Demons. Satan. Evil. These themes are increasingly appearing in songs, music videos, and movies. What does it mean and why does it matter? Christian Post reporter Ian Giatti breaks it all down on this week’s episode of “The Inside Story.”
“The thing is, the devil doesn’t show up with horns and pitchforks, but actually masquerades as an angel of light, something beautiful, glorious even,” Giatti wrote in a recent review of rapper Doja Cat’s new music video in which she dons a demonic persona. He cited 2 Corinthians 11:14, which reads, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
“The Inside Story” takes you behind the headlines of the biggest faith, culture, and political headlines of the week. In 15 minutes or less, Christian Post staff reporters and editors will help you navigate and understand what’s driving each story, the issues at play — and why it all matters.
Fortunately, God has told us in His Word that in the last days before Jesus returns to bring righteous rule to the Earth, Satan understands his time is short. In the near future, he will be cast down to earth and indwell the Antichrist. Biblical prophecy reveals God will give the Antichrist, 3 1/2 years to rule planet Earth but during that time God will also pour out His wrath upon the Earth for the last one year and ten days (same time as God poured out His wrath with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day). What follows is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this Earth with the glorified Saints. Satan is bound in the Abyss but at the end of the 1000 years, he is released and is still able to raise an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints.
“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,” Revelation 20:7-9
What follows is revealed in the following Scripture. This earth and heaven are destroyed.
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:11-12
Dr. Ben Carson identifies seven ways communism has won in America
Dr. Ben Carson warned that many of the decades-long goals of communism have come to fruition in the United States as he urged the American people to have courage and fight back against efforts to subvert the nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
Carson, a former neurosurgeon and presidential candidate who served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Trump administration, addressed the crowd at the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit Friday. He told the audience that troubling events in American society “have been going on for quite a while.”
Retired neurosurgeon, academic, author, and politician, Dr. Ben Carson, who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021, speaks about the importance of education at the Pray Vote Stand Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2023
During his speech, Carson read aloud a portion of the Congressional Record from Jan.10, 1963, which included a list of “Current Communist Goals” as laid out in an excerpt of a book titled The Naked Communist. He drew particular attention to the goal to “capture one or both of the political parties [in] the United States,” lamenting that it “seems like they’ve done a good job there.” Carson’s analysis reflects the belief that communism has taken root in the Democratic Party.
Carson also highlighted how communists sought to “get control of the schools” and “use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda.” He read about how communists worked to “soften the curriculum,” “get control of teachers’ associations” and “put the party line in textbooks.” He identified another one of the goals as to “infiltrate the press, get control of book review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.”
After he outlined another one of the communists’ goals to “gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures,” he encouraged the audience to “think about that.” The Congressional Record from 1963, as shared by Carson, identifies the 32nd communist goal as being to “support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture — education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics.”
The 40th installment of the list of “Current Communist Goals” consisted of an effort to “discredit the family as an institution” and “encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.” The 41st item on the list emphasized “the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents” and “attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.”
“Does any of that stuff sound familiar?” he asked. “This is all the things that are happening in our society today,” he added, noting that “we think we won the Cold War.” Carson surmised that allies of communism “had a longer plan.”
Carson mentioned that this plan involves “driving wedges between us on the basis of race, income, age, gender, political affiliation, religion, you name it” as part of an effort to make people view each other as “enemies.” He encouraged the audience to reject that line of thinking, maintaining that “We are not each other’s enemies.”
The retired neurosurgeon then pointed to an effort to “fix it” and cause people to think that “this system doesn’t work, therefore we need something else.” After citing statistics finding that 23 public schools in Baltimore, Maryland, had zero students who could perform math at grade level, he suggested that such abysmal academic performance by public school students was by design.
“This is not a new phenomenon. This has occurred historically in other countries, too, particularly before they became socialist and communist countries. It’s called dumbing down the population because if people are ignorant, it’s easy to tell them anything.”
“You know what it’s going to require for us to get back on the right track?” he posited, declaring that the answer is “courage.” “It’s going to require us to understand what our history is.”
“This is a country that was founded on Judeo-Christian values and principles,” he added. “Our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, says that our rights come from God and not from government.”
“If our system is going to be fixed, it is going to be we the people,” he added, encouraging those assembled to “be courageous” and “vote the right way.” Courage, he said, comes from God.”
Carson concluded his remarks by proclaiming, “If we’re going to be the land of the free, we must also be the home of the brave.”
The reality is that God would say to most of the churches in America depart from me I don’t know you. Moreover, God told us in advance that this would happen, much of the church falls away (apostasy), in the last days before Jesus returns. God refines His church during the coming prophesied tribulation period. We need to consider now how we will act during this period. We need to trust God regardless of the circumstances we face knowing that He will be with us through it all and He will use it for His good purposes.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
The following scripture is being fulfilled in our day. The world has rejected God and His commandments.
