God and Government: The Separation of Church and State (Part One)

When you take a look at the news, a recurring topic seems to be the religious involvement in government, and the government involvement in religion. We see and hear about cases in which it has been taken to far, we hear of law, or doctrine, and in this two-part series, I plan to take a look at this very topic, with special thanks to Ann E. Weiss, who authored God and Government. (Photo Credit to: Wetheminority.com)

Now, understand that this series revolves, for the most part, around the United States of America, though the history also involves countries such as Germany. (Martin Luther) What is one of the most common mistakes among the American people? The separation of church and state. The issue? The Constitution never actually says that there must be a separation.

There was a case in Ocean Grove, New Jersey - any and all non-religious activity on Sundays were not permitted under law, until the 1980s when a drunk driver appealed to the court to change these laws that had been established in the 1800's. Breaking religious laws in the United States is not credited as a criminal act, and there is no public law that forces anyone to donate to religious causes and organizations.

People can worship as they want, if they chose to worship of course, but because we have the freedom of religion, they do not have to. The legal system and religion has close-knit ties. For example, the court of the 1960's put a swift end to the daily reading of passages in the Bible and reciting of Christian prayers in public schools across the nation. However, if we are to look at history, we need to understand that a belief in a supreme being, a God, is the cornerstone of the American government and life.

When we look at the Pledge of Allegiance, we see the words, "one nation under God." Meetings of state legislatures, meetings of Congress, and municipal bodies are all, generally, opened in prayer, asking for God's blessing. The American currency has the words "In God We Trust" written on it. We sing national songs such as "God Bless America," "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "America the Beautiful," and many others. You also find that prayers are common at Graduation ceremonies, be it public or private schools.

Also, when someone is taken to court, they are told to swear to tell the truth - on the Holy Bible. We find that most business across the United States tend to observe the Christian Sabbath, and allow their employees to have a day of rest. Does the church affect the production and sale of things? Certainly. In some cities and townships, you cannot sell liquor legally within a specific distance of a church.

Now, onto the historic portion. In the 1600's, Anglicanism was the dominant religion. If anyone was non-Anglican, that person could be fined or even imprisoned. In the year 1608, separatists from Nottingham sailed across the English Channel to Amsterdam, later moving to Leiden. They found freedom there. However, as time passed, their children were taught the Dutch ways, which the separatists opposed. During the summer of 1620, they returned home.

In September of 1620, these same separatists left England to establish a colony in the New World. These people are commonly known as the "pilgrims." The pilgrims came to the New World because they wanted their own church, their own state, labeling Christianity a pagan religion. The Puritans, who settled in Boston in the 1630's, had similar views and ways.

Going back further, in 311 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine announced that Christians could now live in peace, after many years of persecuting, and proceeded to make Christianity the religion of Rome. Centuries later, in May of 1787, representatives from the states gathered in Philadelphia to write the American Constitution. Of the 55 delegates who attended, when a national church was proposed, the majority opposed the idea.

By that year in history, America was a land of many faiths: there were around 4 Million Protestants, 25,000 Catholics, 10,000 Jewish, and the list goes on. The belief of the time was that "all men are born with a natural right to the freedom of conscience. Freedom of conscience is a God-given right and cannot be taken away by any law of man." Does the Declaration of Independence actually refer to God?

Verily I tell you, it does. The document calls him "God," the "Creator," the "Supreme Judge of the World," and the "divine providence." When we look at the Constitution, we do not see God, religion, or the Bible mentioned except, "In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven." The majority of the delegates made it a point to omit God from the Constitution. Nine states ratified the Constitution, and it went into effect on March 4, 1789.

George Washington was sworn in as President, and the members of the first congress too their seats right away. They began working on amending the Constitution by adding what is known as the "Bill of Rights." The Bill of Rights was passed on September 25, 1789. What is all the fuss about? The First Amendment. What is the text of the First Amendment?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (Bill of Rights, 1st Amendment)

Although the 1st Amendment says that Congress cannot establish one particular religion or prohibit the practice of another religion, it does not prevent Congress from passing all type of laws that can effect religion. Consider for a moment: the First Amendment only applies to the federal government, it does not make a mention of state and local governments and their relationship with religion.

States themselves are free to establish official religions, demand a religious test for office, and can even limit civil rights of what we call "dissenters." Moving ahead to the 1800's, religious discrimination was wide and dominant in the southern states. For example: New Hampshire Catholics were not allowed to vote until 1851. New Jersey did not extend the full civil rights to people who were non-Protestants until the year 1844.

It was only after the 14th Amendment that the First became legally binding upon the United States, including the South. It proclaims that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." (Bill of Rights, 14th Amendment, Section I)

With all this said, thus ends this entry of "The Truth." While this is not the usual type of entry, it is still a controversial topic, and will continue to be covered in the next entry of this series on God and Government. I trust that this has helped you in some way, whether it was informative, useful, or in some other manner. If you have something to add, feel free to comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, with any questions/comments/concerns/add-ons, or visit the facebook page. God bless, dear reader, and take care.  Troy Hillman

Next entry: "God and Government: The Separation of Church and State (Part Two)"

Can God Really Hear All The Prayers of Humanity?

The simple answer is yes. However, if you are a regular reader, you know that I do not settle for simple answers. I have recently read a work by one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, Clive Staples Lewis, commonly known as C.S. Lewis, known for such works as The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Screwtape Letters, and the work I read, Mere Christianity. (Photo credit to: St. Johns)

That is not to say that I have not read the other aforementioned works. To be sure, I have, and I actually have The Chronicles of Narnia in my home library. But this is a different matter. Many people have often wondered, or asked, "How is it humanly possible for God to be able to respond, whether he chooses to answer or not, to billions of people around the world at the same time, while running the universe as well?"

Well, that is a great question. First, we need to consider the question, "Who created God?" Now, I know some of you wish that subject to be covered, and I assure you that it will at a later date. The simple answer, for this entry, is that God created time, and therefore does not need to exist in time. If I created a work of art, while my work is clearly shown, I do not necessarily exist within the confines of my art, I exist outside of it, but a "piece of me" is still in my art.

Now that we understand that, I will tell you why I brought up Mr. Lewis. In one of the last few chapters, he covered this very topic. Not in great detail, but it brought the subject to my attention, and I believe it ought to be addressed, and what he said within was of great help in understanding the very nature of this topic.

Therefore, I believe an example is in order. Let us picture for a moment, someone writing a book. In this book are Martha and Clark. Clark is sitting in his living room reading the newspaper, when Martha calls his phone, which proceeds to ring. Clark gets up to answer the phone, but just before he hears what she is calling about, the author stop writing, get up, and think for several hours about what to write next.

For the author, time passes. But for the characters in the book, Clark and Martha, time does not pass while the author thinks, because in the book, the next moment, Martha explains what she is calling about - but for the author, who is writing this story, time passes, because he is deliberating over what to write next.

That said, let's assume God is now the author. We are in the story - time moves for us, but not the same as it does for him. We are told in Hebrews 12:2 to fix "our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith." So the Bible already refers to him as the author of life, though I was simply making an analogy. Earlier I mentioned that C.S. Lewis had something to say on the subject. This is what he said:

"God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you are the only being He had created. When Christ died, he died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world."

I trust that makes sense. God portrayed as the author, and as the author, time moves differently for him than for us, so that he could take months, years, hours spent in eternity on each and every prayer. So can God really hear all of our prayers at any given moment, run the universe, and maintain order at the same time? With this logic, by all means.What does God promise in Jeremiah 29:13? "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

We are also told that while God hears the prayers of the righteous (those who accepted Christ), he pays no heed to the prayers of the non-believer unless theirs is the prayer of salvation. (John 9:13) Though sometimes it has shown that he will, the context is taken that he will typically not perform miracles for the unbeliever.

God can take all the time that he needs to answer our prayers, because he is not bound by time. That is one of the topics that plays into the "who made God" question, which I will explore in the coming days. To answer the question, Can God Really Hear All the Prayers of Humanity? Yes, he can, and all at the same moment, and he can choose to answer or not answer at the same time. What decides whether God answers prayers or not? There is an older entry in which I discussed this topic.

I trust this has answered the question that many people continue to ask on a day-to-day basis. if you have any further questions, feel free to email vexx801@yahoo.com, comment below, or visit the facebook page. Take care, dear reader, and may God bless you. Troy Hillman

"What Is Truth?"

What is truth? When Pontius Pilate said these words, he summed up the question in the collective thoughts of humanity. What is truth, what is it classified as, and who determines truth? In this entry, I plan to take a look at "truth." If you call your blog "The Truth," it would only be right to have an entry on truth, also, determining truth seems to be a difficult thing for people to do in this day and age. (Photo created using Wordle.net)

The antonym of truth is "falsehood." But what are the dictionary definitions of "truth?" Take a look: "conformity with fact or reality; a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths; the state or character of being true; an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude; honesty; integrity; truthfulness."

