The Bible teaches us that in order for our relationship with God to be normalized, it must be faith-based, for trust is an indispensable essential to any relationship, whether horizontal or vertical. In the book of Hebrews the fundamentals are laid out in the clearest language, because no other premise for reinstatement with our Creator is admissible or workable. The reason for this is because there will always be issues that go beyond the realm of rational or logical modes of thought by man, or any created being for that matter, hence the reason why the relationship between God and any created being must rest squarely upon faith and trust. Let’s read:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The word “Must” is used in the above passage, meaning that there is no other way of building a relationship with God. But modern science is predicated on the belief that statements and theories must be proven first before we can accept them as fact. This mode of thought is directly opposed to the mindset of faith, which believes God’s word first, and acts upon it first before any scientific data or research, experimentation or analysis, is available. But under no circumstances does a lack of scientific data on a particular subject, cause the true Christian to postpone obedience or their belief in what God has plainly said.
These two modes of thought were early introduced in the history of the human race, when God explicitly said that eating of the forbidden tree, or even touching its fruit will result in death. But not long after, a scientific approach to the same subject matter was introduced to Eve by the devil, who attempted to prove that what God said was false. As a matter of fact, according to his own infernal research and analysis, quite the opposite was true, for by touching and eating of the fruit, he showed that he had apparently graduated to a higher state of existence than previously, for not only did he not die, but he instead had acquired the power of speech, something
that was unknown to the animal kingdom.
And thus Adam and Eve were faced with the dilemma of choosing between two modes of thought that were to shape their after history. On the one hand they had the clear instructions of God, with the stated results before them, but with no proof or scientific research to verify that this would indeed be the case. On the other hand, they had living evidence before them which they could not deny, in that the serpent had both touched and eaten of the forbidden fruit, yet there seemed to be no sign of death either in him or in Eve, who was the first to venture outside the perimeter of God’s will.
Question: Which mode of thought and action were they to go with, with God’s word that required faith without first having proof? Or with the undeniable evidence of scientific proof and analysis before them? Thus it is, that on these two modes of thought and consequent action, the eternal destiny of all the inhabitants of the earth will forever be decided, and the final conflict between faith and science will be fought out on the battlefield of the human mind.
From that fatal moment onward, when Adam and Eve chose to go the secondary route suggested by satan, the very same issue has arisen again and again within the context of the human experience, and the very same questions have surfaced on numerous occasions, with the very same results. Furthermore, other serious issues have arisen as by-products of the same two modes of thought, which have perplexed millions for thousands of years. For instance, after Cain had slain his brother Abel, The Lord then told him that the shedding of blood would cause the ground not to produce as bountifully as it did before, because the shedding of blood directly affects the production of fruit and grain. Let’s read:
Genesis 4:9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength”…..
Question: Was the curse that was uttered in the above verses a direct act of God against Cain, or would it be the natural result of his wrong-doing? In other words, is this something that God is now going to do to Cain, or will the stubbornness of the earth be a natural consequence of his wrong-doing? And if so, what are the implications for us in our day when the same or a similar courses of action are pursued? There is an electrical substation with a distinct warning sign that says danger lurks on the inside.
If a person then presumes to scale the fence and gets electrocuted in the process, can we reasonably conclude that FPL did something to him, or was his untimely death the natural result of his wrong course of action. We must be very careful when answering this question, for if we concluded that FPL did something to the man, then we would be agreeing with satan that there are no natural negative consequences for scaling the fence, and that the man’s death was a direct and deliberate act of revenge by FPL against the offender. This is the core concept ingrained in the cryptic words, “Ye shall not surely die”, for here the devil proposes that sin does not naturally carry any negative consequences, and that any adverse side effects are the result of a God seeking revenge.
Now there are instances in the scriptures, where God, in His capacity of Sovereign Ruler of the universe, saw it fit to intervene in the human experience, and He executed direct judgments against nations and individuals, since He retains this right as creator and judge of all the earth. But this is not the question under consideration here. The real issue at stake is whether sin of itself carries with it any natural, adverse consequences or not.
One thing is certain, and has been established beyond any reasonable doubt, that there is no known science that links bloodshed directly to the production of fruit and grain, and so the question arises again, would we believe God when He states that shedding of innocent blood across the land will severely compromise the farming industry, and this without any scientific data or evidence, or do we submit to our finite modes of thought, research, and analysis to the contrary?
Again, in the days of the antediluvians before the flood, Noah preached for 120 years that torrential rain was on its way, but up to that time, and during the entire period of his sermons, not one drop of rain had fallen, and there was no scientific evidence, or historical precedent to now justify any rational belief of Noah’s singular message of coming rain. Furthermore, there is no known science that can possibly make a direct link between sin and rain.
