Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Four

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Four

by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

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Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds
Wrestling with Worldly Wisdom

As we consider worldly wisdom, we cannot and should not automatically condemn the wisdom of man.  Making the world a better place during man's sojourn on earth is certainly a noble cause.  In truth, man was placed on the earth and given the task of tending it and making it fruitful.  Christians should expect that unbelievers would spend their efforts on the earthly kingdom because they have chosen mortality over the eternal life which is in Christ.  "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."  But the Son did not come into the world to condemn it.  Therefore let us maintain the same compassion for humanity as our Father in heaven who, in His forbearance, "had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Rom. 3:25-26

It is, however, imperative for Christians to make a distinction between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.  Man's wisdom often conflicts with God's truth.  As Paul pointed out to the Corinthian Church, the wisdom of fallen man tends to exalt itself and is innately resistant to the message of the cross.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."  Where is the wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greek foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -  I Cor. 1:18-25

The wisdom that we will examine in this chapter is the same Greek wisdom that the Apostles Paul and John addressed in their letters.  These philosophies originated with the ancient Greeks but they were further developed by western philosophers during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.  We will discuss those developments in subsequent chapters.  Over the centuries these philosophies have been an ever-present threat to the wayward and uninformed body of Christ.  Their idealisms are wolves in sheep's clothing which have crept into the flock by degrees.  The main thrusts of their intrusion took place in five waves: before the time of Christ in the Grecian part of Roman Empire, during the Apologetic Age, through the writings of the Church Fathers, during the Renaissance, and through the Enlightenment.  Although they have changed their disguises, these philosophies continue to threaten the Church today.  The wisdom of man is the handmaiden of lawlessness.

Classical Greek philosophy intersects Biblical wisdom at several levels.  These intersecting subjects are: the concept of God, the presence of evil, the substance of reality, and the formation of the state.  The problem with these philosophical systems is that many of their conclusions are contrary to God's wisdom and God's ways.  The subtlety of these philosophies is that they are, for the most part, logical.  They sound reasonable to people who are not grounded in the God's truth.  Only a strong love of the truth can overcome these strong delusions.

The nineteenth Psalm and the first chapter of Romans assure us that God has broadcast the knowledge of His existence throughout the earth.  With good and noble hearts, the citizens of Greece have received the gospel of Christ with the greatest steadfastness of any nation.  As of June 22, 2014, CIA.gov has tabulated that 98% of Greece's current population identify themselves as Orthodox Christians.²⁹ The Church of Greece has rejected both the ancient gods and the abstract gods created by their own classical philosophers.  But the Platonic influence has not been so successfully repelled by the West.  The gods of philosophy have proven to be the most powerful and dangerous of all of man's mythological gods.

John ended his first epistle with the words; "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." – I John 5:21  Modern Bible teachers often associate this reference to the worldly worship of wealth, sports, or other distractions.  John's letter was a rebuttal to the Gnostic notion of "special knowledge" that caused people to place their understanding above their love for others.  Thus, the idols of John's warning were more likely the theoretical gods created in the minds of the philosophers.  These convincing ideals have become so intertwined with today's Biblical concept of God that they seem invisible, or perhaps even inseparable, from the contemporary understanding of who God is.

The propensity of human nature to receive the Platonic ideals stems directly from the fact that the classical philosophers created their gods and governments in accordance with the desires of men.  Often these philosophies valued good qualities such as virtue and perfection, but always within a system that would give mankind the greatest advantage.  Many readers are acquainted with these philosophies.  But for the sake of those who are not, and also for the purpose of contrasting their assumptions with Biblical wisdom, a general review is provided below.  These contrasts are easily summarized by comparing their premises, as follows:

The God of the Bible chose for Himself His own special people, whereas the Greek philosophers chose for themselves their own special god.  God gave instructions in how the people were to serve Him, whereas the Platonic god is the servant of man.  The justice of God divides good and evil, whereas the justice of Plato moderates human behavior.  The Bible claims earthly authority is established by God, whereas Plato believed civil authority should be engineered by man.  The God of the Bible created man and then revealed Himself, and His salvation, through the Jews - to be a blessing to all mankind.  Plato created an intellectual god which is by the people and for the people; an imaginary god of lifeless ideals, approachable only through asceticism and knowledge.

As a preface to the Greek philosophers and their influence on Judaism and Christianity, it should be noted that the Greeks were first influenced by the Jews.  The books of Moses had been translated into Greek long before the composition of the Septuagint.  Homer's Odyssey³⁰ was composed in the eighth century B.C.; roughly five hundred years after Moses.  Critical studies of Homer's poems reveal dozens of parallels to Moses' account of the history of the Jews.  Aristobulus of Paneas, who lived in the second century B.C., also believed that the poems of Homer and Hesiod contained content from Moses' writings.  Socrates' own disenchantment with the mythical Greek gods may have stemmed from his contemplation of the universal God of the Jews.  In his book, The Republic,³¹ Plato said that poems and stories by such authors as Homer and Hesiod should be censored because they depicted the gods as foolish, deceitful, and warmongering.  Plato believed that all deities should be good and virtuous.  Plato's teacher, Socrates, was charged with Atheism because he proposed a universal creator.

Socrates, as documented by the writings of Plato, had the greatest impact on religion because of his inversion of what is called "real," which resulted in dualism and Gnosticism.  Plato's observations and theories laid the groundwork for the political sciences.  Nevertheless, because Socrates' ideas have been imparted through Plato's dialogues, and because it is impossible to know which of the two were the originators of their common philosophies, their contributions to theology and metaphysics are historically referred to as Platonism.  In our introduction to Classical philosophy we will begin to see how Platonism has influenced religion.  Plato's views on government and state will be taken up in later chapters.  We will only remark on Aristotle as his views are noted in particular by the Church Fathers, Schoolmen, and philosophers of more recent periods.

Plato was born in the 420's B.C. into an aristocratic family.  He lived in Athens during the time of the Peloponnesian Wars.  It was a chaotic time in which he saw the democracy of Athens toppled by Sparta, followed briefly by the reign of a tyrannical council appointed by the Spartans.  Democracy was once again restored, but these changing forms of government became the subject of much of Plato's philosophical contemplations.  Plato's The Republic expresses his analysis of various forms of government and the traits of the ideal candidates for leadership, citizenship, and the militia.  The Republic also encapsulates many of the idealistic philosophies of Socrates.

The Greek philosophers did not base their cosmology on the existence of a singular creative agent.  The dialogue with Timaeus³² provides the most important features of Plato's account of creation.  To understand his terminology, we must first be familiar with Socrates' idea of "Forms" and "Goodness."  The realm of Forms is presented in The Republic by the analogies of "The Cave."  The "Dividing Line" is used to show the distinction between the seen and the unseen, and the levels of "realness" in the mind of the philosopher.

The "Allegory of the Cave" supports the philosophical assumption termed "Realism," which is an inversion of what one would normally consider reality to be.  The allegory depicts men in a cave who have spent their lives chained facing the back wall.  They see the shadows of people walking by, but have never actually seen these pedestrians.  Through their intellect the men in the cave began to understand that they are only seeing shadows instead of the real people casting the shadows.  Socrates compares this enlightened state to the wisdom of the philosopher who understands that the objects of the material world are only poor representations, or shadows, of the "real" spiritual objects.  These realities exist as perfect Forms in a higher dimension - the "Realm of Forms".  The ideals of Wisdom, Justice, Beauty, Courage, and Moderation are examples of these Forms.  Their material manifestations are always flawed and considered to be only half-real.

