Pastor's Comments February 17, 2012

While exiled on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John saw in VISION “The World to Come” (Hebrews 2:5):

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. . . .” Revelation 21:1.

In this writing I intend to focus on “the world that then was” that followed the creation of the universe, Genesis 1:1, and led to the wreckage of God’s perfect creation of the universe, Genesis 1:2. He said to me, “

“First of all, God had created angels. After that, and for angels and for humans who were to be created later, God formed and brought into existence the earth and the entire universe. And so we come now to that which is revealed in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning [of the physical universe] God created the heavens and the earth.”

As previously stated, in this writing I am focusing on the second period of time: that which took place after the LORD God had brought into existence the beautiful heavens and earth, Genesis 1:1:

“The Antediluvian World; and much later in time, the wreckage of His perfect creation.”

To put this into perspective, it becomes necessary to touch on the following Scriptures that lead into this present subject.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning (before anything else was) was the WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

This Scripture, contrary to past conjectures that Lucifer had created the Reptilian World, makes known that all creation was brought into existence and given life by the WORD, with no exceptions, God’s Spokesman, the one we know as Jesus Christ.

The events in Genesis 1:1-2 occurred later – possibly billions of years later.

After having created the universe and the planet earth, the future home of humankind, God through Jesus Christ created what came to be known as the Antediluvian World— or age— an earth that came to be over much time filled with giant creatures.

Bing Dictionary: Antediluvian = From time before Flood: in or from the time before the biblical Flood [meaning Flood at the time of Noah].

II Peter 3:5, 6 “For this they (scoffers, verse 3) 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 WAS (kjv) perished, being (came to be) FLOODED with water.”

Companion Bible: Creation and eternity past, to which all fossils and ‘remains’ belong.”

Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain (margin: empty, a waste), who formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”

Companion Bible: “In Genesis 1:1 we have “the world that then was” (cp. II Peter 3:6); and in verse 2 we have the ruin into which it fell. We are not told how, when, or why, or how long it lasted. When geologists have settled how many years they require, they may place them between vv 1 and 2 of Genesis 1. . . .”

THE MYSTERY OF THE AGES, Mystery of Angels and Evil Spirits, Pages 73-77 (excerpts), Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong:

“It is revealed in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, that God placed the archangel Lucifer, a cherub, on a throne on the earth. He was placed there as a ruler over the entire earth. God intended him to rule the earth by administering the government of God over the earth. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels.

How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man (Genesis 1:26) is not revealed. It might have been millions—or even billions of years. . . . these spirit beings had been given dominion over the PHYSICAL EARTH as a possession and an abode. . . .

God intended the angels to add their own workmanship to the earth’s surface. He intended them to work over the surface of the earth, to improve it, to embellish it, beautify it—in other words “put the icing on the cake.” . . .

Page 84> This Lucifer, then, had been stationed at the very throne of God. He was trained and experienced in the administration of God. God chose such a being, well-experienced and trained, to be the king ruling the government of God over the angels who inhabited the whole earth. . . .

Page 86> But think how long it must have taken the soured and embittered Lucifer to turn millions of holy angels into resentment, bitterness, disloyalty, and finally open and vicious rebellion. It could have taken hundreds, thousands or millions of years. This was all before the first human was created.

All this happened after the original creation of the earth, described in verse 1 of Genesis 1. Verse 2 of this creation chapter describes a condition resulting from the sin of the angels. The events described in verse 2, therefore, may have occurred millions of years after the original creation of the earth.

In the context of the writings of Mr. Armstrong about God giving the planet earth to Lucifer and his angels as their abode and rule over it, we come to the point in time when

od created the beginning of a variety of reptilian creatures (dinosaurs of different kinds on land and sea), mastodons, saber tooth tigers, etc., similar to Genesis 1:21, 24-25.

And as God had Adam to name all the cattle, birds, and every beast of the field, Genesis 2:19-20, so it would appear God had Lucifer to name all He had created of that kind of life.

