Published 10/26/26

“For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.”

2Thessalonians 2:11-12

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: www.biblehub.com.

All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only Sovereign Deity.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

Overview

This essay will briefly examine three satanic deceptions that are constantly in the news:  The existence of dinosaurs, UFO sightings, and life-after-death experiences.  Though we may quote certain factoids to illustrate a point, we will rely exclusively on the written ‘evidence’ of Scripture to ‘prove’ our arguments; which renders further debates counterproductive and spiritually harmful [↔1Timothy 3:4, 6:20-21].

Since we are limited to quoting Scripture as given, we will be ‘reading between the lines’ of Scripture to highlight ‘hidden meanings’; and if our arguments sound ‘loony,’ that is as it should be:  Not every professed Christian—let alone unbelievers—has the level of faith granting him/her a fuller understanding of Scripture [↔1Corinthians 11:19; 2Thessalonians 3:2; 1Timothy 1:7; 2Peter 3:16].  Imparting that understanding through the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ business,¹ not ours:  If as in the case of Lydia (Acts 16:14) Jesus sees in any one person the desire to understand Scripture, discernment will be given along with the inner conviction and certainty that what one “discerns” is the truth. 

Deception 1:  Prehistoric Fossil Remains

Not a day goes by that prehistoric fossils of animals and plants are unearthed and dated back to time-spans beyond the scope of Scripture.² We will not be talking about how these fossils came to be or the science behind their dating; but instead suggest that readers’ consider them in the context of non-evidentiary faith vs. empiricism [↔Hebrews 11:1]; truth spiritually discerned vs. human understanding incapable of that discernment [↔Deuteronomy 29:29; Mark 4:11; 1Corinthians 1:20, 2:10-14]; and spiritual realities hidden from view vs. physical realities perceived by human senses acted upon [↔2Samuel 17:14; 1Kings 22:19-22; 2Kings 6:15-18; Luke 18:34, 24:16,31; John 20:14, 21:4; Hebrews 13:2].  In a Gospel where Father allows Satan to deploy ‘powerful delusions’ to ensnare disbelievers, including scientists and perhaps the reason for Paul’s comment in 2Timothy 6:20, fossils may be deceptions given physical form to test believers’ faith and to judge/condemn doubters of Scripture [↔Isaiah 28:13; Mark 4:12].

Worse off are Creationists, who having been warned that adding or detracting from Scripture is a major no-no [↔Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 9:6], juggle faith with science in a misguided effort to sound logical and save face before men; positing dinosaurs [profitable to boot] existed despite Scripture denying them—especially the Book of Genesis of which Creationists are particularly fond.  Let us then use Genesis as the standard to argue Scripture’s perspective. 

Counterargument 1:  Origins of Animal and Plant Life

Genesis 1 claims that Yahweh Son, the preexistent Jesus and Yahweh Father’s proxy Creator [↔John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2-3], endowed with powers given to him by a God Who “calls into being what does not yet exist” (Romans 4:17),³  created all flora and fauna fully-formed [Genesis 1:11-13,20-25↔i.e., no Darwinian evolution].⁴  By the same token, Son made man from “the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7)⁵ in his and Father’s image;⁶ and judging by how the human race has looked since antiquity until today, not in the image of ape-like hominids, Neanderthals [extinct about 40,000 years ago], Cro-Magnons [extinct about 20,000 years ago], or extraterrestrials (ETs)  We will return to this image while discussing the latter.

Counterargument 2:  Time Spans

If one follows the many genealogies in Scripture, only a few thousand years are accounted for.⁷  Luke’s traces 30-yeard-old Jesus back to Adam (Luke 3:23-28) without referencing intervening generations like Matthew’s.  Matthew groups generations into time-spans [↔Matthew 1:1-17]; but Scripture does not tell us how many years are included in one generation—a controversial topic amongst scholars and interpreters of the Bible we will not discuss here.  From the perspective of Genesis 1’s symbolic week, 1 day = 1,000 years [↔Psalms 90:4; 2Peter 3:8]; Habakkuk’s 3:2 plea [“In the midst of the years revive your work; in the midst of the years make it known”↔i.e., Jesus’ earthly ministry ±4,000 years into human history]; and the 1,000-year-long Sabbath in Heaven (Revelation 20:4)⁸ prior to Armageddon (Revelation 20:7-9), Scripture infers that human history is at best ±7,000 years old.

