First, I would like to thank friends on Facebook for the healthy discussion of these great topics. Since Facebook does not give much space, I suggest we continue our discussion on this website. The form will be brief. To cover the main components of evolution and creation in only five pages is succinct.
THE TRUTH
It is easy to see such topics in black and white—all false or all true—especially when our circle of people does so. However, we have a higher calling: to seek truth.
How do we know the truth? Please see Chapter 3 on this website entitled “Truth Reveals Reality.” In that chapter, 5 basic laws for discerning truth are discussed in depth. These laws are so powerful that every just judicial system throughout history must use them to lay a foundation of truth, as well as, all science, technology, economy, theology, medicine . . . every discipline that must interface with reality for success must have these laws in the foundation of their functioning. Conversely, every system (Nazism, Islam, JWs, etc.) that must keep its people in the darkness of falsehood must break one, and usually all, of these laws on a consistent basis.
In a nutshell, these laws are (1) thorough investigation of the facts, evidence, and proofs; (2) multiple eyewitnesses (scientific discovery requires multiple experiments by experts before any hypothesis is considered true); (3) eyewitnesses of good character such as people who were there or experts in their fields; witnesses who do not lie and their testimonies corroborate each other’s without collaboration (getting together to falsify a story); (4)listen to both sides (in a courtroom, or in science one must investigate the major hypothesizes or opposing theories); (5) the decision-maker must be pure (such as a judge, a scientist, or us–we must seek truth above all else and reject bribery, prejudice, bias, hearsay, conjecture, speculation, traditions, old habits, unsubstantiated assumptions, coercion, pride, . . . anything that would suppress the truth).
Truth is defined as the clear and accurate mirrored reflection of reality. I once asked a five-year-old boy this question, What is truth? He said, “Truth is what really happened.” Truth reveals reality. A child can understand truth.
The degree of truth we can discover is based on the quality and quantity of application of the laws of truth. By holding an in-house court, I can discover all the facts I need to know about which child stole the cookie. However, the amount of truth we know about the vastly complex subject of black holes is still small. We simply do not have all the facts.
The laws of truth were first written down 3,400 years ago by Moses in the Bible. These are God’s laws that he gave us to discover the truth not only about this universe, but about him. To discover and confirm the truth on any subject in this universe, whether one believes in God or not, we must go through his laws to know what is happening in reality.
EVOLUTION
It is easy to see a subject as complex as evolution in black or white. I heard a pastor declare it was all false. I heard a science professor declare it was all true. Neither applied the laws of truth. They simply followed and proclaimed what they had been taught by other authority figures in their circles.
First, what is the truth about evolution? Second, does it disprove or prove the existence of a Creator (God)?
Evolution is a system of parts. Let us look at six (6) of the most major parts to determine its truth or falsity. (I will go from the least to the most important relevant to our two questions.)
(1) Mutations
(1)
The fact that mutations occur has been proven by scientists across nations many times over. However, 99.9% of mutations are lethal. The .09% that are not lethal are detrimental. Our daughter has a genetic mutation in her chromosomes that has left her with an I.Q. of 36. It is the .01% of mutations that can be beneficial to the organism. When a pathological virus mutates, it enhances its chances of survival by avoiding antibodies that would attack it. This is a small mutation in a small organism, or as Darwin would say, only one small step. There are no X-Men. There is no evidence of giant leaps—multiple mutations all at once–making numerous changes in an organism. Genetics involving gene flow, genetic drift, recombination, etc. occur.
Verdict: Mutations are true.
(2) Natural Selection
Traits that promote the survival and reproduction of a species become more common in generations of a population. In London before the introduction of smoke stacks for factories, the white moth was numerous, whereas the black moth was rare. The walls on houses were white. Thus, white moths were camouflaged from birds. When smoke blackened the walls, white moths almost disappeared, and black moths became numerous. Birds quickly saw white wings against black walls and ate them. Thousands of such scientific investigations have proven the process of natural selection across some plant and animal forms. (It does not take into consideration intelligence, where the weak survive because of hospitals and medicine.)
Verdict: Natural selection is basically true.
(3) Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny
This is the observation that the development of the embryo of an animal from fertilization to birth (“ontogeny” means “coming into being”) goes through stages that represent successive evolution of species across history (“phylogeny” is the history of species on a family tree).
Evolution says that living organisms started with one cell. The next stage was multi-celled ball . . . a multi-celled simple organism (like a hydra) . . . added a tail (pollywogs) . . . added arms (frog) . . . etc. The human embryo to fetus follows a similar pattern: one cell in the womb, multi-celled blastula, pollywog-like form with a tail, added arms, etc.
This pattern between simple life to more complex life is vaguely mirrored in the development of the human (or other animal) embryo. It is observable. Therefore, according to the laws of truth, it is real—the reflection of patterns in the growth of one human embryo to fetus vaguely reflecting other species from a protozoa to a primate is empirically proven.
However, here is the trick: When does observation stop and conjecture start? It is one thing to observe what happens. This is fact. It is another thing to declare why it happens. This is conjecture—saying that chance, that time, that chaos produced both the complex hierarchy of living things as well as the development of the human embryo into a fetus is unproven theory.
At this point, we know what happens. We do not know why or how it happens.
Verdict: Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny is partially true (what we see) but unproven (why it happens).
(4) Progression of Evolution through One Small Step at a Time
In his classic book, Origin of the Species, Darwin stated the following:
“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modification, my theory would absolutely break down.“
Darwin, Charles (1872), Origin of Species, 6th ed. (New York: New York University Press, 1988) p. 154
(2)
Before I became a Christian, I was studying biology (including chemistry and physics) at UCD. Having heard a thorough presentation of evolution, I wondered if it was true. What would be the first step for one of the simplest living things—a bacterium—to start living and be able to reproduce? (Evolutionary theory says that organic chemicals were in a pool, struck by lightning, and turned into a living organism.) How simple was the first bacterium? It had to contain a DNA strand made up of hundreds of thousands of molecules in exactly the right order for the organism to live (take in nutrients, grow, excrete, adjust to its environment) and to replicate itself. As an agnostic studying science, I concluded, “This is impossible.” There is a vast complexity of hundreds of thousands of parts that have to come together in perfect order in the perfect environment even for the simplest of organism to survive. That contradicts Darwin’s theory requiring “slight modifications” one at a time over millions of years. Bacteria cannot survive without their complex cell membrane and cannot multiply without the vastly complex DNA. Darwin’s theory has broken down.
(7) Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) strands; DNA model showing molecules; Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Watson, for his discoveries about DNA
Darwin lived between 1809 and 1882. Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize for uncovering the structure and components of DNA in 1962. Darwin never understood the extreme complexity and precision of interrelating parts required for even the simplest, much advanced organisms, to live. The simplest procaryotic cell needs a cell wall for shape encasing cystoplasm with water, enzymes, nutrients for digestion, the ability to excrete wastes, ribosomes, chromosmes, and plasmids. If it doesn’t have the wall, it doesn’t hold together. If it can’t digest food, it has no energy. If it can’t excrete wastes, the plasma becomes toxic. Without DNA, it can’t replicate. . . . DNA strands do not just pop into existence when amino acids are struck with electricity–as many scientific experiments have proven. (3)
(6)
One strike of lightning hitting one pool of chemicals and producing a highly complex organism such as a bacterium was just like dropping a bomb on a big junk yard and producing a Boeing 707. Scientific facts (the complexity of one cell) and scientific theory (a lightning bolt hitting chemicals) did not add up. It defied Darwin’s theory insisting on “slight modification” starting with something very simple and building up little by little to very complex. No life is simple. To start with a highly complex bacterium negated Darwin’s theory according to his own words.
Scientists discovered that even in the simplest cells there is an “irreducible complexity”that is required for life. Many complex parts have to function perfectly from the beginning for life to start. One cell is more complex than all of New York City. Millions of molecules, proteins, and parts do not just suddenly come together in perfect order for perfect functionality out of blind chaos.
The idea of “given enough time, enough trials, enough chance” a complex organism will suddenly come together, live, function, and reproduce contradicts Darwin’s explicit words on how evolution occurs. It is like putting a hundred monkeys at typewriters and coming out with Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. The simplest organism is more vastly complex than scientists understood in Darwin’s day. Darwin never suggested that an organism of great complexity would suddenly pop into existence given time, opportunity, and chance.
The organism has to start as a whole in order to live. A whole requires millions of molecules and organs functioning in perfect order. Darwin said that unless that organism was built up one step at a time “my theory would absolutely break down.”
For a full scientific investigation into irreducible complexity (complete wholeness from the beginning for a bacteria, a virus, a sponge, . . . a plant or animal to live and reproduce), read Dr. Michael J. Behe’s book, “Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution,” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996) p. 39.
Verdict: Life Does Not Evolve One Little Step at a Time, Thus According to Darwin—His Theory Breaks Down
(5) One Species Evolving into a New Species
Evolution explains this as the slow, gradual transition from one species like a fish growing legs to evolve into another species like a frog. (It would also mean a whole new skin, new lungs, new heart, new physiological metabolism, etc. This is not one step; it is billions of complex changes.) There are fish that use fins to scoot up on shore. There is similar bone structure between some fins and some legs. However, there is no proof of gradual transition, step-by-step through healthy mutations or adaptations changing anatomy in successive generations, gradually changing form by form from one species to another species.
At UCD, a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry was allowed to speak to my class of 500 students. He pulled out hundreds of scientific articles showing from paleontologists and archeologists that digs and research showed huge gaps of time between the appearances of groups of major life forms (from simple to complex). These archeological gaps did not prove evolution moving step-by-step producing little-by-little simple changes developing more-and-more complex life forms, but the sudden appearance of huge groups of life–each group more complex than the last. Then another huge gap in time, followed by another sudden appearance of different, more complex life forms. There were huge gaps of time with no changes, then huge leaps in the complexity of groups of living beings. The progression from group to group was following not only the groups predicted by evolution, but long before by Genesis chapter 1 in the Bible. But there were no slow transitions (Darwin), there were huge gaps and leaps (the Bible). (8)
Verdict: The evolution of one species into another is disproven by archeology.
(6) Spontaneous Generation
The view of evolution rests upon the theory that life started spontaneously in a rich pool of nutrients (like amino acids) hit by lightning producing the first one-celled living organism. Many, many experiments have tried to replicate this process. NOT ONE EXPERIMENT HAS EVER PRODUCED LIFE—EVEN IN ITS SIMPLEST FORM. (Besides, a lightning bolt can heat air to 50,000 degrees F. That’s 5sx hotter than the sun. There is no proof that such heat starts life, but a lot of proof that it stops it. No life can live on the sun, much less in an environment 5xs hotter.) Spontaneous generation has been disproven!
Few scientists hold to spontaneous generation anymore, even though some high school science classes still teach it. So the new theory put forth– without one shred of evidence (except Star Wars and Star Trek)– is that life started on another planet or in another universe (the multi-universe theory).
Verdict: The Theory of Spontaneous Generation has been proven FALSE
Conclusion
Some parts of evolution are true or partially true (mutations, natural selection, ontogeny resembling phylogeny). Other parts—the most critical parts for the foundation of evolution—have been proven false by lots of scientific experiments (such as, step-by-step small modifications over millions of years, evolution from one species to another species—and most important of all—spontaneous generation). These are the foundation of the evolutionary theory. These are false, therefore, the whole theory “absolutely breaks down” (to echo Darwin’s own words).
Through thousands of scientific experiments from scientists across nations, the theory of Chaotic Evolution (given enough time, enough chance, enough opportunities a complex organism like a bacterium will come into life through a random, small step-by-step assembly process) has been proven to be false. No one says that an organism with millions of complex parts pops into existence by random chance, enough time, and opportunity (even when put in the perfect environment of a test tube).
