Dark Energy And The Accelerating Universe

From the April 16, 2013 eNews issue
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Isaiah 40:21-22
“Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in”

According to most astrophysicists, the Universe has been expanding since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Then, about the time the Earth was formed, that expansion got FASTER.

Come again?

Since the time of Edwin Hubble, cosmologists have believed the Universe to be inflating, speeding into the nothingness to make it somethingness. They expected that eventually gravity would pull the mass of the Universe back in toward itself, and the expansion would slow down, possibly collapsing back in on itself. In 1998, three supernova experts presented data that shocked the world of astronomers and physicists alike. In 2011, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering what is believed to be the accelerating expansion of the Universe. The Universe isn’t getting slower in its race into the void, they concluded; it’s speeding up.

It goes back to supernovae. A type Ia supernova is a super compact white dwarf star in a binary system with a red giant. Material from the red star is pulled onto the white dwarf until the highly dense star reaches a mass limit of about 1.4 solar masses (1.4 times the mass of our sun) and in a runaway thermonuclear reaction it just explodes. Because they blow up under the same conditions, type Ia supernovae reach about the same brightness each time, which means they can be used as “standard candles” for measuring distance. The brighter the supernovae, the closer the supernovae.

There are other independent ways of measuring supernova distance as well, but Ia supernova at the same distances should be about the same brightness when they explode. So when Perlmutter, Schmidt, and Riess noticed dimmer-than-expected supernovae, they were puzzled.

They told the world in 1998, “Um… these supernovae we’re seeing aren’t bright enough for their distances. Something’s odd here.”

Perlmutter on one team, and Schmidt and Riess on another, independently found some 50 distant supernovae whose light reached Earth more weakly than anticipated. The scientists were expecting the expansion of the Universe to be slowing down, causing the supernovae to appear brighter. Instead, the light from the supernovae was fading. They concluded that the exploding stars had been carried away through space at an ever increasing velocity, along with the rest of their galaxies. In other words, it appeared that the Universe was accelerating.

Then, in 2001, a supernovae 10 billion light years away – the farthest ever observed - once again disrupted expectations because it was determined to be too bright. This indicated that when that particular supernova exploded, the Universe was still slowing down.

“Long ago, when the light left this distant supernova, the Universe appears to have been slowing down due to the mutual tug of all the mass in the Universe,” said Riess in 2001. “Billions of years later, when the light left more recent supernovae, the Universe had begun accelerating, stretching the expanse between galaxies and making objects in them appear dimmer.”

What? How could that even work?

Newtonian physics requires that in order for a mass to increase in velocity, force has to be added to it according to the equation F=ma. Force equals mass times acceleration. What could have happened that would have suddenly forced the Universe to expand more quickly? (Or make it appear as though it were expanding faster?)

Right now, the culprit is called “dark energy.” It’s not a super villain, a cosmological nemesis of the superhero Quasar Man. No. It’s just energy nobody can see. Or prove directly. Astrophysicists have no clue what dark energy might be or what causes it, but its most important characteristic is its negative pressure evenly distributed in space. Dark energy supposedly accounts for 73 percent of the total energy density of the entire Universe. “Dark matter” accounts for another 23 percent, and boring matter made of regular old atoms we can detect makes up just 4 percent of the energy density.

Of course, dark energy and dark matter are hypothetical. They are used to try to explain the data astronomers have been collecting, but nobody has any good answers. Saul Perlmutter writes, “The dark energy evinced by the accelerating cosmic expansion grants us almost no clues to its identity. Its tiny density and its feeble interactions presumably preclude identification in the laboratory. By construction, of course, it does affect the expansion rate of the Universe, and different dark-energy models imply different expansion rates in different epochs. So we must hunt for the fingerprints of dark energy in the fine details of the history of cosmic expansion.”

Perlmutter states we cannot detect dark energy on Earth, presumably because of its “feeble” interactions, and yet it has the power to force galaxies to move at increasing rates through the cosmos?

It may be that astrophysicists need to revamp their models. Perhaps they’ve missed something. Something important.
The idea that the Universe is expanding it largely based on the red shift—the fact that light from deep in space shifts to the red. The same way that a motorcycle sounds deeper as it zooms away from us, the red waves—the longest waves of light—that reach us from supernovae cause most astronomers to assume that the sources of light are moving away from us. However, William Tifft in 1976 determined that the red shift was quantized, not continuous. If it were caused by stars moving away at high speeds, it should be continuous, not bundled in little packages.


In the 1980s, Guthrie and Napier at the Edinburgh Observatory spent ten years challenging this view, and confirmed that Tifft was correct.

There is also the potential that the speed of light has been slowing down, which we have touched on in previous articles [see references below].