“But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Dr Voddie Baucham does a great job of addressing the big issues confronting the church today. God is a God of order and that starts with the family. Satan is at war with God’s order and he attacks the basic foundational unit of society, the family.
From creation, we know that God made Adam first. He was made from the dust of the earth but Eve was made out of Adam to be his helper. So, with the act of Creation God made it abundantly clear that there was an established order. Moreover, God, also from the beginning, created the order of marriage and it is clear that “man was to leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 3:24). This was confirmed by Jesus “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew19:4-5). How the world has moved away from God’s established order and values. Jesus also told us that this is what the world would be like prior to His second coming. It would be like the days of Noah when God judged the world with a worldwide flood.
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39
The authors survey the ancient chroniclers for durations to the Flood and to Creation. We find that the ancient chroniclers unanimously placed the Flood in the twenty-fourth century BC. Several durations to Creation also agree with Ussher’s date within ten years (The Ussher chronology is a 17th-century chronology of the history of the world by James Ussher, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland)
We were surprised to find how closely chroniclers from ancient nations agree with each other and the Ussher chronology. Not only are there precise durations to the Flood and Creation from several civilizations, but a considerable amount of history from the antediluvian era has been preserved, albeit now covered under layers of superstition and idolatry.
The Hindu texts preserve a great deal of chronological and historical data, which has been overlaid and interpreted through the lens of much later Gnosticism. The Hindu word buddha originally meant a sage or prophet, millennia before it came to mean a particular god (Hamilton 1820, 289).
The oldest Hindu texts describe Adam, Enoch, and Noah as buddhas, which originally meant prophets (Hamilton 1820, 114–120). However, they also refer to the first ten generations of prediluvian patriarchs as “avatars” or incarnations of God, (Hamilton 1820, 10) which we obviously reject.
The Chinese remember the first ten patriarchs as legendary emperors, and also preserve surprisingly detailed chronological details about some of them, as well as the history of Noah’s post-flood career.
Stellar Observations: Chinese and Babylonian sources seem to indicate that the earliest astronomical observations after the Flood date back to 2295 B.C. (Spineto 1845, 404). The Shû King records that Emperor Yâo ordered the construction of four observatories as the first priority after the Flood. In Griffith and White (2023), we calculated the date of Yâo’s reign as having begun in 2347 B.C. Some Chinese scholars calculate it as 2357 B.C.
Chinese: Alexander Hamilton states: “the Chinese annalists . . . place the deluge of Yau in the same year that the Hebrews place the flood of Noah, . . .” (Hamilton 1820, 345). This calculation was based on the reigns of the first three post-Flood dynasties, as opposed to astronomical calculations.
Hindu Astrological: “the year 2352 was obtained by the Hindus from a purely astronomical calculation . . . for this implies their opinion that the history of the world went back no further” (Browne 1844, 567). The Flood generally marks the beginning of known world history, as the Hindus considered the era before the Flood as the reign of the gods. Browne suggests this calculation was made in 204 B.C., which happens to be when the vernal equinox was leaving Aries. If so, this suggests the Hindus believed the vernal equinox was in the cusp of Taurus at the time of the Flood. We will repeat what we believe this calculation to have been in the astronomical section of this paper.
Diodorus states that the Egyptian priests maintained that “when mankind first appeared on the earth [after the Flood]; . . . but from the Trojan War, less than twelve hundred [years]” (Diodorus 1935, Book 1, §24.2). Since the Trojan war ended 1184/1183 B.C., less than 1,200 years yields a date below 2383 B.C. for the date of the Flood. Assuming Diodorus rounded to the nearest hundred, the Flood probably occurred between 2383 and 2333 B.C.
Eusebius cites Varro as computing that the Flood was 1,600 years before the Olympic aera, (Eusebius 2002, PrEv. 10.10) which yields 2376 B.C., plus or minus 50 years.
Censorinus dates the flood of Ogyges as less than 1,600 years before the first olympiad (Williams 1789, 250). He seems to have confused the much later flood of Ogyges with the Deluge, as several other Greek sources did with both the floods of Ogyges and Deucalion. This section is confusing; however, he gives values that sum up to between 1,400 to 1,514 years prior to the first Olympiad (Censorinus 2000, 30–31).
Bunsen quotes Censorinus as being more precise: “same year is referred to by Censorinus, about 238 A.D., who states, on the authority of Varro, ‘the most learned of the Romans,’ born 116 B.C., that the Flood took place about the year 2360” (Bunsen 2017, 11).
“This Nembrot [Nimrod], says Berosus, built Babylon 130 years after the flood” (Raleigh 1829, chapter 8). One hundred and thirty years before 2233 B.C. yields 2363 B.C. However, he may be referring to the Dispersion, in which case, 2191 + 130 yields 2321 B.C.
