For Everyone Who Thinks They Love Jesus

So you think that you're in love with Jesus? You think, because you go to church and get emotional during the worship songs once a week, that your relationship with Him is ok? Do you believe that His grace covers everything you do? Well, let's see if that's the case! After all, 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified." There are a few tests in the book of 1 John that every believer needs to apply to their life.

The first test can be seen in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 1...
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.^"

You can claim that you're walking in the light, but walking in the light equals fellowship with other believers. If you're not in consistent fellowship with other believers - if you think you can be an island to yourself - then you're not walking in the light and you're lying if you say you have fellowship with Jesus. 

Remember this equation: unbroken fellowship with Jesus = unbroken fellowship with other believers.

The second test is in chapter 2, verses 3 through 6
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.^"

You can't claim to know Jesus if you're not doing what He said! In this passage, John is basically repeating what Jesus told him in John 14:15 ("If you love me, keep my commandments."), John 14:21 ("He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me."), and John 15:10 ("If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.").

Jesus gave us the way to measure our love for Him: love = obedience.

Does God's grace forgive us when we don't obey? Of course - but that isn't the extent of His grace! If we are truly in grace, then we won't stay in sin! God's grace also teaches us to leave sin behind (Titus 2:12) and empowers us to do what's right (Hebrews 12:28). If you're using grace as an excuse for sin - you do not love Jesus!

A third test can be seen in chapter 3, verse 14
"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."

You can't say that you have a new life in Jesus if you're nursing a grudge against one of your brothers or sisters. If you refuse to forgive another believer, if you still feel even a hint of hatred in your heart toward them - you're still in death, not life.

But, lest you get confused about what kind of love you should have, John goes on to clarify the type of love we should have for our brothers and sisters. A lot of people know John 3:16 - but very few people know 1 John 3:16 - "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

As completely as Jesus gave Himself for us, we are commanded to give ourselves to our brothers and sisters. Does Jesus hold you at arm's length when you sin against Him? Would He avoid you in Walmart if He saw you? Do you think He ever has a smirk on His face when He talks about you?

If anyone had a right to be angry and hold a grudge against us, it was Jesus! But He gave up His rights and laid down His life for us. This is the kind of love we're called to have for our brothers and sisters. Whether we feel like it or not, whether they deserve it or not, we must love anyone who is of the household of faith. You don't have a choice, my friend - this is the price of living in the light!

So there are three tests. There are more throughout first John - but how do you measure up to these three?

Do you stay in fellowship with other believers or have you isolated yourself?

Do you obey God's Word or do you try to use His grace to excuse what you know is wrong?

Do you love other believers and give up your rights for theirs, or are you still nursing anger and unforgiveness toward someone?

You can't get around this! This is how you know!

The Real Miracle Of Christmas

Philippians 2:6-8

“Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up his divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

The true miracle of Christmas isn't simply that a virgin had a baby boy. It wasn't the star that led the wise men or the angels that announced His birth to the shepherds. The true miracle of Christmas is that God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, left His divine throne and position in Heaven and became a man - entering the body of a baby boy. Jesus isn't just the Son of God - He is God the Son!! He wasn't just another man, not even a very good man.

This Christmas story can also be seen in John 1:1 and 14:

"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God."

"So the Word became human and made his home among us."

Jesus, God the Word, stripped Himself of His divine privileges, and clothed Himself with our humanity. He deliberately chose to forget His infinite knowledge and experience what it is to learn. He let Himself become dependent on a human mother and father. He let Himself be subject to two fallible humans - that were themselves made by Him!

Only when we realize who Jesus is and how incredible the first Christmas was, will we truly be able to understand the next passage in Philippians 2: 9-11

"Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Jesus is not a religious leader. He can't be compared to Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, or Joseph Smith. He isn't an angel or simply a man. He isn't some sort of demi-god like Hercules or Theseus. He is God! He is matchless, incomparable, infinite, without beginning or end!

Joseph was only His stepfather. Mary was only the mother of Jesus' humanity. Bethlehem wasn't His beginning - He can be found throughout the Old Testament as well!

So my question to you is this: Do you really know why you're celebrating that baby in a manger? 

3.3 - Day Three

Day 3
Genesis 1:9-13 "Then God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
"Then God said,'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day."

Day three was all about the earth. It was divided into two parts, bringing out the land from the water and then filling both with an amazing array of plants.

The Dry Land And The Seas
Genesis 1:9 "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear."