Why is evolution still taught? Inertia, tradition, coercion (loss of job at a university or school should anyone disagree). The theory hit hard in the early 20th century, entrenched, cemented and despite the great progress of science forward and proving it false (just like Galileo’s discovery that the earth revolves around the sun, thus bringing down great persecution upon this scientific genius from church and educational institutions) ingrained ideas die hard.
INTELLIGENT DESIGN
(CREATIVE EVOLUTION)
Very few scientists in the hard sciences (physics, chemistry, astrophysics, etc.) and even mathematics will tell you that they believe in evolution. A study was done at a university, where hard scientists were asked if they believed in evolution and most refused to say, “Yes.” They would say that science has proven that earth’s ecosystem is vastly more complex than evolution (with its step-by-step random assembly out of chaos) can explain.
What many hard scientists (like Behe in Darwin’s Black Box) do point out, is that this planet is “fine-tuned” with such extreme precision, complexity, and logical assembly that it is intelligently designed. And despite its vast complexity, intelligent humans can understand it.
If life reveals an intelligent design, then an Intelligence (God) designed it. So let’s quickly look at this view.
An Intelligence put together complex life forms and placed them in an environment that could sustain life (right temperature, oxygen level, amount of gravity, sunlight, water, food . . .) a whole lot of things had to come together in the biological organism and its environment for life to start, to maintain, to replicate. Billions of things had to come together perfectly all at once for one organism to live, to survive, and to replicate. This is irreducible complexity for life to exist. Irreducible complexity is in diametric contradiction to evolution.
The Intelligence placed in living plants and animals the abilities to mutate, to adapt to their changing environment (except when catastrophic), to live, and to replicate.
The Intelligence built each new species on a predetermined pattern that overlapped with previous patterns of anatomy/DNA/physiology in earlier species. Intelligence made ontogeny resemble the created order of things.
This Intelligent design proved intelligent evolution, not chaotic evolution. Intelligent evolution is also called creation by a Creator. In its beginning, God created each plant or animal at one time as a complex whole with totally perfected functioning (from the first bacterium to the first human) and gave each organism the dynamic flexibility to change with its environment for survival. Dynamic flexibility for change was designed into the body of each creature. That is why birds that have never seen a nest built, can later build a perfect nest for the propagation of their species. This is why some viruses mutate and prolong survival of their species. This was creative evolution. The Creator created life with the ability to evolve to a limited extent in order to survive and reproduce.
CREATIVE EVOLUTION:
God, the Creator, created life with the ability to evolve.
Intelligent design is one of many proofs for the existence of God. Some scientists go from atheism to believing in God just from the overwhelming evidence produced through scientific research of Intelligent design on our planet and in our universe.
Last Story
Each day in spring, I passed by one magnificent blooming tree as I walked onto the UC campus for science classes. I was agnostic and gave little thought to God. However, I was taking botany classes and labs that showed me the cellular structures of the roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers of this overwhelmingly beautiful tree. I knew that from the tip of each root to the highest leaves in that tree that trillions of cells (cortex, phloem, stoma, chloroplasts, mitochondria, DNA, RNA, . . .) functioned in absolute harmony like an intelligently made machine; like a Ferrari or Lamborghini. Yet, it was a tree. It didn’t even have a brain. But billions of parts were perfectly and exquisitely ordered. So each day as I passed, I asked one question, How can a tree function like an intelligently made machine? Day after day, the same question came to my mind.
(4)
Then one day, the awesome answer struck me; “It functions like an intelligently-made machine because an Intelligence made it.”
Image of DNA by Pete Linforth on Pixabay.
Images from Skeeze on Pixabay.
Image of Charles Darwin by WikiImage on Pixabay.
Image by Dominic M. Contreras on Pexels.
Image by NASA “Taken Under the Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud”
Drawing by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
DNA by Gerd Altman from Pixabay; DNA Model by Skeeze on Pixabay; Dr. Watson from Wikimedia.
The Hebrew word for “day” in the KJV Bible is “yom.” It has many different translations across the Bible based on the context in which it is found. “Day” could mean a 12-hour period, a 24-hour period, an age or eons (millions of years). Archeological finds support the definition of “yom” as being a long, long period of time.
Translations of Yom
Usage across the KJV Bible: afternoon*(1), age(m)(7), age*(1), all the years(m)(1), always*(14), battle(1), birthday*(1), Chronicles*(38), completely*(m)(1), continually*(m)(14), course of time*(1), daily(22), daily amount*(m)(2), day(1118), daylight*(1), day’s(7), days(641), days ago(1), days'(11), each(m)(1), each day(m)(4), entire(2), eternity(m)(1), evening*(m)(1), ever*(m)(1), every day(2), fate(m)(1), first(m)(5), forever*(m)(11), forevermore*(m)(1), full(1), full year(1), full years(4), future*(m)(1), holiday*(3), later*(2), length(m)(1), life*(m)(2), life(12), lifetime*(m)(1), lifetime(m)(2), live(m)(1), long*(m)(11), long(m)(2), long live(1), midday*(1), now(m)(5), older*(1), once(2), period(4), perpetually*(2), present(m)(1), recently(1), reigns(m)(1), ripe age*(1), short-lived*(m)(1), so long*(m)(1), some time(1), survived*(m)(2), time(44), time*(m)(1), times*(2), today(172), today*(1), usual(m)(1), very old*(1), when(m)(11), whenever(1), while(3), whole(2), year(10), yearly(5), years(m)(8), yesterday*(1). (Found in Strong’s Concordance.)
In a crisis, the deception of safety is dangerous;it prevents ongoing fact intensive reasoning, preparation, and protection.A global pandemic is one crisis.A global collapse will be many crises.If we can't get it right with one, we won't get it right with many.
Conqueror the COVID-19 pandemic with the Bible and science [73].
Conqueror the COVID-19 pandemic with the Bible and science [73].
Conqueror the COVID-19 pandemic with the Bible and science [73].
Purpose
This paper will examine the essence of deception to understand how deception becomes deadly in a current event–the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus.
The power of deception that is causing millions of needless deaths in one crisis will cause billions of deaths in the complex collapse of civilization involving many crises.
Deception will be the primary strategy used to bring the downfall of humanity, just as it was in the Garden and will be by the Antichrist.
“Satan . . . deceives the whole world,” (Rev 12:9).
“The serpent deceived me,” (Gen 3:13).
“He deceives those who dwell on the earth,” (Rev 13:14).
If we understand how deception functions and replace it with the Bible’s laws in our thinking, we can conquer this darkness and prevail in our own lives. It is part of building our ark.
If we get it right with one, we are stronger and smarter to get it right with many.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much;and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much,” (Luke 16:10).
What is deception?
Let us begin with the most classic example on the planet that provides the best definition: Eve was deceived.[1] She even figured it out–way too late–but in the end, she knew she had been deceived; “The serpent deceived me.”[2] How? That’s the BIG question: HOW!
Carefully consider the essence of deception. Deception requires two things: good and evil. Satan used the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to deceive Eve.[3] It had both good and evil. The tree looked good! It “was desirable.” It was “a delight to the eyes.” [4]
The tree was also evil; it was destructive and deadly.
Therein is the essence of deception: good mixed with evil. The optimum word in the title, Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is the word “and.”
Mixing good and evil is the open door for deception and easy to walk through, if we do not think according to God’s biblical laws for discerning truth. (For a discussion of these laws of truth, see Chapter 3: Truth Reveals Reality.)
Pure evil does not fool anyone
any more that pure poison fools a rat.
[74]
If you are going to kill a rat, they are just too smart for pure poison (just like pure evil is too obnoxious for most people to stomach). A death potion requires 99% good wheat and 1% arsenic; it will drop ’em dead. Good plus evil deceives them, then destroys them.
Think of all the things we as Christians know are destructive, a form of poison, or evil according to God’s laws, and yet, many in the world believe they are “good” and crave them. “Good” is defined in the world’s shallow sense of looks good, feels good, tastes good–even if it kills you. True “good” is based on following biblical laws and always edifies or at least does no harm.[5]) Illegal drugs, adultery, pornography, stealing, mob violence, . . . all feel good but are evil. Like salt water to a man on a raft in the middle of the ocean, it temporarily quenches thirst but is deadly.
Good mixed with evil opens the door to deception. There is always something good–whether man’s false good or God’s true good–that attracts us before we can be deceived. However, when God says something has evil, that evil always, ALWAYS outweighs the good. It is never right in the eyes of God to sin (commit evil) in order to achieve good.
[75]
The Lesser Good and the Greater Evil
Because the darkness of deception will be a primary factor in the excessive death toll of both the current global pandemic and the future global collapse, determining the essence of deception is the core this paper. If we can conquer deception, we can clear our minds for sharp, powerful thinking according to the biblical laws of truth to increase our chances of survival. (C.f. Chapter 3)
Noah had clear thinking. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his family.[6]He believed God’s word and rightly discerned the world around him. He made high-quality choices and saved the lives of his family.
Under deception, we choose a lesser good that unleashes a greater evil. There is always good and evil in the equation of deception. There are always priorities to evaluate. There are always biblical laws that will be broken if we are deceived. We may have knowledge of the oncoming evil–170,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19. Or we may be ignorant of the oncoming evil–the eleven did not know of Judas’ coming deadly betrayal. In the equation of deception, destructive sin is waiting.
If Noah had been deceived, he could have chosen a lesser good that would have eventually brought the greater evil–the drowning of his family. Here are some good reasons to not build the ark:
Preach God’s message, but don’t pick up a hammer–building an ark is too extreme.[7] Less work is good.
Don’t preach, just quietly believe, because people will laugh or get angry. Keeping peace is good.
The town needs me, I’ll have time in another 50 years or so to start the ark. Helping other people is good.
The “ark” and “the flood” are metaphorical, not literal. Preaching is good.
Building an ark has never been done before. I’m too small. I’m too old. (Noah was 500 yrs. old! Gen 5:32) I’m too tired. I’m too busy. My wife won’t like the mess. There might be a lion out there.[8]
There are a lot of good reasons to not build an ark. Under deception, we choose a lesser good that eventually unleashes a greater evil. Noah’s family would have died, if Noah had chosen the lesser good. Protecting human life was the highest good.
Response to Danger by a Sane Person
[76]
In the situations under consideration, human life is always at stake.
The healthy universal response to danger against human life is the avoidance or elimination of harm. If a poisonous snake sits in the road, then run, shoot, or bag him. God gives all adults across all countries physical senses to discern danger and mental reasoning to deal with it safely. This is called mental order, which is in harmony with God’s order.
Only in mental disorders do grown people invite the deadly snake to bite them or someone else.
What God put in the healthy human heart, He also put in the Bible.[9] If our conscience is not properly functioning, then the hard copy defining mental order is in the Bible with laws and commands to guide us back into God’s order. As individual and societal conscience dims, the Bible is always our blazing light guiding our journey safely and successfully through the darkness.
The Biblical Response to Danger [77]
Satan tempted Jesus to jump off a high building to prove God’s love and power for Him and who He was. Satan’s implicit message involved “glorifying God” by proving His protection against reckless mortal danger for His Son. Jesus refused to test God.[10] He saw danger and He avoided it. Needlessly putting ourselves or others in serious physical danger without good cause is against biblical law as well as secular state and federal laws.[11] (See footnote defining “good cause.”[12])
Jesus said that when an enemy approaches for war–mortal danger–count the soldiers on both sides then use reason and common sense to make a high-quality decision.[13]
Paul used his senses and reason to discern that sailing into a big storm was dangerous. He told ship leaders that it was unwise to sail. They sailed. The violent sea swallowed up both ship and cargo with great loss. Discerning the weather, using reason, and listening to a man of God with common sense would have kept them safe. [78]
God told “a man of God” to go home a certain way and do nothing else. A false man persuaded the man of God to go another way and do another thing. When the man of God finally left, he ran into a lion that killed him. God’s way was safe. He would have missed the lion. The false man’s way ended in pain and death. Even a “man of God” or a born again Christian can suffer needless harm when he or she rejects knowledge and common sense or disobeys God’s explicit commands.[15]
“A lion met him on the way and killed him.” [79]
This principle is really important. I beg you to not be lulled into a false sense of security because you are a Christian, an American, rich, educated or anything else. Disobey God and His warnings or recklessly jump into danger and we may suffer the consequences.
