The News Beats

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

 

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

 

Habeas Corpus

 

Now, it will certainly be argued that it is unreasonable to detect a time space between only two verses in Genesis that could  promote this much speculation about another cosmos and other living Awdawms.  Still, plausible supports are introduced in other scriptures (Jer 4: ; Isa 1:1; 2Pet 1:1), and we know of at least one other place in scripture where a remarkable time space exists. 

One Sabbath day, Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth to read, and He  read from the book of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luk 4:18-19)

Here, Jesus closes the book and hands it back to the minister.  The passage in Isaiah that Jesus read is chapter sixty-one, verses one and two, but Jesus did not stop reading at the end of verse two.  He stopped in the middle of verse two at a comma. On the other side of that punctuation we read: “and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that moun” (Isa 61:2).

That comma is the place mark for over two thousand years and counting, and it is not in between two verses, but in between a single verse of scripture.  

As to the significance of time spaces in scripture, the most important event and developments to ever occur took place, and are still taking place, within this gap found in a single verse. 

As to the providence of God in the amount of information and the time in which it is revealed, we have the witness of scripture that even His own prophets were not informed about the creation of the Church, or fully comprehended Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

I dare say we do not fully comprehend it now.

Even the angles desired to look into the mysteries which waited to be revealed to the Apostles and to us (1Pet 1:12).

The naturalists will most likely not be allowed an habeas corpus, or to produce the body from amongst the dead Awdawms and claim it an evolutionary ancestor of man.  Their destruction may have been on the order of the one reserved for Gog and Magog who Satan will lead in attack against the camp of the saints at the close of the millennium.  There, fire will come down from heaven and completely devour them; vaporized (Rev 20:7-9). 

It could also be that some knowledge was passed to demon possessed men as to the Awdawms and their country and how it was destroyed, and from this comes the legend of Atlantis which is supposed to have perished beneath the sea.  The bodies of the Awdawms could be entombed at the bottom of the ocean. If this were the case, it would shed light another curious scripture. 

On that final judgment day after the millennium, all the wicked dead, small and great, will stand before God and be judged.  The transaction to bring them before the throne of judgment will be, first, the soul will be summoned from hell, and then it will pass through the grave to be embodied so it can stand in its sins and be judged.  This is what is meant by “death [the grave] and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (Rev 20:13). 

This description is complete to cover all anthropos, or human beings, but this transaction is preceded by one in which the sea gives up all the dead which are in it (Rev 20:13). 

This seems to indicate that a different race of Awdawms who are held at the bottom of the ocean are to be judged first.  Paul tells us that all things will be done in their proper order as to the resurrections (1Cor 15:23-24), and so it would make sense for the Awdawms to be resurrected for judgment first. 

Because their disembodied spirits did not go to hell but to the abyss, and their bodies may lie concealed under the bottom of the ocean (q.v.), their bodies and spirits would be collected before leaving the depth of the ocean to be judged.  This is why when the sea gives up its dead; hell is not included in that transaction.   

To further substantiate the connection between the Awdawms and Satan we learn reading the account of his future demise: “They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas” (Eze 28:8).  This cannot be an allusion to a drowning sensation Satan is to experience in the pit, for not every anthropos drown who was slain in the sea.

Here the slain in the sea are again most likely a special class who are in the middle of probably the Atlantic ocean.  We know that Satan will be bound and cast into the Abyss for a thousand years prior to being released one last time to tempt a rebellion before being cast into the lake of fire (Rev).  Here he is reminded that his fate is tired to the fate of the Awdawms which he led in his rebellion in the Pre-Adamite earth.

With this in mind, we may see that there is more of a poetic quality to Satan’s demise then has previously been entertained:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. (Eze 28:6-8)

The passage has been rendered by the translators in mortal terms.  In light of this observation, and incorporating what scripture does tell us, a variant reading of the passage in the author’s paraphrase:

“Because of you purposed in your heart to be God, desired and sought to ascend to throne and rule as a god, the Awdawms will be the cause for you being cast into the abyss where the foreign, strange, and profane disembodied spirits of the Awdawms, who are exceedingly mighty and terribly violent as many troops of animals, and are as pervasive and inescapable as a flight of horrible supernatural locusts; there they will actually rule over you, and your beauty and wisdom will be the wound of your defilement, and that is the splendor you have exchanged your splendor for.   They will have power over you to do this for a thousand years, and after that time you will die the death of eternal torment with them in the lake of fire.”

Considering the scriptures being examined deals with Satan’s rebellion and destruction, and his destruction is not one that can be accomplish by men and their weapons; the words tending towards the supernatural rendering were chosen from amongst the verity of Strong Concordance definitions available for them.  Nevertheless, the author does not care for paraphrases, and does not recommend them.  

All of this reversal of fortune takes place while the called out ones are ruled over for the same period of time in splendor and peace by their righteous King whose throne will be set up on the restored earth He possesses. Poetic justice.

