THE PASTOR'S PEN IN THE BEGINNING, WHO CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH? by Stephen Benton
The
above subject will loom large in the days to come. The Great Lie to come will center on that
very question and if the strong delusion is to be successful, (and it will)
Satan and the gods will deliver a very compelling argument. Let us not forget that this Satan is the same
one who deceived Adam and Eve into believing that God was not all that he
appeared to be. Let's go back to Genesis
three and take another look at this superior, seductive spirit, Satan aka,
Lucifer.
"For
God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5
Two
great lies are enveloped in that statement.
One, that the gods actually occupy a position above God. And two, Satan implied that God forbade the
eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil not as a safeguard for Adam
and Eve but out of desperation for his own precarious relationship to the gods. Let me see if I can restate that with a
little more clarity. When Satan planted
the idea that God was, in fact inferior to the gods, he simultaneously promoted
the idea that God was not really in charge of creation at all. The fall of the human race was accomplished
by Satan painting God as inferior to the gods and attempting by means of fear
and the threat of punishment to hold down a race of people whom he did not
create.
Think
about it, Let me play devil's advocate:
If God really were the creator of the heavens and earth, why would he be
worried about a tree in the middle of the garden that had the ability to give
knowledge of good and evil to those who
ate of it? Satan planted the seed of
doubt that God really was not in control of this situation; that there were
powers above him, the gods, who were benevolent; had mans' best interest in mind,
who were more than happy to endow their creation, man, with their own likeness,
"...as gods, knowing good and evil."
Picture
the scenario: Satan is casting God in the role that he himself played while at
the same time casting the gods in the role of God. He is making God appear as the rebel,
the fallen one from among the gods. The true role of God is that of a great
benefactor. He has also decreed that we
should be made in his image and after
his likeness. Look at John's wonderful
words regarding God's plan for us:
"Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1John 3:1-2
God
is not withholding anything good from us.
The truth is that God's goal
is and has always been to make us not as gods, possessing merely the ability to know good and evil but
powerless to do any good while eternally destined to work evil, but to make us
like Himself, knowing good and evil and having
the power to do all good things and prevail against all works of evil.
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WHAT
ABOUT OUR PRESENT CONDITION IN THIS FLESH?
Presently,
while in these bodies of flesh, we do not possess that ability. That's what Paul was saying in the epistle to
the Romans with the following words;
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." Romans 7: 15-21
Now there are those who say that Paul was writing about a pre-salvation condition. No, he wasn't. Note the final two verses of that chapter:
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:24-25
Paul is writing about his state of salvation and wanting to please God but being dragged down in the flesh by a law of sin working in his body. Every saint of God has this problem and that is why 1John told us to confess our sins. If we say that we have no sin, we are liars and the truth is not in us. There is a law of sin working in our members. (Romans.7:23) Understand, our souls were redeemed but the body is yet awaiting its redemption. Still we can take great consolation in that our old man was crucified with Christ on the cross of Calvary and we are no longer the servants of sin.
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Now, Back to the "CREATOR..."
It would be impossible for us to reign with Christ for a thousand years on this earth if we did not have the ability to know good and evil. Why? Because when Christ rules on this earth for a thousand years there will be many left on earth who will resist his rule. There is a misconception that everyone on earth will be "happy campers" when Christ comes to rule. No they won't! Jesus will conquer Satan's world through war! He will then take over this world's governments; governments who previously marched to the drum of Satan will have to comply with the edicts of Christ. He will forcefully impose his will on the ungodly nations of the earth who survived the Great Tribulation. We will not be in heaven floating on clouds, we will come back to the earth with Christ to fight with him against the armies of Satan (the aliens) and the nations of this world who are in opposition to God. After Christ defeats all of the earth's armies at the battle of Armageddon, we will then be the ruling class on the entire earth, assistants of Jesus to implement his orders on this earth.
Understand, at that time he will be the King of the entire planet. How do you think the Arab nations will feel about taking orders from a Jewish King? How will the sovereign republic of China feel about taking orders from the King of the Jews ruling from Jerusalem; forcing that godless nation to worship him? What about Russia, that last great nation to make war against Israel in the last days? A war in which they will lose five-sixths of their army (Ezekiel 39:2.) Or how about Germany, a country that is still oppressing the Jews? Note Zechariah's words:
"And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
And it shall be, that whosoever will not come up of all the families of the earth (i.e. the nations) unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." Zecharia 14:16
This king will have the ability to do what no other king has ever done before--control the forces of nature!
Because of the rebellious nature of the nations, Christ will rule them with a rod of iron in that day because most of those remaining will resist his rule. Satan's imprisonment during the 1,000 years only removes the deceptive force from the world, it will not remove the sin element! There will still be sinners to deal with and for that reason we must have the ability to know good from evil and the innate character to do the good and prevail over the evil ones.
Lord willing, this morning I will pursue this subject of who created the heavens and the earth as we continue with the Strong Delusion and the Lie. Our government has been reluctant to release alien information because of its impact on the world's religions. The Lie will revolve around the source of creation and it will defame God, his Son, Jesus, and the entire Word of God.
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ADDENDUM
In response to the lie, God gave the law, his own standard of righteousness and told the nation of Israel to do it and live. What was God's purpose in doing so? The answer is found in Romans 3:19 & 20:
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
God gave the law and left it on record for over 1700 years to prove one point: Satan lied when he said by knowing good you can do good.
What amazes me is that the Church has essentially preached the same "law" lie. Most of Christianity is comprised of do's and don't's. Sorry, they won't save you. Am I saying that we should not endeavor to live a Godly life? God forbid! I'm simply saying that our knowledge of good is not a guarantee that we will do good. There's another passage in Romans that the Church has not looked at fully even though they quote it all the time.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
It does not say that we came short, past tense but that we come short, present tense. That is not a condition before salvation, we are that way after we get saved. That is why the scriptures say we are saved by grace, God's unmerited favor. It is not by works of righteousness that we are saved, it is the result of a gift given by God without any reason on our part for giving it. For that reason I do not and will not preach a legalistic message. If God's own law cannot save you, my laws certainly won't. If you and I had the ability to fix ourselves up, why did Jesus die on the cross? Either he paid the price for our sins in full or else we still owe a balance that we can never pay. Thank God for his amazing grace that saves a wretch like me!
Written in the THE WEEKLY WORD OF THE HOUSE OF GOOD NEWS 9/ 22/1996
To read more current revelations from Pastor Steve,
check out his book published September 2017 on Amazon.com
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