In addition to the giant creatures that walked and crawled on land, there were the huge flying reptiles together with other huge creatures that flew in the skies; there were also the giant sea creatures.

After having been created, they began multiplying and filling the earth that has been estimated by archaeologists and geologists to cover a span of 200 million years.

ince the earth was the abode of Lucifer and his angels at the time of God creating this huge creature world, leaves one with the question: why? No one really knows for there is no answer in the Scriptures.

However, we do know such a world existed for the evidence has been uncovered from many places in this nation and in other nations of this world.

We also know from Scripture Lucifer and his angels dwelled together with the physical creation.

However it seems without question the physical creation came much later—how much later is not known— but very probably as many as a little over 11 billion years.

Again, based on the estimates of archaeologists, geologists, paleontologists, these huge creatures roamed the earth for 200 million years. And the angelic spirit beings and the physical creatures continued to dwell together until the wreckage of the earth.

Undoubtedly there are lessons to be learned from the predator prey world of that ancient time just as there are lessons to be learned from our world today.

Certainly this can be seen from humanity. History is replete with the many people who have destroyed the reputations and even lives of others to achieve their objectives in past times; and the same is true today in many areas of life.

Galatians 1:2-3 “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might DELIVER us from THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE . . . .”

Is it possible while observing the predators attacking and ravenously devouring the flesh of their prey could have evoked the beginning thought in Lucifer’s mind to try and topple His Creator God from His throne to achieve his goal of becoming the Most High?

While considering “The World That Then Was,” and having come to know God as He is, we do know for sure that He never does anything without a reason, a purpose in whatever He does; and often this comes to be known over little or much time.

When we consider the Scriptures it becomes clear that God undoubtedly had a long-range purpose in mind with that creation that was intended t

o reach into this age.

Realizing from Scripture the world of that time was created very beautiful in every way. With this in mind we can know all of the plant life, trees, grass, etc., was created at the same time.

It is believed by paleontologists, connected with archaeologists and geologists, who have made a study of these giant creatures, believe the world of that time was much warmer. There was continuous tropical weather that made possible the rapid growth of plants and trees. They lived in a world that gave them everything they needed for the continuation of life.

There were the various kinds of dinosaurs, mastodons (huge elephants), saber tooth tigers, and other creatures that filled the land, and the air.

ossil hunters have found evidence of these creatures in Alberta, Canada, Montana, Idaho, Mongolia, Brazil, Argentina, Alaska, Tanzania, Australia, New Zealand, China, and England; in short they have been found all over the world.

God knew from the beginning of the creation of the universe, our solar system, and the planet earth, that He was going to create that huge creature world. And to provide for that creation He created the plant and tree life that would provide food for the prey that would eat it for their sustenance.

After the destruction was brought about by Satan the devil that ended all life, together with all vegetation, plant and tree life, became fossil fuel for man’s use today.

“Any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth's crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. They all contain carbon and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of (mostly) plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago. All fossil fuels can be burned to provide heat, which may be used directly, as in home heating, or to produce steam to drive a generator for the production of electricity. Fossil fuels supply nearly 90% of all the energy used by industrially developed nations.”

This becomes especially interesting when we consider a long-range prophecy that connects with the plant and animal life of that ancient world.

After Isaac had passed on the blessing from Abraham to Jacob, Esau cried out to his father for a blessing for him. Isaac then spoke the following words to Esau:

“

Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother (Jacob); but when you break loose you shall BREAK HIS YOKE from your neck.”

With this long-range prophecy in mind consider our use of the fossil fuels in this country and other nations of Israel today.

Though there were minor fulfillments of this prophecy in past millennia, it is being witnessed today in its major fulfillment, with petroleum, and possibly later with violence.

INTERNET: Fossil fuels are energy sources formed from ancient ... Indonesia, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Angola, Ecuador, and Gabon.During the Baghdad Conference in 1960, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia founded the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and were later joined by Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Angola, Ecuador, and Gabon.