The foregoing is a theory to explain the old appearance of the earth.  Of course, none of this is necessary to explain why the earth looks so old.  It could look old because it’s old, and for no other reason.  Other theories have been postulated that connect the age of the earth to the speed of light.  It has to do with the idea that the speed of light is slowing down, and suggests that events transpired faster, and so in smaller increments of time only thousands of year ago. 

The author favors this theory because it, as good theories should, provides possible answers to other mysteries as well.

We should come away from this study more intrigued by the awesome reasoning of Him who subjected us in frailty so that we may reside in hope, and with a renewed appreciation for the scope of the plan of salvation and the intricacies in its transaction.  We should now be more apt to engage the scriptures than to entertain science fiction (such as evolution), and able to more clearly see the dissimilar nature of different things.

Demanding a young earth is not the same as defending God as the creator of all things, and accepting an old earth is not the same as accepting the theory of evolution.   

Nor is looking at an old earth theory the same as looking back on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra contrary to divine instruction; you will not become a pillar of salt for doing so. 

We are witnessing a dividing in the Church over the subject of the age of the earth because it is presented as a package with two separate subjects which do not share the same compartment.  What is traveling therein is a misunderstanding that has mistakenly joined together a dichotomy and presented it as a tenet of Christian faith.  This harms two groups.

The saints are doggedly herded into a camp with unstable walls and told to bar the doors against an enemy that doesn’t exist; despite what their common sense tells them.  This behavior of placing faith in something questionable out of a conjured fear that doubting it would destroy the word of God can lead Christians into other areas of dissonance.

Over time, they will begin to tread lightly on their faith from a fear that standing firm on it would subject it to stress whereby its weaknesses would be revealed.

The scientists who are attacked to the gospel will stop short of accepting Christ as savior and hear Him only as philosopher so long as they  believe they must abandon the reality He has created to accept Him in reality.

We are comforted to know that those who are saved cannot be lost, and those who will be saved cannot be disappointed, but we are all nonetheless subject to scandal in this life, or treatment by it that prevents us from reaching many of what otherwise would be our attainments.  To this: woe to him who willfully causes scandal and correction to him who by error causes men to stumble.

________________

 

Works Consulted:

Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, Third Edition (Loizeaux Brothers: 1916; 1943; 1959).

Boris Culik, Kiel, “Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray,” Whales & Dolphins, CMS, 2003 (accessed 2008). http://www.cms.int/reports/small_cetaceans/data/G_macrorhynchus/g_macrorhynchus.htm

G. H. Pember, Earth’s Earliest Ages, New Edition (Hodder Stoughton, 1876; Kregel Publications, 2005).

Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin On Trail, Second Edition (Inter-Varsity Press: 1993).

Phillip E. Johnson, Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education (Inter-Varsity Press: 1995).

Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth: God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages, Revised Edition (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1918; Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1920).

Clarence Larkin, The Book of Revelation: A Study of The Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture (Erwin W. Moyer Co., 1919).

Clarence Larkin, Rightly Dividing The Word (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est.: 1920).

Clarence Larkin, The Spirit World (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1921).

Merrell F. Unger, Biblical Demonology: A study of the Spiritual Forces at Work Today, (Scripture Press, 1963; Dregel Publications, 1994).

Merrell F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, (AMG Publishers: 1981; 2002).

Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? (Regency Publishing: 2000).

____________________________________________

 

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

 

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

 

Redemption of Satan

 

In the book of Ezekiel we are introduced to the magnificent King of Tyrus.  So stunning is the description of his perfection and so complete is the account of his destruction that we must conclude that he in none other than the person of Satan before his fall.  Notice that Satan started out in such a preeminent state that God says of him: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” (Ez 28:12). Satan was originally created at the zenith such a creature could be made to attain to.

It does not appear that God provided beforehand for a transaction of redemption that would restore a fallen but repentant Satan as He later did for man, which “creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Rom 8:20).  Hence, a restored Satan would have retained the blemish of his fall. 

The prospect of being marred by his fall for all eternity, and thought of the memory of his former splendor haunting him in the congregation of God, might explain the sealing up of his fate.  It was his beauty which originally caused hid heart to be lifted up against God (Eze 28:17). How different from God’s faithful and obedient servant who was willing to bear the marks for the price of our redemption in His hands and feet and in His side (Jh 20:27).

On the question of whether God extended an opportunity for Satan and his angels to repent, we may at least have an account of one for his angles. 

There is a curious scripture in Psalm eighty-two.  It appears there that, just as Satan and his angles presented themselves before God and accused Job (Job 1:6), his angles were at another time standing in the congregation of God when He made the offer:

A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. (Psa 82:1-4)

If this was an offer, we have evidence of its finale withdrawal here also. 

