Pastor’s Comments June 1, 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 fourth part of the third area of “This present evil world, The Family of Cain (Genesis 4).

2) Genesis 1:1-2 And followed by: The creation of the Antediluvian World; and much later in time, God’s perfect creation wrecked

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 is now beginning with the fury of nature and will lead to that terrible time:

Genesis 4:16 Then Cain (having been marked and exiled) went out FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod (Margin: wandering) on the east of Eden.

NOTE: It was at this point that Satan began preparing mankind for their destruction – the Flood in Noah’s time – through what came to be their normal life styles that began with Cain and his descendants.

Jude 11 “Woe to them for they have gone in the WAY OF CAIN, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit (a continuation of that way of Cain), and perished (a dead end) in the rebellion of Korah.”

Because of the problems of this age in full blossom, Jesus Christ makes known the same will befall Israel and the world and will catch them totally unaware:

Matthew 24:34-39 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the Ark, and did NOT know until the Flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Their life-styles had come to be so bad and evil, God saw no alternative but to destroy them; just as He will destroy the majority of mankind in this end-time.

Genesis 4:17-18 And Cain knew his wife (sister-wife, Genesis 5:4), and she conceived and bore Enoch (not righteous Enoch, he was born later) . . . to Enoch was born Irad (meaning: little, degenerate); and Irad begot Mehujael (meaning: the instrument of god – not true God, but Satan); and Mehujael begot Methushael:(meaning: man who is god – blasphemy), and Methushael begot LAMECH (meaning: a strong young man).

NOTE: They began to believe in the immortal soul. Thought soul went up to the stars. They began to set up idols in the 4^th generation.

Genesis 4:26 – “Then they began calling themselves by the name of God.”

This Scripture has a two-fold meaning: 1. As we have just seen, they began calling themselves God and undoubtedly led to the establishing of their own pagan religions as today. 2. This Scripture also makes known the beginning of the preaching of the righteous, as with Enoch and Noah, as will be explained in the writings of Roy Schultz.

Genesis 4:19 And LAMECH took for himself two wives (the first one to take two wives, and SIN proliferated); the name of one was Adah (a white woman, ornament, beauty), and the name of the second was ZILLAH (means: shadow; the first true black woman: an inter-racial marriage,).

Genesis 4:20 And Adah bore JABAL. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have LIFESTOCK (Clarke Commentary: He was the inventor or teacher; the first who invented tent-making, and the breeding and managing of cattle. Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was such on an extensive scale.” Herman L, Hoeh: wrong farming, cross-breeding; Leviticus 19:19).

Genesis 4:21 His brother’s name was JUBAL. He was the father of all those who play (or handle KJV) the harp and flute (Clarke Commentary: The inventor of musical instruments, such as the . . . harp . . . and organ. It is very likely both Hebrews words (for harp and organ) are generic, the former (harp) including under it all stringed instruments, and the latter (organ), all wind instruments.”

Josephus: “He cultivated music.” Music that would wander— as musicians began to do in the Big Band Era in this past century!

(Herman L Hoeh: “Jubal perverted music.” The Elvis Presley of his time, MUSIC is a powerful tool; we have under-estimated it; a mood swinger. Jubal was a tool of Satan).

Genesis 4:22 And as for ZILLAH, she also bore TUBAL-CAIN, an INSTRUCTOR of every craftsman in bronze (copper, not brass) and iron (forger built fires hot enough to make weapons, cutting edges – war, Unger’s Dictionary: Tubal = The Smith – hammering all kinds of cutting things in copper and iron – the inventor of edge tools).

And the sister of TUBAL-CAIN was NAAMAH (means: Pleasant, delightful, sweet, signifies beauty. The parallel is with Aphrodite in Greek mythology, the goddess of love and beauty. Tradition says she became the wife of Ham, Noah’s son, Experimental Commentary).

Genesis 4:23-24 Then LAMECH said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; O wives of LAMECH, listen to my speech! I have killed a man (thought to be righteous Enoch, Genesis 5:21-24) for wounding me, even a YOUNG MAN for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then LAMECH seventy-sevenfold.”

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived 130 years, and begot a son in his own likeness (same color) after his image, and named him Seth.

Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth (appointed). For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.

From this it would appear that Abel lived at least 100 years and maybe a little longer. Clarke Commentary: He probably was married and had children though none are recorded in Scripture.