We find that the sources who used Berossus to determine the date of the Flood measured 1,000 years before the Fall of Troy, and then added 163 years to the date of the Flood. 1184 + 1,000 + 163 = 2347 B.C.
Nevertheless, 2363 B.C. is consistent with the testimonies of Diodorus, Varro, and Censorinus.
Polyhistor used this value also: “a kingdom at Babylon, 163 years after the flood, according to Polyhistor” (Williams 1789, 250).
Assuming that Polyhistor used 1,000 years before the Fall of Troy in 1183 B.C. as the date for the first kingdom in Babylon, then 163 years before 2184 B.C. yields 2347 B.C., matching Ussher’s date for the end of the Flood.
However, according to our triangulations from Griffith and White (2023), the first kingdom in Babylon after the Dispersion started in 2192/2191 B.C., yielding 2354 B.C. for the Flood using this 163-year duration.
756 Years after the Kali Yuga: Confucius dated the Flood as occurring in the 757th year of the Kali Yuga (Hamilton 1820, 316). This value is given as 3,267,000 ages from the Kali Yuga, which, divided by the 4,320-cipher of the Hindus and Chinese, yields 756.25 years (Hamilton 1820, 332). The Hindus calculated time before the Flood in double hours, reported as “years.” We demonstrated that the astronomical date for the Kali Yuga was 3104 B.C. in Griffith and White (2023), by counting from three different events: the Hijrah, the birth of Moses, and the Usurpation of Pradyato, all of which occurred after the Flood. Counting 756 whole years from 3104 B.C. gives 2348 B.C. for the Flood, agreeing exactly with Ussher.
The Deluge occurred in the 47th year of a Grand Cycle: “the world by the Hindus and Chinese, and the commencement of their cycles agree, each placing the deluge in the 47th year of a cycle” (Hamilton 1820, vol. 1, 332). The year 2349/8 was the forty-seventh year of the fourteenth sixty-year cycle from the start of the Grand Cycle in 3176 B.C. (Griffith and White 2023, 151.
Cush’s Reigns: 62/55/42 years: Belus, whom we believe to have been Cush, ruled Babel until 2192/2191 B.C., and is said to have reigned 62 years (Russell 1865, 379) by Scaliger and 55 years by Syncellus quoting Africanus (Clinton 1824, vol. 1, 267), all three of whom were redactors of Ctesias. We believe both values refer to events in the reign of Cush, called Belus, or Bel Marduk.
Cush could only have ruled in the city of Babel from the time it was founded in 2234/2233 B.C. until the Dispersion in 2192/2191 B.C. or 42/43 years, since, “At the end of forty two years after the building of the Tower, Ninus son of Belus took the kingship of the world” (Macalister 1941, §13).
However, the Babel project must have been the result of many years of planning and organization. This is evidenced by its founding on the conjunction of the New Moon with the Vernal Equinox in 2233 B.C. (Cullimore 1833, 167, 180). This suggests they anticipated this conjunction and deliberately waited for this date to establish the city or its temple. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to postulate that Belus/Cush began to rule in some fashion a decade or more before the city was founded.
Cullimore (1833, 165) states “The building of this tower is by profane writers uniformly ascribed to Belus.” Cush’s rule over his tribe would have started earlier when the land was divided around the time of Peleg’s birth. The two longer durations for his length of reign, which predate the founding of Babel, may be explained by two divisions of territory as reported in the Book of Jubilees (Charles 1913, Jubilees 8.8-10).
Berossus gives 34,080 days, which is 93.3 Julian years, or 94.6 years of 360 days then used by ancient Babylon, from the Flood until the first dynasty of Babylon, when by inference, Belus/Cush began to rule. 94.6 plus 62 is 156.6 years; 156 years before the Dispersion in 2192/2191 B.C. yields 2348/2347 B.C. for the Flood, and 2254/2253 B.C. for the First Territorial Division.
The Hindu records give 150 years from the Division of the Earth until the Usurpation of Pradyato (Hamilton 1820, 124). Pradyato was a Cushite who conquered the nascent Indus civilization and took over the government. This Usurpation was also given as 1,000 years after the Kali Yuga. Subtracting 756 years to the Flood from the Kali Yuga, as well as the 150 years of self-rule by the Hindus, we find that the division of the world was 94 years after the Flood began, which is 93 years after the end of the Flood. This triangulates, confirming that our interpretation of the 34,080 days is correct.
Syncellus cites Africanus in his epitome of Ctesias who gives the reign of Belus, whom we consider to have been Cush, as 55 years (Clinton 1824, 267), which by our reckoning would be from the birth of Peleg in 2247 BC (Ussher 2005, 21, §47) to the Dispersion in 2192/2191 B.C. Thus, it appears territorial division may have been a seven-year process that began in 2254 B.C. and was finalized in 2247 B.C., both confirming the Flood was in 2348/2347 B.C. Adding 101 years from the Flood to Peleg in the MT to the 55 years of Belus gives 156 years from the end of the Flood to the Dispersion, again triangulating 2348/2347 B.C. for the Flood.