That they are angles we know because God said: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psa 82:6).  This is the way the angles are described in Job. In the next verse their doom is pronounced: “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (Psa 82:7). 

It is also remarkable that the next and last verse to this Psalm is also the chief corner stone for all creation: “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations” (Psa 82:8).  Although we do not know when this event transpired, it seems the rest of God’s plan which would now include the fate of fallen angels was irrevocable from the point.  And if such an offer could in fact be made to the angels, it follows that it could also be made to Satan.

This idea of an extended offer of repentance to Satan and his angels may also explain Christ’s words following his riding into Jerusalem as King (Zec 9:9).  It was near the hour of his crucifixion which would make possible the redemption of men, and Satan still opposed Him. 

Jesus prayed to the Father to glorify His name, and a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (Joh 12:28). This may include the miracles Christ performed, but the scope of this glory could also refer to before His incarnation as redeemer and Holy One of Israel, and after His resurrection as Savior; an assurance.

It is upon this promise that the plan of salvation will not be hindered that Jesus responds: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast down” (Jh 12:31). This may be anticipative of Satan’s future doom, for he is not cast down yet; either from the heavens, to which he still has access until the middle of the tribulation period (Rev 12:7), or from his position over the kingdoms of the world.  Also, we know that the judgment day is future too, but still there may be a more immediate application to the statement. 

The world was about to be held accountable to the work of Christ on the cross, and everyone will be judged by that standard; have you received Christ so that you may be received of God, or denied him so as to be received in the lake of fire? 

Perhaps Satan, in addition to not wanting to be a marred creature in the redemptive state and choosing instead to rule as a god for as long as this age should last, also did not want to give up his power over death.  And so by needs sake he had to be destroyed when Christ rose from the dead to abolish death (2Tim 1:10), for we read:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Heb 2:14)

Satan was exalted as the covering cherub with many privileges.  He frequented the holy mountain of God, and the Eden of God’s garden that was in the same vicinity (not the Eden God prepared for man), and he walked up and amidst the stones of fire (Ez 28:13-16). 

It follows that he would have been the one to have also been given dominion over the earth.  That he has title to it today after displacing Adam there is no doubt, for he was willing to offer all the kingdoms of this world to the Lord if he would worship him.  Our Lord did not question the Devil’s authority to make that offer (Mat 4:8-10).

Satan most likely engineered the fall in the garden of Eden to retake possession of the earth after God gave it to Adam, and to doom God’s new creation because God destroyed similar creatures over which Satan had a charge. 

The animus he would have over mankind could be explained by the fact that God had destroyed Awdawms in the old cosmos who Satan had some authority over.  Because of the multitude of his privileges and wonderful attributes with which he was created, Satan’s heart was darkened and he “sinned” (Ez 28:16). 

He probably involved the Awdawms in his rebellion, and for that cause they were destroyed, and God foreclosed on earth and put it in a watery bank. 

Inferences seem to point to some redemption being available to Satan and his angels.  In the hierarchy of created beings, Satan and the angles were created heavenly beings and thus far superior to the Awdawms who were created terrestrial beings.  Because they were not created specifically to be called out, or redeemed, the terms of their restoration was limited.  God is not limited, so He must have created them as such for His reasons in the Grand Design (s.v.).  Satan and his angels may have survived a restoration transaction, but not unscathed.  The lesser terrestrial Awdawms, with no special plan for redemption in play, could not negotiate such a transaction and survive it.

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

 

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

 

Origin of Demons

 

In his second epistle, Peter addressed an argument of the scoffers.  They argued that all things continued the same from the creation.  Certainly, Noah and the human race, and the animals, and the plants that Noah’s flood did not destroy, continued from the antediluvian world after Noah’s flood.  The scoffers did not have their eye on the flood of Noah, but they certainly were not ignorant of it.  If that were the case, Peter would not have described a flood where the world did not continue on its own from creation reproducing life, a flood where the world actually “perished” (ap-ol-loo-mee, G622, to destroy fully, 2Pet 3:6).   

If it were merely a case of the scoffers denying Noah’s flood, Peter would have certainly used Noah’s name in rebutting them.  His audience was as familiar with the account as we are, and so were the scoffers.  For Peter to give details of a flood that don’t include details of an ark, animals, and Noah and his family, also identifies it as a different flood.   

It cannot be said that Peter was generally lax in providing details when he knew them, or was unable to draw them into a small space.  In this same epistle, Peter recounts in succession the angles who had a particular falling, followed by the flooding of Noah’s old world and his deliverance, then the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha and Lot’s deliverance; and identifying these all by their names (2 Pet 2:4-8).

The reason the account of the perishing flood, which took place prior to Genesis chapter one verse two, is absent of details is because the Bible provides no detailed information as the names of the Awdawms who inhabited it (q.v.), the names of their cities, its duration, or the cause of its destruction (though we know the means). 