God's first act on day three was to confine the water that covered the earth and bring out the dry land. Psalm 95:5 says that this one creative act is what gives God ownership of the oceans. "The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land." Proverbs 8:29 also describes this incredible event, "I [wisdom] was there when He set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries."

In His amazing power, God drew back the water into one place and brought up the dry land. Psalm 33:7 appears to make reference to this, "He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap..." Did you know that there are heaps of water, literally hills and valleys, in the oceans? Did you know that there are places where the sea itself is above sea level? Today these "heaps" of water are held up and moved about by the gravity of the moon. But just like God produced light without the sun for the first three days, it also appears that He personally drew and held up these hills of water until He created the moon on day four.

So God gathered the waters together into one place. This strongly suggests that God originally created earth with a single ocean. If there was one ocean, with the water gathered into one spot - then it's logical to assume that all of the dry land was also in one spot. The idea of a single supercontinent is not original with old-earth evolution. Here we can see a reference to "Pangea" in the very first chapter of God's Word!

So what happened to this single continent? Why is the dry land separated into seven continents today? We'll find out later why the world broke up, but here's a clue: At some point in earth's 6,000 year history, there was a global disaster that changed everything! We're no longer living in the original world; our world is scarred by death and disaster. Still, remnants of its original beauty remain. If a corrupted and death-riddled world still retains enough beauty to point to the Creator, what an amazing place the world must have been before sin!

From Barrenness To Beauty
Genesis 1:11 "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth..."

After God brought up the dry land, He began to fill it with plants of every kind. This marks the end of one phase of creation and the beginning of another. Up until now, God had been creating empty canvases. The earth, the expanse of space, the oceans, the dry land - all of these were just empty spaces on the afternoon of the third day. Now, God began His work of filling these spaces with beautiful and incredible creations.

Plants of all shapes, sizes, smells, and colors were created by God and filled every acre of dry land - and much of the seas too! Grasses, flowers, and trees covered the ground. Other plant life such as fungi, algae and photoplankton were also created with specific purposes (such as the production of oxygen, a food source for myriads of animals yet to be created, and the production of fresh soil). Plants were God's first biologic creation and they filled the earth with life!

Many of these plants have since gone extinct and are only known to us by fossils. We can only guess at what sights and smells these other plants added to the world, but we do know that each of them were personally designed by God Himself! What an amazing sight this new, flowering world must've been!

Even the seas had an abundance of plant life! Kelp, sea grasses, and various algaes grew up from the ocean floor and filled the otherwise barren water. There's even evidence that suggests the existence of giant floating forests. These were island-sized masses of lightweight trees whose roots intertwined to hold them together. These giant masses of vegetation even had their own soil (made from their own leaves). We see a similar phenomenon today called "quaking bogs" - but these floating islands dwarfed anything that exists now and must have been an amazing sight to see!

Some of the most beautiful plants that can be seen today exist in gardens, where gardeners personally control the nutrients and water that the plants get. Good gardeners put time and effort to produce the most beautiful plants and the most delicious fruit. This is a reflection of God's own creative nature - but what must the world have been like when God Himself was the Gardener? We see the descendants of the plants that He created today - but this was the only time in history that each and every plant was put in place by God's own hand! Not a single blade of grass escaped the Creator's notice!

Day Three
Genesis 1:13 "So the evening and the morning were the third day."

Once again, for the third time, we see the formula - evening+morning+a number. Once again, God emphasized that this was still an actual day.

Think about this; God still hadn't created the sun yet...and yet the earth was full of plant life! The third day couldn't have been thousands or millions of years (like the day-age theorists state) - plants need sunlight to survive!

Not only do plants need sunlight, they also need insects to pollinate them. When you view these days of creation as ordinary days, the lack of insects doesn't matter - they're only lacking for two more days. But if you believe that the days of creation were long ages of time, you have to explain how plants pollinated without insects to help!

At the close of the third day, the newly-created earth was already drastically different. The water was contained and dry land appeared for the first time. Beautiful vegetation filled both the land and the sea. Now, on the morning of the fourth day, God was going to turn His attention to heaven once again.

3.2 - Day Two

Day 2
Genesis 1:6-8 "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 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."

The second and third heavens were created at the very beginning - on day one. But day two saw the creation of the first heaven, the natural heaven. At first it was simply called the firmament, or expanse. But after its creation, God renamed it "Heaven."

Dividing Waters From Waters
We're told that the firmament was created between two bodies of water. One was called the waters under the firmament, the other was called the waters above the firmament. It's most likely that the waters under the firmament are the oceans. The waters above the firmament are still a mystery though. There are a couple of theories that try to explain the waters above the firmament of Heaven.