The "Dividing Line" illustrates a more structured and graduated representation of the difference between the perfect Forms and the visible world.  The line is divided into two main sections to distinguish between what is visibly seen and what is mentally perceived.  The visible world only supports conjectures and beliefs, which are represented by the lower parts of the line.  The unseen realm is also divided into a lower segment of the knowledge of available data, and an upper segment of full understanding of what is real and true.  The philosopher is gifted with the ability to attain this higher understanding and thus approach the Realm of the Forms themselves.  (This presumption is the root of several devious notions.  It is the source of the Gnostic's "special knowledge." It holds out the promise that man can gradually approach God; and it gives the impression that man can achieve some higher state - the seed of the theory of evolution.)

The "Sun Analogy" is used to establish the quality of goodness.  The light from the sun is shown to be necessary in order to make use of the eye and to distinguish colors.  Socrates believed it was important to prove in some logical way that some divine agency enables the mind to make judgments from available knowledge.  In effect, knowledge without the basis of goodness would be as useless as the eye without light.  It seems that Socrates needed to establish the existence of goodness in order to contemplate the perfection of the Forms.  Plato makes a similar assumption in his dialogue with Meno³³ when he asserts that virtue is necessary in order to apply knowledge wisely.

Now we can proceed to Plato's version of creation and his need to formulate his god. In his work Timaeus, Plato describes a pre-existing state of chaotic motion.  But because order is good, there must have existed a being capable of organizing what was formless and cause it to become orderly.  Plato calls this being the "demiurge," which in Greek means a public worker, or craftsman.  Some of the Gnostics who followed Plato used his name "demiurge" as a mutilated deific being, and often ascribed to him a corrupted nature.  Plato, however, saw his demiurge only as a benevolent craftsman.

Plato's demiurge took "Same-nesses" and "Differences" and created geometric shapes.  Then using these shapes he created the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.  The demiurge judged that intelligent beings were better than inanimate objects, so he determined to accomplish this end by imparting intelligence to the soul, and then placing the soul into a body.  The result was good because the combination resulted in a whole intelligent being, and wholeness is good.  The demiurge made the earth round because the circle is an ideal shape.  In fact, all of creation was ordered according to the Forms of Wholeness and Goodness.  So, to complete the formation of the world, the demiurge gave it a soul of its own – "The World Soul."

This chapter merely presents an overview of the Platonic concepts so that we might understand their effects on the Christian faith.  Besides exalting the god of this world, these philosophers created two other theological problems.  First, Socrates and Plato supported the case for dualism by their classification of the visible (material) realm as defective and inferior to the perfect Realm of Forms (the spiritual realm).  Secondly, they threw the baby out with bathwater by rejecting the mythical and anthropomorphic Greek gods, only to replace them with their own stone-cold god; an inanimate god of First Principles - without life and devoid of personality.  Dualism (the belief that spirit is good and matter is evil) defies God's opinion that the material world of His creation was "very good." – Gen. 1:31 And, the sterility of the Form-god denies the Father and the Son of the Godhead.  The last issue we will review at this juncture is Plato's Form of Justice as it applies to human virtue.

Plato believed that the human soul has three distinct parts.  The rational part of the soul is the philosophical element and is concerned about truth.  The spiritual part of the soul discerns what is honorable and stirs the emotions of injustice and righteous indignation.  The sensual part of the soul desires physical satisfaction and is responsible for causing the soul to lust after base desires.  Plato taught that the "Just Life" is accomplished when the soul maintains a healthy balance which fulfills the needs of the soul's three aspects.  These parts of the soul can only become equitable when it is ruled by the rational part.  Plato said that the philosopher is best suited to train his soul properly by directing it toward the higher aspects of truth found in the Forms.

Finally, it should be noted that Plato thought the reward during a thousand-year afterlife would be based on how justly a person lived; thus, somehow satisfying the Forms, or perhaps Goodness, by having inclined the soul toward the perfection of the various Forms.  It is fascinating that Plato doesn't ascribe deity to either the Forms or the demiurge, yet he suggests that there is a living judge of souls.  This is actually just another proof that no matter what system of theo-engineering mankind might create and espouse, what may be known of the real and living God has been revealed to man so that he is without excuse.

Whether Socrates and Plato rejected the ancient Greek gods because they were stirred by an awareness of the monotheistic God of the Jews is uncertain.  But they did not embrace the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and chose instead to imagine a god of their own.  Perhaps with the naïveté of Mary Shelley's Doctor Frankenstein,³⁴ Plato inadvertently provided a body for the god of this world: the World Soul.  Frankenstein's monster was created by planting a living brain into a dead body.  Plato placed a dead, but rational, god into the minds of men and has created a religious monster - a god who is nothing more than a systematic assembly of reasonable ideas.  In spite of his patched-together and lifeless appearance, this imposter has been received and worshipped by the world and by many Church Fathers for more than two thousand years.

After Plato's death, the Athens Academy continued but soon drifted from the philosophy of the Old-Academy.  By the third century B.C., many philosophers of the New-Academy were skeptics or had embraced Pythagorean philosophies.  Over this same span of time, Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great, had expanded the Grecian Empire from the Eastern Mediterranean to India.  Alexander was tutored during his teenage years by Aristotle.  The Greek language and the classical Greek philosophies spread throughout the conquered nations.  But the assimilation of the far-eastern cultures into the Grecian world also facilitated the flow of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs into Eastern Europe.

Figure 3 - Alexander's Empire³⁵

Alexander sought to unify his empire by mandating the use of the Greek language throughout.  This campaign was so successful that even the Latin Church Fathers wrote in Greek rather than Latin well into the third century.  The Holy Land was also assimilated into the Greek culture.  Jerusalem, Beth Shean, Ammon, and Samaria were all given Greek names.  These and other cities were also Grecianized by the construction of temples and marketplaces.  By the second century A.D., and throughout the Talmudic period, even the Rabbis spoke Greek in public, and Aramaic permeated with Greek words in informal conversation and writing; though they retained the use of Mishnaic Hebrew in their schools.  By the time of Christ, the Greek Septuagint was in common use among the Jews throughout the Roman Empire.  As we noted previously, the Books of Moses had already been translated into Greek prior to the compilation of the Septuagint.

As to the Pentateuch the following view seems plausible, and is now commonly accepted in its broad lines: The Jews in the last two centuries B.C. were so numerous in Egypt, especially at Alexandria, that at a certain time they formed two-fifths of the entire population. Little by little most of them ceased to use and even forgot the Hebrew language in great part, and there was a danger of their forgetting the Law. Consequently it became customary to interpret in Greek the Law which was read in the synagogues, and it was quite natural that, after a time, some men zealous for the Law should have undertaken to compile a Greek Translation of the Pentateuch. This happened about the middle of the third century B.C.

As to the other Hebrew books - the prophetical and historical - it was natural that the Alexandrian Jews, making use of the translated Pentateuch in their liturgical reunions, should desire to read the remaining books also and hence should gradually have translated all of them into Greek, which had become their maternal language; this would be so much the more likely as their knowledge of Hebrew was diminishing daily. It is not possible to determine accurately the precise time or the occasions on which these different translations were made; but it is certain that the Law, the Prophets, and at least part of the other books, that is, the hagiographies, existed in Greek before the year 130 B.C., as appears from the prologue of Ecclesiasticus, which does not date later than that year.³⁶

Just prior to the time of Christ, Philo of Alexandria began to synthesize the Classical Greek philosophies with the Old Testament writings.  His melding of Platonism and Judaism was not embraced by the general Jewish community, but it did leave its impression upon the early Church.  Philo referred to Plato as "the most holy Plato;" although he also incorporated the ideas of the Stoics, Pythagoreans, and other philosophers.  As a result, Philo's writings stressed the Platonic virtues while discouraging human emotions.  Philo's Hellenistic approach to interpreting the Old Testament had an enduring effect on the Christian Church; especially upon Clement and Origin of Alexandria, as well as Justin Martyr and Tertullian.  Philo's impact on Christian theology was so great that Jerome considered Philo to be one of the Church Fathers.