Let us turn to man-made date guesstimates.  According to calculations by Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656 AD), Creation started at nightfall on Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC, which loosely agrees with the overall symbolism of Genesis 1.⁹ Ussher’s chronology is generally dismissed on grounds of ‘gaps’ between ancestors but we are not going there; however we question the exactness of his conclusions given that timelines in Scripture do not necessarily adhere to atomic-clock standards.

For example, Jesus said he would resurrect on the third day (Matthew 12:40) following his crucifixion (Matthew 17:23); yet he died late Friday afternoon (Luke 23:46-54) and resurrected early Sunday morning (Luke 24:1; John 20:1)—by no means 3 full days or 72 straight hours.  Still it is also true that his death touched upon parts of three different days; and from the symbolic perspective of Genesis 1’s 1,000 year-long “Days”, given that in Scripture men and earth are interchangeable [↔Genesis 2:19, 3:14; Psalms 103:14; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2], Jesus’ expression “the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the hearts of men” may imply his enduring memory in the minds of men during what Paul called the “end of the ages” [1Corinthians 10:11↔i.e., the latter part of human history from post-crucifixion to his second coming].  While all of this is suggestive, it is by no means conclusive.  We move on.

If we count down from Abraham [c. 1960 BC] to David [c. 1040 BC], then according to Matthew 14 generations = 1960 minus 1040 = 900 years; if we count down from David to the Babylonian deportation [c. 597], then according to Matthew 14 generations = 1040 minus 597 = 443 years; and if we count down for the Babylonian deportation to the birth of Jesus [c. 6 BC],¹⁰ then according to Matthew 14 generations = 597 minus 6 = 591 years.  End result: Matthew’s 42 generations = 900 + 443 + 591 = 1934 years without defining exactly how long one generation is. [We apologize for our simplistic approach, math and errors if any].

But let us focus on the big picture.  We know that 2,000+ years intervene between Jesus and us; so if were to add these 2,000+ years to the 1,934 years computed above, and in addition added unknown years from Adam to Abraham, thousands and not millions of years are also involved. In terms of dinosaurs that theoretically became extinct 66 million years ago plus even older prehistoric fossils of animal and plant life, none of them fit within Scripture’s timelines.

Counterargument 2:  The Origin of Birds and Animals

Scientific theory posits that surviving dinosaur species evolved into modern-day birds;¹¹ but according to Genesis 2:19, animals and birds at Yahweh Son’s command issued forth jointly and spontaneously from the earth—in other words, no evolution from sea to terrestrial creatures.  Genesis 2:19 further states that Adam gave animals the names by which they are known to this day, which were carried on in prophecy [↔Isaiah 11:6-9, 65:25].  By this token, the descriptor ‘lions’ Adam [who symbolizes Jesus↔Romans 5:14; 1Corinthians 15:45; Ephesians 5:31-32↔Genesis 2:23-24] assigned to those animals back in Eden will again denote lions in a new Creation—a notion further reinforced by the vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29-30), as Isaiah states, that lions and all animals will share in the Kingdom of God.

Counterargument 3:  The Flood Narrative

Ussher’s date guesstimate for the Flood is c. 2348 BC.  Noah was told to let in seven pairs of clean animals and one pair of unclean animals¹² from terrestrial creatures breathing air through their noses (Genesis 6:17,19-20, 7:2-3,8-9,13-16,21-23).  The ‘air-breathing’ distinction is necessary to separate terrestrial life from aquatic life and plants, the last two including air-breathers which do not use noses to breathe—whales, dolphins, etc., and plants absorbing oxygen through roots and tiny pores on their leaves.  This distinction implies that aquatic life and plants were not destroyed in the Flood but survived it intact.¹³ Hence Genesis 8:11-13:  The olive leaf which the dove brought back to Noah signifying, as it did to Noah, that the waters had receded enough so that the tops of intact olive trees had begun to show; seven days later, when the land was dry, the dove did not return because it probably perched in trees fully exposed that offered it shelter and food.

Be that as it may, no dinosaur species entered the Ark, not only because they are missing from Leviticus’ clean vs. unclean animal classifications, but pointedly because none stepped out of it to repopulate the earth [↔Genesis 8:17]. [Anecdote:  An evangelist at a gathering attended by this writer was asked what had happened to the dinosaurs; he replied they had been killed in the Flood].

