Today, while looking for the music to "How great thou art", I ran into another Bible/Science site.  Quickly browsing the site I run into an article asking why people continue to believe that the Flood was global when the Bible clearly shows it was only a local flood.

Simple common sense, knowing that the signs of a great flood are all around the globe and a straight reading of the Bible shows a global flood not local, but different groups of people keep trying to inflect these ideas upon the Word of God.  Imagine God commanding Noah to build an ark so large and stock it with living creatures to float around a large pool of water for a year.  In such a case, why would God have not simply told Noah to leave to a new place until the flood was complete, where he could have taken the other creatures also?  Why would the people of that area, just sat there and died without going outside that mountain range?  In all the years before the flood, why did not someone explore outside that mountain range and settle there thus voiding the purpose of the flood?  And lastly, if there was a local flood, why is it that there was now a rainbow that apparently never existed before which was the promise that God would never destroy "the earth" again by flood?  If you bring up eSword bible software and do a compare, you will be hard pressed to find versions that do not sound like a global flood.

This is much like those that believe in the "gap theory", where there was a "gap" of billions of years between "In the beginning, God  created the heavens and the earth" and "the earth was without form and void..".  This plainly is not scriptural, they have tried to force billions of years into the Bible because man's science says there was billions of years of our earth (for the large part supposedly justified by the light reaching the earth from distant stars), so instead of believing the Bible, they believe a lie.

Could there have been a gap?  Yes, with God anything is possible.  Does the Bible even remotely suggest a gap?  Not at all!  The Gap people say that God would not create the world without form and void, so it must have existed and then was "made" void as a destruction after which, He "restored" the earth.  Grab a Bible and follow the Scriptures that people use to describe a past world where Satan ruled and you will find there is not even a real suggestion of a prior world, but for those that want to see it, they do for some reason.

Some believe this because a few translations misinterpret the word "replenish" the earth and have the passage read "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiple and replenish the earth".  It does not mean to refill the earth, as at the time of the writing of the King James Bible the word "officially" was defined as to "fill" without any possible meaning of "refill" until later centuries when it was redefined to mean "refill" instead of "fill".  More on that can be found at:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v18/i2/replenish.asp

In their attempt to comply with man's science and his view of the age of everything, they overlook passages which invalidate that claim, since the view of man's science says the stars, moon and sun are billions of years old.  What the gap theory believers overlook is the fact that Bible says God created the Sun, Moon and Stars on the fourth day of creation, "after" He created the earth.  So, however you look at it the universe as we know it was created 6,000 years ago, biblically.

Some other forms of Gap theology suggest that billions of years happened between the seventh day of creation and when Adam and Eve fell.  First, can you imagine any human lasting billions of years without eating of that tree?  God told them to multiply, but when they fell, there appears to still only be two of them without children, did they not obey God for billions of years and then decided to obey after the fall and actually have children?  How many people would be on the face of the earth if there was no death over a period of billions of years?  Of course, you also have to say the Bible lied when it says "and all the days that Adam lived where nine hundred and thirty years"!

Both the local flood and gap theories portray people who try to fit "outside" information into the Bible, to bend the Bible to conform to man's wisdom.  We should all take the Bible for what it says and if we have doubts, simply get a group of people together and ask God the truth.  You know He is alive and has given us the Holy Spirit to reveal all truth to us.  Maybe we should quit trying to depend on our own earthly reasoning and let God tell us the truth.  Well, I guess that would mean we have to seek God's face to find the truth and many are simply not up to it....

Today, while writing a response to another post, I was convicted within my spirit about passion and action.  I am passionate about several things and try to stand up for various issues.  But today I began to think, just how much passion is serious and how much is just thought (lip service to myself)? 

As an example, I am very pro-life and believe that abortion should not be allowed.  In today's world there is little need to worry about times such as when a mother's life is threatened as I am not sure that would happen, in such a way that our medical technology could not solve it by premature birth. 

This post is not about abortion though, it is the fact I have strong feeling about this issue, but how much of that is truly passion if I do not personally get involved in some degree to end this slaughter?  If you are truly passionate about something, shouldn't you be involved in some way?  Is cutting a check for a few bucks to a pro-life organization equal the passion?

The thing I am most passionate about though is the need for the Body of Yeshua ( Jesus if you did not know) to come together and do the works that He did.  I am tired of seeing people all around who are claiming to be a believer, with their lives preoccupied by the things of this world.  It is sad when we have to battle over topics such as  if profanity is wrong in the sight of God or if it is acceptable to go get drunk on the weekends, or if couples should get a divorce because they do not like living together and the list goes on and on.  It seems the focus is more on how close can be live to the edge of sin and still make it to heaven...  It should be, how close can we live to God and still be able to function in this life!  Many suffer now and will suffer far more in the future if the Body does not get it together and do the works Yeshua did.  Just looks at how many need healed let alone, saved!