The Platonic ideals, so long as they ran parallel to the gospel, were employed by the North African and Latin Fathers to explain the principles of the Christian faith.  Instead of acknowledging that God had fully revealed Himself through His Word and His Christ, these Fathers were willing to include collaborative insights from the Gentiles.  This extra-biblical revelation was received just as the modern Church might receive the teachings of Joseph Smith or Mohammed, so long as they appear to agree with the Bible.  Paul had pointed out the inferiority of man's wisdom.  And the First Letter of John seems to have addressed Plato's assertion that only the philosopher can grasp the full knowledge of the Forms.  But somehow, only the Gnostic derivations of the Platonic concepts were recognized as extreme and heretical.  Even the pure Platonists rejected the Gnostics - effectively engaging the Church as the defenders of the "good" philosophers. 

By the second century of the Church, the effects of Plato's philosophy had spawned several branches of Gnosticism.  Widely varying schools of Gnosticism have emerged over the centuries.  We will now quickly touch on their common assumptions.  Most Gnostics employed some type of demiurge which was assumed to have overflowed from the overabundance of the greatness of an immortal "First Cause."  The demiurge and the Nous (knowledge) emanated directly from the "One being" (Monad), or indirectly through iterations of intermediate degenerations.  Either the demiurge or its own emanations were responsible for the creation of the material realm.

Most Platonists are dualistic in their condemnation of matter, and of the human body.  Those who incorporated an incarnate Christ in their scheme are called Docetists (from the Gr. dokein - to seem).  The Docetists portrayed Jesus as a phantom figure because they believed a good Savior must be spiritual and therefore could not be contaminated by a body of flesh.  Furthermore, they often concluded that the Creator of the material world, the God of the Old Testament, was an evil demiurge because matter is bad.  The Gnostic Christ of the New Testament came to reveal the good god, and to reconcile man to his Monad.

Even though Gnosticism has always been condemned by the Church, its theology is merely a logical extension of Platonic thought.  Once the Gnostics gave their rather vague and messy explanation of creation, they ended up with a fairly logical explanation for the existence of evil.  The Gnostic's (and the good Platonist's) system also supports the assumption that the ascetic life is better than the materialistic life.  So good, and bad, Platonism would seem to support the same spiritual frame of mind taught by Christianity.  The Gnostics were condemned by the Platonists and the Church, because they portrayed the creator as an evil god.  The Church also declared the Gnostic's docetic Christology to be heretical.

As we have already noted, it would appear from First John that the exaltation of so-called knowledge was already present during the Apostolic Age.  This assumption is also supported by what has been termed "the Gnostic Gospels," which were so designated because of their inclusion of Gnostic concepts.  But it was actually the good Platonists whose philosophy was able to penetrate the Christian Church's defenses.  Around 204 A.D., an Alexandrian philosopher named Ammonius Saccas consolidated the views of Plato and Aristotle into a form that was palatable to the young Christian Church.  Ammonius appears to have been familiar with Christianity and some have suggested that he was born in a Christian home.  Most of what is known of Ammonius is contained in the writings of his student, Plotinus.

Plotinus left extensive notes about his philosophy which were compiled by his follower Porphyry.  The philosophy of Plotinus became known as Neo-Platonism, and forms the basis for the system which is usually referred to today as Platonic thought.  After studying under Ammonius for eleven years, Plotinus went to Persia to study Persian philosophy, intending to continue on to India.  His journey was halted by war in Persia, so he remained for a time in Antioch.  From Antioch he traveled to Rome where he spent 24 years writing and teaching.  His philosophy is represented by Porphyry's compilation of the writings of Plotinus, which he titled The Six Enneads.³⁷ Below is list of his Platonic understanding of reality:

• Plotinus incorporated the Pythagorean concept of the Monad which he called the One.
• The One is incapable of "doing" anything because activity would negate the One's unchangeableness.
• The One cannot be any existing thing, but is sheer potentiality.
• The One cannot even be self-aware because that would require activity.
• The One is Good, Beauty, etc. (similar to Socrates Forms)
• The One's first emanation, or First Will, is the Nous (Divine Mind) who Plotinus compares to light from the sun.
• The Soul is reflected by the Nous as the moon reflects the sun's light.
• All of creation is a series of lesser emanations, matter being the lowest.
• The World Soul proceeds from the Nous and has two levels.
• Human souls emanate from the upper level of the World Soul.
• Nature emanates from the lower level of World Soul.
• Eudaimonia is a state of happiness that is independent of mortal circumstances. (The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eudaimonia as "the state of having a good indwelling spirit, a good genius"; and "’happiness’ is not at all an adequate translation of this word."³⁸
• Man can recognize the One through the Forms of Goodness and Beauty.
• Oneness is unity with the One.  (Porphyry said that Plotinus achieved oneness four times during his life.)

As would be expected, Plotinus disdained matter - including his own body.  He would not allow a portrait to be painted of his body, nor recognize his childhood, heritage, or the date of his birth.  Plotinus believed the true human soul to be incorporeal, and that eudaimonia could be achieved only through reason.  He calls the man who has attained Happiness the "Proficient" man.  "For man, and especially the Proficient, is not the Couplement of Soul and body: the proof is that man can be disengaged from the body and disdain its nominal goods." (Enneads I.4.14)  "The Proficient’s will is set always and only inward." (Enneads I.4.11)

The Early Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria and his student, Origin, were both the contemporaries of Ammonius and Plotinus.  Clement's writings were influenced by the Greeks to the extent that they contain more than sixty references to Homer's works.³⁹ He also used the same three divisions of the soul (character, actions, and passions) which Plato had made in his book, The Republic.⁴⁰  Origin was one of the most prolific writers of the Apologetic Age.  His idealistic and allegorical technique of Bible interpretation was adopted by the Universal Church well into the second millennium, with only intermittent resistance from literalists.  During this dark age, the higher allegorical meaning of God's Word was the only interpretation deemed to be inspired, while the literal reading of the Bible was considered to be worldly and of secondary importance.

Here is an example from Origen’s commentary on Luke 10:30-37.  His philosophical meanings from Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan miss the entire point of Jesus' teaching and reach for the "higher" spiritual meaning.  These are Origins conclusions:

The traveler in the Good Samaritan is Adam.  Jerusalem (where the traveler was going) is Paradise.  Jericho is the world.  The robbers are hostile demons.  The priest is the law.  The Levite is the prophets.  The Good Samaritan is Christ.  The traveler’s wounds are disobedience.  The donkey is the Lord’s body.  The inn is the church.  And the two denarius that he paid to the innkeeper were the Father and the Son.  The innkeeper is the bishop.

The Platonists felt like the obvious meaning was too earthly.  The higher spiritual meaning became the focus of the Church.  The obvious meanings where considered mundane and of little value compared to the higher spiritual "mysteries" of God.  Soon the church developed the rule that only the bishops were qualified to derive the correct meanings to these mysteries.  This concentration of knowledge within the upper clergy was necessary because the lower clergy and laymen might come to different conclusions  in interpreting these allegories.  Obviously, if every Christian had been given the opportunity to read and interpret the Bible, they would never have come up with the same meanings.  What if some people thought the innkeeper was a priest?  Or that the two denarius were just a couple coins?  All of Christendom would fall into confusion.  So for hundreds of years the Bible was kept out of the hands of the people.

