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In The Beginning–God’s Word
Love of Country Blog Stands for our Constitution
In the Beginning
God’s Word
I decided to write this little bit about my God because I wanted other Christians to understand who I believe in and why I believe in Him. I’m sure there are plenty of well written books out there that define my Christianity. I am also sure that many of those books were written by individuals far more intelligent than me. However, they are not talking to the people about my Christian beliefs per say; they are talking in general about what Christians are supposed to believe. I think most Christians understand what they believe. I am going to tell you what I believe as a Christian and why I believe it.
I find one of the most fascinating things about God’s word is the unmistakable mystery surrounding the meaning of His individual words. When I study God’s word I become more and more convinced that God is even greater than I ever imagined.
I used to take God for granted. My parents raised me in the Roman Catholic religion and most of you understand they have their rules and their dogmas that have little or nothing to do with God. The rote of Catholicism is so ingrained into the lives of the children that it takes years before the brainwashing diminishes to a point where the child as a middle-aged adult finally develops his or her own personality and ideology.
As a child growing up in a Catholic family, we prayed every evening and we prayed to just about every angel we could name, every saint, we could think of and to the Holy Family every day. We honored every Holy Day of obligation, did not eat meat on Friday and observed fasting during Lent. Accordingly, we had to receive Holy Communion at least once a year to remain in the good graces of the church and God.
It took me a number of years before I realized God is not a task master who demands numerous repetitive prayers that have little or no meaning and He is not a God of constant penance. I finally realized that Jesus did all the penance needed for the remission of our sins. Our God is a loving, kind benevolent God who demands nothing in return for His love except our love and respect for His greatness. He says, “…after those days I will put my laws and on their hearts; in their minds I will write them…” Those of us who believe in Christ, follow Him with joy in our hearts.
I discovered, after reading the Bible about six times that there was absolutely nothing we can do for our salvation except receive the free gift given us by God through the sacrifice made by Jesus with His life and His death on a Roman cross.
This little statement I am writing here, no matter how large it gets, will be a statement about the words of God in His Bible. What I think they mean. I will most likely make a number of mistakes about my ideas, but they are my ideas given me by my studies and my beliefs. I do not believe God made any mistakes in His book but I do believe organized religions make many mistakes in their interpretation of His word. We are human; we make mistakes. I will endeavor to make sure I clarify my statements as my beliefs, not dogma. The Catholic Church has dogmas. Baptists have dogmas. Most religious organizations have dogmas because they want and need proselytes; that’s how they make money and remain in business.
There are numerous scholars who wish to argue over the meaning of words and they love to bring in Eastern philosophy to discuss the meaning of creation showing how many different cultures have creations similar to the Bible. I am also amazed at how many different scholars work to disprove our Christian God as the one true God by manipulating the meaning of Biblical words. Now, that doesn’t mean I believe they deliberately introduce different creation theories from pagan cultures just to demean God. They wouldn’t do that, would they? Of course they would; they are motivated by a spirit contrary to our God, Elohyim and they will never stop berating Him until He returns and puts them where they belong.
Okay, there are a number of scholars who work to dispute the truth about our God but what all those scholars say and what they do has no bearing or effect on what God tells us. We believe in the Christian God because He has put it in our hearts to understand Him and what His desires from His people. We have no need for people like me trying to explain what we already believe. God said it—We believe it. It can’t be any simpler than that.
The reason I have undertaken this endeavor is because someone once told me that I spiritualize too much. My fellow Christian thought the Bible was a book of literal scientific fact. I do not believe that thinking Christians believe the Bible actually says that God created the entire universe in six days that are exactly 24 hours in duration. However, if it said that, I would believe it, no matter how contradictory it was to scientific discoveries. The actual date and time of God’s work is never mentioned in the Bible and it doesn’t have to be. The Bible is not a book of science; it is a book of truth.
One truth that is always overlooked by scholars and theologians is the truth of Jesus, (Yeshua) being the Beginning and the End of all things. When our Bible says – In the beginning. We Christians should immediately understand that Jesus being the Beginning is the context in which, this opening passage refers. If Jesus is the Beginning of all things and the End of all things then why do we not give Him the praise and glory He deserves?
In the beginning God (Elohiym) created the Heaven and the Earth. Now we know from other passages in the Bible that Jesus was in the beginning with God because we are told that ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’
That statement from John 1:14 is a solid statement of the glory of God and the glory of Jesus. The statement unites God the Father with the Son Jesus our Christ and makes them one being, yet two persons.