At the same time, the term “stretching the heavens” appears at least 17 times in the Scriptures. According to the Scriptures, the heavens can be “torn” (Isa 64:1); “worn out” like a garment (Ps 102:25) “shaken” (Heb 12:26; Hag 2:6; Isa 13:13); “burnt up” (2 Pet 3:12); “split apart” like a scroll (Rev 6:14); “rolled up” like a mantle (Heb 1:12); or a scroll (Isa 34:4) “Rolled up?”

How can all the data best be reconciled? The astronomers and physicists and child prodigies are still working on it. In the meanwhile, we congratulate the Nobel Prize in Physics winners and their dedicated hard work in trying to hammer out the mysteries of the Universe.

Related References
• Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Universe - Saul Perlmutter
• Written In The Stars - NobelPrize.com
• Type Ia Supernova Cosmology with ADEPT - John Hopkins
• Faster Than The Speed Of LIght - Koinonia House
• History Of The Light Speed Debate - Koinonia House
• A Supernova Sheds Light On Dark Energy (2001) - NASA
• Beyond Newton Briefing Pack - K-House Store

Ezekiel 13-14

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

EZEKIEL 13: GOD JUDGES THE FALSE PROPHETS

As Chapter 12 denounced the false expectations of the people, so this chapter denounces the false leaders who fed those expectations
Cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Deuteronomy 18; Jeremiah 23, 29; 1 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 13

Don’t regard the evidence of a miracle as the mechanics to focus our allegiance. We should be aware of doctrines of demons. Satan also performs miracles. The key here is the MESSAGE. If the miracle does not reflect the glory of Jesus Christ, then it is not the doctrine of God.

2 Timothy 3:13
Deception is reflexive. Those who deceive are so skilled that they start to believe their own lies.

Hosea 4:17
Ephraim (representative of the Northern Kingdom) is joined to idols, married to vain. He has become blinded by his own deceptions. People who set out to deceive, deceive first and last themselves. Let those who choose this suffer the consequences.

Matthew 15:14
If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch.

False Prophets
There were two classes of false prophets:

1) Those who were representatives of some object of worship other than the true God, e.g., Baal, Moloch, et al. (cf. Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal; 1 Kings 18:19.); and

2) Those who falsely purported to speak in the name of YHWH (Cf. Micaiah’s opposition to the prophets of Ahab; 1 Kings 22:5-28).

Some of the strongest denunciations of these deceivers are by Jeremiah, who opposed them on moral, personal, and political grounds (Jeremiah 23:9-32). During the dying gasps of Jerusalem, Hananiah opposed him at home (Jeremiah 28); Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah opposed him in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:15-32).

Ezekiel in this chapter also exposes the false prophets and the false prophetesses.

The false prophets prophesy out of their own hearts (Ezekiel 13:1-3)
The sin of the men denounced was that they prophesied out of their own hearts and followed their own spirit instead of the Spirit of YHWH (Jeremiah 14:14; 23:16, 26). Not only was the message of the false prophets untrue; it was also dangerous (Deuteronomy 13:1).

The false prophets are like foxes (Ezekiel 13:4)
The fox is cunning (Luke 13:32; the term is applied to Herod Antipas). It spoils the vine and its fruits (Song of Solomon 2:15; Israel being the vineyard, Psalm 80:8-14; Isaiah 5:1-7). It burrows among ruins (Nehemiah 4:3; Lamentations 5:18).
Thus, the false prophets were crafty, laid waste the vineyard of the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 5:7), made their profit out of the ruin of Israel, and made that ruin worse.

The false prophets failed to repair or restore gaps and hedges of Israel (Ezekiel 13:5)
This verse contains two distinct images.

There were breaches in the walls of Jerusalem, literally and spiritually, and the false prophets had not been “repairers of the breach” (Isaiah 58:12; Psalm 106:23).

The hedge of the vineyard of Israel had been broken through (Isaiah 5:5), and the false prophets had done nothing to restore it (Ezekiel 22:30).

The day of battle, the day of the Lord, had come, and the false prophets were betraying the people instead of helping.

The false prophets believe their own lie and lead others into their lie (Ezekiel 13:6-8)
Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:11

Ezekiel 13:7 
Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The LORD declares,” though I have not spoken?

Divination: To gain knowledge of secret things by superstitious means -- This was forbidden in Israel (Exodus 22:18; Numbers 23:23; Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Divining was disparaged (Ezekiel 13:7, 9, 23; 21:29; 22:28; Micah 3:6, 7, 11).

God pronounces a 3-fold judgment against the false prophets (Ezekiel 13:9)
Cf. Luke 10:20; Revelation 3:5, 20:15

1. They shall not be in the assembly of my people (Genesis 49:6; Psalm 89:7; 111:1)

2. Their names shall be omitted from the register of the house of Israel (Ezra 2; Daniel 12:1; Nehemiah 7; Exodus 32:32-33; Isaiah 4:3; Malachi 3:16) -- To be excluded from the list would deprive an individual of the rights of citizenship (cf. Ezra 2:62). They would die as captives in a foreign land.

