is wonderful and it fascinates me completely. I am also listening to John MacArthur’s series on Creation and last night I heard him explain the verses relating to Day 3. I think it is so important to be thoroughly familiar with the Creation verses because they are under such assault. The Spirit has impressed me with this, and when I read in the local newspaper an opinion piece by the founder of the paper that he believes evolution and creation are co-existent, I couldn’t let it go. Rather, the Spirit wouldn’t let me let it go. I wrote a response, and still, the Spirit wouldn’t let go.

Part of what I wrote was this: “First, science and the bible are at odds on the point of creation. There is no scientific process that has, can, or will ever confirm the creation of the world. It can’t. Creation was not a scientific event, it was a supernatural one.”

Christian, don’t worry about defending the bible against science. It is our job to witness to His holiness against sin.

I continued listening to the sermon, and MacArthur got to the part about seeds. The earth was made fully mature. Adam and Eve were grown adults. The trees were mature and bore seeds and fruit from the first moment. So did plants. (Genesis 1:11). MacArthur said,

“One of the great, great wonders of the world is the science of seed dispersal. I watched an entire video on that just absolutely astonishing to see how God designed seed dispersal, not the least of which is accomplished by birds in your own yard, sometimes even attempted on your car and on your head. Pre-fertilized seed dispersal is very efficient.”

How DO seeds disperse, I wondered. Wikipedia explains, “Seed dispersal is the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and consequently rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, … There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water and by animals.” I started to think about the Tribulation and the verse in chapter 8 came to mind.

“The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” (Rev 8:7). The earth is judged and that includes the vegetation, which He created on Day 3. Hmmm, grass and vegetation die in this, the First Trumpet Judgment.  But the verse later in Revelation came to mind also,

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.” (Rev 11:6). If wind is one of the major ways seeds are propagated, then after the vegetation is burned up then there is very little chance that new growth will occur, especially of no wind if blowing “on any tree”… or its seeds. And when the Two Witnesses cause no rain to fall upon the earth for three and a half years, (Rev 11:6) then that diminishes the chance for new growth all the more.

Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam, detail, Sistine Chapel

It occurred to me then, that Revelation could be seen as the orderly progression of UNcreation. Do the seven days of Creation match in reverse the seven years of Tribulation? Not exactly but in general. Revelation depicts judgment to be sure. But what a synchronicity that the first book of the Bible reveals how Creation was made, and the last book depicts its unmaking. On Day 1 the Light turned on, and ‘immediately after the tribulation of those days’, the sun, moon, and stars give no light” in other words, the lights are turned off. (Matthew 24:29-31). Heaven is made on Day 2, and in Rev 6:14 heaven is rolled up as a scroll. The sea creatures die. The land creatures die. The people die. The sun, moon, and stars fall.

The people know it is God, that He exists, and that He is exerting His power over them. In Revelation 16:9 they curse God on account of the plagues but they refused to repent and glorify Him. Those on the earth who rebel and deny His creative power will watch a slow and excruciating dismantling of creation, plank by plank. This is judgment indeed.

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Posted in evolution is a lie, genesis

Genesis IS the beginning: either you believe it or you don’t

Posted on by elizabethprata

In a recent John MacArthur sermon, he said, “A well-known scientist named Herbert Spencer died in 1903. He discovered that all reality, all reality, all that exists in the universe can be contained in five categories…time, force, action, space and matter. Herbert Spencer said everything that exists, exists in one of those categories…time, force, action, space and matter.

Now think about that. Time, force, action, space and matter. That is a logical sequence. And then with that in your mind, listen to Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning,” that’s time…”God,” that’s force, “created,” that’s action, “the heavens,” that’s space, “and the earth,” that’s matter. Everything that could be said about everything that exists is said in that first verse.”

Yes, indeed. The bible is amazing isn’t it? And I share with some glee that the scientist who believes all reality can be found in those five categories was an evolutionist who actually coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’ which Darwin subsequently used. But re-read Genesis 1:1, and you find truth in the five category theory. The bible is a wonderful book of science.

I am not ashamed of the bible. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is all I need to live on, for it is my bread of life and the fountain of water is rich to slake my thirst. I believe Jesus is God incarnate, lived on earth as a man, died as the only spotless sacrifice there is, was, or will be to pay the penalty God requires for sin. I believe He died and rose again on the third day. I believe He intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, and will return to judge the earth. I believe He is preparing a place for us called New Jerusalem which is glorious and will be our home forever when He calls us to Him. I believe I am a sinner, not arrogantly believing I am good, or that I merit entry to heaven on my own, or that I never have done, said, or thought a wrong thing, but instead I am sinful to the core. I asked Him to forgive my sins, and He did. I believe Jesus did forgive my sins and I will rule and reign with Him after He calls us to Him. I believe the church age is winding down and I thank Jesus every day for my salvation that I am cleaned from unrighteousness and will be able to dwell with Him in blissful eternity- thanks to His work on the cross. I believe the time is short. I am ready.