Deception 2: Extraterrestrials and UFOs

We come back to the issue of Father’s and Jesus’ image.  While no one knows how the mortal Jesus looked during his lifetime, we are told he was a man on the unhandsome side [↔Isaiah 53:2] and rose from the grave looking the same to those who saw him (Luke 24:39) with eyes not ‘acted upon’.  As first-born amongst the dead (Colossians 1:18), Jesus kept Father’s image on a now immortal body.  The same will apply to the redeemed rising from the dead and those alive at Jesus’ second coming [↔Psalms 17:15; 1Corinthians 15:51-53; 1Thessalonians 4:15; 1John 3:2].

The question then becomes, if Creator of all beings in the universe,¹⁴ why would Jesus single out humans to look like Father and himself but ETs like reptilian-looking creatures with bulging eyes, disproportionate heads and weird looking extremities?  It does not make sense unless viewed as satanic deceptions in times of apostasy [↔1Timothy 4:1-3; 2Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3-4].  To what end?  In order to sow doubt and confusion to put souls at risk of damnation [↔Isaiah 6:10, 28:13; Mark 4:12].

A more conclusive argument involves the removal of the cosmos and everything in it,¹⁵ implying that no beings worth redeeming exist in the universe.  Unless evil has corrupted the cosmos, ETs—if they existed—would be spared destruction; or if corrupted, they would have been preached the Gospel and those meriting salvation relocated—like humans—to the Kingdom of God here on Earth.  Such scenarios are absent from Scriptures focusing on humans as the only beings in Creation [↔John 3:16, 13:15, 18:9; Romans 11:5; Ephesians 2:20-22, 5:23-25,30; Hebrews 2:3, 11:12-16; 1Peter 1:10-12].

We are not contesting that what is being interpreted as ‘evidence’ of extraterrestrials and UFOs has and is been seen:  As deceptions acting upon human senses, it follows they would and should be—the gist of 2Thessalonians 2:11-12. Likewise reports of alien abductions must involve false memories implanted in the minds of abductees whose authenticity they have no way of assessing.  Even if their bodies show evidence of what is construed as ‘alien surgery’, this violates divine injunctions against altering/modifying human flesh in any shape or form [↔Leviticus 19:28, 21:5; Deuteronomy 23:1].¹⁶ Would the unchanging Father [↔Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17] be of two minds concerning the desecration of human bodies made in His image and as temples for His Spirit (1Corinthians 3:17, 6:19; James 3:9)?  No; but the Deceiver would.

Deception 3: Life-after-Death Experiences

We are all familiar with reports of people dying and being welcomed by souls in some light tunnel leading to Father; or others dying and coming back to life having visited heaven, paradise, or hell.  These are also false, implanted memories—the last two easily proven to be so.

Hell does not exist except in Roman Catholic dogma and artistic imaginings, since the “oven of fire” Jesus spoke of is nothing other than Armageddon’s outcome following the Millennium in Heaven [↔Matthew 13:49; Luke 13:28; Hebrews 10:27; Revelation 14:9-10, 20:7-10,14-15, 21:8].  In short there is no hell now in operation, easily demonstrable firstly by the fact that fallen angels are imprisoned in places of darkness without flames¹⁷ awaiting Judgment [↔2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6]; and secondly by the fact that between Judgment and Armageddon, Satan will be chained on earth for 1,000 years until he is released (Revelation 20:2-3) and incinerated alongside minions angelic and human [Revelation 6:8, 9:1-2,11, 20:8-10,14-15↔Isaiah 14:4-6,10-20, 30:33].  Following eviction from Heaven during Jesus’ earthly ministry (Luke 10:18), Satan has been ruling our world (1John 5:19) not from hell but from a church sitting on a seven-hilled city [↔Revelation 2:13, 17:4,6,9, 18:2], nor are his angels tormenting the condemned in pools of fire and brimstone—and while at it, all as beautiful as when they were created [↔Ezekiel 28:12-18, 31:8-9,16-18].  Those bat-winged, lizard-looking demons popularized in religious art were concocted to scare the bejesus out of people who knew no better.