3. They shall never return to the land of Israel (Ezekiel 20:38; Jeremiah 29:32).

“My People” is expressed 7 times in this chapter. God pronounces heavy judgment on the false prophets because of the endearment to Him of His people that these false prophets are deceiving.

The work of the false prophets comes to nothing because it was unsound (Ezekiel 13:10-16)
The prophets compounded Israel’s difficulties by hiding problems that needed to be exposed. Again, instead of leading the people toward God’s righteousness, the false prophets created lies and false comfort that allowed the people to continue to drown in their sin.

God would thus bury the false prophets beneath the collapsing walls, and indeed, they were (cf. Isaiah 25:12; Lamentation 2:2; Amos 9:1).

“Whitewash” or “mortar” are impure and ineffective. It does not hold together and thus the results are frail and fall apart. The analogy here is that unless the LORD built it, it has no meaning, no sustenance. Here, the prophets made prophecies that were not of the LORD, and indeed their prophecies came to nothing.

1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

2 Peter 2:1-3
But there were 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 Lordwho 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.

God also condemns false prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:17-23)
This is the only Old Testament passage where God speaks out against the false women prophets.

Gifted Women
Several godly, gifted women are referred to in Scripture as prophetesses:
Miriam (Exodus 15:20,21)
Deborah (Judges 4:3-5)
Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14-20)
Anna (Luke 2:36)
The four daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9)

The prophetesses, or rather sorceresses, were counterparts of the false prophets, forerunners of the modern palmists, fortune-tellers, mediums, etc.

“Magic charms” were covered amulets, false phylacteries that were used by false prophetesses to support their demonic fortune-telling schemes.

The sorceresses also imputed magic influence upon their inquirers by the tying of knots and the shrouding of the persons in veils varying in length according to their stature.
God will thus go against their lying ceremonial tricks by which they cheat His people and deliver His people out of the false prophetesses (Cf. Amos 8; Micah 3; Zechariah 13). The good news is that His people are delivered in spite of the false prophets.


EZEKIEL 14: GOD JUDGES THE IDOLATERS

Ezekiel now turns to the wickedness of those who inquired of God but whose hearts were with their idols all the time (Ezekiel 14:1-11).

The presence of a righteous man (Ezekiel) among a sinful people (Israelites) will not save the land when God brings His judgments upon it (Ezekiel 14:12-23).

Ezekiel 14 is divided into two major sections:
(1) The prophecy against the idolatry of the elders
(2) The certainty of the destruction of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 14 outlines why God judged the city of Jerusalem as He did. The principles that are put down here are operative today also—God continues to judge nations!

Israelites desert God to set up idols in their heart instead (Ezekiel 14:1-5)

Samson
Samson was a man who pretended to be God’s man, and the Spirit of God did come upon him at times. The Holy Spirit—never his hair—was the secret of his power. But there came a day when he went out and “… he wish it not …”

He knew not that the Spirit of God had departed from him (Judges 16:20; Leviticus 5:17). He had kept toying and playing with sin and at the same time wanting to be God’s man.

REPENT (Ezekiel 14:6)
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, repentance is God’s message to His own people, those who profess to belong to Him.

God will answer the idolaters (Ezekiel 14:7-9)
The man whose heart was divided in its allegiance to God would receive no knowledge through a prophet but would be answered by God Himself in deeds (Cf. Leviticus 17:8-10; 20:3, 5, 6).

False prophets can often quote an abundance of Scripture and still be wrong. The best illustration of Ezekiel’s meaning is the story of God letting false prophets deceive Ahab, to bring him to his death (1 Kings 22:19-23).

It is YHWH who sends the “lying spirit” in 1 Kings 22:20 -23. It is He who in the latter days shall send men “strong delusions” that they shall believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). In both cases, it is implied that delusion is a righteous judgment of this sin.

When a man sins against spiritual light, he brings on himself spiritual blindness. This does not relieve him of responsibility, however, for always the principle of “no other gods before me” obtains (Cf. 2 Kings 22:15-23:3).

God will judge the idolater and his consulting false prophet (Ezekiel 14:10-11)
Both the idolater and the false prophet that he consults would be punished, for the double purpose of deterring Israel from unfaithfulness (Cf. Isaiah 4:4) and of restoring Israel’s relationship with God (Cf. Ezekiel 11:20).

God uses false prophets to His glory
God can use and has used false prophets. There are a few examples in Scripture:
A lying spirit causes Ahab’s ruin (1 Kings 22:13-23)
The witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7-20)

God used false prophets to judge them for condoning disobedience.

However, when a person did what the false prophet told him to do, why did God also judge that person who got hooked?
Perhaps the most dramatic example is illustrated in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11. There is an ultimate lie, a wild, extreme lie – THE Lie – that the deceiver will unleash on the world at that time. God Himself is going to permit this “strong delusion” in order to deceive, “Those in whom there is not the love of the truth that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

If we choose a path of deception, we will walk ourselves right into the ultimate deception to which there is no escape. A vivid example of this is Pharaoh of Exodus 5-12.