I know a number of my fellow Christians who have great difficulty with that statement but if the statement is not true then the Bible is a complete lie. None of us believe the Bible wrong so we are forced to accept the truth of the statement.
(Jesus is God).
“…And the earth was without form and void…”
I really enjoy looking at the different interpretations of the above passage. I have only a few things to say about these words. Many of us have no idea what the words ‘without form’ or ‘void’ mean but biblically without form means (In a state of chaos, wasted or desolate.) and the word ‘void’ means in a state of devastation or destroyed, Some different translations just to confuse us— “And the earth had become ruined and uninhabited– (tohu v’bohu) indicates destruction, ” “formless and empty,” or “chaos and desolation– an undistinguishable ruin—(922 BOHU—from Strong’s Concordance)
There are a couple of facts we can see in the passage. First: Somehow the earth got destroyed. Second: It was in a state of chaos or confusion.
I’m of the mind that both these ideas are not only correct, they reflect the state of the inhabitants dwelling on the earth at the time as well. When you think about it, God had already created the earth and now He was in the process of re-creating it, not just physically, but spiritually.
The very next passage leans toward the proof of that idea. “…and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
The word darkness suggest again a state of unknowing and confusion. ‘the face of the deep’ suggests that those who were on the earth at that time lived in that darkness and understood nothing about the one true God.
Gen. 1:3 ‘…and God said, “Let there be light..” Here we have the first transition to the earth that into the darkness entered a great light, a light of enlightenment. It was a great light that opened the eyes of those who dwelled in darkness. “…and God saw that the light was good…” And then He separated the light from the darkness. He called the light day and He called the darkness night.
There is a passage where Jesus speaks of doing work while it is still day. He says in John 9:4, “…As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work…”
I have read a number of different interpretations about this passage and while they are all correct I believe Jesus was referring back to the idea that God separated the day from the night for a reason. In the darkness, there is confusion, chaos, and the ruler of that darkness is evil. Jesus also knew He was going to die and sometimes the reference to death is darkness.
I think it is important to remember that when Jesus was in the world there was a great light among us. However, when Jesus left the world He went to sit at the right hand of the Father. Did not that great light then leave the world?
Yes, I know the Holy Spirit entered the world at Pentecost and the Holy Spirit remains in the world but most of us who have not accepted Christ into his or her heart has neither the light of Christ or the light of the Holy Spirit. We must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and then ask Jesus to come into our hearts and our lives in order to receive that redemption.
Here is something I believe about Light and Darkness. Jesus is the Light unto the world and He said Darkness comes soon and no one can work. I believe Jesus was telling us that the world would become dark and soon Satan would take over the world in the form of the Anti-Christ and darkness would rule for that period of time he is loosed on this earth. I believe Jesus is the ‘One’ referred to in the statement,”…no ‘One’ can work…”
After the Anti-Christ runs his course on the earth, Jesus returns and finishes His work. Like I said…I do not believe the word of God is just a bunch of words on pages in an obscure book that few people understand. I believe every word of God has meaning. I believe every word that comes out of the mouth of God should cause us to fall down and worship Him.
I think, when I look at all the governments of the world I see not Christ but Satan at work. I think I see an evolution of evil presenting itself to all our people around the globe. I see that evil in Hollywood, in our government, our schools, our hospitals, and especially in abortion clinics. I see that same evil in Korea, Germany, France, England, Russia, China and a host of other countries that support the way of the flesh, which is the way of the world. It’s true, God has not deserted us but Jesus is no longer in this world and those that run the world are not God fearing leaders. We can only pray and hope Jesus does something to rectify the situation.
I know the founders of this country established the United States on principles of godliness and set forth the motto, ‘In God we trust.’ But I also know that over the years I have witnessed a tremendous decline in those foundational words of wisdom. We no longer honor God in our schools, our government or in our homes. We have allowed the serpent to intertwine his venom into our lives and the lives of our children. He runs our government, our schools, Hollywood with their smut and violence—he even runs most of the marriages in our country and around the world. We really do need the light unto the world to return.
