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As I concluded in part one, while there are many examples in the New Testament where we see different voices being heard from Heaven -- sometimes meaning from Heaven itself, and at other times simply coming from the sky -- personally, when the Book of Genesis states that Adam and Eve "heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day", I am convinced that the Lord was physically there in person in the Garden of Eden. Please notice carefully that in the group of verses I shared with you in part one, every one of them very clearly states that the voice came from Heaven. In contrast, in Genesis chapter three, all we are given is the phrase "walking in the garden in the cool of the day", which sounds very literal, in my view.

I am likewise reminded of what occurred just prior to the Genesis Flood arriving on the Earth. As I mention in other articles, my impression is that the Lord was actually there in some form, just as He also walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. After all, in Genesis chapter seven, we are very clearly told that "the LORD shut him in", meaning that the Lord -- who I assume to be Jesus -- sealed Noah and his family and the animals inside the Ark. The Lord shut and sealed that huge door. Think about that point for a moment. While giving instructions to Noah regarding how to construct the Ark, God specifically told him to cover it with pitch -- which is a tar-like substance -- both within and without in order to make it waterproof. Consider these two verses:

"Make‭‭ thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."


"And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in."


Now, while Noah could obviously secure the door from within after everyone and every creature had entered the Ark, using pitch and ropes to firmly seal the door from the inside, it does not explain how the outer surface of the door -- where the seams and the door frame were constantly exposed to the water -- could have been properly sealed. In other words, it seems to me that someone would be required to be outside in order to put pitch there as well, so as to prevent the water from getting into those seams. Don't forget that Noah's Ark was battered by powerful waves for about five months, based on what we are told in the following set of verses:

"And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;"


So, in my view, there are a few possibilities here. We can theorize that God miraculously sealed the door while still residing in Heaven. Or, either the Lord Himself -- or if not Jesus directly, then perhaps some of His Angelic Agents -- were on the Earth, and physically sealed the door from the outside so that water would not seep in. This is obviously not a major issue of our faith; so if you don't agree with my reasoning, that is fine. This is just something that I'm a bit curious about. All we know for certain is that Bible says "the LORD shut him in". How we each interpret that is a personal matter.

To continue our primary discussion, it seems that it was not until after the Fall in Eden, as well as after the Genesis Flood had occurred, that the Lord began to distance Himself more and more from humanity, as a result of their rebellion, disobedience and unbelieving hearts. Thus, from that point and forward, it appears that He limited Himself to communing directly with only certain individuals throughout the course of Biblical history, such as some of the Patriarchs, Moses, the Prophets, and a few other individuals.

Concerning the effects of the disobedience of Adam and Eve on the rest of humanity, in a biological sense, following the Genesis Flood, the Bible bears record to the fact that man's life span rapidly began to decline from hundreds and hundreds of years, to its current worldwide average of just under one hundred years, or even less in quite a few cases. This development has been attributed to a variety of causes, such as genetic deterioration, exposure to ultraviolet rays, lethal diseases for which there is no cure, famine, poverty, war, natural disasters, over-population, etc.

Personally, I can agree that these things are partially to blame for humanity's demise. However, at the same time, as a Bible-believing Christian, I recognize that regardless of the many reasons which modern man and his science dream up, they cannot ignore the inescapable Biblical truth which is revealed in the following two Bible verses:

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"


"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."


As the previous verses plainly state, death in our current world is the direct result of sin. This sin manifests itself in many different forms. But exactly what is meant by sin? The Apostle John informs us in the following verse that sin is the transgression -- or the breaking or violating -- of God's holy Laws:

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."


As I will be demonstrating momentarily, the sad truth of the matter is that humanity has repeatedly broken not only God's spiritual laws, but His physical laws as well. As a result, we are paying for it now in this physical life through death and destruction. Furthermore, we will pay for it later as well, unless we each repent of our wickedness and rebellion against the Lord.

While this may be hard to understand for some people, I am convinced that God's decision to shorten the human life span was not just an act of anger. Believe it or not, but it may have also been an act of mercy. As we have now seen, from the time of Adam and Eve when human beings still lived to be just under a thousand years old, it only took about fifteen hundred years for humanity to become so evil, that the Lord finally had to destroy all air-breathing life, save for Noah and his immediate family. Consider this set of Bible verses which confirm this point:

"And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood."