Notice, "fact or reality... an obvious or accepted fact... honesty, integrity..." So, if there is an obvious fact, and you attempt to point it out to people, but they refuse to accept it based on their personal worldview and presuppositions, does that change the truth of something? No, it merely means that those people are rejecting truth, believing it to be falsehood, based on their worldview and presuppositions.

We find Pilate's infamous quote in John 18:37-38, "'You are a king then!' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.' 'What is truth?' retorted Pilate." Historians know Jesus to be an actual person. They call him "Historical Jesus," but they still know he existed.

The point there? This man named Jesus was making very bold claims, saying earlier on that he was God himself, that he was the Son of God, and that if anyone listened to him and followed him, they would be following the side of truth. From an objective standpoint, skeptics are prone to say, "But if he was not God, then he would be a liar." Was Jesus truly God?

We as Christians know and believe that he is the Son of God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8) When Jesus was speaking to a crowd, he said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

So if truth is merely an obvious fact, having to do with honesty and integrity, Who Determines Truth? Do I? Do you? Does the government? How much of what we are taught in schools is actually fact, and not theory, which may be false? In today's society, we have to find truth, and live by it.

What is truth? A truthful fact would be that at the time of the writing, I am on my computer. The truth is, Barack Obama is the current President of the United States. The truth is, we have gone to the Moon and come back alive. The truth is, as much as I would enjoy writing this blog each and every day, my schedule does not always allow for that possibility, and some days, no new entries are published.  The truth is, I drink more water than I probably should.

The titular name of the blog, "The Truth," was derived from Jesus. Jesus actually had a lot to say on the subject of truth, and some skeptics like to point and say, "Oh, that may be true, but Jesus always contradicted himself." No he didn't. He merely clarified in certain points, and people like to take that out of context. Then skeptics say, "If Jesus was all-knowing, why did he not teach the Jews about the Laws of Physics, or Mathematical Equations, or things like that?"

The truth? If someone from 2,000 years into the future came to you, who would be living in a house made of clay, and you had little tech, and showed you a laptop and how to work it, how would they be able to figure it out? You would not, logically, because you are at Point A, and this person is at Point C. You need to get to Point B before you can reach Point C. I made a point of mentioning this based on something individuals have approached me about. I will cover that topic more in-depth in a coming entry.

As stated, Jesus had a lot to say on the subject of truth, going so far as to even say that He IS truth. So Who is truth? "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) That claim in itself is a truly bold claim. He has already claimed to be the Son of God, God Himself, and now he is claiming that unless someone accepts him as Savior and asks for forgiveness of sins, they cannot be saved. (Talked about in separate verses) He is saying that he is the only truth.

Who determines truth? Well, let us see what we, as fellow man, are told: "There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute." Truth, to one person, may be determined by their presuppositions and their worldview.

Take for example, a Creationist, and an Evolutionist. They both are shown the same evidence, a Dinosaur fossil. The Evolutionist, based on his presuppositions and worldviews, says, "This fossil must be 65 Million Years Old, and it must have been fossilized over time," whereas the Creationist will say, "This is probably a fossil from the Great Flood, or Deluge, which occurred around 2,500 BC. While the Dinosaurs that were on Noah's Ark survived, and some may still be around today, this one was probably quickly fossilized when the canopy collapsed and the underwater springs were opened."

The Evolutionist is prone to think his claim is truthful, based on his presuppositions and worldviews, and the Creationist, based on his presuppositions and worldview, will also believe his claim is truthful. Which is truth? Well, who determines truth? What is truth? Will we ever know?

As a Christian, God's Word, The Bible, is truth to me. Why? When I look at the world and all of the things in it with a Creationist Worldview, things that never seemed to click - finally make sense. It makes sense now why people centuries ago were quicker thinkers, and why we speak so many diverse languages. It makes sense that Dinosaurs may still be around, since we seem to continually find more evidence of Dinosaurs and Man living together, and while Evolutionists always seem to have a rescuing device, it still makes sense that Dinosaurs did not ALL die off, but that most, since the Flood, died of extinction.

It makes sense that I have broken the laws of my creator, and that I am held accountable. What is the truth? Do we ourselves decide truth? No. Not entirely. If we did, the world would be what we have made of it: organized chaos. So does God decide truth? According to Christians, yes. But according to Secularists, they decide truth. That is where things become chaotic.

Please understand something. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:8, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." To Christians, God decides Truth, because he created Truth. But to Evolutionists, they decide truth.

Now for an individual to decide truth, we get into logic and the Law of Nature, where, if we are merely evolved species, we should not care about truth, we should have no moral objectives, since we have nothing that designed morals. However, since God designed our morals, we have the capability, through honesty and integrity, to attempt to determine truth.

I trust this entry has proven useful and informative, I apologize If it has been hard to follow, and to clarify my position, yes, I do believe that Jesus is truth, and that he is the Son of God. To quote CARM, a Christian Apologetics ministry, "If there is such a thing as truth, then we should be able to find it.  If truth cannot be known, then it probably doesn't exist.  But, it does exist.  For example, we know it is true that you are reading this." So take care, and if you have any further questions or comments, email vexx801@yahoo.com, comment below, or visit the facebook page. God Bless! Troy Hillman

Who Are the 144,000?

In today's world, he wear people such as Jehovah's Witnesses claiming to be the 144,000 talked about in the book of Revelation. We hear cults and religions claiming to exclusively be the 144,000. But what does Scripture actually tell us about these mysterious people? Are the Jehovah's Witnesses actually the prophesied 144,000, or is there something else to this? Let's find out. (Photo credit to EddieHolmes.com)

Most of us have had Jehovah's Witnesses come door to door teaching that they are the chosen 144,000 Witnesses of Revelation. I will be blunt. Jehovah's Witnesses, on a scriptural basis, are wrong in several ways. First, they do not have a clear plan of salvation. Jehovah's Witnesses greatly despise slander and all true Christians.

Typically, the teach that others cannot be saved aside from their group, and that they are the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation. They do not believe in the eternal punishment of those who have rejected the Creator, to Hell. Primarily, they do not try to save others, but condemn other denominations and other groups of Christians. As put by Dr. Rice, God rest his soul,

"Jehovah's Witnesses twist and pervert the Scripture. I have studied very carefully some of Judge Rutherford's books, which they spread around the world; they misquote Scripture and pervert it and deceive poor and ignorant people. I hope that you will not read any of their literature, nor listen to their talk, because you will be misled and it may cause grief and trouble."

Now if you are a member of Jehovah's Witness, and you feel attacked, I tell you that the intention is not to attack you, merely to shed light on inconsistencies and point out what the Bible truly says, not taking it from perversion. So who are the 144,000 Jews, really?

Revelation 7:3-4 says, "'Do not harm the land or sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.' Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel." Before I go any further, I want to point two things out. One, Jehovah's Witnesses has reached over 144,000 in number of members. Two, most members are not "from all the tribes of Israel." They are not Jewish. How can we know for sure this is what it means? Look at the next passage.

"From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000." (Revelation 7:5-8)

Now, there is more. Revelation 14:1-5. "Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their fore heads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders."

"No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes, They were purchased from among the human race and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless."

What conclusion can we draw? We see from Revelation 7:4 that the 144,000 are Jews, all virgins. These witnesses will be converted AFTER the Tribulation begins. The Seven-Year Tribulation has not yet began. But bear in mind that this is not the number of Jews who will be saved in the Church Age, which we are currently in. It is also not the number of those who will be saved during the Millennial Reign. In Revelation 7:9-14, we see that there will be a "great multitude of people" who will be saved during the Tribulation.

Imagine having 144,000 Apostle Pauls on the earth. The 144,000 will be part of the Great Soul Harvest Equation, as pointed out by Dr. Tim LaHaye, a leading Biblical Prophecy Scholar. Here's the rough outline. "Effects of the Rapture on the world + 144,000 witnesses like Paul + Holy Spirit like on the day of Pentecost (Joel 2:28-30) + Chaotic conditions designed by God to shake humanity's false sense of security + World's Largest Population = More people converted than in the entire Christian dispensation."

So who are the 144,000? They are Jews who will become Tribulation Saints. Could they be alive today? Yes, but they will not know who they are until the Seven Years begins. If someone tells you that they are a part of the 144,000 before the appointed time, do not believe, for it is not the truth. It is not my opinion in this, it's what God told us, he told us that the 144,000 would be Jews from each tribe, and frankly, no group claiming to be the 144,000 is all-Jewish.

I trust that answered the question, "Who are the 144,000," found in Revelation. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to comment, email vexx801@yahoo.com, visit the facebook page, and I would ask that we all remain civil in our discussions. May God bless you, take care, dear reader. Troy Hillman

Does End Times Literature Affect Individual's Views?