The first theory (we'll call it the cloud theory) says that the firmament is simply what we call the sky. When the Bible talks about the waters above firmament, it is only a reference to the water in the clouds. So this theory suggests that God established the water cycle on the second day.

The second theory says that the firmament is the earth's atmosphere. The waters above the firmament are explained as a layer of water or ice that surrounded the outside atmosphere of earth. Known as the "canopy theory" - this idea is said to explain the larger plant and animal life that existed at the beginning. This bubble of water or ice is said to have functioned like a greenhouse - increasing sunlight, warming the earth and producing much higher oxygen levels. This canopy is then said to have collapsed during Noah's flood.

While it is true that the earth had an amazing climate for the first 1,500 years of its history, inventing a canopy of water to explain this climate produces a problem. This canopy would amplify the sun's rays like a magnifying glass, producing much more heat. At the same time, the water would function as a barricade - holding in the heat that normally escapes into space. This would make the temperature of earth unbearably hot!

Another problem with the canopy theory is found in Psalm 148:4 - "Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!" While the canopy theory claims that the waters above the firmament collapsed in Noah's flood, this verse is telling us that the waters above the heavens still exist today!

Actually, both explanations of the waters above the firmament (the canopy theory and the cloud theory) have a major biblical problem, and it's found in Genesis 1:14. "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven...'" God placed the sun, moon and stars inside the firmament! This means that the waters above the firmament are out beyond the farthest stars - and not at the edge of our atmosphere. So these waters couldn't be clouds (which are inside our atmosphere) or a canopy.

So what are the waters above the firmament? When read straightforward, it appears that there is water somewhere beyond the stars! What this means exactly, though, we can't be sure. Someday, we'll be able to ask the Creator Himself!

An Enormous Creation
When you think of the firmament as only the earth's atmosphere, you get the feeling that day two was an "off day" for God. Seriously....God took a whole day to create air? It doesn't seem like much, does it? But when you realize what the firmament really is - you can see the magnitude of what God did on the second day!

Yes, it's true that the earth's atmosphere was formed on the second day. This means that each of earth's four atmosphere levels were created and positioned to protect us. It also means that God mixed the perfect blend of gases in the air that we would be breathing. But there's so much more to God's creative act on the second day!

The firmament of the first heaven begins at ground level and extends to the edge of the universe. We're talking about distances so vast that you couldn't travel across them within a million lifetimes - even if you were traveling at the speed of light! All of this space was included in the creation of the firmament!

Although this empty space was going to be filled with incredible sights and breathtaking artistry; at the close of day two, it was still empty. It was a blank canvas, ready for the Master's touch!

The Second Day
Genesis 1:8 "So the evening and the morning were the second day."

For a second time, we see the biblical rule of interpreting the Hebrew word "yom". Whenever there is a time of day used in the same sentence as "yom" - then this word always means a 24-hour period of time. Also, if you ever see a number attached to "yom", it is always a literal day. Here in verse 8 we have both. Two times of day ("evening and morning") and a number ("the second day") clearly indicate, even insist, that day two was an actual day.

Think about this, in the same amount of time that we call a day, our Creator prepared the atmosphere of the earth and spread out the entire expanse of space!

3.1 - Day One

Now, let’s leave all compromise behind, start forming our worldview based on God’s Word, and look at how God told us He created the universe. First, let’s remember a few things:

1 - Before Genesis 1:1, there was nothing

Nothing means nothing. There was no Heaven, there were no angels, there was no time, there was no matter or molecules, and there was no space for any matter or molecules to exist in! There was nothing. Only the Godhead existed before the beginning - God the Father, God the Son (God the Word), and God the Holy Spirit.

2 - God began creation for a purpose

Isaiah 45:18 tells us: “For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited...”

God made everything with an end-goal in mind; to be handed over to mankind. His plan all along was to give the authority of the earth and all it’s creatures to humanity. Psalm 115:16 reinforces this idea: “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.” We were made to rule and have dominion over this earth.

As Christians, let’s separate ourselves from the pagan ideas of “mother nature” and radical environmentalism. This Godless mentality has begun to creep into the church, using codewords such as “conservation” and “green innovations.” The simple reality is this: the earth was made for us, we weren’t made for it (or by it)!

3 - Before the very first verse, God had everything planned out

Hebrews 4:3 “...although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
Ephesians 1:4 “...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
Revelation 13:8 “...the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

The foundation of the world was laid at the very beginning. We see this in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Obviously, the earth wasn’t completed yet; God took the rest of the week to form it and fill it. So, what happened on Day One was the creation of the world’s foundation - that is, the creation of what God was going to build on later.

