Days of Noah, Days of Sodom, Future Judgment

It has been often pointed out how Jesus said that the world at the time of his return would be like the world before the Flood, where people were doing what they wanted until the watery judgment came (Luke 17:26-27). In the experience of this child, teachers tend to just touch on the following verses about Sodom. There are some similarities, however, there are important differences.

Lot and his family leaving Sodom, Peter Paul Rubens, 1625

The world before the Flood was full of evil. Later, Sodom and the cities of the plain were full of wickedness as well, including sexual sins. Today, people are increasingly callous to their wretched behavior and are proud of their perversions. Interestingly, some people appeal to cherry-picked verses to say that the sins of Sodom had nothing to do with sex. These instances of eisegesis and scripture twisting are handily eliminated.

We have two judgments that Jesus used as instructions and warnings for us today. People need to repent for salvation, and professing Christians need to repent and draw closer to God.

Although critical scholars, because of their naturalistic mindset, view the account of Sodom’s destruction as just another legend or folk tale, the Bible clearly teaches it was a genuine historical event. Just as Jesus and the apostle Peter pointed to the flood as a guarantee of future judgment, so they both also pointed to God’s judgment of Sodom by fire as a guarantee of future judgment. . .

Just as with the days before the flood, Jesus spoke of the days before the destruction of Sodom as a time when people were indifferent and solely concerned with the things of this life: eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. In other words, people were caught up with material things of life, which caused them to have a lack of concern for the things of God. Then the destruction by fire and sulfur came quickly and unexpectedly, destroying them all.

Likewise, when Peter spoke of the judgment that took place at Sodom and Gomorrah, turning it to ashes, it was to foreshadow the coming future eschatological judgment by fire (cf. 2 Peter 3:7). This final eternal judgment, however, will not engulf everybody. Just as God preserved Noah and seven others in the judgment of the flood, and Lot in the judgment of Sodom, he will also spare the godly while judging and destroying the ungodly (2 Peter 2:9).

Given the significance that both the Old and New Testament place on the destruction of Sodom as a warning of future judgment, it is important to understand this event.

You can take pride in reading the entire article at "The Destruction of Sodom and the Future Judgment". Also, you may like to see "Geology and the Doomed Cities of the Plain". 

A Dangerous False Curriculum

As any skilled totalitarian dictator knows, indoctrinate children early with propaganda and disparage God's Word. But we are not contending with a physical person or organization. It is spiritual in nature, and uses people, false religions, governments, and more to strike at the heart of biblical Christianity.

Credit: Freeimages / bayek

We are not at war with flesh and blood, but instead, Satan and his minions (Eph. 6:12). People who are unsaved belong to Satan and are serving him willingly or unwillingly (1 Cor. 2:14, John 8:44, 2 Cor. 4:4). Professing atheists blatantly attack God's Word, but others put on a guise of religiosity, even professing to believe in Christ. Some are sincere, but sincerely deluded. They are clever enough to attack the very foundations of the faith which are found in Genesis.

Parents are to instruct their children (Eph. 6:4, Deut. 11:19, 2 Tim. 3:15) so they are able to deal with struggles and deceptions in life. A viperine "Christian" curriculum denigrates the Bible and presents numerous heresies and other falsehoods, standing on atheistic naturalism and liberal theology for their foundation. This curriculum would be great for people who want to have their children leave the faith and despise the authority of Scripture.

Compromised views of the Bible (i.e. catering for millions and billions of years and, in some instances, attempts to “baptize evolution into our Christian worldview”) all have one thing in common: a departure from clear teaching of Scripture. That is certainly true of the religious education curriculum resource, Exploring science and Christian belief, reviewed here: God and the Big Bang (GATBB). A certain amount of mental gymnastics is required of the students and a lot of philosophical opinion is put forward but in the guise of scientific language. In the introductory section, it is clear that the authors are actively promoting both the big bang and human evolution.

Read the rest at "Deceitful religious education — Review of God and the Big Bang: Exploring science and Christian belief (ages 11–18) by RE Today Services".

Satan Does Not Care about Losing a Misotheist

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

Every once in a while, people come across a report that someone has left atheism and become a theist. One famous example is Antony Flew, who was raised in a liberal denomination and decided he was an atheist in his teenage years. Later, he decided that the evidence proves there is a God. He apparently never came to a saving faith. Simply believing that God exists is nowhere near enough.

Credits: Satan Calling Up his Legions / William Blake, 1804, modified at PhotoFunia

Unfortunately, several reports have Christians rejoicing more than they should over former atheists that have joined heterodox religious groups, false religions, and even cults. Back when Adam, the federal head of humanity sinned, Satan took control of this world (Rom. 5:19, John 8:44, 2 Cor. 4:4). All have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and we are deserving of Hell (Rom. 6:23).

