DOES GENESIS HAVE GAPS IN THE GENEALOGIES?

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OT scholar: Genesis teaches a short timescale

More from Dr Travis Freeman. He serves as Professor of Old Testament at the Baptist College of Florida in Graceville. He is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University (B.A.) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div., Ph.D.). He has been a young-earth creationist for over twenty years and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society Creation Fellowship. He chats with Dr Jonathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries. Go to http://www.creation.com for more from Jonathan.

Sadly, many Christian colleges teach that there are gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11. Dr Freeman points out that there can be no time gaps, because: The biblical text gives the number of years between the births of the descendants of Adam in the line leading to Noah. By adding these numbers together, we can calculate the number of years from Adam to Noah. These numbers would be superfluous, even misleading, if generations are missing between fathers and sons. In fact, one strains without success to even imagine why the author of Genesis would include these numbers unless he meant to tie the generations together in a continuous sequence without chronological gaps.

“This type of genealogy seems to be designed for chronological purposes and never contains gaps, at least none that anyone has ever demonstrated. In fact, every biblical genealogy of this sort has been shown to be without gaps.Thus we can calculate that Genesis 5 and 11 record that about 2008 years passed between creation and Abraham’s birth around 1996 BC, thus rendering a creation date of about 4004 BC.”

Dr Freeman also pointed out that this understanding is hardly a novelty. Rather, “nearly all Bible scholars, Jewish and Christian, from the first century BC to about AD 1800 understood Genesis 5 and 11 as setting forth a no-gap chronology of ancient history. So, unless we are prepared to show how all of these scholars were wrong, we should reject the idea of gaps.”

Why was this clear understanding doubted from around AD 1800? Dr Freeman reminds us this is when old-earth ideas started to become popular in ‘science’, due to the Flood-rejecting uniformitarian dogma of Hutton and Lyell, explicitly designed to “free the science from Moses.” Long-age beliefs almost invariably come from such outside ideas being imposed upon the text, rather than anything in the text itself.

But don’t other genealogies, such as the Matthew 1 genealogy of Jesus, have gaps? Dr Freeman points out that this is a different genre, and a key difference is that “Matthew 1 does not record the number of years between generations. This type of genealogy often contains generational gaps, that is, some names are omitted for the sake of brevity or symmetry.”

The doctrine of creation

One of Dr Freeman’s most popular classes is his ‘The Doctrine of Creation’, which he summarises in three statements:

  1. God created all things in six twenty-four-hour days about 4004 BC in mature form.
  2. God created all living things according to distinct kinds that were programmed to produce only their kinds but able to adapt to their environment within their kinds.
  3. God ravaged the earth with a catastrophic flood which began about 2348 BC, lasted about a year, covered the entire world, destroyed and rebuilt Earth’s crust, left behind millions of fossils, left behind vast coal and oil deposits, and permanently altered Earth’s environment.

Since Dr Freeman teaches at a school that affirms the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture, I asked how all that is supported by the Bible. He pointed out that Genesis 1 declares that God created all things in six days. He explained that when modified by a number or by the phrase ‘evening and morning’, the Hebrew word for ‘day’ always means a solar day, not an indefinite period of time, in the Old Testament.

Also, the same chapter describes Adam, Eve, fruit trees, and other living things as mature at the time of their creation, and it says that they would reproduce after their kinds. That is, one created kind did not evolve into another, leading eventually to a group of human-like creatures.

Dr Freeman also stresses that Genesis 7 and 8 describe the Flood of Noah’s day as year-long, worldwide, earth-devastating, and deadly to all land vertebrates but those on the Ark. These things would be responsible for the formation of most of Earth’s sedimentary rock layers and fossils. Moreover, it is encouraging that more geologists now recognise that catastrophism provides a better explanation for the geomorphology we observe today than uniformitarianism.