Clarke Commentary, Volume 1, Pages 59-60, Genesis 4:8 – And Cain talked to Abel his brother:

“… for this construction the word (talked) bear with great violence to analogy and grammatical accuracy. But why should it be thus translated? Because our translators could not find that anything was spoken on the occasion; and therefore they ventured to intimate that there was a conversation, indefinitely. In the most correct editions of the Hebrew Bible there is a small circular mark which refers to a note in the margin, intimating that there is hiatus or deficiency in the verse. Now this deficiency is supplied in the principal ancient versions, and in the Samaritan text. In this the supplied words are, “Let us walk out into the field. . . .” it was in the most authentic copies of the Hebrew before and some time since in the Christian era. The words therefore may therefore be safely considered as a part of the sacred text, and with them the whole passage reads clear and consistently:

“And Cain said unto Abel his brother, ‘Let us go out into the field: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up,”

The Jerusalem Targum, and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, pretend to give the subject of their conversation: as the piece is curious, I shall insert the substance of it, for the sake of those who may not have access to the originals:

And Cain said unto Hebel his brother, ‘Let us go out into the field: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, Cain answered and said to Hebel his brother, “I thought the world was created in mercy, but it is not governed according to the merit of good works, nor is there any judgment, nor a judge, nor shall there be any future state in which good rewards shall be given to the righteous, or punishment executed on the wicked; and now there is a respect of persons in judgment. On what account is it that thy sacrifice has been accepted, and mine has not been received with complacency? (self-satisfaction)

And Hebel answered and said, “The world was created in mercy, and it is governed according to the fruit of good works; there is a Judge, a future world, and a coming judgment, where good rewards shall be given to the righteous, and the impious punished; and there is no respect of persons in judgment; but because my works were better and more precious than thine, my oblation was received with complacency.” (self-satisfaction)

And because of these things they contended on the face of the field, and Cain rose up against Hebel his brother, and struck a stone into his forehead, and killed him.

“Here, certainly, originated the many-headed monster, religious persecution; the spirit of the wicked one in his followers impels them to afflict and destroy all those who are partakers of the Spirit of God. . . .”

Though it cannot be known for sure what was said between Cain and Abel before he murdered his brother, it is very likely that something like this may have been said between them.

It would appear, based on Cain’s great anger that flared up when Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and his rejected, to then realize as the result the certainty he was not the promised Messiah, as taught to him by his mother Eve—he then determined to murder his brother—a premeditated murder! First, he had to allay (hide) any suspicions of his intent beforehand by engaging Abel in a conversation that would in his mind then justify himself for the murder of his brother.

And because of his sin, Cain was MARKED by God and disfellowshipped by Him (Genesis 4:14-15; Romans 16:17-18) – no longer in God’s grace and favor, but an outcast belonging to Satan.

Genesis 5:4-5 After he (Adam) begot Seth, the days of Adam were 800 years (130 + 800 = 930 years); and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930; and he had sons and daughters.

Genesis 4:18 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh (margin: Enos; Hebrew = weak, sickly). Enos probably invented writing – scroll tables.

Social Studies Department, Imperial Schools at Pasadena, Pasadena, California, 1967

What kind of a person was Seth, the son born to Adam and Eve after Abel's murder? (Genesis 4:25) (Josephus Antiquities I, II, 3) provides some interesting information. Seth was a man of CHARACTER! His children were properly reared and imitated his good character. All of them had good dispositions and lived together in the same country without fighting and warring. This implies that the family of Seth was separate from the family of Cain as God had intended.

As shall be noted shortly, the family of Cain carried on fights, feuds, quarrels, and dissensions. It is only natural that the philosophy of Cain should breed such results.

But the family of Seth, for centuries, was separate from the sins and mistakes of the line of Cain. God certainly must have protected them and given them blessing and favour.

Knowing what kind of a person Seth was is very important to bear in mind in relation to the following information, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years of age. Seth lived a total of 912 years.

Enos was Seth's first son (Genesis 5:6). Notice, at this point, that Genesis chapters 4 and 5 are not in direct sequence. To find out anything additional about Enos, it is necessary to go back to Genesis 4:26. "... Then began men to call upon the name of the Eternal." Now understand this point: the Hebrew here rendered "call upon" can mean, just as correctly, to "preach" or to "publish." (compare, for example, Matthew 24:14 and Mark 13:10 -- in the first the gospel is prophesied to be preached but, in the second instance. It is to be published.)

In short, this verse may be properly understood as, "then began men to preach or publish in the name of or by the authority of the Eternal." In other words, this Hebrew expression means to communicate in general without distinguishing as to whether it is writing or speaking. And it may include both these methods.

A few Jewish commentators have understood this verse to mark the beginning or origins of WRITING! In other words, the first people to use the written language and records (as well as to spread the knowledge of God by preaching) was THE FAMILY OF SETH AND ENOS.