Remember when Jesus said in Mark,10:8 “Only God is good…”
Christians should remember that Jesus said, “I am the light unto the world.” I suggest that since Jesus was in the beginning with God and Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega—The Beginning and the End– That the great light entering the world was and is in fact, Jesus because God saw that the light was good and only God,(Jesus, Elohi) can be good. When Jesus walked as a man He had all the honor and fullness of deity, plus all the weight of a man. He walked in the Spirit of God and ignored the flesh of a man, and He did the will of the Spirit, not the will of the flesh. I think most Christians would love to walk every moment of their lives in the Spirit of Christ. That is why Peter sank into the sea; he walked in the will of the flesh and not in the will of the Spirit of God.
During the time of God re-creating the world, that is bringing it out of a state of confusion and chaos, it should be noted that God separated the light from the darkness suggesting that the darkness of confusion was still upon the face of the earth but those living in the darkness could always come into the light.
Remember, God separated the light from the darkness and he called the light day and the darkness He called night. Then He gave the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.
Do you think those words are just abstract words without meaning? Do you actually believe a God of such magnitude would bring forth words without substance or meaning? The idea that God would see that the light was ‘good’ and make no declaration of same for the darkness should spur just a little curiosity in one’s mind.
If we consider the statement in its entirety we must conclude that God does not work in coincidences; I cannot and will not believe things on this earth or in the heavens happen by coincidence or accident. All things happen in God for God and nothing happens without His knowledge or His will. If something can happen without God knowing it and even ordaining it, then our God is no god at all.
When I consider the above statement I am forced to conclude that Hitler, the master of evil in his time was an Aryan as was the Persian Empire—that being the Iranian people of today. The Aryans believe that their god Illa, now called Allah, the moon god, is the god of all things, eternal.
Supposedly, Mohamed’s father received his name Allah from the god Illa because he worshipped the god of the moon. If I take this a step further I must conclude that the God of Abraham, our God, when He separated the Light from the darkness and called the Light Day and the darkness night ordered the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. I believe that to be a statement telling us that the ruler of the night, the moon god Allah is a god of confusion, lacks understanding and fills the earth with chaos and evil. While, on the other hand, the ruler of the day, the ‘Light’ representing Jesus is good.
The believers in Allah as god have been trying for centuries to convince Christians that Allah is the god of the patriarchs. The Christians rejected that notion at the council of Nicea by declaring the Arian sect of the early Christian church a heretical group consorting with evil and sent them on their way.
The Christian faith concluded that Jesus was not just the Son of God but He was indeed the second person of the Holy Trinity and therefore the fullness of deity stood within Him.—He was and is God. The Arians refused to believe that because they insisted in the god Illa was the one and only supreme being. The modern day Arians are now the religion of Islam, worshipping a pagan god named Allah.
It might be prudent on the part of Christians to think about that statement for a moment. If the Arians of 325 AD are now the Iranians of 2013 – discards from Hitler’s regime, then we still have the evil of paganism and hatred living in our societies around the world. If we consider the words of Christ and the Apostles about the Anti-Christ, it might behoove us to consider what role the Arabians will play in the final battle.
Al-Kindi, one of the early Christian apologists against Islam, pointed out that Islam and its god Allah did not come from the Bible but from the paganism of the Sabeans.(Bible believers Organization.)
I might add to this by saying that people love the darkness more than the light; because it is the easier of the two paths. It is not difficult for humans to understand the will of the flesh. It is difficult for me to understand the how and why of Adam and Eve. Adam’s creation might have been from the dust of the earth but God breathed life into him and he became a living being. This man was a living being in Christ, a man filled with the Spirit of God. If the Holy Spirit given Adam was the same as those born of the flesh, I would readily understand the weakness suffered by man, but Adam was not born of the flesh, he was born of God. He was a living being. There is a difference between Adam and those of us born out of the will of the flesh.
Darkness was upon the face of the deep.
People love the darkness more than the light because darkness was and still is upon the face of the deep and the path of least resistance. Every one of us will admit, if we are honest with ourselves and God that we fall into darkness many times during the day. We cry out for salvation even while we slip into sin.
Remember when Peter tried to walk on the water and Jesus had to help him? Do you think that is just a story without meaning? Jesus came here from the Holy Spirit. He was conceived by the Spirit of God. He walked in this world by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not walk by the will of the flesh.
The water represents the sin of the flesh, the weakness of the world and all things contrary to the will of God, the will of the Spirit. When Peter saw Him walking on the water he immediately requested that he too walk above the depth of the sin of the world. Since he was naught but a simple fisherman, he probably did not understand the significance of his request.