The Bible does provide some details, as has been pointed out, and Peter was not only acquainted with them; he also held the scoffers to the same level of familiarity by claiming they were being willfully ignorant of it in making their argument.  The incident, then, appears to have been somewhat common knowledge, what could be known of it, during the time Peter was writing.   

Now we have a different flood, with different Awdawms who were all destroyed in it, and now we may have an explanation as to the origins of demons.  The fallen angels are not to be confused with demons. Angels have bodies.  Demons are disembodied spirits.

After Noah’s flood, God commanded Noah to “replenish the earth” (Gen 9:1), and curiously these are the same instructions given to Adam and Eve after God created them (Gen 1:28).  It is not so curious an instruction if we admit the earth was plenished prior to Adam and Eve, as it was prior to Noah’s flood.  That race of Awdawms may have resembled us closely in physical form, and had similar passions as we possess.  They also would have been living souls; souls that would have been unclothed by the destruction of the world that was in the heavens of old. 

As disembodied souls, they are unable to indulge themselves in their lusts, and this would explain why they take possession of humans, and why demon possessed people are given to satiating their flesh with all manner of sinful behavior.  Their manner is often so depraved that, in gratifying their physical sensualities, they wear their victims out in a horribly destructive manner. 

They also commit heinous crimes of the most brutal and diabolical nature for their own amusement. 

Demons exert power over their hosts by causing dumbness (Mat 9:32-33),  blindness (Mat 12:22), and driving them insane (Lk 8:26-35).  The Awdawms could have been much stronger than men, for when demons possess them they can obtain supernatural strength (Lk 8:29).  If this were the extent of demonic activity, as terrible as is, our attention might be confined rebuking their hindrance to the gospel, and to the physical relief and spiritual redemption of individuals. 

There is another communicable evil in demonism that is even more destructive, and which is a persistent opposition we continually wrestle against (Eph 5:11; 6:12).

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

(Joh 3:19)

The Bible is nothing if it is not provocative.  It describes not only the human condition, both cause and remedy, but it also tells of the time before the human race, and the universe after the race ends.  The Bible also reveals information about other supernatural beings, and their interactions with humans throughout time.  In fact, some things the Bible reveals about the unseen world seem so fantastic and dreadfully fearful that many down through history have chosen to interpret much of the Bible metaphorically, or otherwise spiritualize certain scriptures in order to fit them comfortably within the viewfinder of empiricism. Over the years Chuck Missler, of Koinonia House, has displayed no such temerity.

(more…)

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. (1Ki 18:21)

In the search for intermediate life forms to support the theory of evolution none have been discovered. New developments out of the science community, however, reveal that some scientists appear poised to identify an intermediate life form by creating it themselves. In what has become a long and protracted campaign to do just that, a new effort by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine (NAS/IMO) has resulted in a 70-page book titled Science, Evolution, and Creationism. In the text they attempt to bolster the theory of evolution, and persuade religious people that they sacrifice nothing in joining their ranks. The effort is aimed not only at convincing religious people that science and religion are compatible, but that religious people can also embrace the theory of evolution without contradicting the biblical account of creation. The evidence already suggests similar efforts on their part have met with significant success, and that there is, in fact, a means to classify an emerging intermediate life form. To treat this new, emerging species, religious people will hereafter be referred to in this piece as religious-man.

According to NAS/IMO, their book “shows that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world rather than as frameworks that are in conflict with each other and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith.”¹ The catch for this compatibility is that religious-man needs to make a few adjustments, or concessions, in the way they interpret the Bible. The reward to be gained from the science community is the vaulted mantle of co-existence. The compromise to be granted by the religious-man is: everything.

Naturalists, those who put their faith in the theory of evolution for the genesis of life, flatly reject God’s explanation for the creation of mankind, and that does not mean that they co-exist as on equal planes with respective merit. It means that, between the two of them, at best, one of them is wrong, and at worst one of them is a liar. Because God is not a liar, the task of assigning error and uncovering deceit is made easier. While Naturalists in general are only wrong when they put their faith in spontaneous generation of life by some chance environmental conditions and unintelligent forces that, through a blind natural selection process, eventually produced mankind, the scientists at NAS/IMO are liars for at least false representation. They are representing religion as one of the two methods of human understanding that are of equal value. This, they do not genuinely mean.

The reality is that religious-man is held to be inferior to the naturalist, or scientific-man, and the actual offer being extended by the latter is for the former to submit to the authority of science. Practically, they are to submissively enter the box naturalists have prepared for them so that they may be placed on a shelf and marked as exhibits of intermediate life forms; not fully evolved to the extent that the naturalists are (representing no small victory in that it would be the first intermediate life form yet produced for their theory). Then, the naturalists will accept religious-man as their ignorant wards, and make all the pertinent decisions on their behalf, and at their expense.

