Comments

[Craig]

Dear Rick:  I will make a few COMMENTS in your email...............don't be offended at my comments, but try to be honest with yourself and see if you can make this a learning experience:

    First I want to applaud you for the diligent work that you do. I just have a comment in regards to the teaching
    The Origin of Satan, Evil, and Sin .
     
    I don't believe that Adam and Eve were the first human beings. I believe, because scripture bears it out, that there was another race before Adam and Eve.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture,  please?
     
     Satan (Lucifer) was with God as a Worship Leader.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture,  please? Where is the bogus Latin term "lucifer"  identified with Satan? What is a "Worship Leader?"  The Scriptures know nothing of "Worship Leaders?" Scripture, please? The word translated "lucifer" in the King James is a VERB, not a PROPER NOUN. It is properly translated "howl."
    See my Installment on "The Lucifer HOAX."
     
    The bible states that he was beautiful in Gods sight and the instruments were built 'in' him.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please?  The Scriptures know nothing of "instruments build" in some kind of  lucifer. That is unscriptural nonsense.
     
     This planet was given to lucifer as a gift from God because God loved him so much.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please? Where do the Scriptures say any such nonsense?
     
     The bible teaches that lucifers job was to come here and lead the people in Worship to God.
     
    COMMENT:  Oh really? The "Bible" teaches that does it? Where? What people were "worshiping" God before Satan was a lying murderer?  "The Devil [Satan] was a murderer FROM THE BEGINNING" (John 08:440. The Devil "The Devil [Satan] sinned FROM THE BEGINNING" (I John 3:.  Since Satan the Devil was a lying, sinning, murderer FROM THE BEGINNING, it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for your unscriptural nonsense regarding him being a PERFECT WORSHIP LEADER for a whole race of humans, does it?
     
     But like many Worship leaders, lucifer got a big head. People were probably adoring him and giving him compliments. He enjoyed it. That was when he decided that he would exalt his 'throne' over Gods.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please?  This is all unscriptural, speculating, fantasy.
     
    The bible goes on to say that because of this, God cast lucifer from heaven, and 1/3 of the angels went with him.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please?  There never was a "lucifer" in heaven.
     
     Oh sure, he had his followers. But the fact is, they were here on this planet.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please?  I thought you just told us that THEY WERE IN HEAVEN?
     
      Then the story gets picked up in Genesis 1:2, "and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. That word 'moved' is translated from 'brood' or 'to brood, be angry'.
     
    COMMENT:  Absolutely not.  The Hebrew word translated "moved" in the King James is "rahaph" and it means to "vibrate" according to my Hebrew Interlinear ScriptureAnalyzerr.  And according to Strong's Concordant Dictionary #7363 it means to "shake, move, flutter."  The Concordant Literal Old Testament translates it "vibrating," while Young's Version has "fluttering."  This same word is used in Jer. 23:9, "...all my BONES SHAKE [rahaph]..."  Are you telling us that his bones were "ANGRY?"  In 32:11, "As an eagle stirs up her nest, FLUTTERING [rahaph] over her young...."  Are you telling us that this eagle was "ANGRY" over her young?  Check these things out before you write and teach such unscriptural nonsense.
     
    First of all, God is, in every sense of the word, PERFECT. Our finite minds don't comprehend that because we are so imperfect. So why was the Spirit of God brooding? What was He mad at?? Then God goes on to start creating. Then, in Gen 1:29 God tells man to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Ok, so why is man "re" plenishing. According to your teaching, if Adam and Eve were first,
     
    COMMENT:  With all due respect, Rick, don't try to pull the same nonsense on me that thousands and thousands of detractors have tried in the past. It is not "I" who stated that "Adam and Eve" were the first sentient human beings, but God's WORD:  "As it is written, the FIRST MAN ADAM...." (I Cor. 15:45).
     
     God would have told them to "plenish" the earth. But He didn't. He told man to RE plenish. This implies, there was something here before.
     