Jesus bade him come and Peter began walking. He did not get very far before he succumbed to the demands of the sea, gravity, the will of the flesh, the darkness of sin and the stain of the world– He began to sink. Then Peter cried out, ‘Lord, Save me.” Jesus simply reached down and pulled him to safety. Jesus did not praise him for his accomplishment of walking a few feet on the water; He admonished him for not having enough faith to complete his mission. Think about it. Jesus reaches down all day long pulling us out of the deep, out of the will of the flesh, out of the world of sin and out of the darkness. I believe that once we learn to allow the Spirit of God to do the walking for us, we will walk much better than we do now. I do not think Jesus commends us for walking on water for a few minutes out of a day. I am sure He would say, ‘why did you doubt?’.
Chapter Two
Lovers of Darkness
And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creepy thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.
I put the above passage here because it is important to note that this appears to be a general consensus of God’s creation and not the specific sense of His creation.
The first sentence says—“And God (Elohiym–a plural word suggesting more than one,) said, let us make (man in our image after our likeness.) Image and likeness are words used to show resemblance in looks and stature. The passage suggest that man might look like angels or perhaps even God. Since the passage is vague by using the words with general meanings it is difficult to say if man looks like God, angels, or just resembles them.
I do know that our Jewish friends,brothers and neighbors do not look much like the gentiles. I also know that there is a tremendous movement in our world to kill Jews. You don’t suppose it’s because they are made in the image and likeness of God do you? No, you probably do not believe that. I personally, do not fully understand it.
The Aryans believe the Jews are those who evolved from the slime of the earth and therefore are sub human without souls. The Aryans further believe that they are the people made in the image and lieness of their god. They do not believe in the Christian God, Jehova, Elohiym.
That is an interesting twist on Genesis except God distinguishes between man and mankind. There are too many places in the Bible depicting the Jews as the chosen people and too many places depicting the gentiles as the garbage of the planet. I could make the supposition that there are two versions of creation in Genesis, but I would be wrong with my conclusion. There are a goodly number of theologians who believe that. There are also a great many theologians along with Christians who believe the creation happened just 6,000 years ago.
Creation is a good debate and when it took place is also a good debate, but Christians need not worry themselves with the how and why, that is for those who search all day long for truth and understanding and never come to the salvation of Christ because they are too worried about discovering something not important to salvation.
I think what is more important here is the use of the word Elohiym for God’s name. The word suggests a plurality of Majesty referring back to the idea that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were in the beginning with the Father as God. Elhoiym therefore represents our triune God.
This is where Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormon’s, Apostolics and some others get the idea that there must be more than one god. The Bible tells us there is but one true God and there shall be no other gods before Him. We Christians believe in the one true God.
At the council of Nicea the elders of the church declared the Apostles creed as the true Christian belief. All religions that do not believe in the triune God as the one true God are wrought from deceit and misbeliefs. It follows that we, while not responsible for their misguided beliefs, are beckoned by our Lord to set them straight if possible. We are not ordained to bring a proselyte to Jesus by way of war, bribery, deceit, malice or beguilement. If we are to bring someone to Christ, we are to do it with love, mercy, understanding, knowledge, wisdom and truth.
So, let’s conclude there is but one true God and He has a Son named Yeshua, (Jesus) and Jesus is the second person contained in the one true God. Our one true God also has a Holy Spirit contained in His deity and the three persons, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit comprise one true God, our God.
Now, in Genesis we have a dilemma. God extends His creation showing the possibility of two versions. Here is something to think about. Our God is the one and only creator. The first version of creation deals with creation in general and the second version of creation deals with man specifically. It is one Bible and one creation; the length of time is not mentioned and not important.
Now, let’s go back and look at the first version. God put man in charge of everything and He put man on earth as a tiller of the soil and charged man with the care of the earth.
When God gives us the details, He tells us that he formed man from the earth and then formed woman from man and then placed them in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it and He said,“…There is not yet man to till the soil…” Suggesting that Adam would be the keeper of the garden. This only makes sense because the Jews were and are the keepers of God’s word.
He put Adam and Eve in a special garden and tells them the rules for living in that garden. They could eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could even eat of the tree of life and live forever but as we know they were banished from the garden and the tree of eternal life was no longer available to them, at least not until the birth of Christ.