In short, I guess maybe our passions are not as strong as we believe them to be, if our actions do not equal our passions...

This morning, when I first woke up bright and early at 5:50 am after four hours of sleep, a the first thought that hit my mind was to greet God and I said, "How are you doing today God"?  That is something to ponder...

Does God have good days and bad days?  Imagine, you have hear the blood of over 50 million aborted babies crying out from the grave at all times.  You see every evil deed and know every evil thought of billions of people.  You look down and see how the Church has lost its way some  are filled with fleshly desires and ambitions.  Can you have good days with all that every day, day in day out?

I wonder if at times when God longs for the good old days of strolling in the garden with Adam or back to the days of creation, when things were new and clean.  It is probably just the fleshly thoughts trying to give God a fleshy view, but it is something to think about I guess.

Imagine if we knew we could really make God's day every now and then...

I was recently reminded of how many things we often desire are not that important, especially here in the USA, even some of the poorer people are blessed above kings of the past.  Many people do not see what is in front of them as there eyes are often out on the horizon of want.

My remembrance of an early epiphany was stirred back into my mind when I watched the weekly "Answers Creation Hour" on NRB network this last Tuesday night.  They had a showing of "Created Cosmos" which scratches the surface about the miracle of the vastness of our universe and the wonderful things God has created.  I always knew the universe was big, but this show really puts things into perspective as to just how minute our world is and how much more God created than we see with our eyes.  Truly, no person has a excuse to deny the existence of God when we can clearly see His handy work in His creation!  This reminds me of the passage:

When we are aware of the miracle that we even exist, it makes us view things a bit differently.  Some things loose their value in our thoughts while other things that we take for granted become the most important.  So often we just do not focus on those important parts of life.  Much like that old song "The cats in the cradle".

As an example, many of us work harder than we need, to obtain more or improved of what we already have and have little time to enjoy that which we possess.  At what point do we actually make enough to live decent life without sacrificing the most precious possession we have, which is time?  Do we really need that extra 1,000 feet on a home to be happy?  Is that car which is two years old really so horrible that we must have a new vehicle forcing use to work harder?  Is that expensive vacation really required or could we obtain more rest and still have a rewarding vacation much closer to home with little cost?  What extravagances can we do without and apply those extra hours of work to spend with God, our family or friends?

Here is the point, we need to reevaluate our lives and see what is really important and how much work it actually takes to obtain that level of happiness.  If we take some of the poorer people of this nation as an example, say someone living in a small rented home with a car that is eight to ten years old but runs good with a job paying enough that they have a couple hundred dollars left over per month, they are living better than Kings in the past! 

Before you think I am crazy (may be too late for some ;) ), think for just a few minutes.  With the example above, the person puts in 40 hours per week to enjoy a living better than the kings of the past in that they:

• have hot and cold running water by just turning the tap
• can walk into their kitchen and cook a meal any time of the day or night
• the can go to the supermarket and pick up all kinds of food the year around
• if they decide to, they can get in to their car, drive to a fast food place (do not even have to walk) and pick up a meal within minutes with a variety of cuisine
• when they are bored, they simply turn on the TV, radio, DVD, etc, any time of the day or night
• can fire up the computer and browse information from all around the world which at times is only few seconds old
• if they should wish to talk to someone, they simply pick up the phone and call
• when they are cold they turn on the heat, when they are hot they turn on the air conditioning

These are only a few things that people working at what some would call trivial jobs can have in this nation.  Yeah, they might not have the latest vehicle nor the biggest plasma TV screen but they have 128 hours per week to live and enjoy all that God has created!

This is where we turn to what is really important.  To me, what is important is God of course, and then family, then friends.  Beyond that what is there?  You can have wealth beyond reason, but if you do not know God and do not have family and your friends are questionable, what do you really have?  Of course, if you do not have God, you are instantly losing out not only in this life, but also what shall follow, just remember there will be a test...

So, they next time you feel you should sacrifice more of you time to possess something you really do not need, give it a second, third or even forth thought and think of how you could better spend that time such as with God, family or friends.  At the end of the day, these are all you have and the only things that will follow you after this life is over!

One of the greatest mistakes we can make in this life is to waste our life on those things that do not matter...