And so, the very same question arises again to haunt our minds, should the antediluvians submit to Noah’s mode of thought, which believes God’s word first, and takes proactive steps in that direction without any scientific data, analysis, or research to confirm what he is saying, or should they go with the undeniable evidences of their senses, backed up by historical precedents which clearly show that rain had never once fallen upon the earth? Now, even though there was no known science to back up Noah’s claims, yet the fact remains that it did rain, and it rained in torrential down pours, to the point where about seven billion people drowned in the deluge, for which there was no previous scientific proof.
Then several centuries later, when the Hebrews had been brought into the land of Canaan through the great providences of God, they were like Adam and Eve, given clear instructions on certain courses of action to avoid at all costs, because very detrimental results would accrue, if for any reason the forbidden practices were indulged. The indulgences of pagan nations were then given as the reasons why they were uprooted from their native lands, and were destroyed from the inside out by their own sins and wrong-doings. Let’s read:
Leviticus 18:1 And the Lord spake”…. 2 “Unto them, I am the Lord your God.
3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.
5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any
stranger that sojourneth among you:
27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.
Now, there is again no known scientific data, analysis, or research that links same-sex marriage and other similar indulgences to the defiling of the land, nor can any man connect the two through any known secular formula of cause and effect. In other words, we are faced with the very same modes of thought that were at first introduced in the Garden of Eden, and thus the same questions are before our faces. Should we believe God’s word, without any scientific proof linking the forbidden activities to the deterioration of the earth, or do we submit to current evidences of science and research, which state that great social progress has been recently made in our modern society?
Now let’s probe the first mode of thought and action a little more deeply to see what are the benefits that will accrue to the believer. The Bible states that if a person or nation desires to enter into a covenant relationship with God, believing Him is a fundamental essential. This belief is not based on what we can see or prove in a laboratory, but instead takes God at His word and runs with it. When this mode of thought is adopted, it throws wide open the door for countless possibilities that are not available to the skeptic, because faith in God is not constrained by finite research and experimentations.
In other words, a person who adopts this first God-given way of thinking can experience miraculous occurrences in their lives that are simply not possible to those who limit their belief to what can be seen, heard, proven or felt, hence the reason why the scripture teaches us that “Anything” is possible to those who believe, and that is a
pretty strong word. Let’s read:
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.
1st Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle”…
2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled
from him, and were sore afraid.
32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul
said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
In our day there is a dark cloud of unbelief and spiritual darkness that has overspread the land like the shades of night, and because there isn’t any known scientific proof for the prophecies that are to be fulfilled in the very near future, many skeptics and doubters have now adopted the scientific mode of thought, and there are now to be found millions of people across the globe with whom proving is believing. Even the historical precedents set forth in the scriptures are reasoned away on scientific grounds, and as a result we are at a loss to make a direct link between sin, and the many troubles and perplexities that have now become the order of the day.
But the Bible teaches us that the prophecies pertaining to the last days of earth’s history will be fulfilled in their due season, whether we believe them or not, because of the basic fact that scripture has never, ever been subject to our finite science. Furthermore, we will soon have to grapple with the fact that there are indeed supernatural forces of good and evil at work in the 21st century, and therefore the mode of thought and action we now adopt will decide which camp we will be identified with.
There is not one single instance in the Bible where a nation or an individual was rewarded with blessings for doing evil, not one, and that’s why our expectations as Christians should be based upon the word of God alone, and nothing else to the contrary. In the very final conflict between faith and science those questions that were first introduced in the Garden of Eden will have to be settled once and forever within the domain of our minds, and because we are perilously close to the close of probation, it is now necessary that the mind of Christ be found in us, so that the faith He exercised may become our own daily experience.
The Bible speaks of a time of trouble that will envelope the world, and the mode of thought and action we adopt will determine our eternal destiny. If we now choose to believe science, and the modern philosophers of the day, we will be swept into the ranks of those who cannot ever please God, but if we chose the faith-based mode of thought and action, we will be more than conquerors in the final conflict, because as Jesus said, all things are possible to them that believe. Let’s read:
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
The time here spoken of is just ahead of us, and we are already experiencing the headwinds of the coming storm. It is therefore incumbent upon us to make decisions that are commensurate with the teachings of scripture, rather than with the evidences of our finite science, for at the end of the day, those who have believed in God and acted on their belief will never be ashamed, but we will be mighty glad that we followed God’s instruction to believe. We therefore end with a passage of scripture which prepares us to stand in that great day, and it is the will of God that what we have studied this afternoon, will translate into faith in action, because the time is at hand. Let’s read:
Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His every word.
God bless!