    COMMENT:  NONSENSE.  The word "replenish" is translated from the Hebrew "male mala" and it means "TO FILL."  Concordant, Young, and Rotherham all translate it "FILL the earth."  Only three times is this word translated "replenish," however, approximately 50 times it is translated "fill," "filled," or "full." Did David mean to say, "his mouth is REPLENISHED with cursing," when he stated that "his mouth is FULL of cursing?" (Psalm 10:17)?  Did Isaiah mean to say, "...my loins are REPLENISHED with pain," rather than "my loins are FILLED with pain" (Isa. 21:3)?  Even the English word "REplenish" has a first definition of "to FILL," and only a secondary meaning of "to fill again." But the fact of the matter is, "replenish" is decidedly NOT the way that this word is used dozens and dozens of times in Scripture.  So that whole part of your theory is also down the drain.
     
    Ok, so lets go to the Garden of Eden. When God threw lucifer from heaven,
     
    COMMENT:  Excuse me, but just WHERE in the Garden of Eden story do we read of God throwing this fictious "lucifer" from haven?
     
     He told lucifer that "on his belly he would crawl".
     
    COMMENT:  NO HE DIDN'T.  God told THE SERPENT (who is NOWHERE called "lucifer") that the SERPENT would crawl on his belly. Don't be changing things around like that with absolutely no Scriptural backing whatsoever.
     
     I believe that in lucifers quest to raise his thrown above Gods thrown, he had totally corrupted this world and the people in it. And I also believe that because of this, God destroyed the earth, saving lucifer for a purpose. What was the purpose? The purpose was to show lucifer that by an act of their own free will that God Himself gave, that man would freely choose Him over lucifer.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please?  What "free will?"  God gave man no such thing as "free [uncaused] will." Read my 120 page 4-part series on "The Myth of Free Will Exposed," in which I DO USE SCRIPTURE, dozens and dozens of them, to prove the truth of this teaching.  So you think that man can "freely choose God" do you?  And just where is your Scripture for THAT?  "NO MAN CAN come to Me, except the Father DRAW [Gk: 'DRAG'] him...." (John 6:44).  "Ye ['all of you,' all of Christ's disciples, always] have NOT chosen Me, but I have chosen YOU" (John 15:16).
     
     Lucifer became satan when was cast out of heaven, just as Abram became Abraham when God made covenant with him. Same thing.
     
    COMMENT:  Scripture, please. We HAVE Scripture to support the fact that God changed Abram's name to Abraham, we have absolutely NO Scripture to support you nonsense, however.
     
     Yes I believe that God knows the end from the beginning. But I also believe that for everyone of mans mistakes, God already had a plan to get man back on track again. The bottom line is this; in the garden, man was in perfect harmony with God. Satan did to Eve what he still does today, and that is to cause doubt and unbelief. Eve sinned by an act of her free will that God gave her.
     
    COMMENT:  Eve was CAUSED to sin. Eve was DECEIVED by Satan. The deception was the CAUSE of her sin. She had no "free will" NOT to sin!  If man has "free will," why has he ALWAYS CHOSEN TO SIN "...there is NONE that seeks after God..." "for ALL HAVE SINNED...." (Rom. 3:11 & 23).
     
     Because of her sin, and Adams sin of not doing what God told him to do, which was to keep the garden and protect it, sin was entered into the earth once again. And God had a plan for that too, in the name of Christ Jesus. As far as who goes to heaven and hell; Jesus simply said "there is one way to the Father and that is by me."  And lets not forget John 3:16. It doesn't matter if you are Jew or Gentile, you still have to accept the sacrifice for sin that God provided in His son Jesus.
     
   COMMENT:  And this ALL MEN WILL DO (I Tim. 4:10, 2:4, etc.).
     
     That is the bottom line. I could debate you all year I'm sure,
     
    COMMENT:  NO, your debating days with me ARE OVER!

    God be with you,
    Ray
     
     but I will close for now. Again, thank you for your diligence in teaching. It truly is a gift. Having differing opinions is not a sin. God Bless You.   Rick , Cape Coral Florida