Adam and Eve, back in the Garden of Eden, had a spoken language. God put into Adam's mind, by a direct miracle, the symbolic knowledge necessary to understand and to speak a verbal language in order to communicate with God.

But God did not give man a ready-made written system of communication. Some things God leaves to man to develop and perfect. Writing was one of these arts. God wants man to work and build character in acquiring and preserving knowledge. Thus he left the development of this skill to man.

The fact that the line of Seth, in the lifetime of Enos, perfected a beginning form of written communication is supported by verse 1 of chapter 5: "this is the book ..." Records were being kept. This chapter 5 is a simple genealogy, an uncomplicated type of writing with no particular style or form, another indication that this was the beginning of written records.

A verse in the New Testament, II Peter 2:5, provides a major point about the line of Seth. Notice that the word "person" is in italics. The way the verse stands in the King James version, the impression is given that Noah was the eighth person of the eight that were in the ark, but, in the original Greek, the meaning of the verse is this: "and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, THE EIGHTH PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly ..."

Noah, then, was the eighth preacher of righteousness in his line, beginning with Seth, Methuselah is not included -- he died the year of the flood. For the other six preachers of righteousness before the flood, see Genesis 5 and the accompanying chart.

To repeat: the major cultural and social contribution of the family of Seth, in the society before the flood, was THE ART AND SKILL OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE. The next question is, "what were the contributions of the family of Cain?" And "what were the RESULTS of their contributions?"

Before answering these questions, it would be helpful in arriving at an understanding of the pre-flood world, to realize the impact of the great length of life these people experienced and what effect they had on the entire society.

The oldest human fossil remains prove this. One of the chief characteristics of all these remains is the extreme longevity characteristic of the skeletons; the massive proportions of the body. The great development of the muscular processes, the extreme wearing of the teeth -- without our characteristic amount of decay -- the obliteration of the sutures or seams between the various bones of the skull and the indications of slow ossification of the ends of the long bones, all point to the inevitable conclusion that the earliest man matured slowly and attained great length of life -- just as Genesis declares.

Such characteristics of the skeletal frame are completely absent from modern degenerate man. That these ancient men did attain great age is demonstrated by the fact that their remains are usually found with fragmentary skeletons of youths and babies not exhibiting those characteristics. (chapter 5, "The Meeting Place of Geology and History" by Sir J. William Dawson, pp. 62-63.) These genuinely scientific findings do not prove that man has evolved. Rather, they substantiate the truth of the Bible that men in ancient times, unlike today, experienced centuries of physical life. It is also worthwhile to note in regard to this topic that in Antiquities I, III, 9, Josephus lists eleven ancient writers -- Manetho, Berossus, and Hesoid among them -- all of whom "relate that the ancients lived (nearly) a thousand year." True science and the records of ancient times again serve to corroborate the Bible.

The next key questions then are: how large were the families of that day? And how many children did people have? People did not have had children as often as is possible today. This factor was regulated by nature. It is probable that women could conceive children only at a certain time in a period of a year rather than monthly.

According to ancient Hebrew traditions Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters or a total of 56 children over a period of about 500 years. This would be an average of one child every 9 years.

And Josephus tells us that Lamech, by his two wives, Ada and Zillah, had 77 children. These figures give us an idea of family numbers in that time.

Today people live only one tenth as long, and they can have children more frequently. In other words, if we reduced the totals for Adam's life and family to one tenth, he would have lived 93 years and had 5 or 6 children. Families now tend to be smaller but, a generation or two ago, it was not unusual to have a family of 6 to 8 children. So, using the comparison of once tenth, we can gain a helpful perspective in evaluating that society.

With these concepts in mind, it can be seen that the population of the earth, which started with two people, grew very slowly over a long period of time. The population did not "explode" till near the time of the flood. Even if the population had doubled every 50 or 60 years, it still would not have been considered great until around 2500 -- and the flood came in 2370.

There is the analogy Mr. Armstrong uses of doubling the penny. If 1 cent were doubled every day for 30 days it would not count up to much the first two or three weeks, but in the fourth week the total would really mount up. In the 28th day that original penny would have become $1,342,177.28. The point is this: the population of the earth was relatively small till the life-time of Methuselah (3339 to 2370).

But, in this seventh generation -- starting to count with Seth -- both the population and the sins of man began to multiply tremendously. This is what is recorded in Genesis 6:1: "... when man began to multiply on the face of the earth" -- "explode" -- then sins began to increase to such an extent that God had to exterminate the human race and make a fresh start with the family of Noah. How, in greater detail, this result came about is the story that remains to be told.