Paradise does not exist either:  It is the Kingdom of God with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, which has yet to descend upon a new earth under new heavens in the aftermath of Armageddon [↔Psalms 97:5; Amos 8:8; Micah 1:4; Zephaniah 1:2-3; 2Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 21:1-3,5,23-27↔Isaiah 30:26, 35:8, 65:17, 66:22-24].  Like Jesus pointedly said, his kingdom cannot coexist (John 18:36) on this world alongside Satan’s realm of death [↔Luke 4:5-6; Hebrews 2:14-15; 1John 5:19] until it passes away (Matthew 24:35).  Or as Paul put it in Hebrews 12:27 by removing “what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.”

The question to ask is whether these ‘returnees’ actually went to the places they claim to have visited or are made to believe they did?   Once again, they have no way of assessing the authenticity of memories very real to them; though here we must consider those who are honest from those who may be grandstanding.  Claiming to have been taken to spiritual realities makes one sound special, worthier in a way to be granted such privileges, or cynically to enjoy one’s proverbial fifteen minutes of fame.  People like Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:3, 11:24) and John (Revelation 17:3) were ‘teleported’ to faraway places to give witness of men’s evildoings but they did so while alive—like the man Paul mentions in 2Corinthians 12:2-4 claiming to have been taken to heavenly subdivisions.  Paul, however, offers this anecdote as hearsay [God knows, I don’t] rather than personal knowledge; so that lacking Scriptural corroboration [↔Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 8:13,17-18; 2Corinthians 13:1; Hebrews 2:3-4], it should be taken with lots of salt.

Counterargument: The Doctrine of Death and Resurrection

Simply put,

1) Loss of life and consciousness, the state we call ‘death’, ensue when the soul leaves the body [↔Genesis 35:18,29, 49:33; Matthew 27:50; John 19:30].

2) The soul goes back to Father alive but unconscious [Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 12:7; Luke 23:46↔i.e., not aware of their bodies left behind]; the reason why Scripture refers to death as sleep or rest [↔1Kings 2:10; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 9:24; 1Thessalonians 4:13; Revelation 6:9-11]; a state akin to dreamlessness between nodding off at night and waking up next morning without awareness of the passing of time—the gist of Luke 23:43.  Jesus did not suggest to the crucified criminal that he would enter Paradise that very day; but that it would seem no time had elapsed between death and the moment Jesus at his second coming would return the criminal’s unconscious soul to the body rising from his grave [1Thessalonians 4:13-17↔John 14:3].  Only then would Jesus take him to Heaven for the Millennium and post-Armageddon into Paradise.¹⁸

On top of all this, Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,” meaning that salvation or condemnation is possible only during a person’s lifetime [↔Matthew 16:25, Hebrews 6:4-6, 12:25; 2Peter 2:20-22].  In short no purgatory to expiate venial sins, no reincarnation, and no previous lives ostensibly recovered through regression hypnotherapy—beliefs worldwide today.  Scripture focuses on what we need to know to avoid traps people embracing those beliefs pose to us—especially religious leaders no matter how exalted amongst men [↔Isaiah 8:20; 2Corinthians 6:14]. 

As Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 makes abundantly clear, the departed no longer play a role a human affairs, cannot look down on loved ones or intercede on their behalf; and furthermore no possibility for ghosts or apparitions unless these be satanic deceptions—in short no type of paranormal manifestation perceived by the senses.  Think of the crucial advantage this doctrine offers us in a world awash with dogmas and phenomena contradicting Scripture [↔Isaiah 8:20].

Crosses to Bear

Christianity is not an easy religion to follow; and neither Father nor Jesus makes it any easier to bear.  Father put Jesus through the grinder [Isaiah 53:4,10; John 18:11; Hebrews 2:10↔Hebrews 12:4-8] and Jesus followed suit with respect to his followers [↔Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 9:23, 12:47-48; Acts 9:16↔Galatians 6:17].  No special privileges from Beings playing no favorites amongst people on the basis of blood ties, race, gender, ethnicity or social status [↔Acts 10:34-35; Galatians 3:28].  We must all bite the bullet, grin and bear whatever trials come our way [↔Micah 7:9; 1Peter 3:17,  5:6↔Ezekiel 21:26] as Jesus did for love of us.  Being the butt of others’ ridicule for Jesus’ sake is a cross that glorifies and rewards us in heavenly realms [Matthew 5:11-12; Hebrews 13:13].