Have you ever heard of the Chronicles of Brothers? Perhaps the ever-popular Left Behind series or maybe even the Christ Clone Trilogy? Most have. The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins has been made into three movies starring Kirk Cameron and Brad Johnson. The Chronicles of Brothers series by Wendy Alec has become increasingly popular, and the first film is in the early writing stages. (Image credit to: Tyndale House, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Wendy Alec, Warner Books, and James BeauSeigneur)

What do these all have in common? They are literature about the End Times. While there are non-Christian books about the End Times such as The Road; Alas, Babylon, and many others, for this particular entry, we are going to take a look at the large influence these works have had on modern Christians and - have these books changed their views?

Let's find out. This entry is written as per request. Before we start, I want to make known that yes, I am Premillenialist, I believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, I believe that Scripture clearly supports a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Whether you believe in a Pre, Mid, or Post, is not the issue here - it is whether or not views have been changed by modern End Times literature. To note, the study of future events is called Eschatology. When we look at the end times, we are getting into Christian Eschatology. If you are uncertain of these terms (mid-trib, pre-trib, post-trib) and uncertain as to why I am so extremely Pre-Millenial and Pre-Tribulational, be certain to see the entry, The End Times (Part Two) before continuing.

If you did not take the time to read the entry, let me summarize. In other words, aside from Scriptural reasons, critics of the separate views look at it this way: Jesus promised to rescue his true followers from a period of Tribulation. Why would Christians be allowed to be on the Earth during Seven Years under the Reign of Satan? Skeptics point out that in the last 2,000 years, they were not always protected, and that the Jews were not either.

Then again, Satan was not literally King of the Earth in the last 2,000 years - he is not the President of the World yet. Believers in the Mid-Tribulation support the view by saying that God will allow Christians to help the rest of the world until 3 1/2 years into the Tribulation. However, if we consider the claim that Jesus will save his followers from having to suffer the period, this does not line up with the Mid-Tribulation.

Believers in the Post-tribulation say that there is not scriptural evidence that supports the Pre-Trib or Mid-Trib. However, that statement is not true. Skeptics think of it this way: If Jesus returns at the end of the 7 Years, just as Revelation 20 describes, why then would he Rapture his church only to bring them back moments later? Logically, that would make no sense, critics argue. Now, I do need to clarify that no, the word, "Rapture," is not in the Bible.

Critics say that since the word is not found in the Bible, it cannot be true. But I tell you, the only reason we use the word Rapture is because it DESCRIBES the event that will occur. The dictionary defines the word rapture as "the act of carrying up." Christians believe that the Rapture is when they will be raptured out of the World, and will be in Heaven with Jesus - and will return with him at the end of the 7 Years to set up his kingdom.

Let us get back to the effects of modern literature on our views, what I said was for your benefit, so that you may better understand what it is that I am conveying to you. 2nd Peter 2:1-3 says, "But there [are] also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping."

Sounds clear enough. Please understand that I am not saying that the writers of Left Behind, Chronicles of Brothers, and the Christ Clone Trilogy are by any stretch of the imagination: false prophets. I am simply stating that we need to investigate truth before we jump to conclusions, and that these three series seem to be three to impact people the most. The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is perhaps the most widely-known and popularized Christian series to date.

The Left Behind series itself has: 12 books with 1 sequel and 3 prequels, a Kids Left Behind that includes 40 books, a Military and Political series, three films, graphic novels, a video game, and other miscellaneous things. You get the gist. The series is a large one that spans from a few decades before the Rapture and Tribulation to the very last day of the Millennial Kingdom. The writers support a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and tend to include various scripture references to support their conclusions.

Left Behind is probably the most influential of the three series. Has it changed end times view? To be sure, it has. Has it changed them for the worst? Extremists claim that it leads to destruction if you believe the supposed lies of Jerry and Tim. Is this true? No, there is nothing to back it up. They wrote what they felt was a valid interpretation of scripture, and we are to take anything away from that, take away that it has led many people across the globe to salvation. Has it affected individuals views? Yes.

The Chronicles of Brothers series by Wendy Alec is a 7 book series, with only 3 currently published, the remaining 4 are in the writing process, with the fourth book, "A Pale Horse," due out in 2011. A film series, adapting the books, is in the works. The main idea behind this series is that it follows the three brothers: Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. In a cinematic style of writing that makes the reader picture the scene in their head with vivid detail, the series begins with the Creation of Time, and of the Universe, and goes from the chambers of the First Heaven to the Fall of Lucifer and what he did to be banished, and the series will conclude with the end of time, with the final battle between Michael and Lucifer, and the Christians going to live with the "Nazarene," Jesus, for eternity.

Does this series change end times view? Most certainly! Wendy has done much, much research into controversial conspiracy theories and has carefully woven them into the tapestry of her novels. Such elements as the inception of the Antichrist, a clone of Lucifer himself, the Illuminati, 9/11, Black Ops, and many other concepts are found in the pages, in vivid detail. What's the difference between Left Behind and Chronicles of Brothers, aside from the different name of the Antichrist, different characters, and different details? The Rapture.

The Chronicles of Brothers seems to support a Mid-Tribulation Rapture. What is the reasoning behind this? Well, again, it is the view of the author. Does that mean it is right? Not entirely. Does that mean that a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is correct either? Well, we will found out one day, but it is more a matter of viewing the Scripture with certain presuppositions.

The Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur is not one that I have as of yet personally read, unlike Left Behind and Chronicles of Brothers, but one that I plan to look into, merely out of curiosity. The basic plot line is that a man has discovered 2,000 year-old DNA of Jesus Christ on the Shroud of Turin and has attempted to clone the DNA. The result? The Antichrist. This trilogy appears to hold a Pre-Tribulation view.

What can we make of all this? We can tell that each of the three series has widely affected the individual views held by people across the globe. Whether the view has bettered their life or worsened it can only be determined by that person, and we should take a look, examine the books, before we criticize harshly. What is the important thing to remember? If you are Christian, the most basic belief, and requirement, rather, is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died and came back to life three days later, and that if we accept him as Savior and ask for forgiveness of our sins, we will be saved.

So what truly matters? Will it condemn people to have differing interpretations of scripture? Not likely. What truly matters is whether we believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ - or whether we reject him outright. So if you know someone who you believe has what you call "bad views," that do not agree with what we read in God's Word, we are told to go point out the wrong to that person in private. Now, if someone is reading a Left Behind book or a Christ Trilogy book does that means they are bad? By no means!

On the contrary, it is probably a good thing that such series are out there, so that we can determine the different interpretations of scripture, and determine for ourselves what we chose to believe. I chose to believe in a Pre-Tribulation, and personally, I do agree with the views of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, but they did not change my views, I had already believed in a Pre-Tribulation.

So to answer the question, "Do End Times Literature Affect Individual's Views," the answer is yes, it does more often than not. Whether that is a bad thing or a good thing is not for us as fallible humans to decide, but for God, the one who searches the mind and the heart, to determine, for he is infallible. It is to be expected that individual's views will be shaken or even changed - and while that is important, what truly matters is their salvation, and while it seems that I may not focus on salvation enough, I assure you, that is my underlying goal on this entire blog.

I trust this entry has proven helpful, insightful, and understand that the intention was not to incite anger or resentment, so if you've read this and believe that I am attacking you, that is not the intention, the intention was merely to answer a question, and by using three prominent end times series, I believe that question has been adequately answered. If you have any further questions, concerns, comments, feel free to email vexx801@yahoo.com, comment below, or visit the facebook page. May God bless - take care. Troy Hillman

Jonah's Redemption

The Book of Jonah is one of the shorter books found in the Bible. Jonah is classified as a minor prophet, not based on importance, but based on the short size of the book. After several entries of Creation Science, Apologetics, and History, I believe it best to take some time to revert back to Biblical Theology, for this entry at least. (Photo credit to Bible Hero Posters)

While yes, Jonah is history, like everything else found in God's Word, there's a lesson to be learned, and that is what we will be taking a look at today. So let us take a look at the account of Jonah. It occurred around 785 BC. This four-chapter book details the journey of Jonah the prophet, son of Amittai, (Jonah 1:1) from Gath Hepher. (2nd Kings 14:25) God said to Jonah, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." (Jonah 1:2)

Jonah is told by God to deliver a message to the city: Turn from your ways or you will be destroyed. That may sound harsh, but the sins that they were committing in this city broke all of God's Commandments time... after time... and time again. Jonah probably would have obliged, had he not heard the name of the city.

The Ninevites were enemies of Israel, known for their violent nature, and Jonah wanted to be as far away from Nineveh as possible. So what did he do? "He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for [Tarshish.] After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord." (Jonah 1:3)

Jonah went below deck to catch up on some sleep. Then things started happening. "Then the Lord had sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent arose that the ship threatened to break up." (Jonah 1:4) The crew of the ship came to the conclusion, after lightening the ship by tossing cargo over, that one their gods must be angry with one of them. Waking Jonah, they cast lots, which fell on Jonah.

Jonah admitted that he was running away from the true God, and terrified, they asked him what to do. He replied, "Pick me up and throw me into the seam and it will become calm. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." (Jonah 1:12) The men chose to try to reach land, but they could not, because the sea grew more harsh, and so they did as Jonah said, and they threw him overboard.