In the previous verses, we see that God had things worked out from the foundation of the world. He had already set in motion and accomplished everything that He was going to do throughout history (Hebrews 4:3), He had already chosen and justified us (Ephesians 1:4), and He had already committed Himself to sacrifice (Revelation 13:8). Sin didn’t take God by surprise. God knew that Adam would abuse the free will that He gave him. Still, out of love for us - God planned everything out! Before there was anything, God knew everything that was going to happen!

It’s important to understand that our wise and powerful Creator knew the end from the beginning. He is omniscient (all-knowing)! He knew every sin, every cruelty, every injustice and every offense to His nature that mankind would develop throughout the millennia. In spite of the evil we would bring into the earth, out of love for us God began to create...

Day One

Genesis 1:1-5 “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.”

“In the beginning...” - The Creation Of Time

In order for a beginning to be possible, time itself had to be created.

Incidentally, the very first three words of the Bible are in total agreement with science. Science itself teaches us that anything that can be measured has a definite beginning and end. Since we can measure time (using seconds, minutes and hours), we know that it had a definite beginning. What science can’t explain is how time began. For the answer to that question, we need to look at the first phrase in God’s Word - “In the beginning, God created...” Time is a created thing - created by God at the very beginning!

“...God created the heavens...”

Notice that the word heavens is plural. Apparently, there is more than one heaven - and more than one heaven was created at the beginning of Day One. Paul clarifies this to us, and is specific about the number of heavens in existence. 2 Corinthians 12:2 says, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God know - such a one was caught up to the third heaven.” Nowhere in the Bible do we see mention of a fourth heaven, fifth heaven or seventh heaven. Apparently, three is the number.

So there are three heavens - what are they? The Bible isn’t silent about this, but clarifies what each heaven is made of.

The third heaven is where God is enthroned. It is the place that we commonly call Heaven. Psalm 11:4 is referring to the third heaven: “The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in Heaven.” Isaiah also speaks of the third heaven in Isaiah 66:1: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” So we can see that God is enthroned in the third Heaven.

The second heaven is the spiritual climate of this world. It’s the very real spiritual realm where we encounter spiritual forces such as angels and demons. Ephesians 6:12 speaks about these spiritual forces in the second heaven (which Paul calls “heavenly places”) - “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 2:2 refers to Satan as the “prince of the power of the air” - a reference to the authority that Satan believes he has over the second heaven. The second heaven is where God’s people receive angelic help and engage in spiritual warfare.

The first heaven is the natural heaven. It was created in Genesis 1:6. Originally, it was known as the “firmament” (or expanse), but in verse 8 it was renamed “heaven”. We see from verse 20 that the birds fly in the expanse of heaven. We also see in verse 14 that all of the stars are also inside the expanse of heaven. So the first heaven starts just above the ground - with the earth’s atmosphere - and extends out as far as the furthest star.

Remember, we saw in Genesis 1:1 that God created the “heavens.” This means that at least two heavens were created on Day One. Were all three created at the beginning? If not, which ones were? Genesis 1:6-8 shows us the answer - the natural heaven was created on Day Two! So on Day One, we see the creation of the second and third heavens. So after the creation of time itself, God created His heavenly dwelling place and the spirit realm.

Presumably, the creation of the second and third heavens also included every angelic being that inhabited them. We see support for this idea in Job 38:6-7 “To what were [the earth’s] foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” We’ve already discovered that the foundation of the earth was laid on the first day. But the physical stars weren’t created until the fourth day. So the stars in Job 38 are not literal stars - but symbolic of angels. The creation of the second and third heavens at the beginning included the creation of every angel in them!

Another interesting fact can be seen in Job 38:7 - we can actually find the time of day that the angels were created! In this verse, angels are actually referred to as morning stars - indicating that they were created on the morning of the very first day! All of the angels, including Lucifer himself, were made on day one - before anything else had been created. They watched in wonder as God continued to create, singing His praise all the while!

"...and the earth."

After the creation of the heavens (Heaven itself and the spirit world) and the angels that filled them, God turned His attention to the natural realm. He created the earth.

This was a very different earth than we know today. We can see the initial state of the earth in verse 2, "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." At its beginning, on the first day of its existence, the earth was a dark, formless and water-covered mass. Once again, this condition wasn't a result of some kind of judgement. The earth was unformed because God hadn't formed it yet! It wasn't filled because He hadn't filled it yet! This water-covered earth was what the Bible calls the "foundations of the world." This wasn't a destroyed world - it was the foundation of the world to come!