Semiramis I: 312/313 years: The Annals of Clonmacnoise state that Semiramis’ rule started 313 years after the Great Flood. “Ireland long time after the flood lay waste until . . . after the flood 313 years . . . in the 1st year of the Raigne of Semiramis then monarchs of the world in Assiria” (McGeoghagan 1896, 12–13). The Irish Annals of Clonmacnoise state that Semiramis began to rule 312 years after the Flood (Percy 1823, 270).
2036/2035 BC, AP-21 Reign of Semiramis I; plus, 313 years; gives: 2349/2348 BC for the Flood
Emperor Yâo’s Reign 2347 BC: We found in a previous paper (Griffith and White 2022b, 422) that Yu of the Xia Dynasty of China began to reign in 2197 B.C. His predecessors Yâo and Shun reigned for a total of 150 years. Emperor Yâo’s reign was said to have begun when the Flood had ended.
2197 B.C., AP-4 Reign of Yu/Xia; plus, 150 years of Yâo and Shun; gives: 2347 B.C. end of Flood
In Exodus 20:8–10, God gave the children of Israel the fourth commandment: work for six days and then on the seventh day, take a Sabbath rest. He could have given the command without providing a reason for the command, as he did in the first and the fifth through the tenth commandments and other times when he commanded a Sabbath rest. Or he could have given a different reason for the Sabbath command (e.g., so their animals could rest, to avoid death for disobedience, to humble their souls, to remember their exodus from slavery in Egypt, or simply because he is the Lord. But as in the second and third commands in Exodus 20, God gave a reason for the Sabbath command. The Israelites should work six days and rest on the seventh, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” And he repeated that reason in Exodus 31:15–17.
In Exodus 20:11, God used the same Hebrew word for “days”11 (yamim, the plural form of yom [day]) that he used in verse nine, showing that God’s days of creation in Genesis 1 were the same kind of days (the same length) as the days of the week for the Israelites. It is doubtful if any faithful Jew ever interpreted it any other way until the idea of millions of years started to take control of people’s minds about two centuries ago.
We should note that if God really created over the course of millions of years (as most Christians around the world today believe), he could have clearly indicated that in the Hebrew. He could have used the Hebrew word dor (דּוֹר), which is translated in English Bibles as time, period, or generation.12 Or he could have borrowed an Aramaic word, as he did in the books of Nehemiah and Daniel, such as zeman (זְמָ֑ן) or iddan (עִדָּן), which are translated as season, time, or period.13 Or he could have used some phrase such as “after many days,”14 “after some years,”15 “after thousands of ten thousand years,”16 or “after years of many generations.”17 But instead, God used the only Hebrew word, yom (יוֹם), which means a literal, 24-hour day, and it means that (or the light portion of a literal, 24-hour day, in contrast to night) in the majority of the 2,320 times it is used in the Old Testament.
One more point for this discussion: Exodus 20:8–11 clearly implies that the days of Genesis 1 (and therefore the events on those six days) are in sequential order, just as the days of a human week are. Sunday always comes before Monday, which always comes before Tuesday, etc. So, in Genesis 1, God created the earth completely covered with water and then he created light (day 1), then the expanse (firmament) to separate the water into two parts (day 2), and then the dry land and all kinds of land plants (day 3). After that, he created the heavenly bodies to serve as timekeepers for man (day 4), then the sea creatures and birds and other flying creatures (day 5), then all the kinds of land animals and, finally, the first man and woman to be the progenitors of mankind (day 6). Given that truth, we can readily see the many contradictions between the order of creation and the order of events in the evolution story.18 We cannot remove those contradictions no matter where we might try to fit millions of years.
It is clear: God created everything in the beginning in six literal, sequential, 24-hour days. The events on those days were not normal but were unique and supernatural as God spoke things into existence (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; Psalm 33:6–9). He didn’t speak and then wait millions of years for things to happen. But the days were normal days (approximately 24 hours), just like our days, “all the days” of Adam’s 930 years of life (Genesis 5:5), and “all the days” of Noah’s 950 years of life (Genesis 9:29).
No Place to Put the Millions of Years
So, we can’t spread the millions of years over “figurative” or “symbolic” creation “days” (ages), as in the day-age view. And because God equated the human workweek with his creation week, there is no basis for saying that, in Genesis 1, long stretches of time (millions of years) transpired between the literal days, as in the “day-gap-day” view of John Lennox.