Similar to the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), some of these writings will be duplicated by some of the writings of Mr. Shultz and Dr. Hoeh – who also aided him in his writings, putting them altogether should give us a better picture of those ancient Biblical historical writings.

At the appropriate places segments of the writings of Dr. Hoeh will be inserted that will make some areas more understandable.

Moving away from the preachers of righteousness, we will now consider the preachers of Satan and their Satanic religious teachings:

NOTE: Cambridge Margin: “They began to call themselves by the Name of The LORD.” To profane God (this was 250 years from creation HLH). Like professing Christians today – they gave lip service to the ways of God (their way). They were the sons born before the daughters of men.

Genesis 6:1-2 “Now it came to pass WHEN men began to MULTIPLY (explode in population growth, as today) on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (black through Cain) saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful (fair, KJV), and they took wives for themselves of ALL they chose.”

Experimental Commentary: They are particularly mentioned because the seductive influence of their beauty and manners was one principle cause of the antediluvian apostasy.”

Throughout history men have consistently wanted to DEIFY --make gods of -- their leaders, their ancestors, themselves. The rulers of ancient Egypt claimed to be gods. The Roman Emperors said they were immortal. The Roman Catholic Church makes saints of dead individuals and teaches that it is profitable to pray to them.

The world before the Flood was no different! The same Satan who guides this world was dominating that society. The Devil is the "god of this world" -- and his methods remain consistent over the centuries. Once he starts a certain pattern of deception among men he continues to promote it in every form he can.

The expression "sons of god(S)" in this verse has traditionally been assumed to be a reference to the descendants of Seth, the "good" line in the pre-Flood society. And "the daughters of men" was thought to mean the line of Cain. But just the reverse is true! There were, of course, these two basic groups of people before the Flood. But it is abundantly clear that the line of Seth was the WHITE race while the family of Cain was the NON-WHITE. But, who in this verse, is described as being "FAIR"? The "DAUGHTERS OF MEN"! They are the ones with the light complexions! So this expression actually refers to the women in the line of Seth and Enos!

There was RACIAL INTERMARRIAGE taking place between the two groups. They were defying the separation God had made centuries before.

So it was the descendants of Cain who claimed to be gods and the descendants of gods! The children of Seth and Enos, which included the great preachers of righteousness, knew better than to make any such fantastic claims. They knew better than to defy God! But the rebellious line of Cain was completely cut off from God. These perverted rebels were guilty of every sin imaginable -- including this gross form of blasphemy and idolatry. They DARED to go this far in following the way of Cain!

Cain, the original ancestor, was worshipped as a God. Eve mistakenly assumed that her first-born son was the promised seed. Lamech and Tubalcain later claimed the rank of deity. These leaders among Cain's children claimed to be worthy of worship.

Why would the children of Cain claim to be deities or gods? There are two main reasons. First, they continued to believe the lie Satan told Eve -- that humans had immortal souls and would live forever after death. They believed in "built-in" immortality from birth -- even as millions of people still to today!

Second, in the Bible angels are called "sons of God" (Job 38:7;1:6). Now an important factor to realize is that many people in the line of Cain, and especially the powerful leaders (recall the story of Tubalcain), WERE INFLUENCED BY AND POSSESSED BY DEMONS! AND DEMONS ARE ANGELS -- fallen angels! These demons, when in these human instruments, said they were sons of God --which they were, by creation! And the men who were guided by them and yielded to them claimed the same title!

Furthermore, demons want to be worshipped as gods! Therefore, IN these great evil leaders, they caused the populace to worship them under the guise of human beings whose minds they controlled! Thus it becomes clear why it was the leading members of Cain's line who claimed the title of "god" or "son of god". Cut off from the real God, they yielded themselves to demonic powers!

The following are excerpts taken from the writings of Dr. Herman L. Hoeh from his article in the Good News, Pages 1, 2 & 6, December, 1952, entitled:

“Thousands of people are being deceived by fables and superstitions that masquerade under the guise of truth. Most "modern" interpretations of those "sons of God," "mighty men" and "giants" are really age-old fables!

Instead of just accepting human interpretations without proof, let's search the Scripture for the Bible answer.

Were there prediluvian angels who married women and produced giants? Or were they pious children of Seth? Is it scientific to believe there ever were giants, or nephilim as they are called in Hebrew? . . .

People often quote II Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 as proof that the pre-flood sons of God were angels. Let's notice what Peter said: "God spared not the angels that sinned, but…delivered them into chains of darkness…AND spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; AND turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes (II Peter 2:4-6).

Notice that these are three distinct---three different punishments. God cast down the angels and degraded them to chains of spiritual darkness before he destroyed the antediluvian world. The punishment of the angels was not at the flood. It was at a prior, a DIFFERENT time.