Here we can see a distinct difference between the biblical and secular worldviews. The secular worldview states that the original earth was a ball of molten rock that had to cool down for 500,000,000 years before the oceans could form. This view is in direct opposition to what the Bible says - that the earth was covered in water from the very beginning. These worldviews are complete opposites from the very beginning; they can't be reconciled!

Light

Genesis 1:3 "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light."

As we read this passage carefully, paying attention to every detail, we can see that there is something missing - the sun! In fact, there is no sun, no moon, no stars; no light of any kind. You see, God doesn't need a natural light source - He is light! 1 John 1:5 says "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." So on the first day, God created light without a light source. Earth was being illuminated by God Himself!

One day, there will be a new heaven and a new earth - crowned by the New Jerusalem. We don't know if the earth itself will be sunless, but we do know that the city will have no need of a natural light source. Revelation 21:23 shows us why, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light." God Himself will be the light of the New Jerusalem!

This was the state of the earth for the first three days of its history!

Day and Night

Genesis 1:4-5 "...and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night."

There were two parts to this creative act:

First, God had to contain the light that He created and make it shine from a particular direction. When God said, "Let there be light" - you better believe there was light! There was light everywhere! Every rock, every crevice, every inch of the earth was illuminated by God's glory! The only way to divide the light from the darkness was to isolate and direct the light. When He did this, one side of the earth was lit up while the other side was dark.

Second, God had to begin the rotation of the earth. Think about this; the idea of a rotating earth is ingenious! Without a spinning earth, one side would be perpetually light and the other side perpetually dark. Rotating the earth allows every side of it to experience day and night.

The First Day

Genesis 1:5 "So the evening and the morning were the first day."

This was Day One. It began with the creation of time itself ("in the beginning"). It included the creation of the heavens (the place we call "Heaven" and the spiritual world), the creation of the angels (the "morning stars" - the inhabitants of the heavens), the creation of earth (the water-covered foundation of what was to come), and the creation of light. The day ended with the division of light and darkness and the creation of daytime and night.

Once again, remember this rule: the Hebrew word for day (yom) always means a 24-hour period if there is a number or a time of day attached to it. In Genesis 1:5 we see two times of day ("evening and morning") and a definite number ("the first day"). You see, God has insisted three times in this verse that Day One was an actual, literal day. How much clearer could He be?

This was the very first day - the very beginning of the Creation Week!

02 - What A Believer Should Believe About Creation

There are certain things that believers should believe about the creation of the world. Although the belief of a young earth and a literal creation isn't necessary as a prerequisite for salvation; once a believer learns what the Bible says about this topic, it requires their faith. Not knowing what the Bible says may be excusable, but knowing it and choosing not to believe it is not!

We Believe The Bible
The Bible is the inerrant, infallible, unchanging Word of the God Who cannot lie. Everything it says is truth, from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation. In it, God's character is revealed and His acts are made known. Every believer should have complete faith in it's trustworthiness - after all, it is this very Word that brings salvation!

Sadly, instead letting God speak for Himself on the topic of creation, too many believers are taking outside ideas and reading them into the Bible. Whenever these compromising Christians see a contradiction between the secular interpretation of the natural world and what the Bible says - they feel free to butcher the plain reading of the Bible to preserve the integrity of fallen man's opinion. What audacity! It's simple, is God's Word true or isn't it? If it is, then it's completely true - there is no gray area here!

As believers, we have the responsibility to start with the Bible and line up our world view with what it teaches. This is true of the Old Testament as well as the New. We cannot embrace the spiritual concepts of the New Testament without first accepting the natural concepts of the Old. Jesus (God in the flesh) believed in a literal Genesis and a young earth, as did Paul. Peter wrote about an actual global flood, and Jude wrote of a real person named Enoch. Can you see that a historical Genesis was a major part of what the New Testament writers believed.

So it is important to know that when we are forming our worldview, we must start from the Word of God. When someones interpretation of evidence disagrees with the Bible, we as believers don't get a choice in what to believe!

Later on, we will see that no scientific evidence by itself disagrees with the the Bible - only a person's interpretation of that evidence. For example, the rock layers themselves do not disagree with the Bible, only the interpretation that those rock layers are millions of years. We, as Christians, don't deny the evidence of science - we simply have a different interpretation of that evidence!

When we start from God's Word, we can see that we won't have any problems with the real science - and this is true from the Bible's very first verse.

We Believe In God At The Very Beginning
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God..."