But we also can’t fit millions of years before the six literal days, as in the old gap theory, the more recent “promised land” view of John Sailhamer, the view of John Lennox, or the “analogical day” view of C. John Collins. Nor can we fit the millions of years before Genesis 1:1, as in the “cosmic temple view” of John Walton and others. There was no time before the six days, because notice what God said he created in those six days: the heaven,20 the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. He didn’t make anything before the six days. He made everything during those six days. But when did God make the earth according to Genesis 1? He made it in verse 1, not in verse 3, which is where many Christians try to say that the six days begin. So, combining Exodus 20:11 with Genesis 1:1 unmistakably informs us that the six days begin in Genesis 1:1, not in 1:3.
There simply is no place to put millions of years of geological and cosmological time into or before Genesis 1—not in the days, between the days, or before the days of creation. Exodus 20:11 completely rules out those interpretations. There are many biblical, historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons to reject the millions of years, but Exodus 20:11 is a very important biblical reason. Another very important reason that nearly all old-earth proponents ignore is the problem of accepting millions of years of animal predation, death, disease, extinction, and other natural evils. This is seriously incompatible with the Bible’s teaching regarding the original “very good” creation, regarding God’s curse on the whole creation when Adam sinned, and regarding the future removal of the curse on creation when Jesus comes again to create a new heaven and earth.
Evasions of Exodus 20:11
As I said at the beginning, I have found in my reading and experience that most Christians who accept millions of years have not thought very carefully, if at all, about what Exodus 20:11 says in relation to the question of the age of the creation.
To see the truth and importance of Exodus 20:11 more assuredly, let’s now consider how some influential Christian scholars who accept the millions of years have handled this verse.
Through his 1955 book, The Christian View of Science and Scripture, Baptist theologian Bernard Ramm moved many to accept millions of years as he advocated the day-age view of Genesis 1. This is all he said about verse 11 in the fourth commandment: “The argument against the [day-age, progressive-creation] theory on the grounds of Exodus 20:11 is not at all significant. The verse simply means that the human week of seven days takes its rise from the divine week of seven creative epochs.”24 Following the scientific consensus by faith, he had already interpreted the days of Genesis 1 as “epochs.” Then he used this to silence Exodus 20:11. This is not a sound interpretation of Scripture, for he ignored God’s own commentary.
Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology is widely used in seminaries in English and other languages. In his first edition in 1983, he showed no awareness of recent young-earth creationist literature, gave a shallow treatment of the view, and undogmatically leaned toward the day-age view of Genesis 1. But his only mention of Exodus 20:8–11 was not in his chapter on creation but in the chapter on Christology regarding Jesus’ view on keeping the Sabbath. In spite of saying in his 1983 first edition that the subject of creation warranted further study, his third edition in 2013 showed no improvement on his awareness of young-earth literature or our biblical and scientific arguments, and he still ignored Exodus 20:8–11.25
In his book, Genesis in Space and Time, the great apologist Francis Schaeffer devoted merely a single paragraph to the question of the length of the creation days and said he did not know how long they were (p. 57). His book makes no reference to Exodus 20:8–11.
Gleason Archer was a leading evangelical Old Testament scholar in the twentieth century. In an article defending the day-age view, he stated about Exodus 20:11 in regard to the six days of Genesis 1, “By no means does this [verse] demonstrate that 24-hour intervals were involved in the first six ‘days,’ any more than the eight-day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles proves that the wilderness wanderings under Moses occupied only eight days.” This argument fails because Leviticus 23:33–43 does not connect the number of days of the feast to the number of years Israel wandered in the wilderness. Rather those verses link the command for the Israelites to dwell in booths during the feast with the fact that they dwelt in tents in the wilderness after they left Egypt.
Another influential, twentieth-century Old Testament scholar was E. J. Young. In his Studies in Genesis One, he says that the first chapter of the Bible is a “straightforward trustworthy history.” He asserts that Exodus 20:8–11 tells us the days of creation were “consecutive” and “chronological.” But he says the Bible does not tell us how long the days were and how old the earth is, thereby leaving the door open to the acceptance of millions of years as secular geologists claim.27 It is no surprise then that his son, Davis Young, went on to get his PhD in geology and teach for decades at Calvin College, convincing many students and evangelical theologians to believe in millions of years.
The late John Sailhamer is another prominent evangelical Old Testament professor who has had an impact on many, including John Piper, to accept millions of years. In Genesis Unbound, he argues that Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of nearly everything over the course of millions of years. But verses 2–31 describe the creation of the promised land (which he equated with the garden of Eden) and the creatures in, above, and around the promised land. He said that Exodus 20:8–11 refers to six literal days of “preparing the [earth’s] sky, the land, and the sea,” but not the earth and universe. His novel interpretation of Genesis is seriously flawed.