The sea grew calm, and God sent a "huge fish" (Matthew 12:40) for Jonah. "Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Jonah 1:17) There is some discrepancy as to what exactly this fish was, as the Bible does not say, it only says it was a "huge fish."

Jesus mentions Jonah in Matthew 12:40, and the word ketos is not restricted in its meaning to whale or a cetacean. "It may denote any sea-monster, either a whale or shark, a seal, or a tunny of enormous size." Now, we find that white sharks do exist in the Mediterranean, as well as the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, and are often about thirty feet in length. Though sharks usually first bite its prey, it has been known to swallow whole. There are recorded cases in which bodies of men, one clad in armor, and even a full horse, are found. Also, naturalists have recorded that sharks do have a habit of throwing up whole and live prey they had swallowed, though again, the prevailent idea is that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Regardless, Jonah was in the belly for three days and three nights, during which he had no food or drink, but prayed fervently, asking God for forgiveness, for a second chance. So three days after he had been swallowed, "the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land," the same land where Nineveh was located. (Jonah 2:10) God again told Jonah, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I gave you." (Jonah 3:2) This time, Jonah obeyed.

Since the city was so large, it took Jonah three full days to get through it. He proclaimed that Nineveh had 40 days and the city would be overthrown. When the news reached the King, he proclaimed a fast, and "when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened." (Jonah 3:10) But this seemed wrong to Jonah, and he was angry.

God asked him, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah's reply is not recorded. Jonah went out of the city and sat down, making a shelter because he wanted to see what God would do to the city. "Then the Lord God provided a gourd and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the gourd." (Jonah 4:6) But the next day, God sent a worm, which ate the gourd, and when the Sun rose, it was "scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head. He wanted to die, and said, 'It would be better for me to die than to live.'" (Jonah 4:8)

God again asked if it was right for Jonah to be angry about the gourd, and this time, he did reply. "It is, and I'm so angry I wish I were dead." Do you know what God said after that? "You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hands from their left - and also many animals?" (Jonah 4:10-11)

That is the end of the book. We are never told what became of Jonah, whether he lived or died, whether he asked for forgiveness or continued in arrogance. However, from a character standpoint, I can see Jonah doing the same thing Job did many years before. "I'm sorry God." In essence, God had said, "You care more about your plant than about the souls of these people."

What is the lesson here? Think of the account this way: God asked Jonah to do something, and he refused, running away. God sent a storm, and when Jonah was thrown from the boat, a huge fish swallowed him up. Jonah asked fro forgiveness, and was forgiven, was redeemed, and he was given one, though he, like so many of us, cared more about his needs, more about himself than about the lives - the very souls - of others.

In essence, this is the life of a Christian. How? God has asked us to come to him, to be saved by his Son, and many people turn away from Him due to unbelief or other reasons. But God offers EVERYONE a Second Chance, even in our foolishness - God offers redemption for the lost. That is the "moral of the story," so to speak. Even if you are already Christian, we all could use forgiveness, redemption, every now and again.

From what we can tell, Jonah finally learned from his mistakes. As people, we can learn from our mistakes and use that experience to improve our lives, or we can choose to ignore what we learned and continue on. Which do you chose? Jonah was a hero of faith in the sense that he was redeemed, just as we can be redeemed in Chirst. The account of Jonah and the fish has been popularized by the media in recent years, despite its length.

Do you need redemption? Do you need forgiveness? Jesus offers that. Freely. All he asks us to do is that if we believe that he died and rose again, and if we repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness, we will be saved. What if you do not think you are in need of forgiveness? If that is the case, take a look at a recent entry titled "The Ten Commandments - Have We Followed Them All?" Thank you for taking the time to read this entry, and as always, feel free to contact me at vexx801@yahoo.com Take care, and God Bless! Troy Hillman

Science in Brief: The Distant Starlight Issue

The Distant Starlight issue is yet another problem that plagues believers to this day. In this entry, a continuation of the Science in Brief series, this entry preceded by the entry "Science in Brief: Scientific Facts of The Bible," this issue will be looked at, various models presented, and an issue with the big-bang will also be discussed. Whether you are a believer in Christ or not, I would recommend reading this. Also, while the title says "Science in Brief," that does not mean that this is a short entry, as the question deserves a long answer, merely that this is not a series of entries on the Distant Starlight Issue, and does not necessarily go too in-depth into the issues, so that it is Science In Brief. (Special thanks to Dr. Jason Lisle)

Before I go any further, I want to touch on a issue that has been brought to my attention. In older entries, I've talked about the work and discoveries of Ron Wyatt. While I have in the past been intrigued by his discoveries, I never claimed that they were irrefutable proof, and that Noah's Ark could not be located elsewhere, or that the Red Sea is not located elsewhere. What I have said was that his discoveries are very interesting and should be made light of, not ignored, but I am not saying these are the true artifacts of the Bible nor do I say that science fully supports this.

On the contrary, I tend to agree with Ken Ham of Answers In Genesis on several issues with Ron Wyatt's discoveries, but nevertheless, his findings are interesting. But if you are attempting to win somebody for Christ, using Wyatt's findings as irrefutable evidence is not recommended, though there is value in consideration. Moving on to the subject at hand.

Distant starlight itself does not prove that the Universe is old. The argument says that galaxies are far away, and must be old. Yes, Hubble Deep Field proves that there are galaxies far away, but this does not prove that the Universe is millions or even billions of years old. This is contrary to Scripture. What does the Creation model tell us? The stars were created on Day 4, after plants, but before land animals.

If you add up the genealogies found in Genesis, (Abraham lived around 2,000 BC) you come to the conclusion that the Earth is a little over 6,000 years old. This agrees with scripture. What we see in God's World agrees with what we read in God's Word. An issue arises when people try to harmonize scripture with modern secular theories. Take the Big Bang theory for example.

Actually, the term "theory" is incorrect. A lot of people outside of the scientific community do this. It is technical vocabulary, just as English, Science, Math, Social Studies, what have you, all have technical vocabulary. They are words that when used in a specific field have meanings that are not necessarily the same as the everyday usage of the word. Perhaps by defining these three terms, it will clarify:

Hypothesis: An idea based on observations of natural phenomena. This is the everyday man's definition of what we call a theory. Theory: A hypothesis that has been tested repeatedly by many people and not proven false. Law: A theory that has been tested repeatedly by many people over centuries and never proven false. The 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics, the Law of Cause and Effect, and other such laws are examples of this.


For the sake of a common reader, however, I will attempt to leave theory in where it actually means hypothesis. Now, people attempt to fit the Big-Bang hypothesis into the Bible. The issue? The two cannot be unified, cannot be harmonized, because the order of creation in each model is different. In the Big Bang model, the stars are made, and the ocean is made much, much later. However, with the Creation model, the oceans are made first, on Days 1-2, with the stars created on Day 4. The two are what we would call mutually incompatible.

The real question here is not, "How old is the Earth." The Bible clearly teaches six, literal twenty-four hour days of creation, or Creation Week. The real question is, "How did God get the light of stars to the Earth in a few thousand years, or a much shorter period of time?" Well, is this a solvable problem itself? It's been said that it's possible to prove that there are more things that are true then can be proved.

Creation itself was a one-time event folks, and it is not repeatable. It cannot be replicated. Creation was supernatural in origin, and therefore, certain aspects of Creation cannot be proven through scientific means, because God's natural law, by which he upholds the Universe today, is not the way in which he had created the Universe.

Pleiades (NASA)

Today, we have the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy: the amount of things in the Universe is constant, but that was not the case during Creation, since God was bringing new material into existence. Now, because of all this, we cannot merely assume that Science is able to comprehend all of the things that occurred during Creation, including the creation of the stars and the initial light transit of stars to the Earth. Christians should not be ashamed of the fact that science cannot understand everything about Creation, because it was supernatural!

God has allowed much of the universe to become understandable to us, but he is not by any means required to reveal or make all of the Universe understandable to us. If God does not want to answer, he does not have to, because he is Sovereign. It is possible that one day we may discover the "language" God used to created the Universe, but as of yet, we have not. Understand that History has a way of showing that many of the "problems" or issues that people pose concerning Creation are easily explained by newer evidence. Take the Mt. St. Helen's eruption for example.

It was said for years that for rock to be laid down and canyons to be carved out, large amounts of time, many years, had to pass before it could happen. Low and behold, when Mt. St. Helen's erupted, rock was laid down and a canyon 1/40 the size of the Grand Canyon were made very, very quickly - similar to conditions from the Deluge, though only by fire and not water. (See entry: "The Great Flood (Part One)")

Now, supposedly, sedimentary rocks erode at a rate of 1" per 10,000 years. By a biblical worldview, the Earth is only a little over 6,000 years old, so would this not disprove a Young Earth? No. Take this into consideration: if there was a global flood spanning about year, along with all matter of underwater activity - shifting, volcanic activity that had initiated a 700 year-long Ice Age, and as such, sedimentary rocks can erode at a much faster rate.