THE BIG PROBLEM WITH EVOLUTION OVER MILLION OF YEARS

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O.T. scholar: Genesis teaches a short timescale

Johnathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries chats with Old Testament professor Dr Travis Richard (‘Rick’) Freeman

Dr Travis Freeman serves as Professor of Old Testament at the Baptist College of Florida in Graceville. He is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University (B.A.) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div., Ph.D.). He has been a young-earth creationist for over twenty years and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society Creation Fellowship

Many people in the church think that it’s OK to believe in evolution over millions of years. Dr Freeman points out severe problems. One of the most important for Christians is surely that “Jesus contradicted evolution and millions of years when he said that God created Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation (Mark 10:5–9), not billions of years after a big bang.”

Genesis-is-real-history

He further points out that a straightforward understanding of Genesis indicates that God created humans, animals, trees, and so on in mature form, and only a few thousand years ago.

Dr Freeman explains that real archaeology opposes long-age dogma, revealing no civilisations or historical documents older than a few thousand years. Geology also opposes this dogma, because creatures must have been buried quickly to form fossils, so the layers must have been deposited catastrophically. Also, there must be little time between the layers, because the contact lines are flat and largely erosion-free, and they have other features such as footprints that must have been preserved quickly.

How does creation matter to Christians?

Many in the church think of creation as a side issue. Naturally, Dr Freeman disagrees, and explains why it is actually foundational:

“God has placed in every person the desire to know the answer to some basic questions about life, such as who am I, where did I come from, why am I here, where am I going, and how should I then live? The biblical doctrine of creation answers those questions and thus helps us understand the need for obedience to our Creator, including belief in the Gospel. The doctrine of creation also helps us believe in the accuracy of the Bible, because we see that its opening chapters are compatible with history and science.”

Indeed, it was very important to Travis personally. First, as a young man, he was an agnostic: “I did not know the answer to those questions, especially, how I should live. I was confused about the meaning of life, or if there even was a meaning. The confusion showed in my behaviour.”

However, when he was 32, a pastor shared the Gospel with him. Like many people, Travis “objected that the Bible and its Gospel could not be true because we humans came into being through billions of years of blind evolutionary processes.” Many would-be evangelists would try to change the topic. Fortunately, not this pastor, who was well informed:

“In God’s providence, the pastor was also a biology teacher at a nearby university. He informed me that evolution was not even a good theory, and certainly had not been proven. His comments spurred me on a journey to find out the truth for myself. I soon came across several books, including The Genesis Flood by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris, which exposed the flaws in evolution and showed how the Bible and empirical science actually agree. Once I saw the accuracy of the Genesis account of creation, I knew instinctively that the rest of the Bible must be true. So, I repented of my sins and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now my life has meaning and direction—and may I add, great joy!”

We know of literally hundreds of people whose faith was ‘shipwrecked’ on the jagged reef of biblical compromise, but who, like Dr Freeman, were restored thanks to consistent biblical creation teaching. We trust that his encouraging testimony will help many more.

EXTENT OF DECEPTION IN THE LAST DAYS

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Another revealing article from Creation Ministries (www.creation.com) this time from Lita Cosner. It demonstrates the extent of the deception that is occurring in these “last days” , which confirms the Bibles “end times” prophecies, “many false prophets will arise and a great falling away occurs, even the elect being deceived”, Matthew 24:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Lita Cosner’s Report: A reader sent in a video by a Dr Tim Jennings, a Christian psychiatrist, about homosexuality, transgenderism, and Christianity, and asked us for a response. We normally do not respond to videos, because of the time involved to watch and fairly interact with such media, but we felt the teaching value in this case merited an exception.

Dr-Tim-Jennings

Dr Jennings calls out the Christian community for “a lot of ignorance and a lot of misinformation.” He believes that “We have to start with facts, we have to start with truth.” He asks, “Are you willing to look at evidence and facts or do you want to hold beliefs that are refuted by evidence, facts, and truth?”

But when he goes into these ‘facts’, we find that they don’t prove what he thinks they prove. Most of his arguments involve very rare abnormalities.