Jeremiah warned the people against a deceptive belief of safety when God repeatedly forewarned of coming danger. The prophet said to the people, “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.'”[16]The Jewish people said that because God was with them in the temple. God commanded worship. He would keep them safe from any harm no matter what they did; God’s judgment would not touch them. In 586-7 B.C., the Babylonians burned the temple to the ground and took millions of Jews into captivity.
This last example is the same reasoning some churches are using to defy local health restrictions and to recklessly endanger the lives of others through large, unprotected meetings. They say God is with them, so they won’t get sick. Sadly, sickness and death have taught many of them that testing God does not end well. When He gives us the knowledge and intelligence to discern danger, we need to act according to His greater commands–like “love your neighbor”–to protect human life.
COVID-19 caused by coronavirus. Images by CDC [80]
COVID-19 caused by coronavirus (orange) emerging from a football-shaped cell after multiplying. Credit: NIAID-RML [80]
Deception and COVID-19
“I thought this was a hoax“
“This” refers to the deadly virus causing a pandemic killing thousands.
A “Covid party” is a gathering held by a person diagnosed with coronavirus to see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected. Students in the largest campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa added gambling to the party. Students put money in a pot, and the first person to catch the virus got the pot.
Multiple articles by reliable sources quoted the dying words of a thirty-year-old man (who had attended a Covid party in Texas) as he lay in the Methodist hospital in San Antonio. Dr. Jane Appleby, the chief medical officer, took his very tragic words to the world: “I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not.” Dr. Appleby stated, “A broader age range were being affected, with several 20 and 30 year olds critically ill at the Methodist hospital.”
Texas continued the battle against rising COVID hitting 22% positive tests with state health officials reporting 8,196 new cases on Sunday, another 80 deaths, and a total of 10,410 people hospitalized due to the virus.[17]
Karen Sehlke, a wife and mother of two young teens, called COVID a “hoax” on Facebook. She stated, “You don’t need hand sanitizer . . . You need faith . . . and of course guns!” She caught it. Very sadly, she died.[18]
This young man and woman (no relationship, but they were both from Texas) called COVID a hoax. Was it? According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused 708,639 deaths with 18,854,287 confirmed cases.
Where was the deception? “You surely will not die!”[19]COVID is just a hoax, a game, nothing serious. Do those words sound familiar? One side of the coin of deception negated the danger, the other side promised safety, security, “good.” Eve ate the tasty apple. The thirty-year-old man attended a fun party. They chose the lesser good and died.
Too late, Eve and the man learned that they had been deceived. The good (apple/party) did not out weight the evil (death). Good and evil mixed together led to deception. They each chose a lesser “good” that unleashed a greater evil–death.
CNN reported a study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on COVID-19 misinformation spreading in 25 different languages in 87 countries. Misinformation included:
Drinking bleach kills the virus.
Every disease has come from China.
It’s a bio-weapon by (a rich couple).
Eggs carry the virus.
High levels of alcohol in the body can kill the virus.
Following misinformation, 800 people died, 5,876 were hospitalized, and 60 went permanently blind after drinking methanol (wood alcohol) as a cure for coronavirus. [19A] They were all deceived.
The old, old trick
How do we become deceived? It is the same old scheme Satan used in the Garden of Eden.
First, deny or minimized the evil. “You surely will not die.”
Second, avoid following the biblical laws to discern truth. Do not do a thorough investigation or seek out multiple eye-witnesses of good character–primary sources, which in this case are scientists and doctors from CDC, WHO, Tufts University, John Hopkins University, or the M.D.s in the local hospitals; experts who spend their lives trying to keep others safe from diseases by seeking truth. [19B]
Third, believe someone else. The usual choice is to reject the experts who have spent their lives doing thorough investigations into the problem and accept someone close or supported by those around us, even though that someone has no expertise in the field.
Instead of sound facts, believe popular opinion by political parties on medical issues (not doctors), by friends (not national health organizations), even by religious leaders (in “faith,” they deny medical issues, or in some cases, use “faith” claiming to recreate reality or prove God).
As death approached–like Eve–the deception lifted and Karen realized too late that COVID was deadly. Eve said the serpent deceived her. Karen said she had been deceived by “media driven” propaganda. The false information was “controlled by the radical people in powerful places.”[20] Karen was from Texas and loved Trump. Trump’s message has been–up to the time of Karen’s death–no need for masks, stop testing, and don’t worry because COVID will go away, so get back to school and go back to work. Several states followed the politics instead of the CDC and the spread of the virus exploded.
The Georgia guinea pig
Georgia was the guinea pig. They sent the kids back to school in early August. By August 8th in 2020, 260 employees in Georgia’s largest school district either tested positive for or were exposed to COVID-19.[21] Despite this, nearly 6,000 people signed a petition in support of in-person classes. Cobb County Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale changed his mind and said the school district would remain virtual until public health data from local and state public health officials recommended in-person education.[22] To date, Cobb county has 1,363 currently hospitalized and 317 deaths from COVID-19.
On the same day, August 8th, Vincent Barone writing for a local NBC affiliate reported “Georgia’s youngest COVID-19 death is a 7-year-old with no underlying conditions.” [22A] The boy caught the virus attending a Savannah church.
Georgia took 4 months to reach 100,000 COVID-19 cases. In just 4 weeks by August 5th, the caseload passed 200,000.
“Faith”
One large church in San Diego with three campuses has repeatedly defied the county’s public health order to keep people safe from COVID-19 by stopping assemblies. After the threat of fines, the rich church closed its doors and went online. Denial of COVID’s deadly effects was not the only deception plaguing this church, they thought God would alter reality for them, if they spoke the right words and had enough “faith. “[23]
What about jumping off the cliff–leaving a place of safety and putting ourselves in mortal danger?
A full time, dedicated Christian blind man was with me in Albertville, France at language school. He received an international telephone call from the elders of his church back in the U.S. They were in a panic. They had all gathered and prayed over a diabetic woman for God to heal her. In high emotion and great “faith,” they declared her healed. To prove her faith, they told her that she no longer needed her insulin. Therefore, she stopped all insulin. She died. “Why?” they beseeched the blind Christian. He simply responded, “God gave her the miracle. You took it away.” They tested God when they pushed her off the cliff.
By following the biblical laws for discerning truth that came down into the foundation of medicine, scientists and doctors learned the truth about diabetes and insulin. These laws of God led the way to the cure. This was a gift of God to those who obey His laws.[24]
The schools, churches, and individuals were deceived. They minimized the evil and maximized the “good.” Their disregard for the evil, led them into sin. Endangering human life took a back seat to religion, politics, education, economy, and sundry other good things they deemed more important than human life. One way or another, they denied the evil, just as Eve had denied the mortal danger God forewarned in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Death broke through their deception, just like it did in the Garden –the hard way.
Churches That Are Deceived
Google “churches that met together and caught coronavirus” to find three full pages of churches that are meeting and spreading the plague.
Like everyone else, churches have knowledge and access to the facts revealing–according to John Hopkins University–that over 170,000 Americans have died from this deadly virus, which is spread easily by casual contact causing a domino effect down through the web of relationships. COVID-19 is a dangerous, life-threatening disease.
In fact, a new study supported by the World Health Organization, the Journal of American Medical Association, and Tufts University proved that some people without any symptoms, can not only carry just as much coronavirus as a sick person, but transmit it in the same way. The Director of NIAID since 1984, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stated that “20% to 45% of infected people don’t have symptoms.”[25]
The teachers, students, and churchgoers who defy social distancing and masks in cool spots and lockdown in hot spots for the virus not only put themselves in harm’s way, but everyone down their domino line of contacts.
One death is one too many. [81]
Just one
It is not just the huge numbers of people dying from the pandemic. It is the one small person. What we do to even one of the least, we do to the King of kings Himself.[26] Every individual person is important to God. The seven-year-old boy or an 80-year-old woman who die earlier than they should have because of COVID-19 are just as important as millions who die of the disease. Jesus is with “even one of the least of these.”
So if only one has died in your town or school or church, that is one too many. The mayor, superintendent, or pastor/priest should have protected every single person. Good shepherds watch out for one and for all.
Deception: Testing God glorifies Him
Some Christians think testing God glorifies Him. “We will gather in church to worship Him and prove to the world God protects us.” In reality, “jumping off the roof” angers Him. The Israelites tested God ten times through a variety of ways. In the end, “many people of Israel died” from His anger. He also prevented most from entering the Promised Land.[27]
Jesus refused to test God by putting Himself in harm’s way.[28] Proving God would protect Him, even from reckless endangerment of His own life, was not just foolish, but evil. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”[29]It was sin.
Churches and schools meeting in the middle of a pandemic in a town rising numbers of cases and deaths all around them are in sin.
Burning the church to the ground
CBS News reported a church in Mississippi that defied stay-at-home orders and was burned to the ground.[30] Written on its property was, “Bet you stay home now you hypokrites.” The arsonist(s) broke numerous laws of God in their evil act. They returned “evil for evil.”[31]
Was the church glorifying God in her defiance? “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God . . . whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God.”[32] The church was in sin. The city of Holy Springs was trying to save human life by preventing the spread of a deadly virus. They defied the city governance.
When nonchristians saw Christians putting themselves and others in mortal danger of this deadly virus, they became angry. They looked at Christians as hypocrites: You say you love others, then you endanger our lives. This contradictory message (I love you, but I’ll kill you) shocked the community.
What does the Bible say? “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”[33] What does Jesus say? “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”[34] “Love edifies.”[35] “Let all things be done for edification.”[36]Spreading a deadly disease is not love. Disease tears down, not builds up. If your public worship kills one person or puts them in the hospital, it is a grievous sin. Worship on zoom and at home.
Regarding the burned church, I understand the nonchristians. Their lives are not built upon the laws of God in the Bible. So when someone threatens their lives, the lives of their families, children, and friends, they strike back without law. They returned evil for evil.
But the Christians started it. The Christians showed blatant disrespect for a town ordinance meant to save life (considered good in the Bible). They put themselves, their families, their neighbors, and everyone in their town with whom they came in contact in mortal danger. Do Christians want to be threatened with a bio-weapon? Can’t they use the Golden Rule to understand how their neighbors would feel about such a threat? No. Some are in the darkness of deception.
Some churches that deny reality, get around this by naming and claiming good health for everyone in their congregation. They think they control God. This is a deadly mistake. God is always sovereign. Some churches literally think that they can create reality like God did during creation. This is another mistake. All they have to do is control that little virus–by mere words. Here is another mistake.
Using God’s biblical laws of truth that come down into good science, that little virus is controlled by staying out of its way. There is no word, no vaccine, no medicine that stops this carrier of death at this point. You either obey God’s laws (resulting in the current conclusions of science), step out of its way, or people keep dying (over 1,000 a day in the U.S. at this time).
Jesus did not want to die. He asked His Father to find another way to save humanity. The Father said no. Jesus said, “Thy will, not Mine, be done.” These churches are not submitting to God, not using the knowledge and wisdom He gives for protection, but raising themselves above God to tell Him what to do–to submit to their will.
In the end, the church’s reckless disregard for human life shamed God.[37] The nonchristians were so angry at the church’s sins, that they burned the church down.