If you are not science-savvy, bear with me as I go into a few scientific calculations. The Travel-time equation is D=vt, Distance = velocity x time. Here's an example of the equation at work. 160 miles (D) = 80 mi/hour (v) x 2 hours (t). Well, the speed of light, "c," is 670,615,200 mi/hr - which is much faster than any car. Many people assume that c=1 ly/y, or supposedly one light year per year. However, even secular Science proves that a light year cannot take a full year, that will be touched upon later. "c" actually equals 300,000,000 m/s. (9,460,730,472,580.8 km)

The speed of light is the reason for the problem. We do see galaxies that are billions of light years away, which lead some to believe that it would take billions of years to reach Earth. Folks, this cannot be, and again, even Secular Science knows this. Now, what are a few Creationist solutions? Well, we are going to cover CDK, GTD, and ASC, and while there are many possibilities, these are just three of the more dominant solutions to Distant Starlight.

The CDK solution asks, "Is the speed of light constant in time? The speed of light in the past may have been greater than the current speed of light." While this is a great idea, there is a few problems. CDK changes the D=vt formula, changing the velocity variable. Although, this does not necessarily negate Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity says that the speed of light is always constant. Yes, the speed of light is always constant, but the theory does not say that light is constant in time. What is the issue here? A formula most have at least heard of comes to mind. E=mc². The c² is the speed of light squared, a very large number. If the speed of light were exponentially greater in the past, then there should have been dramatic shifts in the energy - or mass - of everything in the Universe.

There is not exactly very compelling evidence for CDK, as there is nothing in observable science that shows that the speed of light has decreased over time. Does this refute the solution? Of course not. This is a potential solution to distant starlight, but some of the details have, as of yet, not been resolved, though it is a plausible solution.

Let's take a look at another, GTD. (Gravitational Time Dilation) "Time can flow at different rates. Perhaps the universe has aged millions of years while only 6,000 years elapsed on Earth." It is true that General Relativity has shown that the rate in which time passed is related to gravity. Gravity affects time, this is a scientific fact.  GTD makes use of well-tested physics, though it utilizes alternate boundary conditions.

There are potential problems with GTD. Has the effect been significant enough to allow starlight to reach earth in 6,000 years (earth time)? Is the expansion that is required to make this solution work compatible with observable red shifts? This has yet to be determined, and though a potential solution, it is perhaps the less plausible of the few, as it still says "millions of years," when God says "thousands of years." A problem that came to mind for me is, if millions of years were to pass around the Earth, would that not make our Sun age much more quickly, into a Red Sun perhaps?

I am not discrediting GTD, it is a very plausible solution that makes use of good physics, I am merely stating that like everything else scientific, it has its issues. Now, onto the final solution we will look at: ASC. (Alternate Synchrony Convention.) According to the Creation model, stars were created on Day 4, and their light reaches earth on Day 4. (CLT=Cosmic Local Time) If we use CLT, events in space happen as we see them on earth. Why use CLT? It does not require knowing the distance to the source.

Astronomers use CUT, or Cosmic Local Time, as well as CLT, such as when they named Supernova 1987A, 1987 based on Cosmic Local Time. So, what is the real issue here? The question is, Does the Bible use CLT or CUT? In today's world, CUT is considered to be the standard - the "true" time. However, Astronomers for thousands of years used CLT, since CLT does not require knowing the distance to the source. When the Astronomers of old would see something occur, they would record it, CLT.

What is the conclusion of the three? ASC is the natural solution if the Bible uses CLT. Other people propose that God supernaturally sped up time during the six days of creation, during Creation Week. It's certainly plausible, as it would not be the first time God adjusted time. (Joshua's Long Day and Hezekiah's Reverse Day.) Such solutions are highly possible.

So, let us recap. We have CDK, which says that the speed of light may have been greater in the past, GTD, which says that time may have flowed more slowly on the earth than elsewhere, and ASC, which says that "time zones" allow light to leave stars on Day 4 and arrive at Earth on Day 4. (CLT) What can we learn from this? Distant starlight does not conclusively prove the big-bang hypothesis, or the ideas of secular science. Distant starlight was intended to explain one observed phenomena, but many believe it was developed for secular science. The only thing that distant starlight proves is that galaxies are moving apart, hence, a red shift.

Why? If there were no other possibilities, then Distant Starlight may prove an old universe. However, there ARE many possibilities, therefore refuting the claim that Distant Starlight conclusively proves an Old Universe. If there were no other possibilities, then an old universe could not be refuted. However, there are several possibilities based on as Young Universe. You may of course be angered that I have not given a definite answer to the question, but the fact is, just like Evolutionary science, we are still testing, I don't claim to know everything in the Universe, but I do know someone who does, and he told us about how he created everything.

We can test these different solutions using things such as the Age-Distance Relation. With CDK, t(r) depends on when, as well as how, c was changed, if in fact the speed of light did change over time. With GTD, t(r) has not yet been derived. With ASC, t(r)=+LSN/(z+1) - the time divided by the redshift plus one. (This is in simplest form, of course.)

There are other models, and it is highly possible that more than one of these can be right. Stellar Aging can also be used to test. It can tell us how far these stars have aged, then we can search for trends. Take for example, older galaxies. Older galaxies ten to be slightly bluer and slightly brighter than nearby galaxies, and while there is not a large difference, there is a slight one. If that is the case, it would mean that stars go from Blue to Red over the course of time, though it could be that God merely decided to put Bluer stars farther away from our Solar System.

Hubble Deep Field (Hubble)

Now, there will still be people who will say, "I don't like any of those solutions, so I'm going to believe in the big-bang theory." However, there is a problem, even if CDK, GTD, ASC, and all other solutions were proven to be wrong, light travel-time cannot be used to support the big-bang with its billions of years, since the big-bang theory has a light-travel time problem of its own: The Horizon Problem.

The big-bang requires that the different regions of the universe started with very different temperatures. However, today they have almost exactly the same temperatures, which is very uniform, to one part and 10 to the fifth power. The Problem? Assume theoretical point A and B. A and B would come to the same temperature if and only if they could exchange radiation. (3°K is the average temperature of the Universe)

If you make a cup of hot tea and put an ice-cube into it, it will become lukewarm - because they are in contact, the ice and the tea, and reach thermal equilibrium. There has not been enough time for these regions to exchange light in order to come to the same temperature. Even in the theoretical 13.7 Billion years, there has not yet been enough time elapsed for light to get from Point A to B because the two locations are so far apart. This is what you would call a light-travel time problem, since the Universe is very uniform in temperature.

As we have gone over, there are various solutions to Distant Starlight, although there is no consensus among Creationists, but that's good science, because Science thrives on competing models. Scientists can test these various models in various ways, and that is what is called good science. If you would bear with me just a while longer, I am almost done. Recently, secular Scientists measured the size (diameter) of the Universe at 156 Billion Light Years, which means that we can observe 78 Billion Light Years into Space. It is the diameter of the universe measurements are what has thrown the age of the universe into question among Astrophysicists.

However... they say that the Universe is only 13.7 Billion years old. Even secular Scientists think that light from 78 billion light years away can reach Earth within a short amount of time. Creationists and Secularists alike both agree that light can travel a great distance in light years that is greater than the time in years. We all agree on this, so it is no longer an issue, therefore, light years cannot take a full year to travel. We do not, however, all agree on the age of the universe, and that is where the controversy lies.

Ideas in the scientific community are held until fully proven false. Once, scientists believed that the Earth was flat, and that it was on the back of a giant turtle. At the same time, God's Word stated it was round and that it had free-float in space. (Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:7, 10) Science, gaining new insight and technology, discovered that the earth was round and that it hung on nothing.

The Bible tells us that the light from observable stars reached Earth within the last 6,000 years, and perhaps, much, much quicker. For all we know, it may have been here by the end of Day 4, the day stars were created. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. As we have discussed, there are several possibilities in which starlight can traverse large distances in a relatively short amount of time. Even Secular Science agrees with this. In saying this, the fact that the Universe itself is large does NOT prove that it is billions or even millions of years old.

Think on this: how many times can you recall in which you have seen articles or news stories that say that Scientists will need to re-think their position on something, which overturns the previous discovery? Many. If you believe that God created the universe in six, literal, 24-hour days, then you believe that when the simple phrase, "and he made the stars also" is used, God created the stars of our universe that we see today.

We do not know everything there is to know about the Universe, as God so rightly points out in Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Paul points out in 1st Corinthians 1:25, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." How true indeed.

If God truly Created the Universe, that means that the Fall of Man through sin also happened, and that we are in need of a Savior. God gave us a savior, Jesus Christ. When Jesus died and rose again, he paid the penalty for our sins. (See entry: "Why Did Jesus Died For Our Sins?") God, the creator of the Universe, merely asks, that if we confess with out mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and if believe in our heart that Jesus, (Romans 10:9) the Son of God, died and rose again, we will be saved. God asks us to repent of our sins, and ask for forgiveness, and we will be forgiven, even if we do not feel forgiven.

