Those of us who are born again should be cognizant of the fact that Christianity is under major attack in these last days. Even in traditional Christian bastions such as the United States, our faith is being increasingly derided and dismissed, even to the point of serious attempts being made to silence us. The narrative is that Christianity is a relic from a bygone era, a collection of myths and fairytales to help the primitives and the less educated cope with the difficulties of life. Christianity stands in the way of progress and therefore if it cannot adapt to today’s world then it has to go. One would think, at first glance, that such attacks are waged only by those outside the churches. Alas, the walls of the Church fortress have been breached! From within Christian circles there are rising calls for the faith to change with the times. These misguided souls claim such things as our way is not the one exclusive way to know God or reach heaven and that the Bible is not completely the literal word of God, that there is not necessarily a real hell, and so on. Every stripe, variant, and mutant of doctrine is allowed; only the actual truth is decried and suppressed! One area of special attack is the book of Genesis, specifically the first 11 chapters of this foundational book of the Bible.
Genesis covers more years of human history than the rest of the Bible combined. It starts with the creation of the heavens and the earth and ends with the death of Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob and co-ruler of Egypt. The first eleven chapters cover the creation, the institution of the marriage covenant, the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden and their subsequent expulsion from this idyllic paradise, the account of Cain and Abel, the genealogies of Adam and of Cain’s line, the origin of the giants, the Flood and its aftermath, the genealogies of Noah and of his son Shem, including the table of nations; and the tower of Babel account. A new phase in human history is reached in chapter 12 with God and His promise to Abram (later renamed Abraham).
In my very first blog, “Do You Believe in the Bible?”, I touched upon the issue of Christians increasingly not believing the Bible literally. This is one facet of it, the doubts about the validity of Genesis 1 – 11. To doubt the teaching about the creation is to give credence to the theory of evolution. The idea that all of creation, including life, just sprang into being all by itself is ludicrous. Only God Himself had no creator. He has always existed, without beginning, and so what if we cannot comprehend that? We are finite beings; He is not. And although we do give people some grace in thinking that the creation could have been around for millions or even billions of years, we of It Ain’t Over Ministries believe in a young earth and creation. That will be addressed in more detail in my next blog. Anyway, to conclude this thought for now, when I was a new Christian I tried to reconcile the theory of evolution with the creation account. When I was lost, in my spiritual blindness I believed in evolution also. Through other people and through the Holy Spirit directly, God showed me that evolution and creation cannot be squared with each other. What the Bible says is the truth, and evolution does not enter the equation.
We learn of so many important things in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Moses, the author of the first five books of the Bible except for the last chapter of Deuteronomy, wrote, as all Bible contributors did, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21). More than mere information is contained in the pages of Genesis 1 – 11 than just general information. We learn right away about God’s high moral standards and the fact that He desires relationships with people, relationships that have been blocked by sin and can only be had through atonement for those sins. We learn of the Lord’s fierce hatred of sin and the certainty of His judgment via the telling of the Flood account. In these early pages of Holy Writ we also see the greatness of God’s mercy, love, and faithfulness, His desire for men and women to marry and raise families, God’s will for the family to be the foundation of any society, and the fact that He will intervene dramatically if necessary should people embark on a course that will take them irrevocably away from Him (Genesis 11:1-9). We are told where we come from. All these things are anathema to people who want nothing to do with the God of the Bible and His morals. Sadly, these same things are questioned by professing Christians who have the mistaken notion that the faith needs to be updated. In doing this they fail to understand or put their trust in several things that the Bible teaches us:
Psalm 119:89-91: Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.
Psalm 19:7-9: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Numbers 23:19: “…God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?…”
Titus 1:1-2: Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,…
Proverbs 30:5-6: Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
These Scriptures are but a small sample of what the Bible says about itself, the creation, and God’s truthfulness. Those who are unsaved are under condemnation by default. Those who are believers are placing themselves in grave danger by doubting the veracity and the reliability of God’s Word. Our Christian faith does not need to change with the times. Believers in times past have been able to adapt to the world around them without compromising the truths of the faith, and that includes the reliability of the Bible. They did not alter the Word to fit the opinions of those who did not agree with them. Erring believers they corrected in love and, if necessary, disfellowshipped for the purpose of enforcing church discipline and, if there still was no repentance, they put out of the church altogether. There was none of this considering their heretical ideas to see if they had any merit!
To those of us who are born again, the Bible is one of the foundations of our faith. What sense does it make if we claim to believe in God yet doubt His Word? Genesis 1 – 11 is just as valid a part of the Bible as the rest of it is. The Jews have their Torah readings, and because Genesis is a part of the Torah, the first eleven chapters of Genesis are in it also. Jews are certainly not going to synagogues to hear readings from Darwin and Marx! Why, then, should we go to church to hear mealymouthed hirelings bleat about the “shortcomings” of Holy Writ? Why should we listen to these erring seminarians as they tout the ideas of atheistic evolutionists and Communists instead of heeding the Word of the Lord? Why should we, as believers, entertain the notions of other professing believers who mistakenly think the time has come to give the faith an “upgrade”? No, indeed! This is what it’s time for:
Jude 1:3: Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Coupled with this should be a holy boldness to execute the advice that the apostle Paul gave to Titus:
Titus 3:10-11: Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
Fellowsaints, these are perilous times we are living in (2 Timothy 3:1-9). No matter what new idea or fad in the churches comes along, if what is being touted is not in line with the Scriptures we must reject it. If we are in the minority, even if we are alone in some places, the Word of God is above anything in this world, including man’s wisdom. The Bible is inspired by God, so we can trust it. This includes Genesis 1 – 11. Who but Satan wants you to doubt the words of our Lord? He tricked Eve into it in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1), and since it worked so well on her, with Adam falling into line by sinning also(Genesis 3:2-7), to this day he instructs all the workers in his evil kingdom to use this very same tactic. Rightly did Jesus call Satan the father of lies (John 8:44). If lies can be sown in the Church, many people can be led astray, even those who teach and preach God’s Word. Know your Bible, trust it, and accept all of it, including the first eleven chapters of Genesis. It all belongs in there!