Israel’s coming judgment is unavoidable (Ezekiel 14:12-20)

The Four Sore Judgments
The prophet declares that “when a country sins,” God sends one of his four judgments against it (Cf. Ezekiel 5:16-17; Revelation 6; Leviticus 26):
– Famine (Ezekiel 14:12-14)
– Wild beasts (Ezekiel 14:15-16)
– Sword and war (Ezekiel 14:17-18)
– Plague (Ezekiel 14:19-20)

Whether Israel reaped God’s blessings or His Four Sore Judgments was entirely up to them – It was their choice. They had been given truthful warnings up front – as have us:
– Leviticus 26:1-2, 14-15, 17
– Leviticus 17:17, “slain” = sword
– Lev 26:20, “land shall not increase” = famine
– Lev 26:22, wild beasts
– Lev 26:25, plague

Men should see both the severity and the goodness of YWHW. In each of these there was a ground of comfort for men who asked the question, which Abraham asked of old, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25) His punishments had not been arbitrary or excessive.

Ezekiel 14:23
You will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD.

They had also been as a discipline leading men to repentance.

After his two signs (Ezek 12:1-20) and five messages (Ezek 12:21-14:23), Ezekiel then delivered a series of three parables (Ezek 15-17) to show that there was no possibility of deliverance for Israel.

3 Righteous Men: Noah, Daniel, or Job
Even if the righteous Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, the Israelites wouldn’t listen to them – and they wouldn’t be able to save them anyway! During Noah’s time, not one person heeded the warnings of Noah during the near 100 years that Noah took to build the Ark. The Babylonians knew Daniel, and they knew he was God’s man. However, the Israelites also did not heed Daniel’s warnings.

This passage is a tribute to these 3 righteous men and how they were spared: Noah (Genesis 6:18), Daniel (Daniel 1:6-20, 2:17-18), and Job (Job 42:7-10) (Cf. Ezekiel 14:16-20; Jeremiah 15:1).

1) Noah, the patriarch, looms on the horizon of history in epic grandeur

2) Daniel is the brave hero in a tyrant’s court, and the man of skill and science in a civilized society. Though Daniel’s prophecies mostly were later than those of Ezekiel, his fame for piety and wisdom was already established, and the events recorded in Daniel 1:1-2:49 had already transpired.

3) Job belongs to the region of pastoral life, and his tragic story carries us out among the Bedouin.

All three were holy men, true to God and upright in life. The greatest fact in a good man’s character is his goodness, and it constitutes a bond of union between all the true people of God.

All three were faithful in circumstances of isolation. They all had to break from prevalent habits and dare to stand alone:
• Noah: Against the world’s sin and impenitence
• Daniel: Against heathenism
• Job: Against a false orthodoxy

All three were sorely tried. The faith of each was assailed in a severe and most exceptional manner.

All three were victorious by means of firm fidelity—by obedience, patience, faith, steadfastness. They conquered, and they conquered in quiet ways—by obedience, patience, faith, and steadfastness.

Jeremiah 15:1-3
Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy.

There are also “four sore judgments” documented in Jeremiah, with the declaration that not even the presence of Moses and Samuel would avail to save the people. They were selected by Jeremiah as examples of the power of intercession (Exodus 32:11, 12; 1 Samuel 7:9; 12:23).

The holy men selected in Ezekiel’s passage spoke of the exceptional saintliness that had been powerless to save the generation in which they lived. Noah was unable to save the evil race before the Flood; Job was unable to save his sons (Job 1:18); Daniel, though high in the king’s favor, was unable to influence Nebuchadnezzar to spare the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Uselessness of Intercession
Ezekiel’s focus here was that Jerusalem was not going to be spared. Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job could have been there, they could only save themselves because of their own righteousness; their righteousness would not save those around them. The thrust of this passage was the Jerusalem was NOT going to be spared. Noah, Daniel, and Job were specified in particular as having been saved from overwhelming calamities for their personal righteousness.

Contrast the judgments here with the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18. Abraham asked God if there were 10 righteous there, would He spare the city. Ten were not found. One was Lot. Lot had to get out of there first, before the city was destroyed. God preserved Lot before judging. In fact, the angels pointed out that they could not even produce the judgment until Lot got out of there. Getting the righteous man out was a condition for the judgment to go forth.

Again, the intercession of even the holiest of men cannot avert God’s judgments:

1) Noah, though a righteous man, could not by his intercession have preserved the old world from being drowned.

2) Job, though a righteous man, could not preserve his children from being killed by the fall of their house.

3) Daniel, though a righteous man, could not prevent the captivity of his country. The holiness of any man can only avail for himself.