Origin's precedent of obscuring the practical meaning of the Scriptures affected the next 1,200 years of the Church, and is still applied by Roman Catholics to the Book of Revelation.  A proper fear of the Lord God would have discouraged Origen from taking such liberties in his interpretation of God's Word.  Surely, if Origin had a personal understanding of the gospel of salvation, he would not have diminished its power and simplicity by burying it under his presumptuous fables.  He was, nevertheless, devoted, industrious, and brilliant.  His study of the ancient manuscripts and endless hours of scholarship made his work all the more popular.

Origin's asceticism was so extreme that (according to many Church Historians) he went beyond celibacy and emasculated himself; thus doing everything humanly possible to please the dualistic god of First Principals.  The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy applauds Clements efforts to infuse Platonism into Christian doctrine.

Origen of Alexandria, one of the greatest Christian theologians, is famous for composing the seminal work of Christian Neo-Platonism, his treatise On First Principles. . . Origen lived through a turbulent period of the Christian Church, when persecution was wide-spread and little or no doctrinal consensus existed among the various regional churches.  In this environment, Gnosticism flourished, and Origen was the first truly philosophical thinker to turn his hand not only to a refutation of Gnosticism, but to offer an alternative Christian system that was more rigorous and philosophically respectable than the mythological speculations of the various Gnostic sects.  Origen was also an astute critic of the pagan philosophy of his era, yet he also learned much from it, and adapted its most useful and edifying teachings to a grand elucidation of the Christian faith.  Porphyry (the illustrious student of Plotinus), though a tenacious adversary of Christianity, nevertheless grudgingly admitted Origen's mastery of the Greek philosophical tradition.  In this work [On First Principles] Origen establishes his main doctrines, including that of the Holy Trinity (based upon standard Middle Platonic triadic emanation schemas); the pre-existence and fall of souls; multiple ages and transmigration of souls; and the eventual restoration of all souls to a state of dynamic perfection in proximity to the godhead.⁴¹

And so, Platonism became firmly rooted in Christianity and led the Church down several dark paths, two of which are addressed by Paul in his letters.  In Colossians 2:20-23 Paul warns of the apparent wisdom in the doctrines of men.  "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations – ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men?  These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."

Platonism holds out the promise that people can become spiritual by depriving themselves of legitimate material needs.  This has the appearance of wisdom to those who believe that all matter, including the body, is evil.  When Paul wrote that the spirit and the flesh war against each other, he used the Greek word "sarx," which refers to the fallen sin-self, not to the material body (Gr. soma).  God is the one who created the body.  The warfare is not between God and his creation.  In fact, Paul states in Ephesians that no man ever hated his own body.  The Platonists' problem stems from their dualistic belief that denying matter somehow moves them toward the realm of the spirit, as if the spirit were nothing more than the opposite of matter.  God created the heavens and the earth.  They are not at odds with one another.  They are simply two different realms.  Platonism assumes that man has somehow fallen from heaven into the material world, so avoiding matter should propel him back into heaven.  What Jesus said to the Pharisees also applies to the Platonists; they didn't know where Jesus came from, and they didn't know where He was going.  The Platonist, likewise, does not know where man came from, or where man is going after this life.

The fact that the ascetic neglect of the body is of no value against the indulgence of the flesh has been proven throughout history.  Those philosophers who have tried to live morally by their own self-imposed virtue have most often failed miserably.  Without the fear of a real God who sees and who has the power to judge, man must rely on the strength of his own willpower.  The gospel does not teach that man can approach God by becoming more spiritual; it teaches that man can receive the Holy Spirit of God as a gift by faith in Christ.  And it teaches that man can be reconciled to God by the forgiveness of sin which was purchased by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

Furthermore, man was not created to reflect the light of God, but to enjoy the fellowship of the living God; and, through Christ, to be united with God, and to be renewed with the life of God.  Reflection implies separation.  There must be a distance between the source of light and its object.  Christians experience a life-connection with God as Jesus illustrated when He said that He is the vine and His disciples are the branches.  Separated from Christ we can do nothing of eternal consequence.  Plato has offered nothing which can improve the gospel.  Platonic thought is a different gospel altogether, which has only served to lead men away from the true gospel.

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." - I Tim. 4:1-3

The denial of legitimate physical needs has caused much injury to the body of Christ.  The ascetic lifestyle and celibacy of the Eastern religions was made honorable among Christians by Platonic dualism.  But God created male and female so that they might be fruitful and multiply.  Man does not satisfy his Creator by denying God's very purpose for His design as male and female.  As we will see when we study the history of the Church, very few Christian leaders were able to fulfill their vows of celibacy.  Either through concubinage, or even more immoral behavior, the human body of God's design has found an outlet for its God-given purpose.  God gives his grace of chastity so that His people might remain pure until marriage.  But lifelong celibacy is a rare gift.

Fortunately, the Reformers recognized that the requirements for clergymen, as instructed by the Pastoral Epistles, are based upon the success of the family man.  Even Peter and the other Apostles had wives which they did not desert as they spread the gospel.  We should observe that it was the ascetics of the Early Church who insisted on the eternal virginity of Mary because of their need for a role model - a model not set by the Apostles.

Lastly, this Platonic dualism led to the practice of self-mortification among the monasteries of the Middle Ages.  This schizophrenia of pitting the soul against its own body is one of the most repulsive displays of Christianity-gone-awry.  "No one can live without delight, and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures."  St. Thomas Aquinas⁴²

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  The best philosophies and the highest ideals of man cannot reach into the heavens of God's creation.  The distinguishing factor between the gods of philosophy and the God of the Bible can be summarized in two words:  "Life" and "Love."  The lifeless One cannot give life to his followers.  Neither have the Forms made a home in the heavens for their ascetic worshipers.  Diluting the gospel with worldly wisdom has given mankind the impression that the fruit of the Holy Spirit can be produced by human virtue.  This soul-centric system portrays the benefits of reflecting the Forms as proceeding from man's reason, an inversion of the reality that grace proceeds to man from God because of His mercy and love.  Principles and Forms have no love to offer.  The grand philosophers turned from their marble statues merely to create their own lifeless idols of the mind.  Little children, keep your self from idols.

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Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Three

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Three

by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

Copyrighted material.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without written permission from the publisher.  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to purchase this book or share with another person, please purchase a copy for each reader from any online bookseller.  Visit Dark-Freedom.com for purchase details or: http://darkfreedombook.com/

Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds
The Lord, He is God!

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." – II Peter 3:10-13

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved. . . . It is not a matter of if, but when.  NASA alone lists five programs which are on the lookout for "Near Earth Objects": Catalina Sky Survey, Pan-STARRS, LINEAR, Spacewatch, and NEOWISE.  Physicists around the globe are hurriedly putting together proposals on the best way to blow-up or divert incoming asteroids and comets.  Here's the point.  If scientists really believed the earth went for millions of years in between killer collisions, none of these programs would exist!  But somehow the evolution scientists just haven't gotten the picture.  If only a few thousand years go by between these age-ending impacts, even an evolutionist would agree that is simply not enough time for life to magically appear from a mud puddle.