"And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."


"And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:"


"Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."


In light of how the world devolved into such a wicked state during the aforementioned time period, it would seem that by reducing our life span, the Lord has sought to slow down the spread of, and augmentation of, evil. To some of my readers, that may seem like a rather absurd statement for anyone to make, considering how wicked and defiant the world is at this current time. On the other hand, consider that if He had not implemented a shortened life span, maybe the Lord would have found it necessary to destroy us several times over by now! My friends, that is a very sobering thought!

Another possibility is that if the Lord hadn't shortened our human life span, perhaps man would have accumulated enough knowledge and technological development to destroy himself much sooner than he has. The reality of the matter is that no one can deny that we now possess the means to totally annihilate ourselves, and all other life on this planet as well. Thus, by limiting humanity's life span, the Lord has only allowed us to accumulate knowledge in smaller spurts, by building on top of the discoveries and inventions of the previous generation. Yet still, as I already mentioned, we have now reached at a point where one crazed national leader pushing a button can quickly end us all. My friends, we are now standing on the brink and staring at the huge precipice.

One thing which we cannot deny is that as each successive generation has become more technologically advanced, it has also become more wicked, as well as more alienated from God. It is this wicked knowledge which has resulted in man's ego become more inflated in his own conceit. As I point out in articles such as the series called "Is Science Better Than the Bible?", foolish and rebellious man has now become so vain in his imagination, and so lifted up in his pride, that he has the audacity to erroneously claim that God does not exist, that we do not even need a God, and that we are all merely the product of both planetary evolution, as well as human evolution. This was in fact the attitude which was embraced by now-deceased, noted theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking.

In their blindness and ignorance, they proudly claim "There was no First Cause. There was no Creator. Everything happened as a result of random chance over a period of millions and billions of years". Ironically, this wayward type of thinking is totally contrary to their very own laws regarding cause and effect, and their long-standing principle which promotes the belief that left alone, order simply tends to gravitate towards chaos and confusion. In thinking about this ungodly attitude which prevails in our modern society, I am reminded of verses such as the following which reveal the truth, the vanity, and the danger of certain aspects of the wisdom and knowledge of man:

". . . The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."


"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."


"I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."


"And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."


"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"


"For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."


"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."


"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"


"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness."


"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. KNOWLEDGE PUFFETH UP, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, HE KNOWETH NOTHING yet as he ought to know."


"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and UNDERSTAND ALL MYSTERIES, AND ALL KNOWLEDGE; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I AM NOTHING."


"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."


"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."


"This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish."


As I mentioned previously, I suspect that the wickedness, corruption and destruction we see in the world today could easily have been surpassed, had the Lord allowed humanity to continue living to be almost one thousand years in age. If this were to have been the case, it seems likely that during the past six thousand years, God would have possibly been compelled to destroy this world at least several more times. However, at the same time, as the Prophet Jeremiah lamented in the midst of the Israelites' great suffering following the Babylonian invasions, and as King David and the Apostles Peter and Paul wrote, God's Mercy is very great, as we see by the following group of verses:

"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."


"If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"


"‭‭For thy mercy ‭is‭ great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.‭"


"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we ‭are‭ dust . . . But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them."


"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."


"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."


"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."


So reiterating my previous point, it is perhaps through a shortened life span that the Lord has revealed, not just His anger towards us, but also His great Mercy as well. Sadly, despite our limited life spans, as I already said, it seems that humanity is finally reaching the point of no return in its evil ways. As we have seen, not all knowledge is good, and it can actually be downright evil and devilish, if it lifts us up in our pride, and causes us to rebel and turn away from the Lord and His holy ways.

This is in fact precisely another way in which the Lord's original warning to Adam has been fulfilled. We are indeed dying, and killing ourselves, through the Pandora's Box we have foolishly opened. There is no getting around the fact that some of the science which is currently being practiced and taught is not godly in the least. We have already seen how some of it blasphemes against God by indirectly calling Him a liar, and His holy Word a lie. But in addition to the prideful boasts of atheist scientists, some of this science is devilish knowledge which is being used by wicked men to bring about our own destruction. Just as the Lord knew that Adam and Eve did not possess the wisdom to properly use the knowledge they acquired that day, we have certainly proven this to be true in our modern day as well. Through the use of this scientific knowledge, humanity has totally upset the balance of nature which had been put in place by the Lord, and it continues to get worse by the year.