The Bible never tries to explain God's existence, it simply asserts that He is. He always has been. There has never been a time when He hasn't existed - in fact, He was the one who started the clock of time!

Genesis 21:33 "Then Abraham...called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God."

Psalm 90:2 "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

God was. God is. God will always be. It's just that simple!

 





Werner Gitt and the Law of Information
A German engineer (and a young-earth creationist) named Werner Gitt developed a scientific law known as the law of information. Simply put, this law states that information - any kind of information - can only come from an intelligent source. When you think about it, this is a very simple concept. This law is the reason we can see the difference between an arrowhead and a pebble. It's the reason we appreciate a fine sculpture and not wind-eroded boulders. We understand and recognize when intelligent effort is used.

The law of information is seen in every part of our world. Think about this:
The earth is exactly the right distance from the sun; not too far, not too close.
It spins at the precise speed necessary.
Its atmosphere is the perfect balance of elements needed to support life
The moon is at exactly the right distance from the earth to control the tides
Of all the planets we've seen, the earth is the only one known to have water - vital to our survival.
Earth is truly a masterpiece of engineering!

But even the life on earth is wonderfully complex. Life's simplest building blocks are the cells. But, as simple as these structures seem - they are incredibly complex and organized! The simplest single cell is easily as complex as any one of our major cities. They each have hundreds of systems working together in complete harmony and precise order. As if that weren't enough, each cell works together with other cells to form the intricate organs, bones, muscles and tissues of every plant and animal species - as well as our own bodies. Each of us is made from 60 trillion of these complicated structures!

The center of each cell holds something even more amazing - DNA. DNA is like the program of the body. Each strand is capable of holding massive amounts of information. Amazingly, this information is coded, written in its own language! For decades, scientists have been working to understand our own DNA, but they are still far from being able to read what is written on it.

Just how much information does our DNA hold? If you were collect a single tablespoon of DNA, that tablespoon could hold enough information to fill 15 trillion CDs! That's 1.2 quadrillion (the number after trillion) megabytes of coded information - on a spoon! Even more amazing is the fact that the very code that is needed to read the information, is also written on the DNA! Without that one code, all of the rest would just be gibberish!

So who wrote all of this? This is a major issue with the theory of evolution. According to the law of information, the complex genetic code had to come from an intelligent source. Coding like this cannot write itself, just ask any one of the thousands of programmers we hire to write our computer codes. And yet we have something vastly more complex written on every part of our bodies! Someone had to write it!

As believers, we have no problem with this - because we believe, "In the beginning, God.."

We Believe That Creation Was Accomplished in Six Actual Days
Whether you simply read through the creation account in Genesis 1 or you study every word of it in depth - you would always get the impression of literal, 24-hour days. You would never develop the day-age theory when the Bible is your starting point. Sadly, this theory isn't an interpretation of God's Word, but an attempt to harmonize the secular theory of millions of years and the biblical account of creation.

Let's briefly examine again what the day-age theory proposes. In an attempt to make the Bible agree with the secular idea that the rock layers have recorded extremely long ages of time, a geologist named Arnold Guyot formed this theory. His taught that each day of creation wasn’t actually a 24-hour day, but a different “epoch in time.”

2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Day-age theorists base their theory on this verse - claiming that this could mean that the creation week was actually six different ages of creation. They also bring out the fact that the Hebrew word for day (yom) doesn’t always apply to a 24-hour period of time. These two Biblical truths (the Hebrew word for day and 2 Peter 3:8), combine with a secular interpretation of the rock layers to form the pillars of the Day-Age Theory.

So What's Wrong With The Day-Age Theory?

We've already established that believers should always start from the Bible, and use what the Bible says to form their worldview. However, let's be clear about this - the very foundation of the Day-Age Theory (i.e. the idea that millions of years can be seen in the rock layers) is fundamentally flawed to begin with! When you see large fossils such as trees, whales, and others that are buried in several different rock layers - it's obvious that those layers could not have formed over millions of years. In fact, the very existence of a fossil implies a rapid, watery burial - covering the creature before it could decompose and decay.

It's obvious, then, that the supposed scientific argument for the Day-Age theory is unnecessary. But what about the Biblical arguments? It is true that 2 Peter 3:8 tells us that with God "one day is as a thousand years." Does this mean that the creation week was actually several long periods of time? Not at all! This verse has absolutely nothing to do with creation! Whatever ground they could have taken with the first phrase, is lost with the second: "...and a thousand years as one day." The point of this verse is that God doesn't see time same way we do - that's all!