To nonchristians with their common sense still intact and moral law still written on their hearts, churches that protect their people and others from a deadly virus by following prescribed precautions are following “the tenets of their faith: loving one’s neighbors and protecting and showing charity to the weak and needy.” This glorifies God. These words were written by a secular news organization.[38] Protecting others shows Christian love, especially to nonchristians who need to see God’s mercy in a time of crisis.
Deception: Breaking local laws to exercise religious freedom is my right
COVID-19 was not a religious issue. It was a health issue. Repeatedly violating the public health order, the San Diego church was given a cease-and-desist after county warnings that “actions necessary to enforce the orders would be taken,” including fines for each violation.[41]
Exercising our American religious freedom by sinning against our neighbor, our town authorities, and against God breaks this commandment: “Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. . . . Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor (the authorities God has placed over you).”[42]
In the end, the secular public health department showed more obedience to God’s laws, especially loving their neighbor, by trying to protect human life than the church, which exercised reckless endangerment of life. “There is no partiality with God . . . it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law . . . they show the work of the Law written in their hearts and their conscience bearing witness.”[43]
Biblical Priorities
Some say they have “good” reasons for meeting together during a pandemic. God wants worship above all else, even if it kills people. These reasons maximize their ideas of good, minimize the extreme evil (death), and end in choices that break numerous laws and commands in the Bible. When we dismiss the sanctity of life for our religion, Jesus makes it very clear that we do not know Him,. “You will say, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we do (a lot of good works)?’ But I will say I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness,” (Matt 7:21-23). None of the following reasons justify reckless endangerment of life and negligent homicide.
Maximize the Good
It is our tradition.
It is important for relationships.
It is my right for religious freedom.
It is my constitutional right to assemble together.
Christians get lonely and need that contact during a pandemic.
“We want to worship.”
Going to church glorifies God.
Minimize the Evil
The virus will not hurt me.
There is no virus; it is a hoax.
I don’t care if the virus is a problem; I have more important things.
All my friends do not care about this virus, so neither do I.
My politicians say the virus is not important, so don’t worry and do what you want. This is America.
(Don’t talk about death or sickness from this virus.)
These Christians have many “good reasons” for putting themselves and their families into the winds of the deadly pandemic. They maximize the “good” and minimize the evil. They choose the lesser good and unleash the greater evil. Death is not on their radar. For those whose intentional resistance to sound knowledge and understanding of this pandemic leads to the hospitalization or death of their “neighbor,” when they face Jesus, they will say, “I was deceived.” Like Adam and Eve, there will be consequences.
Love
They do not follow God’s priorities in the Bible, beginning with “love your neighbor.” In fact, it goes further:
1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.
Death is not good. Life is good. Seek to preserve the life of others.
Truth
Out of the 216 verses in the Bible supporting truth, here are just three that encompass our lives:
Think truth (Phil 4:8) Speak truth (Eph 4:25). Walk in truth (1 Kgs 4:25).
What about the “good” of using God-given knowledge about viruses, medicine, doctors’ advice, and the global statistics on COVID-19 deaths all based on the biblical discovered through God-given laws of truth? Mental reasoning is a gift of God. We are created in the image of God. God has intelligent reasoning. He gave us intelligent reasoning to use, just like Jesus did in refusing to jump off a high building and put Himself in mortal danger.
When the soldiers came for Jesus, He took everyone He could out of danger: He healed his enemy’s ear. He asked that His disciples be allowed to go free. He protected physical health and life of everyone else around Him!
In the past, He showed great care for people’s physical health. He healed the sick (not made them sick). He raised the dead (not caused death). Can we begin to understand how far from Jesus those are who endanger the lives of others with a deadly disease?
Deception versus truth is a matter of priorities. What is most important? faith, politics, parties, school, jobs, economy, money to live, or human life? Jesus says human life. He gave His life to save life.
Keep the Sabbath
Maybe the Sabbath laws are the most important. Going to church, worshipping God, and meeting together on the Sabbath is the highest priority. “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”[44] Do not neglect assembling together.[45] Some Jews thought keeping the Sabbath was the highest law.[46]
I worked one summer for a Jewish-owned restaurant. My Jewish boss told me this story, “One very cold winter, there was a little child who was close to death, and the family’s house was frigid. It was on the Sabbath when a group of Jews got together and headed to the rabbi’s house to ask how they could help the family. When they arrived, they found the rabbi chopping wood for the family’s house in order to warm the child.”
Save Human Life
My Jewish boss got it! Love God. Love your neighbor.[47] His conscience told him that love was the greatest law.
As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”[48] The laws of God were made to build people up; we never tear someone down to keep that law. “Let all things be done for edification.”[49]
If we start endangering someone else’s life in order to keep a biblical law, we have our priorities wrong. Obeying the law by breaking the law is an ethical quagmire that incurs the wrath of God. “I’ll worship God on the Sabbath by endangering my elderly parent’s life” is mixing good with evil and historically brought down the angry judgment of God.
Jesus said, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”[50]Human life (even animal life) is a higher priority than Sabbath law; than assembling together to worship God. What mother or doctor leaves a sick child to go the church? The threat to human life or even death far outweighs our personal privileges of obeying the Sabbath law, exercising American or religious freedom, or curing loneliness and having fun.
God does not accept worship that tears others down (such as a reckless endangerment of life). We cannot say we love God and at the same time hurt others. “The one who does not love [others] does not know God, for God is love.” “Love edifies.” [51]Protection edifies. Keeping another from bodily harm shows love. The second greatest law in the Bible is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.[52] That includes doing our best to protect others from bodily harm–such as spreading a deadly disease.
When “love your neighbor” mutates into “threaten the life of your neighbor and expect God to protect everyone as we worship Him,” we have jumped off the cliff.
Where is wisdom?
Georgia’s largest school district sent kids back to school at the beginning of August 2020. By mid August, they learned the hard way that mixing good (in-person schooling) with evil (a deadly pandemic) was dangerous; 260 employees in tested positive for COVID-19.[53]
They decided to use a thorough investigation of facts and figures by health experts to determine when it would be safe for kids to return to classrooms. The schools will be virtual until experts and proof give the green light. Now they are following the biblical laws for discerning truth and loving the children by protecting them; they are making high quality decisions based on biblical priorities before someone dies.
The government is shoring up those who have lost their jobs with extra money. Churches take food to the needy who can’t get out. This is Christian love while respecting the truth of danger.
Biblical law says that all things should be done for edification, or at least, do no harm.[54] Human life supersedes the Sabbath law, public worship of God, “faith” used to test God, money, in-person schooling, tradition, or sundry other reasons to needlessly endanger human life. Across three continents, we have seen many ways to worship God and glorify Him still keeping others safe. Loving our neighbor (like the Good Samaritan did by valuing human life) blazes forth our love for God and glorifies Him the most.[55]
Our love shows God’s love to the world.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
FOR CHURCHES OR SCHOOLS THAT SPREAD COVID-19
[82]
How far away from biblical law is secular law? The Bible highly values human life. Do secular law and courts do the same, especially during a pandemic? How close are biblical and secular law in this area?
I knew the intentional spread of a hazardous virus was reckless endangerment of life, and if someone died, negligent homicide from biblical law and conscience.[58] Simply apply the Golden Rule.[59] If I was weak and at risk, I would not want someone with the virus coming near to me. I don’t want my lungs filling with fluid so I can’t breathe, my other organs failing because of lack of oxygen, my body feeling like I’ve been hit by a train before I fly away.[60] If I live through it, I don’t want residual brain, kidney, or heart damage as studies show happens for months if not years later to many. So I don’t want COVID-19 for myself or for others.
However after writing this paper, I decided to check out state and federal laws. Did anyone follow the biblical principles with secular law?
“A Texas woman [was] arrested and charged with a felony–making a terroristic threat–for claiming to spread COVID-19 intentionally.”[61] The Rossen Law Firm in Ft. Lauderdale went on to say, “If someone knowingly and intentionally infected another to cause death, then attempted murder charges are possible.” Actually in Florida, the perpetrator can still be convicted, even if the victim does not catch the disease.
The Canadian Department of Justice said, “Criminal Code offences of criminal negligence causing death or criminal negligence causing bodily harm could apply [to intentionally spreading COVID-19]. Criminal negligence includes reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.”
On March 24, 2020, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen sent U.S. attorneys and federal law enforcement agencies a memo informing Department of Justice officials that they should consider prosecuting certain ‘purposeful exposure or infection of others with COVID-19’ under terrorism-related statutes.”[62] Federal terrorism convictions can result in life imprisonment or the death penalty. In 1996, the congressional 104th Public Law Act stated, “To deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, provide an effective death penalty.”[63] If any person dies from the intentional spread of a bio-weapon (COVID-19), in Canada it is murder. In the U.S., it is terrorism.
Both biblical law and secular law agree that COVID-19 is a deadly disease and the intentional spread of that virus can be negligent homicide, murder, or terrorism. Yet, little to nothing has been done to stop intentional dissemination of this deadly disease when it occurs. Why?
The pervasive mentality is following the functionality of mob violence. There are so many people, that the perpetrator feels protected among the masses from the law and conscience. Police, courts, and penal facilities are not set up to deal with masses. However, both biblical and secular law prohibit destructive mob action.
Exodus 23:2 “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil.”
Legally, if a person or group intentionally neglects safety and places others in a dangerous situation, risking lives, and someone dies, it is negligent homicide, a form of murder.[56] When a person is negligent and another dies as a result, this is negligent homicide. Yell “fire” in a theatre and someone dies from the stampede, it is negligent homicide. Allow a vicious pet out into the neighborhood and it kills someone, it is negligent homicide.[57] Go to a COVID party for young people in a high-risk area, then come home, and an older parent catches the COVID and dies, it is negligent homicide. Gather the church and someone dies from COVID, the same laws apply before God.
“Negligence” means we knew there was great danger. We knowingly and intentionally entered that danger and someone died as a result.
With millions infected in this pandemic and a passive U.S. federal government, some might get away with murder.
This pandemic shows that some in the churches and in the world, are deceived. They cannot recognize or do not acknowledge the viper in the path.
In deception, they choose a lesser good and unleash a deadly evil. Some churches break biblical law after command after precept and wonder why the godless call them hypocrites and burn down their church. Evil repays evil. Evil is the way of the world. The unchristians’ action is not justifiable, but it is understandable. But why is the church blind to her own evil?
Evil (breaking God’s laws) is not the way of our Lord Jesus. Why were the churches in sin defying local authorities who were trying to protect human life from a deadly threat (Rom 13:1-4)? Why were they scaring their neighbors by spreading a deadly plague? Why were they endangering the lives of everyone in their neighborhoods, schools, and towns? Did they really think this glorified God or they could test God or they could control a virus by controlling God? To the contrary, the Bible says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that . . . they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”[66] Spreading a life-threatening disease is not a good deed. All good deeds come out of love; the edification of others–not the reckless endangerment of the lives of others. Why? They were deceived.
Some churches say they had “good” reason; reasons that surpassed the sanctity of human life. Did they really think that through? After the seven-year-old boy died from attending church, did they think twice? What did adult Christians think as they lay dying from the COVID virus after strolling the reckless and dangerous path their pastors had set them on? Would they rather see an old person die early, a young child die needlessly, a pastor permanently disabled from this virus so they could “worship” God together? Is endangering the life of our neighbor to worship of God really worship or just age-old deception?
When they started hurting others, they and Jesus parted ways. He still loved them, but He did not walk with them. This is where they shamed, not glorified, God in their communities.
Instead of delivering food or shopping for individuals at high risk in their communities, they terrified them. Against both biblical and secular law, they committed the reckless endangerment of life and sometimes even negligent homicide.
Eve thought eating from the Tree was good. She was deceived. It was evil.
Some churches think assembling, worshiping, keeping tradition is good. When it endangers human life and kills people, they are deceived. It is evil.