First, he brings out Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, where a person is genetically male (XY), but has no testosterone receptors, so the child develops to look outwardly female (but lacks a uterus and ovaries). Dr Jennings makes the first of many errors in his video when he says that all babies begin as females, and hormones, particularly testosterone, cause the baby to masculinize. At fertilisation, every individual is either genetically female (XX) or male (XY) (yes—there are a handful of intersex chromosomal conditions, most commonly Klinefelter’s—but these are rare), and the baby develops as a female or a male according to the genetics. Dr Jennings inadvertently acknowledges this when he says that the male baby has testes even with AIS.

The next condition is chimerism, the extremely rare condition where one embryo absorbs his or her fraternal twin early in development, resulting in one individual with two distinct sets of genetics. He claims that this can result in someone with both male and female DNA. So someone could have a male brain genetically, and a female body, and so on. Then he claims that epigenetic markers affect whether the brain is masculinized in the womb or not.

His AIS and epigenetic arguments basically say that hormones can determine someone’s sexual identity. But then the chimerism argument says precisely the opposite—that genetics determine sexual identity. Which is it? Of course, this discussion of chromosomal and developmental conditions leaves out the fact that most people who identify as homosexual or transgender are biologically healthy males or females with no ambiguity or genetic defect.

Then Dr Jennings goes in a completely different direction and notes that sometimes trauma can confuse a person’s sexual identity, and gives an anecdote involving one of his counselees. In that counselee’s case, resolving a trauma led her to realise that she was not a lesbian after all, but heterosexual. But how can we tell someone who is ‘naturally’ homosexual from someone who is confused because of a trauma? And how can we even ask that question when it is now forbidden to even raise that as a possibility?

Dr Jennings then turns to Romans 1, and says that “exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones” means that naturally heterosexual people were engaging in homosexual relations as part of Roman fertility cult worship. He argues Paul wasn’t talking about people who are naturally homosexual. But sexual orientation as a core element of our personality wasn’t even conceived of until less than 200 years ago. In the Roman world, free men in particular would engage in both homosexual and heterosexual acts with a variety of partners—the only thing that was taboo was for a free male adult to assume a ‘submissive’ role.

Then he criticises Christians with “imperial” and “legal” ways of reading the Bible. I think that’s extremely judgemental of him—my brain development was shaped in the womb to make me think in imperial and legal ways. In any case, he says that Christians think homosexuals should act like heterosexuals. That’s not true. Rather, Christians recognise that the Fall affects us in different ways in our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. All of us have to submit ourselves to Scripture which challenges each of us in different ways.

Dr Jennings says that we should present the truth in love, and this will leave people free. While I would agree with him about this principle, we would disagree vastly about the proper application. I do not believe it is loving to present a false gospel to any person that says that Christ is powerless to transform them—regardless of what needs to be transformed.

70th WEEK OF DANIEL

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Daniel’s prophecy of the “70 Weeks” may be the most important prophecy in the Bible and the most amazing. Its sweeping panorama allowed the wise in ancient Israel to know the exact timing of the arrival of Jesus upon his first coming and His death.

“Then, after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Dan. 9:25. This part of the prophecy has occurred. The rest of the prophecy provides incredible details about Jesus’s second coming.

This sermon by Jonathan Cahn on Daniel’s 70 weeks is excellent. The only significant difference in my view of this prophecy and Jonathan’s, is the identity of the Antichrist. As most of you already know, I believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim , possibly the Mahdi, the Muslim Messiah and they believe his arrival is imminent.  The people of the prince to come that destroyed the city were not Roman.

This phrase about the coming prince is one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible!  The Greek perfectly renders this thought. Jesus was going to destroy the city and Temple with the one that is coming. In this case that was Titus, the general of the Roman forces. Jesus destroyed the city using his agents, which just happened to be Titus and his soldiers. After examining a sampling of evidence from both ancient historians as well as the most cutting-edge modern scholarship to date, we may very confidently conclude that the ‘Roman’ soldiers in the Eastern provinces that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple were in fact Eastern peoples – the inhabitants of Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia and Egypt. The people of the prince to come were from Middle Eastern countries that are now Muslim.