It's also true that the Hebrew word "yom" doesn't always apply to a literal, 24-hour day. Sometimes it can mean an indeterminate amount of time. But, the Bible is always clear when it means a true day and when it means a period of time. If there is a number attached to the day ("the fourteenth day of the month" or "the spies searched the land for forty days") it is always talking about a real, 24-hour day. So when you look at Genesis 1 and see:
"the first day"
"the second day"
"the third day"
"the fourth day"
"the fifth day"
"the sixth day"
You don't have to wonder if they were real days! Using this law of interpreting "yom" we can see that these were simply "days."

But God makes this fact even more clear in Genesis chapter 1. A second rule for interpreting "yom" can also be seen in the scriptures. Any time this word is used with a time of day or a time of night - the word always carries the meaning of a 24-hour period of time. Look at these verses for example:
Exodus 18:13 "And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening."
Judges 20:26 "They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening."
1 Samuel 30:17 "Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day."
When we see a time of day in each of these verses, we can be sure that the word "yom" is referring to an actual day and not a period of time.

Now, there are times when the word "yom" does mean a indefinite period of time. Phrases like "the day of judges" and "the day of trouble" are not talking about literal days. How do we know? Because there is no number attached to "yom" - and there is no time of day used in connection. There is no excuse for confusion on this issue, the Bible is always clear about what definition of "yom" is being used.

So what about Genesis 1? In addition to the six specific numbers that are attached to the days, there is always a time of day connected as well!
"There was evening and morning, the first day"
"There was evening and morning, the second day"
"There was evening and morning, the third day"
Every one of the six days of creation have a number and two times of day attached to them. So there are three times in each day that God made a point to show us that they were real days! How much clearer could He have been?

Let's use a little bit of common sense. If each of these days were actually long amounts of time - hundreds of millions of years - why would God make plants on day three, the sun on day four, and pollinating insects on day five? How long was this period of that the plants had to exist without the sun? And then, did they have to wait another long period of time before they had insects to pollinate them?

We Believe That The Beginning Was Around 6,000 Years Ago
Do you remember what every believer's starting point should be? The Bible! You see, the Bible isn't vague about when creation happened. There are strings of dates and lifespans that stretch from the fall of Jerusalem all the way back to the very first day of the world. We know that Jerusalem fell in 588 BC - so from there we can simply count up the years backwards to arrive at a creation date around 6,000 years ago. No matter what the secular world holds to be true, we believe the Bible!

What about the Gap Theory?
Genesis 1:1,2 "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."

We've seen that the Gap Theory has tried to force millions of years between these two verses. Their claim that God never makes anything formless and void has led them to invent an entire mythology. A world that existed before the creation week was inhabited by, a pre-adamite race of beings. These beings were ruled by Lucifer himself for eons of time. When he got puffed up with pride, he led a rebellion from earth to Heaven to fight against God. In response, God kicked Lucifer from heaven and sent a global flood to judge the world. This, they say, accounts for Satan's fall, demons (the disembodied souls of the pre-adamite beings), and the water-covered world of Genesis 1:2.

Many preachers and well-meaning Christians hold to this view of creation. It's taught in Bible colleges around the world. But very few believers know that its founder (Thomas Chalmers) developed it as a compromise with Charles Lyell's godless theory of an extremely old earth. The Gap Theory is not based on the Bible, but on a secular interpretation of the earth's rock layers. One well-known theologian said this after promoting the theory, "Let the rocks say what they may." In other words, "let's interpret the Bible so that it doesn't agree with the secular idea of millions of years."

There are two major arguments that Gap Theorists use to promote their theory:
1. "God never makes anything formless and void; therefore, something had to happen to cause it to be that way. The only other time the world was covered in water was when God judged the world in Noah's day. So the water-covered world could have been the result of judgement."
2. "God told Adam and Eve to 'replenish' the earth - meaning to fill it again. This means that the world was populated before Adam. This race of beings was probably wiped out by the flood of Genesis 1:2"
These arguments can sound convincing, but a closer look shows their flaws.

First, the state of the earth had nothing to do with judgement. The earth was formless because God hadn't formed it yet! It was void (or empty) because He hadn't filled it yet! Genesis 1:2 is not talking about a judged earth, it's talking about an unfinished earth - there's a huge difference!

Secondly, God never told Adam and Eve to "refill" the earth! The King James translated the Hebrew word "male" (mal-ay) as "replenish." But this is a poor translation of "male" - this word simply means to fill! In the Hebrew, there is absolutely no indication of mankind populating the earth again! They were simply told to fill the earth and bring it under their control.