When a shepherd leads his sheep into the valley of death and they sicken and die, he has broken every law of God concerning the job of shepherding. “Woe to the shepherds” (Jer 23; Ezek 34; John 10:10-15). When he thinks he is worshipping God by putting his sheep in harm’s way, consider Jesus’ words about taking the life of one of His sheep thinking they are “offering service to God,” (John 16:2-3).
On the other hand, if that shepherd stood in the gap, did everything he could according to the biblical laws of truth to protect his sheep, and he dies, then “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt 25:21).
In Florida, a teenage girl died in July after attending a youth party at her church. In Virginia, congregants resumed Sunday services. As a result, COVID-19 infected 51 confirmed cases and three deaths ensued. In Oregon, a church reopened. Before that date, there were 6 recorded COVID-19 cases in the county. After the reopening, 356 cases were linked to that church. One church in Arizona opened on Mother’s Day for in-person services, but closed again on Father’s Day. Between that time, their pastor caught coronavirus and eventually died from the disease. A Texas pastor died of COVID. A Kentucky pastor died of COVID. An Arkansas pastor died of COVID. For the long list of pastors dying from COVID, google “pastor dies of COVID.” [67] Coronavirus is not a joke, a simple cold, a hoax. It is a deadly virus.
God has given us knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to protect ourselves. These are gifts from God. We must use them and not test Him. [83]
If churches cannot discern between good and evil to cast off deception during a global pandemic, how will they ever be wise enough, strong enough, brave enough to stand during a global collapse? The biblical principle is that if we are not faithful in little, we will not be faithful in much. If we can’t get it right in little things, we won’t get it right in big things.[68]
In other words, churches that endanger people’s lives thinking they are glorifying God, are like those who think sin pleases God.[69] We cannot threaten the life of our fellow Christian, a neighbor, or even a stranger and think we know God.[70]
The simple truth is:
COVID-19 is a deadly disease that strikes young and old.
Christian love tries to protect others from serious bodily harm or at least does no harm, just like Jesus always did.
Loving our neighbor shows our love for God.
Do what it takes to keep your family, church, and community safe above all else. If anyone does not take care of his family . . . he is worse than an unbeliever, (1 Tim5:8).
Science provides the truth about this virus, where it is going, and what we can do to protect ourselves.
More than 900 healthcare workers have died trying to save people from COVID-19. Working with the public, 400 teachers and over 100 law enforcement people have died from COVID-19. 32,000 food system workers have caught COVID-19 with 109 deaths. [70A]
Trust the Bible. Trust science. They synergize to bring us out of this crisis. Love and truth together empower us to reach safety.
Every other need or desire requires wisdom to mitigate the damage.
Finally, as the days darken, “Let your light shine” for Jesus, so nonchristians will “glorify God in the day of visitation.”[71]
Thank you Healthcare workers for risking your lives to save others. 900 have died from COVID-19. [84]
Thank you teachers for risking your lives to teach others. 396 educators have died of COVID-19 up to August 6, 2020. [85]
Thank you law enforcement people for risking your lives to protect us. Over 100 police officers have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. [86]
Conclusions
If the United States of America had followed both scientific truths illuminating understanding of the coronavirus and the Bible’s love for our neighbor trying to keep everyone safe from the beginning, this country would have stopped COVID-19 at the gate. Now it runs wild unleashing a devastating toll in human life wherever it goes; thousands die every week in our country from this plague.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which mildly shakes global societies killing hundreds of thousands, is only a foretaste of the coming global collapse that will kill millions and severely dismantle all societies in all nations.[72] The same pattern that darkens thinking in deception during a global pandemic will bring us down during the global collapse.
But for those who love God, each time we do the right thing according to God’s laws in the Bible during a little crisis, we become stronger in character and wiser in preparation for the future catastrophic crises coming across our horizon bringing the global collapse of civilization. We see clearer. We act wiser. We get stronger. We lift up friend and stranger to come along with us like Jesus did.
Therefore, let us understand the power of truth and the poison of deception: the rules and dynamics that govern each; the effect of each on the probability of human survival in this physical world; the forces of each in the spiritual world; and the will of God for each one to wield the sword of truth and vanquish the destruction of deception in Christian love.
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, orange, emerging from the surface of cells, green, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)
A global pandemic is only the beginning. Jesus forewarned of global collapse and said, “You must be ready,” (Matt 24:37, 44) [87]
[1] 2 Cor 11:3.
[2] Gen 3:13.
[3] God created the tree and placed it in the middle of the Garden. While the Bible does not explicitly tell us why He did this, other Scripture puts pieces in this puzzle. God’s ultimate goal was the defeat of Satan. Knowing Satan’s primary strategy is always deception, and that deception requires darkness and hiding, God created the opportunity to allow Satan to accomplish his plan, but in a way that would eventually lead to his downfall. God put this opportunity in the middle of the Garden, out in the light. It was the tree. It could not be hidden, lied about, or used to compound more deception. Satan forgot this and used the tree. He must have thought when he saw that tree, “This is just too easy!” Then the viper followed his nature and deceived Eve. Through the Bible, the whole world has been enlightened via that tree to how Satan works, and thus, this knowledge becomes a mighty weapon of light against him. BV
[4] Gen 3:6.
[5] The biblical definition of “good” is based on following biblical law. Rom 7:12, 16; 1 Tim 1:8, “The Law is good.”
[6] Heb 11:7.
[7] 2 Pet 2:5, “Noah, a preacher of righteousness.”
[8] Prov 22:13, “The sluggard says, There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!”
[9] Rom 2:15, “They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” The word “heart” has nine definitions in the Bible. We are using the definition supported in Proverbs 7:1-3. The heart is the core of beliefs, values, and decision-making process. It is the matrix of underlying personality development and function.
[10] Matt 4:5-7.
[11] Deut 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Num 14:22-23; Matt 4:5-7.
[12] The law distinguishes between heroic acts that enter danger for good reason (police, firefighters, soldiers, SAR workers, etc . to save life) and foolish acts that enter danger for “no good reason” (walking on thin ice, jumping off a cliff, street races, covid parties, etc.; the reckless endangerment of life).
[18] https://www.newsbreak.com/news/1541664153359/woman-who-claimed-coronavirus-was-media-driven-hoax-dies-from-covid-19. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/6/1934731/-Texas-woman-calls-COVID-19-a-hoax-Whe-is-now-dead-from-her-willful-ignorance/ article by Egberto Willies.
[19] Gen 3:4.
[19A] CNN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/covid-19-misinformation-is-spreading-in-25-different-languages-new-study-finds/ Study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
[19B] Scientist in a Lab. Image by Chokniti Khongchun from Pexels.
[20] https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/6/1934731/-Texas-woman-calls-COVID-19-a-hoax-Whe-is-now-dead-from-her-willful-ignorance/ article by Egberto Willies.
[21] N’dea Yancey-Bragg, “260 employees in Georgia’s largest school district test positive for COVID-19 or are exposed.” Associated Press, August 8, 2020.
[22] According to ABC News Atlanta affiliate WSB on August 8, 2020.
[22A] https://www.msn.com/en-us-news/us/the-7-year-old-georgia-boy-with-covid-19-who-died-drowned-in-a bathtub-after-a seizure-coroner-says/ August 11, 2020.
[23] https://www.msn.com/en-us/san-diego-church-again-defies-covid-10-public-health-order/ The Awaken church in San Diego is a C3 church (Christian City Church, a charismatic movement started in Australia growing to 500 churches today). https://c3churchwatch.com/about/ This website gives a list of the founder’s sermon transcripts: https://c3churchwatch.com/c3s-bible-garble/ I chose the founder’s sermon on Mark 11:12, Jesus cursed the tree, so we can curse our debts. “As soon as you start speaking the Bible into your circumstance, Jesus leaps out of your mouth and starts walking into your circumstance.” Words have a magical power all of their own to summon God’s power and can create reality, just like God did in the beginning of creation. . . . “Speak . . . and God is able to bring to pass the words you speak. . . . So what you say with your mouth is forming your world. . . . I am going to use my tongue as a powerful instrument for creating the future.” In the founder’s message on John 3:16, the gospel and money are closely tied: Above and beyond “God so loved the world,” the stated message is to be like God: “I so love the world, that I will give the only begotten son, [preacher specifies how to give and what it is for concluding] all of this is done through sacrificial giving.” There is a huge emphasis on money. A lockdown would lose a lot of money.
[24] Deut 28:1-14, “If you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments . . . all these blessings will come upon you . . . (health, wealth, prosperity, and peace). The key word bringing health and wealth is obedience.
[25] https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/a-new-study-proves-this-type-of-covid-transmission-is-not-rare. The article is referring to transmission of the virus by people without any symptoms. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/dr-anthony-fauci-says-the-us-needs-to-hit-the-reset- button-on-covid-19-heres-how. by Jade Scipion for NBC. https://www.niaid.nih.gov.
[26] Matt 25:40.
[27] Numb 14:22-24; 21:5-7.
[28] Matt 4:6-7.
[29] Lev 6:16.
[30] Caitlin O’Kane, “Church that defied stay-at-home orders burned to the ground in suspected arson.” May 22, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-church-burned-coronavirus-social-distancing-restrictions-arson/
[31] Rom 12:17, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.”
[32] Rom 13:1-4.
[33] Rom 13:10.
[34] 1 John 4:8.
[35] 1 Cor 8:1.
[36] 1 Cor 14:26.
[37] 2 Sam 12:1-18. David sinned against God with his evil disregard for human life and God was not only furious at David, but pointed out how he had shamed God before the Gentiles: “Because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme . . . ” (vs. 14).
[38] Sandy Huffaker, The San Diego Union-Tribune, “San Diego church again defies COVID-19 public health order,” August 7, 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/san-diego-church-again-defies-covid-19-public-health-order/
[39] Lev 19:18; Matt 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Rom 13:9-10; Gal 5:14; James 2:8.
[40] 1 John 4:7-20.
[41] https://www.msn.com/en-us/san-diego-church-again-defies-covid-10-public-health-order/ The Awaken church in San Diego is a C3 church.
[42] 1 Pet 2:16-17; Rom 13:1-4.
[43] Rom 2:11-15.
[44] Exod 20:8; Heb 10:25.
[45] Heb 10:25.
[46] Luke 6:7.
[47] Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18.
[48] Mark 2:27.
[49] 1 Cor 14:26.
[50] Luke 14:5.
[51] 1 Cor 8:1; 1 John 4:8.
[52] Lev 19:18; Matt 5:43.
[53] Ndea Yancey Bragg, The Associated Press, “260 employees in Georgia’s largest school district test positive for COVID-19 or are exposed.” August 8, 2020.
[54] 1 Cor 14:26, “Do all things for edification.”
[55] Luke 10:25-37; Mark 2:27; 1 Cor 8:1; 1 John 4:8.
[56] Exod 21:29, “If an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.” Exod 20:13; “You shall not murder.” Exod 21:23, “Life for life.”
[57] Exod 21:29.
[58] Exod 21:29.
[59] Matt 7:12, “In everything, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” All of God’s laws can be summarized in this one commandment.
[60] Psa 90:10, At death, “we fly away.”
[61] Google: “any state which considers negligent homicide for the recklessly spreading covid-19.” The Rossen Law Firm in Ft. Lauderdale wrote,”COVID-19 spread intentionally could land you behind bars.”
[62] Manal Cheema, Ashley Deeks in The Lawfare Institute, “Prosecuting Purposeful Coronavirus Exposure as Terrorism,” March 31, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog.com/prosecuting-purposeful-coronavirus-exposure-terrorism.
[63] “Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-104publ132/
[64] Psa 94.