UN PASSES 6 ANTI ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS IN ONE DAY

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The U.N. passed six resolutions against Israel on Friday, preserving its reputation of being obsessed with attacking the Jewish State and rejecting Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. The Bible reveals that at the “end times’ this small (geography) country would be the centre of hostility, surrounded by nations intent on its destruction. In the natural it makes no sense, but in the spiritual it makes complete sense. Satan knows Scripture. Jesus said He will return to rule and reign from Jerusalem. Satan is intent on doing his utmost to stop that from happening. 

UN passes 6 anti-Israel resolutions in one day, rejects Jewish ties to Jerusalem

As Muslim countries dominate the UN it is conceivable that the Antichrist, who I believe will be the Muslim Mahdi will be elected the Secretary General of the UN. It is no coincidence that most of the Middle East Muslim nations believe the return of their Messiah – Mahdi is imminent. The table below is revealing.

It is useful now, to look at Daniel’s revelation of the Kingdoms that will rule during the “end times” prior to Jesus return which will give us a clue to the Antichrist identity.

  • Which Kingdoms best fit the dream Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, had that Daniel 2 revealed were four Empires that would succeed the Neo Babylonian Empire.
  • Daniel reveals Medo-Persia and Greek Empires would succeed Nebuchadnezzar but he does not reveal the fourth Empire. However, the description given that the fourth Empire would completely crush the former territories of the previous three Empires, reveals the identity of the only Empire to accomplish this feat. It is an Islamic Caliphate – The Ottoman Empire.
  • The Final Empire is a revived but divided fourth Empire – an Islamic Caliphate which the Antichrist will rule, partially overcoming the Sunni/Shia divide

The six anti Israel resolutions passed in one day.

The first, titled “The Syrian Golan,” passed with 100 votes in favour, 12 against and 62 abstentions. For a second consecutive year, the United Kingdom broke with the European Union to vote against it, joining the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and a few others.

The second, titled “Jerusalem,” was adopted with 148 votes in favour, 11 against and 14 abstentions, rejects Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. Israel and the United States were joined by Canada, Australia, Guatemala and six others to vote against.

The third, titled “Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat,” which appropriates U.N. funds for anti-Israel purposes, passed with 96 votes in favour, 13 against and 64 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Australia Canada, Moldova, Hungary, Honduras, Guatemala and others voted against it.

The fourth, “Special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat,” was adopted with 152 votes in favour, eight against and 14 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, Guatemala and a few others voted against the resolution. “The program eschews a balanced approach by overtly choosing the Palestinian over Israeli narrative, ignoring terrorism against Israeli men, women and children, and other daily realities of Israeli life,” stated U.N. Watch.

The fifth, “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine,” passed 156 votes in favour, eight against and 12 abstentions. The United States, Israel Canada, Australia and four others voted against the measure, which solely blames Israel for no peace in the area.

The sixth resolution, “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People,” was adopted 100 votes in favour, 12 against and 62 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Australia, Canada and Hungary joined several other countries to vote against the resolution. This committee invited Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill to speak on Wednesday, where he advocated for “a Free Palestine From the River to the Sea,” in addition to making other anti-Israel comments.

I am encouraged that Australia was amongst the nations that voted against these resolutions. Where does your nation stand in this regard? Will it be a sheep or goat nation? Only sheep nations get to continue on into the Millennium, so if yours voted for these resolutions, I would be on my knees in prayer interceding for a turn around. Mind you, I am on my knees for Australia, as our future is in the balance.

BLESSINGS RELEASED WITH JOHN 17 UNITY

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The Bible is coming to life beyond belief in the heartland of the Buckeye state. Clergymen from Richland County, Ohio, are reclaiming the nexus between church and state and proving they are the juggernaut that can bring social change to their region.