Evolution proponents have also been reluctant to acknowledge that fossils aren't formed every time something dies.  Dead plants and animals typically decay before they can be encased by mud or clay.  Some type of mold must be formed so that the shape of the corpse can be filled with sediment capable of turning into rock.  This petrification also needs to take place quickly enough so that the organism's own chemical compounds don't have time to react with one another causing their own self-destruction.  There are only a few agents that can cause these rapid entombments; those being, ash or earth from volcanoes, and sediment moved quickly by wind or flood.  Furthermore, some scientists have been willing to admit that the last major fossil-forming event occurred only a few thousand years ago.

Paleontologists, operating under the assumption that earth’s strata represent millions or billions of years, have not looked for fresh tissues within fossilized remains.  But fresh biological material within some fossils has been there all along and is being continually discovered, despite the protests of biochemists that it should not exist.

Molecules such as proteins, pigments, and DNA - as well as intact cells and, in some cases, cells still grouped together in tissues - have been found in fossils that are supposedly millions of years old.  Whole organisms are sealed in amber deposits, and over a thousand still-living kinds of microbes have been extracted from them.

Fresh tissues and living cells cannot possibly be millions of years old, and they constitute some of the strongest evidence for the young world that the Bible describes.²⁷

The theory of evolution is not supported by the fossil record, but is instead brutally betrayed by the absence of the fossils of transitional species.  ScienceDaily provides an estimate for the number of known species as follow: "About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) is the new, estimated total number of species on Earth -- the most precise calculation ever offered -- with 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in oceans. Announced by the Census of Marine Life, the figure is based on a new analytical technique.  The number of species on Earth had been estimated previously at 3 million to 100 million."²⁸

If we were to assume that each existing species jumped to its present form with just one step in between its original form and its final form, then one transitional life form would existed for each of the 8.7 million species.  Now let's say that just a few thousand of each of these transitional bodies were preserved by becoming fossilized.  Even in this simplest case we should find these fossils everywhere.  In fact, there should be many times more of these fossils than the fossils of known species which have already been found.

Now if we "get real," and assume a series of transitions occurred for each of the known species, then there should be tens of thousands of each of these transitional fossils for every one of the fossils of one of the known species.  A person shouldn't be able to walk out the front door of his house without tripping over piles of these intermediate fossils.

The sobering fact is that thousands of scientists have devoted their entire lives to finding just one of these missing links.  Some have become so discouraged at the non-existence of these transitional forms that they have created fake relics in desperation, as if coming up with just one would solve their whole problem.  The real problem is that the rocks should be teeming with these transitional forms.  But instead, the very rocks cry out that evolution is a lie.  The ungodly and unbelieving have built their arguments for evolution on fiction.  People who believe in evolution do so because they choose to believe it.  It takes a greater leap of faith to believe in the lie than it does to believe in the truth of God.

Furthermore, the notion that ancient people would be intelligent enough to draw pictures on the walls of caves and at the same time be too stupid to build a shelter is preposterous.  Did it take thousands of years for birds to learn how to build nests?  How many million years did it take bees to figure out how to build hives?  Of course, some outcasts, fugitives, and homeless people lived in caves in the past, just as they always have, and as they continue to do today.  But there are simply not enough natural caves on the planet to house a population of any significant size.  The suggestion that an entire age of history should be designated as the era of "cavemen" is so irrational that it would require a mind less developed than one of those so-called cavemen to believe such a myth.

The obvious fact is that man, and all the other living creatures, were placed on the earth.  The only two practical considerations for life on the planet are: we were placed here by God, or we were dropped out of a spaceship.  The problem with the "alien concept" is that it doesn't explain the existence of the spiritual realm, which we have discussed previously.  And in fact, we don't need to search the skies for our Maker as though we were searching for aliens.  God has already made Himself known.   As we look among all the objects of man's worship, only one God has ever proven His own existence.  The God who answers by fire, He is God.

This was the test which Elijah proposed to the worshippers of Baal.  "Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.  Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.  Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.  Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’" - I Kings 18:21-24

Most readers know how the prophets of Baal jumped around and shouted for hours, and that nothing happened.  But then Elijah called on the Lord God of Israel.  "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.  Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!’" - I Kings 18:38-39 By this same test we can know that the God of the Bible - He is God!  The real God is the God who shows up.

No other God among men has an entire book recording how He has worked on the earth.  The Bible gives details, backed up by archaeology and history, showing how He has directed men and nations, heard and answered prayers, and spoken in advance concerning future events.  Not only has the greatest story ever told been written on the Bible's pages, it continues to be told in the lives of God's people to this day.  God is still making Himself real to His people; blessing, comforting, guiding, directing, and offering the hope of eternal life.  And He is still correcting, chastening and warning mankind to repent of their ungodliness that they might not perish.  Throughout the ages, and among all people, the God of Bible is the only God who has this kind of testimony.  He is the God who has shown up.  The Lord - He is God!

Man has every reason to believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is their Creator and Savior.  But people who are un-churched and ignorant of the Bible are not even aware there is a real God who has proven His existence and power through His testimony.  They have been convinced of the lie that man has risen up from the atoms to become his own master of the universe.  Their delusion is so strong that most of them never even stop to think, "Who made the atoms?"  "Where did energy and the building blocks of the physical universe come from?"  "Have they existed forever?"  "Are they, then, the eternal god?"

Do the atoms have a spirit or soul which drives them to express themselves in ever-higher forms?  Are the atoms aware of their progress toward some grand scheme, and will they know when it has been achieved?  Would atoms be disappointed, or feel unfulfilled, if they had never become more than rocks and minerals?  Is every creature, solar system, and galaxy in the universe a meaningless accident?  If so, is it better to be a dog than a rock, or better to be a man than a shrub?  No wonder that modern philosophers have come to believe in existentialism and fatalism.

The disparity between lifeless atoms and the living souls of men is far too great to ignore.  How did spirit and matter intersect to form the body, soul, and spirit of man?  The question of life's origin has more of an impact on attitude and culture than any other philosophical question.  It makes the difference between purpose and mere existence, between meaning and insignificance, between spiritual consciousness and oblivion.

The fact is, people have a spirit with hopes and aspirations, desires and expectations.  It is reasonable to conclude that we have inherited these qualities from our creator, and that we were indeed made in the image and likeness of God; a God who has a plan, a will, and expectations for His creation.  A God who knows us, loves us, and wants to keep us from perishing by offering us eternal life.  And amazingly, He is willing to overlook the time that man has spent running from Him, and worshipping the false god of matter.

The Apostle Paul observed that when people choose to worship the things which God has created rather than worshipping God Himself, God allows them to be carried away into a state of complete immorality.  And because today's presumptuous philosophers (so-called evolutionary scientists) have led mankind into the worship of matter, western culture stands on the brink of total depravity.

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." – Rom. 1:22-32

Man still retains a God-given conscience and many good character traits from his original identity as the image and likeness of God.  Yet at the same time, fallen man believes he can be good on his own, even while he seeks independence from God - the source of his goodness.  This is a direct conflict.  But man foolishly hopes to contrive some arrangement by which he can experience goodness on earth, while remaining alienated from God.  Today, as the West toys with Atheism, man tries to reclassify wicked behavior as morally neutral - as long as it is accompanied by a pleasant temperament and the acceptance of others.  The soul and conscience are not fooled by this cover-up; and so unredeemed man lives in an irresolvable state of confusion.  He searches for another source of stability and strength.  A spiritual source that is compatible with wickedness.  Having turned away from the protection of God, man has become easy prey to the forces of darkness, and has begun to identify with God's enemy.  We find, therefore, a direct correlation between man's slide into wickedness and his worship of Satan - the god of wickedness.