The highly respected British apologist John Lennox and well-known Old Testament professor C. John Collins try to evade the implications of Exodus 20:11 by saying that God’s work is different from man’s work. True, unlike man’s work, God’s work in Genesis 1 is supernatural, out-of-nothing, and not repeated, and God doesn’t get tired. But Exodus 20:8–11 is not comparing and contrasting man’s work and God’s work. Rather, the commandment is equating man’s week with God’s week of creation. Lennox and Collins have missed the point completely.
Wayne Grudem is arguably the most influential evangelical theologian in the world as a result of his many helpful writings, especially his Systematic Theology, which is translated into more than 12 major languages. He tries to get around Exodus 20:11 by saying that in the very next verse “‘day’ means ‘a period of time’”—so, since yom is used non-literally in the context, it therefore is not necessarily literal in verse 11. But two points expose the fallacy of this argument. First, yamim (plural of yom and used in 20:8–12) always means literal days everywhere else in the Old Testament. Second, in 20:12 it is not the word “days” (yamim) that is non-literal (figurative). Rather, it is the verb “may be long” (ESV, or “may be prolonged” as in NASB) that is used figuratively. In other words, verse 12 does not mean that if Israelites would keep the Sabbath, they would have longer days (say, 36-hour days) but that they would have many more (literal, 24-hour) days in the promised land to which they were going. Their disobedience would shorten their time of prosperity and residence in the promised land. Their obedience to God would enable them to stay and thrive as a nation in the land for a long time. Verse 12 simply does not say or imply that the six days referred to in Exodus 20:11 are figurative of long periods of time rather than being literal days.
In A Biblical Case for an Old Earth, David Snoke says, “It may sound trite to say that ‘with the Lord one day is as a thousand years’ (2 Peter 3:8; see also Ps. 90:4), but we do well to remember that God’s timing is not always our time.” It is indeed trite and irrelevant. Peter is referring to the second coming of Christ, not defining the length of the days in Genesis 1 or Exodus 20:8–11. Moses’ words in Psalm 90:4 are (in the context of 90:1–3) referring to the eternal nature of God, not defining the days of creation. The rest of Snoke’s argument quotes Leviticus 25:2–11 to say that “the Sabbath law was clearly not restricted to periods of seven twenty-four-hour days. Leviticus 25 gives the Sabbath year law, as well as the Jubilee law, which was a Sabbath of Sabbath years, a period of seven times seven years.”34 Of course Scripture speaks of more than one kind of Sabbath. But those Sabbath years are literal years, just like the Sabbath day of Exodus 20:11 is literal. Furthermore, in Exodus 20:11, the question is not how to interpret “Sabbath” but “day.” And the Israelites did not have or take the liberty of deciding whether they would work six literal days before a Sabbath rest or work six long, indefinite periods of time and then rest a seventh long, indefinite period of time. Leviticus 25 is as irrelevant to the correct meaning of Exodus 20:11 as is 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4.
John Walton is a famous Old Testament scholar at Wheaton College. His influence in the church is growing in America as well as in other countries. In his book, The Lost World of Genesis One, he argues that God didn’t create anything in Genesis 1—it is not an account of material origins. Rather, he says, it is a description of God giving or assigning function to a preexisting creation. Everything was created before Genesis 1:1, and the Bible is silent about when and how God created. So, he contends, we can accept whatever the scientific majority says is true about the origin and history of the creation. His brief comments about Exodus 20:11 focus completely on persuading his readers that “made” (asah, עָשָׂה) means “gave function to” or “assigned function to” something that was made earlier. Walton’s view fails on so many points. He assumes cosmological, geological, and biological evolution over millions of years are proven scientific facts, which they are not. He assumes that all Ancient Near-Eastern cultures had the same worldview and that ancient Israelites shared that view, which they did not. And then he uses the ancient pagan thinking as the grid through which he interprets Genesis 1–11. Furthermore, Genesis 1 does not say that God transformed the preexisting creation to become a cosmic temple in which to reside. In fact, Isaiah 66:1–2 says,
Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
Walton and others using the same hermeneutical approach are “trembling at” (believing) the words of scientists, rather than humbly trembling at (believing) the Word of God.
Furthermore, Genesis 1:14 says that the sun, moon, and stars were to serve a function—for man to measure time (literal days, years, and seasons). God assigns a function for Adam and Eve—to rule over the creation (1:28). But God doesn’t assign a function for the firmament (made on day 2), or for sea creatures, birds, or land animals (made on days 5 and 6). And Genesis 1 says nothing about the creation functioning as a cosmic temple at the end of day 6. But also, if God really created the sun, moon, and stars to exist for billions of years before man (as Walton believes), then for most of their existence, they did not fulfill the purpose for which he created them. Or are we to think that, for billions of years, the heavenly bodies also did not function to separate the day and night until God gave them that function just before he created Adam and Eve? Isaiah 45:12 and 18 says that God created the earth to be inhabited by man. So, if God really created the earth 4.5 billion years before man, it did not fulfill the purpose to which God created it. What kind of God declares purposes like this and then waits billions of years to fulfill it? Not the God revealed in Scripture. Neither Genesis 1 nor Exodus 20:11 says or even suggests, “For in six days, God gave function to the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them which he had made before the six days.”