This twelve-country cartel designs policies regarding oil production and exportation. It is also responsible for setting oil prices.” [my emphasis]

Isaac’s brother was Ishmael who was also denied the firstborn blessing from God through Abraham as was Esau.

NOTE (Dr. Hoeh): Ishmael was the progenitor of most of the Arab world. Esau also became Arab. They came to be called Arab because the land was already called Arabia before Ishmael was born. His genealogy is listed in Genesis 25:12-15. Note verse 16:

Genesis 25:16 These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and by their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.

“America is a society that is very dependent on energy consumption. Not only is the nation dependent on energy, it is dependent on inexpensive energy sources such as petroleum products and coal, which are used for everything from transportation, agriculture, food production, heating, and industry. . . . ”

Though other means of developing energy sources are being used this is not enough to supply the demand.

It is also interesting that even though it has been reported there is sufficient underground oil in this country to more than supply the need, the government refuses to grants permits for the exploration and use of it.

One cannot help but wonder whether this is continuing to fit in with the prophecy for Israel to continue bowing to the Arab Cartel for its needs—the Arab Cartel keeping their foot on the neck of Israel.

Page 64, Footnote: “Many Bible students believe there is a vast period of time-giving room for all geologic ages—between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:3. Apparently a pre-Adamic judgment brought the original earth into the chaos and darkness described in Genesis 1:2. . . . the earth underwent “a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment.” Schofield Reference Bible, note on Genesis 1:2.

ow long has man been upon earth? Where, and through whom, did civilization begin? . . . . Can the history of the Bible be reconciled with ancient history? with Egyptian and Babylonian chronology?

Historians and archaeologists are sharply divided over these questions today. Many sense something is drastically wrong with the present explanation of the ancient world. How did all this scholarly doubt arise?

Remove from a library shelf any volume on world history or ancient man and examine its opening chapters. In it will be such expressions as: “It is thought,” “there appears to be some basis for believing,” “it may be presumed,” “one may safely assume,” and “others are of the opinion,”— just to mention a few.

The modern reconstruction of ancient history without God is almost 100% erroneous. And no wonder! It is derived from only a part of the historical sources that are available. It casts aside as “myth” factual; and datable evidence of the past merely because God appeared in that evidence. Without it, the modern historian is able only to theorize about the time or the place man appeared on the earth. He cannot know. When these written records are rejected, not even archaeologists or geologists can come to the historians’ aid and provide adequate dating.

Some modern scholars, relying only on geological inferences, would place the appearance of man about 25,000 to 35,000 years ago. Others suggest the period is no less than 100,000 years ago. No small numbers of scholars assume it may be 500,000 years ago. And there are a few who place it several hundred thousand years earlier.

But how could intelligent, able men arrive at such absurdly varying figures of man and the beginnings of ancient history? They all have access, remember, to the same geological and archaeological sources of information.

The answer is, they are all interpreting geologists and archaeological evidence in accordance with their private theories. They are only guessing. They have no way of knowing.

One well-known writer phrased it this way: “We know there is no absolute knowledge, that there are only theories; but we forget this. The better educated we are the harder we believe in axioms” (from Lincoln Steffens Autobiography, page 816).

But we can know. The God who has intervened in history, records of whose acts we may read of in ancient sources from many nations – that God has made known both the time and the place of origin of man. But historians, theologians and scientists refuse to believe it, for it leaves them no room to guess! . . .

Naturally, geologists have found many important and true facts. Once we divorce the fact from the theories and hypotheses, true earth history becomes plain. Now take a look at the facts as they are found. See how they fit the Bible account

First, take a look at the recent astounding discoveries of geology. They are of such magnitude as to revolutionize the whole field of scientific studies. They tell an incredible story. . . .

After decades of careful firsthand information, geologists came to recognize a definite, worldwide break in the geological strata. They didn’t understand its meaning. They never looked into the Bible to see if an answer were there.