[65] Rev 14:7; Acts 13:16; 2 Cor 5:11; 7:1; 1 Pet 2:17; Exod 18:21; 20:20; Deut 6:13; 10:20. When a person is is sin breaking laws of God and refusing to change, fear is a very healthy response. God may discipline, punish, turn them over to their own evil to allow its consequences to destroy them, or kill them. Sin never ends well. Fear of God will turn us away from sin and the destruction that lies in its wake.
[66] 1 Pet 2:12.
[67] Kate Conger, Jack Healy, Lucy Tompkins, “Churches were eager to reopen are now they are confronting coronavirus cases.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/coronavirus-churches-outbreaks.htm. Arizona pastor dies of COVID-19, https://www.kold.com/2020/07/20/tucson-pastor-dies-covid-family-shares-his-legacy/ Texas pastor dies of COVID-19, https://www.bet.com/news/national/2020/07/19/-houston-texas-pastor-vickey-gibbs-dies-covid/ Kentucky pastor dies of COVID-19, https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/oldham-county [Kentucky]-pastor-dies-after-nearly-month-long-battle-with-covid-19/ Arkansas pastor dies of COVID, https://www.thv11.com/article/news/beloved-arkansas-pastor-dies-from-covid-19/
[68] Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much.”
[69] John 16:2
[70] 1 John 4:8, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 Cor 8:2, “Love edifies.” Exposing ourselves and therefore others to a deadly virus is not edifying. It is life-threatening.
[70A] Since April 22, FERN has counted over 32,000 Covid-19 cases and 109 deaths among food-system workers. https://theefern.org/2020/06/covid-19-shows-no-sign-of-slowing-among-food-system-workers/For data on doctors, teachers, and police officers see FNs 84-86.
[71] 1 Pet 2:12, “Keep you behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that . . . because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
[72] Rev 6:15; Isa 24.
[73] COVID-19 virus. Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay. Bible and hands. Image by Stock Snap from Pixabay. Covid-19 and Test tube. Image by Fernando Zhiminaicela from Pixabay.
[74] Black Rat. Image by Karsten Pauleck from Pixabay.
[75] Happy Youth Jumping. Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay. Skull. Image by Mitja Juraja from Pexels.
[76] Rattlesnake in the Road. Image by Debbie Sanderfeld from Pixabay.
[77] Man Reading Bible. Image by Pedro Ivo Pereira Vieira Pedin from Pixabay.
[78] Ships in Distress in a Storm. Painting by Peter Monamy (1681-1749) found on Wikimedia Commons. Acts 27.
[79] Face to Face with a Lion. Image by Kazuky Akayashi on Unsplash.com. 1 Kings 13:24 in the Bible.
[80] COVID-19 photos died in green and yellow-dyed viruses on a blue cell by CDC from Pexels. COVID-19 viruses dyed in orange emerging from a human cell after multiplying. Taken by an electron microscope. Credit for image: NIAID-RML.
[81] Graveyard. Image in Public Domain found on Pixabay.
[82] Statue of Lady Justice. Courtesy of Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash.
[83] Girl in Blue with Mask and COVID Virus. Image by Tumisu on Pixabay.
[84] Doctor in Mask with COVID Virus. Image by Fernando Zhiminaicela from Pixabay. Melissa Bailey and Christina Jewette, “More than 900 healthcare workers have died of Covid-19–and the toll is rising,” The Guardian, August 11, 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us-more-than-900-healthcare-workers-have-died-of-covid-19.
[85] Teacher. Image byAlexas Fotos from Pixabay. See 392 photos and briefs on educators that have died from COVID-19 as of August 6, 2020. https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/educators-weve-lost-to-the-coronavirus.html/
[86] Police Officer Silhouette in Blue Light. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Officer Down Memorial Page: Fallen Officers from the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://www.odmp.org/search/incident/covid-19/
[87] COVID-19 Virus by NIAID-RML. Google: niaid rml free images of covid-19 virus electron microscope. Apocalypse. Image by Erique Mesequer from Pixabay.
The Bible and Science agree on the condition of this planet and where it is going: Extreme Weather and Destruction; Heat Waves and Fires; Dying Oceans and Sinking Islands; Megadroughts and Famines; Darkening Skies and Pollution; Revelation says, “The cities of the nations fell.” NASA’s James Hansen says global climate catastrophe is coming.Jesus says, “You must be ready!” [10]
Global warming, a pandemic, Arctic heatwaves, 500 ocean dead zones, locusts in 5 countries . . . the Bible and science agree; global collapse is coming.
The last book in the Bible, Jesus’ Revelation, is centered on His second coming to earth (Rev 1:7). Surrounding that advent are circumstances gradually leading up to the collapse of global civilization (the worst-case scenario of global warming, all the cities of the nations fall, the governments of men disintegrate, widespread famine, conflicts, disease, fires, and extreme weather perturb the peoples (Rev 6:12-17; 8; 16:19). These prophecies are echoed by top leaders from U.S. security agencies and armed forces as they study scientific evidence pouring in from around the world on climate change, increasing world population, and threats to life-sustaining resources all careening toward a critical threshold where the planet transitions into a new state more hostile to life.
Your first reaction is probably denial. I don’t blame you. I took years avoiding catastrophic verses (like all the cities of the nations would fall in Revelation) with “not me . . . not now . . . no how!” However, Jesus said to followers that His coming was going to like the days of Noah (Matt 24:37-44)–global collapse–and so like Noah, we must be ready, even if the rest of the world is not.
The 2020 world around us is careening toward catastrophic change: increasing death tolls from the covid-19 pandemic, Arctic Circle temperatures soaring in places over 100°F (30 to 40 degrees above normal), melting permafrost releasing a greenhouse gas (CH4) far stronger than CO2 that can cross a critical threshold into runaway global warming, NASA Satellites taking photos of raging record-breaking fires across continents, 50% of the Arctic ice has melted in 40 years, 90% of the big fish in the oceans are gone, massive outbreak of locusts swarms (which spraying and killing 45 billion of the little beasts did not stop) across East Africa and West Asia devouring crops in five countries and placing 20 million people in famine, . . . The diseases, fires, plagues, global warming is all in Jesus’ Revelation. The Bible and science agree, the maelstrom is coming across the horizon.
It is past time to start building our arks. Both Jesus and scientists say a global storm like never before is coming. I want to convince you through the Bible and science (the study of God’s creation on this planet) that Revelation is happening today; that scientists across nations are terrified for good reason. It may not peak until the lives of our kids or grandkids, but we need that time to shift paradigms, to build our families and churches with a whole new perspective in a whole new purpose–not one of comfort, wealth, and entertainment, but of survival physically, spiritually, and emotionally as vicious feedback cycles of disintegrating, interrelated systems careen our planet on a collision course with global collapse.
There are several ways this book can be read. The first (and most comprehensive) way is one chapter at a time like a normal book. The other way is to choose a section to peruse. The first section lays a biblical foundation to understand accurate interpretation of the Bible, and then the greater context of why and how global collapse will happen from a theological study of what God has said. That is chapters 1 through 8. The next section (chapters 9-13) will delve into the science that is currently fulfilling the prophecies. Chapter 14 will summarize this huge global system in a few charts. The last chapter (15) will help you to pick up the hammer and start building your “ark.” How do we get ready for global catastrophe and hopefully decrease the suffering of our families, friends, and churches?
Let’s start with a table of contents (also found in the three-dot menu at the top and at the bottom of each post/chapter), then end with a sample of what the Bible and science are talking about.
TABLE OF CONTENTSand EXCERPTS OF CHAPTERS
1. Overview
Science proves prophecy is taking place today.
2. Revelation in the 21st Century
For the first time in history, the fulfillment of prophecies surrounding the second coming is not only possible, but probable.
3. Biblical Laws and Sublaws (Sound Hermeneutics) for Truth
Truth reveals reality.
4. Rules for Interpreting Apocalyptic Literature
A literal hermeneutic unlocksbiblical mysteries.
5. Deuteronomy 28 and Revelation
God warned that He would removelife-sustaining resources.
6. The Prophets and Revelation
God’s judgment of sin can bring downa nation or a planet.
7. The Complex, Global System of Revelation
God’s judgment affects global lands, oceans, terrestrial waters, and skies.
8. The First Four Trumpets, Bowls, and Seals in Revelation
This vicious cycle will cause the fall of earth’s civilization.
9. Land in Revelation and Science
A third of the earth will be burned up (Rev 8:7).
10. Oceans in Revelation and Science
A third–increasing to all–creatures in the oceans will die (Rev 8:9; 16:3).
11. Terrestrial Waters in Revelation and Science
A third of the waters will decimate human populations (Rev 8:10-11; 16:4-7).
12. Skies in Revelation and Science
A third of the skies will be transformed until people on earth are scorched with fierce heat (Rev 8:12; 16:8-9).
13. Extreme Weather in Revelation and Science
Global warming will cause catastrophic climate change wreaking havoc and chaos.
14. Charts
Charts provide a visual overview of Revelation and associated passages on what happens just before and after the second coming of Christ.
15. Surviving the Collapse of Civilization: “Noah Now”
“Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste,” (Isa 24; Rev 6:12-17).
OVERVIEW
Dear Friend,
It is time to bring Revelation into the 21st century. Prophecies in the Bible are roaring across the horizon of humanity and even unbelievers across the nations are sounding alarms.
In depth knowledge of these breaking events and research from the Bible often correlated with current international science, is presented in this website. Revelation is now – we must be ready!
Sidebar: There is good science and bad science, just like there is good theology and bad theology. The only way to achieve “good” is to follow the biblical laws for the discovery of truth–which, by the way, are the foundation of good science (c.f. chapter 3). Theologians and scientists who do not follow these laws of God end in error. Those who do, greatly increase their power to understand reality.
Jesus said in the Bible, “You must be ready,”(Matt 22:42). The Bible is God’s only word to humankind. It is the highest and final authority about and over whatever it speaks. God is universally sovereign, even over climate change. Good science is the accurate study of God’s creation, including climate change. Today, science is echoing biblical prophecies with terrifying predictions.[1]
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, . . . You also must be ready,” (Matt 24:37, 44). Noah was awake and took action to be ready for the coming global judgment–the collapse of civilization. It took him one hundred years to get ready. Jesus gave him as our example. Since he started long before he saw the approaching darkness, and we can now see storm clouds rising on the horizon, time is short. “When you see all these things, recognize that He is near,” (Matt 24:33).
I include below an abbreviated sample from one post on how Bible prophecy and science predictions are emerging and merging before the world today.
The Second Trumpet and Second Bowl: The Death of the Oceans
Revelation 8:8-9 and 16:3
The second trumpet in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, sounds the death of one-third of the creatures in the seas. The second bowl pours out death on all of the creatures in the seas. Revelation is global. According to this context, the word “seas” in the New Testament represents every ocean on the planet. The transition from the death of a third to all living creatures in the oceans reveals a process taking place over time. Sometimes God’s judgment was immediate (Sodom). Many times God’s judgment took years (the droughts during the days of Joseph and Elijah) as He showed mercy giving widespread knowledge of coming catastrophes and time to repent and to prepare. Revelation gave us time. That time is coming to a close; for the first time in history, every general and specific prophecy of His coming has a high probability of fulfillment in this century, including the gospel being preached to all the nations before the second coming of Jesus (Matt 24:14).
Death in the OceansAccording to Revelation and Science
Revelation says that a third progressing to all the sea creatures in the oceans will die. In 1950, there were 45 dead zones in the oceans around the world; zones so devoid of oxygen or so toxic that fish could not survive. Research in 2008 counted 405 dead zones in oceans around the world and this number is growing.[2] As of 2018, Britain’s top newspaper, The Guardian, reported “at least 500 dead zones have now been reported near coasts” around the world.[3] Professor Robert Diaz at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science emphasizes not only “the increasing expansion of coastal dead zones [but the] decline in open ocean oxygen” that will lead to “severe and persistent mortality of fisheries.”[4]
The oceans’ fisheries (large populations of different species of fish) are dying from rising temperatures, anoxia, pollution, overfishing, and plagues due to tropic cascades (i.e. kill off predators–like the harvest of 274,000 sharks every day–and a plague of jellyfish destroys fisheries).