Honest members of the evolutionary-faithful do not dispute this. Except for the way a few of these points are herein stated in so unsavory a fashion, this is what, by the mechanics of their theory, they’ve come to believe. It is only when the high priests of science go trolling for religious converts, and more advantageous footing, are the terms of surrender euphemistically referred to as co-existence. They continue to invest in this strategy because its tactics, exemplified in this new book, continue to pay huge dividends.

There are growing numbers of religious-man who have embraced the theory of evolution as an explanation for the biblical account of creation. Naturalists have approvingly thumbed the starched lapels of their lab coats at the obsequious fawning of converts who bring forth such offerings to their altar of faith as Theistic Evolution.

The methods approved by the scientists at NAS/IOM which produce these sorts of heresies were put on record by Alan Leshner, CEO of American Association for the Advancement of Science, in an interview on the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, where he said:

Over and over, religions that see the Bible as an allegory, as a description of an overall process that isn’t tied to literal day by day, those religions seem to understand better how science can co-exist with a religious belief or even a biblical belief. It’s the literalist point that has tremendous problems.²

Notice what is advanced to tender this co-existence: a detailed list of the demands for surrender that are at issue; and the scientists at NAS/IMO and AAAS might be acknowledged for their honesty in that, but it is made more from the strength of their disdain than their cool resolve for objectivity.³

Certainly, the naturalists will accept, on limited terms, any who will recant that the Bible is the literal word of God. Surely, they will welcome, to a certain extent, those who will confess the Bible is nothing more than an allegory; a feeble attempt of primitive men to explain things that only scientists can be trusted to divulge, that only naturalists have evolved enough wisdom to understand, that only the result of blind chance and unintelligent forces could comprehend. Tremendous problems indeed.

Contrary to what NAS/IMO claim, this is by any definition conflict. Opposed are two narratives for the explanation of life and its purpose. At odds are two distinct groups of people; those who have a faith grounded in a theory, and those who have a faith grounded in theology, those who deny the existence of God,⁴ and those who take him at His word. Literally.

There is, however, a growing middle; an intermediate life form of religious-man, not fully Bible-believing, not fully naturalist. This foray into the realm of creationism by the NAS/IMO that includes overtures to this religious-man is not expected to topple Bible-believing men. That would be too much for them to hope for. On that score, they would gladly settle for intimidation. This is a continued effort, in part, to create more of these useful intermediates. By another part, the campaign is designed to mollify the already converted religious-man. It is a calculated effort to sooth him so he will pay no attention to rising chorus of challenge to the exclusivity of one failed theory barring all other discussions on the subject of origins; to the extent that naturalists will not even discuss the scientific evidence that disproves the theory of evolution, or confront the fraudulent portrayal of supporting fabrications still published in school textbooks.

This new book from NAS/IMO exemplifies a polished and well funded campaign being run against the Bible. In its face, it is hoped that some Bible-believing men might pause, and religious-man ought to be kept quiet while his children are stolen away from him and turned unto fables. What needs to be reiterated by Bible-believing man, as he presses the play, and learned by religious-man, is, again, there are no intermediate life forms. There are none to support the theory of evolution, and none to support an intermediate state of salvation. Nothing can save religious-man but complete faith in God, as is revealed in the Bible, and the same is true for naturalists. Literally.

Notes:

^1. Institute of Medicine, Reports, “Science, Evolution, and Creationism,” January 3, 2008 (emphasis added).

http://www.iom.edu/CMS/28312/50460.aspx

^2. Katherine T. Phan, “Pro-Evolution Book Says Science and God Compatible,” Christian Post, January 09, 2008 (emphasis added).

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080109/30782

_Pro-Evolution_Book_Says_Science_and_God_Compatible.htm

^3. The radio interview may be heard WAMU 88.5 FM. I do not imply that there was any choler in Leshner’s voice. He was interviewed by Diane Rehm on WAMU 88.5FM, which is listener supported public radio station. I am indebted to Katherine T. Phan of The Christian Post for her reporting (see n. 2) that alerted me to this interview and made it possible for me to hear it.

^4.. If His claims are invalid, He fails the test for the definition of “God”.

The Time cover story “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” favoring Bible-literacy classes taught in public schools, is being positively received by many Christians, and some have been prompted to proclaim by it “God is alive and well.”[i]The phenomenon is not that a secular magazine would endorse on its cover that Bible-literacy, of all books, be taught in public school, but that so many Christians would misinterpret the news to imply that the actual Bible itself would be taught. That is not the focus of the article, and teaching the Bible is not the objective of the school districts that have implemented curriculum to cover the Bible. There is something far more sinister afoot, and Christians need to take note: what is taking place is a church-state government takeover of the Bible on a scale that hasn’t been seen for four hundred years.