The strata below the break revealed a world entirely different from the one we see around us today. Nowhere in the lower strata does one find fossil Man, or remains of warm–blooded creatures so characteristic of our world.

Missing, too, are the angiosperms – plants having their seeds enclosed in an ovary. . . .

Above the break, the strata revealed forms of life vividly described in Genesis 1. There are human remains, many varieties of mammals, birds, and flowering trees. Why the sudden appearance of new kinds of life? What is the meaning of this break in the geological horizon? Is it mentioned in the Bible?

Most scientists and historians never looked to see. The theologians never stopped to investigate. But the facts are plain for all to see. There has been no past evolution of living matter.

Genesis 1 has been woefully misunderstood. “Creation Week” is not the record of the original creation of matter, but an account of re-creation.

The first two verses are a brief account of the creation of matter and physical energy – of a beautiful earth fit for human habitation – “In the beginning.”

The second account is about the work of re-creation following a frightful catastrophe which befell the first world. That catastrophe is briefly summarized in verse 2 of Genesis 1. These verses, according to the original inspired Hebrew text, read: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth had become without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

God created the world fit for habitation. It was not created a waste. Isaiah 45:18 reveals: “God Himself that formed the earth . . . He created it not in vain (the original Hebrew is the same as in Genesis 1:2 – meaning “not a waste”), He formed it to be inhabited.”

The first or pre-Adamic creation was turned into a chaotic wreck. Virtually all life perished (Psalm 104:28-29). The whole face of the earth was covered with water.

The Biblical record of Genesis 1:2 is confirmed by the enigmatic break which scientists have found in the geological strata. The strata below the break are the remains of the pre-Adamic world!

For scores of years geologists assumed the ocean floors were the quiet resting places of thousands of feet of mud and slime. Then came the shocking truth. Those thousands of feet of slime and mud were not there. The geologists could hardly believe their eyes.

Everywhere men sent down into the oceans their coring devices they discovered the ocean depths had suffered a tremendous volcanic upheaval.

To heighten the shock of the discovery, scientists found the catastrophe had struck the ocean depths at the same moment in geological history that it had struck the land masses. On land it had been recognized as a worldwide break in the geological strata. To this upheaval geologists assign the label “Cretaceous” – meaning “chalky” – because of the nature of the chalky deposits in England where the strata were first studied.

Geologists thought they could find strata in the sea below the so-called “Cretaceous” deposits – just as they find them in the continents. They didn’t. Reported Ericson and Wollin: “. . . no sediment older than Upper Cretaceous time has been found in the ocean basins because there is none there to find” (The Deep and the Past, p. 266).

None to find? Of course! On the ocean floors the world before man has been buried under tremendous volcanic eruptions.

The paleontological and geophysical evidence tells us in clear enough language that some sort of drastic reorganization of the floors of the oceans must have taken place toward the end of the Lower Cretaceous Period. . . . We can be sure (that is usually a sure sign that scholars, historians, and scientists are guessing) that this volcanic transformation did not take place within the span of a few years; if it had, all marine life would have come to a sudden end as a gargantuan bouillabaisse of boiled fish. To avoid catastrophe of this sort, we need only be more liberal with time; we have plenty of it at our disposal. . . .

“Whence came the energy and why should its effect have been concentrated at the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous?” (Pages 267-268).

The facts are plain! There was s singular catastrophe which virtually ended all life between what geologists call the “Lower” and “Upper Cretaceous” – that is, the dividing line between the world of Adam and the world since the creation of man. . . .”

Who, what, and why this singular catastrophe that brought about the death of all land life in that world?

Isaiah 14:12-15 “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . . for you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne (on earth) ABOVE the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like (become) the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to sheol, to the lowest depths of the earth.”

Jesus Christ, speaking to some of His disciples, said the following about Satan’s fall from heaven— due to God’s use of His angels to literally force him back to his abode on this earth:

Luke 10:18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Ezekiel 28:12-17 “. . . You were the anointed cherub that covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. . . . and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you (annulled his objective and power) O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.”