The physical sciences, which man once contorted to support evolution, have ultimately revealed through astronomy the brevity of the age.  Man's habitation on the earth is not an everlasting kingdom.  God sustains the duration of the ages by His word.  But because our Lord is a long time in coming, mankind has determined to build his own kingdom; a kingdom in which his conduct is unconcerned with God's will.  This laxity is to be expected by the world, which desires to remain alienated from God.  Unfortunately, the Church has largely adopted the same lethargic attitude.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." - Matt. 6:10 These two actions are bound together.  The understanding that "Thine is the kingdom" is the basis of the fear of the Lord.  Many western Christians have embraced the world's delusion that man is the heir of his own runaway kingdom.  The decline of holy conduct and godliness in western culture can be directly attributed to a lack of fear of the Lord; a Lord who is perceived as being so weak that He has lost control of His kingdom.  The Church has lost its saltiness because it has lost its watchfulness.  The church has been lulled to sleep by the lullaby of the lawless - "The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad." – Zeph.1:12

Whereas in fact, we have God's word that He is doing a short work on the earth, and that He will cut it short in righteousness.  "The heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat."  "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" – II Peter 3:10 (Emphasis added)

Holy conduct and godliness will not return to the Church until it acknowledges the coming end of the age.  As much as worldly scientists would like to ignore it, science only serves to confirm the end-time prophecies.  The fallen world's faith in itself cannot save the world.  The heavens and the earth will pass away precisely as God has ordained.  May the Church awaken to remember that the Lord's kingdom was not of this world, and neither is this world the kingdom of the saints.   

"Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." - I John 2:15-17

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Two

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Two

Dark Freedom

The Rise of Western Lawlessness

by C.W. Steinle

Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

Copyrighted material.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without written permission from the publisher.  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to purchase this book or share with another person, please purchase a copy for each reader from any online bookseller.  Visit Dark-Freedom.com for purchase details or: http://darkfreedombook.com/

Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds

From the Flood to the Fire

"For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,

Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth." – Rom. 9:28

How short is short to the eternal God for whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day?  Jesus told His disciples to watch and be ready.  But man's expectations about the timing of Christ's return have not been ruled by patience.  "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."   After two thousand years of triumphs, trials, and persecution, the hearts of Christ's followers still cry out, "How long, O Lord."

The first century church supposed that Jesus would return during the lifetime of the Apostles.  Then Christians thought the end of the age had come when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed; and again, when the blood of the saints was shed during the ten waves of Roman persecution.  But as the Church melded into the Roman Empire under Constantine, the focus shifted from the Lord's return from heaven to the glory of His Church on the earth.  But within the centuries surrounding the Little Ice Age of the 1600's, roughly one-third of the earth's population was killed by wars, famines, plagues, and persecutions.¹²  Once again, believers expected the end.  Then came the wars of Napoleon, the revolutionary wars, civil wars, and world wars. 

The first and second millennia have now come and gone, and "where is the promise of His coming?"  The patience of the world, and of the Nominal Church, has reached its limit.  The natural man has never been good about waiting.  Just when the fish is about to bite, the fisherman reels in the line to check his bait.  Just when the market bottoms, the investor sells all of his stocks.  And consider the youth, who would risk their lives rather than miss out on something they think they should have NOW.  So often we give up at the moment just before we would have received the reward for our patience.

What if God really is doing a short work?  What if He has determined to cut the work short in righteousness because keeping it short is the right thing to do?  Just like He cut the pre-flood maximum lifespan of man down from close to 1,000 years to 120 years because of the rise of wickedness on the earth; saying, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." - Genesis 6:3

What if God has predetermined the duration of this age and we are nearly to the end?  As the sin of our times grows exponentially, wouldn't we anticipate that God would respond?  If that idea sounds unnerving, it just goes to show how far away modern thought has drifted from the apostolic expectation of Christ's return.  Yet the Church was directly warned by the Apostle Peter that the length of this age has a limit.

"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.  But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." - II Peter 3:1-9

Peter makes three main points that we should keep in mind and never forget: God made the world, God sustains the world, and God determines the duration of each age.  It is amazing how accurately Peter described the world before the flood as, the earth standing out of water and in the water.  This is a great description of the ancient geological configuration of the earth known as Pangaea, which depicts all of the continents joined together as one landmass encompassed by one global sea.

Figure 1 - Map of Pangaea¹³

Peter stated of that former age; "the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water."  Whether a person holds the belief of six literal days of creation, or they believe in a recently inhabited old earth, everyone must agree that at some point in the past, something horrible happened to the planet.  This trauma actually rearranged whole continents and oceans.  Parts of the earth were turned inside out like a worn out soccer ball.  The evidence is all around us.  Tectonic plates tipped on edge are exposed on nearly every mountain range.  Some were tipped completely upside down.  Others rose from the bottom of the ocean to become the tops of mountains.  The oilfields of Wyoming are a good example.  There oil (fossil fuel) lies at the top of the continental divide, yet it is trapped thousands of feet below the mountain peaks.

The location of oilfields and limestone deposits provide two of the most graphic illustrations of the difference between the world that then existed and the earth's present form.  Petroleum is made from organic material which has decomposed and then been chemically altered over time.  Limestone is also largely made from marine plants, animals, and shells that have undergone pressure to form sedimentary rock.  Both of these substances, which were formed from living organisms, could have once been forests or jungles; but most of the oil and limestone is thought to have come from the bottom of the sea.

It is common for limestone to include the fossils of the plants and animals that once lived in the vicinity where the sediment formed.  Now consider that vast inland quantities of oil and limestone have been dislocated and moved to higher elevations.  The bones of whales and other marine animals have been found in the sediment of the Andes Mountains of South America.  Seabed fossils have also been found atop the Mogollon Rim of Arizona at an elevation of 7,000 feet.

"About 15,000 feet up on Tibet's desolate Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, an international research team led by Florida State University geologist Yang Wang was surprised to find thick layers of ancient lake sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils typical of far lower elevations and warmer, wetter climates."¹⁴ The disfiguration of the earth that divided the continents and turned ocean floors into mountain ranges could not have been the result of volcanoes or storms.  This unparalleled catastrophe, by which the world that then existed perished, could only have been caused by the earth's collision with another celestial body.  Scientists agree that such a collision would have also caused the continents to be flooded with water.

We have more than geological evidence for this great upheaval which divided the ages.  The very language of the Bible preserves terminology which would otherwise seem meaningless, or at the least irrelevant, if it were not based on actual events of the past.  The Bible alludes to such extraordinary events as the islands being removed, mountains thrown into the sea, and mountains being brought low and valleys raised up.  Without the benefit of modern geology where else could these concepts have come from, unless they were based on actual historical accounts passed down from one generation to another?

We will return to the second catastrophe, noted by Peter as the scorching of the planet by fire; but first, let's consider the possibility of a future significant astrological collision.  There is more stuff flying around in outer space than most people think.  The sources below provide ample evidence that the duration of man's time on earth has been exaggerated by evolutionary scientists in order to provide enough time for their theory.