I trust that this special has helped, and I thank you for reading this entry of "The Truth." If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, simply leave a comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, or visit the facebook page. This concludes this entry of "The Truth." Take care, and may God Bless! Troy Hillman

If God Is Good, Why Do We Have Pain and Suffering?

If you, as a reader, are Christian, how many times have you been asked this question, in some form or another? How many times have I been asked the same question, how many times have people proposed the question? Too many to count. (Picture credit to Dan Lietha)

Is this a major issue that should be addressed here? Absolutely. Should we use Apologetics? Yes! Yes, I have used it a bit more recently than before. Why? It is because there are many questions unbelievers have that need to be answered! Does this mean that I intend to stop writing Book Overviews, talking about Biblical Accounts of Jonah, David, Jesus, Solomon, the like? No! It means this: 1st Peter 3:15-17 says:

"But in your hearts reverse Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

Yes, we need Apologetics, even Jude tells us this in Jude 3-4. It is not needed all the time, but we need to be ready to give a defense for our faith at a moment's notice, and that is the reason for these kind of entries, to not only equip the believer with a defense, but to answer the unbeliever's question. Besides, this question serves as a good lesson and reminder for Christians anyways, including myself.

This question is a question that both believers and unbelievers are vexed by. I have personally been asked this question by many, many people time and time again. "Why does God allow pain, suffering and death?" The answer is the same each time. "It is man's sin that causes pain, suffering and death." But that answer is not sufficient for most, and Apologetics are needed.

The question itself is a very good question, and the answer is not hard to find. Open a bible to Genesis 1-3, and read through all three chapters - that's where you will find your answer. The prevalent idea here is Creation: God created the Universe, including the Earth, Humans, and everything in it, in a matter of six, literal, 24-Hour Days. (See entry: "Was the Earth Created in Six Literal Days?")

God created everything in perfection, and he called it "very good." (Genesis 1:31) What changed, when did pain, suffering, and death come into the world? Disobedience. When Lucifer tempted Adam and Eve to eat fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, man fell. God had said to Adam and Eve, "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Both Adam and Eve had foreknowledge of this command, and knew full-well what their disobedience entailed. When they ate the fruit, death entered into God's perfect, sinless creation. When this happened, the entire universe was shook by a wave that diluted and twisted the very nature of things - both good and evil were in the world, sin had entered the Universe. Man's sin alone is what broke God's perfect Creation.

Since Adam broke the command of God, the Holy One, all of his offspring now would have a sinful nature. The truth? We are all his descendants, and are all sinners. I am not saying this to point that finger at you or the other person, merely stating a biblical fact, and no one can deny that sin is in this world, at least in Biblical Terms of sin.

Some secularists like to say that the Earth is Millions of years old, if not billions. While there are several issues with that, and while I could spend an entire entry alone discussing this, I will merely mentioned something. Let's assume for a moment that God did create everything in billions of years. How then do you account for pain, suffering, and death before the Fall of Man?

God told Adam and Eve, "Cursed is the ground because of you, through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field." (Genesis 3:17-18) Let us back it up for a moment. God said, "It will produce thorns and thistles for you." Alright, assuming that it did take Millions or Billions of years, Adam would have responded, "What do I care, they've been around for millions of years anyway, so has death and suffering."

But this is not so. We cannot change Biblical Truths based on fallible human theories. The Bible makes it clear that pain, death and suffering entered into the world as a consequence of Man's Sin, and did not come until after the Fall of Man. With all of this said, understand something. God DID create a perfect Creation. He also gave us free will.

He gave angels free will, and Lucifer chose to rebel. When he did this, he was cast to Earth, where he tempted Adam and Eve, who rebelled, therefore allowing sin to enter into God's perfect Creation, which is not twisted and broken, not as beautiful and wondrous as it once was, nor as peaceful or happy. Can we find beauty in nature? Of course! But at the same time, we still have weeds, thorns, thistles, the like.

We still have sin. But at the same time, God offered his Son to allow us to have a Savior from this sin. Since we have sin, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." The world was Created Perfect. It fell, and was Corrupted. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a Cross, paying the penalty for the past, present, and future sins of mankind.

More Good News? If we accept Jesus as our savior, believe in our heart that he died and rose again to life, and that he is the Savior of the World, you will be saved. Ask for forgiveness of your sins, and repent of your sins. So what is the other Good News? Through Christ, the world will soon be RESTORED! Creation, then Corruption, then Atonement, then Restoration!

God himself will literally come down to earth to live. I know of people who say, "God cannot possibly live with us on earth." To those people, I have two things to say: 1) Nothing is too hard for the Lord, 2) God himself said that he will, and the signs of his coming are more evident now than ever before. (For more on the End Times, The Tribulation, The Reign of Christ, and the Restoration of the Perfect Earth, see New Jerusalem: A New Beginning, and The Millennial Reign of Christ.)

The most basic answer to this common question, in short, would be, "We have pain, death and suffering because of the sin of Adam and Eve, and when this happened, God's Perfectly Created Universe fell to sin." Thank you for taking the time to read this entry of "The Truth," I trust it has proven both helpful and insightful. If you have further questions regarding this subject, see the section from Answers In Genesis. Take Care, and God Bless. Troy Hillman

Finding Hope in Christ - 9/11

For those readers who are not American, this entry may not mean the same thing to you, but we can all take something away from it: we can find hope in Christ. I know the statistics, that those who read this are all over the world, and I have no way of knowing what each person thinks about this event, but I feel that I should share this.

Nine Years ago to the day, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City, and the attacks lasted from 8:46-10:28 am. Around 2,977 people, along with 19 hijackers were killed, and more than 6,000 were injured.

People from all over the world, families - cousins, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, the like, have been affected by this event. To this day, people suggest that the attacks were not merely by al-Qaeda, some people, especially many Christians and Bible Prophecy Scholars, suggest something - or someone else, implying the Antichrist, was behind the attacks. Is this truth? No way of knowing. Am I suggested anything?

No. The intention of this entry is not to point the finger at anyone. What is the intention? To share one man's story about finding Hope in Christ. Before you see this video, bear in mind that I am NOT Mormon, nor do I support Mormons. (The video was made by Mormons.) Does that make me a hater? No, we are called to love one another. (Leviticus 19:17, John 13:34, 1st John 4:11) What I mean is, do not suggest I am supporting Mormons merely because I decided to share a video.

The man in this video is Christian, he is a follower of Christ, and the message is still the same. Take from it what you will, and again, this entry is not to attack anyone, but to remind of hope in Jesus. Take a look.



Again, take from this what you will, but I can tell you that if we take anything from 9/11, as Christians, we need to find hope where hope is needed. Jesus isn't a crutch, as people accuse us of. He's THE living, breathing, Savior of Mankind, and if you have not put your trust in him, I invite you to do so today.

How can you put your trust in him? He calls us to confess that "Jesus is Lord," and if you believe in your heart that he died and rose from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) He calls us to repent of our sins, to ask for forgiveness of sins, to turn to him, and put our trust in him. Remember the words of Paul in saying, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:1-5)

On a personal note, 9/11 affected me at a young age. I was in elementary school when it happened. My teacher had put in a science video for us to watch, and we were about to watch it - when we turned on the TV, and it happened to be on a news channel. What we saw... the teacher was in shock and unable to play the video. The teachers were out in the hall, scrambling from room to room, trying to keep the students calm. For a child of my age to be sitting in a room and school and watching someone jump out of a 100+ story building that is in flames changes a child's view on life.

Have I found hope in Jesus Christ? Long ago, and my hope, faith, and trust continues to grow with each passing day. I hope you have found the same. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, or visit the facebook page. Take care, dear reader, and God Bless. Troy Hillman

What is the "Holy Temple?"

Have you ever heard of King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live? How about King Herod, and what he did to and for the Temple? Or perhaps the Babylonian invasion in 586 BC? Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. If you are a regular reader, you may have read a recent entry about the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was, in essence, God's throne on Earth. (Picture credit to Israel Museum)

In that entry, Solomon's Temple was briefly mentioned. If you have ever seen movies about the birth of Christ, you may have seen what they refer to as Herod's Temple. Why so many Temples? Well, that is exactly what I plan to discuss.

I have mentioned before that sometimes, certain kinds of entries are needed more than others - Book Overviews for insight, Science and Evidence for Apologetics, a closer look at passages in the Bible, along with other types of entries - this one is along the lines of Biblical, Historical facts. Whether or not you believe that God exists, there was at one point in time, a Temple in Jerusalem. I intend to discuss that topic.

After Moses had passed, Joshua led the Israelites to Canaan. They had taken the Ark of the Covenant with them. Several centuries passed, and the second king of Israel, King David, came to power after the death of King Saul. God had given the building plans for a temple to King David - but told him that he would not be the one to build it, even though he had purchased a threshing-floor for the site. Before King David died, he passed along the blueprints to his son and successor, King Solomon.