Just believing that God exists is not enough. Even the demons know God exists, and they have more sense that the typical atheist (James 2:19). When an atheist changes horses and decides to ride for the theism brand, he or she is still under Satan's dominion and the wrath of God! That person is still lost, and "believing in God" is no threat to Satan, nor is it a guarantee of right-standing with God.

Repent and put faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation — not "good works", not a religious system, not being "spiritual". What the devil hates is for someone to humbly come to Christ for salvation, which also entails being adopted as a child of God. To learn more, please click here.

Toxic People, Overexplaining, and False Salvation

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

While Christians need to obtain their spiritual knowledge from the Bible, pastors, godly teachings, and so forth, the Holy Spirit can sometimes prompt us to learn things from unexpected sources. Indeed, although psychology is entrenched in evolution and naturalism, it can have occasional benefits — but is dangerous to those who are not grounded in the Word of God.

Credit: Pixabay / Gerd Altmann

You and I may be souls whose intentions are good, so we don't want to be misunderstood. It's natural to clarify what we say to some extent. When it comes to dealing with someone who is accusing and unwilling to believe what we say, why try so hard?

In "Toxic Misotheists, Being Alpha, and the Bible", one of the points discussed was how toxic people manipulate others. A recent video by Ashley Berges (one of my previous sources) titled "Over Explaining is a Trap - Are You Trapped?" brought this into focus in a different way. For some reason, many of us seek the approval of others who don't really care about us, and want them to throw us a bone. When accused of something, we naturally defend ourselves, but become excessive with certain people. It seems that we cater to the manipulators.

Long ago, I learned that if someone is going to say or think evil of me, there's nothing I can do about it. Ronon Dex said, "I try not to let things I can't change bother me". Although a fictional character in a science fiction series heavily based on evolution and (surprise!) meditative spirituality, this phrase in itself is good.

Why do we want that certain person's approval, especially when we are reasonably well accepted by coworkers, friends, and family members? When accused of wrongdoing, we keep on explaining and overexplaining. This turns into excessive words, which is something the Bible warns us about (Prov. 10:19, Eccl. 6:11, Matt. 6:7, Matt. 12:33-37).

Ever notice that parents lose battles with children because they let them control the conversation with endless questions and badgering?

In overexplaining and using many words to defend ourselves, we are actually giving someone things to use against us. Giving them power over us. Dehumanizing ourselves. This happens in interpersonal relationships or trying to present biblical truth to scoffers. There was an article written in the character of "Mr. Mafioso" that discussed using silence as a means of leverage and extracting information. He said that he would keep as silent as possible, then the other person would babble away and give out personal details.

Berges also keeps saying, "Your truth". This can easily mean, "The truth of what you're saying". In other places, however, Ashley seems to say that truth is relative. There is no your truth or my truth. Ultimate truth is found in Christ and is explained in the Word of God. She needs to repent of relativity and self-idolatry. 

When it comes to having discussions with unbelievers, especially online, we can keep going and going, banging that drum, but their batteries never seem to run down. Except for carnal or even false Christians who want to win arguments or seek revenge, our goal is to sanctify Christ as Lord and be ready to make a respectful argument (1 Peter 3:15) and ultimately to lead them to Jesus. Creationists uphold the truth of creation and how Genesis is foundational to all major Christian doctrines, trying to remove stumbling blocks so that people can come to faith.

Ashley pointed out something that many of us in biblical creation and other areas of apologetics have realized. I'm rephrasing it now, and it is how everyone has a worldview: People have a narrative and filter through which they interpret data. That includes the things that someone is saying, overexplaining, but those people may have already decided the other person is wrong or not to be believed. We experience automatic rejection by those with Atheism Spectrum Disorder all the time. 

She said, "Our value is not created from someone else's acceptance". Very true, but here is where biblical discernment applies. Ashley's channel is saturated with "self love" and "self acceptance" (such as this video), but the heart of the unbeliever is wicked (Jer. 17:9). She also is into meditation.

While she says many helpful things, her worldview contains philosophies and psychology that are contrary to the biblical worldview. It contributes to a false kind of salvation (see "Mystical Feelgood Salvation"). We need to be born again, and seek to please God. So, she had some truth about someone else's acceptance and our own value, but our ultimate value comes from a right relationship with God. We have value to him (Rom. 3:8, John 3:16).

Mystical Feelgood Salvation

While Bible-believing Christians understand salvation as being made right with God and spiritual deliverance, other people want salvation in different ways. Because of its Christian connotations, other people seem to avoid the word. But they still seek relief from suffering and to obtain a feelgood experience.

Modified from an image at Unsplash / Erik Brolin

There is a trend in psychology toward mindfulness which is a form of meditation that Christians should avoid. Actually, everyone should. Supposedly it relieves stress, but is actually counterproductive. Another secular feelgood technique is to count your blessings, but it leaves out God who provides our blessings. (I fell on Monday and needed medical care. Afterward, I thanked God that it wasn't worse, and that the people at the urgent care clinic had skill and compassion.) Another false feelgood salvation is to have people go to their "happy place", which often has a setting in nature.