ARE YOU?
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Posted in apollo, end time, genesis, prophecy

Apollo 11’s communion on the moon, and Madelyn Murray O’Hair

Posted on by elizabethprata

Apollo 8 (1968) was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body—Earth’s Moon. The three-man American crew of mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to directly see the far side of the Moon, as well as the first humans to see planet Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. (Wikipedia). It must have made quite an impression on the three astronauts to see our globe hung in space as a tiny dot, and to ponder the mysteries of the heavens. On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman sent a message to the people on earth. Please take a moment to watch this moving, 2-minute clip:

A few years prior to the momentous and quite spiritual event taking place above the moon at earth-rise, Madelyn Murray O’Hair lodged a lawsuit at the Supreme Court in 1960 that was decided  in 1962. O’Hair was a well-known atheist, communist, free-thinker and sexual libertine. O’Hair’s suit contended that prayer must be removed from public schools. Actually, there were one or two suits being decided prior to O’Hair’s but her suit was in fact folded into a seminal judgment banning bible readings from public schools, closely on the heels of the ban on prayer in schools rendered a few months prior.  She took credit for the “victory”, anyway. So thanks to her, on June 25, 1962, “39 million students were forbidden to do what they and their predecessors had been doing since the founding of our nation – publicly calling upon the name of the Lord at the beginning of each school day.” When Borman read the passage from Genesis in 1968, O’Hair again lodged a lawsuit, this time against NASA. O’Hair wanted the courts to ban US astronauts, who were all Government employees, from public prayer in outer space.

A few months later, on July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon and he held a ceremony: the ceremony of communion. Please take a moment to watch the following 2-minute clip, from Tom Hanks’ Emmy award winning HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon” that accurately depicts the moment:

O’Hair’s Genesis-reading case was eventually rejected by the US Supreme Court for lack of jurisdiction. However, what comes to mind here was the tragedy of those few intervening months. Between the reading of Genesis on Christmas eve 1968 and 7 months later when Aldrin took communion on the moon, Christianity went from boldly declaring God as the Creator of all the Universe, to a timid and secretive religious homage to that same Creator, with an added lukewarm thank you to whomever. After he clicked off the radio, Aldrin read: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). How fitting! But how sad it was only heard by Armstrong and Aldrin. Aldrin’s choice of verse acknowledged the Creator of the planet upon which they were sitting as the One who is the Source of all endeavors. Yet O’Hair’s impact was such that this declaration of truth was muzzled and silenced.

O’Hair’s legacy was such that for a while she was called the most hated woman in America. Apparently, not only in America. She and her two children traveled via ship to Europe with the intention of defecting to the Soviet embassy in Paris and residing in the Soviet Union. The Soviets denied them entry. She founded American Atheists, promoted sexual liberation for children, and campaigned against God all her life. She even called her own son a “postnatal abortion.”

Sadly, she was abducted and killed, dismembered and her head chopped off. Her remains were not discovered for many years. Her son said that O’Hair was an evil person. “My mother was an evil person… Not for removing prayer from America’s schools… No, she was just evil. She stole huge amounts of money. She misused the trust of people. She cheated children out of their parents’ inheritance. She cheated on her taxes and even stole from her own organizations. She once printed up phony stock certificates on her own printing press to try to take over another atheist publishing company….Regardless of how evil and lawless my mother was she did not deserve to die in the manner she did.”

Her son is a Christian, baptised, and a Baptist preacher. I can’t imagine his pain, and his certain knowledge that his mother has much to answer for and will reside forever in torment in hell, apart from Jesus.

But if this one woman wreaked such havoc on America so as to remove prayer from before 40 million school children, from stopping the globe’s premier space agency from broadcasting one bible verse, and getting her message out on television, cable, and radio to millions over the course of decades, what can one Christian do? Much! If we each remain strong in faith, always acknowledging Him for all that we are and all that we accomplish as Borman and Aldrin did, then nothing is impossible. If such evil can accomplish so much, what can Good do? Pray and ask Him how you might be used today. And be ready for His answer!

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Posted in creation, end time, genesis, keep n the sunny side, prophecy

Consider the sun

Posted on by elizabethprata
Wow! God’s creation is so pretty! This is a sunspot, seen through a new, atmospherically corrective lens.

“This is a first light adaptive optics image from the New Solar Telescope (NST) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California. “With a 1.6-meter primary mirror, the NST is the largest solar telescope in the world,” says Nicolas Gorceix of the observatory staff. “It has realtime correction for atmospheric distortion (adaptive optics), so we can see things in very high resolution–as small as 65 km wide on the sun. For perspective,” he adds, “Earth is slightly smaller than the whole sunspot including the dark umbra and the daisy petal-like penumbra. The spot is surrounded by the sun’s ubiquitous granular field [which shows the boiling motions of the sun’s surface].”

“Researchers believe that high-resolution studies of sunspots can help them understand how sunspots evolve and anticipate when they’re about to erupt. “Next year, we plan to upgrade the telescope with a much higher-order adaptive optics system to get even better images,” says Gorceix. Stay tuned to the BBSO home page for updates.”

source, spaceweather.com

I know you know the verses to Genesis 1:1-8, but just think of the beauty and complexity of the sunspot, ONE item in the entire universe, and think of all the people who insist that it all happened by accident and explosion, and pray for them. They are missing out on so much! Just seeing the stupendous planetary objects rotating gracefully in their habitations and understanding they were placed there by the Hand of God, they are missing a moment of fellowship with God. It is the same hand of God who made us, His children, His delight. Also, glory in the LORD GOD who made this expansive universe for us, yet who cares for us daily. We become so involved in our lives we forget to consider the sun, to consider the range of objects above out heads and under our feet that reveal His mind, whimsy, power, impressive creativity. And His understated, “And it was good.” Yes, our universe, our planet, our lives, are indeed good.

The History of Creation
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. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”  Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.”

 source, Astronomy Picture of the Day Aug 2006, NASA