Though Noah, Daniel, and Job united to plead for Jerusalem, their intercession would be all in vain.

1. This was contrary to expectation
There is power in intercession; there is a special power in the intercession of a “righteous man” (James 5:16); there is a still greater power in united prayer (Matthew 18:20). Yet, here the union of three of the very best men, selected from all ages, could not secure the safety of Jerusalem. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job united to plead for Jerusalem, their intercession would be all in vain.

2. The cause of the predicted failure of such an intercession was hardened impenitence
God is more anxious to save than we are to plead for salvation. But it would be unjust and injurious to spare the impenitent on any plea. He sent his Son to save the world, an infinitely greater act than the most impassioned pleading of the best men. Therefore the failure cannot be attributed to His hardness.

3. The intercession of Christ succeeds where that of the best men fails
Yet Christ shed tears over Jerusalem, and Jerusalem perished. Why? His prayers are worth those of ten thousand Noahs and Daniels and Jobs.

“He ever liveth to make intercession for us,” and he alone, bearing the weight of the whole world’s guilt, makes atonement for the sins of all men with ample sufficiency. If they’re penitent!

God’s judgment will leave behind a rem (Ezekiel 14:21-23)
The application to Jerusalem finds no righteous persons within it. And what wicked survivors will escape all four judgments, in apparent exception to the principle enunciated above, will be a grim proof to the exiles of God’s righteous judgment on Jerusalem.

Genesis 50

Notes compiled with my BSF group and Bible study with Pastor Damian Kyle

JOSEPH BURIES JACOB (Genesis 49:29–50:6)

When we die in God, death is not the end
When we die in God, our death is not eternal. Death is the end of our earthly beginnings, but it is also the beginning of our heavenly duties under the leadership of Jesus! 

As Christians, we are sad to lose family and friends through death, because we will miss them and their presence in our lives. However, if our family and friends die also in Christ, then our sorrows do not last long, because we know that we will see them again. We will be reunited with them, and we know we will be given new missions by Christ during the Millennium – and that is very exciting!

God is not the God of the Dead but the God of the Living (Matthew 22:31-32)
When we are born again in God, we no longer need to fear death of our physical bodies, because our souls are promised eternal life with Jesus. This is why God is the God of the living – because those who are in Him are alive forever. Those who are not in him suffer eternal death upon physical death.

Cf. Hebrews 9:27; Romans 3:23; 6:23; John 5:24; John 8:24; John 11:26


PHARAOH HONORS JACOB’S WISHES (Genesis 50:7–14)

Pharaoh shows Jacob great respect
Pharaoh honored Jacob's death and burial. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob's death for 70 days. The Egyptians mourned 72 days for the death of a Pharaoh, so this was showing him considerable respect.

Even the Canaanites noticed that the Egyptians was holding a solemn ceremony of mourning. This again speaks of the amount of respect the Pharaoh and the Egyptians had for Jacob.

Jacob's sons honor their father
Jacob's sons buried Jacob the way he had requested, honoring their father's wishes.


JOSEPH RECONFIRMS HIS FORGIVENESS FOR HIS BROTHERS (Genesis 50:15–21)

Joseph's brothers truly repent
The brothers now see what they did in the past was evil (Genesis 50:15), exemplifying how God has changed and matured their lives and views. They thus earnestly sought Joseph's forgiveness.

Joseph truly forgives and gives that glory to God
Joseph had truly forgiven his brothers, because Joseph could see the bigger picture from God's perspective.

Joseph said to his brothers, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?" (Genesis 50:19)

What Joseph is saying here is that vengeance is not ours to take. It is in the hands of God! And if Joseph held on to their sins and refused to release it to God, he would have been so filled with hate that God would not have been able to use Joseph. But because Joseph understood that we are not the judge -- God is, that we are not here to glorify ourselves but to do the Will of God, he was able to look beyond his dire circumstances and realize the glorious work God had in place for him.

Genesis 50:20
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…

"Good" is not what we crave. The ultimate good we can do for anyone is to put him or even ourselves in a position where we can do the most God's work.

This is the only viewpoint that is mature enough as a child of God. If all Joseph could see was, "Boy, they did me wrong, they sure did me wrong," Joseph would have missed the great picture that God was able to turn that into something godly good: Saving two nations and millions of people from famine and destruction!


JOSEPH PASSES AWAY (Genesis 50:22–26)

Joseph reassures his brothers that God will be with them
Joseph told his brothers that God will surely come to their aid and take them to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 50:24).

Joseph requests to have his bones be brought into the Promised Land (Hebrews 11:22)
Joseph asked his brothers to carry his bones into the Promise Land. He knows that God will eventually guide His people back into the Promise Land. Joseph may not have been able to live until that day, but he wanted to make sure that he didn't miss it when his people eventually return to the Promise Land! And indeed, God led His people back to the Promise Land through Moses and Joshua, and His people indeed brought Joseph's bones into the Promise Land.