Leading clergymen from over 100 congregations across Richland County sent a letter to local and state school officials calling for civil disobedience to the Obama restroom mandate. Citing the mandate jeopardised privacy and safety of women and children, these ministers took a bold stand when many were afraid to challenge a hostile federal government.

Pastors pose with police car with national motto for Clergy Appreciation Month in 2017.

Pastors pose with police car with national motto for Clergy Appreciation Month in 2017.

This account also documents tangible blessings that followed hand in hand after biblical obedience.

Bountiful August rains in the midst of a five-month drought in 2016 came at just the right time. This rainfall had a ripple effect, bringing an unusual abundance of milk and honey, and propelling a robust harvest. Despite being the second hottest August on record, milk productivity countywide increased 43 percent from the previous August. Meanwhile, swarms abounded for a bee population still stinging from the colony collapse disorder, with one prominent beekeeper declaring the summer of 2016 as “the best bee season in a decade.”

“Showers of blessing” became new buzzwords to come out of a sticky situation. In spite of the drought, one farmer exclaimed “In 74 years of farming, I have never had 80 bushels of soybeans an acre like I did in 2016!” Another farmer proudly boasted of having five cuts of hay that year. … but that’s not all.

This extraordinary turn of events occurred one month after clergy drew national attention for challenging the Washington, D.C., establishment. This same month also saw a sudden exodus of witchcraft with two out of the three area psychic stores closing. Legislative efforts to attack religious freedoms were also averted. And despite an infant mortality rate nearly twice the national average, no cases of premature infant deaths were recorded. Last but not least, the clergy’s milestone moment saw no traffic fatalities during the same summer vacation month.

According to the ancient promises described in Deuteronomy 28, simple obedience by pastors became a pivot point to set these wheels of blessing in motion; one act of faith can change a nation.

GREAT EARTHQUAKES PROPHESIED

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“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood. . .  The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” (Rev 6:12, 14)

“Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake—an earthquake unequalled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.” (Rev 16:18)

Strange waves rippled around the world, and nobody knows why

Instruments picked up the seismic waves more than 10,000 miles away—but bizarrely, nobody felt them.

On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a mysterious rumble rolled around the world.

Image result for picture of Island of Mayotte

The seismic waves began roughly 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte, a French island sandwiched between Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. The waves buzzed across Africa, ringing sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/11/strange-earthquake-waves-rippled-around-world-earth-geology/

People mock Christians who take the judgements in the Book of Revelation in a literal fashion, claiming it is all “symbolic” and out of the realm of possibility and will not correspond to a future, historical reality.

And yet just recently we received a foretaste of what will become a devastating global earthquake. There was a global earthquake on a small scale that happened on Nov 11, where it even slightly “moved” some islands. The notion of global earthquakes, islands moving, and other global catastrophes can no longer be denied as out of the realm of possibility. God’s word says it will happen in the not too distant future.

IS GENESIS HISTORY? YES IT IS.

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Catastrophism not uniformitarianism formed most of the geologic features we see in the world today including the formation of coal. Evidence from the volcanic eruption of Mt St. Helens demonstrates Noah’s Flood is a good explanation for the geologic record.

Is Genesis History provides valuable resources for defending the Bible’s history. This short video will give you an overview of what to expect. Be blessed.

REMINDER THAT NOAH’S FLOOD WAS A REAL EVENT

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“This is a copy of God’s ship. It only makes sense to take it to God’s land,” said boat builder Johan Huibers.

Dutch Christian businessman who built a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark has announced he hopes to sail the 95-foot-wide, 410-foot-long, and 75-foot-tall vessel to Israel.

Dutch Noah's Ark

God told us ahead of time that in the “last days” the world would no longer believe He destroyed the world but for the eight people and the animals on board Noah’s ark.

“Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they wilfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3-7

Johan Huiber’s accurate dimension replica of Noah’s Ark is a great witness at this time to the past and future world wide judgements of God. We are without excuse.