The establishing of State Ordained Bible Teachers will inevitably lead to reenactments of the Oath of Supremacy and Test Act of seventeenth century England. In order to hold public or civil office back then, such as that of preacher, persons must have first professed allegiance to, the state established, Church of England. Originally designed to check the Pope, and so Roman Catholics, the Act was enforced against Nonconformists too. In essence, state ordinations were required in order for a person to obtain a pastorate, or to publicly preach the gospel.

Dissenters eschewed ordination on at lest two points. While the Anglican Church was a breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church, it was established by HenryVIII in response to the Pope’s refusal to sanction his divorce and remarriage; it retained, with the exception of its stand of transubstantiation, the formers corruption. (Always a condition that presents when ever state and church are subservient to each other so they may benefit of themselves.)

The second point emits from the sharp edge of that twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and capable of revealing to a man the thoughts and intents of his wicked heart; the word of God. That is, if the Lord is merciful to allow the scales to fall away from his eyes so he may see his need for salvation and the way thereof, and so become ordained by God in the new royal priesthood (1Pet. 2:9), he is called to preach to set the captives free.

The penalties for obeying God’s call, and thus refusing the ordination of the state, were unemployment, arrest, and imprisonment. Nevertheless:

They wished no ordination but the ‘call,’ and they could dispense with learning because they abounded in inspiration, inner light, and the gifts conferred by the Holy Spirit. In 1660, the Anglican Church began to persecute and silence the dissenting sects. Jails filled with unlicensed Nonconformist preachers, and Bunyan was one of the prisoners.[ii]

This was John Bunyan, the “eloquent and fearless Baptist preacher” and famous author of Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come (1678).[iii] Bunyan was imprisoned twice, once for twelve years, and in his second prison term he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress which remains the “most popular allegory in English.”[iv] Here also is an existing literary work among many that could be taken up in English classes to foster Biblical liertacy and cover literay devices too (i.e. allegory), and without the eventual conscription of students into state religion classes; under the authority of state credentialed Bible teachers using erroneous and derogatory curricula such as The Bible and Its Influence .

Throughout history, men and women of God have opposed religious tyranny, and by doing so have won liberty and preserved opportunity to preach the gospel. By the fire of their persecution a great spiritual refinement produced a witness to a dying world. For this reason, we must oppose State Ordained Bible Teachers and preachers. This campaign is one of the sluiceways leading into the same funnel of apostasy, and today it includes faith-based government co-opting of churches, with the help of the ordained pastors, to conscript church members into the ranks of a social-service army exercising the political will of atheist governments. In fact, it is the ignorance now perpetrated in the churches that emboldens the state to act. We have entered an age of Biblical illiteracy that may be, on a per-capita basis, an even greater pandemic that existed prior to the Reformation. Indeed, this is the age of the falling away (2Thess. 2:3).

We do not, by opposition, expect to stop it; indeed, the Apostasia must come. Our opposing its establishment is not the product of our effort, but the result of our steadfastness in the faith; and the compassion we have to make a difference, saving others with fear, “pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:23). And this we can do if we redeem the time, and remember the admonishment: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21). What we may have to endure, we do not know, but if we are to look to our fellow man for positive reports, let us look to the likes of John Bunyan; and let us look to the author and finisher of our faith for the same strength.

Notes:

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[i] Doug Huntington, “Christians Pleasantly Surprised by Time’s Pro-Bible Article,”Christian Post, March 30, 2007.
[ii] Editors, “John Bunyan.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H. Abrams, et al. 2 Vols. 7^th ed. New York: Norton, 2000. Vol I. 2132.[iii] Norton, “John Bunyan.”
[iv] Ibid.

The April issue of Time magazine carries a controversial cover story entitled “Why We Should Teach The Bible in Public School: The Case for Teaching the Bible,” by David Van Biema. The basic premise is that the teaching of Bible-literacy classes in public school is compelling on the basis of the Bible’s cultural and literary value.[i] It is a sound argument, and Biema brings up good points. For the prominent role that the Bible played in U.S. History, Biema cites political rhetoric in phrases “The shinning city on the hill” attributed to John Winthrop who was in fact quoting Matthew, and Martin Luther King Jr. using the phrase “Justice rolling down like waters” which is from Amos.[ii] Biema might have added that Patrick Henry’s famous speech referred to from its famous ending “Give me liberty, or give me death!” is inspired by several books in the Bible including Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Students would fare far better acquiring Biblical literacy by exposing them to extant literature that not only relies on the use of scripture itself, but also provides context which can assist them in developing their acquaintance with understanding. The real issue is, as it always will be, the religious one.

