Thu, Sep 13th - 1:57PM
The Creation-Was the Darkness Evil?
The world was dark before God provided the light. Absent without light, was the world full of evil?
Exodus 10:21 “And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that the may be darkness over the Land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt” (KJV).
Exodus 10:22 “And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days” (KJV):
Exodus 10:23 “They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (KJV).
Job 3:4 “Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine above it” (KJV).
The above verses all relate to darkness. However, in only one of them is the darkness evil. In Job, God allows Satan to test Job. Therefore, he withdraws his presence from him and allows Satan to take charge. Satan throws Job to the wolves and takes away everything that Job has including his servants, his children and livestock. These were dark days for Job. He attributed the darkness to the evil of Satan.
While the darkness in Job’s time relates to evil, the darkness that comes from Moses is not evil. Even though the Egyptians felt that it was evil, since it was so thick that they could feel it and not see anything through the blackness, it was not so. God ordered Moses to form the darkness. Since the darkness was from God’s mouth, it is not evil. Therefore, since the Spirit of God was present in the darkness of pre-creation, this darkness is not evil. Do you honestly believe that if the darkness was evil that God would have included it in his creation. If it was evil, we would have no dark skies at night. We would have constant light.
Here is an interesting point to gather. Take a look at verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31 in the first chapter of Genesis: “And the evening and morning were the ___ day. Did you notice that evening is always mentioned first. The darkness was here first before there was light. Even though the morning signifies the beginning of the new day for most Christians, this is not so during Old Testament times. The evening is the beginning of a new day. Even the Jewish people of today base the start of their days on them the sun sets. Thousands of years since the creation, they still do this because the darkness came first.
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Thu, Sep 13th - 1:55PM
Creation - God's Awesome Work
Genesis 1:2 - "And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters" (KJV).
Look up at the sky during the day and what do you see? Some days you
will see a blue sky and an occasional white fluffy cloud lazily drifting
along. You will see a bright yellow sun; squinting your eyes, you will
not be able to look at it for too long. Other days a layer of clouds
will blanket the sky and either rain or snow will be falling to the
ground.
The same question applies to the night. On a clear night what do you see
as you glance upwards into the blackness? You will see a moon on most
nights. Far away you will see twinkling tiny lights. These stars are
always a delight to look at. The amazing thing is that there are many
others that your eyes cannot see.
What is even more amazing is that the sun, moon and stars have not
always been here. As a matter of fact, this entire universe did not
exist before God created the world. There was nothing; it was as the
Bible states what it was - without form, a void and dark. The verse in
the Bible suggests that even though the earth was without form, it was
in a liquid state.
This can be looked at as figurative. However, this makes sense if it is
meant in a literal way. Water has no form unless if it is frozen. If the
world was liquid, it was not like the oceans and beaches of today. It
was a dark and dismal place, with no sun to warm or light the water,
this world was in no way pleasant before God created it to the way it is
today.
Genesis 1:6 - "And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of
the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters" (KJV).
Genesis 1:7 - "And 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" (KJV).
Genesis 1:9 - "And God said, let the water under the heavens be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so"
(KJV).
He made something from nothing. He took something that was chaotic and
gave it shape, structure and order. Everything around you is created
from God-the trees, flowers, mountains, animals and so on. Even men's
inventions such as cell phones and computers are from God. God created
humans. Therefore, since humans who created these innovations of
technology are from God, these and future inventions are created from
God.
Isaiah 45:18 - "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens and
himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he
created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and
there is none else" (KJV).
While some of us like to create something, whether it is a building a
bookshelf, painting a portrait or sewing a dress, we do this to satisfy a
personal need. Sometimes it is something to do to keep our hands busy;
other times it is to make a little extra money, other times it is to
give us a sense that we accomplished something. When we create
something, we are not like God. We create something for our own personal
gain.
When God created the world, he did not do this because he was bored and
embarked on a hobby to kill time. He created the world because he
already knew what he planned to do. He created the world so that humans,
animals and plants would inhabit it. His only desire when he created
the world would be that humans would thank him, worship him and
acknowledge Him.
Reference:
The Holy Bible KJV.
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Thu, Sep 13th - 1:53PM
The Six Days of Creation-Things Are Good
Genesis 1:3 "And God said, "Let there be light: and there was light: and there was light" (KJV).
Genesis 1:4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness" (KJV).
Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (KJV).
Let's say you have to do a simple project at home and let's say it is
something as simple as hammering a nail into the wall so that you can
hang a picture. So you look for your hammer, which you are sure you put
it back into the toolbox after your last project. After an hour of
searching you finally find it in an unusual spot, your sock drawer. You
are now ready to hammer that nail. However, you realize that you used up
all the nails on your last project. So you jump into the car and head
to your local hardware store. Finally, two hours later you are hammering
the nail. As luck would have it, your hammer misses the nail and hits
your thumb. After jumping around in pain and saying several unrepeatable
words, you finish hammering the nail and are ready to hang your
picture. You step back and look at your creation. Then guess what
happens? You say, "This picture does not look good here." So you take
down the picture, pull the nail and repeat the process several times
before you are satisfied.
Do you think God had a rough time when he created the world? All he had
to do was speak the words and things happened as soon as he spoke. God
did not need to change things after it was done. He knew what he wanted
and was satisfied in what he got.
Psalm 33:9 "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast" (KJV).
Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things,
which do appear" (KJV).