So many people wonder about all this and many discard it as nonsense but that is only because they do not see what our God is telling us. The garden and all its amenities represents life in the Spirit of God. The tree in the middle of the garden ‘The tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ represents life in the flesh. Our first born were in the garden, living in the Spirit of God.
Eve is off walking in the garden and here comes a creepy creature. He does not have a name but Eve did not seem alarmed at his presence so she engages in a conversation with him. The Snake like creature, called the serpent, suggesting he was already evil. Why else would the writer call him, ‘the serpent?’ There are a number of biblical references regarding that serpent of old, Leviathan…etc. This serpent convinces
Eve that eating from the tree would be a good thing because her eyes would be opened and she would be just like the gods, knowing good and evil.
So Eve is beguiled by this serpent creature and she examines the tree and its fruit and makes a decision. She decides to eat of the tree. After all, how can one refuse the way of the flesh over the way of the Spirit; the way of the Spirit is restrictive where the way of the flesh is free, allowing all sorts of behavior, good or bad. Isn’t that what we all do from the day we are born until the day we die? We succumb to the way of the flesh rather than the way of the Spirit? We can be thankful for Jesus who saves us from this death. We should also be aware that salvation, while manifest in Christ Jesus our Lord is a promise, not a guarantee.
Not only does Eve eat from the tree she gives her fruit to Adam and he too eats. Now their eyes are open and they are ashamed. Notice, they are not sorry, they are simply ashamed. Whenever we sin, we rarely ever show sorrow; we show resistance; we move to justify our actions by placing blame on someone or something else. Adam and Eve did exactly that. When God came walking in the garden He knew what they had done but He wanted them to admit their guilt and repent. They did just the opposite. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.
However, the bigger question here is what were they ashamed of? Their eyes were opened and they were ashamed. They cut fig leaves to cover their nakedness. They were naked alright; they were naked of the Spirit of God. They gave up their walk in the Spirit of life for the state of living for the death of the flesh. Whether Adam and Eve understood the consequences of their actions not does not matter here, but what concerns me is their choice of death over eternal life. All that live in the flesh die; the flesh decays and turns to rot but the living in Christ go on to eternity with God. They knew that and they understood it, yet they chose to die. People all over this world live in the flesh and they die in the flesh. Remember when the man came to Jesus and said, “…Lord I will follow you but let me first go and bury my father…”
What did Jesus say to him? “…Let the dead bury their own dead. You follow me…” Those words sound rather harsh but they were true. The man’s father was not saved, so he was dean in his sin. The son had an opportunity to come to Christ and receive that salvation from the tree of life.
Adam and Eve when they chose to live in the flesh were like the father of that man; they were dead. They literally lost the life of walking in the Spirit of God by giving it up for a life of walking in the death of the flesh. In addition, there was at that moment, no hope for redemption. Both Adam and Eve were lost to the will of sin.
Satan did something to them that had eternal consequences. He turned two people and all their offspring into a lost generation. Mind you, God did not desert them. He gave them a promise of salvation and He remained as a comfort to them but they still had to live in the agony of the flesh and the will of sin.
A long time before Adam and Eve there was an angel called Lucifer. He was the greatest of all the angels and he knew it. His one supreme short coming was his pride. Many times in the Bible you find the word, firstborn. It is a representation of being both the creator of the firstborn and also being the firstborn created. Sometimes the word will represent a son of a patriarch. The word is referenced about Christ as being the firstborn of creation. Here the word means Christ is our creator. In Lucifer’s case he was the first born of the angels. Lucifer thought of himself as greater than all there was in the kingdom. His pride even took him to a state of mind where he thought he was greater than God. Thus came his rebellion. Lucifer chose to rebel. He made a conscious decision to gather a force and attempt to establish a kingdom over the kingdom of God. He even thought he could dispose God from His place in the heavens. We all know the story of his defeat and his fall from grace, his disgrace, his shame and his hatred but he never had sorrow; he never repented from his sin.
Perhaps both Adam and Eve repented from their sin; we do not know what was in their hearts. They were promised a Messiah, so anything is possible. Many of the Jews looked to the coming of Christ for their salvation. When Eve came to Adam and told him that God had given her a man child, she thought that man child was the promise. Unfortunately, that man child was Cain, the murderer of Able.
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Source: https://loveofcountryblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/in-the-beginning-gods-word/