One of these trials is preaching Father’s word as it was given us [↔Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Isaiah 8:20; Acts 26:22; Ezekiel 3:17-21↔1Corinthians 9:16; Titus 1:9]; an obligation imposed on and demanded of us that is non-negotiable and costly if we do not obey it [↔Jeremiah 2:17; Ezekiel 3:17-21; Matthew 25:26-30; 1Corinthians 9:16].  Needless to say this is a lost cause: Scripture’s ‘realities’ do not conform to the sensorial ‘realities’ of whomever cannot differentiate between the two (1Corinthians 2:14); so chances are we will invite their scorn and hatred [↔Proverbs 29:27; Isaiah 66:5; Matthew 10:22; Ephesians 2:2; 1John 4:4-6].

No one is denying that visual/physical evidence seem more compelling than Scriptures which cannot be empirically proven; but such is the challenge Father confronts us with.  If conviction without proof is His standard for salvation, it follows that proof undermining faith must be Satan’s MO for condemnation.  Never forget that Scripture’s “hidden wisdom” comes to us via the Holy Spirit [John 15:26, 16:13↔1Corinthians 2:7-13; 1John 2:27]; and that whoever rejects that notion will by default remain ‘unenlightened’ and forsaken [↔1Samuel 16:14, 28:16-18; 1Kings 22:11,24; Daniel 12:10; Hebrews 10:38; James 1:6-8]—at which point it becomes impossible to know truth from deception [↔Isaiah 6:10, 28:13; Mark 4:11-12].

As Judeo-Christianity sinks deeper into apostasy,¹⁹ Scriptures like 2Thessalonians 2:11-12 warn us of dangers to come.  When men invalidate Father’s covenants as has been prophesied [↔Deuteronomy 31:16-17, 29], He will allow Satan to beset and deceive human beings.²⁰  If appeals to His people to mend their ways go unheeded, as they invariably do in Scripture, then punishment is the option of last resort [↔2Chronicles 36:15-16; Psalms 81:13-14; Isaiah 1:15-20; Ezekiel 33:11; Joel 2:12-13; Zechariah 7:11-14]—though He would prefer a different outcome [↔Psalms 81:13-14; Lamentations 3:33; Ezekiel 18:31-32].

In such a state of affairs, He will only heed those who fear and obey Him [↔1Samuel 2:30; Psalms 34:18, 138:6-8; Jeremiah 30:11; Malachi 3:6; Zechariah 2:8; John 9:31; James 1:17]; helping them to resist and overcome Satan’s ploys (1Corinthians 10:13).  Victory is achievable only through Jesus, Author of our faith [Hebrews 2:10, 12:2], sole exemplar of our faith [John 13:15; 1John 2:6], sole teacher (Matthew 23:8), sole mediator between Father and men [John 14:6; 1Timothy 2:5]—the only “son of man” ²¹ exempt from Scripture’s rule of thumb: “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no deliverance” (Psalms 146:3).

Our arguments now presented, it is equally true that we cannot succeed where Jesus did not; for he too failed during his earthly ministry, despite quoting literally and figuratively from Scripture,²²  in bringing all his listeners round to his way of thinking [↔John 12:48-50, 15:22-23].  But be warned:

1) Scripture having been inspired by the Spirit of Truth makes it infallible; hence  disparaging/contradicting it in any way or form is an unforgivable blasphemy [↔Matthew 12:32; Hebrews 10:29; 2Peter 1:20-21].

2) Disbelieving Scripture incurs Jesus’ displeasure and invite rejection [↔Mark 8:38; Revelation 3:15-16].  Better to be an atheist or a convert fully committed to his/her beliefs than “children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray” (Ephesians 4:14).  You are in or out; you do the talk and walk the walk [↔John 13:16; 1John 2:6].

As worldwide conditions escalate from bad to worse leading to an unprecedented Great Tribulation ending with Jesus’ second coming [↔Matthew 24:21-22,29-31; Luke 21:22,25-27], we had better earn the privilege of standing firm throughout those ordeals (Luke 21:36) and keep our eyes on Jesus.  It is true that Jesus is an exacting taskmaster [↔Acts 5:41, 9:16; Galatians 6:17; Revelation 2:7]; it is true that Father is a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29); so until evil is expunged from creation, let us walk as pilgrims in fear of Him (1Peter 1:17) until earning our “crown of righteousness” (2Timothy 4:7-8) as His legitimate children [↔Hebrews 12:7-8,10] and full-fledged citizens in His eternal Kingdom [↔1Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:9-10].