The sin of the angels was not descending to the earth to marry women. They sinned by leaving the earth which was their estate, to rival God in heaven. They were cast back to the earth (Jude 6; Isaiah 14:13-14).

The wicked angels who followed Satan were in chains of darkness imprisoned by their own folly (Jude 6). Remember, the Bible reveals that angels are created spirits (Hebrews 1:14). They are not mortal flesh like humans. In I Peter 3:19, 20 we read of spirits---angels---not human beings, but angels who were imprisoned, bound---when? "When once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing."

Notice it! Before the flood destroyed the land, while the ark was still under construction, the angels who are spirits, were already imprisoned, "in hell"---tartaroo---not at liberty to co-habit with human women.

Not only does Peter disprove the theory that fallen angels were at liberty to marry women, but Jesus also disproves it. Christ said in three places that angels DO NOT MARRY. Angels are created spirits and do not reproduce by sexual intercourse or any other means (Luke 20:36; Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:35).

Angels cannot co-habit with women and reproduce because angels and humans are two different kinds of beings. God set laws in motion that each produces after its own kind (Genesis 1). Two different Biblical kinds can not gender sexually. This is one of the most thoroughly established laws of science.

God did not make it possible for angels to reproduce with human beings. He did not intend to beget angels as His sons (Hebrews 1:5). Beside, nowhere in the Bible do we find that degraded angels have the power to manifest themselves in the form of human beings---a power now possessed only by righteous angels who serve God.

If you will examine the sixth chapter of Genesis more closely, you will notice that DAUGHTERS were born when the human race began to multiply rapidly (verse 1). Why the mention of daughters ONLY? What about the sons that must have been born? The human race reproduces at least as many males as females. The answer is that the sons are spoken of, but most readers overlook it.

Turn to the last verse of Genesis 4 and pick up the real beginning of the account. Over two and one-half centuries had passed since the creation of Adam. What happened? "Then began men to call upon the name of the ETERNAL." The marginal reading is "then began men to call themselves by the name of the ETERNAL!" (Gen. 4:26).

Like people today who profess Christ and call themselves Christians, those men of old gave lip service to the ways of God even though they called themselves by the name of God! They were the sons born before the flood.

They were rebellious and unrepentant. What had they done that was evil in God's sight? Notice it, the males who professed God, but with whom God would not continue to strive, were the ones who married the "daughters of men."

They persisted in having their own way and married their neighbor's daughters---beautiful, but unconverted women---who led them further away from God and into the cares of this world. . . .”

Luke 17:26-27 “And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man; they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, UNTIL the day that Noah entered the Ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all.”

NOTE: These were not angels marrying the daughters of men; it is impossible for angels to marry women.

Matthew 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” (Also, Mark 12:25)

Sons of God have three different meanings: 1. Christians: Romans 8:14; I John 3:2. 2. Angels: Job 1:7; 38:4-7. 3. Mankind (in general): Psalm 82:6; Malachi 2:10; Luke 3:38).

“Besides "sons of God," Moses wrote that there were giants or nephilim in the earth in those days. Many modernists, who reject the inspiration of Scripture, assume that belief in giants is a relic of past superstitious ages. The present age is supposedly free from superstition!

Others, however, assume this historical record teaches that giants or nephilim were the progeny of angels and women. But let's not assume. Let's find the facts.

Notice what Moses was inspired to write. Long before the flood occurred, giants existed on the earth "and also AFTER THAT, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men…" So the giants were not the progeny of those marriages. They lived before the marriages occurred.

The progeny of those marriages were not the giants, but "mighty men, which were of old, men of renown" (Genesis 6:4).

Genesis 6:2 . . . the sons of God (black through Cain’s descendants, professed God) saw the daughters of men (Seth’s descendants), that they were beautiful (fair, unconverted, and did not profess God); and they took wives for themselves of ALL whom they chose.”

Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “Nor shall you make marriages with them (as did Solomon). You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will TURN your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.”

For further understanding as to why, please read—MYSTERY OF THE AGES, “Racial InterMarriage Forbidden”, Pages 166-174, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.

NOTE: It was through Cain and his descendants that Satan prepared mankind for their destruction – the FLOOD in Noah’s time through what came to be their normal life styles. Jesus Christ said it would happen again in the end-time. Their life-styles were such that that God decided to destroy them.

Matthew 24:34-39 “. . . but as in the days of Noah were so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days BEFORE the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, UNTIL the day that Noah entered the Ark, and did NOT know UNTIL the Flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

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 very many 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, 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 tartars – 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!

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