As might be expected, prominent secularists would entertain the notion if the Bible-literacy course were curtailed until it resembled a balanced world religion study equally covering half a dozen or so religious views, and high profile Christians are themselves sharply divided on the subject. Chuck Colson, of Prison Fellowship fame, is in favor of teaching Bible-literacy classes in public school. While he acknowledges it would be limited, he is confident in their potential for evangelism: “What you can do is introduce the Bible so that people are aware of its impact on people and in history and then let God speak through it as he will.”[iii] Although his sentiments are noble enough, Colson has been outside public school for too long to realize that he is overly optimistic. Author and attorney Wendy Kaminer is described in the article as a First Amendment sentinel who would only approve of Bible classes “taught in close conjunction with other religions” so as to not to become “a kind of promotion of the majority faith.”[iv] Kaminer’s concerns may be unfounded for two reasons.

Surveys often result in data which give Christianity overwhelmingly high numbers when respondents are asked to declare their religion. These are, however, confessions that are made in unmolested comfort, and without qualifying religious tenets to determine whether this is a faith in the Easter Bunny and the practice of searching for chocolate eggs. The other reason that should serve to alleviate Kaminer’s fears is the one given by pastor John Hagee who is also against the classes. Hagee cited the compromised curriculum of the The Bible and It’s Influence, used in 85 schools districts in 30 states,[v] and an inability of young students to assess the errors presented and sort them out .[vi] It is this last view that is the most accurate of the three, and it can be expounded on to note that absent using the King James Bible, the literary value of a Bible-literacy course would be moot. No other version compares to the majesty of its language, the scope of its influence, and the shear volume of its verses incorporated in English literature. However, the current hostile environment of public schools towards Christianity precludes the use of an accurate text, and this leads to question what kind of teachers are available and willing to teach Bible-literacy in public school, and what other motives could they have?

There is already an ongoing warfare being waged against Christians and Jews at the college and university level in Philosophy and World Religion classes. Many of the upcoming college professors are already cutting their teeth on high school students in the social sciences such as English and History, and honing their attack arguments with what they purport to be inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible. A mild form of misinterpreting scripture as contradictory, and positing unscriptural reconciliations, is provided in the Time article. When a question was asked in a Bible class about the meek inheriting the earth it was framed in the presupposition that it has finally been accomplished, but instead by force. Responding, the teacher said: “When [Jesus] was giving the sermon, people took it not just as a physical award but an emotional or spiritual kind of award. Later on, when they became more powerful, say, in the Crusades or something, they weren’t trying to inherit the earth. They were trying to take it over.”[vii] This only appears to be a case of ignorance: attributing to Christians what were the Roman Catholic Crusades, and so the blame; and allegorizing, or spiritualizing, doctrine meant to be taken literally by ascribing a false fulfillment to it. The meek will indeed physically inherit the earth when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom for a thousand years, and it will be partially restored to Edenic splendor. After that period, their inheritance will be greatly increased in value after the Lord surrenders the Kingdom to His Father, and the earth is completely renovated to perfection (Rev.20:4, Jo. 3:18, Isa. 65:20; Rev. 21:1, 2Pet. 3:7-13, Isa. 66:22, Mat 19:28, Isa. 11:6-9). If small points can send classes careening off course into error when intentions are innocent, imagine he harm that can be inflicted by careful design. It can be long lasting, or even permanent.

Damage of the long lasting kind includes what happens to Christian teens who are worked over vicariously by teachers using their spin on a Biblical characters. The emotional abuse they are exposed to over a semester can produce a kind of Stockholm Syndrome where students actually form attachments to their captors and renounce their walk of faith for a time. Parents and pastors of these students will begin experiencing sharp increases in rebellious attitudes and resentment from these students who will hold them partially responsible for the beating they are taking in class, and may even despise them for a religion that can’t be defended and is so easily ridiculed, or at least for failing to prepare them for the task. Inevitably, some will also hold God responsible. The reason this effect often goes undetected is that teens don’t like to share their defeats, and parents assign the causes for their behavior to difficulties as are typical for teens such as hormone changes, or they may search for the causes in some murky deficit disorder. Keep in mind these antics are taking place in classes that are not yet Bible-literacy classes.

Every year in this fashion Christian students in public school have their faith attacked, and many have it short circuited and in turn sustain scars. The duration of their tumbling depends in part on their proximity to reserves. With youth groups that are little more than activity-based teen romps, and most pastors regularly preaching on a sophomore level, there are few forts for rearming, and reforming, and reconnoitering. Many don’t seem aware that the battle is being waged. There is, however, one formidable weapon, albeit a passive one, that the students do still have where Bible-literacy classes are not taught, and the attacks are only coming at them through social sciences.

Once a student enrolls in a class, they are required to attend and remain under the tutelage and authority of the teacher. They constitute a captive audience subject to the withholding of grades and accolades. If these same High School teachers are armed by the state schools with the mantle of Bible Teacher, the last vestige of defense will be demolished for students who can, to their own consolation, identify the fact that these teachers have no real expertise to venture into the subject they so loath and love to rail against.