Space Age Idolatry

From the April 23, 2013 eNews issue
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In his Commentary on Hosea (at chapter 2, verse 4), Chuck Missler mentions, "We have invented the most insulting 'god' of all: random chance as our creator." Dr. Missler is referring to the Theory of Evolution that was devised by Charles Darwin.

A much-ignored quote from Darwin himself says, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down" (Darwin, p. 191).

At the time Darwin developed his theory, the scientific world knew little of the inner workings of the cell. An article on the CreationMoments.com website says:

"In Darwin’s day, the cell was thought to be just a simple sac filled with jellied carbon. This concept is the origin of the term protoplasm. However, nearly 150 years of cell research has shown us that even protozoan and fungi cells are hugely complex. Today we know that even the simplest of these cells, eukaryotes, have an estimated 100,000 parts."

There is no doubt that Darwin would think again if he had this information, yet his theory has become the foundation of all that is believed and taught in the field of biology. Secular science has suppressed the truth of creation and follows the pattern described by Paul in Romans:

Romans 1:18-23, ISV
"For God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Though claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles."

As the complexities of the cell have been discovered, the response should be to see God's work, glorify Him and give thanks. God shows Himself clearly as modern science has allowed us to see the invisible through microscopes, among other things.

The choice, though, was made to reject God. Therefore the judgment of darkened hearts was pronounced upon secular scientists so that they could not see Him, no matter how obvious He was. Though they do indeed profess to be wise, they are fools. In the end they make idols out of created things.

There is a new trend in idolatry that is making much headway in the academic world. In an article in Discovery News, Ray Villard reports:

Vladimir I. shCherbak of al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Kazakhstan, and Maxim A. Makukov of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, hypothesize that an intelligent signal embedded in our genetic code would be a mathematical and semantic message that cannot be accounted for by Darwinian evolution. They call it “biological SETI.” What’s more, they argue that the scheme has much greater longevity and chance of detecting E.T. than a transient extraterrestrial radio transmission.

Scientists have started waking up to the fact that Darwinian evolution cannot account for parts of our genetic code. This, of course, is an understatement, since Darwinian evolution also cannot account for any of our genetic code nor the cells that hold it.

Villard goes on to quote his source saying, "Simple arrangements of the code reveal an ensemble of arithmetical and ideographical patterns of symbolic language." In other words, there are more than just mathematical structures, but patterns of data that resemble language.

Villard asks the question, "Could our genes have an intelligently designed 'manufacturer’s stamp' inside them, written eons ago elsewhere in our galaxy?” He has stated it as a rhetorical question; however the slightest knowledge of Scripture reveals the answer. Yes, we do have a manufacturer’s stamp inside us written a long time ago by God.

After a discussion in which Villard suggests aliens engineered humans and placed them here, he goes on to attempt to debunk the obvious answer: Intelligent Design (ID). He says "To date, ID has been nothing more than Biblical creationism in sheep’s clothing." This logic is the pinnacle of Villard’s debunking and does not go far to prove any point.

Ultimately he asks, "And, even if the genetic code is ultimately considered the handprint of an extraterrestrial grand designer, then who designed the designer?"

Villard’s rhetorical question has a clear answer. Sadly Villard’s heart seems too dark to hear it. In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells the prophet, "I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born."

Each of us does indeed have the mark of our maker, but that maker isn’t an alien race. The Maker is God Himself. Scientists like Ray Villard need prayer that God will humble them and give them no rest until they find rest in Jesus Christ.

Related Links
• Do You Know How Complex A Single Cell Is? - Creation Moments
• On the origin of species - Darwin, C.
• Prophets To The Northern Kingdom: Amos, Hosea - Koinonia House
• Is An Alien Message Embedded In Our Genetic Code? - Discovery News

Groping In The Deep Dark

From the April 09, 2013 eNews issue
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It has been observed that science is no longer Science. This rather shocking statement seems very radical and inflammatory, but while it may be inflammatory, it isn’t radical.

Over the last several decades, science has taken a grand turn. In the early years of science, there was an understanding that one had to be a rigorous slave to the systematic requirements of discovery. To "know" anything it had to be measured and tested, and then retested.

Conclusions could only be drawn from what was ascertained, not only from testing but from the duplication of the results by independent sources. This would inhibit emotional and political biases from sneaking into the pool of what was understood as Truth at the time. Even then it was understood that one piece of new data could turn over their perspective in any given area, or possibly their entire world view.

As measuring devises became more and more precise, more and more was discovered to be either outright wrong, or at least suspect. There was a certain humility built into the system. Somewhere in time, science changed from being an area of discovering to a religion dedicated to proving its dogma. Whether this was a result of cross-contamination from the involvement of the church, or a reaction to the realization that the universe (and consequently the data in it) was much more vast than anticipated, science drifted away from "theorizing-and-then-proving" to "proving-the-theory."