May Father have mercy on us all.

¹John 16:13; 1Corinthians 2:7↔Deuteronomy 30:29; 1Peter 1:12; 1John 2:27; needless to say, there are things Father has chosen not to reveal [↔Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7]. So much for doomsayers claiming to know what Jesus himself does not.

²Factoid:  A new study of Chinese fossils suggest animals evolved 200 million years earlier than previously thought.

³Thereby contradicting the law of conservation of mass positing that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.  More of the same:  1Kings 17:14-16; Mark 6:38-44.

⁴Thereby answering the conundrum whether the chicken came before the egg; plants before their seeds, etc.

⁵Read ‘earth or clay,’ which accounts for Adam’s name derived from a Hebrew word meaning “reddish” in connection to the color of human skin.

⁶In terms of outward features—i.e., head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, torso, arms, feet [↔Genesis 4:4 , 8:21, 21:17 highlighting sight, smell, hearing / Daniel 7:9 highlighting hair and head / Revelation 1:13-17 highlighting head, hair, face, speech, right hand, torso and feet]; hence the reverence for that image [↔1Corinthians 3:16-18; James 3:9].

The “our” in Genesis 1:26 has been misinterpreted by scholars to suggest Jews of antiquity worshipped multiple gods before they became strictly monotheistic; whereas Scripture is implying that the Invisible Father [↔John 4:24; 1Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27] made Son in the human-like image He chose for Himself; Son fashioned Adam and Eve in that image (Genesis 1:27, 5:1-2); and through them, the rest of mankind (Genesis 3:20).

⁷ Refer to our essay Genesis:  The Myth That Never Was.

⁸ Substance to the shadow of the Genesis Sabbath. The Millennium in Heaven literally fulfills the prophecy implicit in Genesis 2:2 that Father and Jesus will finally rest from all their work as they have not until now [↔John 5:17; Hebrews 2:3-4, 4:2-7; Revelation 16:17].

⁹ Though discussed in Genesis: The Myth That Never Was, some details are not only germane to our discussion but bear repeating for the danger they pose to us:

a) Our 7-day calendars conform to the Genesis Week: First day Sunday [Luke 24:1; John 20:1;] to seventh day Saturday, though Genesis’ were measured from sunset to sunset [Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31]—for which reason, having died on late afternoon of the sixth day [our Friday], Jesus’ body could not be properly buried [↔Mark 15:42, 16:1; Luke 23:54,56].

The seventh day beginning after Friday’s sunset is the Holy Sabbath of the Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11), of such importance to Father—if shamefully not to all professed Christians—that Scripture exhorts against violating it [↔Leviticus 23:32; Isaiah 58:13-14; Ezekiel 22:26] as well as telling us it will be observed for eternity in His Kingdom on earth (Isaiah 66:22-23).

b) Roman Catholicism [↔Daniel 7:25] used 1Corinthians 16:1-2 to justify changing the Sabbath Jesus was Lord of (Matthew 12:8) to the pagan Sunday the Roman Empire observed to worship Sol, the sun god whose birthday fell—conveniently—on December 25.  This change violated the prohibition that no labor/transactions were to be conducted during the Holy Sabbath [↔Nehemiah 13:16-21]; besides severing Father’s specific sign—seventh day not first day Sunday—between Him and His People [↔Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:20].

¹⁰Suggested by Luke 2:1-7:   The Roman census being taken in Judea c. 6 BC – 4 BC.

¹¹Recent factoids: Feathers found in 66-million-year-old dinosaur fossilized poop (Montana, USA); 105-million-year-old fossilized turkey-sized creature (Australia); four-winged, feathered dinosaur fossil suggesting flight did not evolve from one ancient common ancestor (China).

¹²Codified in Leviticus 11, though there is evidence of Mosaic traditions passed on orally throughout Genesis [Genesis 4:4↔Leviticus 22:21, Numbers 18:29 / Genesis 14:18-20↔Numbers 18:21,26, Hebrews 7:1-4 / Genesis 38:6-9↔Deuternomy 25:5-6, etc.]   In point of fact, if we take Jude 1:14-15 at face value, Enoch, seventh from Adam, was preaching the second coming of Jesus and the Day of Wrath at end times.