“In 2003, a scientific report estimated that industrial fishing had reduced the number of large ocean fish to just 10 percent of their preindustrial population.”[5] Ninety percent of the large fish in the oceans are gone. Regarding all the fish, large and small in the oceans: 53% of the world’s fisheries are fully exploited, 32% are overexploited or depleted, and the top ten marine fisheries (30% of the fish) are fully or overexploited.[6] “The global fishing fleet is 2.5 times larger than what the oceans can sustainably support–meaning that humans take far more fish from the ocean than can be replaced naturally.”[7] “Led by the sushi market in Japan, the global demand for succulent tuna meat has driven stocks of the once ubiquitous species to the brink of collapse. Fisheries in the Mediterranean . . . are in particular peril, with some studies showing highly prized blue fin tuna near extinction there.”[8] The Atlantic cod and California’s sardines were harvested to the brink of extinction by the mid-1900s. The Peruvian anchovy fisheries crashed in the 1970s. The cod fishery off Newfoundland collapsed in the 1990s. The sole fisheries in the Irish Sea and English Channel are close to shutting down. Pacific herring is down 71% and Atlantic herring down 63%. By 1989, 90 million tonnes per year of catch were being taken from the oceans crossing the peak of production. “Unless the current situation improves, stocks of all species currently fished for food are predicted to collapse by 2048.”[9] The World Health Organization states that one billion people on the planet depend on fish as their primary protein source.
Conclusion
We can hear the second trumpet loudly sounding. We can see the second bowl slowly pouring. They are indicative of all first four trumpets and bowls in Revelation heralding the disintegration of our planet’s lands, oceans, terrestrial waters, and skies–a vicious, complex feedback system revealed through science–in preparation for the eventual collapse of civilization; a state so severe that nations will clamor for one man to unite them, to control the chaos, to bring back peace and prosperity. He will have forty-two months (Rev 13:5). The world will worship him for his accomplishments, but he will do so at an unconscionable price (2 Thess 2:1-4). The good news is that after this man of lawlessness unifies the nations, the Lord Jesus will come back to earth. These are the signs of His return. Jesus said,
“You must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming,” (Matt 24:44).
This site is about the coming downfall of global civilization according to Revelation’s first four trumpets, bowls, and seals and other scriptures. Like the days of Noah, this catastrophe will be global (Matt 24:37-39, 44). I will lay a foundation of biblical and scientific knowledge for you to see how serious and urgent it is for us to shift paradigms; we must stop dancing on the Titanic and start building our arks.
Dr. B. A. Vannah
[1] James Hansen, “Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity,” (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009). Dr. Hansen is NASA’s best-known scientist for testifying before Congress in the 1980s about the coming danger of global warming.
[2] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ocean-dead-zones/ “What Causes Ocean “Dead Zones?” September 25, 2012.
[3] Damian Carrington, “Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn,” January 4, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.the guardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/oceans-suffocating/
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] World Wildlife Federation (WWF Global), “Unsustainable fishing.” Retrieved from http://wwf.panda.org/about_out_eart/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/
[7] World Wildlife Federation, “Overfishing-the plundering of our oceans.” Retrieved from http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/
[8] Retrieved from http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-overfishing/
[9] B. Worm et. al., (2006), “Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services.” Science, 314:787.
[10] Images in order of appearance: “Lightning and Tornado Over Village” by Ralph W. Lambrecht from Pexels.com; “Fire Seasons Getting Longer” by climate.nasa.gov.; Turtle in Dead Reef by Belle Co on pexels.com; “Cracked brown soil” by redcharlie from Unsplash; Smoke Pollution Sunset on Pixabay; “Staring Down Hurricane Florence” from nasa.gov; “City Disaster End of the World“–Free Photo on Pixabay. James Hansen, “Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity,” (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009).
The Bible says that the earth is going to get very hot (Revelation 16:9). [4]
Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927), a Swedish scientist who received the Nobel prize for chemistry (1903), was the first to use principles of physical chemistry to determine the extent to which atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was responsible for earth’s increasing surface temperature; as CO2 levels rose so would earth’s temperature. [9]
Every day since 1958, geochemist Charles David Keeling took daily measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from Mount Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Over the years, the slope of the graph was a steady upward proof that CO2 was increasing globally year by year and finally passed 400 ppm in 2013. Today (2020), it has reached 417 ppm. Before the industrial revolution started (1750s), CO2 was below 280 ppm. [10] Sawtooth line: High points were winter data when the northern hemisphere’s forests lost their leaves emitting CO2 (carbon source), while the bottom points were summer data when leaves of forests were a carbon sink. Given the current trajectory, the latest scientific studies (July 2020) have declared an almost certain probability that atmospheric CO2 will double (from 280 to 560 ppm) within 50 years catapulting global warming over the tipping point leading into a new state of the planet more hostile to life.
The 2nd Coming of Jesus will be surrounded by extreme events and global collapse on the horizon today caused by humankind. See charts and graphs.
Summary graphs and charts
The complex cycling of interacting global systems on a collision course with the collapse of civilization is best understood in graphs and charts. They are a quick summary of what scientists discover in nature and children read in the Bible. The earth is on fire. The oceans are dying. The waters are dirty. The skies are warming. The Bible and science say this is happening; it will get worse; it will devastate the planet.
First, as thousands of scientists around the world track global warming, it is clear that all of the geophysical and ecological disasters are not only tied together but are either already starting or are a real possibility within this century and could ignite catastrophic situations for every nation on earth. Revelation says they will.
To get a grip on the Himalayan mountain of incoming scientific data, a number of reputable researchers and organizations have tried to assimilate, organize, and communicate scientific findings in a simplified way for the general public.[1] Among them, National Geographic created the documentary DVD Six Degrees. Mark Lynas wrote Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. He researched the scientific data showing what the earth will look like as the global temperature rises one degree at a time up to six degrees. At five to six degrees warming–as James Hansen, the former director at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies who testified before Congress warning that global warming was in full swing, concluded, the collapse of all civilizations on earth would ensue if the excessive use of earth’s resources, especially fossil fuels, did not stop. Revelation says that they will not.[2]
Be sure to read “Mark Lynas’s book ‘Six Degrees’: [5] “Six Degrees is . . . a massive synthesis of a very large selection of scientific research papers . . . (and) how global warming would affect humans and their world, if allowed to proceed.” February 29, 2020
Summary of Charts and Graphs
The first chart is What Happens as Global Warming Goes Up One Degree at a Time toSix Degrees.
The second chart, Revelation’s Prophecies & Scientists’ Predictions for Global Warming, will compare Revelation’s prophecies and the data collected by scientists around the world providing predictions for climate change, global warming, and destruction of life-sustaining resources. The majority of qualified, credible scientists warn that–with “business as usual”–the current trajectory will end in global catastrophe and the collapse of civilization. This agrees with Jesus’ words in Revelation (“the cities of the nations fell,” “the kings . . . hid in caves,” . . . Rev 16:15, 19; Isa 24).
The third, a graph entitled Comparison of Revelation, Global Resources, and World Population will compare (1) Revelation’s trumpets, bowls, and seals in regard to the decline of land, seas, waters, and skies; (2) global resources; and (3) world population (which is estimated to rise to between 10 and 20 billion by 2100).
This graph, which is a combination of both biblical and scientific data, projects the state of the planet into the near future. It is fairly intuitive. The land, oceans, and waters (involved in a complex system including earth’s skies with rains or droughts) are being torn down and becoming aversive to life. Eventually, food and water (life-sustaining resources) will hit a critical crossroads* with earth’s population, which is on a steady rise heading for 12 to 20 billion people by 2100. At this critical threshold, life-sustaining resources will be insufficient to support a rising population. The world crosses a tipping point and shifts into a new state; the worst case scenario of climate change ramifications and Revelation’s nightmare of God’s judgment (Rev 14:7). Jesus metaphorically described this time as terrifying events in the sun, moon, and stars–and born again Christians will be there (Matt 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27).
Simply put, if earth’s lands and waters cannot produce enough life-sustaining resources for the global rise in population, then massive death will ensue during a global collapse. Revelation’s four horsemen will ride hard (Rev 6:1-8). Size of population is in direct proportion to food supply. That is a basic biological principle for any species, especially one numbering 7 billion, still growing, and wastefully devouring the planet. The Bible says humankind is destroying the earth (Rev 11:18). Land, oceans, waters, and skies are becoming aversive to life (more fires, less fish, more pollution, higher greenhouse gases, etc.). Science observes that humankind is on the path of environmental destruction, racing toward a sixth extinction, on a collision course with global catastrophe.
The Antichrist and Armageddon
When the stress is high enough and nations are broken enough, they will unite under one man to solve the problems. In darkest deception, the world will embrace him hoping for a return to the days of peace and prosperity. Instead, they will discover to late, that to accomplish his goals, he is “the man of lawlessness . . . the son of destruction.” (2 Thess 2:3). When Christ returns with all His glorious angels and resurrected saints, the world will reject Him. The son of destruction with the support of the seven strongest nations on earth and the ten most powerful magnates (and their international corporations) will drive the peoples into World War III; aka Har-Magedon (Armageddon). This is the war between the Antichrist and Jesus Christ to determine who will rule the world. God will step in with His bowls of wrath and then both Revelation’s and Isaiah’s words will be fulfilled: “Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants,” (Isa 24).
Global Warming Leading to Global Disintegration
The following charts take us into that period of global devastation. Both the Bible and science say this is our current trajectory.
The collapse of global civilization involves a complex system of global warming (maybe up to 6 degrees at which large parts of the earth are uninhabitable due to high heat and mass extinction of animals and plants occurs); of global destruction of land, oceans, waters, and aversive alteration of the atmosphere; and of loss of life-sustaining resources that could lead to Anthropocene mass extinction. Revelation does not indicate human extinction, however, “man will be scarcer than pure gold,” (Isa 13:12). This complex system of global disintegration is captured in three charts.
What Happens as Global Warming Goes Up One Degree at a Time toSix Degrees[3]
The general chart is information taken from Mark Lynas’ book Six Degrees. Words in italics come from a wide variety of top scientific sources with multiple sources on each topic.
1˚ increase in global temperature
Sand dunes spread across Nebraska as a new mega-drought spreads across the Great Plains. (Scientists have said that the mega-drought has already started in the Southwest.)
Kilimanjaro loses the last of its glacier. (85% disappeared between 1912 and 2011. The rest will be gone by 2040.)
Tropical coral reefs are bleaching and dying due to hotter oceans. (50% died off in the last 30 years. Up to 90% will be gone by 2050. 25% or all marine creatures depend on reefs for propagation and survival.)
2˚ increase in global temperature
2°C increase could occur as early as 2030 according to the Met Office (U.K.’s national meteorological service).
Whole marine food chain is endangered as oceans warm and gradually acidify from extra atmospheric CO2. By 2048, most marine species of fish will be on a path to extinction. Most bleached coral reefs will die for good. The Arctic will be ice free in the summers. Sea level rise could hit a foot and present coastal cities with increased flood risks like Superstorm Sandy.
Many summers produce heat waves as hot as the extreme summer in 2003 when 70,000 died from the heat in Europe. England’s Guardian Newspaper wrote the 2003 heatwave devastated crops of wheat and other grains across Europe. Russia’s wheat crop fell by 75%.As of 2020, Northern China is already experiencing severe water shortages. Droughts in California, Peru, and India will follow. With rising heat, rice and wheat crops will suffer substantial losses.