This may seem like a minor point, but it is one which can violate the very definition of science itself. SCIENCE requires conclusions to be drawn from hard (provable, see it to believe it) data. Now theories can be treated as if they are Laws. Then the task is to disprove the theory. No longer is hard data required—only consensus of the majority, the most influential, most political or wealthiest.

This is present in our everyday discussions. Do we ever discuss the "Law of Evolution"? Even its proponents still refer to it as the "Theory of Evolution" while they militantly assure you that it is absolutely the foundational Truth. Any data that threatens any of its dogmas is attacked with accusations of biased, uneducated "opinions." This is the true dominant religion of our time.

Science is a system, and as with all systems, the systems can be in error without the parts, for the most part, having some devious agenda. Most scientists are well-meaning, hard-working, dedicated technicians. But, much like the persecutions that took place when rigorous science first started drawing conclusions that threatened the prevailing dogma, those trying to adhere to a conservative definition of science are being vilified, isolated and condemned within their disciplines.

96% of the Universe
There has been a problem for some time with the mathematics of the universe. For all to work within the current "theories" of a gravitational Universe there is a factor that is off by 96%. All of the visible matter in the Universe amounts to approximately 4% of what the math tells us should be there. With such a large discrepancy, there are two possible obvious explanations:

1) the missing 96% is there but can’t be seen, or

2) the underlying presuppositions of the math are wrong.

Of course, we are told that the most likely explanation is that this 96% consists of "dark matter" (you can’t see it or measure it). And so, in a worldwide effort involving billions of dollars (and Euros, Yen, etc.) there has been a frantic attempt to find this unseen mass. After all the time and money spent, there really hasn’t been much in the way of hard data proof revealed. With the pressures of failure looming, they are now looking for secondary "effects" or by-product particles.

About a year and a half ago, an "antimatter" (positron) detector in space started its search. Just this week the first results were released with excitement and hesitation. The excitement was that positrons were actually detected. The disappointment was that there is no fundamental understanding of the various sources of positrons.

It is "theorized" that when dark matter particles collide, one of the resultant effects is the release of positrons. The difficulty is that Pulsars, a rotating super-dense star, emits positrons also. Our understanding of this release by pulsars is not fully understood.

The only conclusion to be drawn so far is that there are positrons in space (which we already knew). The space-based detector has proved more sensitive than their terrestrial counterparts. But with no ground zero calculation on the "normal" background resulting from other sources, there is no hope of drawing any concrete conclusion on the existence of dark matter.

Since we know that Pulsars emit positrons, it is more likely that they are the sources of the positrons recently detected. Since there is no evidence for dark matter, there must be another explanation in which the mathematics actually works.

Of course there are other "theories" that could explain this mathematical discrepancy, but that would involve giving up some of our most engrained accepted "theories," such as a gravitational-dependent universe, black holes (which have never really been seen, you know), fusion cycle in the stars, etc.

As with all revolutions in science, it takes at least 50 years to discard one paradigm for a new one. There is always great social upheaval involved. Scientific edifices fall and others are raised up. As we build one "theory" on top of another, we are crawling further out on the limb.

Be discerning about what you believe is true.

Related References
• Space-Station Experiment Deepens Antimatter Enigma - Nature

• Dark Matter - Wikipedia
• The Dark Side of Matter - Euronews

Heretic Thomas Nagel and The Derision of Naturalists

From the April 02, 2013 eNews issue
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"Intelligent Design is just another Creationist attempt to get their religious views passed off as science. It’s the same old dogma dressed up in a new suit."
— Anonymous Geology Professor

"Science is rooted in creative interpretation. Numbers suggest, constrain, and refute; they do not, by themselves, specify the content of scientific theories. Theories are built upon the interpretation of numbers, and interpreters are often trapped by their own rhetoric. They believe in their own objectivity, and fail to discern the prejudice that leads them to one interpretation among many consistent with their numbers."
— Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (1981), Chapter 3.

An atheist named Thomas Nagel has been coming under massive mortar attacks from the general science community for his book Mind & Cosmos, which dares to question the great explanatory power that has so often been attributed to Darwinism.

According to his secretary at New York University, Nagel’s not taking any of the hundreds of phone calls from people trying to reach him. Not Thomas Nagel, whom The Weekly Standard recently dubbed "The Heretic" and portrayed tied to a stake amidst flames.

Thomas Nagel became the subject of derision last fall in Berkshire, England, where philosophers gathered for a workshop called "Moving Naturalism Forward." According to The Weekly Standard, Nagel’s new book had just come out, and it was not appreciated by those present.

As Daniel Dennett mournfully disdained philosophers still engaging in "old-fashioned armchair philosophy with relish and eagerness" producing cute and clever worthlessness, Alex Rosenberg, author of The Atheist’s Guide, commented, "And then there’s some work that is neither cute nor clever. And it’s by Tom Nagel." Thomas Nagel had questioned Darwinian orthodoxy and had mortified the naturalists!