¹³A physical ‘impossibility’ not impossible for a God to Whom nothing is impossible (Luke 18:27).  Unbreakable laws of physics governing our world were put there by a Creator who can subvert them at will; as for example by fitting untold animal species the world over within the finite space inside the Ark (Genesis 6:15), or creating winds capable of drying off land that should have been buried under considerable layers of mud (Genesis 8:1,13). Add to these Joshua’s stopping the planet from revolving on its axis (Joshua 10:12-13); Elijah’s control over weather patterns [1Kings 17:1; James 5:17-18]; Jesus walking on water and dissipating a sea storm (Matthew 8:24-26, 14:25).

Factoid: As of this writing, an underground formation at Ararat has been detected with features and dimensions consistent with Noah’s Ark.  We doubt this formation is the real McCoy:  For a God Who prioritizes faith over science leaving behind ‘evidence’ undermining His golden standard is counterproductive—be it nails and wood purportedly from Jesus’ cross; baby Jesus’ prepuces [Middle Age relics, 13 according to one source]; or the well-known Shroud of Turin said to bear the image of the crucified Christ.

¹⁴Psalms 33:6, 102:25-26; Proverbs 8:27-28; Isaiah 40:22; Jeremiah 51:15; Amos 5:8; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:1-2.

¹⁵Isaiah 34:34, 65:17, 66:22; Matthew 24:29,35; Mark 13:25; 2Peter 3:10; Revelation 6:13-14, 21:1.

¹⁶Being practiced today as tattoos, cosmetic/sex-altering surgeries, and in more extreme forms, grotesque physical restructuring.

¹⁷Like the Jewish Sheol or the Greek Hades.  Tophet, Aramaic for ‘fireplace or roaster,’ is the closest representation of hell in Scripture; not the factual place in the valley of Hinnom where children were burned to worship the Canaanite god Moloch [↔2Kings 23:10; 2Chronicles 28:3, 33:6]; but Jesus’ Gehenna, the “place of weeping and gnashing of teeth”—i.e., the “valley of slaughter” below Heavenly Jerusalem where Father will destroy the bodies and souls of evildoers at Armageddon [↔Isaiah 13:8-9, 30:33; Jeremiah 7:32, 19:6; Joel 3:2,12,14; Zechariah 14:3-4,12; Matthew 10:28; Revelation 20:7-9,14-15].

Related Scriptures:  2Chronicles 20:17,22-24; Zechariah 14:12; Luke 16:23-26.

¹⁸As was prefigured by the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into Canaan from the east (Joshua 3:14-17)], entering the Promised Land by crossing Eden’s easternmost boundary, the Euphrates River [↔Genesis 2:14; Revelation 16:12].

¹⁹The apostasy—or falling away from the Judeo-Christian faith at end times—is a matter of record [↔Deuteronomy 31:29; Psalms 2:1-3; Daniel 12:10; Matthew 24:11-12,14-15,22,24,29; Luke 18:8; 2Thessalonians 2:2-3; 2Timothy 4:3-4; Revelation 9:20-21].

²⁰In the Old Testament: Abimelech (Judges 9:23-24); Saul (1Samuel 19:9-10); Absalom (2Samuel 17:14); Ahab (1Kings 22:19-22); and David [↔2Samuel 24:1,15-16; 1Chronicles 21:1,14-15].

In the New Testament:  Jesus [John 18:11, 19:11↔Isaiah 53:4,10]; the sick woman in Luke 13:15; Judas (Luke 22:3-6), Peter (Luke 22:31); Ananias (Acts 5:1-3); righteous and unrighteous  until end times [Hebrews 12:5-8; 1Peter 1:6-7, 3:17, 5:6↔Psalms 66:10, Isaiah 48:10, Ezekiel 21:25-26, Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:3; Revelation 9:1-11, 12:17, 13:4-7, 20:2,3,7-10].

²¹Jesus was not Joseph’s son [↔Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:34-35, 3:23], but the proverbial Son of God/Man [↔Matthew 3:17; Luke 19:10].

²²Amongst many, a literal example: John 5:46↔Deuteronomy 18:15; a figurative example: John 8:57↔Genesis 18:25-27, where “Judge of all flesh” uniquely identifies Yahweh Son as Jesus [↔John 5:22, Acts 17:31].