There are actually much stronger arguments against the Gap Theory than for it.

For the first argument, look at what Ezekiel 28:13 says about Lucifer: "You were in Eden, the Garden of God..." Before he fell, Lucifer had been in the Garden of Eden. This means that he couldn't have fallen between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, because God created the Garden in Genesis 2 - on day six!

Now look at Jesus' own words in Matthew 19:4 - "And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female?'" Jesus, quoting from Genesis 1, said that the creation of Adam and Eve was "at the beginning." This is easily understood if the creation of mankind occurred on day 6. But if Adam and Eve were created at the end of a long age of time (as the Gap Theory states) or during the final era of creation (as the Day-Age Theory states), then this statement doesn't make sense. Clearly, Jesus believed in a straight-forward reading of Genesis, with Adam and Eve created at the beginning of the world.

What About Radiometric Dating?
Too many Christians are easily swayed by the so-called "dating methods" used by secular scientists. They seem to under the impression that these dates are literally stamped on the rocks and are indisputable. The fact is, every radiometric dating method is fallible and riddled with assumptions

In simple terms, radiometric dating measures how quickly a unstable radioisotope (like carbon-14, potassium-40 and uranium 238) decays into its daughter element (nitrogen-14, argon 40, and lead 206 respectively). The theory is this; since this radioactive decay occurs at a consistent pace, we can look at how much of the daughter element is left in a rock and calculate backwards to find out when it first formed.

Think of it this way: Someone walks into a room and finds a candle already burning. At the time he entered the room it was three inches tall. After studying it for an hour, the burning candle was two inches tall - thus he determines that this candle burns at a speed of one inch-per-hour. He then uses this data to determine how long ago the candle was lit.

The problem is, the scientist only knows two parts to a four-part equation: 1 - How much of the daughter element (lead-206 for example) is present in the rock? [Or how tall is the candle right now?) This is one of the factors that scientists know, as it can be easily observed in the laboratory. 2 - What is the present speed that the radioisotope (uranium-238) decays into the daughter element (lead-206)? [Or how fast does the candle burn down?] Again, this is easily observable and testable; it’s the second part of the equation that scientists know for sure. 3 - Has the speed of decay been constant in the past? [Or has this candle always burned at one inch-per-hour?] Scientist can’t know this for sure. Has there been an environmental shift that caused the decay speed to slow down or speed up? Could more of the radioisotope or the daughter element have been added to the rock at some point in the past? Both of these factors could give a completely wrong date! 4 - How much of the daughter element was present to begin with? [How tall was that candle before it was lit?] This is a very important factor in this equation. Two different assumptions about how much lead-206, for example, was originally in a rock could bring two dramatically different dates for formation!

Because of these unknown factors, no scientist just sends the rock into a laboratory to be dated. They also send additional information to help “aim” the dating process - information like what layer of rock it was found in and what fossils were around it. If a T-rex fossil was found in the same layer of rock, then the laboratory will already assume that the rock “must be” 67-65 million years old. Fossils that help with the dating process are called “index fossils.” Because their age is known (supposedly), they can help to date the different rock layers. You see, radiometric dating (supposed “proof” of the GTE and an incredibly old earth) is based on their already-formed assumptions on the age of a particular fossil.

Simply put, the evolutionist’s “silver bullet” of radiometric dating doesn’t hold up to simple scientific scrutiny. So why in the world would Christians feel the need to compromise the perfect word of God to agree with it?

The Biggest Problem Of Old-Earth Compromises
Do you believe that God calls suffering and pain good?
Do you believe that He thinks diseases like arthritis and cancer are good?
Did God call predation, bloodshed and natural cruelty good?

Not at all! In fact 1 Corinthians 15:26 calls death an enemy that is going to be destroyed. God hates death because He is life! The God of life couldn't look on the world as it is today and call it "very good."

And yet, this is exactly what every old-earth compromiser is saying when they try place the formation of fossils before Adam's sin. In the fossil record, there is evidence of death, diseases, widespread violence and predation.  Romans 5:12 tells us that these things entered the world through one man's (Adam) sin. As believers, we cannot have death before sin...not if we are starting from God's Word!

Not only was there no death in the world when God called it "very good" - there was no devil yet either! Look closely at Genesis 1:31 "And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good." Everything means everything. Lucifer was made by God - logically, this means that he was still good on day six of creation. The fall of Satan had to occur after mankind was created. We'll find out later that this order of events actually makes perfect sense and provides a stronger motive for Lucifer's pride and rebellion.