Greenland’s ice sheet is doomed to melt causing the seas to rise. When the sheet is gone, it will raise the sea level by 23 feet. The current melt rate was not expected until 2070. Melting at increasing rates, Greenland has lost 286 gigatons of ice per year.
Greenland coastal island losing glaciers. [6]
3˚ increase in global temperature
3°C increase could occur by 2050.
“Instead of absorbing CO2, vegetation and soils start releasing it in massive quantities, as soil bacteria work faster to break down organic matter in a hotter environment, and plant growth goes into reverse.” [7]
Open ocean appears at the North Pole as the whole Arctic Sea ice cap disappears completely. The seas continue to rise flooding coastal cities around the world. 95% of old Arctic ice is gone. Between 1979 and 2019, the Arctic has lost for good ice the size of Alaska. The Arctic will be ice free from 2 to 4 months a year between 2040 and 2060.
Category 6 hurricanes strike tropical coastlines around the world (extremes of weather). Category 5 (measured by 157 mph or higher) is the highest we have. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has nearly doubled during the last 35 years. More and more hurricanes are spreading to strange places they have never been before, like cyclone Kenneth in northern Mozambique.
Most of the Amazon rainforest dries up and burns down replaced by desert and savannah. 20% of the Amazon rainforest is gone today (2020). 20,000 sq. mi. a year are vanishing. At 25%, the Amazon will begin the transition from forest into savannah.Other major forests undergoing heatwaves will suffer as well.
The megafires of 2014 in Canada’s Northwest Territories blazed an area the size of Maryland (7 million acres) releasing half as much carbon back into the atmosphere as all the plants and trees that Canada typically absorbs in one year. Credit: NASA/Peter Griffith [8]
Proliferation of diseases and epidemics will infect large populations. Climate change will increase the spread of vector-borne diseases.
With famine spreading across the subtropics, hundreds of millions of people will die or move. Masses moving to other populated areas will mean conflict, disintegration of cultures, loss of land, and social collapse as climate nomads search continually for survival.
4˚ increase in global temperature
IPCC said a 4˚C increase could occur by 2060.
Arctic permafrost crosses tipping point releasing huge quantities of the powerful greenhouse gas methane (CH4), which is 23 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2), causing runaway global warming. There is about 1,400 gigatons (billion tons) of carbon (especially methane) locked in the permafrost. (850 gigatons of carbon is in earth’s atmosphere.) According to the Yale School of Environment, 40% of permafrost will be gone by 2100 (i.e. about 40% of methane will be released from ice into the atmosphere).
Arctic permafrost melts releasing millions of tons of CH4.
West Antarctic ice sheet in danger of collapse . . . flooding coastal cities with sea level rise. At the end of June 2020, scientists declared that Antarctica was warming 3xs faster than the rest of the world. When it melts totally, the seas will rise by 190 feet. As early as 2050, with only a 2 to 7 foot rise, cities under water will include NYC, San Diego, Shanghai, Bangkok, London, and more.
New deserts spread in southern Europe as the last snow and ice vanishes from the Alps. Up to 90% of the Alps’, the Himalayan,and the Andes’ glaciers will be gone by 2100.
If China’s growth rates continue linearly, then by 2030 the Chinese will consume 30% more oil than the world currently produces and eat 2/3 of current global production. There are limits to growth and production that will bring about Revelation’s prophecies of massive death (Rev 6:8).
5˚ increase in global temperature
At the current rate of increase of global warming, a 5°C increase could happen before 2100. (This is probably the highest temperature a remnant of humanity can sustain.)
Lynas refers to the five degree world as “largely unrecognizable.”
Land areas are hotter than ocean areas. Land may be 10°C by that time. Northern Russia and Canada will become prime real estate.
Temperatures in the Arctic Ocean rise as warm as the Mediterranean and all mountain glaciers disappear. Severe water stress occurs for at least a third of the inhabited planet.
Rising ocean temperatures make the Arctic suitable for alligators. Such warm temperatures also cause ocean anoxia; cutting off oxygen to deep waters will cause mass extinction of sea creatures at those levels.
Hundreds of millions of climate refugees are still on the march searching for food and water. Food production will greatly decline in hot areas. In many hot areas, survival without cooling shelter will only be possible for a few hours.
Searing heat waves make subtropical regions uninhabitable and all rainforests die.
6˚ increase in global temperature
At the current rate, a 6°C rise in temperature is possible by 2100 or in the earth next century. Personally, from scientific studies, it would look like extinction of the human race–which is not in any passage in the Bible.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide would be above 1,000 ppm.
Huge uninhabitable areas span the entire global surface.
Intense global storm activity.
All life in the oceans dies.
Human civilization collapses due to the pressures of conflict and diminishing resources.
Mass extinction of many plants and animals plus much loss of human life ensues.
Lynas provides a powerful summary in “Six Degrees” (p. 279) of the major facts: One Degree between .1° to 1.0° C with 350 ppm of CO2. (We have 417 ppm’s by 2020. The temperature is catching up.) Two Degrees between 1.1° to 2.0° C with 400 ppm. ( Global heat is catching up.) Three Degrees between 2.1° to 3.° C by 2030 at 450 ppm. Four Degrees between 3.1° to 4.0° C by 2050 at 550 ppm. (Methane feedback is in full swing.) Five Degrees between 4.1° to 5.0° C at 650 ppm. Six Degrees between 5.1° to 5.8° C at 800 ppm.
Most scientists agree–as summarize by Lynas–that above 2°C, a chain reaction of interactive feedbacks could be set off. At 2°C the Amazon is mostly gone adding another 250 ppm of CO2 into the atmosphere and an additional 1.5°C of warming. That would push the world to 4° C, which would release all CH4 from melted permafrost, adding another degree that cascades into 6°C. So if we hit much more than 2°C, the chances of avoiding runaway global warming decrease considerably.
Revelation’s Prophecies & Scientists’ Predictions for Global Warming
Revelation in the BibleSays :
HOT: The sun became so hot that it scorched men with fierce heat (Rev 16:9)
BURN: A third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all the grass was burned up (Rev 8:7)
OCEANS: A third of ocean life dies then 100% of all life in the seas dies (Rev 8:8-9; 16:3).
WATERS: A third of the terrestrial waters become like wormwood (a bitter taste) causing many to die. The Euphrates River dries up. (Rev 8:10-11; 16:4-5, 12-16)
SKIES: The sun, moon, and stars are darkened (Rev 8:12). [This can be either literal or figurative representing great catastrophes. I believe it is both.]
FAMINES: Great famines take untold millions (Rev 6:6,8; Deut 28:23-24, 48, 62).
WARS: Wars spread causing great loss of life (Rev 6:4,8; Deut 28:25-26, 33, 49-52).
PLAGUES: Disease, pestilence, malignant sores will scourge large populations causing great suffering and/or death (Rev 6:8; 16:2; Deut 28:22, 27, 35, 59-61).
FALL OF CIVILIZATION: The fall of all governments and collapse of all civilizations takes place. “The cities of the nations fell.” God will “destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Rev 6:15-17; 16:19; 11:18; Deut 28:16, 20, 63-66).
Scientists Across the NationsSay :
HOT: The earth becomes sohot that huge areas across the globe become uninhabitable
BURN: The Amazon rainforests and all other forests in the tropical zones dry and burn leaving deserts. Central US becomes desert.
OCEANS: As the oceans heat up and acidify, pollution and overfishing decimate, animal and plant life decreases until it is completely dead. AMOC will slow or stop. There are already 500 dead zones.
WATERS: All glaciers (which supply large rivers) disappear. Large deserts appear when streams and rivers dry up. Increased CO2 and SO2 from melting subarctic tundra and dying oceans leak into the atmosphere acidifying oceans, rivers, and lakes. (Acid has a bitter taste!) CH4 escapes from melting permafrost.
SKIES: As tropical and temperate forests dry massive fires take millions of acres. The Amazon will eventually burn to the ground as will many other forests. Wars will add to the destruction. Fires blacken the sky. Extreme weather and pollution also darken skies.
FAMINES: With the droughts, loss of crops and herds, famines spread across the globe.
WARS: Nations war over dwindling resources, especially food and water.
EXTREMES: Extreme weather will be a regular occurrence around the globe causing great loss of life.
PLAGUES: Proliferation of diseases, epidemics, and pandemics will take millions of lives.
FALL OF CIVILIZATION: Migrations of masses, nations at war, disruption of governments, disintegration of civilization, famines, plagues, water stress across the planet leads to “Anthropocene Mass Extinction”: Man destroys the earth.
Comparison of Revelation, Global Resources, and World Population
Top Line: Destruction of Land, Sea, Water, Sky
Middle Line: Global Resources (food & water)
Bottom Line: World Population
Top Line: Destruction of Land, Sea, Water, Sky The 4 trumpets (angelic armies and humankind) are tearing down the land, oceans, terrestrial waters, and atmosphere today. The upswing for a short period is the work of the beast/Antichrist who unites the nations, radically decreases the population by billions through the great tribulation, improves the land, and shares food and water. The world is astounded, until God pours out the bowls of wrath on the lands, oceans, waters, and atmosphere.
Middle Line: Global Resources (food & water) Earth’s food and water support the masses due to technology. However, when population crosses over life resources at the star (*), that is the critical threshold where population needs surpasses the food and water supplies. Both population and life resources painfully decline (after reserves are gone) destabilizing governments and throwing the world into crisis. The Antichrist returns and executes millions; thus improving the quantity of life and resources available for those left. This is the second hill on the graph. When God pours out the bowls, everything goes down.
Bottom Line: World Population The world population peeks between 10 to 12 billion (optimistically), then declines due to degradation of land, oceans, waters, and atmosphere controlling the production of food and water. The second big drop off the cliff is the great tribulation. When it ends, the population levels off. Jesus returns “after that tribulation,” (Mark 13:24-27; Matt 24:29-31). The world is enraged, and God pours out the bowls–including His response to Har-Magedon–the third great drop off plummeting the population till man is scarcer that Solomon’s gold. Civilization collapses. Jesus rises as the King of kings. He and the resurrected from all the ages ruling over mortals will return the earth to Eden.
[1] James Hansen, Storms of My Grandchildren; The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009). Bill McKibben, Eaarth; Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011). Thomas L. Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). Friedman was a Pulitzer prize winner. Mark Lynas, Six Degrees; Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Washington D.C.: National Geographic arranged by Harper Collins, 2008). Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth; The Crisis of Global Warming (New York, NY: Viking, 2006). David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming (New York, NY: Duggan Books, 2019).
[5] Mark Lynas, Wikimedia Commons: Mark Lynas. If you click his photo it will take you to “Mark Lynas’s ‘Sic Degrees'” A Summary Review” found at https://owlcation.com/stem/Mark-Lynass-Six-Degrees-A-Summary-Review/ on February 29, 2020.
[6] “Greenland coastal island” losing glacier. Image courtesy Turello and Wikimedia Commons. Also found in article on Mark Lynas and “Six Degrees” [5].
[7] Carbon feedback cycles. Cox et al. (2000) published a scientific study entitled “Acceleration of Global Warming Due to Carbon Cycle Feedbacks in a Coupled Climate Model.” The unstable 3 degree C world would reach the “tipping point” pushing the world into 4 degrees C. This was primarily because much of the Amazon rain forest would collapse and die back under heat and dry conditions.
[8] “Northwest Territory Fires of 2014” by NASA/ Peter Griffith. C.f. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/fires-floods-and-satellite-views-modeling-the-boreal-forest’s-future. Google NASA free images fires.
[9] Photo of Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish scientist that discovered global warming from increasing CO2 concentrations. Found on Free-Images.com in the Public Domain.
[10] https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/ Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Image of “Charles David Keeling and his namesake Keeling Curve.”