While some may hold the hope that these classes, no matter what, will contribute to the furtherance of the gospel, this is not the same as the circumstance the Apostle Paul describes in his epistle to the Philippians. His imprisonment and confinement in chains prompted two opposing motives for the preaching that took place because of his persecution. Some Christian brethren were emboldened by Paul’s faith and the extent to which he was willing to suffer and remain steadfast, and they became more zealous in preaching the gospel. Others seized on the occasion to preach Paul’s message as a means of adding to his affliction, and the more accurately they retold it the surer it was to contrast his circumstances to, what they thought, would be his shame. Paul summarized it this way:

The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. (Phi. 1:16-18)

The significant differences between that circumstance and the one in which Bible-literacy classes are taught in public school make the analogy inapplicable. The people that were preached to then would have lent their ear only as much as they desired, would have been primarily adults or under parental supervision, and they would not have had any material considerations subject to the benevolence of the preachers. Furthermore, the preaching would have been far more accurate than public school curriculums which must pass muster for tolerance and inclusiveness.

We have had nearly two thousand years of tampering and perverting of the scriptures, and which tampering had begun in earnest before Paul’s death. Paul had to warn the Thessalonians about letters that had been circulating with his name on them that were forgeries (2 Thess. 2:2). The Apostle Peter also mentions that men who were unlearned in the scriptures were taking the complicated teachings from Paul’s letters and torturing them out of context and meaning (2 Pet. 3:16). While the principals themselves have varied over the years, their motives have remained constant. They have strived to apprehend spiritual elements from the text and fabricate an esoteric religion of enlightenment and privilege (e.g., Gnostics); to confiscate the word, reedit it and become sole arbiters of interpreting the text to garner for themselves special positions of power (e. g., papists); and to pervert the gospel of grace so as to establish the excommunicatory power of a new earthy high priest (i.e. these, et al). To day these principals include large Protestant denominations, and the plethora of perverted texts in use by liberal churches and by liberal university professors include The Message, the TNIV, the NIV, the NRSV, the NASB, the ESV, and the NLT.

These corrupt texts are what next years sincere high school teachers are ingesting. How will they be able to recognize, much less correct, the factual errors and outright contradictions in The Bible and its Influence like this: “Jesus taught with parables to put his message about God’s reign into language that all his hearers would grasp immediately.”[viii] Notice by referencing the Bible how patently false this is:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Mat 13:10-15).

It is hard enough to excuse such blatant error in a text written in part by Cullen Schippe, former vice president at giant education publisher Macmillan/McGraw-Hill,[ix] but the claim that the text was reviewed by 40 scholars with backgrounds including Evangelical, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish scholars seems completely incredible.[x]

A thorough critique of the text by Berit Kjos reveals students are prompted to questions God’s wisdom, pagan images are blended with Biblical references, the authority of scripture is undermined, Bible prophecy is ridiculed, provision is made for more endorsement of public schools’ litany in Communitarian indoctrination, and the account of judgment falling on Sodom and Gomorrah redacts the sin of homosexuality as the cause.[xi] And this is as good as it gets. To expect God’s word to be presented without bias and with objectivity in the public school districts that are openly hostile to the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity; and not to realize that it would be used as an occasion to set upon Christian students to cause them to stumble, distancing sincere inquiries by gauzing the Bible with political mysticism, and twisting scriptures in order to bolster the state’s continual endorsement of sin, is to be utterly and completely naive.  As for the ridiculous presumption that public school Bible-literacy will offer significant evangelism, Christian students living their faith unmolested by the state would be a far more effective means of evangelizing other students who were likewise unencumbered by political/religious indoctrinating, erroneous presentation of Bible doctrine, and outright lies perpetrated in classrooms by State Credentialed Bible Teachers.

Notes:

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[i] David Van Biema, “The Case for Teaching The Bible,” Time.com, March 22, 2007.

(aritlce title noted herein is from Time magazine cover; all quotes used taken from this online publication)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845,00.html. 3

 

[ii] Van Biema, “The Case for Teaching The Bible” 2.

 

[iii] Ibid. 2.

 

[iv] Ibid. 2.

 

[v] Ibid. 3.

 

[vi] Ibid. 2.

 

[vii] Ibid. 3.

 

[viii] Qt: Berit Kjos, “A More Adaptable Bible?“: A Critique of The Bible and Its Influence,

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/bible-textbook.htm.

 

[ix] Doug Huntington, “Christians Pleasantly Surprised by Time’s Pro-Bible Article,”

Christian Post Reporter (Correction), March 30, 2007.

http://www.christianpost.com/article

/20070330/26610_Christians_Pleasantly_Surprised_by_Time%27s_Pro-Bible_Article.htm

 

[x] Bible Literacy Project, “Breakthrough public school Bible textbook

receives wide acclaim from scholars,” April 2007.

http://www.bibleliteracy.org/Site/News/bibl_newsOpEd060414.htm

 

[xi] Berit Kjos, “A More Adaptable Bible?”