Finally, I want to comment on Hugh Ross’ handling of Exodus 20:11, because so many Christian leaders and scholars have endorsed his work that promotes the acceptance of the big bang, billions of years, death before the fall, and a local flood of Noah. Ross tries to neutralize this verse with two points. First, he says that of the five passages addressing the Sabbath command, three make no connection to God’s creation week and man’s week. But that doesn’t tell us anything about the meaning of Exodus 20:11 (and 31:17) which does make that connection. The fact that God gives more than one reason (or no reason) for keeping the Sabbath, does not negate the reason he gives in Exodus 20:11 and 31:17.
He then says, “For the remaining two passages, the ‘proof’ would hold only if neither the word for ‘day’ nor the word for ‘Sabbath’ were ever used with reference to any time period other than 24 hours.” Relying on Archer’s fallacious argument about the Feast of Tabernacles (noted above), Ross says there is more than one kind of Sabbath (e.g., a Sabbath day, a Sabbath year), just as in his many writings he contends that yom (“day”) doesn’t always mean a literal day, which young-earth creationists have always acknowledged. And so he says, “day” and “sabbath” in Exodus 20:11 can be understood to allow Christians to insert billions of years into Genesis 1.
But sound Bible interpretation is not done by looking up all the possible meanings of a word and then picking the one we want to insert into the verse(s) we are studying. That is eisegesis (reading into Scripture our opinion or belief), not exegesis (reading out of Scripture what God wants us to understand, do, or believe). No, we correctly interpret the Bible by looking at the context around the word in the verse(s) we are studying and by considering other verses that relate directly to that verse. When we do that, it is obvious biblically that the days of Genesis 1 and Exodus 20:8–11 are literal, normal, 24-hour days.
Conclusion
More attempts to ignore or evade the clear truth of Exodus 20:11 could be discussed. But the failed attempts discussed here reinforce the obviously correct interpretation. God made everything in the beginning in six literal, normal days just like ours.
It should also be noted that nobody has any trouble understanding the other nine commandments (although everyone has trouble obeying all of them). So, why all the convoluted arguments in order to explain away the obvious meaning of Exodus 20:11? Because these Christians have allowed the scientific consensus (i.e., the majority view of geologists and astrophysicists) about the age of creation to control their interpretation of God’s Word. The fallible opinions of sinful human beings (who don’t know everything, who make mistakes requiring revisions of their textbooks, and who weren’t there to observe the origin and history of the creation) have trumped the inerrant Word of our eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, infallible Creator in their mind.
If God really created over millions of years, then Exodus 20:8–11 could not be more misleading. Conversely, if God did create in six literal days, he could not be more clear in this commandment and in Genesis 1.
Exodus 20:11 stands as an insurmountable stone wall against any attempt to fit millions of years anywhere into Genesis 1, either in the days, between the days, or before the days of creation. And Scripture is clear that those literal days of creation were just a little more than 6,000 years ago
How do we connect what we see happening in culture with what God has revealed in His Word, the Bible? Is this all about equal rights? No! That is already in the constitution. You need to understand the connection between the Globalists, e.g. World Economic Forum, and the groups (Cancel Culture, Black Lives Matter, Gay Groups, Transgender Groups, Climate Change Activists) they have supported/funded including in universities. It’s a conspiracy driven by principalities and powers in the heavenly places. All truth is under attack, particularly Jesus’ truth. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” John 14:6. If you are not with these groups then you are against them and you need to be eliminated. Look at the following “last days” prophetic scripture. The people described here are the people we see trying to take control in our day. God has warned us in advance.
“But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1-4
If there is a Scripture verse that so accurately defines the ambiguity between good and evil driving cancel culture in the current times, it is Isaiah 5:20:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Reaching one person with the good news of Jesus Christ seems insignificant compared to the world’s population. Repeatedly, Jesus sought one person, ministered to one person, touched one person, healed one person, and saved one person. When we are the ONE who has been saved, we are the ONE appointed to find ONE more!
Jesus unlocked the potential of one person over and over again, in this new era of global evangelism, the focus needs to be on each person who needs Jesus. Together, the impossible task can be achieved, one person at a time. The Power of One shows how we can see the most significant Great Commission effort in history.
A new era of global evangelism is dawning in our post-pandemic, fast-moving, 21st-century world. Jesus’ method of reaching one person and thus unlocking their capacity to touch the masses is being reclaimed. The most significant days of the Great Commission effort in human history are before us.