According to Dr. Sten Odenwald, "On any given day, the estimates are that the Earth intercepts about 19,000 meteorites weighing over 3.5 ounces."¹⁵

"Scientists estimate that 44 tonnes (44,000 kilograms, about 48.5 tons) of meteoritic material falls on the Earth each day.  Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night.  Sometimes the number increases dramatically - these events are termed meteor showers.  Some occur annually, or at regular intervals, as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by comets.  Meteor showers are usually named after the star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky.  Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak around the Twelfth of August every year.  Each Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by the Sun every 135 years.  Other meteor showers and their associated comets are the Leonids (Tempel-Tuttle), the Aquarids and Orionids (Halley), and the Taurids (Encke).  Most comet dust in meteor showers burns up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground; some dust is captured by high-altitude aircraft and analyzed in NASA laboratories. . . . More than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth.  Of these, 99.8 percent come from asteroids."¹⁶

"Asteroids with a diameter of 7 meters enter Earth's atmosphere with as much kinetic energy as Little Boy (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, approximately 16 kilotons of TNT) about every 5 years, but the air burst only generates a much reduced 5 kilotons of TNT.  These ordinarily explode in the upper atmosphere, and most or all of the solids are vaporized.  Objects with a diameter of roughly 50 m (164 ft) strike Earth approximately once every thousand years, producing explosions comparable to the one known to have detonated roughly 8.5 kilometers (28,000 ft) above Tunguska in 1908."¹⁷ 

"On February 14, 2013 a 10,000 ton meteor about 17-meters in diameter entered Earth’s atmosphere over Russia traveling at 40,000 mph (18 km/s). It detonated in the air over the town of Chelyabinsk and the explosion caused major damage to the town injuring 1,000 people.  The people were hurt by flying glass when the windows of over 3000 buildings blew out over an area of about 1000 km2.  Unlike the famous Tunguska Event of 1908 which blew down 80 million trees and was not ‘discovered’ for many decades afterwards, the Chelyabinsk Meteor was extensively videoed by hundreds of dash-cams and cell phones as it happened.  Studies of thousands of meteor sightings by scientists can now tell us just how often asteroids of 4-meters or larger enter Earth’s atmosphere. About two of these events happen each year over the entire surface area of Earth."¹⁸

Professor S.A. Nelson of Tulane University has articulated the dangers presented by incoming astrological bodies.  Below are some excerpts from his summary titled, "Meteorites, Impacts, & Mass Extinction."¹⁹

Although the Chelyabinsk meteorite probably weighed about 12,000–13,000 metric tonnes, and measured 17 to 20 m in diameter before it exploded, scientists were quick to point out that it was very small compared to other objects that could potentially hit the earth. The explosion released energy estimated at about 500 kilotons of TNT (about 20 to 30 times more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb). The event brought to the world's attention the very real hazards associated with the impact of objects from outer space.

The impact of a space object with a size greater than about 1 km would be expected to be felt over the entire surface of the Earth. Smaller objects would certainly destroy the ecosystem in the vicinity of the impact, similar to the effects of a volcanic eruption. Larger impacts could have a worldwide effect on life on the Earth. We will here first consider the possible effects of an impact, and then discuss how impacts may have resulted in mass extinction of species on the Earth in the past.

Regional and Global Effects

Again, we as humans have no firsthand knowledge of what the effects of an impact of a large meteorite (> 1 km in size) or comet would be. Still, calculations can be made and scaled experiments can be conducted to estimate the effects. The general consensus is summarized here.

Massive earthquake - up to Richter Magnitude 13, and numerous large magnitude aftershocks would result from the impact of a large object with the Earth.

The large quantities of dust put into the atmosphere would block incoming solar radiation. The dust could take months to settle back to the surface. Meanwhile, the Earth would be in a state of continual darkness, and temperatures would drop throughout the world, generating global winter like conditions. A similar effect has been postulated for the aftermath of a nuclear war (termed a nuclear winter). Blockage of solar radiation would also diminish the ability of photosynthetic organisms, like plants, to photosynthesize. Since photosynthetic organisms are the base of the food chain, this would seriously disrupt all ecosystems.

Widespread wildfires ignited by radiation from the fireball as the object passed through the atmosphere would be generated. Smoke from these fires would further block solar radiation to enhance the cooling effect and further disrupt photosynthesis.

If the impact occurred in an ocean, a large steam cloud would be produced by the sudden evaporation of the seawater. This water vapor and CO₂ would remain in the atmosphere long after the dust settles. Both of these gases are greenhouse gases which scatter solar radiation and create a warming effect. Thus, after the initial global cooling, the atmosphere would undergo global warming for many years after the impact.

Also, if the impact occurred in an ocean, a giant tsunami would be generated. For a ten km-diameter object, the leading edge would hit the seafloor of the deep ocean basins before the top of the object had reached sea level. The tsunami from such an impact is estimated to produce waves from one to three km high. These could easily flood the interior of continents.

Large amounts of nitrogen oxides would result from combining nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere due to the shock produced by the impact. These nitrogen oxides would combine with water in the atmosphere to produce nitric acid which would fall back to the surface as acid rain, resulting in the acidification of surface waters.

The Geologic Record of Mass Extinction

It has long been known that extinction of large percentages families or species of organisms have occurred at specific times in the history of our planet. Among the mechanisms that have been suggested to have caused these mass extinctions have been large volcanic eruptions, changes in climatic conditions, changes in sea level, and, more recently, meteorite impacts.

Risk - It is estimated that in any given year the odds that you will die from an impact of an asteroid or comet are between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 250,000. . . . Although this seems like long odds, you have about the [the same odds] of dying from other natural disasters likes floods and tornadoes. In fact the odds of dying from an impact event are much better than the odds of winning the Powerball lottery.

A 400 meter asteroid striking the earth would produce a destructive force of 2,800 megatons of TNT.  On November 8, 2011, the 400 meter asteroid designated (308635) 2005 YU55 passed within the moon's orbit of the earth.  Purdue University has calculated that a 400 meter asteroid will only strike the earth about once every 100,000 years.²⁰ The problem is that we naturally assume the interval of time between strikes starts from the time we read the data.  No one knows where in time their measurements should begin.  Neither does anyone know how evenly spaced throughout time certain sized asteroids might make their arrival.  Furthermore, there are so many known and unknown celestial objects out there, we simply have no assurance that there is any great length of time between these age-ending collisions.

Figure 2 - Plot of orbits of known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (size over 460 feet (140 m) and passing within 4.7 million miles (7.6×106 km) of Earth's orbit) as of early 2013.²¹

In 2002 an asteroid between 50 and 120 meters passed between the moon and the earth.  Two asteroids in 2012, and one in 2013, all in the 35-45 meter range, passed through this same corridor.  According to the scientists' calculations, asteroids of this size enter the earth's atmosphere about once every 300 years.  But the reality is that we only went 106 years, from 1908 to 2015 to experience two massive explosions from asteroids of this size.  And who knows how many more entered uninhabited areas of the planet during that same period.

Through advanced telescopes astronomers have gotten a much better picture of all that is "out there".  The earth is moving around the sun at 67,000 MPH.  Our solar system is moving through the galaxy at 490,000 MPH.  And the galaxy appears to be traveling through space at 2,236,936,290 MPH.  What could possibly go wrong?  The data which astronomers have obtained has not set the scientific community at ease about the possibility of another extinction event.  Quite the contrary.  Canada, Europe, and the United States have begun to scramble to prevent the next extinction event.  The U.S. Congress passed, in 2005, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act, containing the following directive:

The U.S. Congress has declared that the general welfare and security of the United States require that the unique competence of NASA be directed to detecting, tracking, cataloguing, and characterizing near-Earth asteroids and comets in order to provide warning and mitigation of the potential hazard of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. The NASA Administrator shall plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near- Earth objects equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program to achieve 90% completion of its near-Earth object catalogue (based on statistically predicted populations of near-Earth objects) within 15 years after the date of enactment of this Act. The NASA Administrator shall transmit to Congress not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act an initial report that provides the following: (A) An analysis of possible alternatives that NASA may employ to carry out the Survey program, including ground-based and space-based alternatives with technical descriptions. (B) A recommended option and proposed budget to carry out the Survey program pursuant to the recommended option. (C) Analysis of possible alternatives that NASA could employ to divert an object on a likely collision course with Earth.²²

The Biblical account of the flood tells us that eight people survived the last great extinction event and were able to tell the story.  This is indeed the most reasonable explanation for the Bible's inclusion of language describing the same geological changes which have only recently been discovered through science.  Considering the damage, it is truly a miracle that Noah and his family survived.  And based on the number of the bodies in motion which have the potential to impact the planet, it is quite reasonable to believe that only a few thousand years have gone by since the beginning of the present age.