The Apostle John fills in some details of that titanic battle that took place at that point in time:

Revelation 12:7-9 “And war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought., but they did NOT prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was CAST to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. . . .”

Catastrophic destruction took place in the heavens and here on the earth in this titanic battle that Satan waged and lost in their mighty struggle against Michael and his angels while making the effort to overpower and topple the Almighty God from His throne in heaven above (Isaiah 14:13-15).

Almighty God permitted this catastrophic destruction to take place, not only to make known and witness that no one can overpower Him, but at the same time by looking at this wreckage that can be visibly seen, man should be able to see the results of Satan’s rebellion and his sin against His Creator God, and learn a much needed lesson from it.

he following quotes are taken from a book by a noted author whose writing reveals an amazing account of the results of the terrific conditions that took place on this earth that brought to an end the lives of these huge creatures.

Earth in Upheaval
By Immanuel Velikovsky
Chapter 1
IN THE NORTH
In Alaska

“In Alaska, to the north of Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, the Tanana River joins the Yukon. From the Tanana Valley and the valleys of its tributaries gold is mined out of gravel and muck.

F. Rainey of the University of Alaska described the scene: “Wide cuts, often several miles in length and sometimes as much as 140 feet in depth, are now being sluiced out along stream valleys tributary to the Tanana in the Fairbanks District. In order to reach gold-bearing gravel beds an overburden of frozen silt or “muck” is removed with hydraulic giants. This “muck” contains enormous numbers of frozen bones of extinct animals such as the mammoth, mastodon, super-bison and horse. . . .

Under what conditions did this great slaughter take place, in which millions upon millions of animals were torn limb from limb and tangled with uprooted trees?

F.C. Hibben of the University of New Mexico writes: “Although the formation of the deposits of muck is not clear, there is evidence that at least portions of this material were deposited under catastrophic conditions. Mammal remains are for the most part dismembered and disarticulated, even though some fragments yet retain, in their frozen state, portions of ligaments, skin, hair, and flesh. Twisted and torn trees are piled up in splintered masses. . . . At least four considerable layers of volcanic ash may be traced in these deposits, although they are extremely warped and distorted. . . .”

Page 3 What could have caused the Arctic Sea and the Pacific Ocean to irrupt and wash away forests with all their animal population and throw the entire mingled mass in great heaps scattered all over Alaska, the coast which is longer than the Atlantic seaboard from Newfoundland to Florida? Was it not a tectonic revolution in the earth’s crust, that also caused the volcanoes to erupt and to cover the peninsula with ashes?

Page 6> In the stomachs and between the teeth of the mammals were found plants and grasses that do not grow now in northern Siberia. The contents of the stomachs have been carefully examined; they showed the undigested food, leaves of trees now found in Southern Siberia, but a long way from the existing deposits of ivory. Microscopic examination of the skin showed red corpuscles, which was a proof of not only a sudden death, but that the death was due to suffocation either by gases or by water, evidently the latter in this case. . . .

[Psalm 104:28-29 “What you give them (verses 20-21) they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good. You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

This took place during the time of Satan’s rebellion against the Most High God (Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:15, 17) and brought about Genesis 1:2]

Pages> 10-11 The water of the ocean in which our mountains had been formed still covered a part of these Alps when a violent paroxysm of the globe suddenly opened great cavities . . . and ruptured many rocks. . . .

The waters were carried toward these abysses with extreme violence, falling from the height they were before, they crossed deep valleys and dragged immense quantities of earth, sand, and debris of all kinds of rocks. This mass, shoved along by the onrush of great waters, was left spread up the slopes where we still see many scattered fragments. . . .

The loose rocks lying on the Jura mountains were torn from the Alps. . . . These stone blocks lie on the Jura mountains at an elevation of 2000 feet above Lake Geneva. Some of them are thousands of cubic feet in size, and Pierre a Martin is over 10,000 cubic feet. They must have been carried across the space now occupied by the lake and lifted to the height where they are now found.