Reaching every person on Earth will necessitate and demonstrate . . . The Power of ONE!
What people are saying about The Power of One
“One of the biggest reasons most Christian believers never share their faith is they don’t realize how deeply God wants his lost children found. Just as Jesus explained that the Good Shepherd leaves 99 safe sheep to go after the one sheep that is lost, “The Power of One” explains why and how each of us can do our part in reaching everyONE with the Good News that they matter to God, Christ’s died for them, and that He wants them in his family forever!”
“If our culture has shown us anything in recent years, it presents to us a world in desperate need of the good news of Jesus. In The Power of One, Dr. Billy Wilson offers both the challenge before us and the remarkable opportunity to proclaim the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. As president of Oral Roberts University, I particularly appreciate his insight into Gen Z and its potential as a gospel force. We need a fresh burden for the lost and a renewed practice of evangelism that this book details!” – Ed Stetzer, Dean, Talbot School of Theology
“The Power of One is a must-read for anyone who desires to make a lasting impact for the cause of Christ. In this book, Dr. Wilson shares his expertise and insight on how to effectively reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. His approach is practical, easy to understand, and biblically grounded. “If you are looking for a book that will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and share the love of Christ with others, The Power of One is the book for you. I highly recommend it!” – Reggie Dabbs, The Youth Alliance https://youtu.be/OSazMpktoYE?si=k5DCZR9Vdp5udxKi
How can we build the right worldview? There is only one way and that is to start with the origins of this complex universe with its multitude of living things that require many scientific laws to make it function correctly. Those inter-related laws could not have constructed themselves. Science has discovered that DNA (complex information) controls all of the machinery in living cells instructing them what to do. Both the information and the machinery have to be complete and functional at the beginning. They cannot evolve. Moreover, information only comes from intelligence, not matter or energy, hence proof there is an Intelligent Designer. Even better still the Intelligent Designer has revealed Himself to us both by Word, and the person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.
Down through the ages God has spoken to and worked with individuals so we know He created us in His image to be in a relationship with Him. As a result, we have His Word (Bible) most of which is now fulfilled prophecies so that we know it is God’s Word and that the many end times prophecies will also be fulfilled.
Why is church attendance decreasing SO drastically? In this presentation, Ken Ham discusses the mass exodus that churches are experiencing in Western society and what Christians can do about it.
‘Who created God?’ is an age-old question. Children sometimes ask it because they’re curious. But atheists more commonly ask it because they think it is a ‘gotcha’ question for Christians. So, is it really a ‘gotcha’ question? Does God—like everything else in the universe—need a cause? Or have atheists made an error in logic in assuming this? As Dr. Don Batten explains, ‘Who created God?’ has a simple, logical answer—so Christians have no need to be intimidated! On the other hand, atheists have some explaining of their own to do when it comes to first causes!
The cause of the universe cannot be material. It had to be an eternal cause and the Bible tells us that God is a spiritual, eternal being and that He made us in His image to be in relationship with Him. In fact, the Bible tells us that we are Spirit, Soul, and Body and that our Spirit is the lamp of the Lord and it needs to contain oil (Holy Spirit) to function as God intended. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God (SIN) the Holy Spirit departed their spirits and they died spiritually immediately and died bodily 900+ years later.
“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.”Proverbs 20:27
This is a great video. One that you can use in evangelism.
An estimated 5,300 people in northeast Libya are feared dead, with thousands more missing amid devastating floods from Mediterranean storm Daniel’s historic rainfall Sunday. The rare, tropical storm-like phenomenon—the same storm responsible for last week’s floods in southeastern Europe—lost strength yesterday as it tracked east into Egypt. The country’s northeastern port city of Derna, roughly 150 miles east of Benghazi, was hit hardest, with over 16 inches of rain falling in 24 hours (its September average is 1 inch). Roughly a quarter of the city of 90,000, bisected by the Wadi Derna river (see map), was completely washed away after two upriver dams failed, sending walls of water down the valley and across the city’s delta to the Mediterranean Sea. See photos here. Rescue efforts have been delayed as a result of flooded or destroyed infrastructure, a network of aging bridges and roads experts claim have not been maintained amid the country’s decade-long division into rival east and west governments.
Death toll from the earthquake in Türkey and Syria passes 45,000
More than 45,000 people have been killed in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, and the toll is expected to soar, with some 264,000 apartments in Turkey destroyed and many still missing in the country’s worst modern disaster.
The death toll in Turkey stands at 39,672 while neighbouring Syria has reported more than 5,800 deaths. Syria’s toll has not changed for days.
Mosques around the world on Friday performed absentee funeral prayers for the dead in Turkey and Syria, many of whom could not receive full burial rites given the enormity of the disaster.
What did Jesus say will be the signs prior to His second coming?
“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” Luke 21:11
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 