Mindfulness actually causes selfishness. Counting your blessings is focusing on yourself and what you have, not thanking God for what he has provided. Nature  as a happy place without awareness of the Creator is further selfishness. The Christian life is the opposite, and our Creator tells us to seek the good of others as well as having humility. These secular feelgood salvation efforts are temporary when they work at all, but true salvation involves repentance and getting our priorities straight through Jesus.

At this point, I would appreciate it if you read "Can You Have Godliness without God?"

Adam was not at War with Creation

Some opponents of biblical authority tamper with the words so they can change the meanings, or even impugn the character of God. Something that cannot be emphasized enough is context. Theistic evolutionists are known for manipulating context for their own ends.

Credit: Pixnio / Luis del Rio

There is an old joke that, although oversimplifying, makes a point. A man wanted to hear from God about a problem in his life, so he opened the Bible at random, plunked down his finger, and read that Judas went and hanged himself. Well, that was unhelpful. He tried again and found where Jesus said to go and do likewise. This was getting annoying. His third attempt gave him where Jesus told Judas to go and quickly do what he was going to do. The man realized he was using the Bible the wrong way.

Context takes several forms, including the chapter and even the whole of Scripture. Sometimes people need to drill down into the original languages to understand context more fully. Some owlhoots riding for the Darwin Brand and waving the flag of theistic evolution decided to grab certain words for nefarious purposes. It did not go well.

The Dominion Mandate for Adam, Eve, and humanity itself is to subdue the earth. While those TEs did not exactly misuse the Hebrew words, they used a meaning that implies Adam was at war with nature. They ignored the other meanings of benevolent rule, as well as how the original creation was very good. Such efforts to undermine God's character and find excuses to shove in evolution are...truly bizarre — as well as viperine.

Because of their less-than-biblical worldview, theistic evolutionists often strive to find supposed imperfections in the creation week in Genesis 1. A common argument from theistic evolutionists is that the Hebrew words used in Genesis 1:28 for “subdue” (kābaš) and “rule” (rādâ) imply that there was death before the fall. In a recent YouTube video, apologist and theistic evolutionist Michael Jones (Inspiring Philosophy) used this argument:

To read the rest of the article, click on "War and Conquest in Genesis 1?". For some related material on word manipulation regarding homosexuality, see "Does the Greek word arsenokoitai in 1 Corinthians 6:9 really mean ‘homosexuals’ or something else?"

Rejecting Lies and Herd Mentality

Many people who claim to "follow the science" really do not. Appeals to authority linked with lack of critical thinking, plus ignorance of actual science, are disastrous to societies as well as individuals. Culturally correct, consensus, and "woke" views actually dismiss scientific realities in favor of political trends and emotionalism. Taking a stand for truth and reality can be hazardous to careers — and even personal safety.

Credit: Pixnio / Rachel Claire (slightly modified)

Darwin's hijacked version of natural selection as well as neo-Darwinian evolution are thrown around as if they were established truth. We are bombarded with the "fact" of evolution, and assertions are often subtle. Most people go along with the herd and accept what is presented as science.

What is more disturbing is that in recent years, secular scientists have been saddling up and riding with deviant behavior. Considering how the formerly United States is under divine judgment (as are many other nations), God is giving people over to their sin. Now people can supposedly change genders at a whim despite true science; feelings do not change reality. This is in opposition to God's clear design for men and women. Some of us reject lies and pressure to accede to live with herd mentality. Bible-believing Christians must follow the truth, not false science or current trends.

Perhaps my parents were naïve. They raised me to respect my teachers, the government, and other authorities, and to believe these entities acted in my best interests and certainly wouldn’t lie to me. I was warned about the duplicity of politicians and used-car salesmen, but they were mostly grouped in classes by themselves.

Now I know I was misled by these authorities on some very important things. For instance, in biology class I was taught as scientific fact a totally fanciful—and atheistically religious—story that “survival of the fittest” caused the evolution of life on Earth. Disseminating that lie was an abuse of youthful trust in authority.

The lying has gotten far worse. Back then, I never felt institutional coercion to join a perverse government-led movement that affirms as truth many things I and most other people can clearly see are false. For example, until recently it was basic common sense to recognize that male and female are the two biological sexes. Today, anyone daring to speak common sense is publicly pummeled with disparaging names (or worse) by members of a rapidly growing deviant movement. They use a hostile crowd to systematically isolate people from each other by making everyone afraid to be associated with the pummeled person lest it also happen to them—a method to strong-arm conformity in thinking and control the behavior of an entire group.

I hope that you will take the time to read the entire article. To do so, head over to "Refusing to Live by Lies".