There are erratic boulders in many places of the world. . . . Some force wrested them from those massifs, bore them over the entire expanse that separates Scandinavia from the British Isles, and set them down on the coast and on the hills. . . .

he most renowned naturalist to come from the generation of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars was George Cuvier. . . . Studying the finds made in the gypsum formation of Montmarte in Paris and those elsewhere in France and on the European continent in general, he came to the conclusion that in the midst of even the oldest strata of marine formations there are other strata replete with animal or plant remains of terrestrial or fresh-water forms; and that among the more recent strata, or those that are nearer the surface, there are also land animals buried under heaps of marine sediment. . . .

The breaking to pieces, the raising up and overturning of the older strata [of the earth], leave no doubt upon the mind that they have been reduced to the state in which we now see them, by the action of sudden and violent causes; . . .

Pages 14-15> Cuvier was surprised to find that “life had not always existed upon the globe” for there are deep strata which contain no vestige of living beings. . . .

[This negates the theories of those who say God created human beings in that ancient world Paleolithic Man, Neanderthal Man, etc. Though Dr. Hoeh taught it in later years, he had it right in his Compendium, Volume II, page 326, (published 1963). He then wrote of the giants having lived in the pre-flood world of Noah. I never did hear of Mr. Armstrong accepting this teaching of these giants having existed in “The World That Then Was.”]

But what could have caused these catastrophes? Cuvier reviewed the theories of the origin of the world current in his time but found no answer to the question that preoccupied him. He did not know the cause of these vast cataclysms; he only knew they had occurred. “Many fruitless efforts” had been made, and he felt that his search for the causes of the cataclysms was fruitless too. “These ideas have haunted, I may say have tormented me during my researches among fossil bones.” . . .

ages 32-33> (Charles Darwin) . . . wrote under January 9, 1834, in the Journal of his voyage: “It is impossible to reflect on the changed state of the American continent without the deepest astonishment. For surely it must have swarmed with great monsters: now we find only pigmies, compared with the antecedent, allied races. . . .

What, then, has exterminated so many species and whole general? The mind at first is irresistibly hurried into the belief of some great catastrophe; but thus to destroy animals, both large and small, in Southern Patagonia, in Brazil, on the Cordillera of Peru, in North America, up to Behring’s [Bering’s] Straits, we must shake the entire framework of the globe.”

No lesser physical event could have brought about this wholesale destruction, not only in the Americas, but in the entire world. And such an event being beyond consideration, Darwin did not know the answer. . . .

Page 36> Agassiz published his theory in entitled Etudes sur les glaciers (1840). He wrote: “The surface of Europe previously adorned with tropical vegetation and populated by herds of huge elephants, enormous hippopotami, and giant carnivore, was suddenly buried under a vast mantle of ice, covering plains, lakes, seas, and plateaus. Upon the life and movement of a vigorous creation fell the silence of death. Springs vanished, rivers ceased flowing, the rays of the sun, rising upon the frozen shore (if, indeed, they reached it [Scripture states the sun was covered over by the darkness that befell he earth, Genesis 1:2, and remained hidden until they the removal of the darkness Genesis 1:14-16]). . . .

ages 64-65> At Rancho La Brea, once on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and at present in the immediate neighborhood of the luxurious shopping center of that city, bones of animals and of still living species are found in abundance in asphalt mixed with clay and sand. In 1875 some fossil remains of this bituminous deposit were described for the first time. By then thousands of tons of asphalt had been removed and shipped to San Francisco for roofing and paving.

Beds of petroleum shale (rock of laminated structure formed by the consolidation of clay), ascribed to the Tertiary Age, having in many places a thickness of about two thousand feet, extend from Cape Mendocino to northern California to Los Angeles and beyond, a distance of over four hundred and fifty miles. The asphalt beds of Rancho La Brea are an outcrop of this large bituminous formation.

Since 1906 the University of California has been collecting the fossils of Rancho La Brea, “a most remarkable mass of skeletal material.” . . .