"Science" is often presented as a sterile institution free from the troubles caused by emotion and faith. It’s not that simple. While opponents of Intelligent Design like to classify the ID/Evolution debate as one in which religion attempts to undercut science, neither side is truly void of philosophy. The controversy is not science versus religion so much as Metaphysical Naturalism versus… something-bigger.

Scientific Naturalism is a philosophical position which argues that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws. Many people who are scientific naturalists are also metaphysical naturalists; they believe that nature is all there is, and that there is no reality outside of the natural realm.

In today’s universities, science students are taught they must be philosophical naturalists in order to be good scientists. If they don’t know the answer to the questions "why" or "how" in nature, they need to research until they find a natural explanation. To do otherwise is cheating.

For instance, if they get stuck on an answer to the question, "why does the wind blow?" it’s not scientific to say, "Well, it blows because God makes it blow." That’s giving up. They are taught that a good scientist keeps hunting until a natural explanation is found.

Scientific Naturalism is easy to appreciate. It encourages tenacity in scientific research and erases the images of angry gods in volcanoes or thunderclouds. A philosophy of Scientific Naturalism has helped scientists to push past superstition and find the bacteria that cause disease and the poor farming practices that cause famine. Scientists have been able to show that disease and famine have natural causes that go beyond the anger of local gods.

Yet, a healthy dose of Scientific Naturalism can become a strangling dose of Metaphysical Naturalism when it comes to the origins debate. This is an area in which faith and science naturally butt heads. It is one thing to say that a good scientist needs to find the natural explanation for things, and quite another thing to say that nature is all there is. Unfortunately, too many scientists in the universities have gotten Scientific Naturalism confused with Metaphysical Naturalism.

The Crime Scene Scenario
The origins debate is a great deal like a crime scene. Let’s say a man is found hanging in a warehouse with his mouth gagged and his arms tied behind his back. The philosophical positions of the crime scene investigators determine how they handle the crime scene:

The scientific naturalist says, "We have to use the things we have available in the room in order to determine the cause of this man’s death."

The metaphysical naturalist says, "Yes, and only the things in this room can be considered as the cause of his death. We can see no murderer in the room, therefore the man must have killed himself."

The Intelligent Design advocate says, "We can use the things in this room to argue that somebody murdered this man. We can’t say who, but his tied hands and gagged mouth indicate that he was murdered."

The creationist says: "We believe this man was murdered, and we know who murdered him because we have notes left by somebody describing the murder."

The physicist says, "There are more rooms outside this one. We’re busy trying to find a door."

The person of faith says, "We already found the door."


Who is correct? It all depends on what is actually outside the room. The Intelligent Design advocate is not necessarily a religionist. He is simply a scientist willing to believe there is more to the universe than what can be found in the warehouse.

The metaphysical naturalist, on the other hand, doesn’t have the scientific upper hand. If there really is no world outside the warehouse, he is certainly in the best position to find the true cause of the man’s death. If the metaphysical naturalist’s philosophy is wrong, though, he is going to spend his life fruitlessly trying to prove that a murdered man killed himself.

The Humanists
In 1933, when education guru John Dewey and 33 others signed the Humanist Manifesto, they were casting off what they saw as the outdated chains of established religion. They were forming a religion of their own, one in which man made the ultimate determinations of good and bad,
right and wrong. While there have always been atheists and there have always been "religious" people who were ignorant of God's ways, the humanists made a religion of it. They boldly proclaimed that they did not recognize God (or His laws) and took the position that they were capable of using their human reason and intellect to determine morality.

Like all religions, the humanists have a statement of beliefs, which they presented in their Manifesto. They state, there at the very beginning, "FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created. SECOND: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process."

Bam, right up front the religious humanists present the foundation of their belief system. Yet, somehow, every respectable scientist in our culture these days is expected to be a philosophical humanist and to embrace Naturalism. They can’t prove the Universe was self-existing and not created. They can’t prove that men emerged as a continuous process from apes. They believe, and all scientists are expected to follow the same religious path or … get burned at the stake.

Thomas Nagel is not even an Intelligent Design theorist. He is merely a man, an atheist, for whom the evolutionary model has proved intellectually unsatisfying. Woe to him for presenting his honest views to the world and challenging the humanist's belief system protected so viciously in the name of "science." As the world watches the allegedly unbiased scientists hammer at each other, it would be wise to recognize the philosophical positions of both sides of the debate.

Related References
• Leading Atheist Branded A ‘Heretic’ For Daring To Question Darwinism - National Post
• The Heretic - The Weekly Standard
• Topical Bible Study: Creation/Evolution - Koinonia House
• Center for Science and Culture - Discovery Institute
• Humanist Manifesto I - American Humanist Association