Solomon went to work on the Temple - he brought in many people to help build it and get everything aligned with what God had given them, design-wise. So the Israelites worked for seven years, (1st Kings 6:38) and completed work on Solomon's Temple. The Ark of the Covenant, the lamp stands, and the other objects used by the Israelites were put into the Temple, which was a larger "replacement" of sorts for the Tabernacle. It was completed around 832 BC.

The precise located of the original Solomon's Temple is as of yet still unknown - it is believed to have been on the Temple Mount, where the Golden Dome, a Muslim structure, currently is. However, we are told that the Temple was built on Mount Moriah, which is traditionally believed to be the same location where, centuries before, Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac - but God spared him, providing for both Isaac and Abraham.

Solomon's Temple was destroyed in 586 BC, when the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem, destroying most of the city along with it. After the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem, many people began rebuilding the Temple - which became the Second Temple. Ezra and Nehemiah were both prominent figures, as they helped build the walls of Jerusalem and direct people in the ways of the Lord.

To avoid confusion, I will mention here that there were two Herods. Herod the Great ruled from 37-4 BC, and is the Herod who attempted to kill the baby Jesus. Herod Antipas ruled part of Palestine from 4-39 BC, which was during Jesus ministry. That said, Herod the Great was the one to enhance the Second Temple, essentially creating a "Third Temple," or, "Herod's Temple," though it was not a rebuilding, but enhancement.

(Click to Enlarge)

The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and it was at this time when the Jews were banned from Jerusalem. The State of Israel returned on May 14, 1948. To this day, the Temple has not yet been rebuilt. So why do we hear all this talk of a Fourth Temple? For two reasons: 1) Because several attempts have been made to destroy the Muslim Structures at Temple Mount, to be replaced by the Temple, (1982, 1984, 1990, 1996) and 2) Because it is mentioned several times in End Times Prophecy.

Now, if you were reading from a historical point of view, consider this future history. How do we know it to be true? Well, the signs of the end times are all around us, if we will only look, and they were all predicted thousands of years ago with 100% accuracy in the Bible, and because of the fact that the Creator of the Universe, who knows the past, present, and future of mankind, told us what is to come.

What does God's Word tell us about this Fourth (technically Third) Temple? Ezekiel 40-47 gives plans for a Temple that are, as of yet, unused. Why? It is because this Temple has not yet been built. Let us review what the Prophecies tell us. We have gone over the Rapture and the Tribulation. The Tribulation is a period of Seven Years in which the Antichrist, son of Lucifer, will reign on Earth.

To put on a facade of peace, he will sign a covenant with many, including, most notably, Israel. To "keep the peace," he will set up a new Temple during the first year of the Tribulation. How is this possible, if the Golden Dome is on the Temple Mount? Simple: build the Temple next to the Dome. When the Antichrist is assassinated, 3 1/2 years into the Tribulation, he will be resurrected and possessed by his father, Lucifer.

He will proceed to desecrate the Temple, declaring himself God, and setting up a statue of himself - the Bible calls the statue, "The Abomination of Desolation." (Daniel 9:25-27, Matthew 24:15, 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-12, Revelation 13:20) At the end of the Seven Years, when Christ returns, he himself will reign in a New Temple, during the 1,000 Years of Peace. (Revelation 20)

After the 1,000 years and the final judgment, Heaven will come down to a re-formed Earth, and there will be no need for a Temple, for "God's dwelling place [will be] among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:3)

If you have never put your trust in Christ to save you, I would extend invitation now. It is a serious matter, and if you are the type of person who believes Christianity to be mysticism and folklore, take a look at the Creation Science and Apologetics, which both show how what we see in God's World agrees with what we read in God's Word.

All he asks us to do is confess with our mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and if we believe in our heart that he died and is risen from the dead, we will be saved. Turn from your former way of life (Ephesians 4:22-24), ask for forgiveness of sins, and trust in the Lord. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to email vexx801@yahoo.com, leave a comment here, or visit the facebook page. Thank you for taking the time to read this entry of "The Truth," I trust that it proved insightful and helpful. Take Care, and God Bless. Troy Hillman

Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?

Was there ever one, universal language? Why do we speak so many different languages - is it simply because over time, we decided to create new languages, splitting off into different groups of people, or is there another, more powerful reason? In the entry, we take a look at the answer, straight from God's Word. Understand that I am not referring to different accents, but to different languages. Also, we go into this with foreknowledge that humanity all spoke one language in the beginning. Now, let's get up to speed on a few things before we answer the question. Realize this is from an Biblical Creationist Scientist Apologist approach, and has been continually verified through logic, facts, science, and documentation, as well as faith. (Picture Credit to: Answers in Genesis/The Creation Museum)

In the beginning, God created the universe. It took him six, literal days to create, and he made Adam and Eve on Day 6. (Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:11, Mark 10:6) The question that critics always seem to pose is, "How is it possible for Adam to name all the animals as well as have a mate created for him on Day 6?" Good question.

Think of it this way. Adam and Eve were created with perfect bodies. This means they also had perfect minds. Does this mean they could use these minds in a negative way, such as believe a lie and succumbing to Lucifer, therefore eating of the Tree? Of course. Even the greatest scientists and philosophical thinkers can succumb to things that sound a certain way - i.e. Evolution. (See entry: Science in Brief: Scientific Facts of the Bible) On that note, take Solomon's word. "There is a way that appears to be right [Evolution], but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)

With that mindset, think of the fall of man. After the fall, after the birth of Cain, he went off and built the first city. His descendant, not too many years later, invented bronze. Musical instruments, simple machines, and other such things were invented. Now let's fast forward say... two thousand years. Egypt. Many people, to this day, are puzzled as to how the pyramids were built, using the technology of their time.

Many are puzzled as to how things like Stonehenge and other such things came about, since, according to Evolution, these people were "less intelligent" than us. Of special note... the Mayan Calendar - we all know that their calendar ends in 2012. Does that mean the world will end? No. But you know what we never hear? When their calendar began. They place the creation of the world around 4,000 BC - just as the Bible does, a Young Earth that's a little over 6,000 Years old. Now, I am not saying that 2012 will happen, because for it to occur, the Tribulation must first happen. (See entry: "The End Times (Part One)")

What I am saying is, Secular Scientists tend to overlook these things. Now, how could people with such little intelligence actually build such amazing things, such detailed calendars, such accurate astronomical contraptions? The answer? They had more intelligence. Now, a skeptic will immediately, off the bat, say, "Oh, but we have better technology, we've grown in knowledge!"

I'm not saying that is false. But think of it this way: Do we talk the same way Shakespeare did centuries ago? No. Can our brains seem to retain entire books without notes, or anything? Not usually. Why is that? Deterioration. I promise you, this all ties into why we speak different languages, bear with me. After Adam and Eve sinned, the first offspring's genetics were near-perfect, since Adam and Eve were created as such. That being said, this also means that their minds worked a LOT quicker - they were able to use 100% of their minds, and each generation since, because of sin, our minds have slowly deteriorated. Yes, it is true that we may have more knowledge and more advanced technology. But we certainly do not use all of our brainpower.

All of that said, because Adam's brain capacity was fast, he was able to name all the animals within less than 24 hours. The reason so many find that hard to believe is because in today's word, that would be impossible to do. That is true, we cannot do that within the span of a day. But Adam could, because his mind had not yet been in deterioration. After the Flood occurred, man tried to re-group together, the offspring of Noah and their descendants gathered in one place. You can find the following account in Genesis 11:1-9, but for the sake of the entry, I will provide the text here: (NIV)

The Unfinished Tower of Babel

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar [Babylonia] and settled there.They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" *Note: Knowing to bake the bricks would require at least some intelligence.

"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that they were building. The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will become impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them for there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel - because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."*Note: When God refers to "us," many believe he is referring to the Trinity.

The Tower of Babel. In essence, all the people got together, we are told elsewhere led by a man named Nimrod the Hunter, (Genesis 10:10) who would become the ruler of the Babylonian Empire, and tried to build a tower so that they could be higher than God. Sounds familiar, does it not? Think of Lucifer (Satan). He tried to do the same thing. "I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God." (Isaiah 14:13a)

Satan tried to take over God's Throne. He, to this day, still believes that in the end, he will win. But it has been foreknown that God triumphs. (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 20) Men tried to make themselves higher than God. What do we know about Babel? Read the following by David Livingston, 2008:

"The religion-political systems that developed in early cities would later expand into empires. Babel was just the first. Fifty-four miles south of Baghdad, it was a huge city in its heyday, with walls 14 miles (23 km) long and 135 feet (41 m) thick. The famous Hanging Gardens were a part of the temple tower. Among many archaeological treasures discovered in the city were the clay tablets with the Enuma Elish Creation Epic, which some scholars mistakenly say inspired the biblical creation story. However, even a cursory reading of the Enuma Elish shows that it is a later corruption of the true account in Scripture. 