Most spectacular among the animals found at Rancho La Brea is the saber-tooth tiger (smilodon), previously unknown elsewhere in the New or Old World, but found since

hen in other places too. The canine teeth of this animal, over ten inches long, projected from his mouth like two curved knives. With this weapon the tiger tore the flesh is his prey.

The animal remains are crowded together in the asphalt pit in an unbelievable conglomeration. In the first excavation carried out by the University of California “a bed of bones was encountered in which the number of saber-tooth and wolf skulls together averaged twenty per square yards.” No fewer than seven hundred skulls of the saber-toothed tiger have been recovered.

Among other animals unearthed in this pit were bison, horses, camels, sloths, mammals, mastodons, and also birds, including peacocks. . . .

To explain the presence of these bones in the asphalt, the theory was offered that the animals became entrapped in the tar, sank in it, and were embedded in asphalt when the tar hardened. However, the large number of animals that filled this asphalt bed to overflowing is baffling. . . .

Pages 66-67> This explanation might be valid if the state of the bones did not testify that the ensnarement of the animals by the tar happened under violent circumstances. . . .

Were not the herds of frightened animals found at La Brea engulfed in a catastrophe? Could it be that at this particular spot large herds of wild beasts, mostly carnivorous, were overwhelmed by falling gravel, tempests, tides, and raining bitumen? Similar finds in asphalt have been unearthed in in two other places in California, at Carpinteria and McKittrick; the depositions were made under comparable circumstances. . . .

Pages 68-69> Tens of thousands of animals were carried over an unknown distance, then smashed into a common grave. . . . And the very circumstances in which they are found bespeak a violent death at the hand of the elements, not slow extinction in a process of evolution. . . .

Great multitudes of animals that filled prairies and forests, water and air, forms, fragile or sturdy, with an urge to live and multiply, were more than once suddenly called upon to write their names in the register of extinction.

The age of a rock formation is ascertained with the help of fossils it contains. To the surprise of many scientists, it was found that mountains have traveled, since older formations have been pushed over on top of younger ones.

hief Mountain in Montana is a massif standing several thousand feet above the Great Plains. It “has been thrust bodily upon the much younger strata of the Great Plain, and then driven over them eastward, for a distance of at least eight miles. Indeed the thrust may have been several times eight miles,” writes Daly, Our Mobile Earth, pp 228-29.

By similar thrusting, the whole Rocky Mountain Front, for hundreds of miles, has been pushed for hundreds of miles, has been pushed up and then out, many miles over the plains (Daly Mobile Earth, pp 228-29).

Such titanic displacements of mountains have been found in many places on the earth. The displacement of the Alps especially extensive.

“During the displacement of the Alps gigantic slabs of rocks, thousands of feet thick, hundreds of miles long, and tens of miles wide, were thrust up and then over, relatively in the rocks beneath. The direction of the relative overthrusting movement was from Africa toward the main mass of Europe on the north. The visible rocks of the northern Alps of Switzerland have been shoved northward distances of the order of 100 miles. In a sense the Alps used to be on the present site of northern Italy” (Ibid,. pp 232—33).

Page 72> What could have caused these mountains to travel across valleys and uphill with their masses of granite weighing billions of tons? No force acting from inside the earth, pulling toward or pushing outward, could have created these overthrusts. Only twisting could have produced them. It could hardly have occurred of the rotation and revolution of our planet had never been disturbed. . . .

Pages 104-105> In the sediment that covers the rocky bottom of the oceans the expedition found, in the words of its leader, H. Peterson . . . evidence of great catastrophes that have altered the face of the earth. . . .

The oceanic floor all around the globe bears witness that the oceans of the earth were the scenes of repeated violent catastrophes when flows of lava and volcanic ash covered the precipitously rising or falling bedrock and tidal waves raced against the continents.

The bottom of the seas and oceans also contains evidence that the earth was showered with meteorites on a very large scale.”