This evil knowledge, coupled with the inspiration of Satan himself, has resulted in the total pollution of our planet in every possible way. We have polluted our oceans, lakes and rivers, which has had a detrimental effect on the life which teams within them. We have polluted the land which is essential for the very growth of the food we eat. We have polluted the atmosphere which is so vital for the existence of life on this planet. We have over-fished, over-farmed, over-hunted, and over-polluted. Much of this been done in the name of making a bigger profit, with little regard for the negative effects it has had on the world, or on our fellow inhabitants around us, including wildlife.

As if this weren't already enough, we have also carried our sins and destructive nature beyond the Earth, and we're now polluting Outer Space with our man-made garbage in the form of multitudes of satellites, rocket fuel, discarded rocket parts, scientific stations, probes and other human refuse left on other heavenly bodies. Please don't get me wrong. I have a personal fascination with astronomy; and I absolutely marvel at what God has created in the heavens. And similar to many of you, I long to know what is out there. Yet at the same time, as I discuss in the series entitled "Alien Life, Extrasolar Planets and Universal Atonement", given our very violent, destructive nature, I question if we have the right to expand beyond our own planet. In thinking about this, I am reminded of a prophecy which was made against ancient Edom. While this verse has nothing to do with our modern times, nevertheless, I find it interesting:

"Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD."


Aside from our pollution of both Earth and Outer Space, we have likewise polluted our own bodies with many unnatural substances, such as medicines which sometimes do more harm than good, mind-altering drugs, herbicides, insecticides, tobacco products, alcohol-related products, lead, asbestos, radon, and undoubtedly other industrial pollutants we have never even heard of. Of course, the pharmaceutical industry is more than happy to help us along our destructive way, if it results in a hefty increase to their profit margin.

Sadly, this does not even take into consideration the harm we have done to the other occupants of this planet, which have absolutely no say in what we are doing to them, or to their living environments. Some creatures are going extinct at an alarming rate. As I mention in articles such as "The Salvation of Animals: Fact or Fiction?", the Apostle Paul wrote that all of creation groans, waiting to be delivered, as we see by these verses:

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."


As I mentioned earlier, thanks to the devilish lies which have been propagated by certain scientific disciplines for over one hundred and sixty-five years now, we have likewise willingly polluted our minds with the modern fictions of evolution and the Big Bang, which erroneously teach us and our children that the Earth, indeed the entire Universe, is billions of years old. You will recall that the Apostle Paul refers to such knowledge -- or gnosis -- which defies God and challenges His Word as "science falsely so called". Let me share that verse with you again:

"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:"


In addition, the modern mainstream media constantly pollutes our minds with twisted government propaganda from both the left and the right, which purposely shapes our worldview. We are all continuously being psychologically manipulated, lied to and gaslighted. Many people are led to believe -- and in fact willingly accept -- anything they are told by their evil overlords, as long as it will allow them to continue living their extravagant lifestyles, without feeling any guilt for those people who may in fact be making their rather wasteful lifestyles possible through cheap human labor in foreign lands. Be not deceived! Modern slavery is alive and well!

Let us never forget that history is always written by the victor, and that the victor always defines the enemy as any person who opposes the political, financial or philosophical ambitions and ideologies of the government in power. Past and current wars are clear, irrefutable evidence of this reality. Although wicked warmongers may endeavor to deny it, through their violent, murderous wars, they have broken God's Royal Law of Love time and time again. Surely their heinous crimes were epitomized towards the end of World War II with the total destruction of two Japanese cities; namely Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It truly boggles my mind to realize that despite the awesome destruction and death which immediately followed the dropping of the first atomic bomb -- called Little Boy -- on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, nevertheless, the order was still given three days later on August 9th to drop a second bomb -- called Fat Man -- on Nagasaki. While precise fatality figures are difficult to come by, it has been estimated that between 129,000 and 226,000 people perished as a result of those two bombs. How can the Lord possibly dismiss such evil? While the government of the United States has spent decades trying to justify its deplorable actions before the eyes of the world, I have no doubt that someday -- I known not when -- the Almighty God of the Universe will judge America for her sins of oppression, violence and economic blackmail against the poor of the world!

Please go to part three for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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