Genesis 1:14 "And God said, Let the be lights if the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years" (KJV):
Genesis 1:15 "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so" (KJV).
Genesis 1:16 "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule
the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also"
(KJV).
Genesis 1:17 "And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth" (KJV).
Genesis 1:18 "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was Good" (KJV).
If God created the sun, moon and stars or the fourth day, how did he
create light on the first day? If in fact God created the sun on the
first day, then the Bible is false. By declaring the Bible as false,
then that is also calling God a liar. Neither of these is true. The
Bible is not false; it is the truth. God is not a liar; He is the truth.
So where did the light come from on the first day? We know that he did
not call NYSEG to provide the light.
Remember that God is the truth. Not only that, he is also holy and
glorious. His glory provided the light until he provided the sun. In
future Bible stories and references God lighted the way:
Exodus 40:34 "Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (KJV).
Exodus 40:35 "And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the
congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle" (KJV).
1 Kings 8:11 "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of
the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord"
(KJV).
Reference:
The Holy Bible KJV
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Wed, Sep 12th - 8:03PM
Bible Study Myth, Fairy Tale, Big bang or Awesome Work of God?
Bible Study Myth, Fairy Tale, Big bang or Awesome Work of God?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (KJV).
Since to all Christians the Bible is the truth, we can safely say that the story of creation is not a myth, a fairy tale or a story of fantasy. The world did not come around from a Bing Bang as the scientists claim. The world was formed from the awesome potter in the sky, the Lord God.
Even hundreds of years after man first inhabited the world, King David acknowledges the creation of the world to the hands of God. In Psalm 19:1-4, (KJV) he wrote:
1. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
4. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
Some will argue that the Old Testament is inaccurate since many of the stories were spoken and handed down from generation to generation. The original stories may be distorted, that when men learned how to write, the stories may be totally different from the original ones. However, take a look at several verses from the New Testament. These are living proof-supporting documentation that God created the world:
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything that was made. (KJV)
Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as thou they were. (KJV)
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Of the three above verses, the first one is the only one that talks about the beginning of the earth and the universe. However, it is not the beginning of God, He is eternal. He has always been here.
If God is eternal then why isn't Heaven eternal?
Heaven is eternal. The heaven that Christians will eventually go to live for eternity is actually the third heaven as stated in 2 Corinthians 12:2.
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth such a one caught up to the third heaven (KJV).
The heaven that God created is the air, sky and entire universe.
Reference:
The Holy Bible (King James Version)
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Wed, Sep 12th - 7:56PM
Bible Study the First of Many to Come
Genesis is the book of beginnings-creation, man, marriage, sin, and civilizations. This is the beginning of God’s Word.
The first eleven chapters cover four major events: creation, the fall of man, the flood and the creation of the nations through the confusion of the languages at the Tower of Babel. The remainder of the book centers around four major characters: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph.
Read Genesis 3:1-15; Romans 5:12; 3:10-12; and Isaiah 53:6 and answer the following questions: What did you learn about these verses about sin? What would you say sin is? List other verses that define sin.
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush you head and you will strike his heel.”
From the above sin is doing whatever God tells you not to do. God gave Adam and Eve a direct order not to eat the fruit. However, the serpent convinced Eve that it would be all right. Even though she was tricked, she sinned. Adam sinned because he knew God’s order. However, he listened to Eve. Even though she was innocent and not trying to trick Adam, she sinned.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.”
God intended that man would live forever, but then Adam sinned. God made laws-the ten commandments, Laws of Moses, the Bible-so people would know what is wrong and obey them.
Romans 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
We are not perfect or sinless, God understands but we have to understand also. We can not get into Heaven by thinking we are like God.
Isaiah 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Without God, we are nothing. We get busy in our lives, we tend to forget about God and why we are in this world in the first place.
What did you learn from Genesis and the other verses about the consequences of sin?
If a person sins, even if nobody else sees the sin, God sees it. A person can not sin and get away without paying consequences. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden for sinning. The serpent was cursed for causing Adam and Eve to sin. Cain was cursed for killing Abel. Some examples in today’s society are a person taking drugs and getting addicted to them, a woman who has an abortion and has to live with a memory of a child she killed, a person making a wrong choice in life and wondering what life would be if he made a different choice.
If the root of sin is “turning your own way” what would the fruit of such a lifestyle be?
We must rely on God for the decisions we make in our day-to-day life. If we become successful because of Shady dealings, it will catch up to us. Some shady examples may be like drug dealing, tax invasion or gambling. Some people may get rich these way-and may never get caught such as drug dealing and tax invasion. But where will that person be if he does not come to the Lord to be saved.
Who or what would you say governs your life? How do you know? Why?
This is difficult. Some days I get so caught up with work, family and school that I put God on the back burner. When he is on the back burner, sin can govern my life. I get tied up in the web of sin. However, on the days I have God with me, God is protecting me and it is easier to recognize sin. I realize that God is always with me, that I turn my back on him.
How do the truths of Genesis 1-5 compare with things you have been taught by others? Who are you going to believe?
I will believe the Bible. I learned some about evolution in school. However, I wasn’t a good student-I really did not pay attention in class. How I graduated is a mystery to me. Maybe it was a good thing I did not pay attention in school.
Have you recognized that you are a sinner and that there is only One who can grant you forgiveness of sins and set you free from slavery to sin? It is the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman who bruised the serpent’s head.
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Name: Lulu Elliott