There is also a longstanding belief, passed down from the ancients, that the present age is only intended by God to last for a few thousand years.  To understand this tradition it is necessary to understand Biblical "seasons."  The Apostle Paul said that Christians should be knowledgeable about times and seasons.  One example of the use of the word "season" (one which also stresses the importance of being watchful) is found in Jesus' response to the request for a sign from heaven.  "Then the Pharisees and Sadducee's came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times." – Matt. 16:1-3

The Greek word used here for "times" is kairon.  Kairos is the Greek word for season, or a measure of time.  Both of these words from the ancient manuscripts are derived from the Greek word for time chrono.  Our English word chronology comes from this Greek root.

The ancient Hebraic seasons had names and were about 2,000 years in duration.  In the Hebrew traditions there were three of these seasons totaling 6,000 years.  Each thousand-year period was thought to represent one of the six days of creation.

The late Risto Santala was an international authority on ancient Hebrew writings.  He was the author of the well known books, The Messiah in the Old and in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings,²³ and Paul - The Man and the Teacher in the Light of Jewish Sources.²⁴  Many of the Pauline Epistles express concepts found in the ancient rabbinical writings.  In his book on Paul, Santala inserts several paragraphs expressing his own eschatological theories.  These were primarily based on the Hebrew 6,000 year doctrine.  The following quotes, which state the basic assumptions of this ancient Hebraic tradition, are from Risto’s website.

The tradition of Elijah teaches that the world is to exist for six thousand years; In the first two thousand desolation; in the next two thousand the Torah will flourish and the next two thousand are the days of the Messiah but on account of our sins, which were great, things turned out as they did."- Sanhedrin 97a

It was essential to this traditional expectation that the sovereignty of the Torah -- the Law of Moses -- would last 2000 years, the same as that of the Messianic period. In the same far-ranging discussion from which the above citation is taken we find, in explanation, that:

"The seventh millennium will be war, and at the close of the millennium the Son of David will come". - Sanhedrin 97b

In the discussion which follows mention is made of "The war of Gog and Magog and the remaining period will be the Messianic era, whilst the Holy One, blessed be he, will restore his world only when the seventh millennium is over."

This so-called "Elijah Tradition", which represents the understanding of the majority of the Sages, brings to mind the mainstream Christian teaching of the Last Days and the Millennial Kingdom. When six millennia have passed, there will follow, according to some, a thousand-year Sabbath, shabaton. This could be the "Messianic era" after which the "world" will be renewed.²⁵  

Risto Santala isn’t the only Bible scholar who believed in this tradition of the ancient rabbis.  Irenaeus of Lyons lived about a hundred years after the death of the Apostle John.  Irenaeus was tutored by John's disciple, Polycarp.  Irenaeus wrote extensively during the late second century in order to battle the onslaught of false teachings.  Fortunately, he not only discredited false doctrines, he also recorded what was believed universally by the Church of his day.  His writings have been relied on by the Church as a source for sound and true doctrine.  In Volume 5 of his work, Against Heresies, Irenaeus states some of the eschatological views held by the Early Church.

He says also: "And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,"that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years.

For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: "Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works." This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.

But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared, that "many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."²⁶

Obviously, the Early Church continued to base their eschatological doctrines on the foundations laid by the Jewish scholars. So now let’s see how the 6,000 year doctrine lines up with the Bible.  About the Hebrew year 4,000, Jesus came proclaiming, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." – Mark 1:15)

The time has been fulfilled - kairos.  Jesus spoke in other places about the Scriptures being fulfilled, joy being fulfilled; and Paul wrote that the law had been fulfilled.  But here in Mark, Jesus says the time (a measure of time, or season) has been fulfilled.  That season which had been fulfilled was that 2,000 year season called the time of the Law or the Days of Elijah. (Remember, the first 2,000 year period was the time of desolation, or, the Days of Wilderness.)

Today we are just finishing up the Days of Messiah – the third 2,000 year period.  Those who believe that this age of man has continued for millions of years cannot fathom that man’s time upon the earth is about to come to an end.  However, those who believe the Bible understand that only scoffers refuse to acknowledge the coming catastrophe and Christ's return.

Seasons do change.  It’s a God thing.  Today we live around the Hebrew calendar year 6,000 – the time of the end of man’s kingdom.  (Experts have determined that the popular Hebrew calendar date is off by around two hundred years.)

No man knows the hour.  But we can, and are expected to, know the season.  Because Jesus came in due time (at just the right time, right at the 4,000-year mark), we have every reason to believe the events of the Tribulation will begin around the 6,000-year mark.  In other words – at any moment.

Peter wrote that, "the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." – II Peter 3:7 End times Bible prophecy lends itself strongly to the conclusion that celestial impacts will play a significant role in the end of the age.  The destructions listed in the eighth chapter of Revelation begin with fire being thrown to the earth.  But the physical effects of these judgments align themselves closely with to the expected results of falling asteroids.

"Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." - Rev. 8:5-6

Flaming meteors?  "The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up." - Rev. 8:7

Large asteroid?  "Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." - Rev. 8:8-9

Torch-like falling star - Perhaps a comet, resulting in acid rain?  "Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter." - Rev. 8:10-11

Sky darkened by debris?  "Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night." - Rev. 8:12

Comet or Massive Asteroid?  "Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit." - Rev. 9:1-2

Lastly consider the mountainous rock of the end times prophet, Daniel.  Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream also ends with a rock breaking up all of the kingdoms of the earth.  The generally accepted Christian teaching holds that the Rock is Christ - in keeping with Isaiah 9:7; "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."

Nevertheless, it is also reasonable to expect that God would use a physical rock to manifest the breaking up and destruction of the kingdoms of man; those kingdoms which stand in ever-increasing unity against the Lord and His anointed One. (Psalm 2)

"Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." – Dan. 2:45

But clearly we must consider the fact that Peter said the final judgment would come by fire, and God has promised never to flood the entire earth again.  This dilemma might be solved by the descent of several smaller asteroids (described in Rev. 8), accompanied by a large enough meteor storm to heat up the earth's atmosphere.  God will use whatever means He has purposed to use.  Our sun has been acting peculiar recently.  Will it go into a super-nova phase?  That would provide another physical explanation for the fire.  Or perhaps the CERN super-collider will split the wrong particle?

It is not so important to know how God will bring the fire of judgment as it is to understand that the world was made by God's word, it is sustained by His word, and God has already determined the means of the next judgment.  The present age is reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  This is the reason that the destructive forces at the end of this age are referred to as the wrath of God.  It is the same wrath that closed out the last age with the flood, because "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." – Gen. 6:5

The godly are not the only ones grieved as lawlessness leads to more lawlessness - God is watching.  And although this age is only a short work upon the earth to the Lord, He is waiting patiently.  "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." – II Peter 3:9

This discussion of NEO's continues into the next chapter here: http://darkfreedombook.blogspot.com/2016/01/dark-freedom-rise-of-western_18.html

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