Not only was there wreckage on earth but in the northern part of the heavens where Scripture indicates is the location of God’s throne. Possibly this brought about showering of the earth with meteorites on a large scale.

INTERNET: NASA has also discovered that unlike any other star, there is an Empty Space behind the North Star. There is the Star, then behind it, empty space, more so than with any other heavenly body.

The original Hebrew words imply a perfect creation. God reveals Himself as Creator of perfection, light and beauty. Every reference in the Bible describes the condition of any completed phase of God’s creation as “very good” —perfect (Genesis 1:31).

In Job 38:4, 7 God is speaking specifically of the creation of the earth. He said all the angels (created “sons of God”) shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that angels were created before the creation of the earth—

From these quoted writings from noted authors, it becomes easy to see what took place from what was in the beginning a most beautiful creation but came to be devastated as found in Genesis 1:2, by the super powers of spirit beings—Satan and his angels trying to topple the Lost High God from His throne in heaven above ((Isaiah 14:13-14; Revelation 12:7-9).

These writings make known the horrible consequences of sin – rebellion against the Most High God and their perfect righteous way of life as is taking place in today’s world.

Because of the abominable evils being practiced today, and worsening, a type of Genesis 6 when God had no recourse but to destroy all humanity with the exception of one family of eight people, God is once again going to deal with humanity in a manner very similar to what we have just seen in these writings. Jesus said what will take place here at the very end time of this present age will be worse than has ever been or ever will again (Matthew 24:21), not only during the time of the Great Tribulation, but from the fury of nature:

Isaiah 2:10-21 “. . . Enter into the rock and hide in the dust, from the TERROR of the LORD . . . when He arises to shake the earth . . .”

Isaiah 13:9-13 “Behold the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy the sinners from it . . . I will punish the world for its evil . . . Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts.”

Haggai 2:6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more will I (in a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations . . .’ ”

Isaiah 24:18-20 “The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open. The earth is shaken exceedingly . . . The earth shall reel to and fro (stagger) like a drunkard . . .”

Revelation 6:12-17 Then I looked when He opened the 6^th Seal, and behold there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood . . . And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Where does this put us at this time? Are we giving it all to have a close relationship with God? It is only by having this kind of relationship that we will escape all these horrors soon to come to pass and then be able to stand before His glorified presence.

I do not believe many of you are taking seriously Satan and his continued efforts to destroy all of us – his deception for now – and persecution later. All designed to remove us from our God and His Truth and Way of Life.

I John 5:19 “We know we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

Do we really grasp this? We need a real reverent FEAR of God – knowing we have to struggle for our heritage.

Note: “Fight! Contend! Do battle! When apostasy arises, when false teachers emerge, when the truth of God is attacked, it is time to fight for the faith [once for all delivered to the saints]. Only believers who are spiritually “in shape” can answer the summons. . . .”

Jude 1-11 “To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ . . . I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE FOR ALL DELIEVERED TO THE SAINTS . . . For certain men have crept in UNNOTICED . . . ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to remind you . . . and the angels who did NOT keep their proper domain, but left their own abode; He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the Great Day . . .”

II Peter 2:1-22 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies . . . and many will follow their destructive ways . . . by covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words . . . their destruction does not slumber. For IF God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; . . .”

From these Scriptures and writings from noted writers, we should learn the lessons the angels failed to learn from that world with the terrible devastation that followed and their imprisonment in chains of darkness.

II Peter 3:5 -6 Lessons from “The World That Then Was” and all perished!

II Peter 2:4-5 “For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; . . . The words “cast . . . down to hell” . . . is an English expression translated from the Greek tartaros – meaning a place of restraint. . . .

The penalty for the sin of the angels is not death, as it is for man. Angels are immortal spirit beings and cannot die.

We are seeking to become born-again members of God’s divine spiritual family – to live and become a part of – “The World to Come”—and never more die!

In my next writing on this subject of “The World to Come” I plan on writing about “The Renewing of God’s Creation,” that begins in Genesis 1:3

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