The tower had a small temple on top for the patron god. It would not be Jehovah, the Creator, but a god of their own choosing. At Babylon the god was, no doubt, Marduk. The tower on top was to reach up to heaven. Why? In defiance of Jehovah and to establish their own power and might. As they said, “Let us make us a name lest we be scattered.” Then they devised a religion-political system that bound men in slavery."

So, "Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?" The answer, folks, is because man mimicked Satan, in essence. God "confused their language." Picture this: You are working on a large tower, everyone speaking your native language. All of a sudden, people start speaking Spanish, English, Chinese, Egyptian, Hebrew, the like. You wouldn't be able to continue, because all of a sudden, you're all speaking what sounds like gibberish!

In modern times, travel, knowledge, translators and cultural diffusion seem to have eliminated most of the language barriers. In short, the construction of the Tower of Babel is the reason why we have so many different languages. The number of the world's languages today is estimated to be 4,000-5,000. Many smaller languages are dying out, while English-speakers seem to be growing in number. One of the rarest spoken languages is Biblical: Aramaic, which is generally only spoken in two villages in Syria, though featured in some films, such as Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.

Understand that I am by no means a linguist, but I can tell you that based on the Biblical Worldview, the tower is the reason we speak so many different languages. Yes, it is true that most of our modern languages come from a common language, for example, it is assumed that Dutch, English, and German are part of the Germanic Heritage, while others are different. But for a group of people to randomly create a language takes a lot of work, as you can ask anyone who has created a modern language, such as Esperanto.

Let us examine linguistics for a moment. The study of linguistics is called philology. Research shows that all languages trace back to a "mother tongue." Now, according to the Harvard Chinese-Japanese Library, written Chinese dates back to about 2500 BC, which is very close to the approximate time of the Flood. (Sometime between 2500's-2302 BC) Many believe the Flood to have occurred between 2349-2348 BC, with others believing it to be around 2302 BC, +/- 11 years. If the former is the date, this would place the birth of Peleg around 2247 BC. (Peleg was named so because he was born during the division of the nations)

The Chinese language is very interesting. Consider the following: the Chinese word for boat is depicted as eight mouths (eight people) inside of a container. There were eight people on the ark. The word for total is a uniting of eight people, who join hands over the Earth. Again, eight people: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. The Chinese word for empty is made up of two words: cave, and work. Cave is depicted as eight people under one roof. Some believe that when Noah and his family left the ark, they originally moved into a cave for shelter, eight people under one roof.

After this, Noah's family left the cave each day to work on emptying the ark and proceeded to share these experiences with future generations - eventually making its way into the Chinese language. The Chinese character for devil is formed from three other characters: man, garden, and private. (See Genesis 3:1-7) Also, the words rebellion and confusion link together the words for tongue and for walking. (See Genesis 11:4-9) The word for garden (or field) is a square. Inside the square are four straight lines which radiate outward in a crossroads/plus sign shape. Now, according to Genesis 2, a river in the Garden of Eden flowed out into four streams that also watered the entire garden.

Just as the biblical account states, the people began "spreading forth" out from a single source: from babel. Let us examine this. Historical evidence shows that around the time of the Dispersion at Babel, this is when the nations of the earth began "springing forth" from a single source. Based on the records of Chaldeans, the nation of Babylon - right next to the Tower of Babel, was founded in 2234, which may have been around 13 years after the Birth of Peleg. (If born in 2247 BC. If the date of 2302 is accurate, he should have been born around 2201.)

Another historical evidence we can examine is Egypt. Egypt was founded around the year 2188 BC, which is a little further south, around 60 years after the birth of Peleg. According to historian Eusebius, the nation of Greece was founded around 2089, which is yet farther west, around 160 years after the birth of Peleg. Notice how Babylon was founded first, close to the point of origin, followed by Egypt, which was a bit further away, proceeded by Greece, still further away, just as the biblical account shows.

But if this were so, we would find records, legends, tales of the Flood aside from Genesis, right? We do. There are over 500 flood myths and legends all over the world, just as we would expect to find if there really was a worldwide flood. Now, skeptics will claim the Bible is based on other myths or flood legends, and try to say that the Bible was made using old religions. Not so. We find flood myths and legends around the world because there really was a global flood, just as evidence shows. Take for example the fact that we find fossils in the Himalayas - and since the flood water covered the mountains, that is exactly what we would expect to find.

The Bible, being reliable, and true, is the true account of the Flood, however, many cultures have their own flood stories, many of which have similarities to the historical event. According the Bablyonian legend, pre-flood people were giants who had become impious (bad) and depraved, expect for one who revered the gods and was wise and prudent. His name was Noa, and had three sons: Sem, Japet, Chem, and their wives Tidea, Pandora, Noela, and Noegla. Noa had foreseen the destruction and began to build an ark. 78 years later, the oceans, rivers, and inland seas "burst forth" from below, followed by many days of violent rain.

The Babylonian legend continues that these waters overflowed the mountains, drowning the entire human race - save for Noa and his family who survived on the ship. This ship came to rest finally, on the top of a mountain. China also has a flood legend. There is a temple with pictures pertaining to this story. Fuhi, along with his wife and three daughters escaped the great flood, and he and his family were the only people who were left alive on the Earth. The picture shows the boat in raging waters with dolphins swimming around the ark and a dove - with an olive branch - in its beak, flying back towards the boat.

India's legend is also interesting. According to legend, long ago there lived a man named Manu, who was warned about a great flood that would come soon after and destroy everything on the Earth. Manu was instructed to build a large ship. The rains began rising until the entire earth was covered by water. According to Greece legends, a long time ago, humans became proud, this bothered the gods since the humans kept getting worse. The gods decided to destroy the humans. Before doing this, they warned a man and his wife, and placed them in a large wooden chest. The rains began and continued until the whole world was flooded. The chest came to rest upon a mountain. The man and his wife got out and say everything was flooded, so lived on provisions in the chest until the waters receded.

Hawaiian legend says that long after the death of the first man, the world had become a terrible place. In this world, only one good man was left, whose name was Nu-u. Nu-u made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. The waters came and killed everyone on the Earth, except for Nu-u and his family, who survived on the canoe. A flood legend was discovered from the Toltec Indians of ancient Mexico, which says that the world lasted 1716 years before it was destroyed by a great flood that covered even the highest mountains. The story tells of a man named Tapi who was a very pious (good) man.

Now, the creator told Tapi to build a boat so that he could live and escape the coming destruction. Tapi was told to take his wife and a pair of every animal alive. People thought Tapi was crazy. Then the rain came. After the flood, people began to multiply and build a very high tower, to provide a place in case the world was ever destroyed again. However, people began to speak different languages, and became confused. So different groups, speaking the same language, wandered to other regions of the world. Toletcs claim that they began as a family of seven friends and their wives who spoke the same language, and crossed great waters, lived in caves, and wandered for 104 years until they finally came upon southern Mexico. According to the story, this was 520 years after the great flood.

Of 120 tribes surveyed in North, Central, and South America, flood ;legends were found among all of them. There was a lot in common, including: A general wickedness among men and women, God finding that a flood was necessary, one family - with eight members - surviving, a giant boat or ship built, the family, along with animals and birds, going onto the boat, a flood killing everything on the Earth, the flood covering the Earth for a time, the boat landing in a high mountainous area, two or three birds being sent out, the people finally leaving the boat with the animals, the survivors worshiping God for sparing them, and a promise given never to flood the entire Earth.

Since there are so many legends, myths, accounts, records of a worldwide flood, some coming from Babylonian texts, others from cuneiform tablest of Mesopotamia, others from mythology and traditions of different nations, we find that no event has occurred either in ancient nor modern times about which we find more numerous records or better evidence than a worldwide flood. To ignore such evidence, including the geologic evidence - fossils of sea creatures found high above sea level due to waters having flooded the continents, rapid burial of animals and plants, rapid or no erosion between strata, sediment transported long distances, rapidly depositied layers of sediment spread across vast areas, along with many strate being laid down in rapid succession - is, quite plainly, foolish.

In the above entry, the Babylonian account of Noa and his sons Sem, Japet, and Chem, along with their wives, may be so close in its description of the flood (not with the gods, but with a global flood and the names of the individuals involved) because Noah was still alive when Babylon was formed, and Babylon was formed not long after the Flood and this may be part of the reason the account is so close to the truth. We find legends of floods and of the dispersion all across the world, nearly in every culture. Evolutionists and atheists may not like the concept because it does not necessarily agree with their worldview, but this evidence supports a worldwide flood and a dispersion of languages: just as the Bible shows.

Even the first century historian, Josephus, confirmed the biblical account, in The Antiquities of the Jews 1.4.3, "but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages: and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon; because of the confusion of the language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion."

I trust this entry has been insightful and helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this entry of, "The Truth." If you have an comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, or visit the facebook page. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, I wish you well. God Bless, and Take Care. Troy Hillman